Friday I didn’t win $5k. I did win about a hundred though. And I won a draft at my brother’s card store.

Saturday I played the WPT Invitational. I headed in a bit early, intending on getting some food, and after a long journey of aimlessly driving around south-eastern Los Angeles I ended up at this Mexican seafood place just a block north of the Bike that was fantastic.

I made it to the Commerce in time to catch an hour of the open bar. The energy in the room was electric. I wandered about a bit, mingling with several groups of people, until they got the cards in the air on time at 8pm.

To my right was Chris Masterson. I had no clue who he was while he was getting media attention and kinda giggled to myself cause I had just introduced myself to him moments before and identified him as “the random to my right” named Chris. Not random. And not bad at poker either. Tight, but that’s fine in settings like that. I eventually busted to him when he opened UTG to 3.5x and I couldn’t help myself from shoving 18bbs with AQo, even though I really wanted to fold. I guess it can’t be that bad since he took like 40 seconds to call with AKdd, but it’s probably bad since his range isn’t much wider than AK. Chris Ferguson, Jerry Buss, and the bestest agent ever Katie Lyndsay were also there. Rest I didn’t recognize or figure out who they were.

This tournament felt like a charity event but had a 200k prizepool tacked onto it being paid out to six spots. It definitely played like a charity event the first day and like the real deal the second day. Since it was in charity mode the first day, I didn’t want to leave, cause the entire room was having a great time. A loosely associated gathering of lounge lizards congregated in the back, consisting mostly of poker players, wpt staff, and media. At one point the possible new WPT hostess thought to herself, “I’ve always wanted to try knocking the top of somebody else’s beer with the bottom of my beer. Right now I’m standing in front of Devo, who’s in a dress shirt, sport coat, and the whole nine yards, and is holding a full Dos Equis. This seems like a great opportunity.” She smacked my beer with her beer like she was swinging a sledge hammer. It exploded. I got soaked from tits to thighs and she looked like deer in the headlights. She was clearly embarrassed and felt bad so I called her a bitch and told her to buy me two new beers immediately. That’s not true. I only made her get me one.

I actually didn’t know what to say, cause, she obviously wasn’t trying to do THAT, and I know I’ve been the guy that is too drunk and explodes my buddy’s beer in the same fashion, but this was a slightly different situation than Half Shell when the sun’s coming up. Plus we don’t know each other well, and a ton of people are standing around. I wasn’t mad, but I was obv like wtf, but, oh well imo. I felt honored that she would be having enough fun to try a stupid idea like that on me. And it’s just beer, maybe I can squeeze some out of my shirt after they cut us off at 2am. We all went outside to smoke cigars and dry off.

Sunday I went to Newport to play at Chris Tryba’s beach front boardwalk side pier nearby apartment. I could have spit onto sand from his balcony. I had a disappointing Sunday. Headed home, met my buddy Shawn, Danny the Degenerate’s little brother who is a Long Beach police officer, for food and drinks at Applebees on the way back. That turned into a couple of beers at this dive bar in Upland, where I got my ass kicked by the computer on a table top poker video game. He told me fun stories of getting shot at and high speed pursuit training.

Monday was the $3k 6max NLHE. I played great, made a decent run increasing my stack steadily, and then lost it all in 3 pots within 15 minutes. Open/shoved 77 lost to AK, 3-bet/folded 99 from the BB vs. the same villain, and lost the rest AK<44. Did a radio show on pokerroad with guest Justin Young, went upstairs and played Chinese, won, then headed home.

Saving all my run good for the main? Lets hope.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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I showed up for the 8 game. Started strong at a great table. First hand back from break i had (KK)K in stud, re-raised (completion, raise…) 3rd, bet 4th, raised 5th, raised 6th, and just called when he bet into me again on 7th, losing to a flush. It was all downhill from there. I went downstairs, played a little bit of cash but wasn’t into it, got hung up in the bar a bit, and then made it home early early (before midnight).

The next day was the $1k HORSE. I started the tournament with 5990 instead of 6k. I was missing two nickels. They were in the stack next to me. That solved, I hit my high point of the tournament, 6k. I’m glad I’ve started booking winning sessions again, but I’m still sick of running like hell. Went downstairs and lost $1500. Sigh.

Thursday was the $1k NLHE. I started off strong, even pulling off the “overcall back shove”. EP decent player opens to 300 at 50-100, internet kid who I don’t know but knows people I know and smiles a lot and thus I like him calls, I’m in the cutoff with AQo and 4600 or so and elect to call, the button makes it 1100, initial raiser calls, flatter folds, I shove. The button 3 bettor thinks for a bit and re-shoves, I’m expecting to lose a flip to tens or jacks but instead see that he has A6o, the initial raiser had 66, and I somehow find a way to hold.

That was it to the good things happening though. Shortly after break Liv Boeree gets moved to my table, I open QQ, she flats button, heads up flop AAx I check, she bets, I call, turn a brick, I check, she bets, I call, river a K, I check, she checks, I lose to KQ. King-queen always wins. Downhill from there, I finally got to shove 15bbs with 44 and got snapped by K8s who barely had me covered, gg me. Went downstairs, won $1500.

Today’s Friday. No tourney today. Gonna head down and try to win $5k. WPT Invitational tomorrow, online in Newport on Sunday, more tourneys next week, then the main in 7 days.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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Things didn’t go well this weekend, but they’re looking up in the last 24 hours.

Friday I showed up for the limit tournament. I couldn’t make pairs. Then I played 40-80 LHE. I made some pairs, and they usually didn’t win. I had the worst 40-80 session of my life losing $3800.

Friday night I got to spend some time with my little brother, something we have never done too much of sadly. We headed down to his local comic book and card shop, one that I used to go to as a kid, and fired a draft with us two, five other kids, and the store owner. Since we got 8 players he ran it as a DCI sanctioned event, and I won. Undefeated lifetime, watch out David Williams!

Saturday I headed in to the Commerce, intended on staying a while and winning money, and I did neither. I lost $2700, left before 8pm, and decided that I really want Islands. I picked out West Covina as the location that I would visit. After ordering my burger from the bartender, she asked me if I work at Islands. No, but I used to, Montclair, 1998-1999. She asks if I worked with Gina, and Gina was my favorite. She was the big sister I never had and there for me that brutal senior year of high school after my dad passed. The bartender says that Gina’s her best friend and works here now.

We swap names, her’s is Hillary, and then she asks if I know Pops. Not immediately familiar with the nickname because he took it after high school, turns out it belongs to one of my best friends back then, the house that I went to immediately after finding out my dad passed. I helped get him a job at Islands all those years ago, we went to youth group together, camp, we were close. He’s her boyfriend. I call him, tell him that I’m drinking beer and hitting on his girlfriend at the bar and that he’d better come down and stop me.

He did, we chatted and caught up, it was good. I then drove home, grabbed a change of clothes, and headed south to Fallbrook and Shelley’s mom’s house.

I had a brutal sleep as the Commerce schedule doesn’t agree with the normal Sunday morning family, and their two German Shepherd puppies figured out how to open doors and needed to check on me several times that morning. Shelley and I eventually headed into Temecula wine country with the top down, a perfect 75 degrees and sunny outside on February 14th. Ty So Cal.

I’ve never been to the Temecula wineries, and from the limited experience I had Sunday I think that I greatly dislike the northern side on Rancho, because everything felt way too over the top. We went to the South Coast Winery… Resort and Spa. C’mon. I don’t want this crap when I’m going wine tasting. Traffic? In wine country? Gimme a break. I saw a lot of these on the north side and it really turned me off.

But, the way we came in on the south side, the Portola Trail I think they called it, was awesome. First place we started was Robert Ranzoni Vineyards, an Italian winery. Immediately after opening the door to the barrel room the vinter himself, Fred Ranzoni, introduces himself, shakes my hand, and says hello. Pretty cool. The one next door to Cougar had a Bocce court. The drunk guy serving the wine who reminded me a lot like Miles in Sideways snuck us some Sangria, complete with a chunk of pineapple, orange, and two blueberries. We played bocce in the afternoon sun sipping on Sangria. It was fantastic.

Monday I headed in at 1pm for the $1585 NLHE event, and didn’t make it to first break. First two hands I got caught bluffing, then I lost a flip, and then I lost the rest when the button opened to 250 at 50-100, the SB called, I made it 1025 with AQo like 5k effective, button folds, SB calls. Flop AT5hh, SB check calls 1100, turn a T, the 3k leftover gets in and I lose to JTo.

So, back to cash games, please don’t break me before the main event, get on the 40-80 list, look at a game that contains Theo Tran and Bart Hansen and Joe Tehan’s girlfriend who’s good and I consistently mistake for Kristy Arnett. Plus the people I didn’t know looked more like sickos than SAGs so I went elsewhere. Ended up playing 5-10, sucked out with KK>AA aipf for 1k each, on the river, awesome, yay. Ended up winning like $1900 for a morale boost.

The $1065 8 game starts in 51 mins and I’m registered so I better get running.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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Games were dead in Vegas this week, and I was feeling ancy, so I came down to LA a bit early. Nothing much went on for me this week, I basically played online all day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, losing all three days. Then Wednesday night I tried to find a live game, ended up playing 30-60 LHE, and lost there.

Yesterday was Thursday, I woke up, did some laundry, packed, changed the headlights on the truck. First one was a piece of cake, no tools necessary. Second one was hidden behind the radiator overflow and tools that I didn’t have (like a 5/16″ nut driver) were necessary. Good thing I like the Wallflowers.

Drove across the desert, staying at Mom’s place, headed into the Commerce, played 5-10 for about 90 minutes at which point I saw Rick Fuller and asked him if he wanted to go to the bar. I quit up $15 thrilled to book a winner, we went to the Red Lion Tavern in Silverlake, this sweet little German pub. Had a couple of pints, drove back to the Commerce, played 40-80 til 3am and I won over a dime. Woo-hoo! First 4 digit win in over a month!

Today’s Friday and the $545 LHE tourney starts in 15 mins. And I gotta hit the bank. I’m 25 mins away. And it’s LA. Gotta go cheers.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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The last month of poker has been brutal. I’ve lost at everything I’ve touched and haven’t had a good winning day since the first week of the new year. One week earlier this month I got aces in pre four times and lost every one. I didn’t mind it so much in Colorado, but running bad in Vegas just plain sucks.

Friday a bunch of us played Magic til about 3am, drafting the new set that was released recently. We took a dinner break and headed to Texas de Brazil. Place was awesome, you sit down, go to a salad bar, return to the table, and when you’re ready for meat you turn a coaster-ish thing from red to green. Green means go meat. There are dudes wandering around with skewers of meat, affectionately dubbed “meat-walkers,” who offer you meat if your button is green. All kinds of good stuff that would make any vegetarian vomit.

I loved it until I lost at credit card roulette, and the dinner didn’t taste as good for $437. Can’t complain though, it’s been a good run and I’ve dodged some four digit ones along the way. About a year ago I got heads up with Tiffany Michelle for a big one, was gonna discuss a chop to get it down into the high threes, decided she was running bad enough to run it and won that flip. It was a good run platinum Wells Fargo card.

Saturday I didn’t do anything. It was great. Mass Effect all day, tried a new Sushi place near the house called Sushi21, it was great and cheap (due to $1 Sapporos and 2 for 1 sake). Came home, more Mass Effect, sleep.

Sunday I didn’t play poker and it was fantastic. I went to Eric Baldwin’s place to watch the Super Bowl with Justin Young, the corresponding women, and Renee. Love those guys, always have a great time, and Sunday was no different.

Monday woke up eager to work and make money, lost two buy-ins, and am now playing the nightly tournies.

Peace and Good Luck,

Devo

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We drove all day Tuesday, I spent the evening catching up with Jared at Roadrunners. He got a fire lit up his ass last month while I was gone and was fixin to get outta Dodge for a bit. A few weeks ago he texted me, “Hey, want to ride pedal bikes across the country?” I responded with, “Lol no ty, I’d rather walk from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail.” I didn’t hear from him for a week, when he calls me up and says he wan’t to do it. He did a bunch of research already, brought up the AT on his own, and asked questions. I can’t do a thru hike this summer due to the WSOP and the simple fact that we wouldn’t be ready by April when we would need to leave. The thing is thought that I do want to do the entire trail, but the WSOP will be every summer for as long as I do this thing I do. But, as much as I am afraid of settling down, it is something I want to do before I get too old.

Speaking of old at Joe Cada’s victory party I met Baby Grand. After meeting me he says, “Dude, so, you’re like a dinosaur and stuff. You’ve been around forever.” Gobbo calls me grandpa all the time. And, in 2003 shortly after moving to Colorado, my boss who was 30 blew his Achilles at an indoor soccer game. The doctor told him that shit starts falling apart at 30.

So I’m 28 now and still feel young but have plenty of reasons to feel old at times, especially when 20% of my opponents in $10k+ buy-in poker tournaments have not heard of Planet Poker and could have dated my sister when she was in Jr. High.

Anyways, I tell Jared that I would be interested in doing something April and May but be back in time to be fresh for the Series. Over Christmas I was having visions of hiking the trail until the WSOP, go to Vegas, return to trail, and haul ass to Canada to complete a thru-hike. Too bad I’m not in 21 year old river guide shape anymore. But, since Jack lost his mind and there won’t be tournaments worth going to in April, I definitely want to use the time to get out and do something.

We kicked around ideas at the bar for a while, he still wants to do something epic and raise money for charity and possibly make a film or something. I kinda just want to go on a bunch of short trips, maybe climaxing on the John Muir trail, a two week long journey over some of the PCT from Whitney Portal to Yosemite. He and I hiked a bit of that trail in high school, just going from Yosemite Valley past Vernal Falls and the big frosty pool to Nevada Falls.

Ting is though, dem women folks don’t likeum boys leaving for long.

Was good to see him though, and I’m sure we’ll have some sort of adventure this spring.

Wednesday I thought was Tuesday. I made it through all day without figuring this out. I played online a bit, putting in 21 sit-n-goes and 4 hours of cash games on Ultimate Bet. I broke about even. I then cracked Mass Effect 2 and finally started playing it. Good game, feels a bit watered down from the first one in the customization department which is my favorite nerdy feature, but the gameplay, storyline, and options are better. I played that til dinner, ate, and then headed to the Venetian to play 5-10 cash. I lost $68 in 5 hours or so.

The next day, which was Wednesday of course, had this plan: Mass Effect til 5pm, then the Wednesday night online tourneys, then meet Gobbo at the ARIA to play in the Wed night $20-40 HORSE game. This plan worked great until 4:50pm when I fired up the computer, it wouldn’t fire cause HP laptops with Vista suck, I finally was able to get online at 5:04 pissed, and the first thing I notice is 52 people in the 100r. I’m like, WTF? Then I look at UB and see the guarantees are smaller and can’t find the $1k. I’m so confused. I then hover my cursor over the clock, and it pops up “Thursday, February 4th.” Still not convinced, I check my phone, and it confirmed that it was in fact Thursday. LOL. Now what? I decided to go to the Venetian because I thought the game was decent and was unsatisfied from the night before.

I was home at 8:30pm after getting two cheeseburgers, no onions or tomatoes, fries well, and a medium Dr. Pepper from In-N-Out. I was $2k poorer. I ran poor, made one questionable shove over Jeff Williams… 7 handed I think, I open in the hijack to $50 with AQo. I’m $1k deep. The player in the cutoff is very loose mid 50’s persian dude, is $250 deep, posted $10 + $5 dead, and calls. Folds to YellowSub in the BB who quickly makes it $230. Pretty gross spot cause it’s such a great spot to iso/squeeze, I decide that Sub’s a sicko enough that shoving is +EV so I say, “All-in,” dude folds, Sub snaps and says, “I have the MTT nuts,” I ship my stack and buy back two stacks of chips for cash. Always humiliating.

About an orbit later I open black queens UTG to $40, the same Persian dude shoves $240, folds back to me he calls, and the board runs out Axx, x, x. I called him, he shrugs, looks like he has KQ and is thinking of mucking it, and takes a good ten seconds before rolling over AQ.

I quit. Went home. Played Mass Effect til 3:30am.

So that makes today Friday, and I’m headed over to Panorama in a lil bit to play Magic and draft the new set Worldwake. Should be fun.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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I’m pretty bummed as we head West through Edwards, CO on our way toward Las Vegas. It’s definitely time for this trip to be over, but I love Colorado so much and it makes me sad every time I leave. I mean, we just drove by a dude and his dog ice fishing on a pond between the highway and a rest area. The people here are more my kind of people, and the pace of life is the kind that makes me happiest.

I find myself rebelling a bit against the normal progression of life. I’m getting older, but I certainly don’t want too. I’ll be 29 this summer. I’ve heard that things start falling apart at 30. Many people my age are married with kids by now, and although that’s a vision of mine down the road I don’t want anything to do with it right now. I want to be able to live in Colorado if I want to, go walk the PCT for a few months if I want to, etc. Those desires don’t mesh with settling down at all and being in the middle leaves me unhappier than if I was on either side.

Anyways. This month sucked ass as far as poker goes. It started off great, my first week of the new year I won like $3k live and $2k online. I hit my “career peak” on Ultimate Bet on Jan 7th, and since then my graph looks like the dow in 2008. My general pattern of punting the big pots was either get it in good and lose or run into aces in sigh spots. My last session twice I flatted AKs on the button, twice one of the blinds squeezed big (one time at 3-6 6max it was $21, I call, bb makes it $170), twice I shove, and twice they have aces. Tourneys haven’t been any better. UBOC I played almost 20 events, cashed in two. In one I was cl at 9, in limit hold’em, busto 8th. Another small cash in the 100r, got unlucky. This Sunday I took 30 somethingth in the Warm-up, and 50th ish in the 150r, all running bad when it mattered.

Strangely though I’m pretty excited to get back and do some grinding. I’m excited to spend time in LA and work, and I do want to start getting stuff out of the garage and storage unit and have a yard sale. So we’re headed home. But I’m missing Colorado already as we cross the western slope of the Rockies, following the Eagle River, 100 miles from Utah. I’ll be back soon.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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