MMA bets for the Ultimate Affliction Dream weekend
[Jul. 21st, 2008|03:18 am]
I continue to run like god betting on fights.
Results behind the cut for Dream spoilers, although if you didn't stay up until 6:30 AM ET/3:30 AM PT, how big of a fan could you possibly be? :) ( spoilers )
Alright, well, that was a pretty nice ceremony. Lump in the throat during exchanging of vows and all that. Beautiful scenery, great couple, all that.
I will admit to being caught off-guard temporarily and thinking maybe finding that one person you're willing to drop everything for for the rest of your life might be worth it.
I have three weddings in three weekends in three countries, starting today.
Today is my cousin[1] Derek's wedding in Burnaby, BC. Then it's Hoss' wedding next Saturday in Princeton, NJ. Then the Saturday after is Warren's wedding in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica.
I'm good friends with all three people, and all three weddings are an opportunity to see people in three different social circles. Particularly, I haven't seen my Costa Rican friends in a while, so I'll be spending a little extra time there.
And I'm happy for all three couples. I'm happy all three of my guy friends found great girls and I'm happy that they're happy. But the proximity (temporally, not spatially) of the three weddings does give me a little wtf-ness. Why are all my friends getting married? Am I going to see them as much? Will we be able to hang out at random times, go out late, go on vacations and road trips? Or will they disappear into the dreaded married people social circle, when they meet up on Sundays for brunch with all their other married friends and talk about ... whatever the fuck it is married people talk about when they get together for Sunday brunch?
One of the biggest reasons I quit my job at Stars was because for the freedom. I was tired of telling people, "yeah, I'd like to go to that, but I have to work." But now I hear the same things from my married friends.
"I'd like to do that, but [name of wife] has [some activity]."
"Oh yeah, I really wanted to go to that, but the kids [are in school/are out of school/whatever]."
"That sounds like a lot of fun, but I couldn't be away from my wife for that long."
"Oh, love to, but can't. Wednesday nights is [whatever] night."
"I'd do it, but I'm going away to [something else] and my wife would kill me if I went off and did that as well."
It all sounds the same to me.
I'm still at least a few years from being married. I just have too much stuff I want to do. I want to train martial arts all the time. I want to travel (and by travel I don't mean plan a 2-week cruise six months in advance). I want to take seven weeks off every year and play the WSOP. I want to live on different continents for months at a time. These things are for the most part incongruent with marrying, starting a family and so forth. And I've accepted that I'm cool with that; that these experiences at this time for me are more important than "settling down". I guess what I have to accept now is that more and more, my friends are making the opposite choice.
But I'm happy for all of my friends. I just wish they were more like me. :)
[1] Technically my cousin's cousin, but we all grew up together, so we just count it.
UFC: CB Dollaway -134, 670 to win 500 Rory Markham -256, 1280 to win 500
Dream: withheld until tomorrow, since prices might get better. :) Edit: Caol Uno +276, 500 to win 1380 Eddie Alvarez +132/+124/+139, total of 1500 to win 1975
Took a short ride to pick up some groceries and when I came out of the store, found that someone had knocked over my bike, fucking up the brake handles. No note, of course, and they propped the bike back up, thinking I wouldn't notice this:
No functional damage to the bike; everything handled fine on the way home. Since it's not significant enough for me to bother taking to the shop and spend money on, and it's not something I can fix myself, the end result is simply that the bike is now just a little bit uglier. The most annoying part is that every time I ride the bike in the future, I will be reminded that people suck.
Tuesday AM: Woke up, got ass beaten at BJJ, as per expectation. Found out that at HBJJ they do actual wrestling in addition to BJJ, which is a good thing unless (or especially if) you suck as hard at wrestling as I do. Got a lot of help from angrygrappler. Failed to score an offensive point in sparring on anyone who wasn't a total newb. angrygrappler tapped me like I owed him money.
Tuesday PM: Drove the very scenic drive up 101 to Santa Barbara airport to pick up Yana. Had beach dinner, took pictures, etc. Continued driving up 101 until arrival in San Francisco. Pulled into a Holiday Inn. Sorry, sold out. Went to GPS and started phoning nearby hotels. Everyone sold out. Went to the Holiday Inn lobby, asked check-in desk lady if she could give me internet access code for my laptop so I could search Tripadvisor for available rooms.
Clerk: "Sorry, no." Me: "You don't have it?" Clerk: "You're not a guest here, I can't give you the access code." Me: "Thanks."
Dialed over 20 more nearby hotels on the GPS before giving up and driving back towards SFO airport where we assumed they must have hotel rooms. Nada. Fail, repeat, fail. Yana asked one of the clerks who said no where we might find a room. "Oakland" was the response. So we drove over to Oakland. Success! Beautiful room for $170/night at the Executive Inn and Suites.
Wednesday: Drove back to San Francisco. Crab crepes at Pier 39. Found out Alcatraz was sold out until next Tuesday! Wasn't like that when I last visited this city ten years ago. Went on WW2 submarine. Yana slightly claustrophobic. Went to turn-of-the-century fair type thing with crazy coin-operated games that were actually really cool (think test-your-strength, fortune teller, mechanical pianos, that kind of thing). Yana wanted to walk from where we were to the Golden Gate Bridge, walk across, and walk back. Got partway to the bridge before I decided she is insane and overruled the rest of the plan. Abruptly cut short the 19 km walk in favour of coffee. Called evwhore who met us for steak dinners. Drove across the Golden Gate to Boca Steak, before continuing up the 101.
101 is a more challenging night time drive than I recall it being, since I now lack the hubris and invincibility of my 20-year-old self. Driving in the dark on this windy road is tough, and you miss out on the scenery besides. Stopped driving relatively early -- midnight -- in a place called Garberville in California, 70 miles before Eureka and about 170 miles to the Oregon border.
Today: Driving through the redwood forest, along the Oregon coast for a bit, and then back to Vancouver.
Thanks to everyone out in Orange County who offered to meet up with me or hang out. Unfortunately I didn't see any of your comments or e-mails until after I started driving out to West Hollywood, where I am now.
I ended up getting a Garmin Nuvi 260 GPS, which is solid and easy-to-use, if unspectacular (no bluetooth or fancy stuff). It has made navigating the LA freeway system a snap, and has already paid for itself as far as I'm concerned.
Got in around 7 PM. Warren went to bed at 10 PM, so I was in bed (air mattress, actually) by 11. As a result I woke up at the ghastly hour of 5:30 AM. It's a bad sign when you wake up so early that you have stand outside the local Starbucks waiting for it to open.
Trained on Monday morning where Warren is teaching now, Hollywood BJJ. The school is owned and run by Renzo Gracie black belt Shawn Williams and actor Sean Patrick Flanery. The "beginner" class was loaded with blue and purple belts. Today I'll be doing the no-gi intermediate class, so I'll definitely be taking my medicine.
After class I hit In N Out (now five times lifetime, for those scoring at home) and drove down to Seal Beach to see Laren. We saw Wall-E (well recommended and cute, if a bit slow to start), ate a late dinner, and talked about life without one another, which seems to be going well enough for both of us.
Yana has finished her first weekend in pro pokerdom, and changed her flight out of Las Vegas from a return to Vancouver in favour of a trip to Santa Barbara Airport where we will drive up the 101 towards San Francisco. She expressed a strong desire to do touristy things in San Francisco, as she's never been, and since I haven't been either in almost 10 years, I'll be happy to comply.
Here's a picture from Las Vegas of my odometer hitting a perfectly reversible palindrome (thanks to Hoss for pointing this out a few days ago):
I'm in Orange County, California at Gavin and Kristen's house. I left Las Vegas at 4:30 AM last night, which was the product of some poor planning. I had promised Gavin and Kristen I would take them to a BJJ gym near their place in Orange County to check it out with them. But I had also promised to meet up and chat with Yana, a friend of chrisdanek, who had impulsively decided to quit her job a few days ago to play live poker and wanted some words of wisdom to start her journey. Yana's flight into Vegas arrived at 10 PM, and weekend BJJ classes are usually in the morning. Throw in a drink at the Palms which turned into an NL headsup challenge at the house, and the end result is a long, boring drive at the tail end of being awake for 22 hours.
When I arrived at Baker, CA (approximately the one-third mark from Vegas to LA) it was 5:30 AM and I was already having trouble staying awake at the wheel. At that point I planned to make it to Barstow (approximately halfway) and crash a couple hours in a cheap motel. By the time I got to Barstow, I was feeling slightly better and pulled into a Starbucks to caffeinate myself. Unfortunately, caffeine doesn't seem to have much of an effect on me beyond placebo, and about 30 minutes after that I was tired again.
But once I got into the greater Los Angeles area around 7 AM, I got my second wind. The change of scenery and increased traffic sharpened my senses and I was able to get to Gavin's house easily. Once there I looked online with Gavin for schools and found a place with a 1 PM class. I took a 3-hour nap where I was out before my head hit the pillow.
We then went to the BJJ class at OC Kickboxing in Irvine. This place seemed interesting because they seemed to run a beginner and intermediate class simultaneously, and both are run by a black belt. On 3 hours of sleep, I found the class exhausting. In another moment of sleep deprivation foolishness, I stupidly left my gi there, and will have to go back and get it tomorrow.
Tomorrow I'm also going to go to Best Buy to get a GPS, but other than that I don't have much to do. I might meet laren if she's available, but she prefers Monday. For my part I've already told my old BJJ instructor Warren that I will be training with him on Monday, but I'm sure we'll work it out.
Now things start getting interesting. 1307 players remaining, 666 cash (50.9% of the remaining field). Average in-the-money stack will be 205,525 plus any colour-up rounding, floor mistakes, refunded entries, extra chips that Men managed to slip into play, etc.
Phil Hellmuth 196k Phil Ivey Daniel Negreanu Patrik Antonius 30k Doyle Brunson Todd Brunson Johnny Chan 179k Allen Cunningham 127k Ted Forrest Barry Greenstein Tony Guoga Gus Hansen 95k Phil Laak Erick Lindgren Marcel Luske Mike Matusow 98k Dario Minieri Men Nguyen 98k Max Pescatori Greg Raymer Erik Seidel 101k JC Tran Devilfish Ulliot Dustin Woolf Scotty Nguyen Huck Seed
PokerStars qualifier Strong Wang moved all in from the small blind, nursing a short stack. He had about 2,500 at the time and was holding {K-Hearts} {8-Spades}. The big blind called him down with {9-Diamonds} {5-Diamonds}. The board came out {6-Hearts} {A-Diamonds} {4-Spades} {6-Diamonds} {K-Spades}, and Wang doubled up to 5,500.
If it's not going to be someone I have a piece of, pleeeeeeeease let the 2008 World Series of Poker champion be a guy named "Strong Wang".
Greenstein, Lindgren and Scotty go home; Antonius crippled; Seidel adds to his stack; rumours of Laak's demise exaggerated and/or made up.
Phil Hellmuth 79k Phil Ivey Daniel Negreanu Patrik Antonius 30k Doyle Brunson Todd Brunson Johnny Chan 78k Allen Cunningham 49k Ted Forrest Barry Greenstein Tony Guoga Gus Hansen 102k Phil Laak 45k Erick Lindgren Marcel Luske Mike Matusow 52k Dario Minieri Men Nguyen 48k Max Pescatori Greg Raymer Erik Seidel 101k JC Tran Devilfish Ulliot Dustin Woolf Scotty Nguyen Huck Seed
I have long thought about the idea of a Mixed Grappling/Limit Hold'em World Championship. It could be something like a submission grappling match and to be eligible, you would have to play like a minimum of 20,000 hands of black-chip limit hold'em. I always assumed it would come down to Matt and I, since Matt was a former Division I wrestler at heavyweight. But Dan pointed out that "arbiannight" on Stars -- whom I've played many hands against -- once fought Urijah Faber to a decision. So I'm either drawing dead on that or we are going to have to make it a purple-chip qualifier.
***
I just got back from the PokerStars party in Rain at the Palms. I rather randomly ran into a girl I went out with once, who subsequently didn't return my phone calls. The best part was that Gavin had left to go usher someone else in, Kristen had turned away from me momentarily to meet with her friend Tiffany who had just arrived, and I was texting Matt to see where he was. So here I was, standing alone and looking into my phone when this girl I went out with and doesn't return my phone calls comes up to me and says hi. Then Kristen taps me on the shoulder to take a picture of her and Tiffany. I felt this (Terrence holds his forefinger and thumb a quarter-inch apart) big.
The Stars party was an extremely huge, extremely impressive party. I really have a hard time comprehending how big PokerStars is now. I remember being one of seven or eight people who made decisions about PokerStars. I remember when we sent like 30 players to the WSOP main event and thought that was awesome. Now the hippest casino in Las Vegas has a giant PokerStars logo on the side of its biggest tower, and its celebrated nightclub is booked for a private party for PokerStars qualifiers and VIPs.
When I got there, there was a huge line to get in. I had to phone Gavin to come let me in. I don't get the "don't you know who I am" complex very often. Actually, I never get it. But I could not believe that I -- of all people -- was standing in line outside a PokerStars party waiting to be let in by my friend (who is a much more important PokerStars person than I am) on the inside.
And it's weird, because I have never regretted for even a split-second leaving Stars to do my own thing. It's given me so much freedom and so much money. But to be a large part of a very small thing, then watch that thing grow and grow and finally outgrow yourself is fulfilling but at the same time, sad. I still know a lot of people at Stars, but the percentage of the total gets fewer and fewer.
Poker is very solitary. Pretty much the only time it isn't solitary and people are pulling for you is in a live poker tournament. When you play a live cash game, everyone in your game -- everyone with whom you're interacting -- is your enemy. In live poker tournaments, when you go deep most of your friends have busted. You might be the last of your friends. They might have a piece of you, but even if they don't they're still cheering you on and hoping you do well. They check in online to see how your stack is doing. They come to your final table and make noise when you steal the blinds. The people who can't be there send you positive e-mails and IMs. It's the only time in a completely individual game where you get the glory of a team sport.
That's why the WSOP is so much fun -- six weeks of this camaraderie for which us poker players are starved -- and why I'm sad that for me, it is over. I'm not even ready to leave Las Vegas yet, because so many people haven't left yet. At this moment I still know way more people in Las Vegas than I do in Vancouver. But it won't be me they're cheering for. Not this year.
Phil Hellmuth 79k Phil Ivey Daniel Negreanu Patrik Antonius 64k Doyle Brunson Todd Brunson Johnny Chan 78k Allen Cunningham 49k Ted Forrest Barry Greenstein 22k Tony Guoga Gus Hansen 102k Phil Laak Erick Lindgren 92k Marcel Luske Mike Matusow 52k Dario Minieri Men Nguyen 48k Max Pescatori Greg Raymer Erik Seidel 65k JC Tran Devilfish Ulliot Dustin Woolf Scotty Nguyen 24k Huck Seed
15 players down, 11 players alive holding a combined 675k in chips.
On a flop of {K-Hearts} {8-Spades} {2-Hearts}, Forrest Griffin bet 200 from UTG, Johnny Chan raised to 1,100 from middle position and Griffin made the call. The turn was the {8-Diamonds}. Griffin bet 1,000, Chan raised to 2,000 and Griffin called. The river was the {J-Diamonds}. Griffin bet another 1,000, Chan raised to 5,000 and Griffin called.
Chan rolled over {A-Spades} {K-Clubs} for two pair, while Griffin showed {J-Spades} {6-Spades}. The hand took the UFC fighted down to only 1,600.
On a subsequent hand, Griffin moved all in on a flop of {Q-Spades} {J-Hearts} {3-Clubs} and Vincent Curry made the call. Griffin showed {K-Spades} {9-Diamonds} while Curry tabled {Q-Diamonds} {8-Spades}. The turn and river blanked out for Griffin and he hit the rail.
***
Putting aside how bad this hand is, what are the odds that I would go train fighting today and Forrest Griffin would be playing poker?
Phil Hellmuth Phil Ivey Daniel Negreanu Patrik Antonius 64k Doyle Brunson Todd Brunson Johnny Chan Allen Cunningham Ted Forrest Barry Greenstein 22k Tony Guoga Gus Hansen Phil Laak Erick Lindgren 92k Marcel Luske Mike Matusow 52k Dario Minieri Men Nguyen Max Pescatori Greg Raymer Erik Seidel 65k JC Tran Devilfish Ulliot Dustin Woolf Scotty Nguyen 24k Huck Seed
16 players (10 out, 6 in) holding 319k in chips. Very good start for me.
Event 54: $10000 World Championship of No-Limit Hold'em
[Jul. 5th, 2008|05:56 pm]
Lamest main event ever.
After losing with AK against AK upon flopping top two pair and being runner-runner flushed by a guy who can't read his hand, I get this:
150-300, guy opens the pot by silently tossing out a yellow chip. He then tries to argue the raise, but obviously it doesn't go his way. Another limp, SB completes, I am in the BB with AsQs and have the easiest AQs check ever.
Flop -- you guessed it -- Q95 with two spades. SB inexplicably bets 900 into me, I call, opener makes it 3500, folded back to me, I shove for my 7125, he thinks briefly and calls.
"Is it aces or kings," I ask. He turns over kings with no spade and I am happy. The turn and river blanks off and I am less happy.
So much lameness. Annoying. I even took the tournament seriously and was looking forward to it. I didn't fuck around, didn't do anything stupid. Just never won a pot with 20 BB in it, which makes it hard to do well in a poker tournament.
So goodbye, 2008 World Series of Poker. You were mediocre and lame.
“This is my update after the first level of the $10k Main Event. It has gone very badly. I have yet to win a pot over 1000 chips. I am down to 9000. Most of which on the following hand: I raise UTG [with AK] to 250, call call. Big blind makes it 1200 straight, I call. They all fold. Flop comes AKT with two clubs, I do not have the ace or king of clubs. He bets 1200, I call. Turn is the 9c, he bets 2000, I call. River is 8c. He checks, I check.
He turns over AK with the Kc for the nuts. And he doesn't realize that he has actually the nuts, and so, great way to start, lose AK against AK after we both flop top two pair. So I have 9000 so something good needs to happen.
My table is not really that good for a main event table, I mean, it's soft, but not spectacularly awesome like I've been hearing from other people. I'm making my way through the crowd, so it's back to it.”
Phil Hellmuth Phil Ivey Daniel Negreanu OUT Patrik Antonius 64k Doyle Brunson Todd Brunson Johnny Chan Allen Cunningham Ted Forrest OUT Barry Greenstein 22k Tony Guoga Gus Hansen Phil Laak Erick Lindgren 92k Marcel Luske Mike Matusow Dario Minieri Men Nguyen Max Pescatori Greg Raymer OUT Erik Seidel 65k JC Tran Devilfish Ulliot OUT Dustin Woolf Scotty Nguyen 24k Huck Seed
Total: 9 players down holding 267k in chips.
Seems like Day 1C and 1D are the name-heavy days.
I play today as well and am starting at table Orange 44, Seat 4. Chinese numerologists do not predict good things!
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