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Jits-float Tilt.S.O.P morons

Posted on June 12, 2008

Confusing title? I couldn’t think of another one that would describe what this blog is about. I haven’t updated in a while since I’ve been insanely busy with poker, a lot has gone on since my last blog though so I’ll try to concentrate on quality and not quantity. So get ready for another marathon read.

A few weeks before the series started I signed up at a nearby MMA gym ran by the UFC heavy weight champ Randy Couture, it‘s called “Xtreme Couture“. The gym is SICK, and has all sorts of classes ranging from Yoga to Jiu-Jitsu to Muay Thai and everything in-between. As I signed up I was surrounded by dudes like Forrest Griffin and Gray Maynard it was a weird feeling to know that EVERYONE in the room could beat the shit out of me, they all seem like really nice guys though.



Well, I signed up for about $200 or so and it took me a few days before I went to my first class, it was a Jiu-Jitsu class that was WAY more than I could handle. I was dead within 30 minutes, and had to get the hell out of there before I puked on someone’s face. I did end up puking at the first stop light on my way out though, and that was when I realized that poker had totally fucked up my health in less than 3 years. I’ve been back since and I absolutely love it. Ever since I was a kid I’ve had a love of Martial Arts, I watched all of the Bruce Lee movies, read his book, and practiced it sporadically throughout my life. I started with Taekwondo as a kid and then practiced Judo and Aikido as a teen. At this point in my life I actually regret not continuing regularly since I started, as a kid though it’s hard to actually understand how much of a positive impact a discipline like this can have on your life. I always lost interest in things after a year or two of doing it, I was a jack of all trades and a master of none. Luckily for me, my recent obsession with MMA got me re-motivated to start training again and get back to a healthy lifestyle. I’ve actually managed to get through entire classes now without puking. I always get my ass kicked but I like it, it’s very humbling. Unfortunately right now my knees are completely messed up, I can’t even cross my legs without pain, hopefully this gets better soon so I can continue with the classes.



Another cool new “first” for me was floating. Sounds weird, I know. I’ll explain to the best of my ability though. I learned about it by reading Joe Rogan’s blog, and I was very intrigued. I’ve known about it for about 6 months but never really got around to doing this until a couple of weeks ago. This is a very crazy and unique experience involving a tank that is known as a “sensory deprivation chamber” or “Isolation tank”. It looks like a big rectangular box, or some sort of gigantic safe. Inside it has 11 inches of water with a 800 pounds of Epson salt, this makes you buoyant as you lay in the water. The water is heated to body temperature (94 degrees I think) and the tank is sound proof and pitch black.



Now that you get the idea of what these tanks are I’ll try to explain the experience when I finally got in one. It was very strange at first and I was quite nervous that I would freak out or get claustrophobic. I closed the door of the tank and couldn’t see anything, I laid down and instantly felt very weird as soon as it felt like there was no gravity. I started getting itches on my nose, but I was explained that this would happen and I shouldn’t scratch. Apparently when your brain loses all it’s senses it starts trying to “trick you” and makes your face itch so that you’ll touch it or something. As you float you stop feeling that you’re in water, and you totally lose the sense of reality. I didn’t know if I had been there 5 minutes or 30, I kept feeling that I was spinning in a very slow counter-clockwise motion, but I knew that the tank wasn’t wide enough for me to spin so I was probably in the same spot I was when I started floating.

My mind was going insane with thoughts of just about everything from poker to health, to trying to get the song “always talking bout what you got” out of my head. At some points it felt as though someone had just taken my brain out of my body, so I couldn’t see, anything or feel anything and I was just free to think about whatever my mind felt I should think about, it’s very hard to explain. Unfortunately my lack of experience didn’t let me get “deep” into the moment for too long, and I would suddenly start to freak out and reach around with my hands until I could feel the wall of the tank. Suddenly I felt a knock on the tank, which meant my hour was over and I had to get out, it was kind of startling as I didn’t expect it at all, afterwards I felt incredibly relaxed my back pain from BJJ training was almost completely gone and my “head” felt very clear and focused. I plan on going at least once a week now, it’s really amazing to be alone with no distractions for an entire hour, it’s like meditating times 100. Rogan made an awesome post once about these things, he explains it WAY better than I do and knows much more about it, if you guys are interested I think you should read this and look for somewhere to float where you live. Here’s the link to
Rogan’s blog about Iso tanks


As far as the series goes, I was very motivated to start. I decided to take a different approach to this world series and focus on winning a bracelet, unfortunately I haven’t been 100% disciplined. I started out the series by going to sleep at 2 am and waking up at 10 am (tourneys start at 12). I would meditate on my balcony for 10 minutes, do yoga for 15, and then go downstairs to the gym for a 35 minute workout. I would come back up, shower, and make breakfast. I also bought an Xbox just so that I have something to do every time I bust out of an event, just so that I won’t be tempted or bored enough to play online.

Here’s the downside though, my place is a MESS, my room, my kitchen, everything looks like a tornado hit it. If I bust out early I’m too pissed and tired to clean and I just play Xbox for hours until I go to bed, I really have to get around to cleaning my house.

Everything was positive, and going on track, I was sticking to my routine, I made 3 dinner breaks in my first three events which I’m pretty sure is more dinner breaks than I made last year (not that it’s an accomplishment to make DB’s but it is pretty hard in these events with thousands of people). And I cashed my 3rd event, the $5k mixed hold’em event. The field was REALLY tough deep in the tourney, and the limit levels were absolutely insane compared to the NL levels. The hands that killed me were both limit hold’em hands that I couldn’t play any differently. The first one, Phil Laak raised 7 handed and I 3bet KJ at 4k/8k he called, the flop was K36 and he check called the whole way and just as I thought I was scooping a huge pot that would take me from 100k to 135 and possibly top 5 in chips, he turns over KQ. After that the level went to 5k/10k and the biggest donk at the table raised it UTG with 28 left I 3 bet AQ he called the flop was As8s3c he check raised and I just called to get an extra big bet in on the turn, which was a Qs he bet and I raised and he just called, at which point I feel pretty sure I have the best hand, the river was an 8c and he checked so I put in a V-bet and he called, I was almost sure he’d flip over AT but once again a guy played his hand terrible and flipped over 4s6s, and I was crippled.

After that small cash I still felt well and I was extra motivated now that I had gotten close. Last Saturday though, was the beginning of my first bump on the road in this series. I played the $2500 (where I played that hand in my last post) and without really getting any good situations I got my stack up to about 40K (start with 5k) before the dinner break. After the break we came in to 300/600 and I got moved from a great spot I was in at my table, so that was my first beat. I get to the new table and I’m kind of pissed that I have to re-establish an image and get a read on the players, very first hand I see is KT and I minraise like I always do. The SB and BB call and the flop is TT3r the BB leads out 3k and I just call the turn is a 2 and he leads 5k and I just call, the river is a Q and he moves in for the rest of his stack (less than pot sized bet) and I call he has AT for the gross cooler that took a little more than half my stack. After that I raised JT and a guy called, the flop was 8T3r and I got it in vs. another donk with A8 the turn was an A and I was on tilt for the first time in the 08 WSOP.

The next day I went to sweat my friend Tmay at the 5k shootout FT and lost some money to one of my friends while prop betting the flops. When I got back home, with a few beers in me, I decided to drink a few more, then I got the brilliant idea to “gamble” a little bit online. I sat in a 25/50 game with 1k behind just to try and run it up, I lost that and then realized the game was actually really juicy so I bought in for the full 5k, then I bought into a 25/50 plo game. I was up about 1500 and about to quit when I got it in with JJ vs. A2 for stacks on a 539r board and lost a monster pot, now I was stuck about 4k, and I reloaded, I had 4k behind in the plo game and I got set under set where I probably should have folded but I was already on banana tilt, and lost that 4k….then I went on to lose another 7k just tilting every hand, and all of a sudden I was stuck about 15k. I made a bit back playing 8/16 nl HU and ended up stuck 9k on the night.

This tilt session kind of ruined my mood and stability for a bit, next day I didn’t work out or meditate before I played, I lost 4 handed in the shootout with KK to JJ all in pre. For the past 3 days I haven’t gone to sleep or woken up early enough to work out in the morning, I’m running late and haven’t eaten breakfast, and I’ve been in a shitty mood. I’m refocused though and I’m going to sleep early today so that I can do my whole routine again before the 2k tomorrow. I’ll start posting results in the “schedule” section of this site, and I’ll try to blog at least once a week so that it doesn’t have to be this long.

Finally, I’ve been “LOL’ing” pretty hard that I’ve somehow managed to get haters to read my blog, I think it’s pretty funny so I decided to address these guys since it‘s obvious they are pretty desperate for attention, keep in mind I‘m only writing this for selfish entertainment purposes, I‘m sorry if it makes the blog entry too long:

“BY Dan theman AT June 11, 2008, 1:59 pm
Thats a pretty bad play overall. Early in the tournament making a bluff like that has no EV at all. I guess thats why we don't hear you making too many Final tables these days.”

“BY poker player AT June 7, 2008, 8:26 pm
HA HA. nice 1. I c you do that quite often, thats why you havent made another final table.”

Both of you are giant morons. In fact, I really hope you’re both the same giant moron posting under different names because that would reduce the number of giant morons that read my blog by one. I made a final table (3rd place) in my last 15 live tournaments, what have you done? I’m saying that just so you realize how dumb you are without having to explain any poker to either of you, I’d rather keep your poker knowledge to a minimum (unless of course you decide to pay for it at
www.pokervt.com). I didn’t post that hand as a brag that I made a move, I make moves like that every time I play and that’s not even in my top 50 sick plays, I made the post as a joke because the guy who I bluffed told me to. Next time I post a hand that I play and you feel the urge to post some strategy, please realize that I’m good friends with some of the best players in the world and the advice of people that call themselves lame shit like “Dan The Man” or “Poker Player” will NEVER be taken seriously by me, EVER. Have fun being a giant moron.


On to the next clown:

“BY Rolando Mota AT June 9, 2008, 10:25 am
All the stupid Internet player lingo: "limping from the Hijack" and "minraised"....you sound like a retard! Texas is that-a-way---à”

I feel sorry for you, but at the same time I’m glad your kind still exists in this world so that you can remind me that no matter how shitty my life can ever get, It’ll never be shitty enough to the point that I need to make a fake name on someone’s blog to try and make them feel bad. Look man, I’m sorry if I turned down your friend request on Myspace or whatever it is I did to piss you off. Send me another one if you still want to be my friend,…in fact, you should send me one either way, just so I can get a glimpse at your pathetic life as a poor, pizza delivering cholo. You probably speak spanglish too. I think it’s sad I can get such a good read on your life by just reading the fake name you chose and your senseless replies to each of my blog posts.

The fact that you go through two or three thousand of my written words every time I post a blog with the intent to find something to “hate on” means more to me than any other single person reading my blog on a regular basis, so thank you. I think next time, I’m going to write a blog called “I live in a luxury apartment, drive a Range, get ringside seats to fights, and gamble for $300+ restaurant bills every day (oh and I‘m watching a 60 inch plasma)” The blog will focus ONLY on the awesome things in my life and will only be written with the hopes that at some point you’ll read it and realize that you’re life is shit compared that of a 23 year old college dropout who considers himself unaccomplished so far in life. I have thousands of people who read my shit every time I write, I DARE you to write about your life, you can call it “memoirs of a worthless cholo”. You’ll be sad when you realize that the only comments you’ll ever get are posted by me, under my real name, and all I will do is ask questions like “do you get paid more to wash a minivan than a ford focus?” “don’t you get tired of eating hot pockets every day?” “why do you drink Keystone light? You don’t like Chimay?” ….nice life loser.


J.C.
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random 2500 wsop hand

Posted on June 7, 2008

I know its not the post u guys want....but seat 7 wants me to post it... young guy, ethan in seat 7 limps tom mcevoy limps behind. Ive only been here 3 hands and i have the button with 92o so I make it 275...folds back to ethan he makes it 825...folds to me I flat call (4k behind) flop is QJx he bets 1100...so i can easily rep a huuge hand here and i didnt think he had much limping from the hijack so i minraised him to 2200. he folded, I showed...he told me to post the hand, so there ya go.

I'll get back with an actual post as soon as I am home and have some time.
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Quick WSOPC update

Posted on April 30, 2008

Just in for a quick update on the wsopc $5k event going on at Ceasar's today.

I started off great and got up to 18k after starting with 10k. When the blinds went up to 100/200 I made some semi standard plays but felt I could have done some stuff differently. I got down to 5k, then back up to 20k with 1 hand to go before the dinner break I raised KK a guy called on the button and the bb made a pretty huge squeeze with 94o. I called and lost to the 9 4 door cards on the flop.

Starting the 200/400 level I had about 14k in chips and I got a couple hands and played some sick ones to get up to about 60k by the end of the 300/600 level.

When the 400/800 level started I lost a small race with AJ vs 99. Soon after that I was the button and raised AJ again the bb came over the top with only 15bb's behind so I moved in and he had AK. Sigh, I hovered around the 45k ish stack for a loong time and I got moved to another table.

At 600/1200 I played the most bizarre orbit of poker I've seen in a while:

I had KJ on the button with about 39k behind at 600/1200. The dealer exposed an Ace and it folded to a very good high stakes player named Matt who used to play online as Hazzards. He raised to 3500 from the cut, I flat on the button with KJo.

The flop is Kx6c3c he thinks for a bit and checks I bet 4600 he calls. Turn is an 8h he checks again and I bet 10,200 he thinks and puts me in for 18k or so more with A6. I double up and was up close to 80k (which is a great stack at this point)

VERY NEXT HAND, one of the weridest situations I've been in.

I very rarely do this but for some reason I looked at my hand right when I got it (probably because I was stacking chips from the last hand) and I think I gave away some strength tells.

Folds to Hazards in the hijack and he limps (first time I've ever seen him limp) I have QQ and I make it 3800 folds to him and he calls. Flop 34Tr he checks I bet 6600 he thinks for a little bit and Minraises me to 13,200. I think forever and I just call.

The turn is a 5x I think and he bets 13k again. Sigh I thought forever and folded. He told me he had a set of 3's. I don't know why though I'm suddenly super paranoid about this hand. What if he had AT and was planning to bet fold the turn? I just think it's an insanely weird hand.

Oh well, nothing I can do anymore. I really don't think he bluffed me but if he did, huge props to him because a bluff in that spot has to be like 10th level thinking.

Anyway after that hand I raised one hand c-bet the flop and got shoved on, so I folded. I then 3bet Jimmy Tran with AJ and he moved in with AA so I folded.

I ended the day with 38k blinds are going to 800/1600. I really wish I had more chips but I can still work with the stack I have. There's 54 left out of about 360 or so that started, 36 pay, 500k for first. I need to pick up some good hands and double up tomorrow.

JC

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