Bryan Devonshire

2011 WSOP: Ramblings

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:04:10 -0700

It's been hard to write for a while. The last year of my twenties was shaping up to be the best one of my adult life and due to circumstances out of my control that's quickly evaporated. I still have the woman of my dreams, but beyond that I'm right back where I was five years ago and I hate it.

Five years ago I didn't think that poker was going to be a long term gig, but I wanted to give it a shot. I knew that there was a lot of money in endorsements and recognition and with passive income poker would be the best life ever. It was.

Without passive income though the swings become super stressful. I've done it successfully for eight years full time, have learned a lot over that period, know I can do it again, but feel so robbed that my existence has once again boiled down to being a mid stakes limit hold'em grinder.

Over the past month I've felt myself battling with anger. I'm so frustrated that due to the actions of the moral right passing the UIGEA and the DOJ pursuing charges my friends and I have been fucked out of a job and millions of dollars. I expected to make half a million over the next two years as a result of online poker and it's been taken away. Now after a shitty WSOP, I'm left with the same cash bankroll that I had five years ago but way more pressure for financial stability with the family that I'm starting. I would have been debt free and a house paid for, instead I'm scared shitless and am so overwhelmed that I don't even know how to panic.

Last night I heard about the closure of a place dear to my heart, Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota. They and several other places were closed due to the shutting down of the Minnesota Racing Commission in recent budget cuts, because like almost every other government institution, Minnesota is broke and in debt too. They've deemed the Commission unnecessary. Their purpose is to oversee the horse racing in the state and make sure they follow the law. To have a card club you need to be Indian or have a horse track. No horses, no poker. The MRC's budget and payroll is 100% funded by the clubs and tracks themselves, who have paid their fees in full through July. Since the overseers were out of business, nobody can regulate the horse racing, so they closed it all. 3500 people lost their jobs at 12:01 CDT Friday morning. A thousand of them are at Canturbury, and the town is basically built around the track. Without those paychecks, they don't support the rest of the business in town, and once again a lot of people have been fucked by the actions of government.

I wrote the previous part last week and haven't gotten back to it until now. I've considered lots of options about what to do with life, and am basically back at the point where I still can't make a wise decision. Cory and I will be heading off to the ranch after the Main and have time then to find answers. She's been hosed out of a job in California by that state going broke, but she has experience and can basically land a job in any non-English speaking country teaching English. I could go with her, play online, and see where life takes us. The idea of living internationally (in an emerging poker market where they still suck) has always intrigued me, and now's as good a time as we're likely ever going to have. I could stay here in Vegas and remain a live grinder. I could move back to Colorado and play the 30 game at the Ameristar. I know there's a silver lining in here somewhere. I honestly was happier pre 2006 when all I did was grind small cash games and go play in the woods in the summers. I think I could pull that lifestyle off again and perhaps it gets me to where I was going in the first place before this whole poker detour happened.

In the last week I've also really appreciated the community and friends that I've made in five years on the circuit and living in Vegas. I've made lifelong friends in quality people that are rare in this world. I've had a lot of fun and done a lot of things most people never have the chance to do; I have no regrets about my past, just trepidation about the future. But it'll be good. It'll always be good. It was seven years ago that I was digging out change from the seats of my Jeep to buy a Famous Star at Carl's Jr and pawning my guitar for a 2-5 spread limit bankroll. I was fine and stoked then and i'll be fine and stoked in the future.

My main event starts Sunday, day 1D. May I invoke my one time please?

Peace and Good Luck,

Devo

Easter and the Ranch

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:23:17 -0700

The flight into Orange County was good but seeing Cory after two weeks was goodest. She lives in Long Beach with her parents, my Mom and brother live in San Dimas, but we stay at her friend Marsha's place in Irvine so I fly into Orange County. Our parents come from pretty different backgrounds but both agree that pre-marital sex is a bad thing. For the Bible tells me so. Yeah well the Bible was written for a first century culture in Asia-Minor, and thirteen was a pretty normal age to get married at. I don't understand why people force their judgments on other adults. We're living our life the best we know how to and shouldn't be expected to be different people around our family. As a consequence their interactions with us are significantly diminished and we all suffer from a weaker relationship between us and our parents.

We're still making efforts though and headed up to Long Beach for a BBQ with her parents and some friends. It was a good time but a bummer to have to leave early and drive a bunch of miles to somewhere we were welcome.

The following morning we took our time getting going in the morning, enjoying a good breakfast and a couple cups of coffee. The plan was to head South and spend time with the San Diego boys who exclusively make their living playing poker online. They're some of the best in the world, playing high stakes and doing well enough that they just bought a mansion on top of the hill in Pacific Beach. I love those guys and wish we could have spent more time hanging, but lunch on the beach and some chill out time would have to do because we were supposed to have dinner with some old friends from camp that night back in Monrovia.

Dinner turned into game night. We lost a game of Settlers and then team Deventzen won a come from behind victory in Cranium. I like having friendships that stretch over many years. We drove back to Chateau de Marsha, had a good sleep, another good breakfast in the morning, and then were headed to my extended family's gathering in El Toro.

They're the families of my Dad's first cousins on his Mom's side. We've celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and often Easter with them for as long as I remember and they're all I have that resembles family beyond my nuclear unit. I always wish I could spend more time with them. It was great to hang, awesome to see Cory received well, and we chalked up another good day.

Monday was travel day and the start of our road trip to the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis. We drove Cory's car to the Metro station, hopped on a train that took us through Compton to another train which we took to a free shuttle to LAX. Took a Southwest flight to Denver, shuttle to my truck parked off site and packed with gear for a couple weeks on the road, and headed off toward Bear Basin Ranch.

I was driving South on 225 through the East side of Denver, cruising along at 55 MPH or so in the left lane, and I was just about to pass a truck in the right lane. I was chatting with Court Harrington on the phone when the car in front of me slammed on it's brakes, started skidding, and turned left into the center divider. I jammed the brake pedal and there was no way I was going to stop in time. Quick peek over my right shoulder while mashing the gas pedal and turning into the right lane barely squeezed me between the stopped car in front of me and the truck moving fast in the right lane. The traffic on the left was completely stopped for some reason and the right lane was still pretty wide open. The car behind me didn't have that window though, and as I glanced over my left shoulder I watched this little white car slam into the back of the SUV that stopped in front of me highlighted by a very loud crunch. Wow that was close.

We stopped for some Chick-fil-a in Colorado Springs and finished our drive to Westcliffe where we met Dave and Mike at Poag's. It was good to see LaDonna the bar owner and some other of the people I got to know last summer, and laughter with the boys ensued as usual. Back to the ranch, we were staying at Dave's place since the ranch is still very much in Winter mode, and after spending some time with Dave and Michelle we hit the sack.

Up early Tuesday morning, thanks mostly to either Wesley or Bridger's pounding a Hot Wheel on the floor above our guest bedroom. No problem I like being up early on the ranch. Coffee, breakfast, chat, and discussion for the day's activities. Ride now and hang out later during Wesley's nap time or fish now and ride later? We checked the weather and it called for a crappy afternoon so we headed over to the ranch to catch some horses.

The main herd was in North, Dave and Mike's horses, Cider and Molly, were in the main corral. Four horses including my girl from last summer, Little Bit, were in East, and we spotted them munching on hay so they were our ponies. Halters, brush, pads, saddles, and hackamores went in the bed of my truck. Dave followed us over there to help if needed. Cory and I caught Tinkerbell and Little Bit no problem and had them tied up by the time before Dave pulled up. I caught a great picture of Wesley, totally spontaneous.

Cory had not ridden since she was eight years old so I taught her everything and she picked it up great. We went for a ride all over the ranch and called it quits shortly after noon when the cold winds were trying to blow us out of our mounts.

We headed in to town for some lunch and I wanted to run my bow to the archery shop. My peep sight popped out and it takes some special tools to put it back in properly. Plus I lost a bunch of arrows in the snow this winter and could use some new ones cut. The shop is attached to the thrift store and said that it was closed. We walked into the thrift store, I asked if the archery guys were around, and a dude who looked like he knew a thing or two about archery said it depends. I explained the problem, brought in the bow for him to check it out, and he walked me back into his closed shop. He put it on the press to see if enough tension could be released to work on the string, turns out he could, and he said he'll get it fixed up no problem. We walked to Poag's for lunch since everything else was closed and he was done by the time we got back. My sling was broke too so he sold me one for $8.95 plus tax. What do I owe you? $9.44. Oh come on what about your time? Don't worry about it. Well, thanks man, have a couple beers on me. I hand him a $10 bill. He flings it at the gal at the register and says give him his change, we're square, and grins. I shake his hand, thanks Doug. I appreciate it!

Back to Dave's place just before the snow showed up and we spent the rest of the day playing Settlers and watching hockey. Dinner was elk steaks, mac and cheese, and grilled asparagus. Sick game between Chicago and Vancouver, Burrows' goal in OT marked bedtime, and we hit the sack sad to leave in the morning but excited to go places we've never been

Peace and good luck,

Devo

Time to go Home

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:53:20 -0700

Wednesday the Giants played the Rockies. Day game mid week and I ain't got shit to do! 8 of us from Summit County drove down and met Paul Wasicka with four of his buddies. We sat in the cheap seats. I was decked out in Giants gear and am pretty sure to have enhanced the Rockies fans' experience. It's just more fun having somebody you know to be competitive against especially when handing out a spanking at home. We got beat 10-2 and I got druuuuunk because I wasn't driving. We all had dinner in Idaho Springs and headed back up the hill. They called it a night while I walked to the bar in the snow, and I'm pretty sure I drank until they wouldn't let me anymore.

I woke up hurting the next day. I wish I had a job to go to so I wouldn't drink so much. I wish I knew what was going to be happening next week. I wish it wasn't snowing so i could go fishing. I wish it was tomorrow. It didn't matter what I did because I couldn't change any of those things, spent the day relaxing, doing laundry, and packing for the upcoming road trip.

Friday I was driving down to Denver International then flying to Orange County to be with Cory and visit family for Easter. The plan is to hang out there for the weekend, fly back to Denver on Monday, and then launch a road trip across the No-Coast. I have a goal to see all 50 states by my 30th birthday which is coming up this July 24th and I have 12 left, three of them being Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The Beale Street Music Festival is in Memphis the following weekend, so that seems like a good reason to drive across the middle of the country neh? Plan is to spend a couple of nights on the ranch, then drive to Memphis camping our way there and camping at the music festival.

I'm really excited to see Cory. I've been forced on vacation and I want to spend it with my baby. Very stoked for this trip.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

Shock, Denial, Depression, and Drinking

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:52:03 -0700

It felt quite strange waking up Sunday morning and not being able to play poker online. I didn't think about that long though because the idea is simply too depressing and overwhelming to fathom and brewed a pot of coffee instead. That went into a mug with some Bailey's, I drove over to pick up Jenny, we got breakfast and a couple more coffees to go at the Blue Moon Bakery. We were headed to Coors' Field to watch the Rockies play somebody. Bought Bailey's at the liquor store open bright and early on a Sunday morning next door. Drove down the hill, left the snow at the continental divide, and enjoyed the morning.

No tailgating allowed in the main parking lot. Fine we'll drink a beer inside the truck. Walked to the ballpark, climbed stairs to our cheap seats in section 302, and rejoiced when the sun broke out from behind the clouds. I booked a bet vs. Basebaldy on the Rockies vs Cubs. We won it in the 8th, the game was exciting, and it felt good to be outside with good people.

I acquired Missy and Erin for the drive back, apparently the car they rode down in was too crowded. We all met at Tommy Knocker's in Idaho Springs on the way back for dinner and then finished the drive up the hill. Ended up at my place for a Rock Band party pre-karaoke. Jonny's and karaoke was dead and we were tired, so we called it a night early.

Monday was my day to pull my head out of the sand and figure out what in the hell is going on. I wish I would have just kept drinking. I read things for a couple hours in the morning, listened to the PokerRoad show with Gary Wise and BJ Nemeth while I drove to Blackhawk to play live poker, and thought lots about what was next. Turns out I was pretty miserable playing 30-60, even though the game is easily beatable for $100k/yr. I couldn't help but get depressed though; things were so awesome last week and this week they got taken away by the gov. Drove home before the blizzard showed up, stuck $750 after a horrendous last couple hours. Very depressed. Read the entire 52 page indictment that night which helped me a little bit. I was glad to see that the codes violated making online poker illegal were the UIGEA and some New York State penal code. Those have to hold for the money laundering to actually be money laundering. The bank fraud is scary, but then the legitimacy of the UIGEA is called into question and the question of who's the victim comes up. I was also pleased to see that Scott Tom was listed as owner/decision maker for only some of the time of the indictment, which spanned from November 06 to March 11.

Tuesday I woke up motivated to erase the clutter scattered around my life. There's definitely a correlation between how good I'm feeling and how cleaned up my living area is. Unfortunately a messy house is more a product of a messy life than a reverse corollary for me. I did like six loads of laundry, dishes, cleaned the place up, and still feel like shit. Hoooray for PBR. Jenny, Becky, and I went to Jonny's to watch the baseball game and ended up playing in the free poker tournament. I lost my marbles a bit there and enjoyed doing so, having zero desire to go look for them. We were all tired a bit early, I went home, and ended up playing .10-.20 HORSE with a bunch of high stakes regulars on UB. We made a bunch of rules that were intended to get you to drink, but I'm pretty sure we were all just consistently drinking anyways. That launched a Skype call where 6 of us just talked, and it felt really good to laugh and share thoughts with other people in a similar position. It's been a bit lonely out here this weekend; I'm super grateful for the girls and their friendship, but they're new relationships and I'm needing the love of my fianc?e and the camaraderie of my good friends in the industry a lot more than usual right now.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

Black Friday

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:47:50 -0700

I woke up Friday morning and did what I've done most mornings this winter, brew a pot of coffee and see what's cracking online. I've been playing bigger mixed games for the past several months and was on the tail end of a good week, up about $8k. About half an hour into a session that I was getting my ass handed to me I received an email notifying me that the domains had been seized. I immediately quit all my tables and had to figure out what in the hell was going on.

I'm in shock. I feel betrayed by my government. I feel like the victim of a natural disaster, my livelihood taken away in a flash, and angry because this wasn't an accident. I'm scared, unsure about the future, and upset because it was my country that did this to me and all my friends. We've literally been begging the feds for years to tax and regulate us and this is how they respond. Instead of collecting over a billion dollars in tax revune, they've spent scarce tax dollars on legislating morality, turning businessmen into criminals, and taking away another freedom from the American People.

I started drinking around 3pm and didn't stop til they made me at 2am. Slept, woke up, and went to A-Basin to meet the girls for Erin and Christy's birthday. The vibe at the beach is so fantastic and these girls are great people, it was a nice afternoon. Unfortunately it snowed for the afternoon and we all got a bit cold.

I took off early after drinking one beer and not skiing to head over to Copper Mountain for a free Gin Blossoms show. It was awesome, snow fell for most of the show, and the crowd around me was quite spectacular. I uploaded some pics to twitter. The drummer broke a stick and fired it off my chest in the front row. I met him after the show, asked for him to sign it, he didn't have a pen, said lemme go get you a real one. It's custom for him and super cool, it's been a good day.

UB is still up and running. Our money is safe, I've got over two big dimes on there, and I'm confident that it's still mine and I will be able to spend it on something other than UPAY4RHINOS' recreational outings.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

HPT Golden Gates: The Blackhawk Adventure

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 18:19:28 -0700

I made my way over to the Ameristar Friday afternoon. The hour drive from Summit County to Blackhawk is a fantastic one, it was a beautiful day, bighorn sheep in Georgetown as usual, and I was feeling really good. Checked in, was upgraded to the best suite, I shot a video blog in the joint, check it out. Place was sick.

When I tried to upload my video blog the Flip program was convinced that I had my 2nd monitor attached to the laptop, even though all the graphics settings claimed that I was running just my laptop monitor. Amusingly tilting, I giggled and went down for my walk across the street to the Golden Gates.

I was super stoked for this event. I became professional in Colorado with much thanks going to two prop jobs in Cripple Creek. This place holds a big piece of my heart and the field was going to be extremely soft, plus I've cashed zero times live this year so have some rungood stored up. They were scheduled to start at 5pm, actually started at 5:40, and in the meantime I chatted with Floes, ChancesCards, and a couple other guys who made up the entire contingent of professionals in attendance. We were talking about taxes and how much easier it would be for everybody if we talked about it more. I said, "The IRS walking into the Series would be like INS walking into any restaurant in Southern California."

We received 25k in chips and were scheduled to play 12 40 minute levels with a 15 minute break every four levels. We started at 100-200 and were going to end at 4k-8k/1k. Nice structure for a $1650. I lost QQ<KK where I 3b pre, bet flop, bet turn, and value shoved the river. I was happy when he called, not so much when he turned over his cards. Then doubled AJ>AT, chipped up a bit, and then got 20k in with QQ and lost to AK in level 4, 300-600/100. Nice and quick just how I like it.

I was done before Cory arrived. I found an open seat in a 30-60 game at the Ameristar somehow, won $250 in half an hour, and then quit to meet my fiance. She got a ride up the hill from my future cousins in-law and I was prepared to show them a good time.

After a killer dinner at the Timberline steakhouse inside the Ameristar we met up with the HPT crowd at the circle bar. Jen, Todd, Fred, and some other characters were there having a good time and we joined. After some drinks they wanted to play craps so we did and all who played won money. Shortly after they picked up our drinks and our best roll of the night, a nice solid 30 minute roll by future cousin Mary, they decided to gas the minimum bet on us from $10 to $15. Most places will let those who were on the table at $10 continue to play for the $10 minimum. Not at the Ameristar, no grandfathering in here. I threw a fit and it was a losing battle, we said screw you and quit. We invited our entire half of the craps table upstairs and the game broke.

Sometime around 4:30am I kicked everybody out. Good times were had by all.

The following day Cory and I had intended on going skiing, but a noon and groggy wake-up cancelled that plan quick. We found the all day breakfast place at the Gilpin which was fantastic, then made our way down to the Riviera because we heard that they spread Pai-Gow. I had the best gambling experience that I can recall. Super friendly staff all around, prompt cocktails, no nit picking, and as a bonus the dealers made lots of mistakes. Dealer errors cost them at least 8 units from us and turned our losing session into a winner.

Headed back to the Ameristar, chilled out a bit enjoying our in room jacuzzi, and waited for the girls to arrive. I invited the whole crew up for the weekend, they bailed on Friday night but were bringing eight tonight.

After a beer in the room we headed downstairs. Dinner at the same place cause it was so awesome. We didn't want to gamble at the Ameristar, partly due to limits and partly due to last night. Found out the HPT guys + Darvin Moon were over at the Mardi Gras. Made our way over there, thoroughly enjoyed the place. Right up my alley. Upstairs bar was awesome, they had a craps table there that we destroyed, and then we decided to continue down the street.

Immediately after paying for a round of drinks at the Lady Luck next door we got kicked out for being too drunk. The offenders? Cory and Robyn, the most sober and completely un-drunk people in the party. Mind you we ten expert drinkers approaching our 2nd bar after 1 beer in the room. It was absurd, we all left, I'll never go back to the Lady Luck again. We went to the Riviera, again had a great time, and left after last call to head back to the room.

Jenny, Missy, and I wanted to go throw some more dice. I've been on a craps heater this trip. We walked across the street to the Lodge, I sevened out quick, and Missy started a roll. She was doing well when she was pulled away from the table by a supervisor and a security guard. They were kicking her out for being too drunk to gamble. We were all drunk by this time, but causing zero trouble. She was taking her time shooting, which is her baseline, she's an extremely dramatic shooter. But the pit boss never said a word to her, and they kicked her out of the place mid roll.

I blew up. We all snap quit, took down all our bets, picked up our pass line bets, and cashed out. I loved The Lodge back in the day, but I'll never be back there either. The girls left to go play elsewhere and I went back upstairs to be with Cory. It's fun having a ring on her finger and I'm proud to have put it there.

We took our time waking up the following morning, declined an invitation to breakfast from the team, and had lunch in Idaho Springs on our way back home. Spent the rest of the day being lazy and together, watching the snow fall in Summit County. It was good. Drove her to the airport, came home, and went to Jonny's for karaoke. 8 of us had a great time, I called it a night and went home. Played some 40-80 8 game, won $3800.

Following day was a powder day, 8 inches at Breck. Made it up with Brandy the house-mate early afternoon. We met Chance for a few runs and then were on our own. Ended up doing a few runs down the North face of Peak 9, those sick steep double blacks, and the snow was perfect. We found some clean lines and the condition was excellent, wish we found it earlier. Chance talked me into Monday Funday, which ended up being not so much fun cause he had to drive down the hill and pick up his brother. Still a great day.

Today Brandy and I were planning on going fishing but he woke up ill. While pondering whether or not I was going to go fishing, pouring my coffee looking at slightly overcast skies, I found a fish online. By the bottom of the first mug I was up a dime. Nice. Took care of some business, went to lunch, played a few sets on Rock Band 3, and then fired the evening session. I played well and cashed five times in less than 15 tournies but ran poorly down the stretch. Final table bubbled the UB $20k, AK<66. 14th in Maria Ho's $320 $50k, 12 paid, AJ<AQ and I was stoked to get it in. KK<88 in another. I ended up profiting somewhere between a nickel and a dime in the 2nd session. Good day, but kinda like a good roll in craps where you win a little but had a very good shot at winning a lot. Disappointed, but it seems pretty silly to complain about a great weekend and a $5k profit in 1.25 days of work.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

Work, Ski, Bike, Trivia, HPT Golden Gates

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 21:23:05 -0700

I was really motivated to get outside until I opened my front door and was hit by an Arctic blast. Nooope. Turned right around, grabbed my truck keys instead of bicycle, and drove to have lunch. There's a contingent of Mexicans up here that make some bomb Mexican food and sell it at the Hacienda Real. I go there often. I started getting into "Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Pakistan and Afghanistan." It's Greg Mortensen's sequel to "Three Cups of Tea", the story of a mountain climber who got lost on his way down from a failed ascent of K2. He was gravely ill and taken care of in a small village named Korphe. During his recovery he was exposed to the village school, 81 kids, all boys, doing their lessons in the dirt with sticks, no teacher present. He learned that he could erect a schoolhouse and put a teacher in it for $12k and made a promise to do so.

Three Cups was a very moving book for me. Greg fulfilled his promise, founded the Central Asia Institute, and has been in the business of building schools in the farthest corners of Pakistan since 1993. He's also pushed hard for the education of girls, because, "If you educate a boy you educate an individual, educate a girl and you educate a community." And in doing so we fight the war on terror.

The Taliban recruits from these areas that Greg is building schools, first in Pakistan and now in Afghanistan. For a recruit to become a jihadist, he must be convinced that murder and suicide are the will of Allah even though they're two of the greatest sins in the Koran. Before a son embarks with the Taliban, he first must be blessed by his mother, and the likelihood of an educated mother giving such a blessing plummets statistically.

The Taliban was building schools in the region long before Greg was. They offer a biased education to kids with no other opportunities for education and find recruits in the process. Parents want their kids educated so they send them there. They're way ahead of us in this game and the only way we're going to win the war on terror is by educating the women of those two countries.

I came home, fired up the evening session, and just crushed. Got it in good lots and didn't win as often as I should have. I cashed in the turbo, losing KK to PeachyMer's AK deep. I was down to 6 tables, all near the bubble. One bad beat and busto. Then another. I'm 1/7 in the HORSE. I bubble that taking 7th. Sucked out on another. Down to the UB $20k, 10 left, I suck out huge AJ>AQ, and eventually find myself 1/3. Nice. I flop two pair, Q52hh. He checks, I bomb, he calls. Turn a ten offsuit. He checks, I bomb, like 45 into 60k, he calls. River Kx, I don't love it, he checks, I bet like 40%, he shoves, I call and lose to AJo. I get the rest in next hand and lose KQ<AA. Busto 3rd for $3200, net profit of like $3500 on the day. Nice to win money but I got tortured down the stretch, all of it recorded live for Poker VT.

The next day Tryder (a bartender at Jonny's) and I go skiing at Keystone. It was a standard spring day, epic Southern California conditions. The slush was just right and coverage was great. Christy is a cool chick who I share many interests and similarities with, from whitewater guiding all the way down to our relationships. She's known her boy forever and they're long distance also. So yah that was a good time, she had to work at 3 so we called it early, just in time actually before the wind showed up. I went home, took a bath, and got fired up to play online.

I had one of those sessions where nothing works or holds or gets there or anything. It didn't take long for me to unregister from the later tournies and just play cash until I went broke. Ended up winning enough there to only book a small loss on the day. I walked to Jonny's, had a good time for a couple of hours, walked back home, played mixed games online, won $2k. Sweet take that losing day!

Thursday left me a bit lazy. I wanted to take it off, but the weather outside was frightful, 50% chance of snow, rain, and/or thunderstorms for the rest of the day. And lots of wind. It didn't look so bad outside, but that's a pretty legit forecast of crappiness. I played cash and sit-n-goes on UB for a couple hours, made a nickel or so, and decided I needed to get outside since it still looked fine. It was. I rode my bike to Wal-Mart to pick up deodorant and a toothbrush since I managed to leave all that stuff in Las Vegas. Yes that was a week ago. I picked up some cash from the bank for the HPT event this weekend. Hopefully I find somebody to play 50-100 Whatever Games You Want To Play, Sir with me. It never did end up precipitating.

At home I was going through my email in the last two weeks and found one from a PokerVT member asking me to do a review of a recent 8-game tournament that he won. Guy's super active in the community so I accepted. I laughed, I cried, and my head exploded. My personal favorite was in limit hold-em, 4 handed on the final table, our hero raised with Q9o, got re-raised by the SB, and called. Flop 9xx. Check. Hero checks. WTF? Turn a brick. Check. Hero checks. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!PBQJWEIOHRMNQP3IH09IOMNOPENBMWQOP. River a brick. Check. Hero checks, beats AJ. It was fun to do the review, I've never done one of those without the other person on the horn too. Hopefully it comes out well and is a useful teaching tool.

Went to Jonny's for trivia night. Our team won last week. This week our team Jose Monkey won the 7pm round just as I arrived, and then we took last place in the 10pm session. One of the early questions was, "In the United States, which activity accounts for 18,000 facial injuries to kids aged 5-14 per year?" I say it's baseball, they all say it's soccer, I make a really good argument, they go with the consensus, I offer a $20 bet on it being baseball, Ryan counters with a shot, I say I'll take Jameson. I win.

That was the last thing I would win that evening though. Walked home. Found myself in a 100-200 stud8 game. Played two hands, A23, 5 and 234, 5, put lots of chips into both pots and didn't get any back. Quit stuck $2k.

And now it's Friday morning. I'm gearing up to head over to Blackhawk for the Golden Gates Heartland Poker Tour event this weekend. UB has signed with HPT as a title sponsor and will be launching a sweet freeroll for it this Monday, April 10th. We're giving away a VIP package with a dozen entries to HPT events of your choice through season 8. So sick. I'll be playing flight 1a tonight and partying Saturday, hopefully not too late because I'll have to be playing on Sunday. Cory's coming to town tonight too and I'm super stoked about that, we came up with a ring and I get to put it on her finger soon!

Peace and good luck,

Devo

A Fun Spring Weekend

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:55:51 -0700

Saturday I woke up hungover. Shocker right? The apartment was a bit of a disaster with most of my camping gear strewn about the living room, both from the leftovers from packing for Kaua'i two weeks ago and all the gear I brought back that hasn't moved from the couch I set it on three days ago. I was out of white socks even though I hadn't worn socks in almost two weeks. All the food in my fridge needed to be thrown out. It became spring cleaning day. 5 loads of laundry and an afternoon spent cleaning, writing a blog, and mostly playing Red Dead Redemption later it was night time. The girls invited me over for dinner and some games of drinkball. I've never heard of that game or eaten shepherd's pie, so heck yes I'm coming over.

Caught up with Robyn in the kitchen, she was stoked to hear about my engagement and excited to tell the rest of them about it. I knew that Jenny knew and assumed that the rest of them knew too, but since boys never talk about "important" things I guess lesbians don't either? Yah I dunno. Pina coladas came up including my mastery of them in Kaua'i and I was sent on a mission to acquire pina colada materials. Christy joined and we were the blind leading the blind at the supermarket trying find pineapple juice and cream of coconut. The pineapple juice wasn't too tough after we found the "canned fruits" aisle, but coconut cream turned out to be more difficult. We sought an expert with a nametag, found one in uniform without a nametag who sent us to coconut water. We had no clue if it was what we were looking for so spent about a minute consulting Dr. Google who informed us that coconut water is the water that comes out of a cracked coconut. Oh. Hey, that dude has a nametag.

He knew exactly where he was going. Straight down the coke aisle to the mixer area where you can buy margarita salt and lime juice. So apparently coconut cream ain't good for shit else other than making pina coladas? At least it's dang good for that. Christy and I knew exactly where to find the booze though, next door at the liquor store. Finding white rum or light rum was more difficult, but Dr. Google told us that silver rum is the same thing so we were headed back up the hill.

Many pitchers of pina coladas, one ginormous shepherd's pie, and sufficient digesting time later we were ready to begin playing drinkball. We head downstairs to the garage to their beer pong table, decorated in hundreds of hooker card-flyers from the Strip and some creative spray painting. The shelves are stocked with tools, Missy the proud owner of all of them. Christy and I begin on a team against Missy and Corrie.

The game is played like this. One beer per player, cans are better than bottles, and the goal is to drink your team's beer first. Teams and players take turns throwing a ping pong ball at their opponents beers. If contact is made, the partner of the ping pong ball thrower starts drinking their beer as fast as possible and continues until the other team retreives the ping pong ball and slams it to the table top yelling, "Stop!" while maintaining control of the ball. If you fumble when stopping your opponents then they continue drinking and y'all resume the scramble for the ball. If you finish your beer then you can immediately start drinking your partner's beer, and once both beers are gone you win. After your opponents make you stop, your partner throws. If they miss, nothing happens, and the ball is sent to the opponents, who then each take one shot.

Turns out I'm pretty good at throwing one thing at another and at drinking beer. So is Christy. We were undefeated through three games winning by landslides in every game. I needed to quit if I didn't want to end up sleeping on their couch, so I quit and got called a pussy for it, but thoroughly enjoyed the next hour spectating the game. Drove home, crashed, and was pretty excited to play online Sunday.

I got lots of hands shoved up my ass in tournaments. Zero cashes and one near miss in the million. Fortunately I couldn't lose in cash games, playing two 10-20 8 game tables and one 2-4 NLHE game, and was up enough to have me turning a $1k profit even with all the tourney losses. But my last table kept going well, the UB $200 $50k guarantee ultra-turbo that starts late in the day, and I ran that into a 4th place for $4k. I even got it in good, calling off my 12 bb stack, which was just slightly below average, with AJ and losing to K7. Bummer, coulda been a good Sunday, instead it's right on expectation with a $5k net profit, pretty unusual for Sunday tournaments.

I was done early enough to meet Jenny and family for dinner at the teppanyaki joint, it was delish, and then we headed over for karaoke at Jonny G's. Always a good time. Came home and 4 tabled various mid stakes mixed games, broke even, and went to sleep.

It was snowing all day Sunday. Perfect. Monday was bluebird and 11-15" of pow had fallen on the local resorts in the last 24 hours. Perfect. I make it to the slopes and have a sweet day on a deserted Keystone mountain. My ski legs had left me though and I was wiped after a couple hours but didn't mind quitting early because the snow was slushing up pretty good and the ice was exposed again in a lot of places. I'm gonna have to be motivated to get up early if I want to catch another awesome powder day this season cause it either blows away or melts fast under this warm spring sun.

I was planning on starting work at 5pm but was motivated and started a couple hours earlier. I ran awfully in everything and had like 17 hands in a row cracked so ejected from the wreckage of my session before it crashed in a blaze of glory at the bottom of Tilt Gorge. Done at 5:12 pm.

I had finished Red Dead Redemption earlier in the week, possibly the best game I have ever played. I wanted something new but nothing attracted me and I ended up starting Grand Theft Auto IV over. I got stuck early on that one and then it collected dust for a couple of years, it's basically a new game to me and one of the best ones ever so why not. Enjoyed that until the Butler UConn game was about to start and drove to Jonny's to watch the game. I bet $200 on Butler and that was a mistake that I spent most of the 2nd half laughing about. Seriously how the hell did those two teams end up in the national championship? They were both terrible.

Went home and played GTA until I was tired around 1am. Woke up today, still jonesin' to grind somehow, and played a short session. Couple tournaments, 10-20 8game, 2-4 nlhe, and lots of SNG's. Won about a dime. Sun's out but it's cold, I think I'm gonna get outside and then play the evening schedule tonight.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

Vegas to Colorado

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:01:06 -0700

I wandered into the Aria Wednesday evening hoping to find a juicy 200-400 mixed game and instead found a 300-600 game with 5 studs and one guy I've never seen before going broke that hand. 200-400 is too big for my bankroll so I'm certainly not going to play a tough 3-6 game. I head over to the Bellagio, take a seat in a 40-80 Baducey/Badacey/Deuce game with 6 Bellagio regs and am bored within an hour. I win a couple hundred bucks and head to Musashi to meet Jimmy Fricke. That place is fantastic. After dinner I follow him to Panorama to meet his dog Oscar. There's a big line for the security kiosk and he texts me, "Just follow me on right." I do, and continue to follow him into the parking garage. I didn't see the gate bar arm thing. I almost destroyed it but barely snuck underneath with the arm coming down on my rag top.

Oscar is indeed a cute dog. I told people that I would meet them at Half Shell that night so headed up there for a bit of merrymaking. Came home, 2 tabled 100-200 mixed games, lost $4k.

The following morning was fly back to Colorado day. I packed everything up, got a ride to McCarran from Jared in my car, flew through security and onto my flight. Landed in Denver, retreived my bag, shuttle to car, and I can't find my ticket anywhere. It isn't in any of the usual or unusual places so I pull up to the kiosk saying I lost my ticket. He asks me if I used my credit card, and yeah, I did, totally forgot about it. I remember thinking what if I lose my credit card while in LA or Oahu or Kaua'i or Oahu or LA or Vegas, but until then I forgot about that and thought I lost my ticket. I do lose my debit card like twice a year though.

The drive across Denver in rush hour was fine, zero traffic. The drive up the hill was great with the sun setting, gorgeous day in the 60's, and then just before the tunnel it started snowing. Standard. Down the backside into Summit County, there's more snow on the ground than ten days ago when I was last here. I pull into a snow covered driveway and get out of the truck into almost a foot of snow wearing sandals. Oops. I throw on my Ugg's and start shoveling snow and ten minutes later I'm home.

I played a session online, 40-80 8 game and a bunch of sit-n-goes, made $1500, went to dinner, came back, made another $1k, and then walked to Jonny's. Played trivia with Christy and company, our team won, and then I walked home. Played a little Red Dead Redemption and finished Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything." Book was excellent and could replace years of schooling in its effectiveness at teaching science.

The next day was Friday, but I thought it was Thursday. I was wrong and suddenly had a busy day ahead of me. April 1st is Gaper Day at A-Basin. Everybody dresses up and makes fun of the tourists basically. In other words we make fun of Texans. Sounded like a blast but I committed to a radio interview at 2pm. I also had to go to two banks and make deposits, plus had plenty of small things to take care of. I ended up taking care of stuff in the morning, interviewing on the phone at Keystone, and then driving up to A-Basin for the tail end of Gaper Day.

I had breakfast, downloaded a new book choosing "Stones into Schools," the continuation of the story about Greg Mortensen and his passion for building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan in "Three Cups of Tea." Went to the outdoor gear depot to pick up my mountain bike. The manager and guy who helped me out initially wasn't there and I wish he was because those working were helpless. They couldn't find my bike. Finally when they did it wasn't finished being set up. They left me standing alone in an empty store. I walk back to the counter, explain my ignorance and lack of gear and how I would like to purchase gear, and really long story short the lady barely ends up selling me a bike lock. You've got to be a really bad sales person to prevent me from spending a chunk of cash in your store when I walked through the door intending to light money on fire. If it was my first time in the store I would never be back and certainly wouldn't have purchased a $2800 mountain bike. Instead I emailed Clay and will try again Monday when he's back. US Bank to deposit $ in Ryan's account. Alpine bank to deposit rent for the landlord, who just this week addressed the issues with the place that I brought to his attention December 9th. Todd Powell's gallery to thank him for the print excellently shipped to Cory. Lastly I hit the post office, and was stoked to find two parcels of mail only in my PO box, both junk that went straight into the trash.

Finally I can drive that way. I time things well and get a call from the guys on 2 of a Kind Radio just as I'm pulling into Keystone, I park and chat with them for about ten minutes, and then head up the hill.

Gaper Day was way awesomer than I imagined. I didn't dress up but should have, I was like one of four that weren't dressed up. The beach at A-Basin is a helluva good time and sweet vibe and I'm looking forward to spending some springtime there this year. Erin was having a BBQ at her place in Breck and I accepted the invitation. About an hour later I found myself throwing ninja stars at a wall with a lesbian. I've been beaten at darts using throwing knives versus a straight chick from Guam before, but I've never thrown ninja stars. Good times.

Went back to Frisco after a few hours, had dinner, and ended up at Jonny's. Hung there for a bit, went home, and played some 100-200 10-game. I was stuck 2k when the game fell apart and I found myself playing heads-up 20-40 NLHE. I kept playing because I liked my spot, chipped back a little bit, and then found two jacks. He opened the button to 120, I re-raised to 400, he called. Flop AJXr. Ding. I bet, he calls. Turn a brick. I bet, he calls. River a brick, final board is like AJ264 no flush or something. I shove, he calls, I'm stoked, and then the $9k pot goes the other way. He has two aces. FML.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

Kaua'ian Adventure Days 4-6: Devo's Engaged!

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 11:37:40 -0700

Saturday Katrina was flying out and we agreed to give her a ride to the airport on our way to the Kalalau Trail. Turns out that Kaua'i's Northwest Coast, the Na Pali Coast, is absolutely incredible and mostly inaccessible. They filmed Jurassic Park here. There's one major road around three quarters of the island that ends at basically the 12 and 9 o'clock spots. The Waimea Canyon road continues further North and we drove that to the end on Thursday. On the North side the road ends at the trail head. We had a lazy morning and made our way toward the airport, checking out a waterfall and a beach on the way.

After dropping Katrina off we headed north for the trailhead. It was raining pretty good off and on, standard tropical showers. I couldn't find little Jackie Paper or Puff, the Magic Dragon in Hanalei Bay, but apparently they filmed South Pacific here. We continued to the end of the road, parked, and watched sopping wet and muddy people coming off the trail while rain pounded our soft top. We both considered bringing rain gear and declined. Neither of us even thought about acquiring pack covers. We both had a moment of hey we have a bitchen condo on the other side of the island and it isn't raining in bed. That lasted about thirty seconds at which point we both said screw it, if it sucks we can hike back and head home. We hit the trail, intent on hiking two miles to a beach and making camp.

It was raining off and on, coming down pretty hard when it did, but we were able to find shelter in the jungle for the really big downpours. The trail was incredibly sloppy. We were several hundred feet above the ocean and sliding all over the place. We were both wearing Chacos, a strap sandal with Vibram soles, which turned out to be perfect, but it was very difficult to maintain footing. We took our time and pressed on, eventually making it to Hanakapi'ai Beach.

Scouted around a bit for a camping spot, ended up here, just off the beach, next to the river, and absolutely beautiful.

The following morning was gorgeous and our goal was to hike 2 miles up the valley to Hanakapi'ai Falls.

I had been thinking that somewhere like this would be a sweet place to propose. Cory and I have been talking about marriage for a while and we both feel great about it. A friendship for longer than a decade really helps in knowing each other. I've always been attracted to her and thoroughly enjoy her character. I mean, going into things we both knew we like and want the same things, think the same way, and view life the same. We were both a little unsure about romantic chemistry but turns out its the best we've ever experienced. We've already decided that we're moving in together this summer, she and parents would prefer for there to be a commitment attached to that, and I want that commitment too.

So, I want to ask her, but I don't have a ring, and I can't get a ring because her tastes are unique and we don't even know her finger size. She wants to have something unique, would love to use the stone from her grandma's ring, and all those things are tough to put together. I've never understood why the ring needs to come first though. Why not ask and get a yes first and then go ring shopping? Makes way more sense to me. Last night in the tent we were talking about such things and she said that she doesn't need a ring first and it makes more sense to not have it first. I love the way you think.. don't have to tell me twice.

We're at the waterfalls, I try to go swimming but it was too cold and I give up about knee deep. I walk back to her, she puts her arms around me, says I love you, and we have a moment. I love you too; I want to love you forever. Okay, she says. This seems like a perfect time. I hit a knee, still holding her hands, say, I don't have a ring, but will you marry me? She starts laughing. Are you serious? Yes, I'm serious. Why's she laughing? She's still laughing. Oh shit. "Absolutely!" She said yes! She yells out, "I'm getting married!" Nobody but the birds and trees could hear her. It was perfect.

We hiked back down the hill. The first group we pass asks her, did you go swimming? No, but I got engaged. I'm proud, she's excited, we're in paradise, and life is good. We make it back to our campsite, I get to work boiling water to cook noodles for lunch, and she walks up saying she made a friend who's going to join us for lunch.

We met a dude named Woody the night before who ended up camping with us. He took a year off from college to travel and live, something that American's do terribly and I was stoked to see him living. He got here through an organization called WWOOF, World Wide Opportunites on Organic Farms. Apparently they offer meals and a place to pitch a tent on the farm in exchange for a few hours of labor each day. The farm that he ended up on was run by an ass though who treated them bad, worked them unnecessarily hard, and fed them poorly, so he bailed and hit the trail. He told us about the hippie commune that exists on Kalalau Beach on the end of the trail and how they operate on the bartering system. He had a big supply of Hershey's bars in various flavors because apparently they are high in demand and low in supply out there. He disappeared before we were up in the morning, apparently the guy who gave him a hitch to the trail ran another organic farm that he was going to check out, so Cory and I ended up with chocolate. One of which we ate in celebration after she said yes :).

So this friend that Cory made is named Liz, and I had her pegged as a river chick instantly. From the hair on her head to the hair on her legs she screamed river. Then she said she loves the river more than anything. Then when I brought up whitewater guiding I was shocked to discover that this is something she has never done or considered, and she's from Northern California. She came to Kaua'i to do massage school and was on spring break, enjoying the trail. She hung out with us until we had packed up and were heading out, a good couple hours, and the three of us had sweet conversations about life. We discussed much about how important it is to be doing what you want to be doing, to be happy doing it. If you're not happy, do something different. You gotta make yourself happy before you can make others happy. If you don't want to be doing what you're doing, why are you doing it? If you don't have a good reason for that, do something different, even if you don't know what you want to do because you might find it along the way. I'm excited for her and her journey, perhaps she'll be guiding on a river in California soon.

We hiked out, looked back often, and felt on top of the world.

About a mile down the road there's a dude hitchhiking. Wanna pick him up? She snap says yes. I love this woman. An old hippie, somewhere between 45 and 58 years old, long blonde hair and perfect The Dude attitude, hops in the back of the jeep between our backpacks. His name is Wayne. He's lived in this corner of the island since 99. He couldn't remember the last time he was in Poi'pu, where we were staying. He talked more about places and people than himself which we didn't mind. We were both craving a burrito or something along those lines and he knew that the place we were headed was closed at 5:30pm. He also knew that the lady who ran the store next door was a crazy bitch. He recommended this Brazilian Mexican place in Hanalei Bay, where "they give you free homemade chips and salsa if you just get a beer!" Sounds awesome, he makes sure we know where we are going, I invite him in for a taco with us and he declines, then walks in the opposite direction toward the center of town, not to the road to continue hitchhiking to wherever he was going.

Linner was awesome. We didn't want to get full because we hoped to have a nice dinner and celebrate so we each had a beer, free homemade chips and salsa, and split the 2 fish taco plate. Best food we've had yet in Kaua'i, but we were trail hungry of course so probably biased, but the place was totally local and off the beaten path. We walked back to the jeep, Wayne materialized and asked for the ride to continue. Of course. Turns out he saw some buddies hanging in the park, joined them for a beer, and waited for us to finish eating. We dropped him off at a gas station along the way and continued our drive South, holding hands, sun setting, and felt really good. By the time we got home we were exhausted, barely made it out for dessert, and slept well.

Monday was travel home day. We woke up early, had breakfast, and I shot a video for a sweet freeroll that UB is doing for the Heartland Poker Tour. Basically we'll be running 4 freerolls a day starting soon Monday-Saturday where the top 50 win a poker controller, t-shirt, and advance to the semi-finals on Sunday. The top 100 in each semi-final heat advance to the Grand Final in June, and the winner of that will walk away with a dozen freerolls to upcoming HPT events of their choice in seasons 7 or 8. Thats a sick package and a stone freeroll, I'm stoked for whoever ends up winning it.

I also enjoyed the contrast between our jeep at the rental car return and the one being returned by another couple behind us.

We landed in LAX around 10pm, retrieved my car, and drove to her place. It was fun owning an automobile in two different airport parking lots at one time but I'm back down to just a truck in Denver. She went to work that morning and I drove across the Mojave headed for my brother's new houseboat. He named it "Piece of Ship Too" and it is. Runs like a champ as everything was recently rebuilt but it's very 1976 and awesome cosmetically. They had been partying since the Chili Cookoff on Saturday and only left the marina for one afternoon.

I made it around 5pm, the lake time warp vortex happened, I have memories of learning how to paddle board which was awesome, Jared and I did a lap of the marina on a neighbor's paddle boat, and I ended up sleeping on the bottom rack in the hallway across from the only bathroom.

I want to get back to Colorado, but I'm going to play some live poker first. I'd like to play the 2-400 mix at Aria but apparently they're running 3-6 and 4-800 now, too rich for my blood.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

Peace and good luck,

Devo

A Beach Party, Poker, and Fishing

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 13:43:20 -0700

Yah I didn't go anywhere outside. I left the house hungry, stopped by the bar at Hacienda Real, drank water and salsa, ate a big ass wet burrito, and went straight back home. Laid on my bean bag chair, played Red Dead Redemption, and went to sleep. The day made me feel more Scottish than Irish; according to my Mom's Dad I'm three quarter's Irish, but if that was the case I certainly would have had a beer at Hacienda Real.

Saturday I woke up early feeling great for some reason. The girls invited me to a beach party at A-Basin. I wasn't sure exactly what this meant but I accepted. They headed up early to get a spot on the beach, which turns out to be the entire South side of the main parking lot that marks the end of the ski area. There's a picnic table for every two cars or so for a few hundred yards on the snow and it's a party especially on the weekends. You can ski from the table up a lift and eventually come back to the same spot without ever leaving the snow.

I pulled into the parking lot a couple hours after they arrived. It was full and there was a flag man waving me along in front of a gate. I claimed to be meeting friends and had chairs and a cooler that I'd like to drop off. He snap said no problem, there's usually spots open up front right now too. I drove along the beach, couldn't find them, found a sweet spot amongst many open spots, and set out on hoof to find a bunch of lesbians and one straight girl. I love hanging with these girls. Found them about six cars later. They were tailgaiting and drinking beer and all smiles and awesomeness. I poured a 32 oz jack and diet and that's about how the rest of the day went. Finally hit the slopes an hour later. It was blown out up top, we had a good run from top to bottom along the East Wall, and at the bottom I had one look at the line and zero desire to wait for a ride to blown out icy slopes. Especially when the alternative is a cold beer at high noon on a beautiful Saturday high country afternoon in a camp chair.

Well I ended up not moving much for the rest of the afternoon. When the girls finally came back they started lunch, pulling out a Coleman propane stove, brats and other stuff to cook, and I didn't do shit, eventually being handed a brat in a bun. I love lesbians. I ended up moving my truck close to theirs and we turned its bed into a sun deck. The place turned into a block party that finally ended after 4pm when the place shut down. Super awesome vibe and time, I want to spend lots of Spring afternoons there in the upcoming months.

Ended up watching the fight at Jonny's, I was super impressed with Jones, just a superb fighter that dominated Hua. I learned the next day that Jones had broken up a robbery hours before stepping into the octagon for the championship. He and his boys were walking to some waterfall, watched a robbery in progress, ran the guy down and had him arrested. Bad ass.

I walked home, slept, and woke up ready to fire on Sunday. I should have gone fishing as I lost $2999 in tournaments without a cash as well as small money in cash games. I wasn't terribly motivated to pack for my flight the next day, but then I found out that I wasn't flying anywhere on Monday. Turns out that the flight that I thought was on Monday really was on Tuesday. Bitchen. I just got a free day.

I woke up early Monday, stoked to see sunshine, and headed out the door intent on going fishing. I knew that I was surrounded by world class fly fishing but have never fished stream before and have no clue what to do with wet flies. I stopped by Cutthroat Anglers in Silverthorne to ask where to go, it was a bit breezy so they sent me to the Lower Blue. I had a fantastic drive North on 9, drove over the dam at Green Mountain Reservoir, and looked down a canyon at a river that I assumed had fish in it. I chatted with the two guys walking up who didn't catch anything. They left, and I put on my waders knowing that I had no idea how to pull fish out of that river but I was going to try anyways.

I fell on my ass walking down the snowy/muddy trail. I fished. I never saw a fish. Made a video blog, making fun of my consistent over ambition in early spring pretending it's summer. Walked back up the hill, back in the truck South, and tried the river again. Failure. Admission of helplessness. Back to the fly store. Help please.

I asked if they had a guide available for the afternoon and they didn't, but the store was slow so they could help me. I basically got a half hour seminar on how to fish wet flies on any river and specifically the Blue. That sent me back out eagerly, I didn't catch anything but got a strike that was my fault to miss, and by the end of the day I was feeling really good about fishing a river. I know that continuing down this learning curve will lead me to fish where as what I was doing that morning wasn't ever going anywhere. It was a great day.

I spent the evening packing for my first camping trip of the year. Cory and I are headed to Hawaii this week, spending 5 days on Kauai and intending on backpacking the Na Pali Coast. Super stoked for that, I've never been and can't wait to go.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

Lazy

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:54:12 -0700

I've felt a bit unmotivated lately. It kinda feels like I usually feel right after the WSOP is over, that brain dead, thank God it's over, let me go sleep for 18 hours and not talk to anybody for 36 more and I'll be fine. It hasn't quite been that bad, but on the other hand I haven't had the drive to get outside which is pretty unusual for me. Usually after the WSOP I'm itchin to get the hell outta town and go somewhere greener and cooler.

I certainly was ready to get out of LA and it's definitely cooler here but my mojo is amiss. I don't have a good reason why, nothing's got me down, it's just been how I've been feeling. So, I didn't do much this week. Woke up Wednesday, had breakfast, played online, ran so bad that I was done hours sooner than I should have, and went to get some food. I left the house to get some Mexican food, stopped by Wal-Mart on the way home and left with Red Dead Redemption. That consumed the rest of my evening (pleasantly so, the game is fantastic), and I was finally rustled to life when Missy called inviting me out for a drink with Erin. My best guy friends here are girls.

They left early and I walked down Main street to Jonny G's for Ladies' Night, the busiest place in the county on Wednesday nights. They literally give the booze away to all females from 9pm-midnight. I met Steve, Brandy, Matt, and a couple of girls from somewhere and we had a good ol night. That ended in a nine-tenths of a mile long snowball fight back to the house where we all piled in my living room listening to Slightly Stoopid by candle light.

As much as I wanted to ski Thursday morning the night before kept me in bed til noon and the hangover kept me on the couch til sunset. I left to have dinner at the Backcountry Brewery, it was meh, came home and filled in the dent on my Love Sac for the rest of the night. Red Dead Redemption is a fantastic game, an epic Western on the engine of the Grand Theft: Auto series. It feels like I've been dropped right in the middle of Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses. That's an era that I've always wanted to experience and it's been hard for me to put down the controller from riding horses along trains shooting bandits by the Rio Grande at sunset.

Friday came, was spent on the couch in the Old West, and then was disrupted for dinner. Turns out the Chinese place in town is fantastic. I cleaned up the place a bit and then wrote this thing, am getting ready to head down the hill to Denver to pick up Cory. Super excited to spend a weekend with her.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

Spring Cleaning and some Win

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 18:39:28 -0800

Saturday marked the breaking point of my ability to live in a messy apartment. I went on a spring cleaning spree that would make any housewife proud. Five loads of laundry, cleaned and dusted every corner of my domicile including the toilet and trash can. I did dishes, cleaned mirrors and glass, and organized my desk. Feels really good. Had carne asada and the like for dinner that night with Steve, the new housemate Brandy (who's a boy), and their friend Lisa in from San Diego. A few of the neighborhood kids showed up too and we had a good ol' time that ended on the couch watching Dumb and Dumber. I played some mixed games online that night, won a few bucks, and felt good after a productive day.

Sunday was the ol' online grind. I ran lol bad, like literally never had a chance in anything and my stacks all went straight downhill. I really don't mind those days cause I'm done quick and didn't do anything wrong and they make me giggle. I finished early enough to go to dinner and tried a new Italian place called Vinny's. The waitress informed me that the 12 table dining room was owned by Vinny who is in the back cooking. He takes pride in his food and if it sounds good then it's going to be good. She was right. Everything from the Louis Jadot 2008 pinot to the rigatoni I had was fantastic.

Hung out with the same crowd from Saturday night. We played a game of hearts and I got whipped, then I talked them into walking to Jonny's for karaoke night. They accepted and I got Steve to walk to the bar instead of drive for the first time this winter. We had an absolutely awesome time. There was a moment when I looked around at the 30 or so faces in the place and every single one was super stoked. Good times. We walked home, I played mixed games online and won over $3k, enough to make the day a winner.

Monday it was snowy and I woke up late, completely unmotivated to leave the house. My knee has been acting up lately too and even though it was strong skiing last week I'm still nervous about it. I played a bunch of 1-2 and 2-4 6 max tables for a couple of hours winning a few hundred. Played xbox for a couple hours. Played the online grind that evening, lost in semi frustrating fashion, and played more xbox for the rest of the night.

I felt the same way Tuesday morning so basically repeated the process. Skipped the cash games for video games. Played the tournaments, ran terribly in the homestretch until I short stack ninja'd my way to a Razz final table with less than three big bets. After I found three low cards and a double up it was pure profit from there. I steamrolled my way through the final table to the win and recorded it live for Poker VT. I'm very pleased with how I played and how the video turned out. The win of $1700 was enough to make me a small winner on the day.

Walk to Jonny's. PBR and pepperoni pizza. Then I start getting hit on by a chick who guides fly fishing trips. She's rad and think's I'm a little too rad and I have to tell her that I have a girlfriend and am not interested in anything romantic but would still like to go fishing and I can bring my cute housemate Steve who might be. She accepted, then said I have to go, and then I never saw her again. It turns out I could have used a pretend girlfriend a few minutes later when the dude that replaced her next to me started talking.

"Mumble, mumble."

"What?"

"Mumble, mumble, mumble mumble ass?"

"... wat?"

He leans closer to me, "Mumble mumble mumble."

"WHAT? I can't hear you."

"You have nice eyes." He reaches both his arms out, strokes both my triceps, giggles, sheepishly shrugs his shoulders and leaves.

FML.

I love gay people. I don't like them touching me in a fashion that implies desire.

He materializes a few minutes later on the opposite side, the only chair between me and the end of the bar. I deduce that he's mustering up the courage to ask me straight up if I like butt sex, a question that I don't want to face and a rejection that nobody likes to feel. I ignore him enough for him to get the idea that I'm not interested, thoroughly enjoyed watching replays of the hockey brawl, and then he left. A little while later he rubbed my back, leaned over my shoulder, told me that it's not my fault, and left. Yeah, I understand man. He left me alone after that.

And then minutes later this dude named Zachariah replaced my squandered opportunity at free drinks and bought me a shot. This was after he found out that I used to be a whitewater guide, something that he still does, but now he does it "privately". The Arkansas River is the most heavily rafted river in the country. There's seventy some odd commercial whitewater companies in operation and new permits haven't been issued in years. It's unlikely that they ever will be, so if you want to charge people to go rafting you need to purchase a permit which are now worth a lot of money or do it on the down low, illegally.

The bummer about this is it makes it illegal for me to put together a group of friends, charge them all $50 to cover food, beer, use fees, trailers, and everything else needed to run a whitewater rafting trip. I don't have to put any money in my pocket to make this illegal. Even if all the money goes to the cost of the trip, if one of my people tells a forest service person that they paid $50 for this trip, I'm going to jail and/or facing a big fine.

I think the policy is absurd for true private groups and more care should be taken to apply it only to the pirate companies that are trying to turn a profit. I'm not sure which of the two this dude is up to, but when he started giving me the pricing that he charges friends, friends' friends, and randoms it made me think it might be the latter. I hope not cause he was a cool dude that I enjoyed chatting with and would like to go paddling with.

Oh, and I played some mixed games online. Won.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

Let's Go March!

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:36:32 -0800

Wednesday marked my journey back to Colorado. This involved being lazy and spending time with Cory for most of the day, then franticly packing and heading to John Wayne for my flight to Denver. I was delayed just long enough to miss the 9:30 shuttle heading up the hill so I had to wait for the 11pm. Three Hazed and Infused ales later I was on the shuttle, lost $1k playing 25-50 10-game sitting in the front seat while we drove through Denver, and had a bladder that wanted to pop by the time we started heading up the hill. I was dropped off first, Steve had arranged for my truck to be parked there, and I was hungry so I headed straight for Jonny G's. A slice of pepperoni and a PBR later I felt welcomed home and happy. The smog of Los Angeles is so depressing, I can feel my spirit smile here in the mountains.

I ended up missing my cell phone that night. I emailed the shuttle people who replied in the morning saying that they did indeed have my phone. I picked that up in Silverthorne first, then headed to Safeway. First a venti white mocha from the Starbucks inside the market, then fresh meat and cheese from the deli, and then I walked by the donuts. One of those was going in my belly immediately. I chose the white cake with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles. It was delicious. I picked up the rest of the usuals, Cheerios, 2% milk, sourdough bread, lettuce, and bananas.

I had to convince the checkout clerk that the blue paper on the bottom of my basket represented a donut and he should charge me for one. Third attempt was like, seriously, I picked out a donut and ate it already. Please charge me for one regular donut. I checked my PO box, it didn't fill up in 4 weeks of absence. Feels sooo good. No bills, they're all electronic and paid automatically now. All I got was two checks, the newest issue of Outside magazine, Wells Fargo informing me that I changed my address from the Commerce Casino back to my address in Colorado. Went to the bank to deposit checks. Went home, didn't do shit for the rest of the day. It was fantastic.

Friday was much more exciting. I woke up to six fresh inches on the ground and more falling from the sky. I took my time getting ready knowing that I would be a bit rusty on my first day back. I was but not nearly as bad as I was expecting and had an excellent afternoon. By the time I had hit the slopes at Keystone the clouds had parted and it remained bluebird the rest of the day. On the way back home I was cruising down Hwy 6 along Lake Dillon, windows down, Ben Harper cranked, and past a cop. Within a second I looked at my speed, 64, and the speed limit sign that read 50. He immediately started rolling. FML. I won a $145 speeding ticket. Damn.

Went home, shoveled snow. Started with the bed of my truck which completely filled in the time I was gone. Then I moved to the pile of snow that accumulated in front of the my bedroom window blocking the view of Chief Mountain. I lost that battle, much of it being snow that melted enough to fall from the roof and then turn into ice overnight. At least I can see the top of one pine tree and some of the mountain now. I then shoveled my walkway which was no problem and unwound inside. Made a ham and salami sandwich on sourdough, finished <em>West of Jesus: Surfing, Science, and the Origins of Belief</em>, and started <em>A Short History of Nearly Everything</em>. I dug the former and am digging the latter. I started the evening session at 5pm, immediately got 125 bbs in playing 2-4nl with two kings running into two aces that didn't win the pot. Sweet. I run way better in Colorado too.

I had an average session, profiting about a dime all from cash games. I busted my last tourney around 10pm and was jonesin' to get out of the house. I showered and bundled up for a walk to Jonny's, had a fantastic night talking to fantastic people, walked home, and won another two dimes playing three tables of 20-40 8-game and 1 25-50 10-game. It feels good to be home.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

LAPC: GFY

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 13:35:30 -0800

Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh February sucked. I got way too excited about January and pissed off the Doomswitch Manager. My live cash game graph looks like the first drop on a roller coaster, steadily climbing to a high point of +$7598 and then plummeting straight to stuck $3k. I played a bunch of LAPC events, cashed in zero, bubbled in two. My curse spread to my horse who didn't cash in anything while I was there but made a final table on Valentines Weekend while I was out of town. I didn't play much online, ended up a small winner in cash games and sit-n-goes for the month but a big loser in MTTs. I lived at The Commerce long enough to get mail there. I hate LA; I dropped out of college in 2002 to get the hell out of town and refuse to live here ever again. It's just too damn crowded and polluted. And the people suck way more than most places. FFS I got a brick thrown through my windshield from an overpass on the freeway a couple years ago.

I got to thinking about my big months, February and June for the last few years, and I've lost for at least six straight. I think I won in the 2008 LAPC, mostly from some big final tables online but I'm not sure. I've run terrible in this place. There's a strong chance that I'm a lifetime loser in LA even though I won a tournament here in 2006. I can't help but wonder if it's because of how much I don't like waking up in Los Angeles but I've certainly gone to 6th street with the best pair and ended 7th street without being awarded the pot way more than I should have this month. It sucks being on the shitty end of variance but it happens sometimes, it's just extra annoying in the biggest months of the year.

So I just finished one of the worst months of my career. I spent a weekend in Palm Desert. I skied before that. I spent 5 days in wine country. I got lots of time with a girl I'm stoked on. Life's great outside of poker and that's all that really matters. I can't imagine how people deal with downswings that don't have much else going on in life. I feel like all I did this month was play poker and due to the duration of run bad I felt pretty down this weekend. But I did lots of other cool stuff and have plenty of good times to look forward to that have nothing to do with poker.

Today's March 1st and I feel great. It's a perfect Southern California day and a new month. It feels like springtime. Rent was paid a long time ago. I had coffee, cereal, and caught up on two weeks of accounting, squaring off everything. I made a video for PokerVT reviewing my 2nd place finish in the members only Pro Bounty tournament Sunday. I'm very happy with the content and it's fun reviewing material containing hands with members who hopefully will ultimately watch the video themselves. The dude that won deserved to do so, he played strong all final table and won a flip with nearly equal stacks, AK>55.

I'm excited to get going back to Colorado. March is traditionally a great month with lots of snow and sunshine. I'm gonna hit it hard for three weeks and then be back here for a trip to Kauai in the end of March.

Rough month of work, yea. Rough life, heck no.

Peace and good luck,

Devo