Poker and Life

Just wanted to babble mostly to myself about poker and maybe a little about life. I haven't played a lot of poker since the World Series. This is due to a whole host of things and I won't be getting into all of those here. Mostly it was due to the ill feeling in my stomach after having the poker Gods line up against me so squarely in Vegas. I didn't do much complaining about it to others or myself. At least, I don't think so. That is just the nature of the game. I've gone over the hands in my head a million times and I wouldn't play one of them differently. What I have done though is hold on to the disappointment and that sick feeling in my stomach. I'm disappointed in myself for that. Great players forget this instantly and maybe turn it into some kind of positive. Good players get over it quickly. I did neither of those so where does that put me?

The hands I would play differently are many of the hands I've been playing lately. Like I said, I haven't played a lot lately but when I do my heart isn't there. I'm less disciplined. I'm more likely to get aggravated. I have lost my focus and my inner poker "zen". Without these, I shouldn't even be at the table. That's the absolute truth. Instead of sitting down focused and ready to put in a good session, I came to the table unsure and somewhat unwilling to even play my best game. That might not have been a conscious decision, but it was a decision I made on some level nonetheless. Thankfully, I caught this going on before I did any real damage to my bankroll. Self-awareness is one of the absolute keys to success at the poker table. It's the same thing in life. If you don't know what you are doing or why you are doing it and you aren't focused, things are less than likely to go your way. You are the "donkey", no matter where you are. Some of the time you haven't even bothered to figure out what "your way" is or you just don't care. It's less than likely that you will accomplish something with those cirucumstances.

Life gives you a little more room for error though. If I show up at the poker table less than 100%, maybe I can still win but I'm going to need some favorable conditions. I better be at least 90% though, or forget about it. If I go to work at 50%, I can probably get through the day and come out on the other side just fine. Most any place I go, I can show up tired, a little out of it, or just unfocused and it will be no big deal. I don't want to do that though. If I'm going to do that, why bother showing up in the first place? Maybe out of obligation? I guess so. This is just inevitable. As a poker player though, if you can apply the focus and analytical spirit that you bring with you to the table to other parts of your life, I think you'll find that they are richer as well.

I felt like I got my poker focus back to night. I played 3 hours of good limit hold 'em and I only had one hand that I think I played poorly. That was a good thing. I need to get my act back together and knock the rust off my game. I have poker goals this year, after all. Additionally, I'll need my focus for Camp Hellmuth. More than that though, I need my focus outside the poker table. Really, it's all connected.

RPS

Many of you know of my latest obsession - rock, paper, scissors. I just thought I'd share this little piece with you. Incidentally, I can't seem to beat women at RPS. I have some theories about why that is, but I'll keep them to myself for now. If you want to challenge me, I'll take all wagers up to and including $2/match.

The Story of the Loss

Here's a link to the story of my brother's latest defeat. He's featured in the picture and in the "Sluggers" section. Friggin' Knights of Columbus.

Weekend Wonders

Wanted to say a couple of thank you's from the weekend.

A) Thanks to Mike and Kimberly for having me over for dinner after training on Friday. The "world famous spaghetti" sauce lived up to it's billing. I'm treasuring my Ron Zook autographed football. The whole evening was lovely. I even caught some of the World Series of Pop Culture which is one of my new faves.

B) Saturday I took in BIKTAB 3: Dream Warriors. BIKTAB is a tremendously choice event and it's actually an acronym that represents Benko Invitation Kickball Tournament And BBQ. Russell and Michelle are two dynamite hosts that put on a world class event. There was the wheelbarrow of fun with fantastic prizes. I got a wrist band with a heart on it and a fully functional microphone. There was tons of kickball and dodgeball. Somehow, I was a 1st round draft pick for dodgeball. Thanks Michelle for your confidence. I think it was the Cobra Kai t-shirt that put me over the top there. When doesn't that put you over the top though? My kickball and dodgeball teams both fared extremely well.

On top of that, there were roasted marshmallows. I've determined that a proper s'more contains four large browned (not burned) marshmallows. Then, put as much chocolate on there as you like but make sure the marshmallows are oozing over the edge of the graham crackers or whatever else you are using. Just trust me on this. Oh, and give the chocolate time to melt also. That's so key. A few games of Outburst wrapped the night up nicely. I think my squad lost by one in the end though but I could be wrong about that.

The food was great. The people were great. I even found out some fun new facts. The first was that Russell owns a child molestation/kidnapping Dodge Ram van. It's white and it's the only thing tucked away in his garage. Oddly, this didn't really surprise me. Also, Michelle dated Steve Bartman for 9 months when she was 16. This had to be the highlight of Steve Bartman's life. I'm convinced of that. One more thing...Leinie's Berry Weiss is out of this world. It is hands down the girliest beer I've had in a while, but that definitely won't stop me. It shouldn't stop you either.

I'm already looking forward to BIKTAB4 which I'm told will have a DJ and a fountain. I guess we'll have to see.

That wraps up the thank you situation.

Cheers!

Limestone Loses

The boys went down tonight 9-8. They had two men on in the bottom of the sixth and couldn't push one across.

What a brutal flippin' day today.

Revenge Game

To clarify a few points. My brother held the Jaycees to 4 runs through 4. When he left in the 5th, they had the bases loaded and he had given up 2 more. The bullpen was unable to bail him out. Given that the Jaycees scored 17 runs last time around and they have a kid I refer to as "Barry Bonds" in the heart of their order. This wasn't so bad though his ERA is on the rise.

Here's the story for your perusal. Get there before they password protect it.

Limestone will need to win Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to advance. They will need to beat B-B National twice (Tuesday and Wednesday) to accomplish this. I think that it can be done. It will be a tough road though.

Leheney Wedding Photos

They are finally here baby. Click here to check them out. Thanks Mom.

Wheeler Gets Limestone Rolling!

I told you guys that my brother is a badass, right? Check it out in the Daily Journal.

Stomach Punch Game

Wanted to update everyone real quick on the first all-star game for Nick, my brother. It all went down at Slater Field in Bourbonnais, where I played little league for Crest Savings. We would later turn into Marquie and Lambert, which was also the sponsor for my fantastic minor league team. Leheney, Carlile, and I were 3 all-stars from that minor league squad. I'll never forget stealing second in that all-star game after our manager asked for someone fast and my hand shot straight up with the quickness. I had above average speed at best, but I came through. Of course, percentage of runners thrown out in minor league was somewhere around 7. Still, I remember it so it meant something if only to me.

Anyway, back to the game. It was Limestone against the Kankakee Jaycees. Limestone had only caucasians and the Jaycees had all african-american young men. It was sort of crazy that way. It was a great game but the defense was atrocious. The Jaycees started out pounding Limestone pitcher Chris Green who didn't have his best stuff at all. It was 7-3 Jaycees at the end of the 2nd after a young man from the Jaycees squad actually hit a home run over the 210 ft. sign in center field. These are 9-10 year olds, so this was quite a spectacle.

The Jaycees continued the abuse taking a 15-7 lead into the bottom of the 5th. Limestone would rally back to 15-14 by the end of the inning though. My bro pitched the 6th and allowed 1 run. In this footballesque scoring barrage, that was pretty solid. 16-14 going into the bottom of the 6th. I had Leheney on the phone and I told him that I'd bet $500 on Limestone right now. The top of the order was coming up. Chris Green grounded out to start the ending. My bro walked and stole 2nd. The man in the 3 hole came up with a double to score Nick. 16-15 Jaycees with one out. The clean-up hitter, a huge kid last name of Rapp who was having an off day comes up. He lines one at the 2nd baseman. Our Limestone runner mistakenly takes off on contact and gets doubled off. End of game. Now they are in the losers bracket with a long way to go. I hope they can win two and make it to Sunday so that I can head down again. I think this is definitely possible. Still, Bourbonnais American seems to be the team to beat. This isn't surprising. Bourbonnais has a wider talent pool and a good little league system. On top of that, they have more over the top, borderline abusive, psycho parents than the other surrounding towns. I know. I grew up there.

Final Line for my brother - 2-2 with a double and a single, 2 walks, and he was hit by a pitch. He scored 4 runs. Nothing to hang your head about there.

Love this internet thing...

One minute you are playing roshambo against someone via aol instant messenger and the next you are looking at cats that look like hitler. I might be a big time dork.

Go Swartz!

Mark Swartz will begin Event #22 - $2000 no limit hold 'em this afternoon (7/14). Wish the man luck and follow him on cardplayer.com if you would like. Take it down this time Mark!

Stop! Thief!

I came home to this in my building. I love the notification. Hopefully, this person isn't my size.

Good Evening

Hello there fair readers. I apologize for not posting more but frankly, I have little to say of late. Last night, I rented Casablanca and Get Rich or Die Tryin'. After the guy checking me out stopped laughing, I walked home and watched Casablanca while doing my laundry and some rudimentary exercises. You have to love Humphrey Bogart. The man is pretty much a pimp and his name was Humphrey. Pulling that off takes some doing.

I'm working on planning various weekend voyages of late, including Camp Hellmuth in mid-August. Thanks Swartz!

Most things are back to normal. I'm back in the flow of things in the office. I'm trying to catch up on some reading. I've been playing a little poker. I've got the first all-star game for my brother on Saturday and a lovely brunch on Sunday this weekend. It's all fairly typical summer stuff. Oh yeah, my dodgeball team is doing well too. We are 17-4. You play 7 rounds/game and the standings are based on rounds won. I'm quite certain that we are in 1st place.

Oddly, I have nothing to complain about these days. The frickin' World Cup is finally over so that's a plus. The Cubs suck, but that's nothing new. The Bulls are looking strong. My apartment building is still standing. I'm listening to some solid new tunes. Everything is pretty groovy. I hope it's the same for you.

Life as a blackhawk fan....

The Hawks just inked Denis Arkhipov. That was our latest and greatest free agent signing. Who is he, you ask? Here's the scouting report from our very own GM Dale Tallon -

"I saw him play in some tournaments in Europe last season and I really like the way he plays."

I can't make this stuff up. The guy had 8 goals in 50 games in the Russian league last year. Sign me up for season tickets.

WSOP Results/Recap

"I know that Swartz could take this down if he brings his 'A game' though." - Chris Milone on this very blog on 6/24

Sometimes you are right and sometimes you are wrong. In regards to what I said above, I was pretty much right on. Some of you have heard parts of this story as I have recapped it for you via telephone, email, or through some other means. For you, hopefully I can fill in some of the details that you might be missing. For the rest of you, I hope you enjoy the read.

Day 1

We arrived on Tuesday morning around 9. I was basically running on empty after not getting enough sleep and waking up entirely too early. The four of us (Mark, James, Chad, and I) headed straight to the Rio to get these guys checked in for their event that started at noon. We walked into the room and it was just insane. It was poker nirvana. There were a couple of hundred poker tables and the pros just walked by one after the other. After check in, we grabbed breakfast amongst Dutch Boyd, Robert Varkonyi, Jim McManus, and David Sklansky. The three no limit players took their seats right on time and things kicked off. I mostly watched Swartz run his stack up early and talked to some fellow railbirds about their hopefuls. Swartz knocked Greg Mueller out playing T3o, which was just totally sick. I couldn't get over it at the time. Looking back on it now, it's a beautiful play. His M (chipstack/cost per round) was high and he worked the situation nicely. This was just the start of everything.

Soon, Chad and James were on the rail after not getting much going. They both went out in Round 2. The three of us ended up heading back to the Venetian for some afternoon cash games while Swartz trudged on. I started out well but ended up with a profit of only $8 after a Canadian girl made 3 flushes in a row against my set of 3s, pair of jacks with no overcards on the board, and my ATo top-pair top-kicker.

Soon after quitting, we were on our way back to the Rio for the Swartz dinner break. After watching Swartz make a great call pre-flop when he's pot committed with 96o and make a straight to double through, we hit Tilted Kilt and James and I had the first of many chopped salads. Somehow I managed to stick to my diet on this trip, at least for the most part. Swartz was playing great. I was really proud of him for this 96o call. A lot of players would mistakenly fold in this spot with these cards. This call had nothing to do with the cards, it was all about his chip stack and the odds the pot was laying. At Tilted Kilt, we see the tilt boys including Rafe Furst and Phil Gordon. Phil was still in Mark's event and Rafe would later go on to win the $1500 pot-limit hold 'em event. Tilted Kilt would turn out to be the lucky dinner spot in my mind.

After dinner, Mark was playing great. He would repeatedly say, "my table is easy". This theme would persist for him throughout. He was confident and justifiably so. I won't walk through every hand, but let's just say that when Mark saw weakness he was in there raising and generally scaring the crap out of people. Not long after dinner, the announcement was made that everyone was "in the money", meaning they would profit at least a marginal amount on their entry fee, even if they went out instantly. Many people applauded here. Phil Gordon didn't. He doesn't care about making the money, he cares about winning. Mark Swartz also didn't applaud. He felt the same way.

I watch Mark play all night until about 2 am. Carlos Mortensen was building a monster stack. Jennifer Harman was hanging on inexplicably after being so near the felt on about 12 times. Bill Gazes was looming large (in height) at Mark's table, but he is light on chips and the same is true of Sheiky. Bill would later tell the Cardplayer staff during a hand "write down that this is a bad, bad man". Bill Gazes is a smart guy. We head back to the Ventian at 2am and pretty much pass right out. You would think that Mark would be too excited to sleep, but he was so wiped (so was I) that it didn't even matter.

Here is Mark's recap of Day 1 on fullcontactpoker.com.

Day 2

Chad decided to get in the pot-limit hold 'em tourney on Wednesday, after not being satisfied on Day 1. He drew David Grey and Jean-Robert Bellande (the "nice laydown" guy, if you watch poker on ESPN). He busted Jean-Robert with AK after Jean-Robert pushed in with his middle pair and a flush draw with Jc7c. That was quite satisfying, to say the least. He would later bust out though and join James and I on the rail for Mark's event.

At 2 pm, Swartz fired back up and started to play with his sick levels of aggression. The guy was essentially card dead for the whole tournament and still he was able to chip up consistently, capitalizing on fearful opponents and his great reads. He sat with Jennifer Harman for a while towards the end of the day. If you don't know who Jennifer Harman is, I can't help you. Day 2 was all about playing from the final 122 down to 9. The 9 would be the final table, get on ESPN, and win mad loot. The whole world was talking about Mortensen, a former main event champion with just a sick stack all day. He was the pro with the best shot at winning. Harman ended up going out 12th after running her AK into AA. By the end of the day, Mortensen had squandered most of it and he came into the final table in 9th chip position. Mark finished the day at 5th in chips and was headed to the final table.

One thing that struck me about Day 2 was that even when they were down to 3 tables, Mark just kept saying his table was easy and that he could make the final table. He was totally poised and seemed as though he belonged and he knew it. We had the exact same dinner at Twisted Kilt as the night before. Mark had to pay $20 just to get our old table back, as it was "reserved". It turned out to be worth every penny. Mark had no doubt during dinner that he was going to the final table. I suspect that he was just in the zone. We hardly talked any strategy at all outside of "just keep doing what you are doing" and "don't do anything crazy" which may not exactly be compatible. Oddly enough, I think we all knew he was going to the final table and we didn't doubt it for a minute.

Towards the end of the night on the last break, they made Mark fill out a profile. He didn't really want to, so he essentially responded to the questions with "-", which was pretty awesome. He also was approached with deals to wear shirts to endorse some sites at the final table. He wouldn't even listen to the conditions, he just didn't want to be a corporate shill. He turned them all down flat. We later found out that he could have picked up 10k for wearing a shirt, but he still didn't care.

Here is Mark's recap of Day 2 on fullcontactpoker.com.

Day 3

We woke up and headed to breakfast at the Rio. We had to be there by noon. I had to play. Mark had a 1 pm interview with ESPN, so we all rolled together. At noon, I sat down and liked my table. I only recognized Marco Traniello. He was in the 9 seat and I was in the two, so we likely wouldn't square off too often. The rest of my table didn't appear too threatening. Some of them were scary looking but I got the tight player vibe and I was right for the most part.

Things started out okay and I was up and down a little bit. I seemed to only get into heads up pots with Marco in the early going. I stole 2 of 3 and the other I won with the best hand I'm sure. We never showed our cards. I was feeling good. With my chips sitting about 1300 though, the wheels started to come off. We had a total maniac at our table who was raising lots of pots and playing very aggressively after the flop. He was playing all kinds of rags like Q4o and what not. It was only a matter of time before I'd have to look this guy up with a hand.

Not too long into Round 2 (blinds 50-100), I look down at ATs in middle position and open raise. He reraises me. Everyone else folds and it's back around to me. This raise could come from any two cards, so I wasn't overly concerned. I called and the flop came AT4 with 2 hearts. I bet out with my two pair, he raised me and I reraised. He just called. The turn came a blank (a 7 no heart) and I fired again, he raised me again. I reraised. He raised me and I called. The river came the 9 of clubs. I checked and called on the river. He rolled over the set of tens.

A few hands later, I'm on the button with Ac3c. Three people limp in in front of me and I limp along with them. The flop comes out Tc7c6c. A more beautiful flop, I haven't seen. Donkey Kong with the set of tens in the previous hand I described leads out at it (again, this could mean anything), a middle position player raises (most likely with top pair) and I reraise on the button. Both players call. Donkey Kong bets out, middle position player calls, I raise. Donkey Kong reraises, top pair guy finally figures out he's hosed, and I reraise. We get it all in and the freakin' guy turns over 9c8c. The guy flopped the ultimate cooler on me, the straight flush. Double ouch. I just got up and left. That's poker. Unbelievable.

The good news was that I got to watch all of the final table for Swartz. This was really exciting as we were on the ESPN set, everyone had the mic going, and they would announce the hands. We could see the flop/turn/river on a screen and generally cheer like crazy. That's what we did. Our little Swartz entourage could even see air time, as they were taping us on multiple occasions.

Swartz played great as usual. He told everyone he was raising the first pot and he did. He took a hit and came back and raised 3 pots in a row. He did that all tournament long. He was playing like a man possessed. After missing the hand with top-pair and a flush draw against Cantu when the flush didn't come, he kept up his aggressive style ultimately losing a race for all of his chips, just as Carlos Mortensen had done. There was no shame there, especially taking 8th place, making the final table, and taking home nearly 90k. Mark looked like someone had just stolen his dog though. We all tried to cheer him up but it wasn't working. After we all got to Bouchon in the Venetian for a celebratory dinner, things were much better though. Chad and I went with the chicken and everyone else got steak. I'm just going to say this once. If you go to Bouchon, just trust me and get the damn chicken. After some great vino, great food, and great conversation, things were looking good.

We headed down to the Venetian poker room to find Greg Raymer at the $2/$5 no limit table. I think he is affiliated with the Venetian poker room in some way along with Joe Hachem, who would show up later. We didn't sit with the world champ though, we got our own $1/$2 no limit table. My best advice for myself and for you the reader is simple. Don't play no limit hold 'em drunk. It's a bad idea. Even if I did get my money in good with my 99 against James only to get sucked out on unmercifully. You donkey! Anyway, after a while they fired up $1000/man sit n' go where 2 of the people at the table were Hachem and Raymer. $6k for 1st and $4k for second. Somehow, they got 8 people to sign up for this pretty much immediately. Talk about getting your money in bad. Two world champions? Are you people nuts? After a couple of hours I was in bed and not much later, I was back on a plane to Chicago.

Here is Mark's recap of Day 3 on fullcontactpoker.com.

A few additional notes and bits of information....

1. Despite getting bounced from my event, this trip couldn't have been better. Mark is the one guy in the world that I talk about poker hands with consistently. To see him go through this was just tremendous. I couldn't have been happier for anyone else in the world.

2. Mark is a great frickin' player. I didn't realize how strong he had gotten until this weekend. The guy plays a lot of cash games live these days and it's clearly helped him a lot with his reads which were dead on all weekend. What impressed me the most was the way he carried himself. It was all business and no there was no sense of awe about where he was or who he was sitting with. He knew what he had to do to win and he did it. He sat amongst the best and he belonged there. I don't think there is a greater compliment that you could pay a poker player. Daniel Negreanu was my favorite player, but these days it's my good friend Mark in a landslide.

3. I'll be back next year.

4. All of the poker pros are really nice and accomodating. Personally though, by the end of the weekend I wasn't in awe at all. I just felt like they were all just other poker players. There is nothing insanely otherworldly about them. Clearly, they have earned the respect of other players and have had a lot of success. It doesn't seem like this is something impossible to do though. If you have some natural talent and a true passion for the game, you could get there.

5. I don't think that I could personally ever travel the tournament trail. Just watching Mark play this tournament for the weekend was quite exhausting. Playing and doing this year round would just be nuts. I have a much greater appreciation for the stamina it takes to do this full-time. If I was ever going to be a pro, I'd probably focus mostly on cash games.

6. One of my favorite stories from the weekend involves Mark's ESPN interview. He goes in there and the woman asks him "so you did this interview for Chris Milone"? She was referring to this. That one caught Mark off guard. It's a good day for this blog when ESPN is using it as a somewhat reputable source for information. Thankfully, I don't think that Elimidate question came up.

7. One more time I just want to send out congratulations to Mark. You are an animal.

8. There is no way Phil Gordon is 6'9". He might be 6'6" but he is no 6'9".

9. Phil Hellmuth made them announce his 50th cash because he tied the record for cashes. Essentially, he's a self-absorbed ego-maniac, but we all knew that.

10. If you go to the final table of a WSOP event with autographs of other players on your hat, you are a big dork. You'll see what I mean when this airs on Oct. 3rd.

11. My pics from the weekend are available here.

Birthday Wishes

Mike Leheney is 29 years old today. Congratulations sir. You're the best around.

I'm tired...

I'm going to do a long WSOP post here soon but I just woke up and it's 2:30 pm. I didn't get in until after 2 last night and it was closer to 4 when I got to bed. This is why you should never work the day after a Vegas trip. Thankfully, today is Saturday. Vegas kicked some righteous ass but it's great to be back in Chicago. I just got caught up on the blogs I read, the sports guy, and everything else I was missing out on for the last 4 days. It's good to be back. Cubs/Sox tomorrow with Yagan will be great. Now it's time to go cash in a free Caribou though.