2 years later...A snip from my last blog

I got out the cyberduster this morning to check out the blog. Two years ago, I wrote this:

My proposal:
Regarding all online gambling where it is player vs the house (corporate entity):
Let states decide how to regulate. This includes all games like roulette, craps, blackjack, slots, sports betting where the house is the book, etc. New Jersey has already decide they will let you pretty much bet on anything you want from the comfort of your own home.  Allow states to tax revenues. There is no benefit to a network of people.  This is like any casino.  They make money when you lose money.  They should be taxed at a higher rate if policy dictates you want to decrease gambling or use funds to treat gambling addicts.

Regarding Player vs Player games where money is bet and the corporate entity takes fees to host (these include fantasy sports, poker games and tournament, player vs player blackjack elimination tournaments, etc.)  We need federal regulation that creates a framework of laws to punish cheaters, track money trails to prevent money laundering, hold corporations accountable, and prevent & treat underage and problem gambling.  Poker is a large industry in the world and peer to peer games will only continue to grow in the future.  Peer to peer games benefit from the network effect. The more states and countries involved in the networks, the better the prize pools, variety, and liquidity.

It's a shame we can't get good policy. United States Poker is suffering. Facts matter. 

Republicans and Democrats are Making My Head Explode: How I Propose We Attack Online Gambling vs Peer to Peer Games

In two days, I've read through a Republican Governor's request for Congress to ban online gaming and a Democratic Governors Association letter asking for Congress to not ban online gaming.  Their reasoning behind both are a rhetorical abomination.

The Republican Letter from Rick Perry
The 10th amendment crusader Rick Perry....oh wait. If it involves technology that can easily cross borders, the federal government needs to be in charge. So in 2014, basically all e-commerce and pretty much everything else should cede power to our omnipotent Federal government. Burn the 10th straight from the bill of rights at this point. What's more offensive? We are still throwing terrorism in there as an excuse and the government protecting us from ourselves. Oh yeah, kids aren't in dorm rooms. When you are 18 years old, you are an adult who can still find a myriad of other ways to blow your money. Trust me, if you can sign up for a brokerage account and get options approval, you are having the most dangerous casino piped into your computer 5 days a week.
Just for the record, the Wire Act was made to combat mafia activity in sports betting. Don't mess up the intention of a law to how liberal judges and others with agendas have applied it. It was a large basis for the shutdown of online poker rooms operating offshore serving US customers.  The DOJ has since said it doesn't apply to online poker.

Democratic Governors Association Letter
Yay! Finally, an entire party standing up for poker players!! Wrong. While I respect someone finally standing up for the 10th amendment, this letter is about protecting the revenues from online state lotteries.  Since our governments are bad at budgeting and funding very mediocre education plans, they need to tax the mathematically challenged by letting them bet on 3 numbers in a row or scratch off tickets.  I'm all about anyone being able to do whatever they want with their money, but the Democratic Governors appear to only want you to bet your money when it benefits their ability to fund their programs.


If you want to think about online gambling, you have to divide it into two categories. Player vs House and Player vs Player or Peer to Peer

My proposal:
Regarding all online gambling where it is player vs the house (corporate entity):
Let states decide how to regulate. This includes all games like roulette, craps, blackjack, slots, sports betting where the house is the book, etc. New Jersey has already decide they will let you pretty much bet on anything you want from the comfort of your own home.  Allow states to tax revenues. There is no benefit to a network of people.  This is like any casino.  They make money when you lose money.  They should be taxed at a higher rate if policy dictates you want to decrease gambling or use funds to treat gambling addicts.

Regarding Player vs Player games where money is bet and the corporate entity takes fees to host (these include fantasy sports, poker games and tournament, player vs player blackjack elimination tournaments, etc.)  We need federal regulation that creates a framework of laws to punish cheaters, track money trails to prevent money laundering, hold corporations accountable, and prevent & treat underage and problem gambling.  Poker is a large industry in the world and peer to peer games will only continue to grow in the future.  Peer to peer games benefit from the network effect. The more states and countries involved in the networks, the better the prize pools, variety, and liquidity.

Unfortunately, the entire poker world is being lumped into the "online gambling" category because politicians on both sides are either promoting their "new" Presidential agenda (Perry) or trying to protect their economically unviable government programs.

2014: Who's Ready?

Happy New Year and hope this year is the best one of your life. It should be. Every time I'm on a long plane ride or car journey or even just when I take a moment to run around Regents Park in London, I think about how lucky I am to exist and be alive.

2013 reflections
In terms of poker, It was my worst year financially, but nothing devastating or remotely close. I've always been disciplined financially in poker and whether or not that's prevented me from being in the poker limelight at times, it's kept me comfortable at the stakes I'm playing and thus far has provided me a great way to earn a nice risk adjusted return on my talent.  I believe for two straight years I've probably been below expectation at the biggest stage in Las Vegas which is super frustrating as a player who has dreams of winning WSOP bracelets. Dedicating time and being away from a normal life to compete all summer in Vegas hurts when results aren't what you expect, but I can't think of better fuel for the fire for next year.

Emotionally, I feel like I dealt with the worst of it in poker, battled, got better, got mentally tougher, more original, and ultimately continued to love the competition.  I always tell people who ask that poker has to be as close as anything to professional golf albeit it with thousands of players around the world capable of winning any single tournament. It's always a thrill to be in the hunt of any tournament and often whether you cash for thousands or hundreds of thousands comes down to the flip of a coin (bounce of a ball.) I can't remember a time where I've felt more prepared to deal with it as a professional than right now.

I went to some amazing places in 2013; Iceland, Deauville, Monaco, Prague, a tour de Scotland, Berlin to name some and think traveling the EPT is as fun as any poker tour out there. I love the feeling of heading out to a new place knowing I have a shot to win a huge tournament.

Health wise, I definitely cut down on miles of running and focused more on HIIT exercises either some form of no weights exercises for time and still love running 200-800m intervals when the weather permits.

2014  goals (poker focused)
1. Stay in the moment.
How to get there: meditate 2 times a day minimum. Meditation was lost of me for most parts of 2013, but I firmly believe in its power. Meditation is often for me about thought awareness and letting the mind be still for minutes even changes the course of the day. My favorite underrated way of meditating is listening to a song and just following one instrumental line in it and thinking about only that. I also like yoga and will set to do it at least twice a week in full sessions.
This goal is listed as number one because I believe it to be the single most important factor to success in anything.

2. Win a major live poker tournament (WSOP, EPT, WPT)

3. Win WCOOP or WSOP player of the year
bc why the hell play a full series if you aren't trying to win it all.

4. Win WCOOP bracelet 2
Winning one is cool, winning a second puts you in another class of champion.

5. Win 1 tournament a month online.
I want to focus more on outright winning since that's the completion of a poker tournament.  Thoughts of laddering up in prize money crept into my head too much near the end of the year. While this is generally an important thing to evaluate in final table play and incorporate into ideal strategy, it can't dominate my thoughts.  Factors change so quickly that I always want to be prepared to close. Setting a goal will help me keep this in the forefront of my perspective.

6. Win 1 Sunday tournament every 8 Sunday sessions.

7. Review every Sunday tournament played on Monday morning.
I also want to review lots more of players I respect when I get the opportunity to play against them.

8. Find joy/peace in every moment.
I feel very lucky to know I'm happier and a better person when I compare my performance to the man in the mirror. I can only achieve my max. What others are doing is just noise whether it be in poker, life, on Facebook or whatever.  One of my favorite quotes from a man I admire immensely:

                          Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.

John Wooden

That's really just a better version of the commandment "thou shall not covet thy neighbor," but it's something I want to focus on because the biggest disappointment would be selling myself short because of effort, focus, dedication in any one year. Leaving the 2012 WSOP in Vegas, despite very few positives, I felt I had given 100% in every tournament. In 2013, I can think of three instances where I knew I was in lazily "gamble" mode in tourneys operating against instinct, not respecting the game or players playing it because I thought I had some right. After all, shouldn't they know I won the Sunday Million?  Which brings me to my next favorite quote from my high school soccer coach

"today's newspaper lines tomorrow's birdcage"

It won't happen again in 2014.


On poker and my life in general:
I realize that poker probably won't survive in its current form for another decade. States are segregating player pools in the US. This process is also happening worldwide stunting the growth of the game all over the world. The next boom will probably be in Asia, and I doubt I'll be able to globetrot chasing the game forever.  Also, corporate and government greed will continue to be threats that poker players won't be able to unite against. Also, personally, it still looks like playing poker in the USA for a living will be a joke (limited online market.)  Much like any boom in any business industry, poker will shake out into a mature industry that can't sustain growth under the current  environment and I'll find something else.
I always have said since the moment I dedicated to playing poker that I'll take a look year to year and see how I feel about it. That being said : BRING ON 2014.

The First Card Off The Deck Rule and Why You Should Support It

Before reading my opinion, I believe there are two great perspectives on this issue written by Neil Johnson, FOR and Dan O’Brien AGAINST.  These give a bit of background and some more content. As an aside, Dan also addresses other topics important to the future of player's being represented properly.  This prospect will require initiative and dedication by players to more than just playing the game.  I will also link to Matt Savage’s article (Read Here) supporting the rule change. I will refer to these articles in my post.

            So do you know why poker dealers burn a card before dealing out a flop, turn, river, or round of stud cards? Long before online poker increased the popularity of poker games, gamblers attempted to cheat.  Marked cards were a simple way for a cheating player to know the next card.  A player could clearly see his marked card on the top of the deck and act accordingly. Of course, the knowledge of this card to one player and not the others harms the integrity of the game. Countless other examples like this one are relevant to the current debate about the “First Card Off The Deck” Rule (FCOTD). Ultimately, I want to explain that protecting the integrity of the game is really the only core issue that matters in the debate.

When Neil Johnson wrote his article about his support for FCOTD, he said three times he’d seen a player come back to a hand (in a tournament without the FCOTD rule), see another’s hole cards, and act accordingly, adversely affecting the game.  He “had me at hello” right here.  Does anything else truly matter if this happened? Protecting the integrity of the game is the most important job of tournament directors.  It’s why the majority of rules exist in the first place. Now, I don’t know Neil personally, but what incentive does he have to lie here?  Do tournament directors and dealers get extra credits for killing hands? The poker community needs tournament directors to give their opinions about these issues and form rules balancing the integrity of the game with what is also good for the game. Integrity trumps the comfort of a player. Aren’t you there to play the game?

Beyond this point, everything else is a marginal point; however, I’ll address some of Dan O’ Brien’s arguments against the rule.  Some of his points are highlighted and indented with my response following.   

1. Rules Should Err On the Side of NOT Killing Hands

“Rules should place as little restriction on players as is necessary in order to uphold game integrity”

I couldn’t agree more with the quote starting off his point, but I fail to see how the 10-20 seconds between the first card and the last card is anything less than a “little restriction” on players if the main point is upholding game integrity.

2. Dealer Function

With the "last card" rule, dealers can immediately kill hands as they are deemed dead when the last card hits the button. With the FCOTD rule, dealers cannot kill hands while in the midst of a deal, causing dead hands to be pitched to stacks. This creates unnecessary arguments and a rift between players and dealers as emotional players don't want to give up the hand in front of them. It becomes especially heated when players look down at a strong hand, causing additional tension between players and staff. The fix for this, pitching dead hands to the center of the table, creates confusion for dealers and often misdeals as it becomes difficult to track which stacks should be pitched to and which should be passed over. At the very least, it slows down deals considerably as dealers are forced to think about where each card should be pitched.

 In two years at the WSOP, I’ve been involved in a dilemma with this rule at the hands of a dealer. I was entering the tournament area in the first instance.  Knowing the game was Omaha where four cards are dealt to each player, I liked my chances of getting to my hand.  As my fourth card was dealt, I reached my seat and the dealer continued pitching the remaining five players their last card.  He then reached for my hand and killed it.  I can’t explain the distress this caused when I was told I wasn’t checked in to the tournament, so my hand was dead.  Of course, this ruling is incorrect, but with FCOTD rule, I know my hand is dead so I walk to my seat instead of sprint.  Since I’m wronged here, however, I now have to create a stir and an argument and slow up the game and make others around me feel pretty uncomfortable. Nobody wants to play with the guy who argues with the dealer the minute he sits down.  I don’t want to be that guy.  With FCOTD, I realize there have been errors in killing hands (most notably Daniel Negreanu’s hand in Barcelona High Roller), but in my experience throughout Europe vs. the USA, there are fewer discrepancies when FCOTD is employed.

Also, asserting dealers are going to be slow seems like a bold and inaccurate claim.  I’ve seen plenty of capable dealers pitch dead hands to the middle as well as others mess up.   I’ve also seen dealers pitch a player’s hand that wasn’t seated towards the middle of the table, but then the player arrived and demanded his hand.  In one instance, another player mucked his hand through these cards and the hand was declared dead anyway.  With FCOTD rule, this never happens.

Now, I’d like to address the socializing argument.  I’ll be brief. Players who don’t speak English are essentially screwed out of their native language for the preference of game integrity in card rooms all over the world.  I would be willing to wager that 99 times out of 100 players speaking a different language at the table aren’t cheating.  Because of the tiny minority who would or have cheated, we sacrifice players speaking in their native language while playing to ensure cheating isn’t a possibility. Surely, this can’t make those players feel comfortable or even welcome in different countries, but we do it because game integrity trumps player’s desires. 

Overall, I believe the debate is misplaced and not actually respecting a minor sacrifice for something that eliminates a scenario that one tournament director has witnessed on multiple occasions.  In my tweets to Daniel Negreanu about this issue, he discounted this point as well, basically implying that it doesn’t happen and someone would need to be the fastest human ever to accomplish this task.  So are the opponents calling Neil Johnson a liar?  I don’t know. I truly don’t think the opponents of the rule get it.  Game integrity trumps all.  It’s why we have burn cards, English or native language only rules, and countless other procedures. It’s why tournament directors penalize players for getting out of their seats on the bubble.  Information known to one player and not another is unfair or even the mere possibility of this happening is enough to take action to prevent it. I’d rather take Neil at his word than worry that any player will be wronged in the future.  Surely, a dealer has accidentally flipped over your ace of spades and turned your ace-king suited into king-three off. You wanted that ace, yet for purposes of integrity, you can’t have it. Ultimately, this rule will be a minor inconvenience of 10-20 seconds and players will adapt while securing the integrity of the game.

Top 5 Lebron Cleveland Highlights

In honor of Lebron's return to Cleveland on the eve of a 23 game win streak, I blog for the first time in centuries with my favorite 5 Lebron in a Cleveland uniform highlights. I may or may not have burned my orange Witness shirt when Lebron left, but all is forgiven at this point.  It's just a game and the possibility that we would get even a few more of these highlights in a Cavs' uniform next to Kyrie in the future would just be a bonus.

5. Lebron's Block on Yao Ming & Chase Down Blocks
Lebron had many great blocks followed by Austin Carr's patented "GET THAT WEAK STUFF OUTTA HERE" call, but I remember the Yao Ming one the best. Lebron's Jason Richardson spin dunk block was hilarious.

4. Lebron's Gamewinner Against 4 Wizards in Playoffs
The highlight starts at 1:45, but it was probably the first playoff game winner Lebron ever hit.  You get a bonus 9 highlights. Just ignore those Heat highlights.

3. No Regard for Human Life
It might have been the call by Marv Albert or the fact that Boston was the first big 3 team, but this dunk was memorable to say the least.

2. Game 2 Gamewinner vs Orlando 
I've never heard a roar so loud in my life. My family was in Las Vegas watching this game in the Bellagio sports book.  The atmosphere was a mix between the standard Lebron hater, the 7 Orlando fans surprised to see their team playing out of their mind and your loyal doom and gloom Cleveland fans that could see it happening again.  (It did eventually happen again)  I almost started a brawl in the sports book by skipping and jumping and screaming in everyone's face after this shot whether they were a Cleveland, Orlando, or casual fan.

1. Lebron Goes off in Game 5 of Eastern Conference Semis at Detroit
  Detroit was that first hurdle the Cavs and Lebron has to get over to get to the championship and it took a game like this for it to happen. The best part of this game was it was at Detroit.  The rivalry was bitter and Lebron answered every time the Cavs fell behind. We all thought this was the beginning, but it never quite happened as much as we expected.

What's more unlikely, this hand or winning the lottery?

okerStars Hand #85691385115: Tournament #2012090006, $200+$15 USD 5 Card Draw No Limit - Level VII (75/150) - 2012/09/04 18:22:56 WET [2012/09/04 13:22:56 ET]

Table '2012090006 54' 6-max Seat #2 is the button

Seat 1: lora2030 (4765 in chips) 

Seat 2: WAIT8988 (4727 in chips) 

Seat 3: iacog4 (14116 in chips) 

Seat 4: gebbe (9489 in chips) 

Seat 5: fsh! (10581 in chips) 

Seat 6: ShaolinPower (2900 in chips) 

lora2030: posts the ante 40

WAIT8988: posts the ante 40

iacog4: posts the ante 40

gebbe: posts the ante 40

fsh!: posts the ante 40

ShaolinPower: posts the ante 40

iacog4: posts small blind 75

gebbe: posts big blind 150

*** DEALING HANDS ***

Dealt to iacog4 [Qh 4d 8s Qc 5h]

fsh!: folds 

ShaolinPower: folds 

lora2030: folds 

WAIT8988: calls 150

iacog4: calls 75

gebbe: raises 300 to 450

WAIT8988: folds 

iacog4: calls 300

iacog4: discards 3 cards [4d 8s 5h]

Dealt to iacog4 [Qh Qc] [Ac As Ah]

gebbe: discards 3 cards

iacog4: bets 1050

gebbe: raises 3390 to 4440

iacog4: raises 9186 to 13626 and is all-in

gebbe: calls 4559 and is all-in

Uncalled bet (4627) returned to iacog4

*** SHOW DOWN ***

iacog4: shows [Qh Ac As Qc Ah] (a full house, Aces full of Queens)

gebbe: shows [Th Td Ts Tc Jc] (four of a kind, Tens)

gebbe collected 19288 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 19288 | Rake 0 

Seat 1: lora2030 folded before the Draw (didn't bet)

Seat 2: WAIT8988 (button) folded before the Draw

Seat 3: iacog4 (small blind) showed [Qh Ac As Qc Ah] and lost with a full house, Aces full of Queens

Seat 4: gebbe (big blind) showed [Th Td Ts Tc Jc] and won (19288) with four of a kind, Tens

Seat 5: fsh! folded before the Draw (didn't bet)

Seat 6: ShaolinPower folded before the Draw (didn't bet)

SCOOP Taste Complete

After missing the first couple days of SCOOP on Pokerstars, I came back to play 4 days of SCOOP with very limited success. If not for a 2nd place in the $55 Hot 55 Turbo to end today, I would be beat up pretty good in the first 4 days.  That being said, I'm taking Saturday off and coming back for a complete Sunday to Sunday, 100% focus, no joke, play like a champion.  The structure of the SCOOPs is very good meaning it pretty much ensures you play every waking hour of the day.  Being in London is awkward since the timing is usually about 4pm-??? (when the sun comes up hopefully).  I know what I'm dealing with now and ready for the last real grind I'll experience before Las Vegas and the WSOP.  

I also added some links to my blog and played around with the new Blogger.  I hope to keep this mostly poker focused and may even look into a couple video blogs come the WSOP this summer since I've determined I'm completely awkward on camera.  

And I'm feeling kind of Sunday.

Nine big blinds. How did I get here? Should I move all in with Q7? 64 suited? Better wait...Jay Z just came on. Jay Z is such bad luck. When is the last time I won listening to Jay Z? Don't be superstitious? Being superstitious is so unlucky. I wonder if people would even get that if I made it a joke. Stop thinking about this stuff. Deal with the result! Double up! Finally, I doubled up. Ok. Battle, battle, battle. 55 people on the leader board remaining out of 7300+ and I'm in 54th. Who cares? Joe Cada won the main event 9th place out of 9. I can do this.

It was :55 minutes after the hour. It may have been 3:55 or 4:55 am. I don't remember. I looked in the mirror. My face was scruffy, eyes bloodshot, and hair disheveled.  I won an online tourney last time I wore this blue LuLu shirt and then jumped and danced around like a banshee at 11:00am because winning meant so much. Look at my eyes. Beyond the slightly bloodshot cornea caused from facing my 14th or 15th hour of Sunday poker, I just meditated for a moment on the brown color of my iris. I've never quite seen this color before. I bet it's unique just like me in this vast universe.  I snapped out of my mind wondering. Maybe 20 seconds later, I mouthed the words, "this is it." I was standing there in the mirror giving myself a pep talk. Give it your all. Don't be a hero. Follow your gut. Be gutsy. I walked back to my computer on the couch, a spot I move when it gets to crunch time.

Nearly 3 hours later, I had made a deal for my largest online score in my poker career in the tournament that I've played every Sunday since I can remember playing poker, the Sunday Million on Pokerstars. 

It was so awesome to be in the moment and appreciate this for what it was; doing exactly what I wanted to be doing and finally experiencing, reaching a goal of mine in the online poker world for 6+ years. Adrenaline pumped through my veins at crucial situations. I risked 1/3 of my chip stack on a total bluff, 5 bet shoved K7 (to poker novices both rare situations). Both times, I felt absurdly confident and nonchalant despite a pulse jamming through skin acknowledging the crucial timing of the tournament. Sometimes things line up and work out and other times, I spend hours and days grinding away at tournaments hoping to get this remarkable, unique moment.  It comes and goes in no more than 3-4 hours. Sometimes the moment vanishes abruptly with a stroke of bad fortune or timing like a 10th place finish a few weeks earlier in a tournament of 6000+ online, or a 23rd place finish at UKIPT Nottingham at the end of April.  I thought about when I was probably 58th of 58 in Berlin a few weeks earlier and my short stack took a beat and vanished while someone else went on to glory.  On Sunday, the moment didn't vanish until the feeling of accomplishment and elation of winning an absurd amount of prize money greeted the Monday morning London sunshine. 

Back to Copenhagen

Just finished an unprofitable Sunday, but as I tweeted from my handle @icekevin, it was one of my most emotionally mature days of poker I've ever played. Didn't play A+ game, but I do feel a consistent rise in the level of my average play over the past few Sundays. The first couple of Sundays back to the online grind, I truly was unstable emotionally and it had to be affecting my play. I don't know whether it was the huge layoff that turned me into a monster or what, but I'm glad that the last three Sundays have been calm emotionally. You have to have a positive attitude in this game or at the very least just understand how fortunate you must be to win something and how the majority of times in tournaments, you'll likely lose.

I'm super excited for Copenhagen tomorrow as I had some success here last year. I like how it's a smaller than average EPT field, tough competition, and standard EPT good structure. I haven't played a live tournament since Prague in December and it's pretty great to hop on a plane and be in Copenhagen in just two hours. I've truly enjoyed adjusting to my new life here in London and getting back to the game I love playing.

2011

January: Began in Chicago with my quietest New Year’s in recent memory after nursing my body back to health from a brutal bachelor party. Take heed of my words and don’t go to Vegas for more than 3 days for a bachelor party. Two is probably ideal. Shortly after that I went to Bahamas for an unsuccessful poker trip, but discovered the drink known as the zombie, a combination of about every type of rum you could find. After winning a main event package for $350ish dollars, I could hardly complain to be in the sun and heading down water slides through shark tanks. Chicago winter was brutal upon my return and snowmageddon shortly followed. Before heading to Cleveland to celebrate my niece’s 1^st and 3^rd birthdays., I made a two day bachelor party stop in Las Vegas highlighted by two enjoyable craps rolls with the entire bachelor party. The first saw every person up handily while completely loading the board through the come line and with almost everyone at max odds and total points through the hot roll of the man known as Steele, the dice were passed from the floor man to Steele when an unnamed member of the bachelor party grabbed the dice out of turn. Immediate 7. I had a nice online poker month and everything seemed to be in line for a great start to the year.

February: Online poker turned completely the other way erasing almost all the profits from January. A package to Copenhagen for my first EPT event and visit to Denmark made the intolerable winter easier to bear. I only played one event in Copenhagen, but finished fourth place for 1,000,000 Danish Kroner. It was my biggest cash to date and one of the most exciting moments of my life. Competing on that stage was fun, challenging, stressful, and nothing I could have imagined without being in that situation. My own mistake unraveled my EPT title shot, but Copenhagen was beautiful and I look forward to revisiting. When I flew back to Chicago, I thought about how far I’d actually come from playing $5 buy in cash games with my friends in my buddy Dave’s house in high school. We loved to play and bluff and force another guy to go into his pocket to pull out another $5. I loved the challenge of figuring out people, finding a way to beat them, and of course, the rush in your blood every step of the way. Nothing has changed.

March: Online poker was up and down this month, but I had a great St Patrick’s day weekend in Chicago.

April: This is the month where I finally lost all hope with the US government. On tax day after sending in my tax estimate and starting my usual Friday routine of watching the markets and playing a few early Friday online poker tournaments, both major online sites that I played on had their domain names seized by the FBI. Online poker would never be the same. The debacle that ensued has seen one site, Pokerstars, returning all our money. On the other hand, Full Tilt Poker basically proved it was running as effective of a business as a kid selling .01 lemonade cups full of piss. I turned a lot of time into studying the financial markets and businesses, but was left with a huge void in my life. Being so close to family for the first time in a few years, I headed home to join family for Easter and had a great time in Ohio.

May: What wasn’t to love about May. The month before the World Series, I plotted what I would do to move out to Vegas for the summer while enjoying spring in Chicago, a Chicago area wedding, and watching Chicago come alive. Near the end of the month, I was part of a wonderful rapture weekend wedding in Columbus, Ohio celebrating a Miami Merger between the Brodas. We all had a great time yucking it up at world class facilities despite pending world apocalypse. The night before I drove out to Vegas, I attended a rooftop party in Chicago. I remember having a meditative moment looking out over the sky and imagining winning a World Series of Poker bracelet, but either way, I knew I loved my new city and was content even in the face of losing online poker. I left for Denver the next day and stopped to meet up with some bros. Denver cemented its place as somewhere I would love to live, but the two days there with the crew I was with was not what I needed before driving another day to Vegas. Luckily, I made it to my destination safely after a reflective drive.

June & July: THE WORLD SERIES OF POKER. Best finish 11^th. Second best finish 17^th. 5 cashes, and basically a wash in terms of profit. There is nothing not to love about the World Series of Poker except for the walk out of the Rio after busting a tournament, especially the main event. In between some of the events, it was fun to celebrate the marriage of one of my best and longest friends in my hometown Mentor, OH. Three days of the main event and not cashing again was frustrating. I think I’ve played close to 13 days without cashing in the main event. I’ve bagged chips every day 1 and 3 times on day 2, yet have never cashed. It remains a goal of mine. I know I’ll get there. After the main event, I decided to be a hero and drive 24 hours straight to Lake Geneva, WI to meet up with some Chicago friends and my love. Chicago summer was waiting for me. We golfed, tubed, drank, and caught up. It was also around this time that I officially knew I’d be moving to London. One more Cincinnati area wedding at the end of July allowed me to see my college town of Oxford, Ohio and Skippers, walk through a lobby in Kentucky with a life sized championship belt over my shoulder, and celebrate with some great people.

August: LOLLAPALOOZA!! Foster the People, Eminem, Foo Fighters, Skrillex, Afrojack, Girl Talk, Kid Cudi, Deadmau, Nas and Ziggy Marley, Explosions in the Sky, and others I’m sure I’m missing made for a great time. The highlight being a torrential downpour just before the main Foo Fighters act creating a mess of a savagery and mud only true maniacs can enjoy. I spent the end of the month packing up and readying my move out of Chicago.

September: Spent time in Mentor, Ohio before heading over for a London/Cannes poker trip and flat hunting. After living in Vegas and Chicago and not spending day in and day out with family, it was great to spend some quality time with Mom and Dad and see my nieces, brothers, in-laws, and friends. Flying over to London and searching for a place was slightly stressful, but being away from poker made me extremely hungry and focused. With tons of luck on my side for 5 days, I final tabled the EPT London Main Event and cashed in 6^th place of 691. It was my biggest score to date and back-to-back EPT final tables for me in Europe. Getting so close to a win was again frustrating and satisfying. I know I’ll be back again and win the next time.

October: Cannes was a beautiful venue for WSOP Europe. My poker results allowed me to explore the beach more frequently than I would have preferred. I failed to cash in five events. I flew back to Cleveland and Toledo to see a friend who I first met at age 3 get married. When his wife walked down the isle, I thought about how rare it is to have friends for that long and how appreciative I am of our friendship and others I’ve hung on to for a long time.

November: Moving and all the annoyances you could imagine moving to a new continent. Tourist stops included the Tower of London, London Bridge,

December: I began the month with a trip to Prague where I played the WPT, EPT and GSOP main events in addition to one side event. 68^th with 63 paying in the WPT wasn’t very pleasant. My EPT streak ended at 2 final tables as I busted day 1 of EPT. It was a tough first table and a pitiful performance by me in many regards. I didn’t adapt quick enough to the optimal strategy of tightening up. I made a deep run in the GSOP, but fell short with a min cash. Prague is a fantastic city and a must see for all European trips. When I arrived home, my grandmother was in poor health and dying. My whole family, a family she loved and was so much her responsibility surrounded her and said their goodbyes. It was a tough time for my entire family, but when thinking about her, I can’t help think about her love and care and what it meant to me in life. I have nothing but appreciation and gratitude for everything. She will forever live on through me. Some of my youngest memories with her was of her sitting me on her lap and letting me bet her chips when the family played poker. I couldn’t help but give a wry smile when one of her best friends told me at her funeral, “Shirley was always trying to get us to play cards!” RIP Grandma.

Cheers to 2012. Let’s make it a big one.

First Eurotrip a Success

I arrived in my temporary new home in London with a bang finishing a strong 6th place in the EPT London main event. It was a great run and I spent 4 days getting my chips in good and holding and winning crucial 50/50 races. Almost every big race was JJ vs AQ coincidentally. The tough decisions came mostly on the second to last day as I was attempting to accumulate chips for the final table but was stuck in the card dead, flop dead portion and forcing things a little too much. After spending a lot of time folding, I won a miracle KK vs AA with a beautiful King of clubs on the river. It seemed like I was finally due for a title. The final table hardly went my way. 22 and A6 top out the high end of my range of hands and I whimpered out in 6th place after reraising A6 all from the small blind and having the big blind wake up with AQ. It was cool getting deep. I felt like I belonged there and I know I'll be back at some other stage. I remember calling somewhere that I was going to go 2/2 at EPT final tables when I came back. My main goal in poker is to win a big live tournament at this point.

I tried to carry that momentum to the WSOP Europe in Cannes. Cannes is gorgeous by the way and the weather hasn't failed to disappoint. I just busted my last of 5 tournaments here. Lost a giant pot 4h 7h vs 5d 3d on a 9h 6h 4s flop in the first tournament. In the second tournament, the 1k, I fought for a while from my 3k chip stack and then could not find a spot to get my chips in the middle after almost 5 levels (hours) of play. The third tournament was basically my main event, a 5k Pot Limit Omaha tournament. After doubling up early, things did not go my way and I was put to the test on a Th 9s 6s 9h board by a check raise all in. I eventually made the call with only a 78A5 no suits that mattered and was up against a KQJ5ss. The J sealed my fate, but I liked my decision at the point. I made it down to the final 3 in the shootout, but was short the entire tournament it seemed. I made one of my worst calls of the five days in that tournament early but fought back. The key hand for me was when my JJ finally had a chance to double against AQ, but the 98675 board saw a split pot and ultimately, an AT vs 77 race later, I was gone. The final PLO event was no different. I had a tough time getting anything going and made a bad pay off to a player who made quads, but could never seem to win an all in or racing situation when it would have got me going. 0 for 5 in Cannes, but I'm fairly pleased with how I played. I feel more and more comfortable live and especially playing in Europe.

As for my schedule from here on out, get back online soon from London and I'm certainly going to Prague in December for two events, one being the final EPT event of the calendar year. I'm looking to close out my best year as a professional with a BELT.

The Law of Unintended Consequences as it Applies to the Full Tilt Poker Situation

As many people now know, Full Tilt was crediting player deposits without actually receiving funds. Many poker players knew this fact as every single person in online poker had at least one friend wondering why money wasn't drawn from their bank account by Full Tilt Poker yet they were still allowed to play. The new action today is summarized by The Feld on ESPN. What I want outsiders to understand before they just see the words Ponzi scheme and immediately move on is that this is just an unintended consequence of our corrupt/broken political system and one of it's laws, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

The UIGEA was passed in 2006 and was NOT DEBATED IN CONGRESS FOR ONE SECOND. It sent banks into a defensive mode where they would no longer consider transactions for online poker. Online poker wasn't specifically identified as illegal, but lumped into gambling, a category banks feared to process. This consequence removed liquidity in the online poker world. Poker players need access to their bankrolls to be made available online to play through the swings and now players were forced to get find another way. Some traded cash for online money in unfavorable circumstances or went through some other 3rd party processor that was or wasn't legit(how could you know) in order to keep playing. How to deposit online became a much bigger issue. Several sites left the US and few remained. Given fewer options of sites to play on for US players a few things happened. Serious players had an increased need to have more money sitting in an online account because of the inability to deposit. Poker has swings and you need money to earn in case you have none. Fewer sites and now an increased need for money to be kept into these accounts likely created a windfall amount of cash to be kept on sites like Full Tilt Poker and Pokerstars.

We may never know is how many excess dollars were held in the Full Tilt Poker system by players that feared the illiquidity, but it did happen because of the UIGEA. Did these excess funds in the system contribute to the wild bonuses/dividends/ownership payouts that we are now hearing about or an inflated value of the company? We may never know, but I like to think I kept 500% more money in my account than I would have ever kept if this law didn't remove the ability to deposit what I needed to play for that day. Why would anyone ever take 0% interest in an online poker account instead of using a pay as you go system? We all took our own individual risk in this scenario to earn money or play for fun or whatever your motive, but it would not have been there with proper regulation or even in absence of the UIGEA.

So now a law attached to a Port Security bill probably meant to get some corrupt politician re-elected has in some way contributed to this Ponzi scheme. I can call for more regulation of online poker in the United States, but it's far too late. Instead of doing their job, Washington was more concerned with getting elected and passing bad policy to do so. 5 years of tax revenue and regulation would have gone a long way to preventing the pain many poker players are now feeling.

Post World Series & Some Words About Trading/Poker

Four Horseshoe Hammond poker sessions since my return to Chicago and my 1 winner out of 4 was for less than you can pay in tolls to get there. I got beat up in HORSE, PLO and Hold 'em on separate occasions. Live poker is slower and more boring and losing certainly doesn't change as quickly as it can online into winning over the short and long term. Truly, I miss playing tournaments and having the shot to throw up the belt every day whether it's something small online for a few thousand or a Sunday major or a WSOP 6 max tournament. Competition fills my blood, so I've been channeling that energy into trading lately, which is more rigged than any human should care to think about, but I have managed turbulent times in markets fairly well lately and can't complain.

Similarities in the lessons around the games of trading/investing are much more than just risking money. Bet sizing, bankroll management, mental flexibility, discipline and patience are all required to be successful in the brutal games being played in your respective financial markets. Knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em as Kenny Rogers would sing applies to trading as much as it does to a single hand. Decisions are constantly changing by many inputs and outputs. Buy here and sell here. What price do you want to get? How can you maximize value in any one situation by using both volatility and price? It's tough to explain, but I feel more and more comfortable finding situations and understanding what's going on. The true test though will always be protecting money and growing it in the lowest risk way for the maximum return. It doesn't mean you can't push a lot of your chips in the middle with a strong hand, but it does mean that you are prudent in times of market correction and when your trades just simply aren't working.

I may be adding more business and investing/trading things into this blog mainly because it's been keeping my mind sharp during the lull in poker. There is a ton to learn on the subject and if I could say the most important things I've learned so far about it they would be:

1. No one cares about your money more than you. No advisor, tweeter, blogger, person on CNBC, or even your parents can you tell you what you want to get out of investing/trading and what your actions are going to be when you lose money or win money. Winning money in poker or trading can easily go to your head. The money needs to be bound by a purpose, goal, and risk management.

2. Pigs get slaughtered. It only takes a few bloodbaths to learn this. Gains aren't gains until they are booked. Getting too greedy is one of the worst things you can do.

3. Much like in poker. When you bet, ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN. You must have a method because actions of the game will change and not always go according to your plan.

4. Nothing comes easy. Everything takes work. Poker/Investing/Trading/ LIFE!!!

5. Don't listen to anything I say. Mistakes are how I've learned my most important lessons in both poker and trading, but I'm not advising you. In fact, not once unless you are my close friend have you even talked or heard my theory behind investing/trading.

There are tons of resources on the internet and the two things I use most are Stocktwits and Finviz.com. Stocktwits is a great idea generation site as their founder always says, but don't get caught up in the panic or try to trade based on some random tweeter's ideas. Finviz has tons of good research tools/charts/etc.

On Saturday, The Horseshoe Hammond is holding a $1500 tournament and it will be a nice going away present when I win it. The next few months will be hectic as I'll be traveling for poker/moving/getting back online (fingers crossed). London is my next destination for EPT London, and I will be in Europe (hint,hint) a lot in the next few years. I'm excited to get back to Europe. I am 1/1 at making final tables in that continent.

The 27th day.

I warn readers that I've played 26 days of poker straight, and I'll be playing my 21st event today. My mind is in a weird place, but relentless positivity and thoughts of being a champion still pervade. I have been battling a cough for the last three days or so, but if Dirk Nowitzki can play like a sick champion while spanking Lebron James in the NBA Finals, then a little bug isn't going to affect me. It's pretty easy to catch something in that giant Rio petri dish passing around chips that each person has coughed all over.

I arrived about an hour late to the $1k NL Hold 'em today. After losing a key pot early QQ vs AK and KJ, I rallied from just 1400 chips (starting 3k) all the way up to 11k. The key hand of the day came as I held AQ out of the small blind with blinds at 100/200 25 ante. An aggressive player raises the cutoff position and I call out of the small blind. Flop comes A95 two of the same suit. I decide to check raise his 800 bet to 1900. He calls. Turn card is a 4 second suit of spades. Two flush draws are now out. He was the type of player that was literally raising any two cards at this point. I decided to ship in 9075 into the 5200 pot b/c I sort of put him on a draw or a weaker ace and really thought he might call me off. I wanted to push this for value and protect my hand. I thought he'd be more likely to call a shove then two bets in a row. I was pretty confident I had the best hand. If I bet into a better hand then fine, but I just didn't care about controlling the pot. When I pushed my 9075 in I still had a 25 chip on my cards. The dealer incorrectly announced that I was all in and I pointed to my chip a few times but didn't want to say much as the player hadn't acted yet. The player thinks for a while and calls immediately flipping his A4 over for two pair. The dealer says "ok we are all in flip them over." Then they call the floor because I point out that I'm not all in. First floor guy somehow rules it's an assumed all in and I say there is no way I'm going to put that chip in the pot when there is one card to come and I know his hand. Now typically they penalize someone for exposing a hand before the action is over, but I'm glad to see the 2nd floor man decided not to penalize my opponent and ruled I didn't have to bet that chip. The bad news is the river was a 6 and I check folded my cards face down. I'm really fine with the play. My 25 chips and my 28 of diamonds failed to beat AK on the next hand.

The 5k NL Hold 'em event concluded for me on Saturday with a teasing day 3 11th place finish. It was the 3rd biggest event so far this series in terms of prize pool out of the first 40 events. My day 3 began with me pushing A8 of diamonds at 5k/10k blinds 1k ante into the short stack big blind and losing 85k from my 866k. I then immediately raised KK and everyone folded and that about sums up the day. I made a bluff that eventual champion Matt Jarvis made a nice call with J9 on a K Jd Td 9d 2s board. I missed my straight flush draw with A7d and almost moved all in there. Who knows if he calls? The deck put me in a few less than lukewarm situations as well. My AA had the board run out Kh4h4sThJh. I bet on the flop and the turn because I felt like he could still be drawing with a KQ, KJ hand or even have something like nines with a heart. I folded to his river bet. I believe I was right on both decisions, but I'll never know for sure. After the bluff, I won a KQ vs AT all in by hitting a K on the last card. Shortly after, I 3 bet Jarvis again with TT only to see him call in position and flop come out AJ4. After my bet on the flop, the K on the turn made me just give up with my 19 bb stack. He could have been bluffing, I think he probably had me beat at that point. If he didn't, then he just owned my soul. I then moved all in over a raise 5 handed with AQ and the small blind called with 99. The 9 on the flop sealed my fate. It didn't occur to me until later that I shook everyone's hand because I was kind of in a daze at the time. 3 days of poker and all the excitement of achieving my one goal this summer was on hold. Props to my opponents as they deserved to be there getting through that tough field.

Overall, I'm happy with that tournament, I'll learn from it and move on. I made a couple bad plays in the event, but also made some good ones and rallying from just 16,000 chips with blinds at 800/1600 all the way to 11th makes it hard to complain about luck. It was probably the best competition in a tournament I've played to date. Some extremely talented tables played throughout that tournament. At the same time, it's extremely painful to be so close to a huge score and a bracelet again and come up short. The swings in emotions are just mind boggling. I slept extremely well the night before day 3 despite it being the biggest tournament I would ever win if I beat the 20 remaining players. I feel much more mature as a poker player in terms of how I manage my emotions. At the end of the day, it's just a game and you have to have confidence in your ability and reads and play great poker.

I've been having a lot of fun this summer and wouldn't want to be any place in the world but in the biggest poker tournaments in the world. I do miss my girlfriend and family/friends. 27 straight days of poker probably isn't helping my relations to any other human, but I get to take a break and head to Cleveland for July 1-5 where I'll see a lot of great people in my life. I'm super excited for that. Then I'll return for maybe one more event and the Main Event. I'm feeling ready for that after immersing myself in poker this month.

It's 2:21am and somehow I haven't gone to bed yet, but I'll decide how I feel tomorrow and play either the 10k six max NL Hold 'em tournament or the 2500 Omaha Hi/Lo and Stud Hi/Lo 8 or better Limit tournament.