Well, it’s been two weeks since I played a serious live session, and I finally made it back into a 30-60 game at the Wynn. I won $824 in a three hour session, and I was pretty stoked on that. It started out ugly, losing $800 in the first hour while making zero pairs, one straight, and bluffing my way out of two pots. One interesting hand came up that got me thinking a bit. We were six handed and a retarted player (raising goofy hands, calling in goofy spots, etc.) opened in the cutoff. I three bet 66, and we saw the flop heads up. It came AAT. I bet, and he raised. Now, he had a blatant tell that let me know that he had NOTHING. I knew that he literally had nothing. Nada. Zip. So, my plan was to check raise the turn just in case my read was off and he had some weak pair. The turn came the K, I checked, he bet, I raised, and he called. Kinda surprised with the call actually, but still felt that my read was strong enough to fire the river. He called and held his cards out ready to fold, and he showed me the K7o. It got me thinking that since I knew he had a weakish hand, I was still vulnerable to hands like, K7 say, and he was retarted enough to call down if he hit a pair. He would’ve folded if I three bet the flop. Should I have taken that line, or was my line just fine? Should I have bet the river? I dunno… was definately a weird spot. Anyways, stoked I had a winning session, but still ended up stuck around 25k this month.

As I have been reflecting on the past month during my vacation I have thought about many things, wondering where I went wrong to lose more money in a month than I have ever had before November. It truly has been a sick run, but when I think about it, I have only lost about 200 big bets, and about 9k of the losses have come during tournaments. I have been on runs much worse than this one bets wise, just never for this kind of money. Looking back I cannot complain too much. My roll is still 8k higher than it was two months ago and I bought a motorcycle, paid back a bunch of money on student loans, paid for Christmas and all my other expenses. I had almost forgotten how brutal this game can be and the skills necessary off the felt required to be successful in the long term.

It’s been a great year. January of 06 my roll dipped all the way down to $1500 while still owing $4500 to my backer. I avoid going bust, built it back up, lost, and had it somewhere around $5k heading into the 2006 WSOP. I arranged for a backing deal of $10k for the entire series, taking 20% of all tournaments and 50% of all cash games with no make-up. It was basically a 10k freeroll to be used however I wanted. I took second in the first event, the $500 NLHE Employees event for $66,500. 20% of that was pocketed, and the rest gave me an opportunity to play higher than I had before and more tournaments than I had planned on. It’s kinda ironic that the $500 event was the only one that I had planned on playing on my own dime and it’s the only one I cashed in, but I wanted to be fair to my backer and included it in the docket. Oh well…

I then moved to Vegas after the series with my brother and buddy Danny, which has turned out to be an incredible thing. When all was said and done after paying for expenses, backers, and moving across the country, I had my roll around 15k. My blog was picked up here which has been a ton of fun. I found myself on the cusp of breaking out in the poker world, and really wanted to push myself to success. I had a good August, losing September, very good October making two final tables, excellent November winning a tournament, crushing the 100-200 game, and crushing the 10-20NL game hammered, winning just over 47k in the month. Y’all have heard plenty about December.

So, I’ve gone from a net roll of 3k with a backer to over 25k on my own. I’ve put money in the market and started re-building my credit. I started getting paid to write strategy articles. I recently got picked up by a magazine and will have my writing in print for the first time ever. I’ve dealt with some life issues and moved on, and I’ve met an incredible girl in the past two months. I’m happy as ever and am excited to see where life takes me next.

Looking forward to 2007, here are some of my goals:

* Net over $200k.
* Make a WSOP final table
* Play in the main event (never done that) and cash
* Make a TV final table
* Become a respected poker author
* Begin a book
* Get back in shape, losing 25 pounds.
* Spend some time guiding on the river, and get back to the mountains in Colorado.

I believe that all these goals are attainable… I need to keep focused, play well, and catch a couple of good rushes in key times!

Thank you all for your support in this blog. It has been a blessing meeting many of you over the past few months and reading the e-mails that you have sent me. It has meant a lot to me and has kept me writing as much as I have been . Thanks.

Happy 2007! I hope you have an excellent New Years! God Bless.

Peace, good luck, and go Trojans!

Devo

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Y’all should get a kick out of this one.

——————————————————————————–

Game #1446220437: Table ATL (speed, 6 max) - $15/$30 - Limit Hold’em - 22:34:31 ET - 2006/12/20
Seat 1: badbeatninja ($864.50)
Seat 2: timon30 ($508.50)
Seat 3: silvermax89 ($972)
Seat 4: DIRKOMAN ($362)
Seat 5: changra ($466.50)
Seat 6: donkalicious ($977.50)
timon30 posts the small blind of $10
silvermax89 posts the big blind of $15
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to badbeatninja [Ad As]
DIRKOMAN calls $15
changra calls $15
donkalicious calls $15
badbeatninja raises to $30
timon30 calls $20
silvermax89 calls $15
DIRKOMAN calls $15
changra calls $15
donkalicious raises to $45
badbeatninja raises to $60
timon30 calls $30
silvermax89 calls $30
DIRKOMAN calls $30
changra calls $30
donkalicious calls $15
*** FLOP *** [Ac 2h 2s]
timon30 checks
silvermax89 checks
DIRKOMAN checks
changra checks
donkalicious checks
badbeatninja bets $15
timon30 calls $15
silvermax89 folds
DIRKOMAN folds
changra folds
donkalicious raises to $30
badbeatninja raises to $45
timon30 folds
donkalicious raises to $60
badbeatninja calls $15
*** TURN *** [Ac 2h 2s] 7
donkalicious bets $30
badbeatninja raises to $60
donkalicious raises to $90
badbeatninja raises to $120
donkalicious calls $30
*** RIVER *** [Ac 2h 2s 7c] 8
donkalicious bets $30
badbeatninja raises to $60
donkalicious raises to $90
badbeatninja raises to $120
donkalicious calls $30
*** SHOW DOWN ***
badbeatninja shows [Ad As] (a full house, Aces full of Twos)
donkalicious shows [2d 2c] (four of a kind, Twos)
donkalicious wins the pot ($972) with four of a kind, Twos
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $975 | Rake $3
Board: [Ac 2h 2s 7c 8c]
Seat 1: badbeatninja (button) showed [Ad As] and lost with a full house, Aces full of Twos
Seat 2: timon30 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: silvermax89 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: DIRKOMAN folded on the Flop
Seat 5: changra folded on the Flop
Seat 6: donkalicious showed [2d 2c] and won ($972) with four of a kind, Twos

——————————————————————————–

My personal favorite part is the limp/3 bet from the cutoff seat. Clearly I should’ve put him on deuces.

Good news though: I actually won a dime that day, and won 850 yesterday! Woohoo!

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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100% greatness, zero poker content.

“What’d you do today?”

“Well, I woke up at eight PM, played video games, had dinner, went to wal-mart with Jared and Danny to do some Christmas/house shopping, and when we went outside we saw that it was snowing. Hard.”

“Wow. Sounds like an eventful day. Snow in Las Vegas?”

“Yeah. I haven’t even gotten started yet. We drove home, had a snowball fight, Danny made yellow snow, Xena ate it, Jared fished off the bow of the boat parked in the street and then drew his name in the snow on the same street, we laughed lots about it snowing, drank some beer, played high stakes monopoly involving antes for free parking and airsoft shots to the chest to accompany going to jail, and finally finished the game at 6am. I chopped the pot with Gil to avoid getting shot with the airsoft gun… but he awarded me the title.”

“So, then you went to sleep?”

“Hell no! By that time Jen was over and we went to breakfast. When we were on our way to IHOP, we caught our first glimpse of the surrounding foothills and decided that after breakfast we were heading to the lake.”

“Wait. The lake? Wasn’t it freezing? Snow on the ground?”

“Yeah. There was snow. But nah… not cold at all.

“So we hung out at the lake for a while, drank a few more beers, played a little bocce ball, and made it back to the launch ramp by noon.”

“Then what?”

“Then I finished Christmas shopping. Earliest I’ve finished in years. Before the 20th! Now I’m home, writing the greatest blog ever, watching America’s funniest home videos, and trying to stay awake as long as possible to get back on a normal schedule… Lara comes to town tomorrow!”

“Wow. So that’s what poker players do when they’re on vacation. Just another reason to not have a real job!”

“I completely agree. I still can’t believe that it snowed in Vegas. Too bad it didn’t snow on the strip… that would have been way too awesome.

“Peace and good luck!”

Devo

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I am so completely discouraged right now. Last time I wrote I was pretty optimistic about poker. Now I want to quit and get a job as a taxi driver.

Well, not really… but I am super stinking discouraged right now. Basically this is what has happened in the past few days.

I headed into the Bellagio, ended up playing 100-200, and blew $5k over about five hours. Worst part is that I was up somewhere in the neighborhood of $2k right off the bat, and then the bottom fell out.

Came back Friday for the WPT party at Light at the Bellagio. Played a short session of 30-60 and won $300ish, partied all night, and then got a call for a juicy 100-200 game at the Wynn. Several hammered 2+2 kids. Got up $3500, quit up $300. :Sigh:. Went home, lost $600 online.

Saturday I played 30-60 for about four hours. Lost $1700. The rest of the night was a blast though… a bunch of us went out and goofed off and eventually ended up playing drunken 2-4, where naturally I ran like God, winning over $100 including all the goofy side bets I lost. Breakfast, sleep all day, and wake up at 3:30pm to head into the UPC $340 event today.

I was instantly fired up. I was so in the zone. Every read was right. Every play was perfect. I was cruising. We started with 6k, and by the start of level 4 (100-200/25) I had 25k. By the 2nd break I had 45k. Went into dinner with 47k, little disappointing, but still good for third in chips with 27 left. I came back from dinner and the wheels fell off. For the next four levels, every single time except for three when I raised pre-flop I got re-raised. Exactly zero of those times I had a hand I could call with. The three times they all folded? I had a hand. I got sucked out on in a blind vs. blind hand where I flopped trips, got short, doubled up in a battle of the blinds hand when my A5 sucked out on AK, lost a race, won a race, got re-raised a bunch more times, and finally got busted when I had 43k on the 1500-3000/400 six handed when I re-raised with T T all-in pre and ran into AA. Twelve players left, top ten was money, top seven was TV final table. So freaking frustrating.

Anyways. Arrrg. Stuck somewhere around $24k this month. Can’t win. I even lost two $5 freezeouts against my roommate Danny tonight playing pot limit 2-7 Triple Draw. I am going to take some serious time off, do some Christmas shopping, head home, relax, and who knows what else.

Peace and may you not run like I have the last 18 days…

Devo

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Don’t do this!

Got this sent to me as a forward today. Thought I’d pass it along with my response.

A FRIEND ASKED ME TO PASS THIS ALONG - Peace

I was out last night at my friends bar. We were eating, drinking and being merry when the WSOP came on the TV. The group next to me started talking poker, and when I say talking, it is in the sense of a 17 tear old cheerleader talking life. They know the concept, just not the nuances. Anyway, one guy says to me that he is going to start playing poker because its big money, and its all luck anyway, so why not try to be on TV. I nod. He goes on to tell me that yeah odds have some affect on the outcome but anyone that is good at poker is just an above average lucky guy. Now. the old me would have launched into a tirade quoting Super System, and David Sklansky, and explaining starting hands and positions, and math and pot odds etc. Then, after i bored him with the math i would have quoted Mike Caro and Phil Helmuth about the psychology of the game and the importance of putting people on hands and recognizing betting patterns. by the time i would have been done with him he would have bought books and gotten better or may have never played because he was too intimidated.

Flash to the new me…my response…” yeah that Allen Cunningham is a joke. i could do this. shit, all you have to do is say all in and get lucky. and if you get on TV you get endorsements for being a high school drop out with no ambition. you know what… i think i am going to play too. give me your card and let me know if you go down to foxwoods so i can meet you there someday. wanna drink? “

instead of defending the skill of poker i just put a countless number of chips into the poker community. even if i do not get them i know they are in circulation. poker used to be full-time for me, now its a low to mid 5 figure xmas bonus for about 20 hrs a week. next time you hear someone say poker has no skill involved…agree with them. the poker community needs these donators to survive!!

Whatever happened to being a decent, honest person who represents the professionalism of the game? Get the guy hooked on the game the right way… if he’s smart and goes in with no tools, he’ll learn quick and realize what an ass you were. If not, he’ll still suck even with all the tools in the world.

It’s things like this that hinder the advancement of poker, not promote it.

Bryan Devonshire

Meanwhile, played some 1-2 today. Blew another $5k. Oh well… back to 30-60. Why can’t they have a 60-120 game?

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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The poker goddess still lets me win! Yesterday was quite possibly the coolest non-Lara day I’ve had in a long time. I headed into the Bellagio sometime in the afternoon and put my name on the 30-60 hold’em, 40-80 mix, and 100-200 hold’em lists, still unsure of what game I was exactly going to be playing. I was feeling good and wanted to play in the 1-2 game, but my bankroll is to the place where a big hit could cripple me pretty good. I spent some time chatting with my friend Maria Ho and then wandered back into the main room where they were starting a fourth 100-200 game. I couldn’t resist. I sat. We finally got the cards in the air and my first hand was in the small blind. Everybody folded and I looked down at the KJ. I raised and got called. The flop came J85. I bet, he called. Turn 7. I bet, he called. River J. I bet, he called. My hand is good. WOW! First hand, up $700, never down on the session! Shortly thereafter I moved seats. I picked up the KT in the cutoff six handed and open raised. I got three-bet by the button, I called. The flop came KQJ. Pretty good flop there! I checked, he bet, I was about to raise but the voice said, “Call.” Ok. I called. The turn came 4. Nice. I was about to bet and the voice said “check.” Ok. He bet, I was about to raise, but the voice said, “Just call.” Ok. Weird. River 5. I was about to bet, once again the voice told me to do otherwise and I check-raised him. He thought forever and finally called. He was actually thinking about re-raising as he flashed the AT. Woo-hoo! After about half an hour I got moved to the next game, and it was terrible! I decided to book the win, just over $2100, and was on my way toward the Fontana Room to see what was going on.

I ran into Brandon Cantu on the way and he said, “Wanna go play putt-putt with us?” He barely broke stride and I made an about face heading towards the north valet. We hopped in the car with Zach and drove to the Circus Circus to meet a bunch of other people. The adventuredome was closed and we ended up in the Midway playing the fair games for money. It was awesome. From there the three of us went to Capo’s for dinner, and then we went to Theo Tran’s house after picking up Jeff Madsen. The game: High Stakes Risk (as in the board game). Long story short: Brandon Cantu wins. From there, Brandon, Jeff, and myself wanted to play some Chinese. We got a hold of Rick Fuller who also wanted to play and we all met at the Venetian to play $25/point Chinese. The game rapidly degenerated into a 25-50 mix, and then accelerated to a 50-100 game. I figure with a lineup of Bryan Devonshire, Brandon Cantu, Jeff Madsen, and Rick Fuller playing games like Badugi, 2-7 Triple Draw, 5 card high triple-draw, Stud Hi/Lo Regular, and Chinese Poker, there’s no reason not to stay and play until 7:30am! Good lord. We played for almost eight hours straight. I ended up winning $1007.

Tonight was the first time that I had spent any time with Madsen ever. I must say that I am impressed. Kid’s a hell of a cardplayer with some incredible instincts for the game. I am sure that his experience level is low due simply to his age - but his successes this summer were no fluke. I believe that he has an incredible future in front of him regardless of his pursuits.

Anyways, off to the Bellagio tonight. Who knows what’ll happen!

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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Ten of twelve losing days… Well, it’s officially been five days since I have written anything of substance. For that, I apologize. It has been a hellacious month as far as poker goes and I have pretty much went into hibernation mode in the past several days. I have taken the biggest short term loss of my life (that I had 100% of) at $20k. I lost 10 of 11 days including two days at over $5k. So basically Saturday when Lara and I checked out of her hotel, I went into hibernation mode.

Friday night was a ton of fun. If you are interested, I have uploaded pictures here. There’s some special ones there :-). After getting crushed once again in the 100-200 game, Lara, Miri, Dutch, and myself headed to the Orleans to meet Sebok, Tiffany Michelle, Gloria, Poff, and a few others at the bowling alley. From there we went to the Imperial Palace for a karaoke night. The lineup was spectacular and good times were had by all.

While I was playing the 1-2 game that night a good friend of mine said something pretty disturbing to me. He pulled me aside and told me that I needed to leave the game because it was being cheated. Now, the game already wasn’t the best game in the world, but I know what to look for in terms of collusion and dealer mechanics, and I did not see anything resembling those. I asked him how he knew and he said that he couldn’t tell me. Regardless I left the game because that is not a situation I ever want to be in anywyas and it wasn’t all that good of a game. On a side note, it took me an entire two racks ($5k) to win a single pot post flop. I made it entirely through the first must move game plus twenty minutes on the second game to win that elusive pot. So sick.

Saturday I played online for a while and was up $1k quick. But, it was all a tease and I ended up blowing $3k online. Sunday I also played online. I made it deep in the Stars Sunday Millions, taking 430ish of 6600ish good for a profit of $600 - but all the other tournaments and cash games I played were super disappointing as well. Blew another $1k. Monday I tried to play online, but within ten minutes I had this hand come up. 15-30 limit game 6 handed, button opens, I 3-bet TT, and we see a flop heads up of T63 rainbow. I bet, he raises, I three bet, he caps. Turn 7, we go four bets again. River K, we go four bets again. He had 89o. I’ve been thinking if I should have slowed down at all, but with him 4 betting the flop it’s pretty hard for me to put him on 89, and by the river the only hand I’m afraid of is KK - and if he has that, more power to him. Regardless, I got pissed and didn’t play any more. We went out that night to the piano bar at Harrahs and had a great time. After that we did some gambling and I actually won just over $200! WooHoo!

Today, Tuesday, Lara and I headed over to Binions to meet her friend Jen who is a poker writer about a book that she is thinking about doing and about me doing some writing in other ventures. I’m pretty stoked on that. When we arrived I called Kenna because I knew that he was there, and he was killing time on break in a 1-2 NL game. I snuck over there and had to sit for a little while. The good news is that I actually won! I profited $335 in just over half an hour and didn’t have any big all-in hands. This hand cracked me up though. I raised QTo in the cutoff behind three limpers to $10. Kenna called on the button and all three limpers called. The flop came down Q T 2 . Check to me, I bet $40, Kenna called after some thought saying “I’m only calling because of the way you tilted your head when you bet.” The three limpers folded. OK I’m thinking, possibly a flush draw, possibly a monster, but either way I’m going to give him a chance to bluff the turn. It came 3 . I checked, and Kenna checked behind. The river came Q . Nice. The nuts. Now I’m trying to figure out what to do. Kenna doesn’t have a Q, nor does he have much of a big hand. Finally I decide that there’s no value in betting, so just as I am about to check to induce a bluff, Kenna open folds out of position! I didn’t even have a chance to check! Ahhhhhhhhh! Not fair! You can’t fold out of position heads up when I have the nuts! Was quite funny that’s for sure. We all got a good laugh and I scooped the pot.

So, I’m pretty thrilled to have a winning day of poker. I’m going to drop down to the 30 or 40 game to re-build some confidence and some bankroll, and hopefully by Christmas I’ll be back up to the 100 game banging it out!

Lara leaves tomorrow. I’m super bummed about that. I’ve had an incredible time with her this week and cannot wait until she comes back out for good.

Peace and good luck!

Devo

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