They sure do keep it cold in casinos

I'm cruising 2+2's News Views Gossip forum (NVG) and I come across a thread about Clonie Gowen's new boobs. Someone links this video in the thread and I'm LOL'ing at 2:15am over this:



The combo of the music and the guy checking them out it is priceless. Haaahahahaha

Looking at REAL poker nutjob's January results

I just finished bubbling (just outside the money for the non poker people) in my $2.25 sit n go tonight. I'm going to play another but in between games I was looking at this thread: January results

I was really curious to see what good player's results look like for a month and what the fluctuations are. If you look at that thread these guys post graphs, how many games they played, their return on investment (ROI), etc. I'm not even going to come close to the sheer volume they put in because I'm not going to play 6-10 tables at a time. I've never been all that comfortable or confident even with my HUD display software.

While most of these guys are playing much higher stakes and therefore have impressive profits, I was happy to find this guy:

28% roi 2.25 156games=99 <--- the stakes I'm playing
11% roi 5.50 1222games =740
mtts=403
total profit=1232
meh grind the 5.50s didnt play nearly as much as i had expected too tryin to make at least 2kgames a month

I don't think I can get 156 games in without playing more than one table at a time. The last 2 months I've only gotten in 10-15 games. I think I can shoot for around 50-60 games in a month of not being employed. These things take like at least an hour to play if you're making the money. I figure if I can get in at least 2 or 3 games a day I can get a decent volume for me in.

It's promising to see numbers I could live with in $2.25's and $5.50s. I'm REALLY impressed at a $740 profit in $5.50s.

Nothing's funnier than timely photoshops

Stiffed by Moneymaker Gaming

Read this post yesterday and checked back on it again this afternoon. You can read the whole thing if you want but I'll sum it up best I can:

- Original poster busted Chris Moneymaker from a live $500 tournament and was promised a 10K package to the Playboy mansion for doing so.

- OP couldn't go and wanted to get cash for it instead and was given the runaround for a year by Moneymaker Gaming, his company that sponsored the tournament, after being promised cash by one of their reps.

- OP makes the post linked above. Moneymaker takes notice, investigates, resolves the issues, but also posts his email response on the thread that includes this juicy tidbit:

Instead of posting your frustration with Moneymaker Gaming you should be sending Dan a fruit basket for Christmas as if it wasn’t for him you would not be receiving the $4,500.

- Dan is the employee that promised the OP cash, but apparently he wasn't supposed to which is why Moneymaker's defending him. He's saying Dan did the OP a favor he never should have in the first place, hence the fruit basket.

So I scroll down further reading more responses from 2+2 and then this pops up on my screen and I LOL in the cube at work on lunch break.

2+2 Threads I'm reading this week

News, Views and Gossip (NVG)is the 2+2 subforum where I keep up with just that. All the underground ramblings, scandals are all here.

Big story this week is Clonie Gowen suing Full Tilt. She's seeking 40 million, her 1% deal of the site she estimates to be worth 4 billion. It seems all the FTP pros don't have a written contract as to what they're owed in order to cover their asses from prosecution if the Department of Justice were to ever go there.

Someone posted and old feud between Howard Lederer and Daniel Negreanu. It's from the old rec.gambling.poker newsgroup where a lot of today's superstars were posting before the poker boom in 2003. Apparently DN talked mad shit about Howard's sister Annie Duke, who doesn't have the most endearing reputation these days anyway. Thread starts with HL's post against DN, but if you read further down someone posted a thing from DN detailing all the things Annie did to piss him off in the first place. Captivating stuff.

Oh and to follow up on the 60 minutes story, that thing never aired. It keeps getting pushed back and back so no one really knows when it'll happen. I'm glad I didn't miss it while I was flying back to Austin, but I want to see it already!

Obama wannabe assasin looks like.....

Throw a goatee on Mike and a few extra pounds and I think the resemblance gets that much better.

This is the other genius involved in the "plot":



One of the managers in my office asked if he was wearing makeup in the above Myspace picture and I had instant flashbacks of Eric Molina, one of the biggest douchebags to ever get attention at the WSOP. He got hammered and made an ass of himself on national television only to have some incredibly embarrasing Myspace pictures plastered all over 2+2. Like this one:



If you saw the coverage you couldn't help but laugh hysterically at this picture. Watch this at 3:40 in to see his epic clash with eventual winner Jamie Gold. The funny part is the next day when they put him on the feature table and his mommy and daddy were in the audience he didn't have two words to say to anyone. And honestly that may have been his undoing in the tournament because sometimes if it ain't broke don't fix it. I have a feeling he'd have no qualms about his reputation being in the gutter if he had 12 million bucks in the bank. He already ruined it and only got 300K!

60 minutes story set to air Sunday November 9th

A large part of this piece was put together this summer at the WSOP. The buzz from everyone that interviewed with them is that it is going to make online poker look VERY bad. The term used was "hatchet piece". It's going to be focused on the Absolute Poker scandal which is a pretty incredible story when you get all the details. I was following the threads on 2+2 as it was developing and it was like a live soap opera: every day the shit just kept getting thicker and crazier.

Let me sum up the essentials of the story as best I can.

There was an account named Potripper that seemed to have an uncanny ability to play every situation to perfection no matter what. A well-known online player named Marco Johnson took 2nd to Potripper in a big tournament on AP one weekend where the last hand was so ridiculous that everyone was left wondering. (Marco semi-bluffed [not having the best hand, but a draw that could make a winning hand] all in on an 9 high flush draw and got called by a Ten high flush draw and T high won)

Marco requests his hand history file from AP but instead of sending him just his hands they send him a file that shows everyone's hole cards. This was a complete accident and Marco didn't realize what he had until a month later. He gave the file to people that could interpret it better and they publicized it so EVERYONE could see that Potripper was a superuser.

So the question became who's behind the account? This is where all the drama started because you had all these internet "detectives" on the message boards that kept getting more and more damning info that it was someone INSIDE THE COMPANY. Turns out the owner Scott Tom (young rich frat boy ) was in on it, but his friend AJ Green who he had left in charge while he was away was the person playing the Potripper account.

The best part to me in all the drama that ensued was that Absolute Poker issues a press release in response to the allegations saying "We've conducted our own personal investigation and there is no way that anyone can see hole cards." 2+2 naturally responds saying we're not idiots and this hand history file is damning evidence that it is possible so stop lying. Turns out AJ Green was the author of that release so he was covering his own tracks!

My understanding is that in the end Green cut a deal to where his name wouldn't be released in return for information so who knows if it will come up in 60 minutes. But after everything I read about him and Scott Tom they both sound like grade-A douchebags. It's just a shame that they're in Costa Rica so they'll never really receive justice for the million bucks they stole from their own customers.

Now the big scandal is on Ultimate Bet where previous ownership seems to be involved, including a former Main Event champion Russ Hamilton. This one's apparently even worse because it involves nearly 4 million and has been going for much much longer. Check out this article if you're curious for more detail. This post has already turned longer than I intended. :)

By the way I updated the last post so that you can actually SEE my hands. Didn't realize the converter wasn't showing them if they didn't go to showdown. Ooops. I'm sure that was GREAT reading. LOL

Hellmuth is a clown - has a panic attack @ 3am in his home

Hellmuth hates losing so much he has a panic attack

This is one of the greatest threads I've ever read. Nothing brings out sarcasm like a good Hellmuth blog. It's priceless that he'd actually admit to this publicly. You'd think it would belittle his carefully crafted image to do so, but he doesn't make sense sometimes.

It really makes me sick that he is probably the most well known player even to people who don't play cards at all. I do think he's a good person away from the table as many people have attested. It's just that his demeanor and the way he treats other players is awful and yet THAT'S what gets him noticed, and it sets a very poor standard for new players coming into the game: it is ok to act this way.

Bottom line, it isn't, and we should all strive to act the exact OPPOSITE of Hellmuth at the poker table. Less ego, more humility and just having general respect for other human beings at the table regardless of their playing abilities.

And for THAT reason I don't feel the least bit guilty in taking pleasure in his panic attack. Karma's a bitch Phil.

Cash plays / hand from last night

Cash Plays is a fantastic cash game radio show on http://pokerroad.com. It's a very strategy oriented format that goes into a lot of details in analyzing hands. The host Bart Hansen talks to a lot of prominent live and online professional players. The show is really tailored more for nerds like me that understand the language, so it's not for beginners. But if you've played enough to follow what they're talking about, it's really one of the best programs out there to learn.

So the post on 2+2 I just made about a hand I played last night is kind of a reflection of how religiously I listen to this show. Speakin' the jargon!

I'm feeling very poker obsessive this morning but now that I've got that and this out of my system I think I'm ok for the rest of the day.

3.30 KO Final Table Replay

Took 2nd in this on Saturday night at work. Almost took it down if it wasn't for that derned river card diamond. Posted it up for review on 2+2

Not sure when I'm going to throw down on that $1/2 game. I'm pretty sure I want to go on a Friday night when Kristina's working and at least have a shot at freeroll money before I sit. But then again I was thinking about maybe going down south to another room that's a little less professional, but they play .50/$1 which would be better for my "bankroll".

I'll try and keep this updated at least once a week.