Author Archives: java

Aug
22
2010

Vegas in July

The pokerboyz and I went on our annual July pilgrimage to Vegas. It’s generally hot, cheap and a bit slow that time of year. But the poker scene was a lot slower than it has been in years.
We tried to play as many tournaments as possible. But one day Planet Hollywood cancelled its tourney due [...]

Posted in Las Vegas, Poker Bloggers | Comments (2)
Jul
11
2010

Poker Alienation (and the Perfect Dress)

The World Poker Tour hit it out of the park when they hired one of the best tournament directors in the business. Matt Savage is a poker player’s TD. He’s known for his consistency, accuracy and fabulous structures. But the WPT lost it in extra innings for me with the “Royal Flush Girls.” The question isn’t [...]

Posted in Online Poker, Poker Media | Comments (5)
Jul
04
2010

Last Longer

I thought I played in the longest running regular home game in Austin. The gang has been getting together almost every week for more than 15 years. But in Friday’s paper, I learned that Austinite Emma Long has been running hers for over 60 years.
Emma was the first woman elected to the Austin City Council back in [...]

Posted in Las Vegas, Professional Poker Players | Comments (4)
May
30
2010

Investing and Poker a la Fargis

The Pokershrink took this picture of Chris Fargis in January 2006. Fargis was on his way to winning the Triple Draw Lowball event at the WSOP Circuit at the Grand in Tunica. For the win, he pocketed $22 grand.
Through 2006, Fargis amassed over $137K in recorded live tournament events. As mostly an online player, that was [...]

Posted in Investment, Online Poker | Comments (2)
May
05
2010

Photoshopped…At Last

I covered poker for years — before poker was cool — before Moneymaker — before the WPT.  In all that time, I was never the subject of a 2+2 thread. And I never dared dream that I would ever be photoshopped by one of the 2+2 photoshop wizards.
But thanks to aramfingal, I can die a [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)
Apr
24
2010

Are Bookies More Ethical and Smarter Than Goldman Sachs?

Ideally, large investment banks are like bookmakers. Sportsbooks set up a fair wager that will attract bettors. They set the line to attract equal action on both sides. As the wager starts to attract bettors, the line readjusts to make sure the action is balanced. If a sportsbook still ends up having unbalanced action, it will work with other sportsbooks to [...]

Posted in Investment | Comments (6)
Apr
04
2010

Frugal Detective Work

Billionaire Andy Beal beat Ted Forrest (and the corporation) out of $10 million in a poker game at the Wynn. Right after the victory, I overheard Beal confirming his travel plans with Beal Bank VP, Craig Singer. Towards the end of the call, he added, ”And see if they’ll bump us up to first class.”
As shocking as Beal’s win was — I think [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (5)
Mar
28
2010

Reclaiming Space and a Mini Book Purge

I looked at it twice. I remembered exactly when it was written: April 17, 2006. But I hadn’t remembered that I had it all this time. It was a draft of Chris Ferguson’s chapter of The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition. Something was written in bold letters, in black sharpie, on the top [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)
Mar
14
2010

The Wall Street Shell Game, and is Frugality So Wrong?

A friend of mine recently told me that a private equity firm was about to buy his family business. He was surprised when I advised against it. He explained his father wanted to retire with a nest egg from the sale. I asked, “Well what are you going to do for the rest of your [...]

Posted in Investment | Comments (2)
Mar
07
2010

The SXSW Invasion Countdown

I moved to Austin in March of 1993, just a couple of weeks before the SXSW Music festival. I bought myself a wristband for $35 and spent three days hiking the streets of downtown, listening to hundreds of mostly unsigned bands from around the world. The weather was warm. The margaritas were cold. And the music was [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)