stevesbets

I’m not sure the Borgata Headache is unique to the Borgata, as I’ve often gotten it at the Taj in Atlantic City and in various casinos in Vegas, however, by percentage it is mostly a Borgata phenomenon and that is why it is dubbed as such.

There are many reasons why I hate playing live poker, one of which is the nasty tendencies of live poker players which I have enumerated in an earlier post. Some others are simply the obvious differences between online and live poker. Online is way faster, you get some sort of rakeback, you have bigger game selection and in general it is way less boring than live poker. One thing I would like to add to this list that is more personal for me is the Borgata Headache.

I was just at the Borgata visiting some of my friends who went down from Connecticut for a weekend poker trip. After being there for several hours we went to Seablue for dinner at which case the brutal headache began to set in. It happens to me about 85% of the time I go to the Borgata after about 5 hours there. I get a splitting headache that makes me just want to sleep. I don’t know what it is exactly, I assume its the oxygen they pump in and the weird effect it has on me. This headache alone may be enough to keep me from playing live poker there too often even if it were not for the other factors. As I have said before, if it were ever totally impossible to play online due to new laws or otherwise, I would certainly be looking for a new job. The weirdest part of the Borgata Headache is it dissipates within an hour of leaving the casino. By the time I got home to Philadelphia it was totally gone.

As for the holiday meaning of Christmas contest, I’m still getting some good responses rolling in so I’m extending the deadline until Jan1. Good luck Betsies.

(Betsies (n): people that read Stevesbets’ blog)

-Last night driving to my Aunts house we drove by a comfort inn that said couples named Mary and Joseph stay free…I wonder if that could lead to some sort of discrimination lawsuit

-Even at the age of 24 there is still something magical about going to sleep and waking up with a pile of presents.

-These presents are far more magical before they are unwrapped because they can hold absolutely anything

-I feel somewhat awkward accepting presents from family as I usually buy myself random things I want. At this point in my life I feel like I’m able to truly feel the nature of giving by understanding that it really is the thought that counts. I am literally happy with anything given to me, particularly things I wouldn’t think of buying for myself

- I just decided I want an ipod filled with all classical music so I’m going to go get an ipod tomorrow and have someone in the “classical know” to fill it.

- Seeing my dog Percy try to get at his stocking is really cute

-Seeing my cat Oreo get high off of catnip is also really cute-Seeing family all together is pretty rare and special these days so I don’t have too strong an urge to gamble

-Of course I don’t gamble only when I have urges because I am a professional so I probably should put in some hours today

-I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, I am constantly seeking random improvements so to choose an arbitrary date to do so seems contrived

-I saw the movie Juno and didn’t love it, I much prefer to be entertained by movies and inspired by the characters than to simply observe some quirky personalities getting into mild trouble and digging out. This is perhaps because I see real people getting into far more trouble than a 16 year old pregnant girl.

-My 28 year old brother can touch his nose with his tongue and his wife can bounce her chin in a funny fashion

Yes I am actually jewish but celebrate Christmas because it is fun

And lastly, a holiday gift to my readers. A 5 dollar transfer on Full Tilt for the person who emails me one sentence that best describes the meaning of Christmas in a funny way. I will announce the winner within three days and post a compilation of my favorites.Happy holidays 

(This part of the post has been deleted)The truth of the matter is that companies overcharge unsuspecting patrons by obscene amounts all the time. Debating a charge is a difficult and timely, and most people won’t do it for the smaller things. I know I won’t debate them often enough to make it positive EV for people to overcharge me. More to the point, it is positive EV for companies such as Sprint or Verizon to overcharge nearly EVERYONE on their monthly cell phone bills because many people will miss it, and in response to those who find it they just pretend it’s a mistake. In a just world companies should be required to pay the hourly rate of whomever they overcharge for the number of hours it takes to get the bill right. The fact of the matter is the consumer has little recourse, and there is hardly anything that makes me more angry.This blog post has given me an idea. There should be a website with all major companies listed on it, and every time they overcharge someone “by mistake” that person should explain the situation on the website, the companies that do it the least would get the most business. Before I get an

After a bad poker day there is nothing better than a good slilt. My friends and I invented this in college. Slilt is a combination of sleep and tilt. When it gets put in the dictionary I want credit.

I already received a number of questions about my prop bet with N 82 50 24 when people saw me in a cash game on full tilt. The prop bet came to an end this afternoon with Nat buying out of the bet. His reasoning was that I had already played at least 500 sngs if not the 600 sngs required by the bet, and it was very unlikely I’d just give away 1k by wanting to play something else over the next month. My reasoning was, I don’t really like playing those HU sngs as much as I used to. The player pool is smaller, and the one of the few regular fish, Dariominieri (more on him later), crushed me. So anyway, rather than pay off the whole 1k, I let Nat buy out for 300 plus some other non cash considerations.

I am currently very disappointed with pokerstars for several reasons. The first is that I am one of their leading if not THE leading rake generator for their site of all time yet they don’t treat me at all like a VIP as they should. More frustrating than that, they SPONSOR Dariominieri who is in my opinion one of the bigger scumbags who has risen to “superstar” level in online poker. They repeatedly allow him to break the dumb chat rules which wouldn’t bother me so much if they wouldn’t constantly chastise others for utter nonsense. My last post about Dario was simply a hand with no analysis and it brought the wrath of his clueless and incoherent Italian friends so i can’t imagine what this will bring. Frankly, stars sponsoring someone like that is to me indefensible and I am currently talking to them about it. I plan on playing on full tilt until I resolve the issue.

    I never cease to be amazed by some of the ridiculous products I see out there. I swung by a blockbuster recently and while my friend was looking at xbox games i noticed a playboy video game. I couldn’t imagine how such a thing could exist and be appropriate for kids so I checked out the box. The tag lines for the game were “build your riches and deck out the mansion”, “throw killer parties!” and my favorite “Build your money and social value to get a girlfriend…or two…or SIX!!!” This really takes “Sim” games to a whole new level. I can’t really imagine anyone who has the time nor the inclination to play an xbox game of this sort but I guess the market must exist or the product would not.

As a side note, I was at Chilis with a friend after the trip to blockbuster and there was a bunch of work groups having “Christmas lunches” or something of the sort there. I don’t mean to be a critical asshole but something about these groups of people totally depressed me. It’s hard to describe in blog form, its something you just have to see. It reminded me of an Ed Norton quote from fight club, “This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time”.

In reponse to someone calling me terrible on a forum someone wrote:

stevesbets is a legend IMO and i became a significantly better all around poker player just watchin that guy grind HU sit and go’s

previous blog still to come

This blog is to come, I just didn’t want to forget the title

bets: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to stevesbets [9h 9s]
Dariominieri: raises 40 to 60
stevesbets: raises 140 to 200
Dariominieri: raises 1280 to 1480 and is all-in
stevesbets: calls 1280
*** FLOP *** [Th 8d 8s]
*** TURN *** [Th 8d 8s] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [Th 8d 8s 5c] [Ah]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
stevesbets: shows [9h 9s] (two pair, Nines and Eights)
Dariominieri: shows [2c Tc] (two pair, Tens and Eights)
Dariominieri collected 2960 from pot
Dariominieri said, “doyle docet”
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2960 | Rake 0
Board [Th 8d 8s 5c Ah]
Seat 1: stevesbets (big blind) showed [9h 9s] and lost with two pair, Nines and Eights
Seat 2: Dariominieri (button) (small blind) showed [2c Tc] and won (2960) with two pair, Tens and Eights

“Poker is 50% mental”

-Shrew

I just finished washing, drying, folding and sorting a mountain of laundry and it inspired the idea for this blog. Like many people (I was going to say young males, but I actually assume this is true for just about everyone) I don’t really enjoy doing mundane every day tasks. These include but are not limited to laundry, cleaning, cooking, doing dishes and waiting on hold with faceless corporations to complete minor tasks. I don’t derive much enjoyment from these activities (usually) and don’t really find the result to provide me with the satisfaction level that I feel is appropriate for the amount of work I put in.

The poker player in me can’t help but put an hourly rate on my time doing these things, and I decided at some point that my time might be better spent at the poker tables. A few summers ago I came up with a solution that seemed good not just for myself but for a friend as well. A classmate of mine at Penn was whining about how she was having no luck procuring a summer job, I was planning on being in Vegas for the summer to play the WSOP so I told her that I would happily pay her to be my butler for the summer and complete all the tasks I detail above. Overall it would be a fairly cushy gig, good pay, mostly free hours, and a free summer in Vegas. I would benefit from eating healthier for the summer due to having someone to cook for me, thereby avoiding the fast food trap that is Las Vegas, as well as having far more free time to focus on the tournaments and cash games in Vegas at that time. She laughed and it turned into a joke, but upon further reflection I kind of wish I had given the idea a try at least at some point in my poker career.

Since the time I decided having a “butler” of sorts would be a good idea for me, I have come to realize that it is in no way a unique idea. In fact, I have learned that certain high stakes poker professionals employ someone year round to work odd hours and do all sorts of bizarre tasks as simple as bringing a burger to bellagio at 430 am.

I suppose in the end, the old saying prevails. “Give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime”. When all is said and done I don’t really want to be given fish for awhile until my friend finds something better to do, I really should just learn to be proficient and efficient at all of these tasks and I will be a better person for it. Unless maybe any of you out there fits the bill.