Tao of Poker

Hump Day Pimp Day: Grinding Limit, Sabina Gadeki, and WSOP Bound

Been writing about poker, music, and competitive eating over the last two days. Worked on two freelance articles with deadlines this Friday and Monday. One assignment is my online poker column for Poker Player Newspaper and the other is a recap of the WPT for Poker Pro Magazine.

I've also been playing online like a spider monkey jacked up on Ritalin. I've been sticking to cash games. Grinding is not fun. It's not glorious. The details are hardly blogworthy. But as Joey Knish said, "It's pays my bills. Alimony. My kids eat."

He's right. Lucky for me I have zero ex-wives and zero kids, at least that I don't know about. I have this fear that there's a dark haired five year old kid running around Iceland that looks like a mini-version of me, but with an Icelandic accent. One of my greatest nightmares is that a leggy blonde Icelandic Air stewardess with high cheek bones shows up at my door with my illegitimate offspring. Blondes and booze impair my judgment and withdrawal skills.

"You left this inside of me five yeas ago. You can have it back now."

Moving on...

For the first time in several months I cashed out a small percentage of my bankroll from my Party Poker account to spend on myself. I'd rather use that cash for personal enjoyment than have some assclown and fucktard bad beat it out of me. I've been following a winning formula. I play 10-20 at nights and weekends when I'm ultra focused. I usually play 5-10 when the right fish are biting. And I multi-table 3-6 on Party Poker because according to Poker Tracker that's where I'm the most profitable.

To keep my poker mind fresh, I've been playing PLO SNGs on Poker Stars. If you don't know, Poker Stars is running several promotions such as double VIP points and a shot at winning a bonus if you get dealt the 5 Billionth hand. So I've been lurking on Poker Stars getting my PLO fix and trying to get lucky with the jackpot.

I've been playing Limit on Full Tilt when I sweat friends in tournaments. I was on the rail when Change100 took second place (out of 151) in yesterday's MTT action. The night before she cashed in two huge multis taking 15th and 16th. The 15/2000 on the $3 rebuy on Poker Stars was impressive since she was shortstacked most of the tournament. Looks like everyone's favorite Hollyweird Junkgrabber found her groove in MTTs. Like I suggested to her, you need to figure out where you are most profitable and maximize that aspect of your game.

For me it's Limit and as I said earlier, playing limit is plebeian and not titillating. It's ABC poker where you're folding lots of hands, raising when you are ahead, and calling (or raising) when you have big draws. Unlike NL, you can pound the hell out of your draws in Limit and those are usually the biggest hands that you scoop, especially when you catch those cards in multi-way pots.

For a while I felt ashamed that I was a Limit player since NL is sexy and popular. But I decided that being a winning Limit player was more fun than being a losing or breakeven NL player. I play for enjoyment and to make money and to take out my frustrations. Sure there's more money to be made in NL, but I'm still prone to making too many mistakes and somedays I can't control my descent into tiltdom. I started playing Limit online about a year ago because I made too many poor decisions at the NL tables. I folded way too much to players moving all in on me and I bluffed to much out of position. Bottom line... I don't trust myself enough to play NL consistently, especially online. If I do play NL it's always live where I'm a much better overall poker player. Besides, NL tournaments are fools gold.

I still play NL and I play the occasional NL tournament online, but I don't rely on that to pad my bankroll. Those games along with PLO are for fun for me, while the Limit tables are all business. But then I can use the money I grinded away in Limit for fun things like concert tickets to Bonnaroo or to Widespread Panic.

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The fifth season of the WPT began this week with the Mirage Poker Showdown in Las Vegas. I skipped this event. I'm not going to cover any poker tournament between now and the WSOP. I need to rest up.

Here's the final table chipcount (courtesy of Poker Wire) which included my favorite ass-worshiping, feet jizzing pro David Williams:

1 Stan Weiss $2.437M
2 Robert "I'm the brother of the Grinder" Mizrachi $2.019M
3 Devin Porter $964K
4 David Williams $921K
5 Harry Demetriou $822K
6 Steve Frederick $545K

If you're looking for chipcounts visit my friends Jen, Heather, and Amanda at Poker Wire. And if you want live updates, check out Spaceman's coverage at Bluff Magazine. Plus Flipchip has taken some photos so stop by Las Vegas and Poker Blog to see them.

Of course the buzz around the WPT this week is that the lovely Courtney Friel has been replaced. I dunno if she got the ax or she quit. The first time I ever met Courtney was at the Borgata in Atlantic City last September. It was my birthday and she was standing around BJ and the Poker Wire girls who wished me b-day greetings. Courtney turned around and gave me a big birthday hug. To which I replied, "How yooooooo doin?"

Of course, there were the tickle fights with BJ and Courtney (both pictured here at the five Diamond Classic at the Bellagio) in press row and that made me insanely jealous. Whenever I'd see Courtney she'd always say hello calling me by my first name. Steve Hall said that she's a bright girl and reads your name on your press badge before she says hello and that Shana Hiatt was never quick enough to pick up on that. Everyone called Shana Hiatt the girl next door. I always saw Courtney Friel as that popular cheerleader in high school or the hot sorority chick that you gave your Chem notes to because you were convinced that she was going to repay the favor by going down on you.

Now, we have a new girl named Sabina Gadeki. She's a cutie. Wicked Chops Poker has some of the first photos of the new WPT hostess including a student film that she did in NYC. She's a former Miss Teen Poland or something like that who's an aspiring actress. She's got a sweet gig. She gets to travel all over the world and get hit on by scumbag overweight poker players who haven't showered in days. But at least she's on TV and gets to have tickle fights with BJ.

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Finally, I was happy to see this email in my inbox. It's from one of the executives at the WSOP. I'm officially going to be covering my second WSOP in a few weeks and I can't wait!

Dr. Pauly,

Thank you for your interest in the 37th annual World Series of Poker. I am pleased to inform you that your application for press credentials has been approved.

You can pick up your press badge at the media credential office in the World Series of Poker tournament area beginning June xx.

Please note, you will need to provide a photo identification that confirms your age in order to receive your credentials. Also, please be aware you will need a wi-fi enabled laptop computer if you plan to file reports from the World Series of Poker media center. "Hard" data lines will not be available this year.

By submitting your application, you have agreed to abide by the media guidelines posted at www.worldseriesofpoker.com/press. Please review those terms in advance of your arrival at the World Series of Poker and feel free to contact the media relations team with any questions.

We look forward to seeing you at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino this summer.

Nicole

Be sure to take a peek at the revised 2006 WSOP schedule.

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Recent Poker Playing Music...
1. James Brown
2. Particle
3. Tea Green Leaf
4. Grateful Dead
5. John Coltrane