Intern
Date: Mon, May 19, 2008 Professional Internet
The playboy mansion was unbelievable and I'll post a full TR + pics update when I get all the pics from Wiggins, Stinger, Cole, and Brian W.
I just wanted to make a quick post about the summer internship that I mentioned earlier in my blog. We read your applications, and to be honest there were some phenomenally qualified applicants, but I just don't think we are capable of taking on an intern right now. We've got some help for our WSOP marketing plans already, and Andrew, Caroline and I are going to be in Vegas for half of this summer which would make an interns job sitting at our office in Chicago very boring. I'm going to try to make sure all of the people who applied are emailed this news tomorrow, but if I don't, I apologize and I thank you for applying. I really was shocked both at how many people applied, and how great many of the candidates were.
tc
Meh week + LA
Date: Sat, May 17, 2008 Professional Internet
This week was sort of mediocre in all aspects. Nothing really happened at work, although we did find an amazing new office which is good i guess. Poker was mediocre, and I didn't go out or do anything exciting after work. Sadly, one of my former grade school teachers passed away. At my grade school we had a group of 20 kids that were in class together for 3rd-6th grade, and we had the same 4 teachers for 4 years. We were all pretty close with the teachers (at the time, anyway) and I learned a ton from them. This teacher in particular taught us math and actually got us interested in it by teaching a game that was actually eerily similar to poker. Anyway, it was a sad to learn she had passed away.
The medicore week sort of put a damper on my excitement for this weekend. Andrew, Stinger, Cole, and our friend Brian (RichANDSmooth, Used2bgood, BrianW09, etc) all came out to LA for a long weekend in hopes of becoming men. There is a charity pokertourney at the Playboy Mansion this weekend so we figured we shouldn't miss what could be our only chance to go to the Mansion.
Two nights ago we went toKatsuya in Brentwood which was ridiculously good. I hate to be the guy who is alwaysrandomly raving about restaurants or anything, really, but the sushi was the best i've ever had. Yesterday we hung out around the hotel, played poker, and then went down to this pretty crazy mall that had a bunch of fancy stores. We convinced Stinger to buy this baller outfit for the Mansion tomorrow (White linen jacket, light blue or light pink shirt, jeans, nice shoes, he's gonna look like a huge pimp) as well. Afterwords we met up with my friend Colin who recently moved to LA.
As we were about to walk into the restaurant (STK), i noticed what I thought looked like amanda leatherman standing outside. It turns out it was amanda, and we were like holy shit what are you guys doing here. She was with Tiffany Michelle who i don't know but I've watched her from afar (aka watched pokernews). Anyway, they were just having drinks at thisrestaurant and then eventually going to the same club we were. We had dinner, then went next door to this place coco deville. It was the first night for this club and it was a pretty good time. Cole and Larissa's flight was delayed so they didn't get to the club till like 1, but we had a great time and somehow Cole lost something once in his life and got stuck with the bill.
LA is pretty crazy, it's just such a different lifestyle and crowd than Chicago. Everyone is really good looking and really thin, and people are way too into the social scene (in my worthless opinion). It was crazy at dinnerwatching random celebrities walk by, and then the same thing when we walked into the club. David Spade was macking on some girl by us, E from entourage and the kid from boy meets world were next to our table too, interesting.
Overall, I'm excited about the Playboy Mansion tongiht and have had a great time in LA so far. It's fun to have little trips like this every once in awhile and I'm happy that poker has allowed me to do that. I'll write up an update of tonight at the airport tomorrow, hopefully.
tc
Got Slaughtered, Pt 2
Date: Mon, May 12, 2008 Professional Internet
Unfortunately this isn't a softball post. My title was going to be downswinging like whoa, but i realized my last post was about getting slaughtered so I might as well continue that.
I got beat pretty badly by Ansky at 25-50 Deep tonight. We honestly only played for 30 minutes tops, and just on one table while we were hoping to get action. It's funny how the game happened. We were playing 5 handed with 4 solid players and a big fish, fish gets busted, so it's just me SamH and Ansky. Most of the time in a lineup like that, 2 of the regs just sit out, and one guy stays and waits to see if someone will come.
We all sat out, then Ansky said maybe we should play and see if the game will get started. I don't mind playing regulars for both the challenge and in hopes that it will get a good game going, so I figured "what the hey."
So literally the first flop we see I have JK on JJQ flop and go broke to AJ. Pretty typical cooler and I actually knew I was in deep shit when we got it in but what can ya do? Then I stacked off like a joker in a horrible spot with like 15-20% equity on the turn and missed. This was a bad play, no way around it.
We battled back and forth a little bit, i made no hands and nothing of note happened (he probably picked up 3-4k in the process). I started a conference call for CR and had to get going in literally 5 minutes so I figured I'd play until the other people got on the line for 1 minute. Not surprisingly, the following hand came up:
I get KK In the blinds, i raise ansky's 150 open to 550 (we're like 10-11k deep, i forget). He calls, and i flop the stone nuts with K94 flop, rainbow. I bet 725 into 1110 and he calls. Turn brings a rather innocuous looking Q. I bet 1900 into 2400 and he calls after a bit of thought. I hope he has KQ, QQ, Q9 and i'm starting to count my money and am thinking of vegas and the mirage etc. River is something blank, so i shove and he snap calls with TJ. Yum.
I quickly lost 35k, which sort of sucked considering I was one tabling just killing time. I've run pretty badly over the past 30 days or so, I lost another good chunk taking a piece of another guy's action, and have been breaking even for the past couple weeks on my own action. I'm probably going to have to deposit some money soon which definitely sucks, I haven't done that in like 3-4 years. I'm mostly mad about that, and I don't really know how I'm going to do it so I'll have to figure that out. Thanks to Stinger for the short term loan, btw.
I'll probably take some time away from the tables, although I have a few video ideas that I want to get done this week. Sometimes it is really relaxing to just sit down, make a video, and talk about poker. One other benefit that I like about that is that it also ensures I'm playing my A game, because I hate looking bad in front of all you CR guys. I'll be back, good and ready for Vegas this summer. I'm looking forward to playing some big cash games, and I'd like to play in Bobby's Room this summer. This might be my last summer out in Vegas, so I'm looking forward to living it up. There will also be a ton of CR stuff going on, so I'm sure my plate will be full (which means you'll get your share of emo posts, hate on).
tc
Got Slaughtered
Date: Wed, May 7, 2008 Professional Internet
21-1 in softball tonight. It was absolutely brutal. I'm playing in a 16'' league (which I just found out was 16'' 2 hours before the game) for a month before vegas, then a few weeks when i get back. We basically have the same team we had this fall in a league where we went 8-0 and then won the championship. Not this time, though. We played against this team of crafty veterans, which is a nice way of saying old guys (but they are very very good at softball). Some notes:
-some old guy with long hair was walking across the outfield during the game. immediately the third base coach on the other teamyellsas loud as possible "what the FUCK are you doing? is that hair in your eyes???? get the FUCK off of our field." the guy starts walking a little faster after this. these guys were pretty big hardasses, and i think they've been around the softball field a bit.
-after we were down by like 15 runs, our shortstop tells a runner "sorry, we're not making much of a game of this." the guy goes "it's okay, we're just happy to get away from our wives for an hour"
-(brag) 2 for 2 with a triple and an RBI. (beat) hands swollen getting so many line drives/hard ground balls beaten off me at third base
Before the game I did a quick 10 minute radio show for ESPN radio in Houston. My friend Matt Dean, of WSOP 04 fame is one of the hosts, and he probably needed to find someone to killa few minutes so he had me on. It was nice to catch up with him a little bit, we just basically bs'd for 10 minutes about poker. He talked up CR pretty well too so I definitely appreciate that.
I'm definitely getting the itch to go out to Vegas. It's coming pretty soon, and I can't wait. I haven't played much poker in the past 5 days, but I'll be back on it later this week for sure. I'm going to be making a 2-3 part 5-10nl video series this week, too. If anyone has any other suggestions for videos please let me know...Im looking to do a little something different after my next series.
Thanks,
tc
A new day
Date: Thu, May 1, 2008 Professional Internet
Thanks for all of the ideas I received following my last post. I have decided two things that I would like to do. One, I am going to be a "big brother" once I get back from Vegas in July. I'm not sure if I'll do the actual Big Brothers program yet, because I think it's something like a 10-15 year commitment and I don't know exactly where I'll be living or anything. I do know that Ezra and David do a similar program, and I think that would be a great place to start. If anyone knows any of those types of programs in Chicago, please let me know.
Secondly, I'm going to start reading this month. I ordered 4 books today today, some that came recommended, and others that I saw reviews of on some blogs. A few of them are about internet business, and a few aren't. I took some time to myself yesterday and I just sort of realized that I really do love being involved in an internet business. I love that aspect about CardRunners and poker. I figure, why not learn as much as I can while I'm doing this, and then hopefully apply it to something else in the future. For now, I'm happy with where I am.
Today, as many of you know, the WSOP announced that the final table will be delayed for 3 months. Interesting news, to say the least. Only time will tell whether or not this is a good thing for poker, I for one am anxious to see how it will play out. At this point, I feel there isn't much we can do but embrace the change, so that's what I'm prepared to do. Imagine what people like Doyle Brunson must think when they look at the WSOP today? It's soooo much different than it was back "in their time" that it would almost be unrecognizable to someone who hasn't been in the game for the past 5 years. Again, we'll see how it all shakes out, but I'm optimistic that it will make the final table of the Main Event worth watching, which is something I think would be cool.
There wasn't a whole lot going on today, I got a haircut, a new prescription for glasses, and a new pair of glasses. I haven't worn glasses since freshman year of college, so I picked up a new pair. I made sure to get a really emo/Wicker Park looking pair, because that's what the Taylor who wrote that blog post yesterday would wear.
Right now I am waiting for my GF to get home from a hair appointment so we can go watch "I'm so over you Sarah Marshall." I am excited because I've heard it's a good movie, and because Mila Kunis gets naked.
Have a good one,
tc
ps - I was upset this morning to find out that there wasn't an iron man chip next to my name on FTP. Why is that? I earned either bronze or silver status last month, playing like 20+ days earning 200 FPP's. Maybe red pros can't be iron men, my dreams are crushed.
Goals, Motivation, Quitting the game?
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 Professional Internet
This whole post was inspired by a few things. First, the other day, I was going through my old documents (loldocuments) on my PC from college and I found some of my personal goals from 2006. Next, I dumped 8k playing 5-10 today playing like a total jackass. I was just playing during the afternoon because it was a slow day at work. I got outplayed by a guy heads up, tilted, got coolered, bad beat, etc., then lost 3k flipping with the guy (agreeing to go all in preflop, a coinflip). It shows a complete lack of respect for money to let myself play horribly, and then flip for money. In some ways, I don’t blame myself, because the money means absolutely nothing to me, but the ~5k that I “shouldn’t” have lost is a lot of money. It’s just completely irresponsible to lose it like that.
I got to thinking about motivation in my life, setting goals, and figuring out what it is I’d like to accomplish. I feel right now I’m sort of aimlessly floating around in life, just sort of winging it as I go, without any idea of what I want to do, or any sort of drive to give everything I do my best effort. I expect this to get long, so proceed with caution.
I've always been a firm believer in setting goals. For whatever reason, I've always liked setting some sort of challenge and then accomplishing it. It probably dates backto my dad always telling me to write stuff downif you want toactually accomplish it...he's probably pretty smart. Recently, Wiggy and I had a weight gain/loss bet, once month last year I randomly didn't eat any meat for a month, and I often give up crap foods that I often have the displeasure of being tempted to eat too often (french fries, for example). Anyway, I used to routinely write down goals at the beginning of each year, and add/take them off the list. I really think this is something I should get back to doing, but I’ll get to that stuff later.
-Childhood: I was basically a nerd that was athletic. That’s the best way I can summarize my childhood. I loved playing sports, particularly baseball. I picked up golf in 6th grade, realized I sucked, so I worked hard at it and eventually was good enough to play 4 years in high school, with moderate success. I was always a pretty bored in school, but always worked pretty hard until I realized that it didn’t matter.
-Age 14: start high school, think "shit, I better start getting good grades so I can go to a good college."
-Age 17: after a couple of years of getting very good grades, I realize that there's only 1 year left of grades that matter for college, and my number one choice for schools is U of Illinois. I got national merit and realized that i'd surely score well enough on the ACT, so with my sports/activities and decent GPA, I could just mail it in. Jr. and Sr. year I pretty much didn't apply myself, and actually won "biggest case of senioritis” in my class of 700 kids (biggest case of seniorities means I basically slacked off more than anyone else sr year of high school. Not really something I’m proud of, but it happened)."
-Age 19: Get to college, start to think, "shit, i better start getting good grades so i can get a good job." Get a 3.85 freshman year, go home in the summer to take some summer school to get ahead and work the 9-5 at the pool.
-Age 19.75: Begin playing internet poker. Think, "wow, this is fun and I can make a lot of money, as long as I graduate with a 3.5+, I'll be fine." Do very little work in school, just enough to skate by and get the grades I feel I’ll need to get something decent post-graduation.
-Age ~21: million bucks, why the F am i going to 8am class. Poker is great, I like printing money, I’m young and cool, yay look at me!! Poker is so cool!!!
Age 22: graduated school, still workin hard at the tables, losing focus and enjoyment from playing. CardRunners is starting to do pretty well so that’s a new challenge.
Age 24: Playing way less poker, working full time on CR stuff. CardRunners is, relatively speaking, huge, and it’s neat to be “the big guy” in the industry.
I’ve talked about some of these things in previous blog posts, so why mention them here? Well, it’s obvious that I work my ass off when I feel motivated to, and when I deem it unnecessary, I totally slack off. This has always allowed me to seemingly get “maximum results from minimum effort,” when in reality I’m just good at figuring out how much work I have to put into something to get a desired result.
The basic theme in my life is that I thrive on challenges and goals. If someone tells me I can’t do something, and I think there’s even a minute chance that I can get it done, I’ll put 110% (I hate that phrase btw) of my effort into it. That’s just how I am. If it’s easy or mundane, then I generally could care less about doing it.
This is the problem that I see with the way my life is headed. This is going to sound extremely arrogant, but I have nothing to prove anymore, and (particularly in poker), no major challenges ahead of me. I’ve beaten HSNL for 3+ years, made millions of dollars, and started a company that is now the biggest in its industry and makes me a lot of money each year. I don’t think I’m the f’ing man or something, I’m just a sharp kid that took advantage of some opportunities along the way, and got lucky at the right times.
The problem is, I think I sort of get complacent when I don’t have that fear of failure constantly pushing me to succeed. I worked so much harder at poker 4 years ago because I didn’t want to admit my friends and family that they were right; that it was a waste of my time and money. When asked about poker at a family gathering or out with friends, I never wanted to say “well, I don’t really play anymore,” and have to listen to them say they told me so.
CardRunners was a little bit different, in that I put very little effort into it at first, it was just something Andrew and I did for fun. I should thank Bill Seibert for really showing us what we could become, and helping us get on the right path to success. Once I graduated school, went to the WSOP, and came back to Chicago, things started to change at CR. We really took it more seriously and hired some great people, along with making some pretty good decisions if I do say so myself.
I just feel like right now, we are at the point where it’s more of an autopilot thing. We are gearing up for the WSOP, adding new coaches and pros as always, and just trying to make sure we offer the best product we can. It’s not rocket science, it’s just execution. Now, I’m excited about some growth prospects that may come from better and new services that we are discussing, but that’s probably a few months down the road. I’m really excited about getting into that phase of things post WSOP, because it should be pretty new, exciting, and challenging for me.
So, where am I going with this? Good question. Well, there’s a few things I’ve learned from this. In the past year I have learned that money doesn’t necessarily make me happy. Yeah, money gives you freedom, and I’d rather be rich and unhappy than broke and unhappy, but overall, this was a pretty big revelation for me. You see, all of my life I’ve wanted to be rich. However, I think it’s more important to me to achieve things, and the money will follow. The rush that comes from accomplishing the difficult is what I live for. Sitting around grinding 25/50 for a few bb’s/100 isn’t difficult or exciting anymore, that I know.
I’m not quitting poker, not anytime soon. As long as I am involved in CardRunners, I feel it is my duty to be playing poker, learning more about the game, and doing the best I can to provide the best instruction for our members, both from me, and from pros that I hire. I do enjoy playing the game; I shouldn’t act like it isn’t fun winning money and gambling it up a little bit.
The problem with being a pro is that every freaking day is the same. I guess tourney guys get to play different events, and there is a close to each event, you leave, and go to the next one. Cash game players just go to the casino or log on to a poker site, and do the same thing over and over and over. Even if it’s a new game you are learning, you are playing for the long run. You’re just trying to make good decisions, and over time you will make money. It’s not like you ever actually achieve something, other than see money pile up in your bank account.
The other problem with being a poker pro is that my best poker friends, or “business associates,” mostly live outside of Chicago. It’s pretty messed up to have the people you “work” with live all over the world, and see them maybe once or twice per year. The social interaction in this business is just brutal. That has to be worth something, right?
Don’t get me wrong, the money is great. It’s great to be able to do whatever the hell you want. It’s cool to be respected by your friends and people in the poker community. I’m thankful for that. But jeez, it’s the same thing each and every day! For me, I do get to break up the monotony of things with my CR work. That’s nice, and is something that I’ve been told by the other CR pros that they like. It’s a break in their daily grinding to make a video, post on the boards, or do other CR type work. I sort of feel like CardRunners is getting a bit more routine, but I still enjoy doing all of the stuff.
I’d also like to make the point that I realize a lot of jobs don’t actually achieve things. Traders have very similar jobs to poker players. Well, I don’t want to be a trader. I enjoy working on projects, coming up with new ideas, and trying to build new things. That’s why CardRunners has been so enjoyable for me, even if the last few months have been more about maintenance than anything else.
What I’ve sort of realized is a couple of things. First, I need to set some goals and feel like I have a purpose. It’s not acceptable for me to just say “yeah, play 60-80 hours of poker per month, put in another 100-150 at CR, and have fun with friends when I can.” I just feel like I’m not doing things with a purpose anymore, I’m just floating along. I’d rather play poker for 20 hours per week and really focus on the game and play my A+ game, than just force myself to get in 60 hours so I can get a lot of rakeback.
I also have come to the conclusion that I will be quitting poker at some time in my life. I’ve always said this in the past, but I was never as sure about it as I am now. If it wasn’t for CardRunners, I’d quit in Fall ’09, and go get my MBA. I’d probably not actually quit, though, but I’d cash out all but 10-20k and play low stakes for beer/rent money while in school. I’d graduate in a couple of years, then try to get a job with a company that I feel like I’d be passionate about. Or, if I had a good business idea or opportunity, I could go that route post MBA.
I should elaborate a little more on quitting poker. I don’t ever want to completely quit playing poker. It’s such an amazing game. I envy the people who get to play a couple times per week for fun, and might make a little money on the side too. That’s such an enjoyable way to spend some free time. Ideally when I am older, I’ll have a family, a job, and the freedom to take some time each year to play poker. I don’t think I’ll log on every night to play online poker, but I’ll certainly get some hands in on the weekends. I’ll take a trip to Las Vegas each year, maybe for the WSOP. That would be fun. I can just imagine how good the internet players are going to be in 20 years. That’s really scary to me, I’m sure I’ll hear even more “wow, Taylor Caby sucks, he made a lot of money when the games were good.” Then I’ll truly know what it feels like to be a jaded old poker pro.
I realize a lot of people will pose the possibly valid argument of “you’re just an emo young poker player who doesn’t realize how good you’ve got it.” I feel ya, but I don’t think so. I realize how good I’ve got it financially, but it’s not like quitting poker requires me to empty out my bank account. I’ve got enough money to where I could always quit any job I get and go back to doing this. I feel like I have it amazingly well when it comes to being free to do whatever I want, but I don’t feel mentally stimulated on a day to day basis (from poker). CardRunners definitely fills that gap a little bit, but let’s face it, I’m eventually going to want to move on to something even bigger and better to apply the knowledge that I’ve gained from this experience.
So, what’s next? I’m looking to set a good goal for the month of May. I don’t know what that goal is, it could be personal, poker related, who knows, but I’m looking for ideas. I’m going to continue to work as hard as I can on CardRunners, and try to step up over the next 2-3 months with a more focused effort during pre/during WSOP (an important time for us). After that, I’ll reevaluate my options, which might include applying to grad school, or it might not. I don’t know what the future will hold, but I won’t just continue to float along without some semblance of a plan.
If you have ideas for some short term goals, I’d like to hear them. Hope this wasn’t too emo.
tc
Tyson
Date: Wed, Apr 30, 2008 Professional Internet
I apologize in advance for this extremely OT post. If you don't like Mike Tyson, or don't care what I think about him, it's probably best to avoid this post.
So I watched E:60 tonight, which is basically like the 60 minutes of Sports, for young people. There was a piece on Mike Tyson, who has always been my favorite athlete of all time. I'm not really a boxing fan, but ever since i can remember, I always thought Tyson was the most amazing athlete I'd ever seen.
When I was in high school, I read a few biographies of Tyson. After I made my first 25 g's at poker soph year of college, I splurged on DVD's of all of Tyson's fights. I also bought a few sports illustrated covers, and other random Tyson posters. I'll never forget seeing Tyson at the Spearmint Rhino (strip club) in Vegas 2 years ago. My friend told me "Hey Taylor, there's Mike Tyson," and I was shocked. I really wish I went up to him and said I admired him, but I was too afraid he'd kick my ass (he's beaten people down for way less). I realize that he's made a lot of mistakes, and hasn't always been a good person, but I just think it's fascinating how he was the most feared fighter in the world at only 20 years old, and literally intimidated older, more experienced, professional boxers into submission (not literally, obviously). Most people don't know that he was picked on incessantly as a kid because of his lisp and his poor upbringing, and he eventually just snapped and became a ferocious child because it was the only way he knew how to cope with the pain.
Anyway, I'll get this back on topic, Tyson is 15 mil in debt, but is actually doing okay. I love how candid he is in his interviews. When asked how it feels to finally be sober, he said, "i want to do drugs and drink alcohol every day, I just can't do that anymore, that part of my life is over." He went on to explain that he has to take care of his kids, pay back the money he owes to people ("everyday I call my accountant and he tells me I can't spend any money, I seriously hate that guy."). Tyson is living in Henderson, which is a short drive from Las Vegas. Hopefully I'll run into him sometime this summer.
Anyway, this is very low content, but I figured I'd write about it now while I'm sitting here without much to do. A lot of this blog is just for me to write out some of my thoughts so I can look back on them in the future, so I apologize for this not really being very relevant. I started a pretty long blog post about motivation in my life, and I'll try to finish that up tomorrow.
tc
Lazy Saturday
Date: Sat, Apr 26, 2008 Professional Internet
Today has been very lazy, indeed, mostly because i've been too hungover to do much of anything. Last night, we threw a pretty big beer pong tournament over at the CR office (which is a loft space in wicker park). We're moving out of the office in a month or so, so it seemed like a good time to have a little get together. Andrew and Caroline invited a bunch of people, and I had a few friends come by too.
At midnight, the guy from a restaurant below us was getting really pissed because it was loud, so we all left to go to The Fifty/50 (chicago.citysearch.com/profile/46307964/chicago_il/the_fifty_50.html), which is somehow the new Chicago hotspot. The place is in the middle of Wicker Park, which is not usually where you'll find a trendy sports bar/lounge mix(which is somehow what this place is).
Since I walk past the place to work everyday, we ate there for lunch about a week ago after we realized it was open for business. I didn't think too much of it, seemed like a cool spot, had good food, would definitely go back. I saw a writeup about it somewhere else (i forget), and then there was a TV spot on it that one of my friends told me about. Okay, weird, but that's not too unusual.
So last night, a bunch of our friends that live on the other side of the city came there for one of their birthdays. My roommate went there and saw Ben Gordon, Paul Konerko, and Jermaine Dye (chicago athletes). Supposedly Urlacher goes there, as well a lot of the Cubs guys. Honestly, the placeseems cool and has great bar food, but I'm just shocked at how someone could open up a place like this, in this part of town, and have the placed packed with hot girls and sports stars after 3 weeks of being open. I suspect the guys that own it have very good connections in the industry, and obviously have made some smart moves. The restaurant/bar business isn't all that interesting to me, but it is pretty fascinating to see how a place can literally become "the place" practically overnight. I believe there are a lot of things you can learn about business in general that are applicable to any business,and whatever these guys have done to make their place "cool" is worth figuring out. Maybe I'll get a chance to talk to the owners sometime, it would be nice to talk about.
This past week has been pretty straightforward for me. Not all that much happened, really, except for a quick trip to the Heartland Poker Tour in Gary, IN this week. I played some poker, had a couple good days and a couple bad days, and finished basically even for the week. I have been really happy with my game lately, and I'm going to be making a multipart 5-10 video at some point this week. I hope this video will be excellent, and I think it will, because I have spent a ton of time playing 5-10 this month and I really have a better understanding of how the games play, and reads on a lot of the regulars. It's really crazy how tough some of the 5-10 games are, there are a lot of good poker players these days.
Tonight I'm going out to dinner with my roommates and Coop, then probably having a drink or two and calling it a night.
Have a nice weekend,
tc
Heating up
Date: Sun, Apr 20, 2008 Professional Internet
It's heating up in Chicago, and it's about time. I'm sick and tired of the horrible Chicago winters, but hopefully it will be warm until November. I'm heating up at the tables a little bit too, which is nice, and my 5/10 grinding days are pretty much over (mixed results, tbh, will talk about it in a video or future post, eeked out <2 bb's/100 9 tabling over about 17000 hands). I am feeling really great about my game though, which is something I don't usually say. It was nice to just grind a ton of MSNL and really start to think about the game again, because I had been playing so much heads up for the past 2 years i think my 6max game was lagging. My next 5-10 6max videos will probably be of me 4 tabling, and recording the audio afterwords with pauses. I'll be able to have a bunch of reads on guys, too, which will be nice. I'll talk some more poker later, but this post will mostly about what I've been up to lately, because I haven't blogged in awhile.
Thursday Andrew, Caroline, Ezra and I went to the Cubs game. It was great weather, and we got some bleacher seats. Afterwords we went to Uberstein for a few more drinks. We got pretty damn drunk by the end of the night, and Melissa was nice enough to come by and hang out for a drink, and drive Ezra and I back to my place.
Friday, I was still tired from being hungover, work, etc., so I just stayed in and watched Scarface. I'd never seen it, so figured like a good way to kill a Friday night.
On Saturday, Cole came into town with his gf Larissa. Andrew, Cole and I went out to dinner at Aria with our girlfriends. It was a fun dinner, with some pretty good food. Cole and Larissa headed home afterwords, and Melissa and I went to meet up with my friends at English. The next morning, the 6 of us met up and Andrew's place which is 2 blocks from Wrigley. Andrew, interestingly enough, only had keystone light in his fridge, which is a questionable decision.
Cole and Larissa show up at about noon with their bags, as they are headed back home a few hours after the Cubs game. Cole walks in and I go "Cole, I hope you like keystone light." He casually replies, without missing a beat, "I hope you like Grey Goose," as he pulls out a large bottle of Grey Goose. It was the most typical Cole entrance you could imagine, and we all knew it.
Needless to say, we had a fun time drinking some keystones and vodka sprites, then headed over to the game. The Cubs pounded the Pirates, and we left in the 8th inning because it was getting very cold when the sun went down. The 6 of us headed to Goose Island, had some dinner and beers, then went to Brystmar's place to hang out for a bbq he was having. Cole and Larissa had to head straight to the airport, so we all headed home.
That's it for me, there should be a nice little update tomorrow morning for you guys!
tc
The life of a grinder
Date: Mon, Apr 14, 2008 Professional Internet
So, per my post last week, I decided I would grind out some hands at 5/10. I've also played a couple sessions of HU 100nl, just to kill time and to have a little fun (while still taking the game seriously). Over the first 6000 hands, I played pretty horribly, and ran just as bad. I was off to a bad start of about -1.5bb/100 after that stretch. I've just finished my first 10,000 hands, and I'm happy to note I've made a comeback and am at 3.25 bb/100 after 10k hands, playing nothing but 6max on FTP. I've averaged about 7 tables, but it's been closer to 8 or 9 over the last few days.
Here are my thoughts:
-The games are definitely tough. There aren't a whole lot of weak players, and the grinders are pretty good.
-It really took some adjusting to the games for me. The games play differently than the high stakes games do. I've sort of informally figured out some of the nuiances of the MSNL games, and adjusted my game a little bit, but I'm not going to publicly blog about that here. I'll definitely talk about it in some upcoming videos.
-People play like robots. Don't play like a robot. It's hard not to when you play 6-9 tables, but it still shouldn't be understated. People seem to think that everytime someone checks after opening a pot, they don't have anything. People also don't ever fold. Ever.
-Most of the good players are very good, but don't know how to play against other players that are just as good or better than them. Their money comes from exploiting the bad players or the nitty regulars. I'm doing my best to try to make money from everyone.
-Grinding seems practically stress free. Yeah, tehre are ups and downs, but it's nothing like dealing with losing 100k playing HSNL. My winrate (so far) is easily clearing 500/hr with rakeback, and that's pretty great for stress free money. When I say "stress free," i mean comparitively speaking. It's still much more stressful than just about any other job a kid out of college could be doing. It's just not nearly as stressful as playing with tens of thousands of dollars at stake on any given hand.
I can't wait to get back into the bigger games, but I'm going to play another 10k hands (at least) at these games first. I really feel sharp and focused, and that's great.
As for a life update. This grinder's life is going well. I went out Friday night for a brief time, realized the scene sucked, and came home early. Saturday I played poker most of the afternoon, then we went out for my friends gf's bday. We went to this place near Wrigley called Uberstein, which is basically just a german bar. It was cool to drink beer out of a stein, which I think is like 2 pints. I got surprisingly drunk, mostly because I didn't realize the beer was a lot stronger than what I'm used to drinking. I think I had 2 of those beers, a few shots, and a maybe a mixed drink.
FoxwoodsFiend is in town and staying with me for a few days. We went to dinner at a pretty good asian place called tamarind (not the same one as in nyc), and then went to Dean's to play racquetball.
One last thing, forgot to mention that I had a weight loss bet with Wiggins. I had to get to 185 (from 197) in 2.5 months, and I just got there. It feels good, and now I think I'm going to continue to get in shape and try to put on a little bit of muscle.
Time to grind,
tc
Intern
Date: Sat, Apr 12, 2008 Professional Internet
I'm considering hiring an intern for the summer at CR. The only reason I'm considering it and not saying "give me your applications" is that I'm not exactly sure we will need one. That being said, I had a great experience being an intern a few years ago and I'd like to give someone else that opportunity as well, if it makes sense. For someone who is interested in poker and an internet business, I can't think of an internship that could be more fun/rewarding than CardRunners.
So, if you think you are interested, you must do two things:
-Convince me that we need an intern (sort of like a cover letter, iguess,how can you help us? any skills you have, computer, poker, advertising, sales, ideas forthe business,whatever, i don't care, tell me)
-Send me a resume
You would need to spend the summer in Chicago and probably Las Vegas for at least 2-3 weeks. We'd pay for you to come to Vegas, pay for your lunch everday, and probably give you a nominal salary. I sort of like the idea of making an intern work for next tonothing (i did it, it sucked), but I'd assume we wouldn't actually do that. You can send this infoto admin at cardrunners
tc
Thoughts about lost focus + a plan
Date: Wed, Apr 9, 2008 Professional Internet
For the first 10-14 days after becoming a red pro, I really think I played the best poker of my life. I was more motivated to play well, 100% of the time, than I had been in months, if not over a year. The "problem" is that I've been fortunate to have CardRunners grow very rapidly over the past few years, and making a very comfortable living off my stake in the business. I'm very proud of this, but it definitely didn't help my poker game. Where am I going with this? I just didn't feel like I was playing my "A" game enough over the past 4-6 months. Sure, I'm winning some money when I play, etc., but I just didn't feel like I was really playing to my capabilities.
So when I became a red pro, I sort of felt like I had the duty to "prove" that I was worthy of it. I've rarely, if ever, had my poker abilities questioned before, but I sort of felt, in a strange way, that becoming a red pro would cause that to happen. For 10-14 days I played with 100% focus at all times. I made about 70k at 25-50nl, and lost about 20k in a small sample at 50-100nl. I was feeling great about my game, and more importantly, about the level of focus I had at the tables.
After a workout one day, I saw a player that I had really been beating up on at 25-50 sitting at 200-400, short stacking against an average 10-20nl player. Normally, this game wouldn't interest me, but this guy was very tilted, and playing very poorly. I decided to take a shot, even if i was only effectively risking 10k/hand because the other guys were playing short.
Well, things just didn't go well. I never lost a pot bigger than 25k or so, but when I got it in good, I lost, when I got it in bad, I lost, and when I got it in as a flip, I lost. That happens, I wasn't at all disappointed with my play, and losing 40k when u are essentially flipping (with me having a slight to moderate edge in most cases) for 10k a pop. I lost 40k, which was effectively all of my red pro winnings.
The problem I then had was that I lost my focus. I just wasn't putting the time and energy into focusing on every decision, playing each hand like it meant something significant to me, like I did before. Sure, things got busier around the office, but that's not an excuse. I shouldn't sit down to play poker unless I can put all of my time and focus into that session (unless on rare occasions when there is a 25-50+ 6max game or two with absolutely horrible players that I can beat while I'm on the phone, hanging with friends, etc.).
I let poor results at the table cause me to revert back to not really caring about my wins and losses at the tables. To be honest, I'm probably a break even player at 25-50 when I don't really focus and play like the money means something to me. I'm not going to let that happen anymore.
Here is my plan:
Yesterday night, I played 6-8 tables of poker at 5-10nl last night. I focused on every decision, even though the money meant absolutely nothing. Sure, it was only one session, but I came out ahead 3 buyins, and really never did anything stupid. I'm not going to talk about the mindset I had playing those games, but I've definitely thought a lot about the optimal style to beat these games and I think I've made improvements in my game, tailoring it to beat the MSNL type games.
I'm going to force myself to exclusively play 5-10, and maybe some 10-20, unless there is a really good 25-50 game going (most likely with a HU game with a weakish player). I'm going to do this for 20,000 hands, and I'll let you guys know how it goes.
I am also going to play low stakes HU, probably 100nl, at least 2-3 times per week. I'm going to take it seriously, and I'll probably play 3-4 tables at a time. If I can take low stakes HU seriously, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to take any reasonable game (for a high stakes player) seriously, ever, and I think I should be able to "cure" myself of this problem that I can't focus like I used to. I'm also going to try to play with CR members at low stakes, because a lot of them have told me they'd love to play me HU, and I'll give them some free advice while I'm doing it.
That's it, I'll have some more updates (probably non poker stuff) later this week.
tc
Edit: I realize I didn't really talk about the big picture thing I was thinking about when I writing this blog. High stakes players, the guys that are making a ton of money playing internet poker, often take it for granted. I know I do at times. We are VERY lucky to be in the situation we are in, we have more money than we probably should at a young age, and have gained some great life experience as well (that could be debated). If you've had a lot of success at poker, it's really easy to let it get to your head, and to take it all for granted. In the poker world, I think the importance of staying focused and humble is often understated.
South Carolina
Date: Sat, Apr 5, 2008 Professional Internet
Three of my friends and i took a trip thurs-sun this week to Columbia, SC. One of our friends moved away to SC a few months ago, so we are here to visit. The weather sucks here today, but it was nice yesterday so we laid out by the pool for a bit.
We woke up, ate at Waffle House (always been a goal of mine), then drove around the town a little bit. I got a pretty good amount of work done during the late morning and afternoon, as most of my friends went back to bed or to the pool. Later I got a workout in, then we went out for dinner at this place called Mellow Mushroom. After coming back home and drinking a fair bit, we headed out to some random college bars. The cab ride over was unbelievable, this young cab driver had a laptop mounted in her car with a huge list of music videos. She let you pick whatever you watned to listen to, and then asked, "do you guys like loud music??" We were like, sure, and she proceeded to blast music so loud that my body was shaking. It was cool to watch the music videos on the laptop, tho.
We bounced around to like 4 bars, then felt mildly old being 23-24 in bars with kids that are mostly 19-22, and came home around 130. If anyone has good suggestions for dinner or bars around here, let me know, we'll be doing more of the same tonight.
tc
Welcome to CR, Raptor
Date: Thu, Apr 3, 2008 Professional Internet
I just wanted to quickly welcome David Benefield, Raptor, to CR. For those "in the know," David is one of the best young poker players in the world. At 21, he's been killing the online games for quite some time, played in Bobby's room, but keepsa relatively low profile as he isn't the type of player out bragging about how good he is. I became friends with David this fall after talking to him a little bit about real estate investing (he owns a 4 unit place and a house in Fort Worth, and is currently buying a house in LV), and learned what a really great guy he is. It's funny, because a lot of people simply know him as "durrr's roommate," and it's pretty fun to give him shit about that.
David is obviously a great player (look at his results from our main page story, over 1.3mm in winnings last year), but I'm more excited about learning a bit about his unorthodox style. He doesn't play like a robot, and truly thinks about the game differently than most of the top online players. He's also known to crush some of the biggest games in the world, but still be able to step down and grind MSNL. He'll be sharing his MSNL secrets with the CR community, as this is a major area of emphasis for us lately.
Anyway, welcome aboard David, great to have you around CR.
tc
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