My Last Blog Entry
Current mood: blessed

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." -Orson Wells

When I started this blog I hoped to give my friends and family an insight into the poker lifestyle by openly speaking about my experiences.  I also wanted wanted to get my name out there in the poker world and have my peers acknowledge my accomplishments.  That was a year and half ago, and since then I’ve written 209 blog entries and had 61,000 hits.  The entries have slowly evolved from a summary of my daily activities to funny stories and insightful commentaries and along the way have become more interesting (in my opinion anyway).

I think I’ve reached the point where I no longer have the effort to put into the blog to do it the justice it deserves.  Some entries take as long as several hours to write and chasing my roomates around with a camera to get blog pictures gets old after awhile.  So rather then write entries that aren’t as interesting I think I would rather just walk away and refocus my energy on other things.  I want to sincerely thank all of the people that took the time to read and follow my blog over the last 18 months, it has been a source of great pride to know that there are people who care about what I have to say.  I hope many of you will continue to keep in touch through e-mail (JLimbs@gmail.com) or if you see me around to stop me and say hi.

As a final entry, here is whats been happening for the past month or so:

I finally moved into the mansion in Vegas with the guys, the house is amazing and we are having a lot of fun.  Our household poker success has continued with Basebaldy winning the $2500 at Bellagio a few days ago which was good for $148,000.  Yesterday Katz finished 2nd in a $2500 event which was good for $74,000. Right now Shannon is playing his 2nd final table of the week in Bellagios $3000 event (he also final tabled the tournament that Basebaldy won).  Cardplayer TV did a 20 minute strategy interview with Basebaldy, the link is below.  If you aren’t a poker person the strategy stuff won’t mean much to you but in the last two minutes of the interview they do a little piece on Katz which is worth checking out.

http://www.cardplayer.com/tv/31281

I myself have been doing well since getting to Vegas also, I am winning in both live and online cash games and I have only played 2 tournaments so far but as the summer progresses I plan on playing more of them.  I am feeling confident about this summer and look forward to applying myself as much as possilbe.  Last summer I got lazy and didn’t work on my game or play as much as I should have, but this time around I hope to have a break out summer.

The other day I watched the movie ’21’ in theatres and while overall I think the movie is just ok, there were a few parts which really hit close to home.  There was one line inparticular that keeps running through my head:

"Eventually shitty college bars packed with frat guys were upgraded to the VIP sections  of the most exclusive clubs in Vegas"

The whole time I was watching the movie I couldn’t help but notice how closely my own journey matched the main characters.  Take away the shady mentor and change blackjack to poker and its practically my biography.  A few years ago I was a normal college kid, now I live in a mansion in vegas and play cards for a living.  While I am happy with all of my accomplishments up to this point, I stil think there are many things for me to achieve in the poker world.  Hopefully this wild ride won’t be over for a long, long time.

Thanks for reading guys.

9:55 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Shannon Breaks His Back (last summer)
Current mood: fascinated

"You’re not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on." -Dean Martin

I’ve been hanging out in Rockville the last week or so, nothing too exciting is happening. We decided to finally publish the video of Shannon breaking his back on youtube earlier today. If you guys want to check it out, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7FUZB6wi9w

For anyone that doesn’t know, my roomate Shannon had a little ’accident’ last summer during the series after a night of clubbing and gambling. Oh yea, he was a little drunk too.

4:28 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Another Year Gone
Current mood: lethargic

Also congrats to Basebaldy for winning TWO tournaments last night on Full Tilt. The 65K Guarantee which was good for $16,000 and the 20K Guarantee which was good for $5,000. Its hard enough to win a single tournament, two in one night is almost unheard of. A couple weeks ago Katz pulled a similar move when in a 4 day span he won 3 different tournaments, and had a 2nd and 3rd place finish as well.

2:37 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Where I’ve been
Current mood: adventurous

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." -Andre Gide

Sorry I haven’t upated recently, I am going to try to be better about it from now on.  Last entry I wrote we were all in Los Angeles and my roomates were snapping of tournaments left and right.  Here are a few highlights of what has happened since:

Shannon Shorr one of our roomates this summer dropped out of school and met up with us in LA.  He had gone back to school as a civil engineering student, but after spending a few 10 hour days at the library he decided to change his major to something less ridiculous.  He is planning on returning as a business major in the Fall and since he isn’t doing engineering he left his classes to come hang out with us and play the LAPC main event.

All the guys played in the main event, but Katz was the only one that cashed in it.  He was starting to get short stacked and lost a coin flip early on day 4.  His min cash was good for around $22,000.

The end of Febuary, Chuck, Cody, Shannon and Basebaldy all went home but Katz came with me to drive my car out to Vegas and to find a house for us this summer.  We went around Vegas for 3 days and about 15 houses later we finally found what we are looking for.  Its a beautiful 7 bedroom, 5 bathroom house which is twice as big as the one we lived in last summer.  It has a 50 foot pool in the backyard and comes fully furnished, needless to say we are all really excited about moving in.  There will be 6 of us living there: Me, Katz, Cody, Shannon, Chuck and Basebaldy, it should be a hell of a summer!

After after a few days in Vegas I finally flew back home to Maryland and am staying in Rockville with my parents.  I am moving out to Vegas for the summer around March 27th but until then I will be in Maryland spending time with friends and family. 

One of my friends from high school DuBois was recently accepted into a program to teach english in Japan for 2 years.  For his going away party we rented the top floor of a bar in DC and through out the night about 50 different people we went to school with stopped through.  It was great to send Dub off right and to see everyone again, it was almost like a second HS reunion.

I will try to type up another entry soon.

8:59 PM - 2 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

Too Competitive?
Current mood: blessed

"Never settle, but aways be satisfied."-Basebaldy

Its a great quote.  Anyone who can follow those simple words could almost certainly go on to live a happy life.  Its not quite as easy as it sounds though, how do you push yourself forward if you are happy with where you are? 

The other day I was talking to my mom on the phone and I mentioned that Cody had just beaten me in video games and I was a little disappointed about it (by a little disappointed of course I mean very pissed off).  She lectured me on being too competitive, and warned me that I have to stop defining myself through competition.  According to her no matter how good you are, there will always be somebody better; and a life spent trying to beat everybody at everything is a lonely one. 

 Maybe she is right, but I don't know how to do it any other way.  When my family gets together on weekends and holidays they love to play board games or break out a deck of cards. Their games are always friendly, no one really keeps score or worries about the rules.  I don't allow myself to play with them anymore, because frankly, I am just too competitive.  They play games because they enjoy each others company and want to have fun, I play because I want to win. 

Maybe they are the ones that have it right.  Obviously the outcome of a game of Monopoly won't exactly have any real impact on the rest of my life.  Even knowing that, I still can't just play for the fun of it, I have to win.  I just don't know any other way to do it, I mean if you don't win then you lose. If you lose then your a loser. Its just that simple to me.

Every great poker player I've ever met is too competitive.  We compete in every aspect of our lives and nothing is ever enough.  With so many people trying to be the best, to come out on top is very special thing.  No where else in the poker world is that illustrated better then in tournament poker. Hundreds and some times even thousands of people enter and play until there is one person left with all the chips, and they win.

I've spent my whole life trying to be the best, and maybe one day I'll make it.  Even though I haven't been able to achieve greatness myself, I seem to constantly surrounded by it.  Over the last few days my roomates have proved once again that they are some of the best all around poker players in the world.

On Thursday Adam Geyer (Chuck Hong) got 2nd in the $1000 WPT Event at Commerce.  He got $43,000 for his efforts.

Chuck was playing great, but hit some rough spots heads up and fell just short of the title.  We were on the rail going nuts the whole time.

On Saturday my other roomate Cody (Coball) won the $2500 WPT Event at Commerce which was good for $100,000. 

He completely dominated the final table and played great the whole way.

Sunday was a huge day for online tournaments so we all locked ourselves in the room and played non stop.  There were plenty of big tournaments this weekend but the buggest was the Full Tilt $2500 FTOP, a two day tournament that started Saturday and finished up Sunday (very unusual for an online tournament).  Both Chuck and Basebaldy made it to day two and Chuck (CSimmSux is his Full Tilt name) went on to win the whole tournament.  I am not sure but I think it was the 3rd biggest prize ever for an online tournament.  He got $488,000 for his win.  This is an amazing feat not only because of the amount, but because the $2500 FTOP is one of the toughest fields around.

Eric Baldwin (Basebaldy) also deserves mentioning, he finished in 23rd place (good for $8200)when his AA lost to A-Q all in preflop in a monster pot.  It just as easily could have been him that won instead of Chuck if things had gone a little differently.

Over the past 3 days my roomates have won over half a million dollars.  Wow its strange to be able to say that. I know that I am not on their level yet, but my own tournament results have been improving by leaps and bounds. I have been consistently going deep in tournaments over the last few months and its all thanks to how much I learned from them this summer. I've had better tournament results in the past four months then I have in my entire career up until then.  I haven't snapped off a big one yet, but I am confident that its only a matter of time:

$41,000  6th    Ftops $300 Event  11-11-07
$7,700   10th   Full Tilt 500K       12-2-07
$3,300    7th    Bellagio 1K Nightly  12-3-07
$700      22nd  Poker Stars $150     1-16-08
$1,100   18th   Borgata Shoot out   1-22-08
$2,000   2nd    Full Tilt $20 Rebuy  1-25-08
$2,200   4th   Full Tilt $55 Rebuy    1-26-08
$2,300   12th  Poker Stars $300 Nightly  2-7-08
$1,000   17th   Poker Stars $109        2-11-08

The above isn't meant as a brag, in fact those are my gross results not my net so they are misleading.  The thing about tournaments is all the real money is paid out to the top 5 spots, so its huge to have things go your way deep in tournaments.  I will keep tweaking my game and talking to the guys and it will happen.  Obviously the last 4 months is a very small sample size for tournaments, especially since I don't play them more then once or twice a week.  Still though, I can feel the difference in my tournament game and I am excited about doing some damage this summer at the WSOP in Vegas.

So congrats to Chuck and Coball, they are kicking ass and taking names, and I couldn't be happier for them.  We were too tired to celebrate Sunday so tonight we are going to a hockey game at the Staple Center and then hitting some clubs in Hollywood.  We are going to be here for about another week and a half, then everyone is going their seperate ways.  Cody is headed back to North Dakota for March.  Chuck, Basebaldy and Katz are all going to Europe and I am driving back to Las Vegas, hanging out for a few days and then flying back home to Maryland.  I decided to skip the Europe trip not only because its going to be super expensive, but I am also a little worn down from traveling.   Instead I am going to spend some time with my family before I move back to Vegas in April.

4:09 AM - 4 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

Basebaldy and my Boxers
Current mood: contemplative

"If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere. -Frank A. Clark

Today was one of those days that remind me just how difficult poker can be.  Things went just about as badly as they can go, but I am suprised at how well I handled it all.  First I got all in as a 3-1 favorite on the flop for an 11K pot and got spiked on. I didn't freak out or anything, in fact I barely reacted at all.  Later in the same session I got slowrolled (very bad etiquette where after seeing your opponents hand you pretend they won instead of immediately flipping over your hand) in a 9K pot by the same guy that spiked on me in the first one.  He had played his hand terribly and managed to get lucky on me once again.  Now this jerk off (who of course happened to be Persian) was sitting on $20,000 which should have been mine and he is laughing and taunting me mercilessly. 

In the past in this spot I might have lost my cool, but I kept my composure, said nice hand and moved on.  I am not sure why it makes a difference to me how I reacted, in the end I still lost my fucking money.  Its just that after all the strategy and maneuvering is done with and the money is in the pot and the cards are flipped up you no longer have any control over whether you win or lose.  Its all luck.  To poker players luck breaks down into numbers and odds which will tell you in the 'long run' how often you should win and how often you should lose.  But after that money goes in there is nothing you can do to change what card is gonna fall off that deck next. 

What you do have control over is your reaction.  You can handle the situation with class and dignity, or you can make an ass out of yourself in front of everybody. 

I read something recently about how people always have a choice in life.  Even if someone is holding a gun to your head, you still have the choice to scream or not to scream, and there is something special about that.

I couldn't help that my top set lost to his flush draw, but I can help that I didn't jump out of my chair and start screaming and yelling.  Its a small victory, but I guess I'll take it. When the dust finally settled on the session, I lost $8000.  Not quite my biggest loss ever, but its pretty close.

I know I am always talking about my "progression as a poker player" and I think this is part of it.  This loss didn't affect me as much as it might have in the past and if nothing else, it feels like I am making progress in terms of my emotions when it comes to poker.

Besides as it happens I didn't have long to feel sorry for myself.  While I was getting my ass handed to me at the 10-20 NL table the guys got a table at some club in Hollywood.  I wasn't there but I am pretty sure they had a great time.  Chuck dropped of Basebaldy (got into town earlier tonight) and Cody off in the room for me to babysit and this is what I was left with.

After humping the television and almost knocking it onto the floor (funniest thing I have ever seen) Cody kinda lost his balance and just past out in the middle of the floor.

Basebaldy was so drunk that he also just passed out on the floor, but after a few minutes I guess the carpet was starting to hurt his face.  So he reached for the first thing he could find to use as a pillow which happened to be a pair of my dirty boxers.  Of course being the good friend that I am I took the boxers away and helped him into bed, but not before taking a picture.

Anyway tomorrow is going to be a long day of online tournaments so I am gonna try to get some sleep.

4:09 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

The Mechanical Bull and HIgh School Girls
Current mood: bullied

"I only had a high school education, and believe I had to cheat to get that." -Sparky Anderson

After the title you are probably wondering what this blog could possibly be about, well a lot has happened in the last week.  In case you haven't heard, the Giants won the super bowl.  Normally I wouldn't mind so much only that Katz is Giants fan and I will have to hear him gloating for the rest of 08.

Last year we were in LA for the superbowl and we watched it at a bar in the Santa Monica we liked so we went back again this year.  After the game we went to a bar in Hollywood called the Saddle Ranch.  It sounds pretty hickish but I am the closest thing to a redneck they have in there.  They also have a mechanical bull which if you know us at all will inevitably lead to all kinds of ridiculous prop bets.

Instead of a normal bet where everyone gets a turn and we see who lasts longest everyone seemed to have their heart set on me trying by myself and making an ass out of myself.  So much so that they offered me a $300 free roll ($100 each) if I could manage to stay on for more then 12 seconds.  I had two attempts, one for 9 seconds and another for 11 seconds and while I didn't win the bet I did manage to acquire mystery bruises all over my body.  I have a picture of it but I don't have access to a scanner at the moment, once I do I'll post it.

As a field trip we drove down to Harrah's Rincon just north of San Diego and stayed there for a few days so the guys could play the 5K Main Event.  The area surrounding the casino is pretty desolate and depressing, lots of abandon homes and trailer parks.  After 45 hours of driving through deserted mountains we arrived at Harrah's which wasn't especially impressive from the outside but was actually pretty nice inside.  There were only 148 entries in the 5K and Katz managed to make the final 27 and survive to day 2.  Top 18 get paid and he ended up busting on the 2nd hand of the day so that trip wasn't especially productive.  Wednesday we all played online tournaments and I ran deep in the Poker Stars 300+20 but busted in 12th before the big money (first was $65,000).

On our way back to Rincon we drove past a high school and Chuck and Katz got the idea to finally make good on a bet they made a few months ago.  The bet was that Katz couldn't throw a football through the goalposts standing on the 25 yard line.  When you add 10 more yards for the end zone and another 5 to clear the goal post its actually a pretty tough throw.  There was a 9th grade gym class on the field at the time but that didn't slow us down.  We took the teacher aside and after a $40 handshake he gave us a football and cleared a side of the field for us.

With $300 on the line and with the whole class watching (and we know how mean high school students can be) Katz had two attempts to make the throw.  The first slipped out of his hands and didn't go more then 15 yards or so, which prompted every girl in the gym class to start heckling Katz mercilessly.  His second looked promising but fell about 5 yards short.  Almost before the second ball hit the ground Katz screams out double or nothing and Chuck being the good sport that he is obliged.

His third throw bounced off the crossbar and fell back down so he was left with one last try.  This last throw carried with it a $600 dollar swing, not to mention the blow to his ego if he whiffed in front of all those kids.  When the pressure was on he fired a sick spiral that cleared the post with a few yards to spare and managed to break even on the bet and keep his dignity at the same time.

Now we are back at Commerce in LA, our home for the next 3 weeks or so.  It makes me sick how shady everything is out here.  Nothing in the world is fair anymore, its all about who you know or what you have to offer.  When the WPT is in town its almost impossible to get a room at Commerce for the duration.  We called 2 months ahead of time and were told that they are completely sold out.  Of course when we get here we tip the manager at the front desk and magically rooms open up out of no where. 

Katz and Chuck had to tip $500 to lock up their room, Cody and I waited to try to get a better price (try tipping other managers less) but ended up having to pay $600.  I know of at least 5 other people that tipped $500 to lock up their room.  It sounds insane but there really is no other option around here.  The Wyndham down the street is $60 bucks more a night and there aren't any other hotels nearby.  Not only that, mine is the only car we have out here and its hard to put a price on the conveniance of being able to walk downstairs and play poker.  So basically we just let the managers at commerce bend us over cause there is nothing we can do about it. 

3:22 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Los Angeles Again
Current mood: blank

The other day I was flipping through channels and stopped on CNN for a few minutes to get an update on the Clinton/Obama race.  After about 30 seconds Cody chimes in:

"Hey what is Hillary Clinton running for again?"

I sit there with a combination of shock and amazement and stare at him with out saying anything until he worked it out on his own:

"Oh yea, she is running against that Obama guy.  He is running for Presi...WAIT, is Hillary Clinton running for President?  Why isn't anyone talking about this!"

I know as poker players we live in our own little bubble and are sometimes cut-off from the outside world, but WOW.  I know the kid is from North Dakota, but COME ON.  By the way, he was serious.  I have to talk about something else now or I will get all worked up and this will turn into a 5 page rant about politics and whats wrong with the world today.

So after house shopping in Vegas we drove to Big Bear in California to go skiing for a few days.  I don't know what it is, but skiing always seems to clear my head and put me in a great state of mind.  I was in a bad mood when I left Vegas, but when you are standing on top of a mountain looking at a view like this, its hard to stay mad for too long:

After skiing we drove to Commerce, the view coming down the mountain at sunset into San Bernadino was pretty cool too.

We will be spending almost the entire month of Febuary here playing cash games and tournaments.  We have a mini-trip to San Diego planned from the 4th-7th to play in the Harrah's Rincon WSOP Circuit Event.  We were also hoping to sneak away for a few days and go skiing again at some point, but other then that we are stuck in this shithole.  The atmosphere really is miserable up here, its like a warehouse of poker tables that smell like bad chinese food.  However the action is so amazing, you would be insane to miss it.

In March we are still planning on going to Europe, so it would be nice to have a good month and save up some $ for the trip cause I imagine its not exactly going to be cheap.

After careful consideration and talking to some people I think Cody and I are going to wait until after this summer to buy our house.  Instead we are going to rent another baller crip with the guys for the summer.  We decided to wait because it seems like the market will continue to drop and we want to have plenty of time to find a place. 

Besides it will be fun to spend another summer living with Katz and the rest of the guys.  The prop bets and video game wars keep things interesting, plus I want a pool.

Right now its Cody, Katz, Chuck and myself up here, and we are all playing the $500 No Limit Tournament at 3:30 today (what a great start time).  After that I'm sure we will slave away at the cash tables and do battle with the Commerce Crazians.  (Crazians=Crazy Asians) Wish us luck!

10:43 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Finally Growing Up
Current mood: mellow

"Doesn't she know that he is a superstar and that she can easily be replaced?" -Dmitri

Well I've been in Vegas for the last few days, Cody and I got comped a suite at The Rio while we go house shopping.  We've met with a few realtors and looked all over town, and we are finally getting an idea of what we want.  We are hoping to buy a house together and have it ready for us before April when the Five Diamond at Bellagio starts.  I plan on settling down a bit and spending less time traveling and more time in Las Vegas.

Today is our last day in town, we are driving out to Big Bear Mountain in California just outside of LA where we are going skiing for 3 days.  On Wednesday we are driving the rest of the way to Commerce where we will be spending most of Febuary, with the possibility of coming back to Vegas somewhere in the middle to look at more houses. 

Its a very strange experience to go house shopping, in a lot of ways it feels like I am still too young.  However when I look objectively at the situation, its something I have to do.  I spend 8 months a year in this city and paying for hotels and renting houses is a complete waste of money.  Not to mention how great a time it is to buy right now, in a few years it should be worth much more then what I paid.

I realize that playing poker isn't the most stable source of income in the world, so I am trying to take steps over the next few months to create a safety net for myself.  I am going to start shopping around for backers for both cash games and tournaments so that I can free up more of my money to invest.  If anyone is interested in talking numbers shoot me an e-mail at JLimbs@gmail.com

Here are pictures from some of the houses Cody and I are looking at:

Second House:

3rd House:

10:15 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Disappointing Finish
Current mood: melancholy

Well unfortunately today didn't go according to plan, I finished in 18th place which was good for around $1077.  It just goes to show you, there is HUGE variance in multi tables and the best way to overcome variance is volume.  I need to start mixing in one or two live tournaments a week just to keep giving myself chances at these monster pay outs. 

I am not to upset about how I busted, it wasn't a mistake I just ran into a bigger hand.  I got blinded for one rotation so I was in desperate need of an all in (same as almost everyone at the table) and Lee Childs (WSOP Main Event Final Table) moves all in second to act and I have A-J off suit in middle position.  I figure I am ahead of almost his entire range and decide to move all in, and then the small blind moves all in after me.  The hands were Lee K-J, me A-J and SB K-K.  I had a live card getting better 2.5 on my money which wasn't a terrible spot considering my stack size in relation to the blinds.  Anyway we both whiff and Kings triples up sending us to the rail.

Tonight I might play some cash games and have a nice dinner before I leave Borgata, and tomorrow morning I am flying out to Las Vegas.  Thanks to everyone who sent me messages and texts wishing me good luck, I appreciate the support. 

3:35 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment