Jeff Madsen

Procrastiblog

Mon, 10 May 2010 16:21:31 -0700

waaaaaadup

I don't know if it's that I don't have time to blog, (thats not it), or that I just don't have anything to blog about, (not true either)... its prob just that I just PROCRASTINATE!

Since I last left you, what has happened in my meaningless little poker life ; )?

Played the LA poker classic main event. Got 2nd in my 3 way tattoo last longer prop bet and now I have to get Gavin's face tattooed somewhere on my body. Greeeeat... this may get on national television by the way... stay tuned.

Played the LAPC celebrity invitaitonal. I got hammered and busted. But my girl Trishelle got 3rd place at the final! So proud of her.

Went to Vancouver for a small charity thing and was able to check out my first Olympic games! Went to my first hockey game USA vs. Switzerland. We won! Also saw speed skating which was exciting. Vancouver is a great great city.

I woke up one day and my arm starting swelling up and felt fuucked up. I thought I broke it in my sleep? A couple weeks later it went away.

Played the Shooting Star tourney in San Jose besides a 12 hour session of "Lodden Thinks" at the table with esfandiari, Juanda and company, was fairly uneventful.

Played the Wynn Championship. I didn't cash. Cantu won it! Good job buddy.

Appeared on Sebok's show Poker2nite. Of course I was coerced to freestyle rap on the show, and also challenge prahlad friedman to a rap battle. Also some of my controversial political views came out..

Played the Jimmy V Foundation charity tournament in Reno... great cause. I drunkenly got 4th place because i am the greatest charity tournament poker player of all time.

Went to my first Jay - z concert at Staples center. Its beyond me how ive never seen this man in concert. It was honestly amazing, so much energy. The crowd was incredible.

I got a new apartment in Los Angeles! Finally I have my own place here. Ive finally got settled with furniture and of course my brand new 3d television... i didnt even know this technology existed when i walked into best buy... everything in 3d~ why would i leave my couch?

I started a retarded April Fool's Joke that I took a 50k prop bet to move to Israel until the start of the World Series. Most people bought it until April 15th when i finally let the cat out of the bag, although I think some people think im still there. Perhaps two weeks was a bit long to stretch out a joke...

Started building my pool/jacuzzi/backyard in vegas. Finally after 3 years i will have a backyard at my house! Its nice what a little extra money can do... now i need more lol.

Played my first NAPT at Mohegan Sun. Was a great tournament with a great turnout and I actually had a lot of fun on this one. Was making a good run but ended up mincashing in 90th.

Took a trip to Baltimore, New York after Mohegan Sun. I havent really been around New York before and Ive started to appreciate the culture and energy of the city! For some reason I was talked into paying for a 2100$ meal for two people at a restaurant called Masa. It was one of the best meals ever, tho. I sweated the 2nd place finisher of sunday million too.. sick to watch. We shouldve won AK vs A8 8 on flop ;(

Besides that, we have a softball team now with some of the guys in Vegas. We suck, but its fun! Also I've been doing decent online but i keep getting close and not closing! Agh! Just now busted 22nd in the 2k Scoop. 380k for first grrr. Bubbled ftops final table other day TT vs. J9. grrr. Online frustrates me... but i can feel things improving.

The Series Looms!

Peace

The Blogata! Weeeeeeeeeeeeee

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:13:05 -0800

Sup yall. Lots been going on! Lots! The main thing... I won a tournament! Yes, finally I have another major title under my belt, winning the Borgata Winter Open earlier this month. I couldn't be happier, and I know I've had critics and people waiting for me to get back on top and have some big finishes... I know this is just the beginning of a great year.

I consciously made a decision to hit a few more tournament stops this year I hadn't been to in a while, and that included the Borgata which I hadn't been to in over a year. Atlantic City ain't my favorite spot, but the Borgata is nice.

I started by playing the 2k heads-up event they ran, and ended up winning four matches but losing two and juuust bubbling the money. My third match was against none other then Michael Phelps, a buddy of mine I hadn't seen a while. His game has definitely been improving as I know he plays a lot online and is always working to get better... it definitely showed in our match and he had me down to 5k to his 35k.. of course I was able to suck out a couple times and come back to win. I think I tilted him for a while after that one!

The main event was a $3500 buy in, which I feel is the right range of buy in to make big events nowadays because it attracts more players and is good for poker. This tournament got a healthy 780 players or so, and I was lucky to start quickly right out of the gate, getting some big pairs and making good reads all throughout the first few days. I won't get into too much detail but check out my next column in Bluff Magazine where I talk a little bit more about the tournament.

Basically it was a smooth ride to the final table where I actually made one biiig mistake and got lucky... besides that I'm happy with how I played the whole tournament and how I'm playing right now in general. Although I feel like I've been consistent and have had some nice cashes in the last year and a half, this is the kind of finish that you need as a poker player to truly get on the radar of other players especially helps in getting myself back out into the public eye. Big things to come I hope.

One fun fact I didn't mention in Bluff was the incredible fact that the player I ended up beating heads-up for the title, Sirious Jamshidi, is the same player who I beat in my first heads-up match in the 2k Heads-up tournament just two days before. What are the odds of something like that?

Ok, I have more to talk about, including LAPC, Vancouver, and some other shizz.. I'm lazy so I'll write another blog in about week including the upcoming Bay 101 in all that. It's safe to say things have been pretty interesting lately. I'm not as bored as usual which is good!

Holleratchaboy

Bahama and Blogloxi, Biiatch

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:06:20 -0800

Yo. Whattup young brethren. My new year started well, no, I don't mean the NYE kiss, I mean the first stop on the tournament trail for the year, the muthafuggin Bahamas yo.

This was my 2nd year up in that bitch, and this time around the weather was rather shitty, and unfortunately I was stationed down the beach semi-far from the Atlantis. I'll blame that on G Smith.

I cashed last year in 94th in this tournament and I was determined and ready to far exceed that finish. Things went smoothly for the first few days, and play was as I expected it to be. Most of my tables were almost entirely sub - 23 year olds and for many of them this was their first professional poker tournament ever. Its sick how the level of play has really stepped up, 19 year olds now are as good and better then the majority of players were 5 years ago. It's not even fair to compare, everyone is good now. So, you have to elevate your game.

This tourney I played solid but hit a rough patch near the money and didnt have a lot of chips. I was down to about 60k at 2k 4k blinds after bluffing off some chips, and was able to double up with A5 vs. AQ with a 5 on the flop. Obviously. Then I doubled up in a small blind vs. big blind situation with A9 vs. QQ, Ace on the turn. Also Obvious. Then I reshoved a few times over preflop raises and was able to build to about 450k +. Then a crazy italian player bluffed in a huge pot when I had a set. All of a sudden I was at a million chips from 60k, all in the matter of about 1 level of poker! Sickness.

I was able to ride those chips all the way down to the last few tables. Play was very strong but not incredible, and I shouldve kept building a sick stack but things didnt go perfectly. I found myself semi-short and short all through day 4. Day 5 we came back with 24 players and I could never get anything going. I eventually busted in 19th with AJ vs. 44 preflop. Argggh so frustrating! Its sick because when I tell someone I won 90k and got 19th place, it sounds fantastic to them, and its great and all... but you and I know as poker players that when you get that close to 2.2 million for first, you really want to win! Or at least get top 4 and make a million!

But it's ok. I can tell from how I'm playing that this is gonna be a big year... things just feel better and I'm not making unnecessary mistakes as much, or at all.

Right now I'm depressed in my room after busting out of the WPT main event here in Biloxi, Mississippi. Its my first trip here, and I'm a little mad Im not still in going into day 2 tomorrow. I was making a little run and had 50k at 300 600 blinds. Decided to play an all in pot with A2dd on a Q26dd board. The pot was raised and 5 handed, and after the flop I decided to check-raise the original raiser, essentially committing to the pot. I got raised all in and was up against QQ. Oh well again, I couldve played that slow, but sometimes you make concious decisions to play a hand a certain way... if I win that im cruising.

Next I'll head to Borgata to play a few events.. and then comes LAPC which I'm looking forward to verrrrry much. Its my hometown and it's going to be a sick series. Last year I had a great series there and I expect even more from myself this year. I have high standards people, I really am after that 7 figure score this year!

Oh and for those who don't know already... me Gavin and Sebok have a last longer bet for the main event of the LAPC. Last place has to tattoo the other two guy's faces on his body! 2nd place has to get the winner's face as a tattoo. This is just sick, retarded stuff... and they dragged me into it. Sebok has been tryin to call it off recently, but I've switched over to saying fuck it, lets do it... I think it might motivate me just as much as a million dollars would ... lol.

Until next time homefries

Forgive Me Father For I've Not Blogged

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:40:27 -0800

Forgive me. What has happened in these past months? I'll do a step by step.

After Aruba I returned to my lovely abode in Las Vegas. What now? A rough outline:

Attended a charity tournament where I was lucky enough to play with the real Captain Morgan.

Defetaed Asian reporter Kristy Arnett in a beer pong prop bet, hilarity ensued.

Played golf and lost money prop betting.

Played in the Bellagio main event Festa Al Lago. Things started off well as I made quads vs. Brock Parker's aces, but busted late day 1.

Attended a Steel Panther concert and learned the proper way to demean women.

Got hammered with G. Smith.

Watched two girls make out in the ring at a promotional boxing match.

Played pool and had band practice with "the crew", Joe and Dutch.

Sunday tournaments and football on 4 big screens at Cantu's next door.

More beer pong.

Dressed up as Ken from Street Fighter for Halloween and wandered around Los Angeles, Roothlus was a retarded Cookie Monster.

Played Halo and Modern Warfare

Played golf and lost more money.

Attended a Laker game. We won, of course.

Attended the Cirque du Soleil on the beach in Santa Monica. Good but not comparable to Vegas.

Won my first online poker tournament. On full tilt. Ship it

Headed to the Hold'em for Heroe's charity tournament in Arizona on a private jet with my buddies Cantu, Layne, Devo, Esfandiari, Pam Brunson.

Golfed in the charity golf tournament there, was able to beat Erica Schoenberg in a prop bet and make a few good shots to help my team of me Hellmuth, Cantu, and Layne. I still suck however.

Finished 2^nd in the main charity event to Esfandiari. Then finished 2^nd in the winner's freeroll tournament for a wsop seat. Had also finished 2^nd in a small tournament we ran with some of the attending celebrities and pros.

Rolled around with Layne for his reality show, shooting massive guns at a range and smoking cigars, etc. The charity event finished with a party at a western themed ranch and we all had a blast trying to ride a fake bull and learning to lasso. As usual, Hellmuth convinced me to rap throughout the weekend.

Played the Venetian Main Event and ended up cashing in 20^th. My first cash since an awful World Series.

Celebrated Thanksgiving in L.A. with the cousins and stuffed my face.

Came back to vegas to play Bellagio's Five Diamond Series, placing 6^th, 13^th, bubbling the 10k HORSE, and then chopping the 1500$ 3 ways for 70k.

Attended strip clubs regularly, including Scott Ian's new bar which is connected to the Crazy Horse 3 strip club. Convenient.

Got Hammered with L. Flack.

Rapped on my couch, introducing the new guest format.

Saw Avatar in IMAX 3D.

Played NBA2k10 and Fifa 10 at Shecky Greens, my hip-hop advisor and DJ Am's former manager and dear friend. DJ AM will b missed.

Played the Bellagio Five Diamond main event eventually busting with 22 to E. Lynch's QQ on a Q23Q board. Cooler.

Purchased a signed Lebron jersey despite being a Laker fan at the Cerebral Palsy charity event at the Hard Rock. Partied like a champion at the afterparty at Body English and entertained L.A. friends by heading to another strip club.

Attended the WPT Final table at Bellagio, the first I had watched in a while. It was dead, I pray for the future of poker in America. Congrats Alaei.

More golf with Friedberg, more money lost.

Headed to L.A. for the holidays.

Had Drunken Karaoke at the Gas LIte with the Poker2Nite crew. Afterwards, traveled for hours through Los Angeles with Sebok getting in to trouble. We journied through about 8 cities in a single night. I decided on finishing the night in Venice with a tattoo... my first. Surprisingly, it did not hurt despite being on my ribs and me being very skinny.

Celebrated my sister's Birthday on the 23^rd, then did Christmas on the 24^th as I would be heading with my family up north to San Francisco area for Xmas, my first year away from home for the holiday.

Travelled through wine country and relaxed with family for a few days.

And here I am back in L.A. The Decade is coming to a close. I think me and Sebok will be driving up to Vegas tomorrow for NYE. It's been the best decade of my life... lol!

This year I will figure out if being single is something I should stick to, I'll finish my poker book like I say every year, I will improve my rapping hopefully, win a bracelet or WPT or both hopefully... In the end I hope it just goes as well as it can. It's all love.

Good thing I take pictures every day of my travels! Maybe I'll just start blogging all my pictures and let them speak for themselves.

Bahamas is on the horizon...

Blogruba and Before

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:03:44 -0700

I have finally touched down back home in Vegas. It has been a month and I think it was definitely about time to get grounded. I need some stability and consistency.

After London we went to beautiful Amsterdam, Netherlands. This place really is great... lol not just for the obvious reasons... I never really knew what the city looked like.. its filled with natural beauty and great architecture. Small little shops and bakeries and "coffee shops".. trams running through the city and a bustling infrastructure.

Lets just say we didnt really get around to do a whole lot of sightseeing of the places I was told to see.. Anne Frank's house, the Heineken factory, the Van Gogh museum, etc. That's ok, I definitely want to go back sooner then later. Me, Allie, Liv, did rent bikes and tour around the city that way, which was definitely the way to go. The first night we got a good tour of the red light district and all that it has to offer... the area feels electric, all the energy and the buildings neon signs make it look different from any place id ever seen. Canals and bridges with small motorized boats everywhere, really a mix of beauty and debauchery. While things of course got ridiculous, for the record lemme say that i would NEVER pay for sex... and I don't see the reason why I ever will. Probably. We hit up the famous BULLDOG coffee-shop which I think was the first in Amsterdam.

The next couple days were spent mostly in the Central "VondelPark", one of the best parks in the world... or at least it seemed so at the time lol. Cantu and Leslie met up with us and it seems like we did a lot of animal watching... any possible kind of animal was in that park... along with some glimpses of some of the wierdest people ive ever seen in my life. There are definitely some freaky dutch people, it makes sense though based on how their culture is so liberal youre bound to get some strange folks. Anyway, I felt like I was in a big Van Gogh painting, and I realized why great artists would come out of this area of the world. My theory about the place was that since the Netherlands is actually the lowest lying country in the world, the land is extremely fertile... therefore producing heightened natural beauty and in turn some very potent.. plants and herbs.

Mike Binger ended up meeting up near the end of the trip. Long story short, remind me to not go to a Live Sex Show with him in the audience ever again. I cannot erase the memory of what unfolded, we can leave it at that! Very humorous.

Off to ARUBA we went. I had heard it was a great trip so this year was a good opportunity to go. Beautiful beaches, clear water, fun water sports and good company were the main theme on this trip. The opening pool party MC'ed by Hellmuth was real fun.. we all got hammered and jumped in the pool, followed by people getting thrown in the pool against their will. Lucky for me I handed off my phone and wallet to TD Matt Savage before I got in. Oh whoops... too bad he got pushed in immediately after I handed him my stuff... ruining my phone for the trip and causing me to lose all my Amsterdam pictures ;(.. I guess I have to go back and take more pics now.

Besides obliterating probably my 6th Iphone, the trip was fun... oh yea, the poker was glorious, I made it as far as the 4th hand of the 5k main event:

With 12.5k going into the hand, UTG made it 150 to go. I called with 55, an old amatuer guy made it 350 to go, me and UTG called. I flopped a set with the 954 board, UTG checks, I check, amatuer makes it 1700 into a 1k pot! At this point its quite obvious he has AA or KK. UTG folds, I make it 5100, amatuer flat calls and I only have about 6500 more. Turn comes a King, which I really don't like... but what can I do here, check fold a set??? I went all-in just begging him to have AA and of course it was not to be, he snap called and showed the KKK. I just hate when I don't get a chance to really play a tournament or get at least semi-deep. Oh well, back to the beach.

Another theme of the trip was getting wasted and rapping at the scheduled parties and the party at Hellmuth's penthouse sweet... I generally faced off against the "Poker Rapper" who I had maybe heard of before but he seemed pretty excited to battle against me. I was pretty much too drunk to coherently put a sentence together but I still rapped my heart out, making a fool out of myself yet again.. It's what I do! And frankly, I don't really care much anymore. Just be yourself and be an individual.

When people read some of my thoughts or ideas in these blogs, I'm inevitably going to get haters, skeptics, and people basically too scared to use their brains. Yea, maybe I take things too far with some conspiracy or spiritual shit but these ideas are things I believe to be important and true in my best perception of the world. The ppl who hate on ideas the most are those who are the most scared to think outside the box or realize the world is very complicated and uniquely infinite..

Right now though, I need some stability.. I'm on a quest for love and glory

PEACE

Bloggers and Mash

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:16:14 -0700

I really do blog a lot less lately then I used to, don't I? I'm not sure why, but obviously one part of that is the convenience of twitter and how I can simply write about individual thoughts as they come to me. Writing a whole freakin blog means you kinda have to have a theme and a train of thought and bla bla bla I'm too lazy for that!

Since my last blog I first played in the Legends of Poker main event in August. That was going well for a bit but I had my classic day 2 crumble. August was a lot of back and forth L.A. to Vegas, not a lot of live poker but I did have my biggest online cash for 60k, 3rd place in the stars $500. I also more recently got 3rd in the 1k Heads up wcoop on stars for like 20k, although I shouldve won that one but the structure was sooo slow I was still in my last match at 7am!!!. Online has never been my favorite but I can see the appeal of focusing and going deep. Something about a little box popping up saying Congrats here's 60 grand!, is kind of appealing, yes. It doesn't even feel like real money, but it is, which makes it fun.

This month I embarked for a 3 week tour of London for WsopE, followed by Amsterdam, which I leave for in a week or so, and then finally Aruba for my first trip there. For now Im in London in the SMALLEST ROOM OF ALL TIME. WHY ARE ROOMS LIKE SARDINE CANS HERE. From now on I'm locking up a flat and taking care of business ahead of time. Amsterdam will be my first trip too, so hopefully I can get sufficiently retarded in the short time I have there. Aruba I've heard is one of the best stops on tour so looking forward to some nice whether and normal size hotel rooms.

It's amazing how streaky poker is, or at least how streaky the year seems to be! This year I was tearing it up from January to May, and since my awful WSOP it hasn't been great... not sure if the wsop simply got to my head again but this is a slow progression. Eventually I'll be able to even this all out and have an overall good year! Its good I could stretch it out for 5 months, but a 12 month streak would be better.

So, besides some online cashes, not much to speak of except deep runs live but no finishing. All good...

Hmm, what else? Oh yes, September 11th came and went, and people are still blinded to the obvious fact that this was an orchestrated event. This fact is so obvious and clear to so many people in the world that it is astounding to me that there is even still debate about whether it was or not. The only discussions should be about the specifics about how certain powers handled each part of this event, and where this false flag event is leading us as a people. It is scary but TPTB (the powers that be) are slowly working towards a "New World Order" as its been quoted... and it's difficult to know how as an individual to fight against the scary future of a one world oppressive government. The first step is realizing that things are not as they seem. For an interesting look at some history about bloodlines of power and the evolution of evil and those in power, check out this series of videos: Im not saying that everything is definitely true or false, but you have to take in this as a look at what the reality of history could possibly be... because the history told to us is never exact and is often far from the truth:

Search Youtube video "Bloodlines of power part 1 - 31" if the link doesnt work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kLmQOk9fCI&feature=PlayList&p=4C0A3F1BDD38D83F&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2

I could go on about that but I won't.

Another quick philosophical topic, I was dreaming last night and was having a dream about my sister. I haven't seen her or talked to her in a while cause I've been away from Los Angeles for a while. When I woke up I realized I really missed her and went to my phone to text her, where I saw that she had literally just sent me a text message. Most people would look at these kinds of things as coincidences, but I know that they are certainly not... everyone has thoughts that come before a certain event that are eerily connected. Your friend calls you right when you thing of them.

The truth is, these things happen because the "mind's eye" is focused enough on the other person to send them a sort of subconcious message. The two people are in a sense meeting up in a seperate form of conciousness, and this triggers them to connect to eachother in our current realm of conciousness. When we dream, we enter a different world, a place outside of time, and the things that happen in our dreams are not imagined but actually happen and are created by your mind power in this alternate world. I truly believe this place is the 4th dimension, which is scientifically described as time, or a world that exists unbounded by time. When we sleep we enter this place and connect to others, but usually forget the experience or the details because it is not a cohesive timeline it is the incarnation of our mind's reality. I simply connected with my sister in this seperate dimension because our mind's were both in the same place... this hinted us to want to text eachother. Nothing is a coincidence! I also believe that when we die in this world, we simply have an opportunity to become a part of this higher dimension permanently... our energy can be transferred into this higher realm where we become godlike in a way... you must be enlightened to have the best chance of keeping the sould intact through this journey.

Aaaanywway I could go on forever about this also but I'll save that for a future blog hopefully not too far in the future this time. WSOPE main on saturday. HOLLER

Don't Call it a Comeblog

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:37:17 -0700

I'm not sure if that title sounds exactly how it should. Nonetheless, it has been a long stretch since my last blog. I apologize for those of you who actually care when I write or care about my life at all!

The last couple months have been fun, but extremely aggravating poker wise. June consisted of my constantly constantly making day twos at the WSOP, getting close, and then simply not being able to close. Part has been not running amazing but another part has been part of my psyche that overthinks a lot of situations and probably stress myself out too much when I'm nearing the money, especially if I havent cashed in a while.

My problem which I need to work on is to still look at each tournament individually. Even if I havent cashed in a month, which isn't a long time in poker tournaments at all, I can't focus on those losses while I play my current tournament. It affects my play slightly enough that I can at times be a bit timid near the money or simply create a negative mindset. Being a big believer in the power of positive thinking and the law of attraction and all that, I know where I can slip up mentally at times, I just need to find the switch that shuts that all out!

I've been really happy with my play though. Probably made 9 day two's at the world series, including 10k Omaha hi-lo, 10k heads-up, 10k Mixed Event, to no avail. I ended up only cashing once. This will be my worst Wsop of my entire poker career, I know this because no amount of bad luck can overcome the particular mindset you must have in these tournaments, and I think I'm right on the cusp and have been on the cusp of maturing and solidifying my game so its not shaky at all. My results before the wsop are promising, and maybe I was a little too comfortable and didnt play my A+ cause I thought it was going to fall into my lap. I played the 15k main event at Bellagio cup after the Wsop and bubbled that too! Played so well the whole time but oh well!

Besides that I've had a great time with friends going to wsop parties and trying to figure out my next project. Gotta work on my book book book! I've been golfing and improving it seems like, although I still always lose money out on the course. I'm always the sucker, lol.. probably why I have no money any more! I don't worry because I know I have the ability in online poker to get that scrilla back once again.. the future is very bright. Poker Videos

Next for me is Legends of Poker which I'm here in L.A. for, then september I'll do WSOP Europe, probably make a stop in Amsterdam, then head to Aruba for my first time. Should be a fun couple months coming up. Been keeping up the rapping a bit but gotta do some more rap blogs! People judge my ability in those video blogs but really you are seeing me at about 40% ability. It is difficult to perform my best when there is no one around me and I feel some pressure from the camera.. I have to find a way to loosen up and stop overthinking all these things I do and just perform my A+ game with confidence at all times! I do that with girls too... I overthink situations, gotta just chill chill chill.

Anyway, that's my rant, don't call it a comeback. Just gotta always know that I never went anywhere, Madsen is always here! Thats the mantra. More blogs soon.

HOLLLLLLLER

Blogemini

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:30:49 -0700

Its my birthday! To celebrate, I would enjoy winning a bracelet very much. So far ive played a decent number of wsop events with no luck... but i still feel great and there is a lot of wsop to go!

I don't think I've played my very best this first week of the series, maybe I'm a little nervous? I dont think so though... just warming up. As long as I keep playing like i have the rest of the year I should see some deep runs veryyy soon. Poker Radio

Parents came down for the weekend and it was great to see them, ended up hanging out with them more then my friends the last couple days for my bday. Seems like everyone's a Gemini, hmmm.

Congrats to Sung, Ivey, and the rest of the early bracelet winners. Im keepin this blog short cause I need to have some tournaments to talk about first, gotta start cashing. I think meditating and clearing my mind may help. Must focus and just play my game! I got this!

Calgary, Blogberta, Canada

Sat, 23 May 2009 17:07:16 -0700

I didn't want to get burned out from travelling before the WSOP, so I was pretty sure I wasn't going to go to Canada for the Heads-up Poker Championship there. Gavin is good at convincing though, and when travel and lodging are free you ask yourself "why not?"

I'm actually pretty glad i went to Calgary, as it is a real pretty area and the town turned out to be really fun. Gavin, Hellmuth, Matusow, Flack, Seed, Booth, Mueller, and some other peeps all made it out, so it was a good atmosphere. Calgary has some fun cowboy bars and clubs and people there are just more down to Earth and down to have a good time, plus it doesn't hurt that all of the girls are 9's+!

All the CPT staff was really friendly and they put on a really good tournament with a great structure. 10k starting chips and best 2 out of 3 matches. I really think the NBC heads-up championship should have as good a structure, but I do understand that worse structures give the celebrity invitees a chance and it is better for tv.

Well, I made it to the Final heads up match! My road to the finals was pretty tough, but not as hard as it couldve been. With all the name players in the field {Flack of course a no-show... as usual loool}, I really didn't play any name player, only Terrance Chan in the sem-finals was someone I had heard of. A few of my matches were pretty easy, and I really felt good about my reads and about my patience in a lot of different spots.

I was challenged in the match before the money, in probably my toughest match with my toughest opponent, Mike McWhirter. In the first game I got lucky with AT vs. JJ to survive and came back and won that. He won the second game though, and in the third game i found myself down to my last 1400 vs. his 18600! The blinds were still only like 1-2 i think, so I found some room and was able to double up and work my way back up and won! Close one.

In the finals i was up against a 22 year-old kid named Ben Lablond, he had previously beaten Hellmuth and then Brad Booth in the semi's to get here. Hellmuth gave me a scouting report and I felt confident going into the match, everything seemed to be falling into place.

In the first game I started to learn some patterns in his game, he was aggressive in spots but would be checking the flop a lot and would also make some loose calls if he felt he had the right read. I was down to 5k to his 15k after a bit but then made a sick two hand swing: the first hand I raised and he decided to reraise to 2k, I had 99 and was happy to get it all in. He showed 33 and I had my first double up. Now even at 10k each I decided to limp the button dark, he raised it up... I looked down at QQ obv and reraised. He went all in and I had the game won when his 22 couldn't improve against my QQ. Now I was feeling very confident. Poker News

Long story short, in the second game I picked up some good cards and played well, it was a close game the whole way teetering back and forth. Blinds got fairly big, probably to 500 1000 i believe, and we played a huge pot for almost all the chips, my AK suited vs. his AJ. He was unable to improve and I won the massive pot. He got up to shake my hand, thinking it was over. He of course, had 800 chips remaining, to my 19200. I was all smiles now. First hand he is all in dark of course with like A9 vs. my A2. Now he's at 1600. He's all in dark again and doubles up with the worst hand this time. He pushes the next hand with like Q2 and doubels up through my AJ. Now he's at like 6400. We go back and forth a couple times and then he doubles up again to take the chip lead! What the fuck is going on! We go back and forth i regain the chip lead he doubles up again. The last hand he pushes all in I call with AJ he has T5. I was worried because him and his buddies were wearing shirts that said something along the lines of "Ten 5 Warriors" With a picture of the hand T5 front and center on the shirt. Lol how could I win now? Flop T5x and the match was tied 1-1 now. Sigh.

The third game we both played well but he won some frustrating pots for me, hands where we both would have flush draws and I would have the nut draw, pretty big pots, and if we both hit the flush I would win the tournament there. Instead he would river a pair... at least I didn't play those pots all-in. I was pretty short and the blinds got to 300-600 and higher and it was a pushfest again, I lost the race AT vs. 44 and he had miraculously come back to steal the title. I was kind of devastated.

It's ok though! 2nd ain't bad, and it gives me confidence for the world series. Poker's never really fun unless you get 1st! Well that's not true but sometimes it feels like it.

On the flight home our plane experienced what the captian called "severe turbulence". It was scary, unexpectedly the plane went from a little shaking to a MASSIVE drop lifting everyone out of there seats... a couple people were hurt that were in the bathroom or didnt have their seatbelt on. This shit was the worst. After the flight the captain said it was the worst Turbulence he's seen in his 23 year pilot career. Ive always been a little worried about flying for some reason and going through that will either make me more fearful or less fearful as I dont think I'll experience taht again.

Meanwhile in L.A. mostly just been kiiicking back and supporthing my Lakers. We won a nailbiter the first game, then I went to the 2nd game and was having a great time but we fucking lost! First time I've been to a lakers loss ;(. That's ok, the Cavs lost so they don't feel invincible anymore. Until... Lebron! What a shot! Honestly one of the most amazing sports moments I've ever seen live. Just amazing! I would rather the lakers play an easier team but I really cant wait for a Lakers Cavs series.

Meanwhile, follow me on TWITTER obv. Because Twitter is going to destroy blogs anyway. https://twitter.com/JeffMadsenobv

Blog Europa

Tue, 12 May 2009 19:11:09 -0700

I've been vagabonding through Europe, Ya'll. What a fun trip! It all started out as a trip to just Monte Carlo for the EPT Championship, but it got extended, obv.

Poker wise the trip was pretty uneventful. It seems like I don't play my best against the Europeans, or just in Europe, so far. Still haven't cashed in that fucking continent. Maybe my style clashes a specific way with a lot of foreign players all at one table and I probably need to slow down a bit. Im probably used to a different type of play to mold my game around.

A measly 18 hours of flights and I was there... I was in Cannes in September and Monte Carlo is similar but I think a bit prettier. Also, the people are even more stuck up! Why does everyone hate Americans... so many ppl were rude to us, even lying at times to us! I think it was Cantu's bad vibes... haha.

Monte Carlo was mainly about busting tournaments, doing a bunch of drinking in the downtime. Our crew formed from the getgo for the extent of the Europe trip: Me Jenn Cantu and Allie Prescott. Each of us played our own role in the group and it was honestly just one of the funniest fucking trips ever. Inside jokes galore. After the first couple nights, Monte Carlo was still amazing but the appeal started to wear off... the room service was great though.

One morning I had the most ridiculous breakfast, ate about 12 different things and drank espresso then tried to play a tournament after. My brain hurt so bad it was way worse than being hungover. I promptly busted.

My mom had told me about a nearby little village area in the mountains called EZE. Our group made the day trip there and got hammered off mojitos etc... we stopped in at supposedly one of the best restaurants in the world, "The Golden Goat", and were promptly turned down for full service but were able to have drinks and snacks over an amazing balcony view. I drunkenly bought souvenirs and we headed back to the Monte Carlo casino completely wasted.

We hit up any local bar or casino club we could find, running into some familiar faces, but mainly staying as our group. The 4 or 5 days went quick, and my flight was already booked to head home.

Brandon and Allie were going to road trip to Venice for WPT Venice, and at the last minute I realized I was crazy to not extend my trip. It was done. Somehow along the first few days we connected with the Binger Brothers and Liv Boeree, and the rest of the trip they would be honorary members of the group. Poker Radio

They told us about a beautiful city by the ocean called cinque terre, and our foursome decided to go along with them and stay the night there.

First, we had to rent a car. One of the most frustrating experiences ever! Monte Carlo is so winding and impossible.. we find the Rental Car place in the morning at 11, Europcar. the lady at the desk seems to be pretty helpful and they say they will deliver our car to our hotel in an hour. An hour later, we get a different car, and we dont have built in navigation as the woman claimed! We have a seperate device, that isnt even working! We are so lost, the roads are so winding that even my iphone navigation cannot save us. WE all drive 3 hours through the tiny 2 square mile radius of the town just looking for the rental car place again! Augh!

Finally, we find it. She doesnt help us too much except tell us that the navigation works eventually once u leave the general area, and she points us towards Italy where we will start heading towards the Italian town Cinque Terre. Finally we were on our way. Drinking has not stopped, we chug anything we can on the road, Me Brandon and Allie prop betting on literally everything for the last 5 days. We had started with the number game.. Jenn picks a number we go around guessing it she says higher or lower and whoever guesses it first loses the bet... whether it be to pay for the alcohol, cab, put a credit card down, etc etc!

The first time we did the bet, Jenn thought of a number from 1 to a hundred, Allie guessed first, and got it! 26! Pay lol! After the number game the first couple days we realized a way better gambling game: Lodden Thinks. The object is for once person to be "Lodden" {Johnny Lodden} and he or she must think what the answer is to a specfic question. EXample, how many people live in Monte Carlo? If Brandon was Lodden, he would lock in his answer to what he thought it was. Then me and Allie would start guessing what we believed Brandon THOUGHT the answer is, not what we actually think it is. We keep saying higher numbers until someone calls and thinks that the other guesser has gone over. If he's over, the challenger wins, if he's still under, then that person wins. Simple right?

Non stop gambling and ridiculousness.

Cinque Terre was a beautiful area with 4 small villages about a mile from eachother along the ocean in a mountain like area. We got a hotel, and went out with the binger crew for an amazing seafood dinner later. In the morning, those fucking Bingers told us about a hike they were going to do, just from our town to the next town, and so on. We could take a train back after the first stop. Fine.

Well in the morning we started the hike, the Bingers going 45 mph through the terrain and our foursome left in the dust. With no water! Binger Brothers had it all. Those bastards. We sweated it out and trekked skinny cliffside walkways until we made it to the next town. Bingers.

That night we would head to Milan to kick it there, I was the only one who had been. Our road trip consisted of more ridiculous gambling, and slowly we shifted to funny talks about random things, such as, "who do u hate most in online poker?" etc... Just some classic material, why don't we have a reality show?

Also, we made sure to buy cheesy eighties and nineties hit cd's with glorious songs to sing along with. It seemed like Cher was a favorite... mostly among the driver and passenger side, {brandon and allie}

Milan was pretty fun but kind of dead. We rolled in and immediately knew where our hotel would be because across the street we saw a strip club. It turned out to be pretty nice joint... too expenseive. I just sat there.

3 hours of sleep later, like most of the nights, and we were off for the final pull to Venice. But not before stopping in the nearby town of Cantu. That's right, Cantu, Italy. We could not pass up this opportunity. We trekked over there with Bingers in tow and made it to what seemed like a pretty run down, unremarkable town. Cantu almost got into an accident... then we saw it... a Mcdonalds sign! 5km! WE followed these things until there it was, a huge pyramided building that had a giant CANTU lettering on the side and McDonalds reading along the other side.. it was also the town center. What an amazing sight. American food finally after 7 days.

More road tripping, although we had lost a fallen soldier, Allie, to the Binger car temporarily. We got kind of lost going to venice a la our terrible navigation, but it worked out, as we had some intellectual discussions from everything from relationships to foreign food. We made it finally and water taxied into Venice. One of the most beautiful sights possible is boating into the grand canal of venice at night... realy amazing! Our hotel was nice, the next few days were pretty laid back and a bit touristy.. eventually we learned many of the streets and how to get to the casino and back.

In the tournament I laid down KK on a T73 flop against a complete beginner, a french girl. It really seemed unlikely she had anything but a set, and it was for all my chips. She limp called pre and then confidently and instantly shipped all in when i bet the flop. It had to be a set. I tanked for 5 minutes and folded, sigh... She showed QQ! That disheartened me for the tournament. Especially when they show the hand on their big screens around the tournament floor. What a nice casino though! Like a museum.

I'm rambling. Europe brings people together.. good or bad. Was a great trip, i wouldn't take anything back.

In L.a now. Lakers tonight I'm going to staples to watch them win. Tomorrow, Calgary. I gotta enjoy the moment

Blogbviously

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:31:40 -0700

Obviously I've been bad about blogging and there's been a decent amount of stuff going on! Most notably, I went deep in the WPT Championship last week, but wasn't able to final table, finishing in 18th.

We started day 1B with 100k in chips, which gives an extreeemely good strucutre but perhaps a bit slow. My starting table was pretty tough with the likes of Phil Ivey, Blair Hinkle, Scott Seiver etc but I had position on the toughest players so my day went by ok. I finished day 1 with 200k and I was off to a running start.

I will tell you, I played some of the toughest tables of my life in this tournament! Just ridiculous stuff. It was like a Full Tilt commercial everywhere I looked. On day 2 my main table consisted of Mike Matusow Howard Lederer Barry Greenstein Nick Binger Peter Feldman among others, and it was definitely tough, but I was getting absolutely smacked in the head by the deck! Matusow made sure I knew how good I was running, but it was also good to hear him compliment me continuously on my play. It's nice to hear that from Matusow who is usually calling everyone a donkey!

Things continued smoothly through day 3 although I certainly tried to give it away when I blew up with AJ preflop and pushed all in vs. KK and lost. Made a recovery and picked up KK vs. QQ near the end of the day and ended with about 800k, plus I won a year of free almonds... ha I didn't realize Blue Diamond Almond player of the day actually won that, yum.

As we played down to two tables I was confident but was up against some very tough young players, and I wasn't able to make the final surge, busting in 18th. I obviously needed to take some notes from Bertrand Grospellier, who of course ended up getting 3rd, and Yevgeny Tomishenko, who i had seen before but really saw this tournament how good he could play. Well deserved.

Besides this tourney I've had some fun nights, (420obv}, got to party with some NFL players for a bachelor party one night, and headed to Los Angeles briefly before hitting the road again to Monte Carlo, where I am now. Oh yea, also drunkenly final tabled Jen Harman's yearly charity tourney for the SPCA that sees help for abandoned animals, it's a great cause.

Also, I am so saddened by the lost of our friend Shronk from online Poker Road. He was such a decent and nice human being and the thought of him suddenly not being here has led me to tears at times I didn't expect. I'll really miss you man ;(

I'll blog pretty soon about my time in Monte Carlo for the EPT championship. Late

Blog In Title = Motif

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:26:28 -0700

Hmmmm seems as though I have not blogged in a minute. I must be a lazy sumbitch. It's true.

What's been going on lately? Last I left off I think I was just coming off a couple final tables at the Wynn and Reno. Things have been goin pretty well since...

I went to San Jose for the Shooting Star tournament and had a great time there although not making any money. Had a good time going around downtown and experiencing some of the local social vibe... Northern California is just beautiful and i definitely like the atmosphere up there.

Hellmuth showed us around a little bit and got to meet his wife and kids and check out his pad. Despite what anyone might say, I just love the guy! Just fun to be around... I like to keep his ego in check. One of the days he took us to a "Calcutta" he goes to every year, which is essentially a bidding war among friends for different college teams in the NCAA tournament. Me Cantu Layne and Hellmuth decided to bid together on a bout 12 teams, and in the end it looks like we made a good amount of money! We had 3 out of 4 of the final four teams, and of course this means we got a fairly large portion of the total money pool.

Hmm after that it was back to Vegas to kick it. There was the Dream Team Poker tournament at Caesers which was a fun event. Sebok, me, and Court were on the Pokerroad Radio team... despite me not being on the radio... and we did ok but werent able to break through and cash in that one. Still, there should be more team tournaments in poker! fo sho.

A bunch of my L.a. friends came into town which was good to see as we hadn't all done the vegas thing in a while. We rocked out to say the least at XS, certainly the best club in Vegas as of late. It's like Tryst on steroids.

April 1st I played another charity tournament hosted by Howard Lederer at the Hard Rock. Seems like I've been playing a lot of those lately. It's good to give to charity but... cmon it seems like there are 8 per month now a days! I'm just one man I can only give so many rebuys lol! Nah hehe

Since that I've played in a couple Bellagio events and some of the Pokerstars "SCOOP" series. The first Bellagio tournament I played, I got 2nd! I was so close to the win too... I'm really happy tho that I'm playing strong and consistently. I want to be in contention for POY the entire year so itd be nice to get a really big score soon, but I'm glad I'm knocking out all of these smaller final tables. The other two Bellagio's I've played I've gotten really unlucky. I've realized though that I really don't care very much about luck, I'm usually only pissed about a tournament when I don't play my best.

I was gonna go to San Diego and Foxwoods, but yea I got lazy and skipped those... or at least realized they were going to be too small to be worth the travel..

Soo I'll just be playing all this month at Bellagio, hopefully win the WPT championship, then i'm going to head to Monte Carlo for the EPT championship. It's a very big month for online poker!

Side notes: Congrats Congrats to Huck Seed for winning that Heads Up Championship. Really happy always to see him succeeding.

Finally broke in my golf clubs. I shoot 125 all day yeeeeeuh

Got a big wall bookshelf so I've spent two days sorting aaaaalll of my DVDs. Ive collected movies for a long time and it kind of looks like a video store in that room now haha.

Layne Flack is inspirationally crazy.

I'm kind of homesick

Girls. Girls. Girls.

Ok that's a sum up for my recent haps. See you sooner then later. I will rap I promise. This blog has been rambling and incoherent. I apologize. what the fuck did I even say.

Someone cure my laziness

Wynn/Reno Blogcetera

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:03:04 -0700

My year continues. Things are falling into place and my game is evolving in front of my eyes! Thank da poker gods!

After my successful stint in L.A. it was definitely time to get back to my house in Vegas and have some fun, play some tournaments at the Wynn Classic. I ended up only playing two tournaments there, but the second one turned out to be pretty sick.

This $1500 buy in at Wynn I had probably the sickest run I've ever had in any tournament! The beginning of the tournament started pretty standard for me... bluffing off some chips and making a few unfocused mistakes. I was doing ok but still found myself going into the dinner break with about 7500 in chips with the blinds at 600-1200. Poker Radio

At dinner I had to give myself one of those little pep talks that although it wasnt a huge tournament and I didn't have a lot of chips... anything could happen.

The next two hours of the tournament were ridcilous! Everything fell into place... I doubled when I pushed with 97 vs. 88 and flopped a straight. I doubled again AT vs. KT. I flopped a couple set, made some good plays to force folds. Then I shipped it with 88 vs. JJ and flopped an 8. I got payed off in a few more hands. Slow played QQ vs. JJ Liu and made a full house and got paid off. All of a sudden, after 90 minutes, I ran 7k up to 90k!!!

But it wasn't over. My table broke, which I was partly sad about seeing my ridiculous run... and I sat down at a new table. There was one other player at the table who had slightly more then me, we were probably 1st and 2nd chip position in the tournament.

First hand I sit down, I pick up 78 of spades and make a standard raise. Two callers. Flop comes down 456 two hearts!!! WOW sometimes things are so streaky in poker. I lead out, the chip leader thinks for a bit and raises. I tank and raise to about 23k. He looks resigned but forced and he pushes all in for 100k!!! Of course, I call expecting to see a set and begging for the board to not pair, but he actually turns over a worse hand for me to see.. the 79 of hearts.. higher straight draw and flush draw. Somehow I dodge the bullets and in 2 hours I have run up 7k in chips to 195k!!! By far my craziest run in tournament poker history.

The rest of the tourney was uneventful for the most part and I ended up finishing in 7th... no worries... stack up those POY points!!

After Wynn I decided to fly to Reno to meet up with a few friends and to support Jennifer Harmans charity tournament, for the National Kidney Foundation. It was a fun tournament as always and we were able to raise over 110k for charity. I do like to help out when I can.

The next day was the 3k World Poker Challenge tournament, and the casino added 50k to the prize pool so it was fairly lucrative. Again, I started off the tournament going bananas and playing every hand, bluffing, and successfully running my 10k stack to about 1800 in a couple hours. Great. Of course, I've noticed that being low early has often got me motivated and got me to respect my chips more in the event that I built back a stack, which I did.

Another great day of cards and well timed plays, and I saw myself as the chip leader about 6 hours in! Online Poker is fun.

Only 9 players would be payed so the entire 14 hour day of poker led us to 16 left and still no money. The next day i tightened up a bit and tried not to make many mistakes... and there I was at the final table again! The final table didn't go swimmingly for me, as I should have maybe amped up my pre-flop aggression a bit, but I was able to finish 6th.

Finally Finally I am playing poker who I know I can. Already this year I believe I've had as good or close to the stats of 2007 and 2008 combined! I'm not taking my foot off the gas pedal, either... I am truly trying to take down POY this year.

Now I'll be heading out of Reno and flyin to the bay to play the Shooting Start tournament. I have some history, there, as it is really the only WPT tourney I've finished deep in. Again, I need to start really performing in these WPT events... they've been my one weak spot so far in my career.

one love

Blogmerce Part 2

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:27:17 -0800

yesssssssssss. after finally winning, my game was very strong for the lapc horse championship. I've realized that I'm obviously a bit of a streaky player, and what I have to work on is not just playing my best amidst success but playing my best even during tougher times and emotionally more challenging streaks. Right now though, I think I'm doing pretty well with all that.

The HORSE tourney went really well from the beginning. Hitting cards and frustrating opponents was the general gist of things. Occasionally or often I will play some hands a little unusually or play kind of loose, this benefits me on other hands that I play very well and I think my image as a young inexperienced HORSE player serves me well in that I get paid off a bit more often and others can be more aggressive against me to try and counter-act my aggressiveness. I played pretty aggressively early but had to tighten up and play more solid as we approached the final table. Poker Videos

These big horse tournies are by far the toughest fields in the game, and the final table was no exception! Chino Reem, Scotty Nguyen, Amnon Fillipi, etc. I had the chip lead but it wouldn't be smooth sailing. Not picking up that many hands late, I hovered around the 400k mark and eventually was fortunate to get down to 3 handed with Chino and Scotty.

Scotty had been pretty much silent up until this point, but finally about four handed he was having beers and started becoming the huge DICK that we all saw on the WSOP horse broadcast. It's incredible how Scotty acted how he did at the wsop, apologized for it, and then comes out here in the exact same situation and completely confirms the fact that he has no respect for others at the table and he really doesn't understand the minimum required etiquette at the table. Laughing at players when he busts them, getting angry inappropriately when he loses hands then hypocritically calling out others when he beats them in a hand. It's just ridiculous. Least favorite online poker player of mine. Sorry Scotty... you're funny off the table I guess. Baby.

I ended up busting 3rd in the omaha round when my straight flush draw low draw missed vs. chino's two pair. Oh well. Top 3 is really where all the money is, so I'm pretty happy with the week! Of course, Scotty ended up winning... standard. The trophy was so big and beautiful. Damn it.

Annnyyway I played a 5k the next day and didn't play my best because I was too content with my week and didn't wholly focus. I've got to work on this shit but at least I know I can control my play more then after my first wins in 06'.

I came into the main event very ready and my day 1 was pretty much a ridiculous run of cards and great plays. I can't recall feeling better about a day 1 before... however, the last hand of the night was the only one that bugged me and maybe screwed up mindset a bit: I have about 105k to start the hand. I was at a pretty new table and had straddled a couple times, this last hand I announce I'm going to raise dark to something like 800. I don't look at my cards it folds to me and I raise, everyone knows I haven't looked. Folds to the big blind who thinks and reraises to 3k. Now I look down, at ... two jacks!!! Of course I pick up a big hand after complaining for an hour about how small the pots were at the table, and that we needed a 50k pot.

I of course tank for a second and re-raise to about 9k. The big blind ships it for 25, Obv I call. He has KJ, flop King, and my ego takes a slight hit, lol. Still, I had 85k to end the day, and I really shouldn't let hands like that get to me, but they do! I'm still young and workin on it.

Day two didn't go amazing but I was able to end with 115k after coming back from a set over set situation and a long day of not many cards.

Day three was when I just blew it, aaas usual. I don't value my chips enough in tournaments sometimes, or I worry about not cashing when i get close and it ends up affecting my play! 115k was plenty of chips and I was in the middle of the pack, but for some reason I don't respect my chips enough when I think I should have a bigger stack. I probably play the poorest with a mid-stack sometimes because I have some room to be undisciplined and I tend to want to push things and try to build chips. This day it was counterintuitive and I lost just about every hand I played, busting short of the money.

Oh well, I think this is the year I finally start pushing through to the money in more WPT events, the Lapc was just a reminder of how I can't win the tournament on the first few days! I need to stay disciplined. I'm not worried though, I am in top shape.

Tonight is the WPT celebrity invitational and even though it's not a completely legit tournament I will be actually trying to win. PeAcE

Blogmerce Part 1

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:24:04 -0800

OK yall it's been a while so we have a little catching up to do. Ummm... I won!

Finally, I have gotten that proverbial monkey off my back, and I am playing pretty much my best game. It feels great when things are falling into place!

My win came a week ago at commerce in the $1.5k buy in, which got about 245 players. Early in the tourney I was pretty low and chatting with friends about never giving up and respecting all the chips you have, as anything can happen and in poker a big chip stack is only a few double ups a way. Poker TV

Later in the day I was able to build a big stack and got up to about 85k when I flopped a set on a J82 board with 22, turn was an 8 and fortunately I had a big double up through A8. From there I started amping up my aggression and things were just falling into place.

Things actually got pretty sick. At one point in the tournament, I actually 4-bet pre-flop 4 hands in a row! The first time there was a raise and re-raise before me, I pick up AK and push, no callers. The next hand, another raise and re-raise by the same player before me, and I 4-bet cold AGAIN, this time I had the QQ. Jacks really couldn't make the laydown and I eliminated a player. The very next hand, I raise with TT, Ted Lawson 3-bets, and I go all-in. He calls with AQ and I flop a set. The fourth hand it's 3-bet to me and I have so many chips I just ship it again, this time with AQ! AA calls me, however, and I finally lose one.

Clearly now I have a massive chip lead.. a bit later there is a raise and a flat call, I decide to ship it with TT and the flat-caller instantly calls all-in with slow played KK. No problem BAM Ten on river. Sometimes poker is just easy.

I entered the final table with a good chip lead, and the only other name at the table was John Phan really. Being my toughest opponent I was happy to see him blow off some chips and bust in 9th place. Also we had a last longer bet interestingly enough, and I scooped that up. We grinded down to 3 handed and I was lucky to pick up KK vs. AQ against my tougher opponent to get me heads up. The heads up was a breeze and didn't last too long when I picked up TT again and got my opponent to call off all his chips with A2.

I'm so happy! I knew this was gonna be a good year. I always wanted one of these Commerce bronze horse trophies too... they are definitely the best online poker trophy in my opinion.

This win has given me full confidence in my ability to be player of the year this year... I'll be writing another blog soon about my other big finish which came just a few days after my win! Also, the LAPC main event is on right now and I've made day 3 with above average chips. I'll discuss these things soon, until then, good night happy flops holleraturboy

Film Theory Blog

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 07:48:52 -0800

Recently my buddy Matt inspired me to talk a little about film and film theory. He linked me a very good analysis of the Stanley Kubrick film "Eyes Wide Shut", starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

Before I get into that, lemme quickly talk about film. I was a film major in college, and this fact has not biased my opinion and theory about film but instead helped me understand what it all means.

Many people think about film, visual media, as just entertainment. I've come to realize that this is the farthest thing from the truth, and in fact, I now know that film is actually one of the most important things in the universe. In the universe! And I don't really mean this jokingly, I am quite serious. Why do I believe this to be a fact?

Well, Film is the highest form of art... in that, while art can be defined as representations of life in different mediums... written, painted, performed musically, etc... film is Literally a representation of life by capturing life how it actually happens. The camera captures exactly what the eye would see, the screen shows snippets of actual life. Of course, these snippets of life are arranged and altered in certain ways to create pieces of work, but they are all just arrangements of actual life.

Entertainment is only the surface of what film is intended for. Entertainment is mainly the business aspect of film... really, film more importantly exists to portray ideas to the viewer; it molds minds and either teaches, or deceives. The problem is that most people watch something and don't realize how it affects their ideas, mindset, thoughts and beliefs... it simply becomes a part of who they are. With so many people glued to the television or movie screen on a daily basis, I personally feel a great deal of importance in trying to open people's eyes to what is going on.

The main point is, there are people who create these films, who aim to study an idea, explain something to the audience either obviously or with hidden elements.

Looking at Eyes Wide Shut and the analysis of it, we see one of the greatest examples of an attempt by a filmmaker to wake a viewer up to the true reality of the world.

part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj7Hw6OnbH8

part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUZU0w4A5i4

part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCn1rfmM0vA

In the movie, we see the constant themes of the great deceptions of our world: Our leaders and people in power, the wealthy, those who are often represented as moral in film and television... these people are represented in a certain way through media that we are expected to believe and take as a true depiction. Behind the scenes, these people have actual lives... they are flawed, often immoral, often quite evil as they decieve the world and smile for the camera as they fatally sin and plot behind the scenes..

At the very least, many of these people live extravagant, indulgent lives that they would never allow to be fully understood by the public. Just like the rest of us who often are very different in the private and public aspects of our lives, people in greater power have an even greater dichotomy of public and private selves... they must put on a polished, moral self in front of the camera... and yet, in their private lives, the magnitude of their power can make them far more flawed, immoral, then many of us "regular" human beings. The problem is that we come to look up to and idolize some of these people who we think are who we should respect, when really we are putting our minds into the hands of deeply evil individuals.

The people in power could probably be summarized into categories: Entertainment, Business, Politics. Obviously these three overlap, and this is the problem. Someone in entertainment could arguably be considered the least immoral overall... a true actor, musician, etc who wishes to entertain or create artistically may not be so absorbed in money or power that they are not morally affected too much. We could say that the true lives of these people would include indulgence in sex and drugs more then other things... mainly along the lines of many regular people.

Include business into things and we see people who can become immoral because of a greedy quest for money and things. It skews the situation to dehumanize the world and turn things into a unit to be sold or turn actions into means for personal gain, and not actions with respect to humanity.

Politics is certainly by far the worst of these three categories. Politics is the human quest for power and control over the world and the people in the world. Citizens literally become the means for our leaders to use for personal gain and global standing. How do politicians, businessmen, entertainment heads come to control the people in the modern day? By swaying their minds with visual media.. film and television. Just like in Eyes Wide Shut, we are all seeing a lie being sold to us on the screen, a digital mask for the wicked, and it is creating a false world in our minds that we start to believe in. TIME TO OPEN OUR EYES and start looking deeper into the world, life, everything, and realize that there are things that billions of people don't know or want to understand about life that can be figured out by taking a closer look.

Our visual media is not all about creating a lie, it is also about the artist sending us an idea or a message about our world that cannot be explicitly stated. Some films and shows are straightforward about their themes and meanings, others put us in alternate worlds or settings but contain ideas about our actual world. Every filmmaker has a purpose and an underlying point, hidden aspects of all of our visual media exist at all times, and a lot of these hidden things are put there to warn us, tell us about what is happening in the real world.

What people don't often understand is that our media is viewed in a very backwards manner in the minds of the citizens. Meaning? The stuff depicted as the truth, fact, such as The News, can be far more skewed and altered from reality then a fictional movie. In the news, we hear about events that happened, but what we watch is only a summary by a journalist of what happened and opinions and shots of what happened after the fact. The news is not a capture of what has actually happened, but a planned representation. Politics can get in the way and News entities can spin news stories to promote their own ideals and to mold minds in a certain way. It is constant deception. Poker Radio

On the other hand, many films are amazing pieces of art that represent the realities of life.. behind the scenes, truthful ideas about human behavior and the way our world works. We as viewers look at a lot of these films as a sort of fantasy, but deep down we know that we are watching the truth of the human condition. A movie set in the future with robots and aliens can and often is far more "true" than what we are expected to believe as truth from biased media entities. This is the world we live in.

So, watch the Eyes Wide Shut analysis if you haven't watched it, and realize it's reality. Stanley Kubrick was not just a filmmaker, but a powerful man who has not just created a fantasy but created a representation of what he knows and has experienced in his world interacting with other people in great power.

Next, take a look at the analysis of "The Matrix". The themes of this film should be quite clear and coincide with what i've been saying... We are all fed a giant lie, a huge matrix that we are comfortable in believing... but it is not reality. If we seek the truth we can unplug ourself from this oppressive and skewed world and see the harsh reality. There are pros and cons to searching for reality but in the end it will free the soul.

part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEisRob4xKw

part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKBaCbAdQTI

Things that happen in our world don't just happen... there is a backstory. People plot and make changes in the world and when these changes happen the public sees it on the surface, but not for the steps or reasons leading up to this change. What I'm getting at is our visual media always has and will tell us what will be happening in our future. The intertwined people in entertainment, business, and politics send us messages that show us that before something happens, there is a general knowledge about it. I don't mean legitimate chance occurences.. but global changes... wars, treaties, economic turns, patterns... 911, etc.

If we watch another film analysis on A Time To Kill.. we see an example of ideas being spread to the public far in advance of an actual occurence... and if you were to say that this analysis is a stretch or that the date of September 11th stated by Kevin Spacey as an important part of the film is just a coincidence, I would answer that this is just one film. (I couldn't find the analysis I had previously seen, but until I do I recommend watching the film, and relate a lot of the court scenes and ending scenes to modern circumstances. Spacey citing the date 9/11 is key.)

The most obvious and blatant example of how we can see obvious foresight in our media, particularly 911... let's look at the pilot episode for "The Lone Gunmen" which was a short-lived spin-off of the The X Files that aired on Fox. online poker

The Lone Gunmen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUKQz-xm0is

The Simpsons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caCX4dEqD9E

Ummm, did you see that? This episode is a direct representation of what happened on 911, MONTHS before it happened. A lot of things you can write off as coincidences, but this is blatant and we'd be naive to think this was a coincidence. This blog is not supposed to alone prove something like there was certainly American foreknowledge of 911 and that it was an inside job... I've posted enough in previous blogs for one to logically see this. However, I feel that this kind of stuff just strengthens the growingly obvious point that there WAS PRE-KNOWLEDGE that 911 was going to happen. Many people knew. The world does not work on coincidences.

For a FOX show to predict exactly what was going to happen on 911, and for our president to state " I don't think anyone could envision someone flying planes into buildings".... It proves the point exactly... our media skews reality in an almost reverse fashion. Who's lying, our president, or a fictional show? Wake up, get unplugged from the matrix, and start seeing that the fictional show/movie/whatever... is MORE IMPORTANT for us to understand life and how the world works. You can laugh off the Simpsons prediction as well... but this is the same thing. Another FOX show reaching out to an unknowing viewer.

Some people might say, "why is Jeff talking about something besides poker. He's crazy, what is he talking about?" People who want to suppress the great truths of the world will one day be ready to learn, but I will not censor these important ideas to make some who are not ready more comfortable. Conspiracy theorist! You might say. Well yea... conspiracies are everywhere. People conspire for greed and power. People who question like I do tend to be mocked by others because these others have not yet attempted to seek the truth.

We think our eyes are open but they aren't. Looooooook.

Oh yea p.s.. forgot to mention this. Neo's passport in the matrix expires on 9/11/01. This is only one of the many links for this. Or just find it in the film yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCIXwNNv1Ww

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Blog Oi

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:30:55 -0800

Holla at me holla at me whatttup pokerroadddd. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeuh. Ok that was lame. Let's move on.

After a while in the Bahamas and a decent run in the main event, I ended up taking about a day or two at home and then shipped right back off to Melbourne Australia. I've gone the past two years and it's always been a fun trip. The Crown is a great casino, the people are nice, and the tournaments themselves are well structured and fun to play. The online poker room there is warm and inviting.

Even when I go to foreign countries I tend to kind of be a hermit, but I still manage to get some stuff accomplished. The second day in Melbourne I made sure to get a severe sunburn that would last the duration of my trip. Obviously I should've wore sunscreen but that fucking sun is decieving.

Why can I at times be such a hermit? I think I've always been somewhat of a lonewolf, and I feel like my view of the world can differ from a lot of people and it can isolate me at times. I at times struggle with not worrying or thinking about the little things in life and just letting go. At the same time I occasionally think and worry about the world as a whole, and a lot of the trouble that we are collectively facing in the future. Of course, when I'm around the right people I am strengthened and benefited. Once I am on the go, I can gain momentum, but sometimes when I'm in one place for too long I become too content and get lazy. This year I'm going to be working on letting go and simply put all my positive thoughts into action, and turn my negative thoughts simply into a canvas for me to paint over and rethink. Truthfully, I am a very happy person and I'm endlessly motivated, yet lazy at the same time. Because I feel like I understand a lot of things in life I think it keeps me well balanced, but perhaps not as blissful as someone who didn't care to think about the deep questions in life.

Aaaanyway thats my quick philosophy rant for now, I think I'll tackle some other big ideas in the next blog.

Soooo my aussie main event went ok but I ended up busting midway through day two. The second tournament I played was a 2k and I ended up bubbling after playing 13 hours, which wasn't very fun. It was ok, because I was playing well and have been so far this year,, I am suuuuupppper confident for this year.

My last tournament was the ten k horse tournament (my zero key is broken on my computer, making things very difficult. the zero key is also the close parantheses key. brutal. This tournament got a massive 25 players... pretty much a collection of some of the toughest players in the world. Obviously not a tournament where you can expect a lot of value with only 5 places paid, but I consider myself one of the top HORSE players in the world, at least one of the top young HORSE players in the world. Poker Videos

The tournament went pretty smooth and I found myself at the final 8 staring down Chris Ferguson, Joe Hachem, Alex Kostristyn (sp? , Michael Binger, Lee Nelson... what a tough lineup!

In the end, I tried to play pretty aggressively and clashed a bunch of times with Alex, eventually him and Chris got the better of me and I finished in 3rd place. This should give me even more confidence going into LA poker classic and am happy they added a ten k horse event. Even Even Even. Fucking zero key

The Bloghamas

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 03:24:59 -0800

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY. Yea, its a new year, and I've already prepared to come in fresh and start off my poker year well. So far, things are looking good. My new year consisted of unspeakable debauchery, of course.

The first tournament stop of the year... the Carribean of course, ya mon, ya mon. I've never been to the Bahamas, and well it's pretty much what I expected it would be here, sunny, sandy beaches and friendly people. The Atlantis resort here in Nassau is really a beautiful thing to look at. On the inside it's pretty standard but the outside and in general the oceanic theme comes across pretty well.

It was wierd that in the week before I flew out for the tourney here, I heard a couple of things in the news about bahamas.. one thing was that a shark jumped out of a tank and went down one of the slides on the resort, landing in the pool, lol. The second thing, of course, was the sad news of hearing about John Travolta's son passing away in the Bahamas.

Sometimes in life it seems that the things on ur mind or on ur agenda tend to appear around u and come up in random instances. Things seem like coincidences but I don't think anything is ever fully a coincidence.. I could go on on and on about all my beliefs about attraction and connectivity in the world etc but I won't. Poker Videos

I got into town a day early so obviously me and Cantu and Devo and some other peeps had to hit the town for at least one of the nights we were here. After getting sufficiently wasted at the Atlantis we caught a cab and tried to figure out where to go. A club called liquid lounge was recommended so we went there. Really there isn't much of a nightlife in Bahamas, and this place was fairly slow. The ratio was pretty bad for a straight guy like myself, lol, so we didn't stay there very long.

Obviously the next question was "can u take us to a strip club", and the cabbie obliged. We ended up at some hole in the wall joint, forgot the name, but it was actually so ghetto that it was a fun environment haha. I'm used to all the giant fancy strip clubs in vegas that this was a good change of pace.

Then, as I sat there, lap being tended too, all of a sudden Devo tells me to come in the back room.. there was an online poker game going! Seemed extremely random for a game to just pop up in this joint, but I was happy to hear it.

I went back there and it would be me, Cantu, Devo, Matt Woodward {Dreamclown} sitting with 4 random Bahamians. Bahamans? Bahamites? I don't know. We would be played 3/4, where we started with 3 cards down, a round of betting, 2 community cards turned face up, betting, and the final 2 community cards face up. Was a fun drunk game, and I think after a while we were pretty confident we werent getting cheated, so it was all good. We all ended up losing some money but it was a fun random experience, which I think is necessary to have in any foreign place you go.

AAAaaannnyways, to the important subject at hand, my first tournament of the new year. This was my first EPT event and first time in a field with this many young internet guys saturating the field. My starting table was extremely young and unrecognizable, except for Bonomo to my left and everyone else I may have seen before but they were mainly online players.

I started playing really well from the getgo, and this combined with fortunate situations saw my stack increase pretty easily. The entire day was pretty much a smooth ride up, 20k pot here 20k pot there. Im excited for this year because with this fresh start I can simply focus on playing full potential without thinking about results of the past year... its just easier to do that when the calender year restarts.

Soo I ended the day with 160k and was looking very good for day two with 380 players left and 200 cashing. This tournament was so big with nearly 1400 players starting and 3 million for first! I wanted to win it so bad.

Day two started off well and i was up to over 200k right away. I was playing really well, but it's tough to write about hands I played well because none of them were so big and I've also noticed that its easier to remember hands you lose, or at least hands that stand out in some way more then others do. Really I was picking off bluffs and using well timed aggression. About half way into the day however, I lost a few pots and was down to below 120k... and the rest of the day I played solid but hovered around that number for the entire day and ended with 106k. It sucks to end the day with much less than i started the day with, but its nice to cash in the tourney and have a chance at big money with 100 ppl left going into day 3. It's wierd but it seemd that when Kevin Saul was moved to my table was when I stopped chipping up and started chipping down.. and now he's killing the tournament. Oh well.

Day 3 I came back confident but short stacked, and it didn't last long. With about 90k i moved in from late position with KJ and was called by AK, GG ME.

Dissapointing, but still hopeful for my year to cash in my first tourney.

I'm leaving here soon, and am alone in the room currently. Why? Well, Yesterday Cantu said he was invited to go to Cuba for a couple days with John Robert Bellande, and that me and Layne who I'm rooming with should go. I considered it, but for some reason wasn't feeling it and decided to stay behind, despite Bellande's stories of the women and the opportunities... lol.

Of course, Layne; who recently was in a pretty bad ATV accident in Mexico and has in turn been medded up the whole trip, lol; tried his best to talk me into goin to Cuba, giving me the whole guilt trip. Really I appreciate that I have so many opportunities in front of me and that I have the ability to travel the world, but I also know that I don't always have to take every single one of them if i'm not in the mood. Besides, I'm in the Bahamas! I need to hit the beach.

Next is Australia.

FaLaLaLaLaLaLaLaBlog

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 05:25:39 -0800

Season's greetings from my family to yours. Merry happy good ol' times there buddy, hope your home is warm and your family is OH bla bla bla ya ya ya it gets fucking cheesy this time of year. Joking aside, the end of the year is a great time of reflection and togetherness. Seeing that I don't believe in religion any more, I've come to just appreciate this time of year for what it is and for how it brings people together. Its good to spend some time in l.a. with the family and just relax.

Instead of Christmas I think I'll be referring to the holidays as "Festivus". I think it's from seinfeld.

My festivus shopping went well and in a couple days I managed to get some things of use for a bunch of people. I've noticed that when your younger you take all the joy in recieving gifts, and as you get older you start to appreciate the feeling of being generous and giving to others. I definitely get that sense in more recent years.

The big gift I got from my family was some golf clubs, which I'm pretty excited about because I love golf and now will be motivated to start playing more. That's another thing that has changed as I've aged: When your young, golf = boring. When you get older, golf = fun challenging exciting relaxing etc.

I was happy to be in vegas when it snowed recently, breaking an all-time record i believe. Was pretty insane to see such a thick coat of snow over vegas, it looked like a different city. I can't really imagine how the town reacts to snow, I would think that people wouldnt know how to driver correctly and get in accidents and other madness would occur. Was pretty peaceful looking out into a backyard of white. Poker TV

In other news, the LAKERS BEAT THE CELTICS to break their 19 game win streak. That one felt really good... although the celtics played kinda bad i'm still looking hopeful for l.a.'s chance to win the whole thing this year. Four show.

Finally, now that Pictures are easy to upload into the blog, I'll start posting up random ones I take now and then. I really like taking candid shots of things around me so I'll always have something to post.

peace, JMAD

Phil Blogmuth

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:03:24 -0800

Hola bitches. Looks like sadly I'll be heading back to l.a. in a few days for the holidays empty handed... no 1st wpt title for me. I want to do well on the WPT SOOOO bad but I do know that I am continually tweaking my game so that it will fit the structure of these tournaments a bit better and I can have overall deeper runs.

My problems with these big deep stack tournies is certainly that I will get restless at times and sway off my game plan. Generally I always have very good starts in the 10k main events, but somewhere about 8 hours in to the middle of the tourney I will occasionally have the need to play some hands more tricky or different then what had previously been working for me.

I think many ppl have difficulty actually appreciating the chips they have in front of them, and I think even when I'm doing well there are times when I crave more chips and attempt to pick up pots simply to build my stack when it is counteractive to my approach in that tournament. I am getting better at this but at least I know the points in my game that I must focus on.

The Five Diamond main event is a great tournament as we started with 45k in chips and long levels. I sat down to find Theo Tran on my right, next to him David Williams, and on my left Ryan Young. All three aggressive and sometimes nutty players, mostly David and Ryan, so I knew I would be playing a bit more passive and managing the pot size against these aggro players, mainly Ryan as he was on my left and would be playing the most crazy of the three... making large preflop raises with junk and really putting the pressure on people.

My game plan worked great and smoothly for the first few levels, I liked how I played most hands with a couple exceptions, and I was up to 75k fairly easily.

A player to my right busted, and a stack without a player was moved to my immediate right.... the seat card read.... Phil Hellmuth. I have been getting to know Phil better as a friend more recently and know he's a great, nice, guy... fun person... but in a online poker setting I knew what he would be bringing to the table. I also knew how his presence would change the dynamic of the aggressive table... it would probably get even more aggressive. It was funny because I had showed up 2 hours late to the tourney and texted someone that I was pulling a Hellmuth... little did I know Phil would be showing up 6 hours late to make my tournament take a sudden dive!

In the first level after he arrived, we played a sick pot!:

Theo Tran raised late position to about 1k, Hellmuth thought and called in the small blind, and I looked down at AQ diamonds. Based on how I had been playing, much of the time I would've just flat called here and played a pot, managing the pot size. This hand I decided to re-raise for whatever reason, and I made it 4500. I think I was trying to define Phil's hand as he was feigning some strength but wasnt really sure there... Theo folded and Phil called the bet. Poker Radio

The flop came T74 all clubs. Obviously not a good flop for me, and likely to have hit phil's hand in some way. When he checked, i really didn't sense much strength from Phil, and based on the way he was talking preflop, I felt he held something like a small pair like 33-66. I bet 7k into the pot, and he thought for a moment and called. I definitely didnt like the call, but I still didnt sense a whole lot of strenght... him flopping a set or top pair was completley out of the question for me, I simply did not feel like he hit the flop in this way. Again, I may continuation bet too much in some situations where I should shut down, but since I raised pre-flop I don't generally like to give up on hands until I sense great strength.

The turn came a 2 of clubs, and this card was marginal for me as I could now easily bluff Phil off this card or quite oppositely have no chance of bluffing the card. He checked again and I really felt like this was my pot to win, and I had enough chips that I really wasn't ready to give up on the pot here. I bet 12k, and Phil fairly quickly raised me almost all his chips leaving about 4k behind! There was no way I could play now of course, ace high no club, and I folded.

Phil hesitated a second, and showed 95 of spades, NO CLUB! He called my bet on the flop with nothing and got another bluff out of me on the turn. It was a great great bluff, and really the fact that I continuation bet so much, with monsters or nothing, are reasons why I get paid off a lot with big hands but also can get into some trouble when I pick the wrong spots. The truth was, this was the right spot, but Phil is just such a great reader of people that he was able to take down this big pot!

That hand left me in the 30k range and although I had plenty of chips I think my momentum felt poor and it affected me a little... still I ended up busting end of the day when I pushed with a flush draw only to be called by a higher flush draw. Ouch.

I will be playing more online and really trying to get my discipline up. 2009 is looking hopeful if I pull some things together. Clean Slate! See Ya'll Soon!

P.S> I despise all the censorship on the site, particularly my rap blogs... give ur feedback on the censorship issue!