Is Degenerate Gambling Really That Cool?
I’ve thought about writing an entry on this topic but havent gotten around to it until now. The 2+2 thread on Erick Lindgren has somewhat pushed me over the edge so here it is:
For those of you that don’t know, Erick Lindgren (one of the most famous/respected tv poker pros) is under massive scrutiny because of his inability to pay back several loans and gambling debts on fantasy sports. He is also one of the all time biggest winners in tournaments with over $8,000,000 in cashes. One can only assume how much he has won playing in cash games over the years and not the mention the estimated $2,000,000 - $3,000,000 a year he was receiving from Full Tilt. Today, he claims he is cash broke and has numerous debts in the gambling and poker world. This is a result of his lack of money management and sick gamblind addiction. Even one of his best friends, Daniel Negraneu, describes him as “a sick degenerate”. Sadly for him the FTP money train has ended and his life will be much different for the worse. I can only imagine how he feels or what he’s going through now because of his lack of control with gambling.
I have always wondered why there has been veneration for people in poker or gambling who are degenerates. I’ve often seen people advertise on their Twitter or Linked In that they are a “Poker Player/Degenerate Gambler” like it is cool, respected, and glorified. As if they are so successful at poker that its ok for them to be a degenerate gambler and they can brag about it. To me, when I hear people brag about “degenerate” things they do it just sounds juvenile. Although listening to peoples degenerate stories can be entertaining, I can’t find a way to look up to it or feel respect towards that person.
Here’s a video of Erick talking about oweing bookies money with the interviewer (Amanda Leatherman) giggling. Erick’s attitude towards the issue is jovial as if it’s cool/funny and Amanda reassures him it’s cool with her giggling response. I find the part about him admitting to owing a bookie money, finding out the bookie dies, and joking about not having to pay is disgusting. This starts at 1:05 of the interview.
I don’t meen to come off as someone who is anti-gambling. In fact every now and then I’ll bet on sports (small) or participate in some good old fashion credit card roullette at group dinners. I do this rarely and only for entertainment. My issue with the topic is how people perceive it in the poker community. It’s like the bigger degenerate you are the cooler you are (as long as you’re still ballin). I couldn’t imagine looking up to someone like Isildur yet people think of him as a god in the poker world. It tilts me how people get off on stories of Phil Ivey losing $1,000,000 at craps and thinking he is the man because he’s so “baller” he can do that. I can pretty much 100% guarantee that people who are degenerate gamblers are unhappy way more often than not in their lives. But who cares they are cool right? They are amuse us right?
Another related topic I find absurd is the glorification of prop bets, especiall with friends. The poker community for whatever reason thinks is so awesome to come up with really creative prop bets to gamble on between friends. Again, I’m not trying to hate on prop bets (I’d be a hypocrite) but just don’t get how people in the community have such high praise for them. An example is the running bet between Ashman and Dogishead (roommates and friends at the time). Even highly respected and talented poker players were publicly praising Ashman for being such a sicko and winning almost $300k off his roommate after running 70 miles on a treadmill in 24hrs. How do you think Dogishead felt about that? Better yet, how do you think Ashman felt after taking almost $300k off his friend? I personally would have felt like shit for putting a friend through that kind of pain for personal gain but I guess every one is different. Anyone want to prop bet that those guys aren’t very good friends anymore?
I thought I’d write this because so many poker pros would be so much happier in their lives if they didn’t have these sick degenerate gambling issues and didn’t receive so much praise/respect for having the balls to gamble ridiculous amounts on ridiculous things. Poker is hard enough mentally as it is. Hopefully more people in the community realize that being a degen is really not that cool.
New Zealand
As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in a backpacker’s in New Plymouth, New Zealand after a weekend trip in the Coramandal peninsula with a couple friends from high school. I think what inspired me to write was thinking about my time spent in Argentina/South America and how much I was writing out there and how cool it is to look back at what I wrote before and reflect on those experiences. In a way, this post will hopefully serve the same purpose.
First, let me introduce Jess. Jess is a good friend of mine from high school who was on my surf team. Some of the best memories of my life come from those teen days where we would wake up at 5:30, eat donuts and chocolate milk, and surf every morning thinking it was so cool that we didn’t have to show up for first period because we had “surf team”. At the time I remember thinking what a joke it was that our school would let us skip first period so we could surf but reflecting on it now I see how much of a value to us all that it really was. Jess, like many of us, has no idea what he wants to do with his life so he lives in the present. This last summer he worked, saved up money, and decided to travel the South Pacific looking for surf and asked me to come along. To be honest, there was no reason I couldn’t do this but still declined. I half-heartedly told him I’d visit him when he gets to New Zealand after Fiji but I could tell he didn’t believe me. September came, he packed 3 boards and 2 wetsuits into his board bag, and a backpack full of clothes and took off to Fiji alone. It takes a certian type of person who has the balls to actually get up and go do this and in all the years I’ve known Jess (12 yrs) I would never have given him credit for this. I started going in a lot of different directions in my introduction of Jess and what he’s been through but decided to keep it short and deleted a lot of what I wrote.
4 years as a poker pro a lot has changed, surf trip next
Wow it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I remember when I started my blog at Cardrunners back in 2007 when I was living/travelling in Argentina. This was a couple months after I signed up and really began to take poker seriously (hence leading into my first year as a pro). I remember I was so excited about poker that I would blog about my sessions and travels probably at least 10 times/month. I would post my graphs and results playing 1/2NL thinking no one would read this stuff but at least I could have a chronicle of my travels. What a dream I was living. I Just graduated from college and was living abroad with a group of really close friends, exploring South America, all while playing poker online part time to fund this dream. I remember poker being so exciting as the better I was getting the more I was being rewarded.
I’m not sure if the reason I haven’t blogged in so long is because of how poker has gone since Black Friday (the last 1.5 months in particular) or if I just don’t have much to write about. Probably a bit of both but wow has my excitement for poker dwindled. Last month I beat my career worst month by $20kish playing 1/2-5/10NL HE, PLO, and buying action. This month I got off to a really good start only to fall back in the red in a 24hr period and fall deeper into it trying to climb out. My post Black Friday results were definitely acceptable and gave me no reason to want to give up poker but lately my interest in the game can be best described as “burnt out”. I don’t think losing money is what really has been bothering me, but more that I don’t find fulfillment with what I’ve been doing on a daily basis. For the last 6 months or so I’ve had this mentality but figured I was still making way more at poker than a normal job and could take the money, invest it, and build a portfolio of residual income. I guess the poker job isn’t much different than any other job where a worker just loses passion in what they do and gets burnt out.
Anyways onto another subject, I booked a trip to New Zealand and will be heading out there in a few weeks. I’m not sure how long I’ll be out there yet (not super long) but the purpose of this trip is to drive around NZ and surf. A really good friend of mine from High School just moved there a couple months ago and bought a station wagon. His plan is to basically travel through the South Pacific for 1yr+ to work and surf. Surfing was a huge part of my life growing up and has since been a minor recreation since I started my career in poker. I’m really excited to go on an extended surf trip as there really is no feeling in the world that compares to a good surf session. Any day you spend in the ocean is a good day spent. I’ve been working out trying to get back into surf shape and will spend 10 days in Laguna Beach before the trip to regain my bearings in the water.
Here is a pic of him surfing “Cloudbreak” in Fiji before going to New Zealand.
East Cape of the North Island in New Zealand
Health Kick, Lights, and more PLO
More and more over the last several months I’ve grown this new found interest in health, particularly food. I’m not sure why, maybe because the older that I’m getting the more I feel what I’m putting in my body? Maybe after watching Food Inc., Food Matters, and Fat Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix woke me up a bit? Regardless, my interest in what I put in my body has never been this strong.
I’ve never really paid much attention to food and our relationship to food until I attempted a vegetable/fruit juice fast. I did this last week and only lasted a couple days before feeling too sick to continue. I think if I were dedicated to continuing I could have but this was a a spur of the moment experiment just to see what it was like. From friends that have done this, if you can get by 3 days the sick feeling goes away as do the food cravings so I plan on doing this again sometime in the near future. One thing that stood out is the philosophy of mind and body being separate. This could not be more true when it comes to food and food addiction. In my attempted juice fast, I remember clearly my mind telling me I’m hungry but my body saying “no, I’m fine, I have plenty of nutrients!” Generally when we feel hungry our stomach growls but my stomach never growled during my juice fast. I do remember that every time I would leave the house I would notice all these restaraunts I never tried before and think I wanted to try them. All of this because I wasn’t eating yet my body felt fine. This made me realize how mentally attached we are to the food our society has become accustomed to. After the juice fast I started eating about 80% of my meals at home. When I say this, I’m not talking about frozen food or food to go. I’m talking about healthy home cooking: fish, chicken, vegetables, lots of fruits etc. The biggest thing I notice is that after a meal at home I don’t feel tired or worn down. I feel energetic! How many times do you eat out and feel like you just need to lay down? I’m not some nutritional expert but I really doubt we are supposed to feel that way after a meal.
I’ve still been continuing working on getting into a new business or profession. More and more I’ve been interested in energy efficiency. One of my best friends growing up started a business as a lightbulb supplier for commercial, industrial, and retail businesses. His pitch is to get business to use more energy efficient bulbs and fixtures to save money on energy costs. We don’t realize this but many commercial and industrial buildings need to replace all their lighting every few months or so because they are left on for several hours a day. What a massive market there is for this business! For any of you interested, his website is www.prioritylighting.com. I really like the idea of selling something I believe in and energy efficiency is no doubt a market not going anywhere. I’m not sure that what he does is exactly what I want to do but I really like the idea and the product. I’m going to continue researching this industry and figure out where I want to get started.
This month I’ve put a decent amount of poker volume in and am happy to say that I got out of my downswing and am in the black! Surprisingly this didn’t take long and my confidence is back. I’ve been putting a lot of work in my PLO game and continue to make strides. Unfortunately I am still running on the wrong side of variance but am not nearly as discouraged about it as last year. Its a lot easier to handle if you at least have something to show for it. Unfortunately it can make your NL game a bit spewy (at least in terms of calling 3bets haha) but it’s still such an interesting complex game. Higher NL action has virtually disappeared for me. It’s very rare to get action at 5/10 let alone 10/20. I really hope these are the darkest days of online poker and things turn around with legislation sooner than later.
A new chapter? PLO and Brief Girah thoughts.
A lot has happened this year and lots has changed since Black Friday. Having money seized and losing my fallback source of income, in other words my job, has really been life changing. One week later, my girlfriend and I split up which I won’t get too much in detail but losing a relationship with someone you love is one of the worst things in life. Following this has been a seemingly never ending wave of downswings which hasn’t put light on the situation either. Before all this, I hadn’t really experienced the recession because I was growing so much as a poker player and my results were exponentially increasing. I never really knew what it was like to have a major step back like many people who lost their homes and had to work harder for less pay. For me, Black Friday is my recession (to a lesser extent). For me, 2011 has been a recession, both emotionally and financially.
There’s no question that Black Friday has impacted my negatively but there’s definitely some positivity that can result. Since the WSOP I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I really wanted to do with my life. Actually, this is something I have been thinking about on and off for the last couple years but have always been dragged back into poker because of how lucrative it is (or was) and how it just made sense financially. I really think that soon there will be a new chapter in my life and I will retire as a poker player. I just updated my resume and likely will plan on using it sometime in the near future. I haven’t figured out exactly what field I want to embark but I have come to some realizations about what I want. My main objective when it comes to work will be to simply enjoy it. I don’t want to dread going to work every day or dread being there. I want to work in a great social environment. I want to be in a position to network and gain some new contacts in the business world. I want to work for a product or industry I believe in. I want to be able to manage my own time and my own life. Once I have all these things I think the money will flow. Bottom line, I need a Plan B and a Plan C instead of just depending on poker.
I still play poker (not nearly as much as I used to) but things just won’t be like they used to. I have worked incredibly hard the last few months on my HU PLO game. I don’t think playing just NL is sufficient in today’s poker economy. If you read my blog a year or so ago I posted a graph of my first 10k hands at 200 PLO losing $10,000. 35Bi’s was attributed to below EV but today I realize just how bad my leaks were. PLO is so much further of a game from holdem than I ever imagined. For those of you who don’t play PLO and are curious, it really is a game of realized equity and making it as difficult as possible for your opponent to realize their equity. The fundamentals are so different in PLO because of how close equities usually are. For example, in holdem, you generally want to keep peoples bluffs in by not raising them when you feel like they are bluffing but in PLO people are usually bluffing with a decent amount of equity (often times more than they think) and your mindset changes from “I want to keep his bluffs in” to “I want him to incorrectly fold and not realize his equity!”.. There’s obviously way more to it but that is one of the biggest fundamental differences in my opinion. I still have so much to learn with PLO and make so many mistakes every day but the learning process has been addicting. The good news is that I have been really crushing 1/2 and even 2/4 PLO for 23bb/100 over the last few months. In these few months I have run just about exactly even to my EV which makes me feel like I should consistently be able to beat these low stakes.
I haven’t followed the Girah scandal too much but I am just appalled at what this kid did. You have to have some sort of mental sickness if you are someone capable of stealing large amounts of money from your friends. What do you really have to live for without good friends? I remember a few days ago my friend Mike (bigguylegend) was playing 50/100nl and I asked if I could TV his sesh. He seemed a bit hesitant but sent it to me asking me if anyone else was watching, my answer being no of course. Apparently Girah had been skyping him everyday asking to sweat him. Much of this scandal has lead to accusations towards Haseeb (many of them rightfully so, some not). I think there is so much hypocracy within the high stakes community. I would be shocked if there is a single high stakes player who hasn’t either multi accounted, or ghosted, or participated in a live sweat of some sort. Multi-accounting is only scummy if you use it to hurt someone else (using reads you have on a specific player you have played before to gain an unfair advantage or to play someone you know won’t give you action). If this isn’t the case, then everyone who plays on multiple sites that isn’t using the exact handle on all of them is a multi-accounter. I’m not sure what Haseebs intentions were playing on Girah’s account but he is sure. Next up is the chip dumping. I’m not sure what the real reason for the chip dump was but if it was intended for Girah to win the Lock Challenge to gain more press then that is again appalling. With my encounters with Haseeb, it would be hard to see him as a person who would go out of his way to hurt someone by cheating or scamming. It sucks to see him not part of Cardrunners anymore but it is what it is.
WSOP and Summer so far
I never got around to blogging about day 2 of the first 1500nl event I played. I started out that day card dead and basically folded to cash before getting in AK pre for about 10bbs only to see AA. I announced I never cracked AA with AK pre before and that this would be a good time. Sure enough the dealer put out a flop of KK6 and I doubled. I basically chipped up and had a few really interesting hands that I plan on talking about in a quickie video. My bustout was a cumulation of getting in AQss vs an aggro kids 99 and flopping A92ss but bricking. Then my last 10bigs went in when I shipped over an opening raise with my 10s and this kid went into the tank. I was begging for a call and got my wish to see a slowroll of JJ (no one folds once out of a million times in this spot so yes pretty safe to call it a slowroll). End result was 56th/2500 there.
The rest of my series has been a disaster. I have played 5 events since. The next event I busted 11 hours into day one losing another key flip with my JJ < AQ. Next event I went out after flatting an open with KK right before dinner break with 50bbs and seeing a flop of 467 and getting it in vs an aggro kid’s 45 (pretty tilting bc its pretty dumb to get in 45 there but I happened to have the bottom of my range).. So next event was the Caesars 560$hu and obv lose another key flip for my tournament life. Then the next day another 1500 event where I flatted an utg+1 open with 68s from the bb and lost most my chips on a 662 flop to A6 (probably could have folded given villian was in his 40’s but I asked other ppl and they said no way). I eventually busted on a flip again. So now 0/5 flipping for my tournament life. I then took a week off before playing the main event day1b. I had a good first level chipping up to 36k from 30k but terrible 2nd and 3rd levels getting down to 8k or so. I was able to run it back up to 25k during the last level before having to fold 10s preflop and then running into a set up and doubling up a shortstack. I’m down to 7k heading into day 2. I’m going to remain positive because you always hear about someone at the final table talking about how at one point they only had a few big blinds left and were able to run it up. Hope to blog about day 3 next haha..
Other than that I have played a couple live sessions of 5/10 and netted around 3k which is a good result one tabling. I am really happy with both my live cash game and live tournament game. I really feel like I’m a better player live than online but like online so much better. I have a new found respect for people who can grind it out live and make a living. I don’t think I have it in me to do that. The game is so slow and the social aspect of it is overrated. I can’t tell you how many times I have sat next to someone who probably hadn’t showered in a week. Oh and there is still variance in live poker as well. Imagine going on a 50-100k break-even stretch live.. That would literally be Hell.
The non poker part of this trip has been awesome. We went to Red Rocks, also known as Valley of Fire and did a little hiking. Steve (I ship Girls) and I hiked this gorge which had a pretty sick view of the desert ridgeline.
We all showed up at the Cardrunners party at Strip Burger and met/hung out with some fellow CR members as well which was a good experience. One of the best parts of the summer has been the poolside barbecues at night. Here’s a pic of a sunset from the Carnegie house backyard.
So Vegas is winding down and I’m going to head back to Laguna if/when I bust from the main for a couple days. Hopefully there’s some surf there but unlikely at this time of the year. Next up is San Francisco. I’m looking forward to getting back up there. Doyle is coming out there for Outside Lands Music Festival which will be really cool. Anyone else going to that? Hope you guys are having a great summer as well. Peace..
WSOP event #28
Hey guys this will be a short update on my first event of this series. Ran really well during the first few levels and built a really good stack but then was card dead the last 3 levels and didn’t win a single pot. I actually folded every hand but one where a button raiser jammed his last 6 or 7bb and I called from sb with 77, he won with QQ joking at how strong his hand was for his range.
I got a really bad migraine a couple hours into the tournament which lead to me feeling really nauseous throughout the rest of the day. I couldn’t eat during the dinner break and was feeling miserable. The last 3 levels I couldn’t think straight and just folded everything (was card dead and waiting for nutted hands). I had to leave mid way through the last level so I don’t know my chip stack but should be a little above avg heading into day 2.
The only hand I feel like I misplayed was during the first or second level when I had KJhh, I opened mid position, button (young kid who got out of line a lot) called and bb called. Flop Ks Js 5h. I bet pretty big, button flats, bb folds. Turn J. I bet about 1/2 pot, he raises small, I flat. River is 10s. I decided to lead big thinking this guy would ck back trips on that river but this was a huge mistake. He would have to have the case J to have trips and that river was the perfect bluff card plus he could have a flush in which case I could put him in a sick spot with a ck raise. Wow really bad play by me here :(
Outside of that I thought I played really well. Didn’t get out of line much at all but when I did got away with it every time. Ironically I feel like I play better live than online even though I’m primarily an online player. There are so many subtleties you can pick up on to make better decisions. People often complain how online players take so long to make decisions etc. The reason good online players take so much time imo is that they take in consideration exact chip stacks and spend time trying to count their opponent’s exact count in order to make optimal bet sizes etc. Anyways, wish me luck today.
UMW and general update
For those of you who have money tied up on Quicktender, there has been lots discovered. If you haven’t listened to the WiltOnTilt podcasts on quadjacks.com, especially part two with Chuck, I highly recommend doing it as there is groundbreaking stuff on the whereabouts of these funds. There’s also tons of interesting stuff on how the payment processing business works.
Basically, if you are one of those who has an “uncleared balance” where you requested a wire and it was intercepted but the US Govt you are shit out of luck. The Secret Service has your money and they don’t want to give it back. It is likely possible to take them to court because they are using the UIGEA as the reason they seized the funds and wont give them back.
If you had a “cleared balance” or funds in Quicktender that you didn’t withdraw then you have a chance to retrieve your funds. You would have to open an account and be able to accept a withdrawal in Euros to get your money. I’m sure you just received an email if you fall under this category.
As for me, I’ve been in Laguna the last few days helping my mom pack her house to move. Its been pretty overwhelming trying to get this move going. I really can’t wait to be done with it and head out to Vegas. My first event is going to be the NL 1500 on the 16th. I don’t exactly thing Vegas is going to be a vacation bc I’m going to be working everyday but it won’t compare to what Ive been up to the last few days.
WSOP etc..
I mapped out my wsop schedule and will be playing a minimum of 6 events including the main event. I did have to sell 1/2 my action and I am a little upset about doing that but feel like I need to be very defensive and conservative with my money. The reason I’m a bit upset about selling is that if I were to keep that extra 50% and lose it wouldn’t really change my life but there is life changing money on the upside of winning a bracelet or final tabling the Main Event. Ultimately, my decision to sell shares wasn’t due to the fact that I have a decent % of net worth tied up online but more due to the fact that because of Black Friday, I simply won’t have the income I used to have. I’ve run very bad online the last 3 months which has had a psychological impact on my confidence. Hopefully playing some live poker can turn things around for me. There is a good chance I’ll be playing more events if I run good at any point.
I’m not going to make it out to Vegas until mid June but am really looking forward to it. I’m going to see Joe Rogan Live at Mandalay with Jeff Miller, Knox, and AsuFan. There’s a UFC the next night and might decide to go to that. Anyways pretty excited to see/meet everyone and to get out of cold SF.
I cashed out my entire roll on Bodog and Doyles and was pretty excited to see the wires come through. I simply don’t trust those sites right now nor do I have faith in any sites offering games to Americans. Cake is still pending and obv UB/FTP isn’t happening anytime soon. I also found out that I got burnt for 5 digits in the whole Quicktender/UMW debacle. Wiltontilt and some others have been doing research about where these funds could be. You can read more about it towards the end of this thread .
I’m going to give lots of thought as to what I want to do with my future. Black Friday does open doors to moving abroad but I would will likely wait until sometime in 2012 to do that if I decide to. I have also been thinking about quitting professional poker and looking for a new “game” so to speak (not using the J word haha). There is part of me that feels like I could do very well in the business world but I don’t have a great grasp of what field I would be interested in.
Anyways, just a short update. Hope everyone is doing well.
This is the Wild West
It’s interesting hearing about people talk about the “good old days”. I’m talking about the Party Poker era, the pre UIEGA. Ah the good old days, when there were 10+ tables of 25/50NL running and no one knew how to play. When you could have 3 accounts and the sites didn’t do anything about it, when there was no PTR and anyone would play anyone (not that I was part of this but I was a fish on the rail and vividly remember when it was very common to see multiple nosebleed NL games running with whales in them). Yup, the days where you could play like a robot and absolutely make a killing. Many successful old timers (guys who are 25-30 years old) refer to that era in online poker as the Wild West.
I find that very interesting and very ironic because the era we are presently experiencing is a very historic era in online poker and just poker in general. This is truly the Wild Wild West. You hear stories from the old guys like Doyle Brunson about how they would travel to home games before there were real games in brick and mortar casinos and have to fear getting robbed. How we take for granted having a safe haven (live brick and mortar casino) to play poker and not worry about our safety. How back then being a poker player was like living in the Wild West.
Again, this present era is the Wild Wild West. For the last several years, online poker has lacked safety, security, or regulation. There have been huge scandals (virtual felt robberies/cheating) that we have heard of, and I guarantee 100% there have been scandals we haven’t heard of. Scandals where the people cheating were smart about it and didn’t get caught. This is the unregulated world we have been living in but it goes beyond the integrity of the game. Now it has escalated to the safety of our funds. There is no where that any poker player feels 100% comfortable and safe playing. Even on the smaller sites, we are all tentative and afraid of what could possibly come. We all have money locked up on FTP that we no longer have control over. Money that is no longer liquid. Money that to a certain extent, is no longer ours (until they give it back at least). Again, this is the Wild Wild West.
I guess what made me think of this blog was a statement made by payment processor UseMyWallet (also known as Quicktender). Here is a link to the statement from management: http://www.pokeraffiliatesolutions.com/poker-affiliate-blog/pokeraddict/436-usemywallet-withdrawals-halted.html
I don’t think it’s any secret that the prohibition will end. No one knows for certain when, but regulation will undoubtedly come. I wonder what people will call this so called Black Fiday era?
Poker and life updates
