On the Balla wishlist

I've been eyeing this piece for sometime now (well over 2 weeks to be precise), I saw it on a close buddy of mine who took down a 35k first place finish at the Bay shooting Star casino,CA, poker tourney last month (one I almost played, but bailed out at the last moment due to work commitments). Of course he's got an even balla time-piece, but this Breitling Super Avenger would do nicely for me. First I need a poker score this month, I have been running like a one-legged kenyan all of March, and on a mini 5k downswing.

In the meantime here some more balla time pieces for your viewing pleasure (snaps by Nat taken at the Bellagio 25k World poker tour main event, Las Vegas, last year, one on the extreme right belongs to online poker phenom Sorel "Imperium" Mizzi and is in the 75k range):





In the meantime I went ahead and bought a bunch of gold this week, primarily as a hedge, and also because the market is so damn expensive.

Suggested weekend readings:Zerohedge

Irksome

1. People talking out of their arse at dinner parties.

2. Oh so you want to play poker for a living, wow thats kind of degen(erate) isnt it?

3. Gambling as a career, thats a first right?

4. How can slumdogg millionaire win even one oscar, its a pure desi masala movie yaar (usually from a dreaded desi chic who cant pronounce trainspotting).

5. You know, smoking kills.

6. I saw Pink Floyd in concert, did you know they are the greatest band of all time (sigh donk)

At this point, I think of Happy Gilmore, and try and conjure up images of a happy place, think of a happy place, do not, repeat DO NOT get sarcastic and start correcting them. But .... sigh

unzip my pants say you love me

At the recent Lakme fashion week, Akshay Kumar went, ummm lets see whats the right word, strip-teasey (?), and thus invoked the wrath of the indian moral brigade.



While walking the ramp he decided to stroll over to his wife and asked a bemused Twinkle Khanna to unbutton/unzip his jeans for her. Though there is something of a coochy-poochy lovey-dovey feel about asking your wife to publicly unzip your pants, whatever brownie points he managed to score in my books are lost due to those HORRENDOUS boots he's put on.

Whoever made Akshay wear those boots, please drink bleach and run into a brick wall ASAP.

Oldies

I was sifting through my music and came across these old favorites, ended up youtubing them. Reminded me of a time etched in memory.

Audioslave



We passed upon the stairs, Cobain at mtv unplugged


Jakob Dylan


BOC live, plenty of live improvisation on the signature reaper riff, around 2:45


s&m one, Hetfield at his snarling best, and notice how the band lines up for the signature one grunge (around 5:07)


november rain


bang bang



but if you could heal a broken heart
wouldnt time be out to charm you

Meet the Dumbest people in your corporation

The HR guys, they are driving me nuts. And they love meetings, they schedule milestone meetings, trademark meetings, celebratory meetings, meetings to discuss meetings, redundant strat meetings, and this when research is working on air-tight deadline mode, oh and we had a meeting to discuss our upcoming journal publications as well !!! ... dumb fuckheads.

A certain Professor at Stanford said it best "Let Engineers and Scientists run the country instead of Lawyers, MBAs and Economists." (v 2.1)

HR folks: please get aids and die ASAP

Playing the Coushatta 1k

I dont usually like playing in small-buyin casino tournaments (primarily because of the mind-boggling testicularly retarded slowness of live poker vs online poker), but a friend convinced me to take this trip with him, later this month, to Louisiana for the Coushatta Casino 1k buy-in main event. Hopefully the event attracts atleast 300 players (so that 1st is atleast 50k to make the trip and staying in hotels for 4 days worthwhile, FYI: I hate travelling), but given the current economy that might be a stretch.

Anyway 300 is the magic number, if they get less than 300 players I'm out, not worth my time by any stretch.

Anyhoo today was bloody sunday of online poker, and somehow I convinced myself to play some sunday special donkament tourneys : Results : 0/11. LOL Donkaments.

Crickets with balls

They justify my love for everything with balls. Long live sehwagology, may natalie portman parade more in Closer style Gs.

starbucks loves israel

Today I went to my regular grocery store carrying my starbucks frapp , the store is owned and operated by a middle-aged, supremely chatty, affable, middle eastern bald dude. Now I have always suspected that he thinks that I am a muslim. Anyway as soon as I get in he greets me "You know you should never buy anything from starbucks", Why, "Anything you buy at starbucks a % of the money is sent to israel to kill muslim children". You sure about that, "Oh yes ask Jamil (his brother/something like that) here". Jamil :" Fucking child murderers, killing allah's sons."

Hmmmm.

As an aside I recently added up my one month starbucks expense : $356.44. The wise might say I am an SBUX addict.

swingy

Dropped 6 buy-ins in HU (heads-up) NL last night. Though it sounds disappointing I think my play was fine, got rivered a lot and lost 4 straight flips (1.5 buyin donations to these flips).

Time for the upswing now !!

edit (02/07): made back 5 buy-ins after putting in a marathon all night session. Run good more please

Shooting cans

Lets go shoot come cans, u know mexi-cans, puertori-cans.



Disclaimer: I live in a Red state.

In pictures

About a month's worth of playing Sit and goes

tanni partner

[ ] has potential
[x] epic fail

09 day one

Hello world

Bell the cat

Season's greetings to one and all. Oh and I am tying the knot on the 16th of Jan.
Good game bachelorhood ... sigh :(

Mission Saree

No not for me, but tomorrow someone's gonna try it wearing it for the first time herself. Wish her luck (and me too).

As an aside if the said saree is the one that Draupadi had purchased, then as Baburao would say "pehente pehente poti paida ho jayegi"

ship the $$$$

Got my biggest online tournament score in poker yet---> 2 sundays ago--->on full-tilt,


Wait for it wait for it wait for it

$ 7 5 , 0 0 0 . 0 0 0 0

YUPPPIEE ....
SHIP IT ALL BABY
though a good part of sunday late night, after the win, was spent at a certain posh gentleman's bar blowing $1 bills with friends ;-), that 75k could have gone way bit lighter by the time the night ended ;-)

effffff it

On a bad bad 10k downswing in poker.

Poker can be a brutal game and without proper discipline it can break a player. There could be extended periods where you put in the money as a 80-20 favorite only to see your donkey opponent catch a miracle card to bust you. This is what we poker players term a BAD BEAT.

One of my favourite online tournament pros Chetna "Rex55" Joshi puts it best in her blog, and curiously this does not just apply to poker, it applies to any difficult journey that anyone might decide to take up :

Bad beats are non-exclusive. They are blind to race, creed, and gender. They are merciless. Every single player that sits down to play cards, takes bad beats. The more you play, the more you take... the more hands you are dealt, the more likely it is statistically that you will take a bad beat.

So now if every single poker player is taking bad beats across the globe.. how is everyone dealing with them?

What is your standard reaction when you get bad beat?

*Do you curse and chat box spew?

*Do you donk out of all other tournies that are going well?

*Do you throw things or punch walls?

*Do you reach for alcohol and/or drugs?

*Do you tilt off your roll?

*Do you copy and paste your hand history and send it to all your buddies on messenger so they can now relive your bad beats along with their own?

*Do you take it out on your family and/or significant other?

*Do you take it out on yourself?

or..............

-Do you assess your play, your own decision, your role in the hand, learn what you can and move on?

The true damage of a bad beat isnt the hand itself....it is the aftermath that ensues...It is our inability to accept it for what it is...The damage lies in the snowball affect it has on everything else... when we allow it to permeate into other tournies... into a bankroll we grinded so long and so hard for... into our personal lives.... that is where the true damage of bad beats take place.

How many poker players are equipped with the armor to tolerate the "blows" poker will undoubtedly fire at you?

The field is narrow...Most fall victim to the grimy hands of 'Tilt,' and SELF-defeat...
Don't let this be you...

Poker is all about perspective.

Don't wallow in your defeats or self-pity...
Don't question your abilities or skills...
Don't let yourself fall into a cold, dark abyss, with a tape recorder on repeat playing
"you suck at cards...you are a loser...how could you not have folded that hand? you donkey...stick to your day job...you have no hope...."

And Please don't surrender to bad beats...

It's all about our perspective...
Mind over matter...it is amazing how powerful self-perspective can be...
it is what we make of it...
what our mind creates of it...
it is what it is...
what we allow it to be...

Once you are able to keep bad beats in proper perspective for what they are.. an inherent part of the game that every participant has the choice to deal with, in his or her own way... then you will see how much more of your time and energy is spent constructively, as opposed to destructively...

and not only will you emerge a stronger Poker Player...but a stronger Person...

But even then its YUCKS and sucks to be in this downswing, and seeing a big chunk of my YTD profits beinf wiped out.....

honesty

Filmy Chakkar

Via Jabberwock, links to some darn great non-Indian Bollywood blogs:
Beth, filmiholic, postpunk.

Some very good reads, not to mention the very different perspective that you might get.

Live poker crushing --> continues

I absolutely dominated the final table of a 40 person poker tournament over the weekend and frankly no-one had a chance. My live record this year:
Live Poker tourneys played : 6
1st: 3 (!!!!!)
3rd: 1
$200+ buy-in tourneys played : 3
1st: 2

Let me run this good online, just one time, pleeeeeseeee GOD.