What a classic photo I took
A very frozen Cass River
Bavarian Inn Lodge TV shot
Uncomfortable, unlike the original plan of N.Y. (damn snow)
Jacuzzi (we had sex in here)
Always wanted a glass shower (1st thing thats going in my house)
Where we got massages

First and foremost I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

We arrived to our room at Bavarian Inn Lodge around 5pm, the drive their was nice and short and weather wasn't a factor. Aissa and me had scheduled massages for 7pm so we had sex, showered, and went to a few small stores at River Place shopping Mall to kill some time. I had an hour long massage and quickly learned that my hips are way out of alignment and was told probably 6 times to go see a Chiropractor about it. My lower back always hurts from my poor computer chair posture often for at least 8 hours a day but have sat horrible for 15 hour sessions straight. After the 1st when my new Insurance I bought kicks in I will go to the Chiropractor. We then did a steam room which I couldn't really handle (Acuttane) but did about 10 minutes worth, showered there, went to eat at Zehnders. The food was fantastic. We arrived back at our hotel in a blizzard of snow and Aissa started up the Jacuzzi, we had sex, I showered, then began to feel dizzy, burning all over, and really bad back pain. I think all the hot then cold really fucked with my skin because on this medicine it says to take mild showers, I got really dry skin for the next week. Despite drinking water I was still dehydrated from the massage (always drink about 40oz of water afterwards to prevent this).

We both had trouble sleeping and ended up talking about some really serious things about us. I would imagine at sometime most couples have them, we basically talked about the future and us and everything. I'm just assuming here but I would guess by this time next year or the spring in 2009 we will be living together and most likely married. Her family likes me, mine likes her, blah blah blah. I don't really want to share a whole lot about this conversation but I at least pointed you in the right direction to make assumptions. Currently 12-24-07 I'm not engaged or anything but this is the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with. I'm very happy being with Aissa and she for sure makes me a much better person.

On Sunday we got up at about 9am and I lit a cigarette inside my hotel room which is something that is quickly not being accepted. I showered yet again, we grabbed breakfast at Oma's that is located in our hotel. We then went back to all the little shops at River Place and bought a bunch of stuff. We went back to Zehnder's for Jam and bread and treats to bring home. Our final stop was Branners the Christmas store. The story is simply amazing and really puts one in the Holiday mood. We got customized ornaments saying Dave & Aissa 2007. The roads were pretty damn bad driving back late Sunday afternoon, when I reached Hall Rd the roads we pretty much the worst I have ever seen (saying a lot for Macomb County).

New Years Eve: The old me would be hammered somewhere with a $180 bar tab, the new me is going to a Red Wings game (Christ we payed a lot for the tickets), then we are staying at the Detroit Marriott in the RenCen downtown. I will be sure to take pictures from the evening.

I'm also thinking about starting this little heads up SNG (sit n go) challenge with myself. I have never really played many of these. I would keep playing more normal games (which is mostly heads up cash games as of right now with a little 6max thrown in) but this would be for others to track my progress and can see if I shine or not. I would only play these for like 4 hours a week max (kinda like playing a video game or some shit).

People often say they have no clue how to start playing online poker but would like to try it out. Of course I love hearing this because these players will 100% lose all there money within days to possibly as long as a few weeks, they keep the poker economy healthy.

I have no plans to teach you. I get paid for that by 2 students (who are moving up and playing very good limit hold em). This would be like I'm starting at very low stakes heads up SNG's and trying to move up to the higher ones. I have very little knowledge about HU SNG's because I never really played them. I should also note that I'm not looking to tutor anyone else at this point. My schedule is full between their lessons and my playing, and a Lake soon to be covered in ice to fish on.

The benefit of playing them is that it's heads up and matches are short. If you play the $11+.50 ones (very low stakes) and have a 10%ROI you could make around 9.50 an hour. I'm quite experienced playing in heads up cash games and a big winner in those but I have never played the HU SNG structure which is just a 2 person tournament which is termed SNG for Sit and Go. A small amount of money will get you the same as a bigger bankroll by playing these. If you should follow my advice, and by following it I mean you treat it as the bible and obey it and never do dumb stuff, I would imagine you would be making $20/hr within a month at the most.

This would be a new form of poker for me and also one which requires minimal money and I could demonstrate that by posting my own results. In no way is this how I'm going to be making my income but it would be a neat project. My money comes from playing 2/4-3/6 nl 6max and 200HUNL and 400HUNL, and big O8 games (30/60-100/200). This might just save one person from living a life like Chappelle on the episode of Wakarnolds where his bitch is cheating on him, he gets jumped, then his bitch is like nigga you smell like fries.

That is a world that must be dark. I have never worked fast food or had any horse shit jobs which is something I'm quite proud of. I had a shitty wear house job but eventually rose up the corporate ladder a few steps then quit. The main purpose of this challenge would be to show people how to build a bankroll with a minimal investment of like $250. I would only work on this for a few hours a week. This would also allow me to learn the same way a noob would. I do have some interest in learning HU SNG's. I would start a new blog for this and I for sure plan to set some links up on this blog really soon. I have been swamped with stuff to do and have taken some time off poker. I love Christmas and am enjoying this little vacation before a big 2008. I have a whole list of stuff to do tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

Amazed by other people plus much more

I was playing very high stakes Omaha hi/low the other night ($200/400) and couldn't believe the chat box, which is annoying and I usually have turned off. Railtards (broke people who watch the high stakes games and type). I was asked for $5 to $20 about 50 times during a 4 hour heads up session. I was told I was a God, a horrible player, a lucky donk, a smart player, awesome, and obv. you foul names. With over $10,000 at the table I really don't care what a broke person watching my game thinks of me, if they were good then they would be sitting. I sold 30% of my action and made about $6,000 in the game -30%.

A group of poker friends and I were coin flipping (playing a pot limit game and each putting in the max preflop regardless of our hand), I was asked by a railtard to transfer him $50, we flip for it, if he wins then he will send back $50, obv. this makes zero sense and I ignored the offer that is very -ev. When we flip we make sure we have enough people to block people that will sit out and just try to catch a great hand the first hand and make a shit load of money.

My heads up no limit hold em game has been going good, one really bad day but 4 great days. I've been playing 2 tables at a time to concentrate more (6max games I usually play at least 6).
I guess I'm just so surprised at how dumb people are. Instead of begging for money on a poker site they should read poker forums, poker books, or watch and try to learn from great players. When I played limit hold em I would watch great players, learn, and alter my game, I went from small stakes to high stakes in about 18 months (.5/1 to 30/60 and some 50/100, 100/200). I would sadly imagine these railtards wearing the texas hold em jackets that can be found at target, wallmart, kmart, etc. lol.

I've played about 4 hu nl sessions against a complete maniac, I have won about 8 buyins off him and he continues to play me (which is a good thing). I don't claim to know everything about nl hu but I can spot some really big holes in his game. He folds about 9/10 times to a check raise on the flop, I do this with any part of the board or a good starting hand. He quickly sucked out multiple times on Monday night and got up 4 buyins but I cut my losses to 1 buyin and he left.

Trip report from Frankenmuth coming soon with pictures. We made what we could of the weekend, I'm still kinda bummed about missing N.Y. around Christmas time.

We almost made it

Unpacking from N.Y. - packing for Frankenmuth
Awesome slippers I bought at Mens Warehouse while waiting for my suit to get pressed for the trip (only like $20)
Proof we were flying to LaGuardia. LGA flight 4883 gate B15

to N.Y. but bad weather forced the plane to turn around somewhere around Philadelphia - New Jersey. Yesterday was a horrible day. We worked hard planning things, buying tickets, and scheduling a fun but busy weekend in N.Y. My gf worked her magic on the phone and got us a full refund on flight and hotel, I would highly advise staying at 70 Park Avenue if you ever go to N.Y. there service while canceling was awesome so there service while actually staying must be even better, if at all possible. We were talking about flying to Vegas, Miami, or California but she couldn't get more time off work (she's kinda a big shot, despite this her boss is an asshole). Were probably going to get a nice hotel here for Saturday night and try to salvage the weekend although I'm still pissed and my weekend is ruined. We will probably lose $200 each of Cirque De Sole tickets unless someone bought them off ebay. I really wanted to go to N.Y. around Christmas so I don't plan on visiting until next year. I heard N.Y. is getting pounded with like a foot of snow presently. The flight was horrible (my ears popped worse than my flight to Houston 2 years ago, although they popped out much easier this time). I came home at 10:30pm with a migraine. I think were going to Frankenmuth which is somewhere I have never been.

LONG UPDATE

Here are a few pictures of the 24"inch beast monitor I bought several weeks ago
I quickly just opened 12 tables to show that I can 12 table, I wasn't playing any of the limit games.

First off I would like to talk about Michael Vick and "what they doin to his mama." Black people seem so concerned about Michael Vick's "mama". Perhaps he should think about mama while he is hanging dogs. If one doesn't hang a dog then "mama" will be alright. White people are of course doing unfair things to his "mama" because he fought animals for entertainment, gambled on this entertainment, lied, then tested positive for Marijuana while awaiting sentencing which is very stupid. I personally am a dog lover so I think dog fighting is sick, sadly I'm confident to say that dog fighting goes on within 30 minutes of my home. I also feel Michael Vick's "mama" did a poor job as a "mama". Michael Vick has proved he is a sick human being and his brother Marcus who played Quarterback for Virginia Tech (same College Michael Vick played for) had the better arm and equally amazing speed yet proved to be classless off the field and on the field with simple stupidity. Black people hate white people more than white people hate black people. If I moved to some area in Detroit it would not be safe for me a white male, on the flip if a black person moves to Clinton Twp. they are safer from their own people and white people would be accepting to some degree (very rare for a white person to kill them).

PETA people and I generally share different opinions on things but I'm very glad they are all over this Vick case. They will protest when he gets out of jail and outside any team that brings Vick in for a try out. I was very disgusted when watching the Monday night football game between Atlanta and New Orleans in Atlanta (same day Vick was sentenced), many black people were wearing Michael Vick jerseys, holding signs such as "keep your head up Mike", players after scoring a Touchdown lifted their jersey to expose a black t -shirt saying "Free Mike Vick". It is very clear that black America shows their stupidity by believing that white America is incarcerating an innocent man. I would be curious how many white people would be holding signs that say free Tom Brady if Tom Brady was involved in dog fighting. I would guess zero.

I leave for N.Y. tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 and land at La Guardia at 5:19. I still need to pack and pick up a few last minute things for the trip. We purchased tickets for a water cruise to see several destinations, set up brunch at Tavern on the green (which is a very expensive place to eat at Central Park), scheduled massages in our room for Saturday night, bought tickets to see Cirque de Sole (were like 10th row), were doing tons of stuff and I don't really feel like writing it all. I'm bringing my digital camera so I will of course share pictures when I get back. The trip is from Thursday -Sunday night. Since I have more free time these days I want to go on 3 very nice and expensive vacations in 2008. I was planning on playing 7,500 hands before I left but I ran like God, played a maniac, outplayed him significantly and won around $6,500 in 3 hours playing heads up no limit hold em. We started at 2/4 and played up to 5/10 (400 and 1,000 buy in games).

What else can I say about my life? I'm happy personally and professionally. I have proved in 4 months that I deserve to play poker for a living, have the records to back it up, and have generally made anyone that thought it's rigged, a dumb idea, or a small time money making potential look like a downs baby. I have the best gf a guy could ask for, great family, great job, soon to be ice fishing time (can't wait to run the 4wheelers out on the lake), a fantastic expensive vacation starting tomorrow, and no outside distractions.

I've never really had a chance to play with little kids, I'm an only child, don't know people with kids, etc. My gf has a large family and her niece has spent the night at her house several times now and I have had some of my first real interactions with kids. I quickly realize how much energy they have, it's simply amazing. Ana is 3 and curious about the world around her and is a blast to be around. Yesterday I helped bake, she helped me fix Aissa's computer and also helped me fix the VCR, I participated in a Barney sing a long. She has really begun to like me and even calls me Tito Dave which means Uncle Dave. Amazingly I had a really good time doing these things. The really cool part about little kids is how pure the world still is to them, sadly as one grows and experiences the ups and downs of life the pureness becomes jaded.

A legend dies

I stated among the few people out of billions world wide, several years ago on myspace that David "Chip" Reese is one of those I would love to meet. Chip Reese is a Poker legend. His story is inspiring, interesting, breath taking, shocking, and simply remarkable. I have never heard anyone mention anything negative about him. In the only interview I have ever heard he acted as a gentlemen and with class (which is saying something for Poker players). His story is something I will attempt to sum up in what little media attention he has received (by his own wishes).

Chip Reese arrived in Las Vegas during the 1970's after graduating from Dartmouth and on his way to Law School at Stanford University in California. He had only a few hundred dollars with him and made so much money playing 7 card stud (over $500,000 back in the 70's) over the summer that he never made it to Law School. Chip Reese is regarded as the best Poker player ever by his peers. He has won at the highest level cash games for over 30 years. He wrote the best chapter I have ever read in the famous Super System book that has made Doyle Brunson famous.

Chip was never really shown on TV because he didn't play tournaments because there was far more money to be made playing the big cash games. Chip stated he wanted to stay out of the limelight. Vegas in 1970 was corrupt. There was a very large Mafia presence. It was smart to flaunt nothing back then.

Chip has a rare ability that only he was blessed with; his steam control. It would be near impossible for any human to play the highest stakes (sometimes for over 3 days straight, with no sleep, while losing 7 figures and play "your game"). I have never met the man although a close friend of mine brought me back a Poker Chip signed by Chip Reese while at the WSOP in 2005. My friend approached Chip sometime around Midnight when he was leaving Bobby's Room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and asked if he would mind signing a chip. I was told Chip was gracious and signed the poker chip and chatted with my friend Matt for about 10 minutes about Poker, life, and sports. I would pay a lot of money to switch places with Matt in that instance. I would give up possessions, talents, and even years off my life to chat with not only my favorite poker player but a person I admire for there actions away from the table. I rarely get jealous of other people but I was and still am very jealous that I didn't go to Vegas that Summer. I had planned on renting a large house with several friends for about 1 month. I instead stayed home and took Summer classes at College.

I found some really cool stuff and quotes about Chip I will attach now. The man has true stories that anyone could listen to for days.

I have no clue the limits it was small like 1/2 nl, or 2/5nl. I remember he just sat down, to waste sometime, before he had to leave somewhere. We were all talking and I can remember him talking alot about girls, because the kids like me, were just chit chatting about them. He started saying about his childhood, and what not cracking jokes. 1. But the thing that stuck out to me the most, was what he did. A man, about 25 years old, real nice quiet man, but looked real down, and poorish, was in a hand with Chip. I believe the man had AA/KK and pushed PF, and chip called with AKss, and flopped a flush. We all could tell the man was about to cry, and didn't even say a word. 2. The man went walking away, while chip got out of his seat, to catch this guy. He walked him back near the table, and took his wallet out. He told the man listen I am not going to say I am sorry for what I did, but I do feel bad. Take this and build your dreams upon it, because I feel some potential in your game. Come back 20 years from now, and I will remember you. Chip smacked a bundle of 100's into the mans hand, maybe 15 or so.

3.
one day while playing in a 200 400 game chip was first on the list. i told him i was quitting in a round or two and he should stick around. he said he would give me 200 to leave on my next blind. i said dont bother as i likely am going anyway. business is businees chip said as he threw me two blackbirds (100 dollar chips).

And some stories about what money means to a gambler after living a life where it's essentially a tool and not a means to an end:

1. Chip Reese had something like 250k or 500k worth of chips in a bag. He put this bag on top of his car while getting into it one day and accidently drove around Vegas with the bag on top of his car. When he arrived at his destination, he realized his mistake. The bag was still there. he had been playing heads up lowball with archie karas (that guy that went on the heater of all heaters at the craps table) and when he busted him, chip lent him some money so that he could continue. when he met him to get paid back he somehow left the money sitting on the top of his car.


2.
Chip: Yeah the worst was I was stuck about 900k one day in the 80s and had to quit the game to go to my son's soccer game. Old guy: Well did they win the game? Chip: I didnt even watch it I was too busy being pissed about being down 900k.


3.
my best story about him is the day he had to collect 1 mill from a bet and he told the guy to come to the ball park were his son was playing a base ball game he put the mill in the tunk of his car in a paper bag and went to watch the game...


4.
Chip moved into a new house that had a massive water leak. The first month's bill was like $2000. He paid it. The next month's bill was like $2000. He paid it. He didn't really know what things cost or what money was worth. Then they discovered the leak. Gamblers and leaks. I don't know if my numbers are right.

And some stories about what kind of a gentleman he was:


1. Chip was playing in the big game, and the game ran for a while. He ended up playing something like 3 days straight. Finally his girlfriend came to pick him up from the bellagio. When he got outside, he felt refreshed by the fresh air, and decided to take his gf out for dinner and a movie.


2.
this is from a guy that i've played cards with who works at UNLV doing sports medicine or something like that for the sports teams at the college: We lost a good one today. Although I had only known Chip for six or seven months, he made a pretty big impact on me. I looked forward to the phone call each week where I updated him on his son's progress at UNLV. I used to be a nervous wreck when I saw his number, but quickly realized he was just one of the guys. He wanted nothing more than to see his son graduate from UNLV's prestigous College of Hotel Administration and hopefully have a successful college baseball career along the way. I never wanted Chip to know that I was a fan of poker; I didn't want to come off as someone who was helping Casey hoping to get something in return. I slipped one day and let Casey know that I was a pretty big fan of poker. He told Chip and I was greeted at our next appointment by autographed copies of Supersystem I and II; signed by authors that had been sitting at the Big Game at the Bellagio. Just a few weeks ago, Chip reserved a suite at the Bellagio for the weekend and secured me front row seats at Cirque de Soleil's "O" show. As appreciative as I was, I told Chip that I could not accept the gift. I told him that I hadn't accomplished anything with Casey yet, and that I would accept that gift on his graduation day. I think he was more impressed that (with all the grease-balls in this city), there are still a few good people out there that really care about helping out. That is why his passing today sucks so bad. Chip was a great guy. He enjoyed taking care of the little guy. He loved his son and daughter and all of the good people that surrounded them. I looked at his number in my cell phone today and just couldn't even comprehend the fact that I would not receive or send a call to that number anymore. I don't know that I'll be able to delete his number for quite a while. It hasn't yet sunk in. Today's tragedy was a complete shock to those that loved Chip; he will be missed.


And finally, some Chip Reese quotes:

"I had to make a choice between being a lawyer or a professional gambler. I chose the more honorable of the two."

- Chip Reese

“I’ll stop playing at my funeral, and only God knows what I’ll do after that.” -Chip Reese

Hopefully, everyone who reads this blog read these and will pass some of these stories along. Chip was a class act and a great guy.

I respect his beliefs and values more than his poker still (which is phenomenal). I guess part of me thought I would meet him in the near future (since my bankroll isn't in the millions it wouldn't be in Bobby's Room). I have plenty of life things I would like to blog about but find in necessary and correct to put him before myself. Not only did the world lose a world class poker player it also lost a fantastic person.

R.I.P.

TILTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Bad play has caused me to tilt and lose more money. I read a post about how when you feel your going to play bad to go online and instantly buy something expensive for yourself. I purchased a Nintendo DS and have been testing my brain daily for the past week. Age 20 is considered perfect and my brain level is 21. I have beaten everyone I know in the Math section. I scored 100% and finished in 14 seconds. The Math problems are very simple but writing them down quickly is the difficult part. I was actually doing the problems 2 in advance in my head while writing the current problems answers. I also bought Call Of Duty 4 for Xbox 360.

I feel I have let Max (my coach) down and also myself. Max has given me some incredible knowledge and friendship. Despite this my own horrible mistakes have lead me to feel failure. When people assume I sit on my ass all day, wake up at 3pm, work for 2 hours, and jack off for the rest of the day it pisses me off. I work harder than you. I have much more stress than you. I would love for someone to explain their job and how they think it's more stressful. I would assume they would say something like well the job sucks and making money is stressful. My simple answer is; I can work more hours than you in 2 weeks and actually lose money.

I read another article about how a successful poker player quit his job as an air traffic controller and played poker for one year and made about 35% more money, got the perks of being self employed but actually considered it much more stressful than his previous job as an air traffic controller (often considered the most stressful job to have).

Ever throw up after a bad day of work? I have multiple times (from high stress levels not to relieve stress or try to be skinny or whatever). The good comes with the bad people. When you run bad and play bad it feels like your 6 and your dog died. Poker is a game about exploiting edges you have. Edges can turn quickly and you can lose your edge quickly and be forced to use skills to determine where you are in the hand.

You, along with countless others assume that it really matters if you have AA, if I call your raise with say 22 and the flop comes Q62, you would automatically assume your AA is still good and I would take your whole stack, you would be confused, pocket pairs flop a set 1 in 7 times so it's right to play them and often you will win a big stack when you do hit the set.

Here's an example of losing your edge in a hand quickly, lets assume again you have AcAh and raise preflop and 2 people flat call your raise, the flop comes Jd 10d 6c. Now your hand is not nearly as strong, depending on the players one could easily hold J10, 66, Axd, 89, 78d, KQ, KQs, 1010, or even JJ if the player is a nit. Again you would assume AA is good because it was good preflop and stack off with it. Off the top of my head the best I would assume against 2 random players would be about 60% post flop. You have to play your cards, your opponents, the board, bet sizing, patterns, time tells, are they slow playing, should you raise, what if they re raise, should I check, maybe check raise, whats this guys stack, how much money does the other player have, ok if player one bets and player two calls am I going to raise, check, or even fold, what if player 2 raises then I should probably fold right?, maybe he is a moron and I should call the raise oop and get it in on the turn or just shove now over top of them both.

It's a complex game that is never solved, perfected, or even close to being a complete science. Winning is possible in the short term and long term by exploiting others weaknesses.

Tomorrow I need to focus, accept losses, and play good because I know I can. I need to think about the long run and not the short run. I need to accept bad beats because you know what I put them on people too. I sucked out massive twice today, then made a bad bluff followed by a bad call on my part and boom back down to being up like $5. It's on me, I can't blame others for giving me the edge and getting unlucky, I have all the tools I need and now it's up to me to use them.