Jay-Z Show w/ Pharrel and N.E.R.D.

Went down to the Schott Center for the Jay concert with a few friends from the poker world that came into town. Usually the pre-concert adventures are frustrating, but everything went smoothly as far as parking etc etc. The crowd was standard, due to Jay-Z being very much mainstream these days. N.E.R.D. opened the show and to my surprise they were pretty damn good. Pharrel basically took over the stage and randomly was picking out people to come up on stage with him. Very entertaining.
Jay came out to "Run This Town" obviously, and there wasn't a second of the show that had a dull moment. The spotlight song of the night went to "Big Pimpin". Jay also did a mix which helped him cover just about every song you can imagine, including "La La La", which I didn't think there was a chance in hell that was getting played. So that was cool. It was an incredible show, and for a rap concert the sound was clear cut. Good times.
Tonight is trick or treat night here in Lewis Center. Parts of Columbus had their night of treats on Thursday and other parts on Friday. Rylee is gonna be a bumble bee, we plan on just taking her to the surrounding neighbors for a quick laugh. I will definitely have pics coming in the next few days. The Philibin's are also making their way down for the night with Aubree. A few other friends are coming over as well, so I geuss you can call it a "party". The Yankee's game will be the center of attraction at 8p.m. tonight. I'll be drinking my usual (White wine /Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc). Quantity of glasses depends on how the game goes :)

Cheers Mates.

Just Tryin to Buy Another Title

I figure that title is appropriate since that's what everyone loves to say about the Yankees. Unfortunately, the Yankee's haven't won or bought a title since 2000. Last night the Yankee's put themselves in position against the Phillies to claim another title. Game 1 scheduled for Wednesday, Sabathia vs Lee.....gonna be an incredible series. GO YANKS!

Yanks Sweep, Rylee Pics, Poker

So the Yankees swept Minnesota in 3 straight games to win the ALDS. They now face a tough opponent in the Anaheim Angels, thanks to a late ninth inning rally by the Angels to sweep the Bosox. I must admit, it was pretty delightful to watch the Bosox choke in the 9th. Should be an outstanding series against the Angels and hopefully we put those historical woes aside and get the job done. Series starts later this week, get it done gentlemen.We took Rylee to a pumpkin patch on Sunday morning. It was bit nippley, but she had a great time and even picked out her own little pumpkin. She will be walking very soon, she has been pushing her baby stroller around the house like a maniac. It is hilarious to watch her grow and learn as each day passes. She has been a bit sad the past 2 days, Junior has been away at the doggy hospital with some sort of stomach problem. With Junior away, she has nobody but a non-interested ziggy to torment. Ahh well...good times for sure, pics....
Poker is back on track. I feel alive like it was 2005 again. As most people know, for the past few years in poker I had a financial backer. A quick explanation..."backers" have become a huge part of the poker business these days. Basically, "backers" finance poker players. Many, many of the top players in the world do not want to put their own money at risk, so they use their "backers" money to play. Compensation of somewhere between 30-50% of the players profits are than returned to the backer, along with the dreaded word "makeup". Makeup is the amount of money at loss and is paid back to the backer upon success. For example: Boke plays 10k worth of buyins on Monday and proceeds to lose all 10k, however on Tuesday Boke wins 20k. Boke than pays back the 10k (Makeup), and splits the other 10k profit with the backer (Being that the backer agrees to a 50/50 deal).

Now that the business part is explained, I will continue...so like I said above, I had decided on trying out the backing business and being a backed player in 2007ish. It wasn't like I was broke at the time, but more so on a huge downswing. During the 1-2 years that I was backed (up until like Mayish of this year), I felt like my game was diminishing. I was a break even player and ended up eventually winning the Stars Million for 200k in August of 2008. I paid the backers and ended up scooping about 90k after all said and done, not including taxes :( . For the following 6-9 months after this big win, I went on a monster down swing and accumulated over 100k in makeup. This sucked more than anything. This meant the next 100k I made went to the backer and that I wasn't gonna see any profit until this monster figure was cleared. Ughhz. As crazy as this seems, it is amazingly common in the poker world for guys to accumulate an astonishing amount of makeup. Anyways, April/May 2008 rolled around and I started hearing rumors that my backer was gonna fire me. I thought no possible way they would just fire me and free me from that figure. Most cases backers will offer buyouts to release a "horse" (backers use the "horse" term for their players they back). An example of this would be, if I had 100k in makeup they would offer me a 20k buyout, meaning I pay them 20k and Im free. Anyhow, the rumors were right, my backers wanted to release me. The great thing for me is, they never once mentioned any buyout and therefore just cut me absolutely free of charge. This may have been my 2nd best acoomplishment of my poker career. HAHA, getting fired and having 100k makeup just vanish. That is right they fired me for free! I would have definitely paid to be released at that point. Lucky me.

So for the past 4 months I have been trying to get that "feel" back for being on my own. The "grind" type of feel, if you will. It's coming back for sure, it's just a slow slow process. I grind the cash games for the most part and mix in a few tourneys here and there. My game has definitely been at it's sharpest point since early 2008, and the checks are on their way. Weeeeee.