Party at the Playboy Mansion

So my buddy lives in LA and his girlfriend is promoting a party at the Playboy Mansion coming up in June. I planned on going because it's on 'The List' of things I gotta do before I die, but now I'm leaning towards saving my money for a condo instead. If any of my VIP readers are interested I can probably hook you up with an invite (see below for details). Just send me an email at themainsdomain[at]gmail.com


"Hi All,

There is a private party happening at the Playboy Mansion June 23rd!!!!!! Get ready to start off the summer with the biggest three day party ever.

Since I’m part of the marketing team for this party I can invite my friends for $1000 so if you are interested in going….

Kandyland is $1500 and goes up to $2000 for a guy ticket (only 600 guy tickets will be sold). All 1000 girls will be cast and hand picked. The ticket includes admission to Kandyland at the Playboy Mansion, full open bar all night, food, desserts, live entertainment and a donation to Marconi Foundation for Kids. We also have taken over an entire swanky Hollywood Hotel so that all Kandyland party goers can play all weekend long. Friday evening (6/22) will be the Kandyland weekend kick off party so you can mingle and meet people before the party, Saturday (6/23) is Kandyland at the Playboy Mansion followed by an after party at the hotel and Sunday (6/24) is the Kandyland Pool Party at the hotel.

Expect Kandyland to be the ultimate sight and sound experience- think Willy Wonka meets Alice in Wonderland. The Karma Foundation is transforming the Playboy Mansion with dazzling extreme lighting effects and visuals, 6ft Lollipops, giant mushrooms, gum drop trees, cotton candy pillars, the Kandy Forest, they will be transforming the pool and grotto with lighting, hanging things, projecting things, etc….."




See below link of last year’s party

www.KarmaKandyland.com

This has nothing to do with poker, but whatever:

Some rando korean pics!

me and my girl:

me and some of my boys:

Stay tuned though, I'll have a big annoucement and my monthly numbers in 2 days!

fun hand and some good news

first, the fun hand.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $2 BB (8 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)

MP1 ($89.20)

Hero ($388.75)

Preflop: THE_MAIN is MP2 with Kd, Kc.

1 fold, UTG+1 calls $2, MP1 raises to $8, THE_MAIN calls $8, 4 folds, UTG+1 folds.

Flop: ($21) 4d, 6c, 5h (2 players)

MP1 bets $10, THE_MAIN calls $10.

Turn: ($41) 9c (2 players)

MP1 bets $30, THE_MAIN raises to $80

SO i put him all in, and he stops to think. I know exactly what he has at this point, and I know I'm winning. So i tell him what he has.

THE_MAIN says: "JJ no good"

Right away he calls.

MP1 calls $41.20 (All-In).

River: ($192.20) 4c (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: $192.20

Results in white below:

MP1 has Js Jd (two pair, jacks and fours).

THE_MAIN has Kd Kc (two pair, kings and fours).

Outcome: THE_MAIN wins $192.19.

So did I tell him exactly what he had? Yes.
Did I tell him I had him beat? Yup.
Did he still call? Naturally.
Was his mind blown? Obviously.

I'd have given anything to know what was going on in his head when I called out his hand. Awesome.

Hand number is #9125933605 in case someone wants to verify that this actually went down.


Now, the good news for canadians on stars. I had a long chat with one of the members of support, and they assured me I could use echeques to deposit/withdrawl directly from my account. All you have to do is deposit once ($25USD min) and then you can withdrawl from there. This actually makes withdrawling easier for me, but I can't move money on as freely (for other bonuses and stuff). C'est la vie.

A link to more info on eChecks (only available for canadians)

why neteller, why?

In a recent move, Neteller has decided to cease all transactions to and from online gambling companies for all of its canadian customers. This is coming after already shuttin out the US. I really don't understand why they are doing this, especially because the canadian government has yet to show any opposiition to online gambling.

Here's a link to a FAQ that addresses a few of the issues:
http://content.neteller.com/content/en/member_businessupdate_canada.htm

This is going to be the biggest hassle to deal with, espeically with me being in asia, and all my accounts being canadian. Oh and of course, the games will undoubtedly suffer in the short run (at least).

Ah poker... don't die on me yet. :(

getting lazy

I havnt played any cash games since my last post. I guess I've gotten a bit complacent.

Today I played a bunch of small tournaments and had no success at all. I''m probably down like $100 for the day. (i have one still going, a super satelite to the world series of poker)

I think its pyschological... when I'm winning, I don't play as much. In my head, this is probbaly to protect winnings. When I'm losing, I want to play more to get even. It makes total sense, but has got to be counter productive. Generally, you play better when you're winning, so I should try to reverse this pattern.

Whatever, it came at a good time, because I had a busy weekend planned.

One of my friends in korea, Joe Pineault, got married on saturday. He's a pro boxer here, and he threw a really nice party for everyone. It was a great time, but eventually, all the booze led to a bunch of fights btwn friends. I wasn't directly involved in anything, but it turned an otherwise great night pretty sour. So I spent most of sunday helping things get smoothed over.

Happy to say everything got worked out eventually.

I will probably post some pics from the wedding when I get a chance. But I'll leave you with the main reason you dont want to pass out in a bar:

In an interesting development, I somehow managed to "out-do" my best day at cash ever.

It's so weird that I've been playing at this level for so long, and have my two best days so close to one another. Maybe I'm getting better? Probably just variance :)

I made exactly $2399.05 today in 3341 hands, which barely eclipses the great day I had last week. I also did it in 2 less hours, so it was that much sicker.

It was pretty sweet to have a big day, because this week has been pretty bad poker-wise. Just lost a few key all-ins where I had a huge edge in equity.

But anyways, this day puts me at exactly $4k for the month, excluding bonuses. I also have big plans for April, which I will announce next week. lol cliffhangers

Good news for any of you that got screwed by NETeller

"NETeller Plc announced this morning that it signed an agreement yesterday with the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO), allowing the firm to create, within 75 days, a plan for repatriating frozen funds to its U.S. customers."

Full article here

Raymer Gets Hacked!

2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer was temporarily victimized by an account hacker who used brute force and repeated attempts to guess Raymer's Poker Stars password and gain access to his account on Sunday. The hacker then opened up several heads-up sit-'n'-go tournaments in larger amounts and began dumping the contents of the account into that of someone screen-named "Ikeyrson," apparently oblivious to the fact that Raymer's play is typically watched by dozens of onlookers every time
he logs on to the Stars site.

Naturally, some of these onlookers recognized the bizarre chip-dumping as highly suspicious behavior, and contacted Stars security, who in turn contacted Raymer about the incident.

Because of the very public way in which the theft was attempted, Stars was able to freeze the accounts and move the money back into Raymer's possession, as Raymer re-secured that account with a stronger password. The hacker had not yet had time to move the money into third-party accounts, which may have represented a more difficult challenge in having funds returned. Raymer reported that Poker Stars was unable to identify the culprit to him, likely due to European laws regarding Internet confidentiality.

What's the lesson here? Make sure you have a strong password on your poker accounts and if you're going to hack a poker celebrity at least do a direct cash transfer!

Here is an interesting article from pokernews.com that makes the conclusion "there is no such thing as luck in poker".

"Ask any good poker player if they are willing to risk their tournament on a 10 to 1 draw and they will say: "Yes!" Every single time. The question is simple, do you say yes to this propostion every single time? If you do then you understand variance and you reject the fuzzy logic of luck. Furthermore, you understand that sitting down at a poker table engages you in a game that is, in fact, gambling and you are doing this voluntarily."


Click Here For the Article

Well, if you read last post, you'd know that I have a new lucky mouse. Well, I took it for another test ride today.

I'm still buzzing from the excitement of this sick session, which ended with an even sicker series of hands.

Where do I begin?

Ok, my girlfriend left my place early this morning for school, and woke me up in the process. So I'm up a lot earlier than I usually am, and decide to put in a marathon session.

It went really well, and I was up $1400 after like 6hours. I was feeling great, as this was one of my best sessions ever. Everything seemed to be going my way, which is the way I like it.

Anyhow, I was feeling a bit tired, and wanted to end my session... but there was this one fish floating around this one table. Slowly I started closing off my other tables, and focusing on this one particular player. At this point, he has about $600 in front of him, from his originally $200. He made that $400 playing like an idiot -- I had noticed, and planned to exploit it. As luck would have it, I also happened to have $600 on this table.

He has making ridiculously large raises preflop (raises to $50, when normally its $6 or $8), and I happened to pick up KK . He raised to something stupid like $70, and I reraised to $200. He folded.

Damn. There goes my big chance to bust him. But I decide to stick around for a bit.

TWO HANDS LATER, I get dealt AA on the button. This time he raises to $36. Again, I raise to $200. But now, something I didn't expect develops. The next player, a good player, raises all-in to $270, and the player beside him calls $131 all in!!! WTF!?? The crazy dude folds, and obviously I call with the best hand in a $700 pot!

Thankfuly, my aces hold up.

The good player had QQ. Now, normally, he wouldn't go all in, but he knew that I knew that the 1st player was an idiot. So he knows I will try to isolate him with hands worse than QQ. He got unlucky that I had 1 of the 2 hands that beat him. The other guy called with AK which is just dumb. But anyways.

THE VERY NEXT HAND. I get dealt 66 and limp in for $2. The pyscho, who is still here and has lots of money, raises to $28. Usually this is an easy fold, but against an idiot with this much money, I have implied odds to call and hit a set. And guess what.... I did.

*** FLOP *** [6h 3d Ah]

This is beautiful, because if he has an ace, hes not folding. He bets $34, and I make a risky play and just call. I'm just hoping he will bet again on the turn so I can raise him.

*** TURN *** [6h 3d Ah] [Qd]

Nice card for me. If he has a Q in his hand, he's now less likely to fold. He does indeed bet again, this time $44. I can't wait any longer, I need to build this pot so I can get all my money in on the river. I also need to charge flush draws. I raise to $150. He stops and thinks for quite a while.

FInally he calls the $150 bet.

At this point I have him on an ace, or some other random pair... maybe even two pair. I don't think he has a flush draw, because he would play it harder, and also wouldve called my raise much faster.

*** RIVER *** [6h 3d Ah Qd] [Kd]

This card completes the flush draw, and also made him a stragiht if he happened to have a HORRIBLY played JT. He thinks for a few seconds, and finally puts all his chips in the pot. All $314.55 of them.

Sick. What a huge bet, what a huge pot. This is the biggest decision I've ever had to make, and if I call and win, it would be my biggest pot ever. But there is no way i can lay this down now.

There is like $400 in the pot, and if he hit runner runner for flush or straight, then so be it.

I call.

*** SHOW DOWN ***

djphilippine: shows [4d 5c] (high card Ace)

the_main: shows [6s 6d] (three of a kind, Sixes)

the_main collected $1054.10 from pot

Styranger said, "lol"

Yeah, he didnt even have a pair. He had a busted straight draw, and a lot of heart! Too bad it wasnt enough. And with that, I ship the biggest pot of my life, and also the most winningest day at cash games ($2400).

And finally, here's me at a $200NL table with $1600 (SICK!)

i love it

I have some good news, and I have some bad news.

What do you want first? Bad news? Ok.

I lost my temper today for the first time in a while. It was a culmination of things, but it was a poker hand that set me off.

I started the day off on the wrong foot. As I was playing, I got into an argument with my girlfriend. It went on for a while, but I kept playing while she was crying (good boyfriend, I know).

After I got off the phone, I thought I could focus.

I couldn't.

I made a bad misclick in a big hand, and cost myself a $400 pot. Misclicks have happend before, but never for that much. It was from a clear lack of focus. This was added to having already been down about $500. So yeah, I snapped. I whipped my mouse across the room, and it shattered in a few peices. Well, thats one way to end a session when tilting, right?

Anyways, here the session, visually:

And here is the mouse, visually:

Ok, enough bad news. Time for the good news.

AFter this little incident, I cooled off and took a shower. I called my girlfriend and worked everything out (good boyfriend, I know). Then I took a nice long walk to the computer store and bought a new mouse. I came home, feeling much better and focused, and decided to fire up some more tables and play. Well, the real good news here is that my new mouse is lucky:

Ship it.

Anyways, I'm pretty dissapointed in myself that I flipped out. I try to pride myself on being emotionless with poker. I'm posting this as a reminder, and also to publically embarass myself for acting like a 12 year old.

If anything, maybe something can be learned from this. I guess my advice would be to keep a clear head any time you're playing. If you have something you need to deal with that's bothering you, do that first. The tables will always be waiting when you get back.

Numbers, numbers, numbers.

Well, it's the middle on the month and time for a little update.

I know I said I was breaking even, but I had a good last 5k hands.

24,158 hands for $1046.75 ($29.86/hr)

Graph:

Nice spike at the end, eh? And yeah, almost all of this is at NL200.


As for bonuses, I havn't cleared any yet, but should hit 2x$1500 by the end of the month. So this month might be pretty weak. Hopefully I can actually earn some $$ playing. :)



Next month should be better, because I'll hit my first milestone bonus when I earn 200,000 points. That will be good for $2k. So in april I should get between $5000-7500 in bonuses alone. Mmmm mmm mmm.

When I woke up this morning, I could barely imagine that I would even make it out of bed, let alone be involved in the biggest pot of my life.

Allow me to elaborate.

Last night, we drank.
Lots.
Stories were told, drunken phone calls were placed, insults were hurled, promises were made, but mostly, good times were had. This morning, however, was no fun at all. There is something about wine which gives me killer hangovers, and this was one of those times. I felt horrible all day, and spent it eating pizza, drinking water, and watching TV on my couch for like 12hours with my buddy.

The thing I love about poker is that I don't ever HAVE to play. I want a day off, a week off, a month off, whatever, I can do it. So I did. That is, until my buddy left.

I innocently checked my email to find that my old friend PartyPoker had decided to give me $25 dollars for free, just to try to lure me back to thier site (where I used to play quite a bit). I had no intentions of playing poker with the money, because the amount is almost neglible. So I logged on, and sat at the blackjack table with all of it.

$25 bet. I get dealt some a 13 vs. a ten. Blah, this is gonna be quick. I hit, and a magic 8 rolls off giving me 21. Up to $50, so I let it ride. I get dealt a 20 and it holds. Nice. Nothing else to do at this point but LET IT RIDE. $100 bet, and I get dealt a 13 vs a dealers 5. I stand, and the dealer turns over a jack, followed by another one. BUST. Sweet, so now I'm up to $200 and can probably do something with it.

That something is, of course, shortstacking $1000NL. The first hand I'm dealt is Ace-Ten, and some dude raises to $40. He gets a caller, so obviously I raise all in b/c it's fun. Everyone folds and I'm at like $300. I pick up another few small pots and find myself at ~$400. WHat now? Move up to $2000NL, obviously (10x my normal stakes).

Some dude opens to $75, and I have 44 on the button. I push all in, and everyone folds, so I'm up to $500. And then, it happens. The biggest pot I've ever been involved in. Enjoy:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ Hero (5 handed) internettexasholdem.com

SB ($726.50)
THE_MAIN ($497)
UTG ($2755)
MP ($5820.50)
Button ($2541)

Preflop: THE_MAIN is BB with Qs, Kc. SB posts a blind of $10.

UTG raises to $75, MP calls $75, 1 fold, SB (poster) calls $65, THE_MAIN raises to $497, UTG calls $422, MP folds, SB raises to $726.50, UTG calls $229.50.

OOPS!!!
Ok, so why did I move all in with KQo? Well it wasn't because I thought it was the best hand, this is somehting we call a squeeze play. When the intiial raiser puts in $75, he gets called by 2 other people. So, when I raise, I put tonnes of pressure on him. Not only does he have to worry about me, he also has to worry about the 2 guys who called behind him, who could have monster hands they are playing slowly. I also know that the guys calling behind could have anything as bad as suited connectors or small pairs, something that can not stand an all in raise. My goal is to just win the pot here, and take $250 in the middle. So yeah, ARRRRR IN BABY!!!

Flop: ($1950) 5h, 8h, 8d (3 players)
Turn: ($1950) 2c (3 players)
River: ($1950) 8s (3 players)

Final Pot: $1950

Results below:
SB has 9c 9d (full house, eights full of nines).
Hero has Qs Kc (three of a kind, eights).
UTG has 6s 6d (full house, eights full of sixes).

Yeah whatever, I lost. But wow, I had a tonne of outs!! (I should win this hand 38% of the time)Hahaha... I've lost more in one hand before, but this is the biggest pot I've ever played in. This short experience was a lot of fun, and very different from the day to day grinding I'm used to. If I had turned nothing into $1500 in those 30mins, that would've been pretty damn impressive. As it turns out, I was highly entertained at no cost to myself. :)

I'll check in with a mid month update in the next day or so with my numbers (spoiler: I'm breaking even)

Here's an article written by Huckleberry Seed of Poker Lab Rat

“If you’re attuned to your opponent’s moods, you’ll find opportunities to profit from their weakened states.”

I’m best known in the poker world for my tournament success. I’ve won four World Series of Poker bracelets, including the World Championship in 1996. With as much success as I’ve had in tournaments, however, I still prefer to spend most of my time in cash games. If I were to limit myself to tournaments, I’d miss out on some of poker’s most interesting aspects.

In tournaments, you’re constantly moving. The tournament director may move you so that he can balance tables, or your table may break. So, even if you’ve been attentive to your opponents’ tendencies, there’s a good chance that you won’t be able to exploit the information you’ve gained. In a cash game, however, you have far more time with a set of players. When I play a cash game in a casino, I might spend eight, 10, or 12 hours with the same group, so I have a longer time to study my opponents and exploit their weaknesses. If I’m going to be playing with the same people for hours, I can create a table image that will benefit me over the course of my session. For example, when I first enter a game, I might make a series of unprofitable plays - some strange bets or bluffs. These plays may lose me a little bit of money, but they affect how everyone thinks of me for the rest of the session. Even if I shift to a more solid mode of play, some players will retain the idea that I’m a nut case. In a tip I provided a few weeks ago, I showed how developing this sort of table image can be used to great effect by representing a bluff.
In a tournament, however, it’s tough to profit from that kind of persona. You can spend an hour getting everyone to believe you’re a maniac only to be moved to a table of complete strangers. At that point, your stack will be decimated and your image will have disappeared.

In cash games, you also have the chance to track your opponents’ mood shifts over time. At various points in a session, a player may get tired, frustrated or just go on tilt. If you’re attuned to your opponents’ moods, you’ll find opportunities to profit from their weakened states. In a tournament, you rarely get a chance to take advantage of someone else’s tilt. Usually, the hand that gets a player steaming also busts them from the tournament.

While tournaments can provide for some great action, playing them exclusively can limit your game. By branching out and playing cash games, you’ll develop a completely different set of poker skills and be able to explore some of the more interesting psychological aspects of the game.

The Poker Shrink - Vol 31 - Absolute Threshold and Signal Detection Theory

March 09, 2007
Dr. Tim Lavalli

Absolute threshold is a very specific psychological and sensory term. Absolute threshold refers to the smallest intensity of a stimulus that has to be present for the stimulus to be detected. The most common example of this involves sensitivity to heat. Think of an electric burner on a stove. You place your hand on the burner and then turn it on low. At first you won't feel anything because it is takes time for the coils to heat up. Eventually it will get warm enough for you to detect heat; there is some temperature that is just hot enough for you to notice it. In this case your absolute threshold is the point at which it is just hot enough for you to detect the presence of the heat. Now for someone else the absolute threshold could be higher or lower; sooner or later. In psychology such a variation in perception or feeling is referred to as a threshold.

A threshold simply implies that there are different levels of response or perception to certain stimuli, which varies among people. We all have different levels of response to heat, light, sound, color and dozens of other sensory inputs. Your particular response or perception of a stimulus is your threshold. It is possible to measure when you become aware of something and often your awareness precedes your conscious recognition of the stimulus. You know when someone says: "The noise from those fluorescent lights is driving me crazy." You hadn't even noticed the annoying buzz but now that someone has mentioned it, you can't stop hearing it. Did you actually not hear the noise before? Or was your absolute threshold for the noise reset?

OK, what's the application of absolute threshold to poker? Very simple. Your skills of observation at the table not only can be improved but can actually be reset. This means that you can detect and utilize more vital information from your opponents by resetting your threshold of awareness.

There is another interesting concept in psychology called signal detection theory which says that our ability to observe is not an absolute quantity but rather depends on situational and motivational factors. Simple example, you learn more about your poker table opponents when you are paying attention and are not tired, distracted or drunk. Seems obvious but wait there is something much more subtle and valuable to your game and your bankroll going on here.

Let's say that you are looking at the player in seat two when he tables his AKo to pick up a pot, which is to say you are watching the action instead of the cocktail waitress as she walks away from the table. Because you are watching the table, you also hear the player in seat seven say: "Played big slick a bit faster that time." And the seat two player responds: "Well I was in early position this time." Now you have three pieces of information instead of one and you have also reset your threshold to a higher level to receive more information. How?

Here is the point. Absolute threshold can be reset to receive more information ("to feel the heat sooner") simply by paying attention. Signal detection is enhanced by paying attention to more information and the ability to remember the information and access it later in the game is also increased by both paying attention and having more information available. Notice that nowhere have we mentioned remembering the information or storing the memory. In fact, studies have shown that with absolutely no attempt to increase memory or use any memory tricks whatsoever, an individual will recall more information simply by paying closer attention to events as they unfold. The additional information actually makes you more sensitive to more subtle clues you would have missed previously.

By resetting your thresholds higher, you remember more of what you see and hear even with no conscious effort on your part to save those memories. It is a proven function of threshold behavior that as you make more refined observations, you simply retain more information. The simply truth at the poker table is: 'Paying Attention Pays'.

Very proud to be a poker player at the moment:


Local charity cashes in on wager
'Robin Hood' of poker turns a dare into a way to help Children Inc.
BY BILL LOHMANN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Mar 3, 2007
Without playing a card, Children Inc. hit the jackpot.

Online poker players around the world have donated more than $20,000 to the Richmond-based charity this week, paying off a friendly wager among themselves. The money was still coming in yesterday.
"We are amazed and overjoyed at the response from the poker community," said CI spokeswoman Liz Sauer.
To some, the situation might seem a paradox: a charity founded by the daughter of a Presbyterian minister that distributes $4 million annually to more than 16,000 needy children around the world receiving money from gamblers. But CI officials said generosity is generosity and money is money -- and poker is legal -- so they are gladly accepting the contributions and will put them to good use.
"These people want to do something good, and we are happy to help them do something good," said Sauer, who noted the $20,000 would enable CI to sponsor 60 children for a full year.
The ringleader of this wave of bigheartedness is Barry Greenstein, a well-known poker player who has been dubbed the Robin Hood of poker for his custom of donating his tournament winnings to charity. Greenstein is no stranger to CI, which has been one of the beneficiaries of his generosity in the past decade. He's donated more than $1.5 million to the organization, according to his Web site. He also sponsors seven children through CI, said Sauer.
Greenstein's most recent largesse directed to CI began as a wager -- sort of a double-dog-dare-you -- among the 2+2 Forums online poker community (www.twoplustwo.com). If other players promised to make contributions to CI, Greenstein vowed to say "LOL donkaments" during a televised poker tournament. The phrase is an online expression that, according to a discussion board on the 2+2 Web site, pokes fun at the poor skill level of some tournament players by combining the words "donkey" and "tournament." In Internet lingo, LOL means "laugh out loud."
In an episode of "High Stakes Poker," aired Monday on GSN, Greenstein uttered the phrase. The money started rolling into CI on Tuesday morning.
"One of the [donation] process- ing ladies asked me, 'What's going on? We're being inundated with these donations, and they're all referencing Barry Greenstein,'" said Sauer. "I asked her how many did she have, thinking maybe five or10, and she held up a stack of papers."
So far, more than 200 donations have come in this week, ranging from $20 to $2,000, from across America and other places as farflung as Australia and Slovenia.
"We're just thrilled these people want to help our children," she said.
In an interview at www.pokerlizard.com, Greenstein said he got involved with CI as a result of "bad parenting."
"I had spoiled my kids and I was trying to show them that other kids aren't as fortunate as they are," said Greenstein, 52, a father of six who lives in California. "I wanted to sponsor a boy and a girl the same ages as my two youngest children."
He didn't care for the overtly religious approach of many charities feeding, sheltering and educating poor children around the world, but he liked CI, which, though clearly guided by Christian principles, is not religiously affiliated.
CI has "many religious people working for them, but that isn't their agenda," Greenstein said on Poker Lizard, adding that more people need to realize "you can have good morals and ethics even if you're not religious"

Source:
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149193496884

The total is now something sick like $35k

What it do, bbv?

I wanted to share a quote that I came across this past week. I think it was from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, but I could be wrong. Anyways, it's not important.

I was a quote about life, but can definitely be applied to poker. Here's the gist of it:

If you can manage to not get too excited about your successes, you will be able to handle your failures with greater ease.

It's just about trying to stay neutral and expecting nothing so that you are unaffected by results. This is a great mentality for handling the ups and downs of poker.

A week without poker

I'm back from japan... and, well.... it's no Korea.

It was a really cool country from the little I experienced of it. We visited nara and kyoto, but spent the majority of our time within osaka.It was pretty easy to get around, using the subways and trains. Most signs were in english so it made things simple, for the most part.



The food was awesome, and probbaly the best thing about the trip. I stuffed my face 2-3 times a day, and all of it was delicious. From traditional japanese dishes to thier takes on western dishes, it was all great.



We had the actual illegal absynthe (legal in japan) with a high worm wood concentration. We ordered the most expensive one which was like $25 a glass because we figured we might as well do it right because we won't get another chance (I think it was French Absynthe). It's a wierd buzz... kinda like being high on alcohol, weed and caffeine all at the same time.




The clubs and bars were pretty weak in osaka, I have to say. Lonely planet led us to the most happening nitelife area there, and it was pretty dead. MInd you, this was a weekday, but still. On top of all this, drinks are super expensive and you'll be spending like $8/drink in most places. There are a lot of all you can drink places which ends up being much cheaper, but most are on weekends I think. This is what we did on friday night.

The night was just... weird. I wont go into details, but, there was a group of crossdressing foreingers there. Add this to some other drama, and it was...well....a weird ngiht.



Anyhow, on to better things: the best part of japan.... the women.

Oh.My.Lord.

I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start with somehting that I've always said. There is no such thing as ugly women, only lazy ones. And these women are the furthest thing from lazy. The effort and attention to detail that goes into thier appearance is mind blowing. All the women get done up fully just to go to the convience store. Add this to the fact that they're generally more curvy then most korean girls, and you have a good combo. Even the punk or goth ones work so hard to pull of thier looks, it just works. I can't do them justice, so I'll stop. It's just something you have to experience.



The only other cool thing in osaka was the red light distrcit. It was fun to walk through, but is nowhere near as interesting to see as korea's.

Saturday was miron's bro's wedding. Unfortunatley I couldnt go to the ceremony, but the after party was great. Miron's bro found a good girl -- her and her parents took great care of us all while we were there.

I'm not sure what day we visited nara, but the place was cool. There are literally deer everywhere. I think some king or something 'imported' a few a long time ago and think just multiplied. I don't quite remmeber the story. It was fun to hang out with deer that were so tame though.




Kyoto was interesting too. One of the more unusual places we visited was adashino nembutsu-ji, which was a graveyard temple. We saw a lot of other little place there, but I wont go into details b/c you can all just research if youre interested. Kyoto was a very rich history. Most people just want to see the pics anyways, which I'll upload soon.









My biggest dissapointment was not getting to hang out with geisha. It was like $3k to hang out with a few for an evening. They are pretty scarce these days, and the number of them are really dropping. And the day we were in kyoto, it was raining, so there werent any wandering around. Oh well, next time I suppose.

I'd defintley visit again, especially because i still havnt seen tokyo. I may post some pics in a day or two.

And now I'm rested and ready to start grindin out these hands. Hopefully I can run good and play my best this month, and book a nice profit. Let us gogogo