Thursday, April 22, 2010 - Roothlus
It’s been a minute since I last blogged and this past weekend I was lucky enough to get to go to Coachella. For anyone who does not live in California or is not that into music, it is a 3-day music festival near Palm Springs in a town called Indio. I was planning on going to it since the lineup was announced but as of last Monday, tickets were sold out. Because I love to procrastinate, it got me into trouble this time. The tickets were already fairly expensive at $345 a pop but as soon as it sold out, trying to find a ticket for under $500 was near impossible. I still wanted to go and on Thursday I started talking to another poker player, Michael Benvonuti, who was just as gung-ho about wanting to go to Coachella. So we did some searching on Craigs List and most of the ads looked like straight up scams until 10PM at night when he found two 19 year old kids who wanted to make a quick buck rather than go to Coachella. They had 2 tickets at $500 each. Michael, who conveniently lived close to them, was there with $1000 in cold hard cash within ten minutes. And just like that we were both going to Coachella. Boom! Now, came the hard part: getting a place to stay, finding a place to put my car, etc etc. Also, I had to get my girl a ticket.
Friday morning we drove up and got there around 3PM. There was a traffic line that was about 5 miles long to enter the venue and I later heard some people had to wait 3 hours just to get in. Luckily, my trusty GPS hooked it up with tons of side roads I could take instead and we were there in less than 30 minutes. We had to wait on line for another hour in 90-degree weather which was not fun but was way better than having to wait in the car for 3 hours and then wait in that line. Also, my girlfriend had to pick up her ticket that she bought off of Craig’s List from will call. So we had to split up and I later found out it took her 2 hours to find the right will call. But enough of all the crap we had to go through, on to the music!
There were so many bands we got to see that I either wanted to see or was extremely surprised that I got to see them. The people who ran Coachella did a really good job of handpicking all these artists. It seemed like every single band was really good. Instead of going through every band I saw, I’m going to go over my favorite bands of the weekend.
My favorite band I saw was LCD Soundsystem. I’m sitting here trying to put into words the type of music they are. I even googled it for help but many different things came up. It’s hard to categorize such a unique sounding band. They have 7 members all playing different instruments on stage. I think the best answer I saw was indie-dance. It’s just a fun, upbeat vibe they give off. For anyone looking for a band to get into, this is it. And conveniently enough they have a new album coming out in the middle of May.
Right after LCD, Jay Z came out and killed it but what’s new? I’ve never had the chance to see him live so I was happy to check it out. As soon as he burst on stage he was flowing with an intensity I had never seen before. The first couple minutes he came out it seemed like he had been saving up energy for months for this Coachella show. He played all the hits, the crowd was hype, and Jay-Z knew how to throw a good show especially when he was by far the biggest artist there. At the end of his set as the first night was wrapping up and everyone was leaving, Beyonce came out to sing “Young Forever” with J. It was a real treat. There were rumors that Dr. Dre would be the one coming out and singing with Jay=Z but Beyonce exceeded all expectations. It was really cool.
Another artist I enjoyed was Z-Trip. He is a d.j. who unlike most djs out there, has an eclectic style. He was mashing up tons of songs ranging from Rush to Bon Jovi to M.I.A. At one point he started mixing Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy”. I mean, that song is from like 1983 or some shit and isn’t even remotely one of their mainstream songs. So when I heard him remixing it with whatever else it was I was floored. He had such range with his entire set. What made it even better was I wasn’t planning on being at his set but I ended up chilling with my girlfriend right outside of the stage and once I started realizing what he was doing we got up and starting dancing to it. He’ll be spinning live at Rain this summer at the Palms in Vegas and I’ll be sure to check him out. I’m sure it will be amazing.
The last band I thoroughly enjoyed was Die Antwoord, a South African electro-rap group that was a late addition to the Coachella lineup. They had just gotten signed to Interscope no more than a month ago and were given a 20 minute set before the last act of the night. Most sets at Coachella were 50 minutes but 20 minutes was all they needed to make me a fan. Just like Jay-Z they rapped with so much intensity and the beats the songs were so sick. They are so unique. They’re style is so different too. The lead singer has a high top fade and that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary except for the fact that he’s white and it looks like Vanilla Ice’s hair except somehow way fresher. Mark my words they will be huge within the next year.
Overall, I had a memorable time although next year I will not go through all the bs I went through this year due to not organizing things early and trying to get everything together on the fly. For a festival like this, it’s just not smart. Regardless, if you are into music, Coachella has great music coming out it’s pores. And even if you aren’t that into it, by the end of the festival you will be a fan of music period.
Sorry if this was longwinded but I could talk about music forever. Oh, as far as poker goes, I’ve been doing pretty well lately. Nothing huge but putting together wins here and there and lately it seems just about any day I play I’m going deep in something which is a great confidence boost. That’s all for now. Peeeace.
Tags: Beyonce, Coachella, Craigs List, Die Antwoord, Jay-Z, LCD Soundsystem, Michael Benvonuti, music, Poker Player, The Palms, Vegas, Z-Trip
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Sunday, February 7, 2010 - Roothlus
Hey buddies. I’m currently in the midst of bouncing around different cities and there’s pretty much no stop in sight. When I moved to LA in August, the plan was to stay there and seldom travel. But then, I made the mistake of getting the live poker bug again. Damn you Foxwoods final table! Mix that in with some Deepstacks.com seminars in Tampa and it becomes a lot of time away from LA.
Here’s a rundown of the past few months: It started December 9th in Vegas for Five Diamond Classic. Stayed there until the 18th, went back to LA for a few days, then flew back home to Fort Lauderdale for the holidays and a wedding. Then January 4th, Bahamas for the PCA. January 12th, back to Miami for a couple of days. Then back to LA for a week. It’s already kind of hectic. Of course, I decided to, on a whim, go to Biloxi for the WPT $10k. This past Tuesday I flew to Tampa for a Deepstacks seminar and Gasparilla, Tampa’s version of Mardi Gras. It was something to do with Jose Gaspar, a pirate, who apparently tried to invade Tampa sometime in the 1800s. Now, I’m going to Atlantic City for the Borgata $3500. After that New York for my brother’s birthday. Fly back on Super Bowl Sunday to LA for a Super Bowl party at my house, then Tampa again on the 12th for another Deepstacks seminar.
But, wait! There’s more! Fly back to LA for LAPC prelims, then the NAPT in Las Vegas at the Venetian. Then head back for the LAPC main event and topping it all off, the Bay 101 WPT in San Jose. Sorry, that’s a mouthful but right now, it’s my life. I never expected to travel this much but I’m getting used to everything. I’m starting to feel more and more like George Clooney in Up In The Air. Hopefully, my frequent flyer miles will start raking in the perks soon.
After Bay 101 I’m going to take it easy until the World Series. And by take it easy, I mean travel but travel to things that have nothing to do with poker. I plan on going to two music festivals, Coachella and Ultra. I’ve wanted to go to these festivals for years and somehow this year the scheduling actually works out for me. There are no tourneys, no seminars, no weddings, no obligations. I’m freakin’ going! It’s going to be awesome and a good break from poker. I’ll probably still go to the Mohegan Sun NAPT & EPT Monte Carlo in the month of April. But after that I’m planning on hopefully taking the entire month off. I really hope to not play a hand of poker in May so I can come back fresh for the entire WSOP. I honestly haven’t taken a break from poker in like two years so this year I’m making a point to do so. I remember in Super System 2 Doyle stressed this and he’s so right. I’ve performed way better when rested and fresh most definitely. I remember one time I came back from a week-long cruise and got 1st and 2nd in the FTP and Stars $300s on Saturday. I just think more clearly when fresh.
Well, that’s about it for this week. Enjoy the rest of your week and apparently the brightest full moon of this year was last weekend so I hope you enjoyed that as well.
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Tags: Atlantic City, bahamas, Biloxi, Five-Diamond Classic, Foxwoods, George Clooney, LAPC, Live Poker, NAPT, PCA, Super Bowl, Vegas, Venetian, WPT, WSOP
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - Roothlus
Well, I’m back from the Bahamas and what normally is one of my favorite weeks of the year but this year, the PCA was lackluster. The weather was subpar and everything was super expensive. Without the great weather, I’d rather just stay in the US and go to some resort for a week. It would surely be less expensive. After having been to Aruba and Bahamas, Aruba is the king of the exotic island poker destinations. Congrats Aruba! After the PCA I chilled in Fort Lauderdale for 3 days, saw some camp friends, spent time with my parents, and just enjoyed not spending money.
I took Virgin America on the way back to LA. They just started flying to Fort Lauderdale from LA a few months ago, which is extremely convenient for me. Virgin America makes it so easy to fly. I’d fly anywhere as long as Virgin America was my airline. Each seat has its own video touch screen with movies, television shows, and satellite television. Also, each seat has wireless internet capabilities, as well as a power outlet so you can charge your laptop battery midflight. It’s about as luxurious as it gets for coach class. Made my 6-hour flight seem like an hour.
The next day Katie organized a barbeque at our place. Ended up being about 20 people and started at 2PM and went until 12AM. Katie’s boyfriend’s band, VAMPIRES EVERYWHERE! came so I got to meet them. That was cool, plus it was great to see all of my LA friends who I hadn’t seen in a good month. It was an enjoyable yet almost disastrous day. First, we lost Katie’s brother’s dog, Vedder, when he decided to start roaming the Hollywood Hills all alone. It was pretty frantic for a little but we eventually found him on a main road with cars zooming past. It was really fortunate.
After that we cooked up some hamburgers and Zack, one of the band members, was the only one who really knew how to grill some burgers. After he hooked us up with some tasty burgers he decided to cook some more. This time around, he started grilling hardcore. The flame got bigger and bigger although it seemed like a controlled fire. Then at some point, the flame doubled in size and gave us all a scare. The flame started coming out of the bbq even while it was closed. It really got scary for a minute but luckily Zach stayed calm and shut off the propane before the fire got too intense. I know one of my friends took a video of the entire situation so while it wasn’t anything I would want to relive, it would be cool to see it on the playback. Once things calmed down, we played some beer pong, did some keg stands, and went into the Jacuzzi. It was an overall great time and a fun way to welcome myself back to the state of California.
This week I’ve been playing a ton of online poker and it feels good to be back on the ultra grind. 2009 I played a ton in the first three months but after a very successful three months, I slacked off the rest of the year so now it’s time to focus again. This week and the next you can find me grinding the UBOCs. Then I’m off to Tampa for a Deepstacks.com preview for their first live seminar two weeks later. Good luck to everyone in the UBOC this week!
Peace.
Tags: Aruba, bahamas, Online Poker, PCA, Play Poker, Poker Poker Poker, UBOC, Virgin America
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Monday, January 18, 2010 - Roothlus
This year my Bahamas experience was different than any of the other four years I’ve gone–the weather wasn’t good. Although it is all relative. 70 degrees, cloudy, and 10mph winds really isn’t the end of the world. But in the Bahamas that’s just unacceptable! So for the most part, I stayed inside. I brought my brother this year—well, I shouldn’t really say that. He won the seat this year so technically he brought me, which was kind of cool considering how often I’ve taken him on trips. He brought his best friend Jesse as well so it was a good trio.
The trip started with us taking a brutal, never-gonna-fly-again, 31 minute flight from Fort Lauderdale. Kudos to you if you detected any sarcasm. Internet sarcasm is a tricky thing to pinpoint. Anyway, we got there and stayed in the part of the Atlantis hotel called The Cove. If you think the hotel itself is extravagant, The Cove is on another level. The only issue with it was the location. Atlantis, being one of, if not, the biggest hotel on the planet, is a bit of a trek to get around. It was on the other side of where all the action was. It ended up not being that big of a deal. It’s a tradeoff of what you want. It was way more chill and not nearly as crowded, which on the weekends, is a minor issue in the other towers.
The tournament did not pan out well. For the 5th year in a row, I didn’t make it past day 1 or the 300/600 level for that matter. The main event at the PCA has always been a massive failure, but I’ve done pretty well in the side events at least. This year I only got to play 1 side event, the 5k 8max. I wanted to play the 1k 6max but it was on day 2 of the main event so there were still 900 some odd players still in so there was minimal room. Ideally they should’ve ran an 8 or 9 max tourney that day and a 6 max tourney the next day.
The 5k didn’t go so well either, although I played some really interesting hands. One hand was against a friend of mine, Randal Flowers a.k.a. RandALLIN online. The hand went as follows: Randal opens to 775 at 150/300 25 from 3rd position 8 handed. He has 18k in his stack and I’m directly to his left of him with a 15k stack and AQo. I decide to flat given the stacks and the fact that Randal probably isn’t going to monkey in 50bbs with AJ. Everyone else folds and the flop comes J77hh. Randal bets 1200 into around 2k and because I have the Qh I decide to call the flop. Turn is an offsuit king and he checks to me. At this point I’m thinking he doesn’t have a huge hand but he does have something that wants to see the river. If he had nothing or a draw he would most likely double barrel the king here. Now I picked up a draw. While I do not think my hand is good here, betting doesn’t seem that credible unless I had KJ or some sort of draw so I opted to check back. The river is a brick 4. He checks and I decide to really try to sell me having a jack so I bet 1800 into 4400. A fairly small bet but I wanted my bet to wreak of valuetown. He then proceeds to check-raise to 6500. Now, I’m totally confused. I thought he didn’t have a strong hand on the turn or river and then all of a sudden he check-raises??? And not just any check-raise, some massive check-raise that’s four times my initial bet. I really want to call but I still only have Ace high. I thought for a while and then realized that a lot of hands he has here he’s turning into a bluff like 55,66,88,99 which is really annoying. I also thought about the fact that if I called here he might instantly muck those hands and then I would win the pot but I didn’t think he would so I ended up mucking. He then flips over the 5 of spades and confirms my thoughts of him having 55. Yes, he could’ve had 57ss but he didn’t check to see which card it was before flipping indicating that both of the cards were the same. Pretty crazy hand and it seems like the only way I could’ve won the hand was by shoving and while the thought occurred to me, it just seemed ridiculously nuts to shove in there. After that I got 3 outed and it was game over.
The last night in Bahamas I got to experience a 5 star dining experience at this place called the Graycliff hotel. Apparently, an actual pirate of the Carribbean built the place in 1740 and it’s been kept in tact all these years. We had an 8 course meal full of foie gras, lamp chops, beet salad, and 3 different types of souffles for dessert. It was probably the priciest meal I’ve ever had at $300 a head but was simply magnificent and a great way to end the Bahamas trip.
Well, that’s all for now but one thing’s for certain Aruba is much better than the Bahamas for a poker destination on so many levels. Don’t know if I’ll be going back to the Bahamas next year but there’s no way I’ll be missing Aruba this year that’s for sure!
Tags: Aruba, Atlantis, bahamas, PCA, Play Poker, Poker Poker Poker
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Thursday, January 7, 2010 - Roothlus
Right now I’m sitting in the beautiful sun sipping on tasty Bahama Mama’s while writing this blog . Gotta blog in style! It’s been a good past two weeks and I hope everone had a great New Year’s! I surely did. I just got here yesterday for the Poker Stars Carribbean Adventure. It’s a huge tourney and at a great locale but Aruba still kicks this tourney’s butt! How can you top Phil’s Penthouse Party?!?!? I’m playing tomorrow but today I’ll just be chillin’ out maxin’ out shootin’ some bball. Really, it’s not just a quote from Fresh Prince, I’m going to play bball after I finish this with Matt Graham and show him who’s boss.
The end of the year has been great. I played the last Saturday and Sunday of the year, final tabled the UB $50k and booked wins on both days so it was good to finish the year on a high note. On Monday I went to a Phish concert and it’s not exactly my style. I’ve never been much of a hippie but Phish isn’t even about that. Their music is beyond that. It was just phenomenal. The lighting was amazing, the music, even the drummer used a vacuum as a musical instrument There was a guy who was wearing a jumpsuit fitted with glow sticks all around and he was even good at dancing so watching him was awesome. You can check out the vids on my Youtube channel if you want as well. Search Roothlus1 to find it.
The night before New Year’s I went to a rehearsal dinner for one of my good friends’ wedding. It was enjoyable to see a bunch of old friends. After that I went to see some more old friends down in Miami. These were camp friends though and we just drank some and chilled next to the beach. For New Year’s I went to one of my best friend’s wedding. It was a great vibe and a fun way to spend the last night of the decade.
Alright well time to go play basketball. Next week I’ll definitely have some pics, vids and a full rundown of the tournament. Go get ‘em at the tables!
Tags: Aruba, Matt Graham, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure, ub, YouTube
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Friday, January 1, 2010 - Roothlus
Since this is my last blog of the year, it seems fitting for me to make goals for the new year. Generally I’m not that big on New Year’s resolutions but this year is different. There really are so many things I need to improve on but first this past year was my best year ever.
January started off with my usual trip to the Bahamas for the PCA. I didn’t fare so well in the tourneys but it’s the freakin’ Bahamas. I mean, how bad can it be? In February I had my biggest score ever (2nd in the $5k FTOPS for $475k). Pretty surreal score. Granted I was on the stake but regardless it was amazing for me. Went to Gasparilla, Tampa’s version of Mardi Gras, and then moved out to Las Vegas towards the end of February. Enjoyed living there for a bit, playing my first $25k main event at Bellagio, and then jaunted off to Monte Carlo for an EPT. This was the first time I ever experienced serious jet lag and I was on an atrocious sleep schedule. Didn’t fare well and was planning on leaving the day of the $5k 6max when Amak convinced me to stay for it. Consequently, I final tabled it and took a nice chunk out of my makeup for $65k in the literal last tournament I would play before the World Series started.
The World Series didn’t go well. I went 2/19 and both cashes were for the minimum. After that I was a bit dejected and took time off from poker in general. In August I moved to Los Angeles, got back on the grind, won the $50r for $40k and regained my confidence. Played well at Legends but bubbled that. In September I grinded the WCOOPs and had 6 cashes in 21 events with my deepest run a 24th. Definitely would’ve been nice to final table one of these events but you can’t have it all. Shortly after, it was time for the awesomeness that is Aruba! It was a blast. There are so many memories from this year and last year’s. It just keeps getting better and better. After I got back from Aruba, I went to Las Vegas for the Caesars $5k and got 12th. Having gotten the live bug again, I flew across the country to Foxwoods Casino and final tabled that event getting 9th for $75k. Another solid cash. In December I went back to Las Vegas for the Five Diamond Poker Classic and really enjoyed myself. I didn’t do well pokerwise but City Center had just opened so it was like a vacation within a vacation.
After that, I flew home to Fort Lauderdale for the holidays and that brings us to now. I’m ready for 2010. Bring it on! I’m looking to outdo 2009 as the best year ever for me. Here are my goals for 2010:
-Play at least 20 hours of online cash games a week. I really slacked on this one this year. Cash games are the truest form of poker and in order to get better at poker you have to be well versed in cash games. I am not, but I will be next year.
-Eat better. Work out more. Live an all around healthy lifestyle. This year I really tried harder than ever before and that still isn’t remotely close to what I actually could be doing. Eating good is by far the toughest thing for me and I am really going to have to buckle down to do it.
-Win a bracelet, WPT, EPT, or main event of a big tournament series and final table 3 major events. 2008 was great to me in live poker but 2009 was lackluster and I still managed to almost break even. I’m looking for big things in 2010!
These are my goals and it’s the first time I’ve really set goals for myself. Guess it’s the new decade approaching. Oh, and for what it’s worth, when I say 2010 I say after the PCA. The PCA is basically the end of the year bash for all poker players even though it’s at the very beginning of the new year.
Alright, well guess that’s it for me in 2009. See you in 2010!
Tags: Aruba, Bellagio, Caesars, City Center, Five Diamond Poker Classic, Foxwoods, Mardi Grass, Poker Poker Poker, Vegas, WCOOP, WSOP
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Thursday, December 24, 2009 - Roothlus
Just got back from Las Vegas Saturday night. This particular Vegas trip was definitely my favorite in a long, long time. When you live in Vegas, it kind of loses it’s luster but when you visit, you get to go to those awesome clubs, restaurants, and tourist spots you took for granted as a resident. I went for the Five Diamond Classic at the Bellagio. Played 4 tourneys, all of which did not turn out well or you most definitely would’ve heard about it. I went deep in the $1k rebuy but sputtered out right before the money at the beginning of day 2. In 3 of the 4 tourneys I somehow sat next to my roommate, Amit. He was on my left in all 3 of them and even had the gall to bust me from the $15k main event on day 2. He ended up going on to cash the tournament so at least he put my chips to good use.
This time I stayed at Panorama Towers with Steve O’Dwyer. He’s pretty awesome and his perspective on good food is unrivaled. He knows his %@#$! As the trend of the tournament series seemed to be for me, I was seated next to Steve on day 1 of the $15k. It was almost as if the poker gods wanted to screw with me a little bit. He owned me in multiple spots and gave me fits all day. Oh well. At least he also went deep in the tournament ending up getting 6th place for a cool $200k. Congrats Steve!
During my time spent in Vegas I ate at many restaurants I loved. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — nice Ferris Bueller reference might I add — that the best part about Vegas is the food. This time the far and away best place I ate at was Julian Serrano. It was a tapas place with the same chef from Bellagio’s restaurant Picasso. Apparently Picasso is one of the most expensive restaurants in Vegas so when Julian Serrano was the best meal I’ve had in a while, I wasn’t surprised. By the way, for anyone curious what a tapas restaurant is google.com is one click away hah.
Julian Serrano is in City Center which, not to digress, is filled with oodles upon oodles of amazing. Seriously, go there when you get to Vegas. It’s different from any casino or hotel you’ve ever been in. Anyways, the best dish at Julian Serrano was this tuna tapas dish. It was ahi tuna breaded with sesame and a cube of raspberry on top of it. I’ve never had raspberry with any type of fish until tonight and it was just phenomenal. The crème brulee was also quite delicious and coming from someone so well versed in crème brulees, you should respect my opinion. But yea, definitely check out Julian Serrano. It’s even reasonably priced.
Another highlight of Vegas was playing the game Cranium for the very first time. I’m generally not a fan of board games even though my dad had tons of them when I was a kid. To me, they just seemed inferior once video games became such high quality. Justin Bonomo, David Williams, Scott Seiver, Eric Froehlich, and others all were playing and while initially I was a bit apprehensive just because of my disdain for board games, I decided to give it a shot. What transpired was an amazing night of sitting around playing this game. Basically, Cranium is a game these two Microsoft employees quit their jobs to make. The game tries to use all parts of your brain. Some questions you might have to act out a famous person, sculpt something out of Play-doh, or even draw something with your eyes closed. I ended up winning all 3 games we played. Guess I was the MVP although having not much of an idea how to play initially.
Now I’m off to Florida for the holidays to see my parents, go to a wedding on New Year’s, and then to the Bahamas on the 4th for one of the biggest tournaments of the year in Atlantis. Okay, so in closing remember to: never sit next to your roommate in a poker tournament, eat at Julian Serrano in City Center, and play Cranium! If you follow those rules, you’ll be enhancing your life. Until next week, keep killing it at the tables!
Tags: Bellagio, City Center, Cranium, Five-Diamond Classic, Julian Serrano, Microsoft, Poker Poker Poker, Vegas
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Tuesday, December 8, 2009 - Roothlus
I really enjoyed this past week. Monday I went with Amit and Trishelle to Capital City to watch the Saints/Pats game. Capital City is this new sports bar that just opened up that is the sports bars to end all sports bars. Well, at least Hollywood sports bars. It’s got a clubbish feel to it while still having tons and tons of HDTVs adorning the walls. There’s an outside bar for the smokers, an upstairs with personal couches for private parties, an inside bar, and the restaurant part of the bar. It’s just a great spot and blows any other bar in Hollywood out of the water.
The place was so dope you had to reserve the tables for MNF a week in advance. During the game was impossible to find an open table so we had to wait until the game finished to eat. We were starrrrrving. The Saints won and Amit and I both scooped our bets. I don’t bet often but since I was going to be out and about enjoying the game, I figured why not?!
Tuesday I worked out with my trainer, Bryan, who gave me the hardest workout in my life. Then Amit, Aaron (Katie’s bf), and I decided to go to Beverly Center for some holiday shopping. I bought some clothes and a new pair of glasses. I might’ve gone a little overboard with the glasses but I know I’ll be using them a fair amount so why not have them look good. Amiright?? After the shopping we went to PF Changs where I lost credit card roulette for a whopping $55, which I consider a win in my book. Anytime I lose and I ONLY have to pay $55, I’m stoked. Gotta save up my rungood for those $3k bills . We then went to see Boondock Saints 2, which as one of my friends loves to say, was a real treat. It was way funnier than the last one but was just as cool and badass. I would highly recommend going to see it.
Wednesday I played some poker. I know, weird right? Went deep in a couple of tourneys but everything sputtered out and I ended the day about even. Everyone else went to drag queen bingo that night, which I heard was hilarious, but Amit, Aaron, and I chose to have epic Mario Kart battles on the Wii. Amit was the victor and it might’ve tilted me up more than the poker did.
Thursday I actually got my dork on a played in a qualifier to a Magic tournament online. I went deep in it but ended up ‘bubbling’ the top 8 (final table). It was a relaxing, fun day. Played some UB cash while playing Magic the entire time and ended up booking a win, which doesn’t happen often for me in cash.
Friday a bunch of us went to see Up In The Air, a movie starring George Clooney and Anna Kendrick. Now if you don’t know Anna Kendrick, you will soon. The reason we went to see it was because Katie and her group of LA friends are good friends with her as well so it was really cool to see someone who they personally have spent tons of time with on the big screen. I found the movie to be clever and delightful and while it’s not along the same lines as Boondock Saints I’d highly recommend it as well. Then we went to a restaurant called Magnolia, which supposedly has the highest rated tuna tartar in the world. Tuna tartar isn’t my favorite tuna dish to eat but it was exceptional. You know when your mom would tell you to try something you hated because it’s a really good version of whatever it is and it’ll be different? Well, this tuna tartar would be that really good version that would make you fall in love with tuna tartar if you hated it. Magnolia was great. After that we took it easy and had an early night
Man there are so many days in the week and this is getting long-winded. Saturday Katie, Amit, Trishelle, and I went to a poker charity tournament at a swanky Culver City mansion built on a hill literally right next to a state park. Amit ended up scooping the entire thing and he allegedly gets a free hotel room in Cabo San Lucas. That’s what he was told but we were all a little skeptical considering there were nine people in the entire charity tournament, one them being the very Jewish guy from Harold and Kumar and the show Numbers so that was cool. There were tons of people at the party but not many who wanted to play poker apparently. After that, we went to a friend’s going-away party at Happy Endings, a bar in Hollywood and got a little tipsy. The party was a blast and was a good way to end the night. They played tons of 80s music which is a great way to get people really pumped up. I mean Don’t Stop Believing, Jesse’s girl, Jenny 867-5309. All those are classics and get people up and dancing. After that to end the night we went to 101 diner, conveniently right off of the 101 freeway and promptly decided we didn’t want to eat anymore once we ordered but that’s what always happens when you have to wait when your drunk.
Sunday I played a large schedule of 24 tourneys and it was an abysmal day up until my last tournament left. The FTP Mulligan I final tabled it for the 2nd week in a row. Unfortunately, last week I got 7th and this week I got 8th. Boooooooo. Today I’m doing some videos for Deepstacks.com and tomorrow I’m heading to VEGAS BABY! I’m going for the Five Diamond Classic and I’m pretty stoked to be playing live tournaments at the Bellagio again. Until next time peace!!!
Tags: Anna Kendrick, Bellagio, Five-Diamond Classic, George Clooney, Poker Poker Poker, ub, Vegas, Wii
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Wednesday, December 2, 2009 - Roothlus
This Thanksgiving was my first away from my family. It’s the first time in my life I’ve not lived in the same state as them. Because I’m going home anyways in a few weeks for the holidays, a wedding, and the PCA it seemed more logical to stay here for Thanksgiving. Also, if you’ve ever seen Funny People there’s a scene where the main characters and their friends, all young professionals and comedians, decide to stay in LA for Thanksgiving away from their parents. While it’s not that mind-blowing to not go home for Thanksgiving, for whatever reason the scene struck a chord with me and I wanted to have that.
My roommate Katie is for all intensive purposes the head of the household. Amit a.k.a online superstar Amak316 is my other roommate and we are both generally busy with poker so she’s the one who does all the planning. Fittingly, she planned Thanksgiving. We had nine people over including newly signed Absolute pro Trishelle Cantanella. Congrats by the way! We all really came together. Trishelle brought some homemade deviled eggs. Mmmmmm. Never had them before and man, were they legit. Katie’s boyfriend Aaron cooked the turkey and the stuffing. I made Mama Rooth’s recipe of sweet potato crunch and Katie made the cranberry sauce and sweet potato mash. I’m generally not a huge turkey fan but it was so juicy and the stuffing was amazing. The sweet potato crunch didn’t come out like my mom makes it but it was still really good. While it wasn’t intended to have a sweet potato competition everyone compared them and while mine was unhealthier than Katie’s everyone liked the taste of it more. So I won, kind of.
At some point things became a little hazy which generally happens at any gathering with a bunch of twenty-somethings. Towards the end of the night, I forget who, but someone found the Where’s Waldo coffee table book. Katie, being the head of the household, hated it being on the coffee table. I was just like, “No, you best respect Where’s Waldo!” So eventually she came around. It’s funny though because of the five books on the coffee table, Where’s Waldo is the only one people take the time to look at. For anyone born in the 80’s Where’s Waldo is completely a part of their childhood. While we were sitting around chatting we were all trying to find Waldo and after 15 some odd years it’s still tough to find him. I think Where’s Waldo was circulating around the room for close to an hour. There were a couple people who will remain nameless who were completely stumped. There’s this one Waldo page that’s 90% in black and white and no one could find it the entire night. The next morning I looked at it for a minute and found it. Now I’m not trying to sound like a pompous ass but I got me some Waldo skills. I’ll take anyone on!
Hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving and a great Black Friday as well.
P.S. Don’t go see New Moon but do go see The Blind Side and Boondock Saints.
Tags: Black Friday, Boondock Saints, New Moon, thanksgiving, The Blind Side
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009 - Roothlus
Since the last time I blogged, I was en route to the glorious Foxwoods Casino and I say glorious with only a little bit of sarcasm. Before this trip it was total sarcasm but after it, I’ll probably be going back in the future. So I flew Delta for $110 one-way from LA to JFK and then my brother, Justin, drove from JFK to Foxwoods, about a 2.5 hour drive. There were no rooms available in the two main hotels so we were maligned to staying at one of their off-property hotels called the Two Trees Inn. There was a shuttle that took us from there to Foxwoods so it wasn’t terribly inconvenient but it felt like a bed & breakfast place for senior citizens. I mean, there wasn’t even internet in the hotel rooms. Well, correction, there was dial-up! So if I wanted to reminisce about the good ole days when modems made that crazy noise, then yea maybe that’d be right up my alley.
We got there on Wednesday and decided to play the first night of the FTOPS. I brought my Verizon Wireless air card but my brother didn’t have one so we had to find a place to play so he could play as well. We decided to play in the lobby of the MGM so we could also watch game 6 of the World Series. By the way, as a poker player it is a necessity to have some sort of backup internet at all times. When the internet goes out it really can cost you lots of money. While I don’t use the air card all that often and I pay around $300 a year to have it, the times when the internet goes out and you have a backup, is well, priceless.
Okay, anyways after that mini-rant, let’s get back on track. Neither of us did particularly well. I stone bubbled the UB $1k and went from 8-tabling to two tables by 11PM. One was the aforementioned UB $1k, and the other was a $50 freezeout. Even though I had to play the Foxwoods main the next day for whatever reason I was compelled to play this tournament that started at 9:30PM and if I happened to do well in it I’d be up until 5 or 6AM trying to win it. Of course that’s exactly what happened. By 1250/2500 I had $450k in chips and was well ahead of 2nd place. I was running out of my mind. After a while I decided to get some grub at Fuddruckers and play some of the tourney there. That’s another reason why I love the aircard — it’s mobile! Long story short, I got a little tired and finished in 17th place, which was about the worst case scenario for all the time spent. Whatevs. Ish happens.
Thursday was the main event and it was a solid turnout, 340 players, $900k for first. Even in the current state of US poker, $900k for first is still a very healthy prize. Day 1 was pretty blah. I opened the most at the table but it didn’t matter because everyone kept folding. How annoying! I ended the day with a whopping $1k of progression from my starting stack of $30k.
Day 2 started off poorly. I had to check/fold a pair and a flush draw that turned a gutshot and was left with 15 big blinds after it. It was a pretty ridiculous hand and I ultimately decided to just muck it. The next hand I pick up AJo and shove on Allie Prescott’s early position open. While I’m all in, a guy to my right sits down and notices a quarter that was apparently left by the previous player in that seat. He sees I’m all in and tosses it in the middle and says “good luck” to me. I’m like sure whatever. I suck out and double up. Then I start jokingly use the quarter in all of my allins. I kept sucking out and by the end of the day I end at 130k, 65 big blinds. I even bagged the quarter. I’m not superstitious but what do I have to lose? Why not, right? Definitely a solid day.
Day 3 was another up and down rollercoaster. I started at a table with eventual winner Cornel Cimpan and we got into it in a spot where had I had a little more time to figure out his game I probably would not have played the hand the way I did. Regardless, I was down to 27k at 1.5k/3k. but I battled back hard and finished the day at $450k with 27 left in the tourney. On top of that my table was tough: Christian Harder, Jason Mercier, Todd Terry, and MazeOrBowie. While it was a really tough table, we were all going at it and playing poker. At one point Todd Terry opened to 14k at 3k/6k. Mercier 3-bet to 36k and Harder cold 4-bet to 70k. I was sitting in the big blind with 77 and really wanted to ship it but that just seemed kind of crazy to do. I fold, Terry folds, Mercier thinks for three minutes and folds. Harder is throwing his cards into the muck when Terry says “Show the deuce!”. Harder complies and flips over the deuce of clubs. Just sick poker being played at the table!
Day 4 was a grind. It started off well but once blinds got bigger my cards got deader. With two tables left I played 4 hands in the first 6 orbits. Then finally once we were 6-handed on each table I picked up Aces, Kings, and Queens all in on orbit to skyrocket to 40big blinds going into Day 5 when we play from 10 to 6 people.
Day 5 did not go so well. I was card dead once again and the table dynamics were not in my favor. The big stacks were to my right opening all the time and the short stacks were to my left. Also, there were opportunities for other people to bust but the short stacks kept doubling up which I took as an omen. With 9 people left, I shoved to Soheil Sommeddin’s(Christ! It’s a hard name to spell) raise with A9cc for 20 bigs. He took little time to call with QQ. I flopped a flush draw but bricked the turn and river and I was out the door in less than 30 seconds. Even though I was fairly disappointed to not make the TV table, I was satisfied with my play the entire tournament and really feel confident with my live game now.
After I busted I was privileged enough to eat at the best Italian restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. I did not expect this whatsoever but everything was so original along with the impeccable service. The restaurant was called Altastrada and I would highly, highly recommend going there next time you step foot into Foxwoods.
I know this blog is already a bit lengthy but I’m off to Bellagio in a week or two for the Five Diamond Classic. I did not play Festa Al Lago so I’m stoked to be playing at Bellagio again. Even though I’m not a total fan of the way the tournaments are run, there’s just something about playing at the Bellagio that makes it really enjoyable to do so. Until next week, good luck at the tables!
Tags: Allie Prescott, Bellagio, Christian Harder, Cornel Cimpan, Five-Diamond Classic, Foxwoods, FTOPS, jason mercier, Maze OrBowie, MGM, Poker Poker Poker, Todd Terry, ub
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Sunday, November 8, 2009 - Roothlus
Hey fellow UB-ites. I was just trying to think of a way to say people of UB. UBians? I dunno. UB-ites doesn’t sound too bad. Either way, I digress (already). So I’ve been m.i.a. the past couple of weeks. Aruba came and went, not like a midday rain shower, but more like a category 5 hurricane where you’re lucky to get out alive with your liver still in tact. After Aruba, I came home for a couple of weeks, tried to get back into a good fitness schedule and book some wins in cash and tourneys. I did pretty well with all three. Went to the gym a respectable amount, broke even in cash, which considering how seldom I play cash is also respectable, and even won 2 tourneys with a couple other solid cashes.
Then I left for Las Vegas for the Caesars Classic $5k Main Event, which was my first visit back to Vegas since I moved away 3 months ago. It’s always nice to go back to a place you once lived and enjoy all the things you loved about the city. Vegas is a great place for that. If you live there it loses a bit of it’s luster but if you visit there’s so much to do with so little time it seems like an amazing city. And it is, amazing…for tourists. I went to Naked Fish, the place where I was Poker Punk’ed, to enjoy some delightful sushi and even got to Carne Vino, which is definitely one of my favorite steakhouses. I would highly, HIGHLY, recommend it to any steakhouse lover. I still think the food in Vegas is the best part of Vegas. I was really impressed with myself. I barely drank while I was there, didn’t got to a club, and didn’t even have an itch to go to the infamous Spearmint Rhino. I did get to hang with friends and stay at four different places while I was there. I guess you could say I was a vagabond and while my back wasn’t happy with me sleeping on couches day in day out, it’s definitely a good way to do Vegas if you know a lot of people. It keeps things interesting. As far as the tournament went, I played extremely well. Made some sick plays, grinded my shortstack when I needed to, but ultimately fell short of the final table and reshoved A10o into Kathy Liebert’s AQo to bust in 12th. One thing it did do was motivate me to play more live poker after a rough 2009 on the live circuit. I’m actually typing this blog on my way to Foxwoods.
So the meat of the blog is my Halloween experience! Awesome. Just awesome., but it started off really stressful and I was on the verge of giving up on the whole night entirely. My Halloween journey started around 8ish when I went to go pick up my friends and bring them back to my place so we could all take a limo from one place. Getting a limo on Halloween in a busy city is a must. Last year we couldn’t find a cab and we had to walk a mile home. I went to go pick them up about 15 minutes from my place. It was already starting to get busy and the only parking available was next to a fire hydrant. Oh, perfect, I’m only waiting for a couple of minutes so that’s fine. So I tell my friends to come out but since they are girls, saying “I’ll be right there”, never means that. I waited patiently in the car but because we were kind of on a time crunch I called them and even got out of my car in an attempt to go up to their apartment and make them hurry up. I left my blinkers on because I wanted people to know I was going to be leaving shortly. They said they were on their way and I decided to wait outside my car while they came down. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes but when I went to turn the car on, the starter made a clicking sound, and the engine wouldn’t budge which was weird because the windows, lights, and radio all worked. Regardless, I’m screwed. We assess the situation and I get in contact with my Infiniti roadside assistance who thankfully dispatched someone right away to be there within 30 minutes.
While we were waiting for the repair vehicle, fire trucks came racing down the street and stopped on our block. At this point, I really start to lose it. My car isn’t starting and it’s parked next to a fire hydrant. I would just feel horrible if there really was a major fire and I was blocking the fire hydrant. But thankfully for my own sanity’s sake, it ended up just being a false alarm. PHEW! The repair truck came and gave me a start and we were off Ricky Bobby style. I really did some excellent driving while we jammed out to fun songs to get us pumped for the night.
Oh yea, one key thing: I still had to get into my costume! Luckily it was this Cookie Monster costume I bought online the other day at a website aptly named BuyCostumes.com. It was just a one-piece costume and within 10 minutes I was ready. Unfortunately I had to park my car in front of a garage because parking was so brutal on my street. You think I would’ve learned my lesson but nope. The limo driver needed to get through so I had to move my car regardless. Of course, as luck would have it, the car didn’t start AGAIN. Like come the f on! So I had to have Amit, my roommate a.k.a. Amak316, and the only other guy there help me move my car in neutral uphill. There’s a picture of it somewhere and it’s hilarious but we did it. We pushed it into the limo’s old spot. Somehow it all came together and all ten of us in the limo were off to our Halloween adventure!
We went to this club called Madame Royale which was throwing a Halloween party hosted by Ryan Cabrera. Inside was a blast. Apparently, chicks dig Cookie Monster. Everywhere I walked girls would be like OMG that’s Cookie Monster. I even got some props from random dudes. It definitely was a hit and if I could wear that Cookie Monster costume everywhere, all the ladies would have to watch out !
The next stop was a house party which was a nice change from the fast-paced style of any club. I ended up finding someone wearing a TinkyWinky costume and jokingly told him we should throw down and the winner of the fight would officially be crowned the best children’s show! What’s funny is later on in the night I found out I knew the guy and neither of us realized it initially. The alcohol was scarce at the house party so I got creative and used wine as my mixer for vodka. After that, it was official: I was drunk. The rest of the night was a blur. I know at one point I was chatting up with a homeless guy while trying to rap with Jeff Madsen on the side of the street while waiting for our limo who also coincidentally broke down. But that’s the best part of any drunken night, trying to piece together what happened the next morning.
I hope your Halloween was at least as crazy and fun as mine. If not, you disappoint me! Well, until next, keep killing it at the tables and living your life to the fullest off of them!
Tags: Aruba, Caesars Classic, Foxwoods, halloween, Live Poker, Poker Poker Poker, tournaments, ub, Vegas
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Saturday, October 3, 2009 - Roothlus
Man, right now television is on fire. This past Sunday might’ve been the greatest Sunday in all of television history. There were like 8 shows that I wanted to watch: Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Family Guy, Bored to Death, Californication, Dexter, Amazing Race (Go Tiffany and Maria!), and Sunday Night Football. It really made my DVR work to it’s limits. It’s so tough to keep up with all of it but I must say after a long Sunday of endless online grinding, it’s so refreshing to have all these shows to watch.
If that’s not enough for you, there’s still Monday and Thursday for some more amazing shows. Two years after the writer’s strike it appears as though television has been restored back to what it used to be, if not better. One show that’s on Monday that I absolutely adore is How I Met Your Mother. The show features Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, and Alyson Hannigan and is about their friend Ted (a previously unknown actor named Josh Radnor) who is shown telling a story to his kids twenty years in the future about how he met their mother. The chemistry between everyone in the show is really great, the character development is superb, and the dialogue is fun and witty. It’s almost like a newer, fresher version of Friends.
In last night’s episode Ted goes on a blind date with a girl who he happened to go on a blind date with seven years before. On the blind date, they realize this after a while and discuss why the first blind date didn’t work. One of the things they discussed was that the girl didn’t even attempt to pick up the check and that irked Ted. This is something that I have had endless discussions about with guys, girls, animals, whoever. It’s a tough situation because some girls expect to not even have to attempt to pay for the meal. Some guys feel the check should be split and some even feel they shouldn’t have to pay at all. There are many different takes on this situation.
Now, I want to bring up a way that will end this discussion and no longer cause the social awkwardness of what was referred to on How I Met Your Mother as “the check dance”. I say we require everyone to play credit card roulette on a date! Yes, CCR! Why you say? Well, CCR is the best way ever to resolve any type of check dispute. Also, it saves time. Instead of the usual bickering and divvying up over who got what, you just throw in your card and whoever gets picked pays. It’s fun! It’s easy! It’s credit card roulette! Now you must be saying, well that’s not very nice to the girl to have to gamble for the bill. Well, there are ways to approach this. You can rig it so you lose or put 3 cards in to her 1 card.
Honestly, if credit card roulette was instituted around the world as a way of figuring out who pays, the human race as a whole would save 10 minutes every time they eat out. Just think how much time that can save in a lifetime! So while yes, sometimes you get footed with the entire bill, there will be weeks, sometimes months where you never pay. Also, it spices up things a little bit and we all could use a little spice in our lives.
I do find it funny just how risk-averse the average person is. If I had never played poker and learned what is considered a good bet, a bad bet, and a neutral bet I probably would be against doing CCR. But thankfully I did play poker and learned how to have a little extra fun. The thing with credit card roulette is, it’s a completely neutral bet. People are scared to pay the entire bill when in reality you are just changing it from paying for a portion of the bill every day to, paying for the entire bill sometimes and nothing the other times.
This is my proposition America! CCR in 2k10! CCR in 2k10!
Hope you enjoyed this rather lighthearted blog and see you guys in Aruba. YEA!!!!!!!
–Adam “Roothlus” Levy
Tags: Aruba, Football, tv
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009 - Roothlus
So this past weekend was awesome. So many great things happened and as a whole September is an unreal month. I’d say it ranks up there with the likes of December and June with July an honorable mention. There is so much going on this month: college football, pro football, real football (soccer hehe), new shows on television, the U.S. Open, the VMAs and the weather is still in top form. Oh and Labor Day weekend is definitely one of the best weekends of the year. I mean, the list just goes on and on. There will be no poker in this blog just me discussing the merits football and soccer, my newfound admiration for tennis, but most importantly, Kanye West. I mean, what’s a blog without Kanye freakin’ West!?
I’m really happy to see the NFL back. During the summer months there is this void in any true sports fan’s heart. There needs to be multiple sports going on at once. And for a two month span it’s only baseball. Come on. Baseball?? What a snoozefest. I used to like baseball a long time ago probably before I was enlightened by the internet and my attention span was a bit longer. It’s just so boring pitch to pitch. Yes, there are brief moments of excitement but they are few and far between. As well, it’s the middle of the season and it’s hard to stay interested in something not ending for 100 games. NFL is similar to that but it’s still faster paced and there is excitement on nearly every play not just a couple here and there. While I’m no Nostradamus, I do think Green Bay, Dallas, and the Giants looked excellent in the first week. I thought Minnesota could be great but Favre is a huge asterisk. The ending to the Bengals-Broncos game was incredible and such an unlikely turn of events to end the game. It’s things like these fluke occurrences that make football an incredible sport.
Soccer helps fill that void midway through the summer. While I have said football is a phenomenal sport, soccer is my favorite. The structure of a soccer game is great compared to all the other sports. It’s two 45 minute halves with no commercials with a twenty minute break in between. And these 45 minute halves run straight through. There’s no stop when the ball goes out of bounds or commercial breaks, just injury time, which is a couple of minutes at the end for fouls and other stoppages during the half. Commercial time outs are definitely one of the worst attributes of American sports. Soccer hasn’t succumbed to it yet, even Major League Soccer thankfully. Also, while yes scoring in soccer is few and far between, the buildup to each and every goal is exciting and tense. Because there is less scoring there is also a massive importance on each goal so mistakes can prove to be deadly. On top of all this, the idea of being able to hit a ball with your head is just cool. I love that there are a lot of different leagues going on in a typical soccer season as well. There are each country’s respective leagues and then there’s the Champion’s League, a league for the champions of the individual leagues. There are some other smaller leagues going on as well but thrown in the mix are World Cup qualifiers as if everything else wasn’t enough to keep things interesting. Okay, that’s enough on soccer for now.
I became a new fan of tennis this past week with the U.S. Open. I watched an epic match between two unknowns that ended up being the longest match in U.S. Open history. After that, watching Federer’s unbelievable shot between the legs on Sunday and Del Potro’s unfathomable victory against Federer in the finals Monday was enough to have me hooked. Federer had a SIX YEAR winning streak at the U.S Open spanning forty matches. That’s just unheard of for any sport and to watch the match where someone coming out of nowhere to take the title and break the streak was truly gripping.
Lastly, the best part of the weekend was Kanye West acting like a total goon. I don’t need to go into it because quite frankly, if you haven’t heard what he did this weekend then you must live in a box. I have no idea what could compel him to interrupt Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech which had to be one of her most special moments in her young life. Kanye must think he’s untouchable but if he keeps these antics up he’ll find himself out of the limelight fairly quick. The best part about what he did are these photoshops popping up all over the place having him interrupting different icons and saying another person was better. It’s been dubbed Kanye Gate and quite frankly, it’s hilarious.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this blog and this action-packed weekend as much as I did. Until my next blog, talk to you soon.
–Adam “Roothlus” Levy
Tags: Baseball, Champions League, Football, Kanye West, NFL, Poker Poker Poker, Taylor Swift, Tennis, US Open, VMA's
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Tuesday, September 1, 2009 - Roothlus
So it’s official I’ve lived in Los Angeles for exactly one month as of today. And so far, I’ve loved it. I’ve been to a bunch of cool spots and it’s very refreshing to be around more lady friends and have the opportunity to do an array of things on a given day. The lifestyle seems way more upbeat and on the go but not in a NYC kinda way where people are on the go but aren’t particularly friendly. Everyone seems way happier and just a tad crazy too which I love. It’s definitely a healthy change from Las Vegas. Don’t get me wrong I love me some Vegas but in weekend doses. As a whole I felt sucked into the whole city. I was extremely lazy and ate horribly. Granted, the food I ate was super top quality but by no means does that make it healthy. Since moving to LA I joined 24-hr Fitness and have been on the workout grind almost day-in day-out. I haven’t lost much weight yet but I feel so much healthier than I did a mere month ago.
My goal is to look good for the best stop on the live poker circuit, the Aruba Poker Classic. And while yes, I am a member of Team Ultimate Bet and you’re thinking, well isn’t this a blatant plug?? Well, you’re only half right ‘cause I legitimately love it. Last year, I was a little bit nervous at first. I had just joined UB and was meeting a whole bunch of new people and was a little bit overwhelmed. By the 3rd day or so I found myself just having a total blast. It’s honestly a great week of partying with a little bit of poker on the side. Oh, and the Phil Hellmuth penthouse party is nothing short of awesome! On top of all this, it’s Ultimate Bet’s 10th anniversary this year and they’ll be celebrating it at the Aruba Poker Classic. So if anyone is undecided about going this year, I hope I swayed you into going because it’s going to be EPIC!
As far as what’s on tap for me the rest of the year, I’ll be taking it easy. The WCOOP starts on Thursday and I’ll be pretty focused on that until the end of September at which point I’ll be making my way to said Aruba Poker Classic. After that, I’ll see my parents for a few days in Florida, jaunt back to LA for a week, then spend a week or so in Vegas for Festa Lago. But after that crazy little patch of traveling, my only tourney I’ll be traveling to is the Five-Diamond Classic in December. It’s kind of nice to not be traveling to every tournament under the sun for a change. And when I am traveling it’s only to Vegas, a mere 4-hour drive.
Well, I guess this is actually short for my blogs but before I go I recently had the opportunity to play in Scott Ian’s home game on Ultimate Bet last week. Hate to make a pun, but it was rockin’. I got to play with Vinnie Paul, Kirk Hammett, Layne Stayley, and a bunch of other rockers including Scott Ian himself. I ended up getting 4th as things unraveled. First was an Aruba package but better someone else win it when I’m going regardless. I’d definitely recommend playing in the satellites to this very special tourney.
Ok, now seriously, lastly, check me out on ESPN’s Inside Deal this week. They did a phone interview today so that was pretty cool. Until my next blog peeeeeeace.
Tags: Aruba Poker Classic, espn, Five-Diamond Classic, Inside Deal, Kirk Hammett, Layne Stayley, Los Angeles, Phil Hellmuth, Scott Ian, ub, UB 10th Anniversary, Ultimate Bet, Vegas, Vinnie Paul, WCOOP
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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - Roothlus
Hey guys. It’s been a wee bit since I last blogged. Not going to lie, I’ve been a blogging hiatus. The WSOP kind of totally consumed me but don’t fret my blogettes, I’m back! This year’s WSOP was definitely one I’d like to forget. I played 21 events with only 2 cashes for a whopping total of $10k. I will say this though, I definitely ran bad but I wasn’t too happy with my play this year. I had a great year last year with 6 cashes in 17 events so the fact that I didn’t have a great WSOP wasn’t a huge surprise to me. I do think I learned a bit and improved my game throughout it, which is all you can do when trying to get through a rough patch like this.
I saw the Main Event as a last chance to salvage a subpar year but that didn’t go well either. Although, I definitely played excellent throughout the tournament my bustout hand was not my finest moment. I didn’t make a mistake in the hand but I accidentally angleshot and accidentally slowrolled a guy in the same hand. I stress that it was completely unintentional and I would never do that to anyone period. I decided to setmine with 66 against a tight good player and the flop came A96 rainbow. The raiser bet 6800 and when I went to call an extra 5k chip stuck to my fingers and I made it 11800. I was forced to make it 13600. I didn’t mean to do it but it accidentally worked out. So I go back to listening my music and I expect him to take a while. About five minutes go by and I look at him and it looks like he’s in the tank and he never motioned like he was shoving or anything. I look at the dealer and he gives me a blank stare. Two more minutes go by and the dealer motions to me that it’s on me. Apparently he went all in within 30 seconds of my minraise but I never noticed it and everyone thought I was in deep thought. I say to the guy, “I’m so sorry, I call” and flip over my set of sixes. The guy says “It’s cool man” and flips over a set of Aces. LOL. Funny how it worked out. Definitely one of the more interesting hands I’ve ever played.
I took it easy the end of July and wanted nothing to do with poker. At the very end of July I moved to Los Angeles finally. I’m rooming with another poker player, Amak316, and a good friend of mine. I’m ecstatic for the move and I know that I will really enjoy it. We decided to go to San Diego for a few days and I’m not sure which city is better but man is it a close decision. I’ve even been a decent sleep schedule compared to my Las Vegas schedule. On a good day I’d be waking up at 12PM in Las Vegas. That’s me sleeping in LA. And yes, I know 12PM is still super late but I’m a poker player, whaddya want from me?
Last Sunday I played had a pretty good win of $38k when I won the 50 rebuy. I’m not joking the person I played heads up could’ve been in a freeroll and been a losing player hah. Even though I really didn’t have to put too much effort into heads up, a win is a win! And there’s no better feeling than winning a tournament. I’m playing the Bike WPT next week and hopefully I’ll carry my online success over to that. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed. I’m definitely due to make a big live run before the end of the year. So wish me luck! Next time I talk to you I’ll have a WPT win under my belt 
. Peace guys.
–Adam “Roothlus” Levy
P.S. Look for upcoming training videos of me at DeepstackUniversity.com
Tags: Adam "Roothlus" Levy, las vegas, Main Event, Poker Poker Poker, WPT, WSOP
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Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - Roothlus
Hey guys. It’s been a minute since my last blog and I just got back from the time of my life, Mayercraft 2009. It was a cruise on Carnival’s best ship, the Splendor which already sounds like a grand ole time. To make matters better (btw no one ever says this phrase but everyone says to make matters worse. Why?? I don’t know) they decided to get a bunch of bands to play on this cruise including John Mayer, O.A.R., Guster, and about 10 other really awesome bands. So when you have rock bands on a cruise how can it end up being anything less than the time of your life?
Friday was pretty cool. Katie, her friend Lo, my bro, and got on the cruise around 1ish and promptly started the drinking and didn’t really stop until Tuesday. I mean, what else is there to do on a cruise besides drink, eat, and [expletive deleted] . John Mayer came out within two hours and serenaded everyone with an hour long opening set. Later that night we went to go see Guster at the theatre inside the cruise ships. Yes, the cruise ship was ginormous. Guster was unbelievable even though we happened to miss the first 30 minutes of the show. Instead of a standard guitarist, bassist, singer, and drummer they are a bit more versatile. At one point the lead singer pulled out a ukulele and splayed an entire song with it. The drummer however, takes drumming to a whole new level. He uses bongos along with a regular drumming kit set and is so good at hitting the beat. In fact, me describing how good he was isn’t doing him any justice. If you ever get a chance to see Guster live, keep your eyes peeled on the drummer. He was just so intense. That night we all proceeded to get drunk and the girls and my bro and I split up. The girls headed off to bed and my brother and I continued partying.
We ended up meeting these two girls named Sara and… Sara. They were BFFs and apparently they have another two friends back home both named Sara. We went to watch some karaoke hosted by one of the singers on the trip, Ryan Shaw. He was actually pretty lively and seemed down-to-earth. Karaoke on a cruise full of drunken people is fairly entertaining. Either, they are awesome at singing or they are glass shattering bad. There is no in between, it’s just both ends of the spectrum and in different ways they are both great to watch. After the karaoke we were all hammered at that point and we split up with our girls. My bro, Justin, got the hotter Sara. Curses! Whatever, they were both decent looking so it was cool.
Well, I think that’s all for now. Tune in to my next blog for the rest of the Mayercraft story. I know, I said that other story was a two-parter but this time I’ll actually come through and make it a two-parter so don’t fret. Oh, and after I finish the 2nd part of that, the week after I’ll actually talk about poker a little bit. I’ll have plenty to talk about actually with Bellagio World Champs coming up on the 18th and the last week of SCOOP. Bye bye for now and good luck to everyone at the tables.
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Sunday, March 15, 2009 - Roothlus
…needless to say I survived it. I don’t think I’ve had a full weekend of drinking in a long long time. I’m even talking about Sunday night as well. When was the last time you went drinking on a freakin’ Sunday night? I’m usually too bummed out after losing a bunch of money to do anything on Sunday. But not this Sunday. I had time to lose $3k in all the tourneys and then go out.
The weekend started on Friday when my friend Katie and her friend Brooke came into town from L.A. The night started a bit late when we went to Caesars to sweat Chris Ferguson in the NBC Heads Up. He lost to Gabe Kaplan unfortunately but whatevs. I think he’s had a fairly good run the past few years hehe. After he busted we went to Treasure Island for some sushi at this place called Social House. It says it stays open 4PM-LATE but at 11:15PM it was closed. Really??? That’s not late. Maybe somewhere in Idaho, but definitely not in Vegas. So after a little bit of coaxing we were able to get a table…for eleven. Jeff Madsen, Brandon Cantu, and co. came along as well. This was a totally different crew from the online whiz kids I normally hang around and it was a good change of pace. Social House was pretty good and it was very enjoyable but nothing I would rave about. They did have some great sake, raspberry-infused sake. Mmmmm, so good. But more importantly how good is the word infused. I just want whatever is infused. I think the quote at the dinner table was “I love the word infused. It just sounds cool. I swear if they infused tomatoes, I’d want it!” After bunch of sake, sushi, and chats we decided to CCR(credit card roulette) for the bill of $1600 where I fortunately didn’t win and we were out. Phew.
Once we vamoosed from Social House Katie, Brooke, Joe Sebok who showed up at the end of the meal, and I decided to go to Forty-Deuce, a burlesque club at Mandalay Bay. It’s a great place to go if you really don’t want to go to a standard bar or club on a Friday night in Vegas. We spent about an hour there, did a bunch of shots, took a bunch of pictures, did a lot of dancing and then we realized it was somehow 3AM already. We decided it was it was time to go home…and keep drinking. I mean, we had to show Brooke a good time. It was only her 2nd time in Vegas. What a n0ob. I’m not sure what propelled it, but we somehow found ourselves sitting on a futon playing Truth or Dare. Yes, Truth or freakin’ Dare. Four twenty-somethings sitting on a couch playing T or D. Reeeeal mature. Somehow no one did a dare and all we did was four truths and then we all passed out. So basically we played it exactly how we used to play it back in the day where no one ever really got a dare to work.
Saturday was more of the same. We woke up at 12PM, early for me, went for some good hangover food at an omelet place called Egg And I. Nothing off the charts ridiculous but good nonetheless. Does anyone else notice that I just love talking about food? Las Vegas has so many different places to eat and a lot of them are open late as well which I absolutely adore. Anyways, we went shopping. I somehow got convinced to buy 3 pairs of dress shoes when all I wanted was one pair. I always get carried away when I go shopping. After that we went to Naked Fish for dinner which is my favorite sushi place to eat at in Las Vegas. Nobu is obviously super sick but I don’t really classify Nobu as a sushi place. The girls had to experience a good sushi restaurant especially when they think LA has the best sushi. Puhleaseee. I brought Justin “Zeejustin” Bonomo with us to the sushi restaurant and he is a super sicko orderer. When we got there I picked out 2 sushi rolls I wanted and he ordered the rest. I was in a good mood and picked up the tab.
After that we went home to get changed for the night and picked up JC Alvarado a.k.a. the Mexican Superstar and Steve O’Dwyer a.k.a. Mr. TimCaum. And no I have no idea why he calls himself TimCaum when he is clearly a Steve. We all met up with Amak, TheChronic420, and a bunch of online guys at the club X S at the new Encore casino attached to the Wynn. You know a club is cool when it’s only two letters. I might add the club has a similar layout to X S’s sister club over at the Wynn, Tryst . There were small subtle differences that made me enjoy X S much more but this blog’s already getting rather long. We don’t need to go off on ANOTHER tangent. The energy in the air was great. Everyone we were with were all low maintenance and down to just have fun. We got 6 bottles for our table full of like 12 people and I even tried to get the waitress to make us a shot I created called the Slutty Wizard. It’s got Blue Curacao, Malibu Rum, and Bacardi 151 in it and when you can, you should light it on fire. I’ve had it made for me twice successfully but am yet to have it after it was lit on fire. Oh, and the way I like to describe the taste is, for a shot with 151 in it, it tastes pretty good. So they didn’t have Blue Curacao or 151 so I had to create a new shot on the spot called the Green Goblin which is Midori, Malibu, and regular Bacardi Rum. It actually ended up being pretty damn good and it’s always cool to take a shot you created yourself hah. The night ended at 4am when Katie, JC, Brooke, and I all decided to take a cab to Café Bellagio. They have the best Banana’s Fosters waffle. It’s sooooo good and especially great drunken food. If you like Banana’s Fosters it is a must to try. I guess this turned more into a food blog this time. Like I said, Las Vegas is the best for food.
I think I’m going to cut the blog now and post again next week. This is getting pretty long and to be honest, Sunday was the craziest most random night of them all and I would much rather dedicate most of my next blog to that night. Also, maybe I’ll have something to say after I win the Bay 101. Yea, sure, why not. I’m calling my shot. Peace for now.
–Adam “Roothlus” Levy
Tags: Brandon Cantu, Chris Ferguson, Forty-Deuce, gabe kaplan, Jeff Madsen, Joe Sebok, nbc heads-up, Social House, Treasure Island
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Monday, February 9, 2009 - Roothlus
Hey peeps. It’s me, your resident pro Roothlus. It’s my last weekend in Orlando since I’m in the process of moving out to Las Vegas until the end of the World Series. I have wanted to move to the West Coast for years and I’m finally doing it. The West Coast is for me and I’m comin’! With the LAPC, the Bay 101, the Wynn Classic, WPT Champs and the WSOP on the west coast all within the next six months, it makes sense for me to move there. I don’t mind traveling but I really just need to have a home base on the West Coast. After the WSOP I’m planning on moving out to LA which will hopefully be my permanent residence. Alright so enough about that.
The FTOPS started on Wednesday so the tournament fields have gotten bigger which has helped the fields on other sites, Ultimate Bet included. The $1k on Wednesdays at 8:30PM EST got up to 216 players this week because of the FTOPS and so did the 9:00PM $200 sniper. It had 560 players in it this week. This is good for UltimateBet. Now, I just wish there was a tournament series every week! I think in the 2 FTOPS I’ve played so far I’ve lasted a total of, wait for it, 30 hands lol. I got owned by this donk in the $200 NL in back to back hands to bust before late registration was even done. Now, that’s impressive! I somehow outdid myself on Thursday when I played the $200 PLO8 tournament. I woke up in the middle of late registration 20 minutes into the tourney which I then didn’t realize for another 10 minutes that it wasn’t PLO and that it was PLO8. That’s what happens when you roll out of bed and start playing all groggy. Woops.
I took Friday and Saturday off and just enjoyed the downtime. Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it downtime. I went with some friends and my bro Justin a.k.a Roothlus Jr. to Tampa for this parade called Gasparilla. It’s like a toned down Mardi Gras but still a blast. It was exactly what I needed considering I’ve been grinding at home for the past two weeks so having social interaction was very refreshing. That’s definitely a downside of being an online poker player. You have to really try hard to create your own social circles because you aren’t around people besides your roommates on a day-to-day basis. That’s another reason why I’m moving to Vegas. I know soooo many people out there.
Sunday I was happy to be back at home and ready for a good grind session. Once again with the FTOPS there were massive fields all around including the $200k and $100k on UB. They both surpassed their guarantees as well. I ended up having a pretty good but heartbreaking day for a Sunday. I stone bubbled the FTOPS $240 6max which was $170k and this was the 2nd week in a row I bubbled a huge tournament. But, this is what I signed up for when I started playing tournament poker. I live for these ups and downs. In some screwed up way I’m kind of addicted to them. I could totally go off on a tangent about poker and my thoughts on it but let’s leave that for another blog hehe. Well, that’s all for now. See you guys at the tables.
Tags: Adam "Roothlus" Levy, FTOPS, Online Poker, PLO, world series of poker, WPT, Wynn Classic
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Monday, January 26, 2009 - Roothlus
Hey guys. It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog. Well, no worries. I’m back! Recently I’ve been taking it easy at home in Orlando, Florida. I went to the Poker Stars Caribbean Adventure and the Bellagio Five Diamond Classic WPT. I didn’t do well in either tourney but I at least had a lot of fun while I was out there.
So far this year I’ve been doing moderately well online although what I am realizing is it’s tough to come out far ahead in online tournaments nowadays. Basically what I’m saying is, you need to run well in the right tourneys. Like today for instance, I sucked out at least 4 times to acquire a pretty big stack in the $50 125k guaranteed on Poker Stars. I mean yea, it pays something like $27k for first but why can’t I be sucking out in the bigger more important tourneys like the Stars Million or the UB $200k. I hope to do well in the upcoming FTOPS on Full Tilt to really get my year off to a great start. I came really close yesterday to a very nice score. I got 19th in the UB $200k. Unfortunately the way I went out was super dirty. Aces vs A10ss on 10ss board after he coldcalled my 3bet out of the small blind and rivered the spade on me for a $300k pot at $3k/$6k. My tournament was a crazy one. I grinded for a bit early on then won a pretty crucial flip at 150 300 25 ante for 15k. I then got up to 25k at around 400/800 after holding 1010 vs 88. With about 120 left (99 pay) I got 3outed for a 40k pot at 600 1200 and found myself in danger of bubbling. I then got 2 outed with AA vs 88 on the river against a shorter stack to put me at around 4k. I then got it all in with K9o vs JJ and the board ran out with me turning my 9high flush with his Jack of diamonds and holding. Woops. Then AA vs JJ to get to 24k on the bubble. I grind for a little bit, we make the money and I ship the button with QQ and get called by KQo to get to 40k at 800/1600. After that there were a bunch of ups and downs which ultimately ended with that AA vs A10ss hand. It was to say the least a rollercoaster of a tourney.
On a much more positive note, I’m planning on moving to Las Vegas in the middle of February until after the WSOP. What I figured out was I’m going to be spending so much time on the west coast over the next 6 months or so I should really just get my lazy ass over there. After that I plan on moving to LA but nothing is set in stone just yet. I always say this as a tournament player: “Yeah, I’ll most likely be doing this or that, but you never know because a huge win could be right around the corner”. Who knows, maybe I’ll win this year’s main event and have to fly around the world for the next year promoting myself. As much as you can try to plan your life as a tournament player, there’s always a possibility of a wrench being thrown in the middle of it all. Of course, I would totally welcome this ‘wrench’ anytime (poker gods please be listening)
Once I move out to Las Vegas I will be on the move non-stop. As of now, I’m playing the LAPC main, the WPT Celebrity Invitational, the Bay 101, the Wynn Classic, the WPT Championship. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, I’m flying over to Europe for the EPT Final in Monte Carlo. After that I come home, chill for a matter of weeks, and then the WSOP starts up. Oh and in between these events I have to find time to play online for the different online poker series that run from time to time. Well, I guess that’s all for now. I just wanted to check in and say what’s up. Wish me luck at the tables!
Tags: Bellagio Five Diamond, EPT Monte Carlo, Full Tilt, Poker Stars, world series of poker, WPT, WPT Celebrity Invitational, WSOP
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