There is no island...

Went to go see the movie The Island with Dorf last night in Marina Del Rey. I wasn't really expecting that much going into it... not the biggest Michael Bay fan (although I do like Ewan McGregor). Figured it would be a good way to kill a couple hours.

I was pretty surprised at how much I liked it. It was an awesome movie. The colors were so vivid and the score really helped the mood a lot. The plot was cool and there were some good comedic moments in the movie. There were also a lot of emotional scenes that really got to me (including a brutal scene where one of the characters is shouting out "I wanna live!" that got me a little choked up). And yeah, there were some scenes that were a little over the top, but I was willing to go with it. At the end of the movie, the half-filled theater was clapping.

As far as sci-fi goes, I liked it a little better than I, Robot and a little worse than Minority Report. It's too bad, though, because the movie completely tanked this weekend. They were projecting an opening somewhere between $30m and $40m... it did $14m. I play every once in awhile on a site called Hollywood Stock Exchange, where you trade options in movies and actors. A lot of people got hurt when they longed the movie stock (well, maybe hurt is the wrong word since it's only for play money). Supposedly, The Island had one of the top three worst downward adjusts in the history of the site.

I didn't put any money on the movie, but after seeing it last night I went to the site this morning and longed the stock. Maybe that's a bad idea... but I have a feeling that the movie is going to have legs. It got mostly bad reviews, but I think the WOM is going to be good. But it's still going to bomb compared to what they were hoping it would do.


Getting ready for the Poker Royale tournament tomorrow. Been playing a lot of sit-n-gos and feeling pretty comfortable. Should be a good time. I'm starting to get homesick, though.

Gotta go out and get some shirts for the show today. The wardrobe director for the show called me up last week and said I needed to bring down 6 dressy shirts... think "nightclub" is what she told me. I don't really do nightclubs. Went to one for the first time in months a few weeks ago called Tangerine, and it reminded me why I don't like them. Tons of people packed like pickles moving around to hip-hop remixes and spilling drinks all over each other. When I moved to Vegas, I didn't bring a single collared shirt with me.

Venice

Hanging out in Venice with Dorf has been pretty cool. He shares a place in Venice with our friend Rebekah... the same girl I mentioned a few times who's been working on a poker documentary for a while. She actually got a deal to show her doc in a serial format in England, and I think they are calling it Beyond the Felt. It's a cool project because she started back in 2002 before poker had really blown up like it has now, so she pretty much had access to all the well-known players and followed them as their industry was exploding around them. She also followed three unknowns (including me) who all turned out to have some pretty cool things happen.

Anyway, Rebekah is out in NYC for ten days and said that I could have her room for the weekend. I really dig being back out here in LA. We're close to the beach so it's not too hot and the air smells pretty good. Best part, though, is hanging out with Deirdorf.

Last night we went to Renee's, which is a little bar down in Santa Monica off of Wilshire and Lincoln. We used to hit that place all the time when I was living here. Dorf is pretty good friends with some of the bartenders, since he's been going there for years, and they always hook us up. Some girl actually recognized me there, which doesn't happen a lot. Pretty much 85% of the people who recognize me from the ESPN broadcasts are dudes. Dorf's girlfriend, Nana, came along as well... she's beautiful and ultra-cool. Good times.

Was planning on going to see a buddy of mine down in San Diego named DT for a party one of his buddies was having. But I have been kind of feeling sluggish and slow all day, and not really in a mood to see a lot of people that I don't know. More in a mood to just chill in an empty apartment, watch a little tv, and maybe play some satellites to try and get ready for the Poker Royale show coming up this week. And definitely catch up on some sleep...

Advice for the Young

Last night's poker party was pretty chill. It was mainly a bunch of republican staffers and interns, with a few political consultants thrown in. I'm not very political at all... so I kind of felt out of place. Way too many political discussions. But definitely met a few cool people.

I've been in kind of a weird mood for the last day or two. A buddy of mine from Chicago named Kevin (affectionately known as "Wheels") gave me some pretty good words of wisdom a few weeks ago. He said, "If you're trying to get over cigarettes, don't drive by the tobacco shop." Another great piece of disregarded advice.

The Big Kahuna

So I ended up coming in 177th in the main event. Made it about an hour into day 4. Cashed for just shy of $40k... so it wasn't the fairytale ending that I was hoping for. But top 3% is nothing to shake a stick at.

On Day 3 I had Layne Flack at my table with a bunch of chips. He's fun to watch and play with... great player. Other than that I didn't really have any big names at any of the tables I was at, which was just fine. I had some unknowns who are probably going to be big names now, though. Scott Lazar (5th?) was at my table on the first day... and Brad something (7th) was at my table on Day 4. So I did get to play with two final table finishers.

Getting knocked out of the main event is a pretty big blow. It doesn't matter how you do in that tournament... you're still going to be walking away feeling unsatisfied (well, I guess unless you win). So after I got knocked out I pretty much put myself into a little bubble for a week. Turned off the cell phone... didn't answer emails... pure isolation. Hit up Blockbuster about a half dozen times (I've got the monthly pass) and rented some movies I thought would put me in a good mood.

How about Million Dollar Baby? That should be a good one... all about a girl with a lot of fight to her who overcomes the odds. Plus it won Best Picture. I figured that would be the perfect movie to watch to escape my little depression for awhile. Boy was I wrong. About 2/3rds of the way through they throw in a little twist and the whole time I'm watching after that I keep on asking myself why they had to take it in that direction. I won't give any details, but it's not exactly a happy movie.

Ok... so maybe DEBS. It looks kind of like Charlie's Angels. Plus it has Michael Clarke Duncan in it... the big black dude from Daredevil and Green Mile. I don't think I've ever seen him in a bad flick. Could be a good escape watching some sexy super-secret agents defend the world from evil. I can't really comment too much on this one, though, because I turned it off after about 8 minutes. It was a lot more like a Nickelodean show then Charlie's Angels. I could talk about some other movies, but all in all the Blockbuster binge was a bust.

So now I'm in LA for about a week. Came down to hit up a party that a publicist I know is having in Orange County. Chill times right next to the beach tomorrow. Should be fun. After that I'm going to be hanging in LA for the weekend and then it's off to San Diego where I am competing in a poker gameshow called Poker Royale on GSN (formerly the Gameshow Network). They are doing a battle of the ages special with two teams of six... one young and one old. The young team consists of me, Michael Gracz and Kasey Thompson... and then Evelyn Ng, Erin Ness, and Jennicide. The older team is Maureen Feduniak, Wendeen Eolis (pretty sharp cookie), and Barbara Enright... with the guys being Gabe Kaplan (Kotter from Welcome Back Kotter), TJ Cloutier and Dan Harrington. That's right people... we're probably going to get our asses kicked.

The First Day...

made it to the second day with $55k in chips. It's a good sized stack... par should be around $30k I think. We got finished at around 2:30am. The very last hand I caught KK and got it all-in against a shortstack with QJo. I guess he was looking down at his stack of about 7k and thinking he didn't want to come back on Sunday with fewer chips then he started with. I play again Sunday. Pretty tired after 15 hours of playing poker. I'm so glad that I'm on Day 2 and get to chill a little tomorrow before playing again. It's the perfect flight.

Lots of big names are out. Hellmuth, Negreanu, David Williams, Johnny Chan, etc. etc. We've lost a tons of players. They have updates on CardPlayer.com and PokerPages.com. Wish me tons of luck this weekend.

Last call...

So yesterday I skipped the first two mega-satellites and played the very last one at 8pm. Eight and a half hours later, I was cheering with 43 other players who had just won their seat into the main event. It was 4:30am and a third of us would have to show up at 11am to start playing... I got lucky and drew the second flight so I'm starting tomorrow.

I'm so stoked about getting in this year. It was looking pretty sketchy that I'd get a chance to play in the main event. Yesterday, if I was a magic 8-ball I would have replied with "Not Likely". So now if I do well, I've got a pretty good story to tell...

I was playing it off to most people who asked that it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I didn't get to play this year... always another tournament... not in a hurry... and on and on. But I would have been pretty disappointed to not get a shot in the biggest poker tournament ever.

Bobby and Scott both started today. Scott was down to his last thousand in chips at one point. Just got the update from both of them, though, and Bobby's up to 22k while Scott is back strong at 17k.

Also, before I signed up for the mega yesterday I stopped by the WSOP Lifestyles convention that is going on down the hallway from the tournament area. There are a lot of booths and whatnot, with tons of gorgeous convention girls who are handing out magazines and CDs and t-shirts and what not. I stopped by to meet with the producers of Poker Royale, which is a poker gameshow on GSN. There's a decent chance I might get to come out to San Diego to tape an episode. They want to do a Battle of the Ages. We'll see how it goes.

Wish me luck tomorrow. It's going to be a bloodfest. It's like being dumped into an arena with 6,000 other gladiators back in Rome and seeing who the last man standing is. A lot of people have been talking about what a crapshoot it's going to be with so many players. I just keep saying, though... doesn't matter if there's 100 or 100,000... you play them nine at a time. And as long as you're never the next one to bust at your table, you're going to get there. Evidence... in the last two years, Dan Harrington and Marcel Luske.

Independence Day

It's been awhile, so I figured I'd update the blog for the holiday.

First off, I ended up coming in 37th in the $2000 NL tournament that I wrote about last. It was pretty disappointing to get that close to a final table after making my way through so many entrants. But you can never get to disappointed after cashing in a WSOP event. I played in a handful of other events since that one... the $1500 NL, the shootout, the $1500 Stud/8, the $3k NL. Didn't make a dent in any of them. Hell, didn't even make a dinner break. So it's not looking too promising that I'll be able to play in the main event this week. I still have some shots at some mega-satellites... the $1000 supers that the Rio is running today and tomorrow. I'll be playing a few of them to try and win that seat.

I seem to have good luck with supers... it's definitely a lot different than playing a top-heavy tournament when they are giving away several seats. In a normal poker tournament, players are a lot less risk-adverse in the endgame since the payout is so top-heavy. In a super-satellite, first place will payout as much as the last paying place... it's all just for that seat. The trick really is just to build up a stack and survive until the players around you can all taste that win. If a satellite is paying 13 spots, then everyone is shooting for 13th place... so the strategy shifts. In a normal tournament you generally put pressure on the small stacks and stay clear of the bigger stacks. In a super sat, however, the opposite holds true. You really want to be putting the pressure on the bigger stacks who feel like they've got their seat locked up. For example, if some guy is sitting pretty with $15k in chips (the average when the tournament ends will be $10k), and you've got more than $5k or so... that's the ideal stack to put pressure on because he's thinking (rightly so) that he can fold his way to a seat. You want to stay away from the stacks that don't feel secure because those are the ones that feel like they're going to have to gamble it up if they want to cash. Anyway... we'll see how it goes. I'm really hoping that I'll get to play in the main event and do well. It will be the biggest event that poker has ever seen by far... they're estimating a prizepool of as much as $65 million. First place could hit $10 mil. I was born to play this tournament.


In non-poker news, Friday was a very good night. Justin hooked us up with tickets to a Collective Soul concert and a pre-party with free food and drinks. Joey Bartholdi, Brandon, and Dan the Dealer also got hooked up. Bobby also got hooked up, but he was out playing the night and early morning before and didn't get to sleep until like 2pm... so he slept through the fun.

The concert was at a club called The Beach, which is nice and small. It reminded me a lot of my old stomping ground in Columbia, MO called The Blue Note... since Columbia is a decent-sized college town right in the middle of St. Louis and Kansas City, a lot of bands stop through to play a gig between the two bigger venues.

I used to be a fan of Collective Soul back in the day... their song "December" was the second song I ever learned on the guitar (right behind Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters"). But it's been years since I listened to that band, and I really forgot how much I like their music. I remembered their songs "December" and "Shine", but I completely forgot about all their other hits like "Run", "The World I Know", and "Brings Me Down". It was such a good concert... and there were probably only about 150 - 200 people there. Chilling at the front of the stage with Justin and Joey B and the boys... it was like the band was playing just for us. So cool.

We saw Phil Gordon and Rafe there too... Phil challenged me to a game of rock paper scissors for a hundred. I talked him down to twenty, since I'm running on fumes these days. We played a best of 9 match and it all came down to one throw. Looking back, I really shouldn't have thrown scissors. Rafe wanted a game too, but I didn't bite. I figured if I couldn't even beat Phil, how was I supposed to beat Rafe? Top four in the world at Rock Paper Scissors! Anyone who thinks that game is all luck just needs to watch him play a few throws. He's intimidating as hell.

After the band wrapped up, they got out of there pretty quick... which is a shame because I hear they're big poker players. Phil got to meet them before the show and I would have loved to chill a bit.

Also saw War of the Worlds, which was decent. Not much of a storyline though, besides seeing Cole Trickle run away from the alien menace. And why is it that Dakota Fanning always seems to be at risk of an alien abduction in ever role she plays... here in War of the Worlds... before on Taken and Man on Fire... I guess even aliens think she's just so cute. She was good in it... the girl's got chops.

Several weeks ago I put up a mystery themesong. In case you haven't figured it out yet, it's from Punky Brewster. A lot of people guessed Growing Pains. Nope... it was Punky all along. Now, though, the song that I can't get out of my head is "Little Star" by The Elegants. It's an old 50s tune that got stuck in my head after I heard a techno-like mix of the song by Static Revenger. They put the mix on the soundtrack for Destroy All Humans, which is a new console video game that recently came out. The original is good but the mix is freaky good. Old themes mixed with new beats... how can you top that?

Wish me luck in the next few days... it's going to be a pretty rough if I don't get to play in the biggest event ever. But at least I'd still get to live vicariously through my brother and the rest of the crew who are playing. Hope you have a stellar Independence Day. Stay safe, don't blow off any fingers... and definitely don't drink and drive!