Mailman...delivering beats to donkeys nationwide

Mailman is certainly one of the most solid players in the group. He is always the quiet one at the table, scooping up small pots until his stack is 2-3 times its normal size. I've never seen him lose more than a couple hundo in a single session. Also, my timing is always off with Greg. I'll fold when he's bluffing (which he rarely shows) and call/raise when he has me beat. Lately, I just stay out of his way.

Greg is always there to lend a helping hand, whether it's TD'ing, dealing, holding the bank, monkeying the pot, etc.


Name/nickname:Greg da Mailman

Age: 38

Occupation: Duh!

Home town: Elyria

Hobbies outside of poker: That sounds like a good idea. I should look in to it.


1. What was your first CPMG experience? (please include when/where, how you came to join the group, etc.)
Way back in December 2005, I stumbled upon the Meetup.com website, and found the CPMG. My first game was a Dealer's Choice game at El Diablo's home in Elyria, which was just a few miles from my place.

I won $120 that night, and been hooked ever since. Looking back on it, I was a Card Rack that night. For example, one of the games was Triple Draw Low Ball (A-5). I was dealing, and Bricker raised in the Cutoff. I didn't have much of a hand, but I was the Button, and I had three draws, so I called. Bricker stood pat, drawing no cards. I ended up discarding four cards and just keeping a 5. The four cards that I recieved were 4 3 2 A, which gave me the A-5 Wheel, which is the best possible hand.

Bricker bet again, and I raised. He raised back, and so did I. After a quite a few more raises, we got to showdown. He showed a 6-low that he was dealt, and I showed the Nuts. He was not happy.


2. What’s your key to bankroll management?
Keep acurate records with as many details as possible. Some players use a spreadsheet, but I use a database. Also, be honest about your losses. Don't fudge the numbers to make yourself feel better.

It's a good idea to stay away from the table games like Blackjack or Pia Gow when you're at the casino. I should probably start doing that.


3. Describe your range of starting hands for cash/tourneys
Like most poker questions, it depends. Factors include how many BB deep we are playing, am I limping in or raising or calling a raise, who's doing the raising, what position am I in, and what position is the player who is raising.

They write entire books on this subject, so it's hard to simplify in just a few sentences.


4. What pro player do you think you play like?
Probably Allen Cunningham or Erik Seidel. They have the image of being solid, no-nonsense players, who can shift gears when necessary. They are also considered tournament players, and are underrated as Cash game players.


5. Summarize the biggest pot you ever won
I'm the wrong person to ask this questions. I don't play big pots. I rarely ever stack someone at the tables, and I almost never get stacked. How often does anyone ever see me with a monster stack of chips?

But since you asked, here's one from my old blog:

$1/$2 at Four Winds Casino -
Many limpers. I'm in the SB, and look at Kh Kc. Pop it to $12. BB calls. UTG calls. Two others call. Five players are going to the Flop, and I'm out of position. This should be fun

Flop: Qh 9c 3d - I bet $40. BB calls. Player A (mid position) calls.

Turn: (Qh 9c 3d) Ks - I hit top set, but J T just hit their open ender. Good thing nobody would ever play that hand. I think for a moment, and decide to check and see what happens. I'm not slow playing my set. I just have no clue what everyone else has.

BB check. Player A pauses, then bets $125. Now I go into the tank. I've only got $230 left, and decide to shove. If he's got me, then he's got me. BB folds AQ. Player A calls the extra $105 and shows 3 3 for bottom set. He misses his one-outer.

So I more than doubled up, but I really hate playing out of position.

Ultimate hit and run

Stopped down to Nautica last night. Sat down with $200 at 4:40, paid my $5 seat fee, TRIPLED UP on the 3rd hand, and left at 5:00 with $617 when they came to collect fees again.

I had Q-10 in mid position, and called $12 or $15 preflop from a guy I know to have a wide range of starting hands that he'd raise with. Flop is J8x, rainbow, and it checks around. 9 on the turn gives me the nuts. There is about $55 in the pot, and a girl on my right bets $25, I make it $50, and the original raiser makes it an even hundo. She pushes for about $30 more, I push for about $80 more, and he calls. I say "I have the nuts right now", and the girl shows a slow-played set of J's, and the original raiser shows 7-10 for a lower straight. River is a K, and I still have the nuts. Ship it. Thanks for slow-playing that set of Jacks! I sure wasn't calling much of a bet on the flop.

So I ended up winning a couple more small pots, and got the hell out of there a few minutes later. My little man wasn't screaming at me or anything, but I figured what the hell, it usually takes a few hours to build a $600+ stack, and the table was actually not completely made up of donks, so I took the opportunity and bolted. I met Meats at Champps for a bite and was home by 7:00. Took the dog for a walk in the park, then hung out at home the rest of the night. And they all lived happily ever after.

Fantastic weekend

Had a great time at Mosquito Lake this weekend. Tons of laughs. Rented a pontoon boat to do some fishing, and even had a man overboard. Funniest thing I've ever seen. My friend Phil tries to make a monster cast (this is before he even popped his first beer), lost his balance, tried to grab a nylon cord attached to the canopy, and fell right out of the door and into the 3 feet of water. Trashed his phone and lost my fishing pole, although we did fish the pole back outta the water. Absolutely hilarious. You should have seen the look on his face as he was falling in.

Played some free NLHE, just screwing around, and actually accumulated a stack. You know, hitting the usual 2-3 outers.

I have a couple other stories that I'll have to tell in person for you to really appreciate. They are a bit long, but pretty funny.

Anyway, I highly recommend Mosquito Lake State Park if you are looking for a great place to camp. Only took about an hour and 20 min to get there too.

Another weekend off

Going to Mosquito Lake with a few friends this weekend to do some fishing, so there will not be any poker for me. I will be trying to get my buddies into a game, possibly some very low stakes NLHE. Not that they can't afford it, but they have heard some of my stories of winning/losing hundreds in a session, and that is way out of their comfort zone.

Either way, it should be a good time.

NASCAR Tina's 5 questions

Name/nickname: Tina, Kristina, NASCARTINA (I think I need a nickname that actually fits....I hate NASCAR)

Age: I'm 36.

Occupation: Litigation Legal Secretary

Home town: Brook Park

Hobbies outside of poker: There is life outside of poker? O.K. Hobbies I once had: Scrapbooking, writing, reading, hiking, bowling (170 average ya'll), beer pong (I am awesome!), cornhole tournaments, and anything that interests my daughters somewhat becomes a hobby of mine as well.

1. What was your first CPMG experience? (please include when/where, how you came to join the group, etc.)

Went to a charity tourney in Brook Park a few years back. Some guy came up to me after I busted out and chatted me up about the CPMG (I don't know who it was, nor has anyone come forward so I can blame them for ruining my life). I went online to look up CPMG and started to play the Monday Night Pokerstars games. First tourney was at Pyxis' place. Doug Poker gave me a ride since we both lived in Brook Park. I won the tourney. I remember beating Yosh head's up (I'm sure it was all luck). After that...I was hooked and somewhat became a "regular"

2. What’s your key to bankroll management?

I have no keys to my bankroll and no bankroll for my keys.

3. Describe your range of starting hands for cash/tourneysI will NOT describe my starting hands (nice try though). I get killed enough out there. I will say this.....I've learned so much about the game through the people I play with in the CMPG. I am no longer the scared little girl who was afraid to enter a pot - even with a great starting hand.

4. What pro player do you think you play like?

I'm not good enough to play like any pro....however, I like Gus Hansen's style alot. Female...I'd say Annie Duke is my fav. (Donald Trump is an ASS!)

5. Summarize the biggest pot you ever won

I scored a pound of pot once :") That was huge......
Seriously..I do not remember the exact amount of the biggest pot I've won and I may be a little sketchy on the details. It was at Seneca though and I had just won a decent sized pot 2 hands before and had about $450 in front of me (a small amount compared to what could be in front of you at Nautica). I called a small raise with 22 in the cutoff position. There were 4 people in the pot preflop, that much I remember. Flop 2Q2 (two diamonds - quads bitches). Player A bets the pot...Player B folds, Player C raises, I call, Player A calls. Here comes the turn. It was a K or an A of diamonds. Player A pushed all in and had roughly $250 behind. Player C goes over the top and goes all in for about $400 more. I had like $400 in front and called his all in. I do not remember the river card :-/ Player A and Player B had a flushes on the turn. I had quads. They were stunned. I couldn't even stack my chips b/c I was shaking. I called for a rack...stacked the chips in it...went to the cashier, cashed out, smoked 2 cigarettes and then proceeded to lose a lot of it playing Let It Ride :)

Nautica win...again!

I soooo love that place. I played 2-2 limit for about an hour before my NL seat opened up, and ended up losing $40 there. I woulda been up quite a bit but got 4's-full cracked by K's-full. The fish at that table were unreal. We had a couple pots with 9-10 in the hand. I also saw a guy call a 2-bet on the river with Q-9 suited (no draw at all), who then pointed to the K on the board and said "Aww man, I thought I had a pair of JACKS"!!! Swear to God. I may sit at a 5-10 limit if available next time. Just winning 1-2 pots would be great.

So I got to my NL seat and Grayday sits down next to me after a few minutes. I chased an open-ender early on and lost most of my first buy-in, re-bought, then added on another hundo later when nothing was hitting. Went a long time before hitting a flop.

Nothing really exciting to speak of, but I did catch a set of 10's, and had KK and a set of 6's betting into me. That pot put me back on top after being down almost $400. I later took 2 pots off Chan when I hit 2-pr with a 10-7 and a pair of 8's with K8 suited. I called his $20 preflop with the K8, then checked it down, which I told him I would have done with the other hand, but he HAD to bet at me. He bet like $80 on the river when I had the 2-pr.

There was one guy at the end of the table that me and Grayday were gunning for. This guy was in every hand and calling big raises. He had a monster stack and lost it all on a flush draw with 2 others in the pot (AA and a flopped set). He bought back in and I got the last of his re-buy...don't remember the details on that one, but Grayday and I both knew he'd leave without any chips. Correct-a-mundo!!

Ryan Sadd, Ryan Thoms, Hip, Chan, and Grayday were all there. Not sure how anyone did, but I think Grayday was up a little when I left at 10pm. Final score: up $270 after seat fees and limit game loss. I haven't been keeping accurate records lately (I ALWAYS go on a losing run when I start keeping records) but I am somewhere around 8-1 at Nautica since they opened up NL.

Dave's Summer Blow-out

Had a great time on Saturday, and thought for sure I was gonna cash, if it weren't for Tina and her well-played pocket Q's. She just called all the way when I hit top-top with my A-10. Ouch. I was chip leader before that hand. I doubled up Grayday when we both hit 2-pr, and then I chased a couple draws after that but didn't catch, then Hip finally knocked me out with his flopped top-2 against my A-8. NH sir. Hip didn't look back after that and took it down for a nice cash. Well played bro, you deserved the win. He cracked AA a couple times early on as well.

I took out 2 players in a single hand, twice! I was running good, hitting flops, and stayed focused. Made the final table out of 38 total. I really like the longer rounds and deeper stack. There are still quite a few players that play every pair like A's-full, so you have to watch out for them, but overall the structure was great. A cash would have put me at least 3rd in the POY race. No biggie; I am happy to be in the top 4. I promise a top-10 finish in the next round as well.

HUGE cash game with 3 full tables, but I ended up losing like $88. Meats put Grayday on tilt with a great bluff. One thing I can say is ALWAYS SHOW GRAYDAY THE BLUFF. It will really pay off. I was way down most of the night, then got back up about $25 (my little man was screaming at me, but Grayday still had chips), and I did manage to bust Grayday with 5-7 suited, but Holiday Inn Jim joined us for the last couple orbits (shoulda been 1 orbit but we squeezed out as much as possible for Jim's sake) and I didn't catch against him. He went to his pocket TWICE after 4am for more chips. How could we say no? TK got some off him, but I think HI Jim cashed a few bucks.

Anyway, the food was good, we had a great time, and Dave's season ended in fine fashion. Thanks Dave for being a great host.

Check out the pics...Data without a hat, that's a first. His reply: "I'm defragmenting", LOL. Those are DP's Fruit O' the Looms. He offered to bare ass, but that's plenty of DP right there. Check out Hip's stack, which was taken even before he made the money if I'm not mistaken. And that sweet-ass belt buckle. Hip and Meats are my heroes! I am taking a 6.66% stake in Hip for his WSOP seat. Let's hope it pays off.

I'll have to hit up a couple of Julie's tournaments now that my Saturdays are free. We'll have to get a cash game going. :)

More Nautica fishiness

I forgot to mention the guy on my right at Nautica the other night. I told the story at Riegler's afterward, but everyone needs to hear it. This is a prime example of how bad the play is down there.

The guy on my right JUST CALLED a river bet with the stone cold nuts...twice in about 15 minutes. Ryan Thoms was at my table and saw it as well.

In the first hand, the nuts was broadway, and there was about $75 in the pot. A guy bets into this donkey $45, and he JUST CALLS with broadway!! I say "no raise?", and he said something like "I didn't know if he would call". Wow. My valuable advice to him was that it wasn't going to cost him anything to muster up a raise to find out. Unreal. The bettor had bottom end of it, and most likely wasn't going anywhere.

So a few hands later, he JUST CALLS another river bet with ACES FULL, which was the nuts. Ryan was on his right and I could tell he was astonished. It was Ryan's first time there. Anyway, I certainly didn't offer up any more advice. I sure hope to see him again.

I hit Ryan for a few bucks before I left, hopefully he got it back. I dont remember the hand, but I think I hit 2 pr or a straight with some BS hand. I raised on the flop to get him outta there, but then checked it down.

Great comeback at Adam's

Go Cavs! I'd love to see them come back and win this series, but I am a realist.

So anyway, I started off losing my first buy in with set-over-set (Tom Gross style) against Uncle Bob. We both flopped them, mine were 10's, his Q's. What can you do. The next one went away by missing draws, 2nd best, and a couple of bad calls. I hit up Hip for a loan, and lost almost half of that $200. Woe is me.

I called a raise from Hip with A-2 suited and flopped the flush draw. I pushed and then bricked out, but my A-high held up somehow. (What did you have there Hip?) I later flopped a set of 2's against Hip's flopped pair of Q's, and doubled up again. 2's were all over the board last night. TK flopped quad 2's against Hip's AK and managed to get all his $$ in. NH sir. Roland later got some of TK's money after hitting 2-pr with a 10-4 suited. Roland says "I have to play some crap every now and then". I concur.

We were making fun of his low-key, quiet German whisper. I asked if he carried around a coat hanger a la Raiders of the Lost Ark. Roland is pretty cool and took the ribbing well, but got fairly quiet when Hip mentioned Hitler.

Almost forgot this hand...I get AA and limp UTG. No raises, but 4-5 callers. Shit! Flop is QQx. I bet out, and only TK calls. I am finished with the hand, putting him on a Q, but I hit the beautiful 2-outer on the turn, and I check-call (I think). A 3rd club hits the river. I am praying he has a boat or flush. I think I check-raise, adding something like $40 to his $25 bet. He kinda goes into the tank, and I offer to show a card. I show the non-club A. TK, says "OK, you induced the call" and calls with his Q. I think I did a decent job there. I welcome any comments.

I got Uncle Bob with 2-pr on another hand (6-2...I was playing every 2 since they were so hot), then hit a straight on him just before I left. I managed a spectacular comeback and cashed $886 after going $600 deep. I was able to pay back Hip's loan (Including the hundo I got from him at Dave's a couple weeks ago, which I totally forgot about. That's what taking a week off will do to you when you get old) and pocketed almost $200 in profit. I consider this week a great success when I can repay a loan and get back half the money I donked off at Riegler's this week.

Tomorrow is Dave's final official tourney for the season. I'll be making pasta salad tonight, completely from scratch. I promise it'll be a hit. Homemade dressing, feta cheese, fresh herbs...mmmmmmm!!

I've generally played well in the deeper stack tourneys. let's hope I can keep that up.

I'll be emailing out a couple more "5 questions" soon. This has been fun.

Nautica win! ...and then I gave it all back at Riegler's

Up $217 at Nautica in 2.25 hrs, then stopped by Riegler's to splash around. Quadded up on TK with A7 (flopped the boat, rivered the quads), and then slow-rolled him for laughs. Sorry man, you know I love you.

Was up around $175 at one point, then took a couple beats that tilted me slightly, so I didnt play well the rest of the night. Also, I will call any bet Grayday makes, and it's usually profitable, but he had some hands last night. He'll do stupid shit like raise it to $30 preflop when he straddles and gets a K-10 in his hand. I generally have him read like a book, and made some good reads last night, but couldn't fold.

So, final score...down $400 for the night. Ouch. That's OK, Nautica will give it back.

Hip to the Hop

OK, Hip is next up...I really don't remember the first time I played with Hip, but we first became friends when we all started going to the Tradesman in Parma on Wed nights a couple years ago for drinks, wings, karaoke, and music trivia. Hip's a solid playa (on and off the felt) and always fun to be around.

1. What was your first CPMG experience? (please include when/where, how you came to join the group, etc.)

I found the group when I stumbled upon Eddie J's website. My first time playing was at a 50 dollar tourney at Tom Rieglers. I put a bounty on my head and the Donkey himself Theo won that bounty when he called my all in pre flop with 68 off suit or some shit.

I was so new to the group and Tom Riegler only wanted people he knew to be there. I sent him an email and he graciously agreed that I wasn't a threat and invited me. here is a link to the thread where I as a newb stated my case http://www.meetup.com/Cleveland-Poker/messages/boards/thread/2763891/10#7333303


2. How do you manage your bankroll?

I really don't. Whatever I have in my pocket is my bankroll. I do keep multiple spread sheets to track my status...but that's mostly so I can brag about it.

3. What pro player do you think you play like?

Phil Hellmuth for sure when I'm not drinking or I actually care about the event. I'm super tight but stick with my reads. I rarely get out of line in a cash game or tourney where the buy in is significant.

4. Would you ever want to move to Vegas to be a pro? Why/why not?

I think I can answer this better in a few weeks after I stay in Vegas for a week. My heart says yes...yes I would like to try that. The fact is, there isn't a game in Vegas as juicy as the one at Nautica. People will probably move from Vegas to Cleveland just for that kind of action! If the money was to dry up down there, then I would consider traveling around playing different casinos and grinding out a living as a pro.

5. What pro player would you most like to play against?

Tom "durrrr" Dwan. The kid is amazing. I watch him play online a lot and always on HSP. He controls the table every time he plays. He's the sickest.

Spotlight on...Julie

Julie had some great answers to my 5 questions. I am not sure I'd want all of her pros at my table at once, but I'd love to play with a couple of them.

I haven't played much cash with Julie but she is certainly an excellent tourney player. We've seen her chalk up win after win in the CPMG, and even a few decent online cashes. She has also begun to host games at her place, and I promise to get to one of them as soon as Dave's game is done for the summer.

She also happens to be a killer baker. Best lemon squares I ever had!

Name: Julie Thomas
Nickname: diverjoules, bootsie, homeslyce, jari.. i have a few..
Occupation: As/400 Programmer Analyst
Age: too old to remember thank God
Hometown: Grew up in Olmsted Falls, have lived in Fairview Park for 25 years
Hobbies other than poker: Scuba Diving, boating, swimming

1. What was your first CPMG experience? (please include when/where, how you came to join the group, etc.)

Well, I played cash at EddieJ's for at least a good 6 months or so before trying my hand the first Tourney I remember. It was Pyxis Labor Day tourney in 2007. What a total thrill it was for me. Meeting all sorts of new people and playing poker. I can remember asking Monsignor if he was a comedian, because he had me laughing so much. I ended up cashing for 3rd place and could not have been more pleased. And of course from then on I was hooked for sure. I had been playing cash games in Vegas/Detroit since 2004. But finding the CPMG was really the best thing that has happened to my game. There are many good players in this group. And many of them have been kind enough to help me improve my game. Okay you can quit laughing while you sit there and think I have not improved. But I know that I have. I really cannot recall though, how I stumbled upon the group in general. I think it must have been thru Eddie, but I cannot recall how I found him either. Side affects of old age.. LOL

2. How do you manage your bankroll?

I would love to say that I have a bankroll strictly for poker but alas I do not. I always have poker money set aside, but I often (way too often) have dipped into those winnings, to pay bills, put gas in our boat, or buy things I clearly don't need like poker tables and chips and chairs. LOL. Since I do have a job (for the time being anyway) I know that I do not have to strictly rely on my Poker Bankroll to play poker. Should it go to zero I would easily use my own money to buy into whatever I was interested in.

3. What pro player do you think you play like?

Hmm man that is a tuff question. Tuff in that I clearly play like NO PRO or I would have a big bankroll to manage. :-) But I will say that I really like Erik Siedel, and Chris Ferguson. Believe it or not, I still watch tv poker and try to learn something new from each viewing. Just as when playing in the CPMG. I am always trying to improve my game. Otherwise it would not be as fun for me. If I get bored, I get antsy and that leads to erratic negative play. So staying focused is really important to me. And Erik and Chris seem to emulate that in their play.

4. Describe the range of hands you like to play

Well that would have to be defined as in the realm of Cash or Tourneys. Cash games, I am much more willing to gamble a bit with, because you can always reload if you so choose. But I would say that I certainly play tighter than many of the action junkies of the CPGM. I understand the value of suited connectors vs pocket pairs and betting patterns of those in the game. I sometimes find it easier to pick up betting patterns in cash games than I do in tourneys. Tourneys to me are a whole nother ball game. Which is why it is fun to do both. In tourneys the hands I play really depend on the position I am. OOP I will fold almost all non 10 starting hands. Unless it is one of the rare times I try to take a stab at a pot. But doing that with minor hands OOP is just not my style. Since we (CPMG) rarely play with antes there is usually not a lot of +EV to be had with doing that very often. Antes of course change the play of a game, in the later stages of tournament. Stealing becomes a necessity for survival. So I can't say I have favorite hands (besides AA of course), but I would always like to have position.


5.What pro player(s) would you most like to have at your table?

Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Phil Laak, Clonie Gowan, Doyle Brunson.. I would think I died and gone to poker heaven.. LOL

Nautica!!

Up $540 in just over 2 hrs of play yesterday. Meats, RP, Colin, Gross, Lawyer Jen, Laidman, and Andre were there. Meats and RP were up, not sure about the others. I left at 7pm.

I did play about 4 hands of $2-2 limit, and won a $24 pot. My 10 kicker was good on the river when I paired my 6. John Coleman would have been proud. I even had 2 others outkicked, lol. Couldn't wait to get outta there. One of these days though, I wouldn't mind playing some $5-10 limit. One thing for sure, the limit game is exponentially less stressful than NL.

The play at my NL table was just awful again. Too many of them try to bluff the river. Bluffing earlier works a lot better. No quads this session, but I did catch the ass-end of a straight flush. I called $12 preflop with a 6-3 off from the button against a maniac. I hit a pair and went runner-runner SF to the 10. My pair was actually good until the river, lol. He had the Q for a flush, but not the J for top end of the SF.

There were 3-4 at my table that were degenerate gamble junkies. I played just about everything they did, and called all their bets. Most were bluffs.

That place is so awesome.

So, it's off to NC tomorrow morning. See you in about a week. It'll be a nice break from the game for a while. Even though I am on a bit of a heater, I am trying to keep balanced. Makes for a much happier situation. Gone are the days of playing at JC's smoke-filled poker den until 5am and going to work at 8:30. I was doing that 3-4 days a week, hitting the occasional casino, and playing online. I went on a $13k run but I was miserable. This new mindset is SO much better.

Ruger LCP

I finally got to shoot my new LCP .380 a couple weekends ago. Nice little gun. Very accurate, and I am not a great shot. I sold my Beretta Tomcat .32 as a trade for the Ruger, and I am glad I did. It's much more thin. I can put it in my back pocket (in a little Uncle Mike's size 1 pocket holster) and I almost forget it's there. The Beretta was a tad bigger, heavier, much wider, less powerful, and you never knew where the round was going to hit. The Ruger is a lot more consistent. It came with a magazine with the grip extension that adds more room to grip at the bottom.

Overall, I am very impressed with this pocket pistol. It will get a lot of carry time this summer. Priced reasonably around $319 at Fin/Feather/Fur.

TK's turn

Skiing? When has TK ever gone skiing?

When I first met Terry, I thought he was cocky and abrasive. He also brought this guy named BDA (big dumb animal) who was a total donk and laughed like an idiot. We loved to see BDA walk in, but TK was a player. (What happened to his game, no one knows) He was aggressive and loose, much like me, and I couldnt stand it. After a while, I came to realize that he never had a hand, and we became fast friends. Terry's one of the funniest members of the group, and he's a blast to party with...

Name: Terry Kavouras
Nickname: VegasTerry, TK, Bluffy McLiarpants
Age: 47
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Hobbies other than poker: Golf, Skiing, Fishing, Drinking, Couch Surfing

1. What was your first CPMG experience? (please include when/where, how you came to join the group, etc.)

I found the CPMG in the Spring of 2004 but the site was full of spam and there were very few messages on the board. I think I posted something about being interested in a game somewhere. I checked back every so often, but there were never any new messages. One day that fall I finally got a response from John Coleman. He posted that he had a regular tournament every Wednesday night and posted his phone number. I eventually called him and he kinda freaked me out. John answered the phone is his basso profundo cartoon sing-song voice and I remember thinking, "who is this guy, is he some kind of fag?". When he said he lives in an apartment downtown I was even more weirded out, I mean who lives downtown? Yuppies, Guppies, and the bag ladies. I thought that this might be some sort of homo game, perhaps a homo trap! I remember asking him jokingly whether I can bring a gun. He said, "you won't be the only one". Fuck! I mean what sort of gay mafia game was he running? But despite all my misgivings I decided to go one Wednesday night. I remember that I called a good friend of mine and told him about the game and my thoughts. I said to him, "Listen, I don't know about this game or this guy. I'm going down there tonight, but if I don't come back, if I go missing, tell the cops I went to this address". He sorta laughed, I sorta laughed, but I was truthfully a little nervous. Nevertheless, the siren song of poker gripped me and I drove down to his apartment. I wasn't sure where to park, how to get in, etc. So after I parked and as I was walking up to the building I see this black guy coming right toward me. He was tall and skinny and he wasn't throwing off any crazy, gang-y, ex-conn-y vibes so I looked at him and he said "Hey. You going to the game?" I said, "Yeah, are you?" He said, "Yeah, I'll show you the way in, my name's Gibran". So Gibran and I went up to Coleman's place and I was surprised and relieved to find a bunch of regular (for poker players) guys sitting around two tables in what was the living room of this one bedroom apartment. I mean the whole place was consumed by poker stuff. Very cool. I met John, Mark Tomon, Dohar, Karl, Wellington, Diablo and a bunch more of the founders. We played two $10 tourneys. I think I cashed in the first one. It turned out to be a great time and a great group. I thought I was going to find a bunch of violent, tatooed, crusty, creepy, low lifes and it turns out they weren't all that tatooed.

2. Which do you prefer...AK or JJ

I think you can do more with AK, especially if it's suited. With JJ you're never sure where you stand unless you flop a set. I think it's harder to play JJ post flop. As they say, there are three ways to play JJ...all three of them wrong.

3. What pro player do you think you play like?

This is really hard to peg. I suppose I should ask someone who plays against me what they think. I think I can play a bit like Farha, but I don't have the bluff in me to play like Hanson. I like how Eli Elezra plays but I'm not sure if my style (if you can call it that) would compare well with his. I have the emotional range of a Matusow or a Helmuth, but I think I control it better than either of them. I think, when I'm playing my best, most focused game I can play like Fergusen and read like Negreanu.

4. What are your three favorite hands?

The hands I'm most excited to see are AA, KK, QQ. So I guess those are my favorite hands. I have a nasty habit of playing J9 suited and I like pocket 8s for some reason.

5. Describe the biggest pot you ever won.

I can easily tell you the biggest pot I ever lost. It's hard to remember the biggest pot I won, however. I remember my fastest quadruple-up pretty well though. I was in Vegas for the first time with the CPMGers (John, Mark, Gibran, Dohar and I all went) in August of 2005. It was about dinner time and after a full day of playing various room we headed back to the hotel for some of the guys to change for dinner. I had taken a shower and changed later than the rest of them I think, so I didn't need to go back to the room. So I sat down at a $2-5 table to kill some time while they got ready. The second hand I got was KK. A guy three spots to my right has about $2,000 in front of him and he opens for like $25. I re-raise him to $70, there was a caller, then the original raiser gives me a pissy look, then calls. The flop was something like K99. The guy checks to me and I push $100 in. Other caller folds, guy who orignally raised goes all in, and I insta-call showing my boat. He glares at me and I double up to $600. Two hands later I get AK suited. The same guy opens the pot for $25 again. I raise to $50, folds around to him and he calls and grunts something unintelligilble. I flop the nut flush. The guy comes out with a $100 bet, I go all in - $550 and he insta calls with two pair. He misses his boat and I double again through the guy. I hit a couple more pretty good hands and when the guys come down from the room, about 15 minutes later, I have almost $1,700 in front of me. They are stunned, laughed, slapped me on the back. We were going to dinner, so I picked up my money and left the table. They weren't too happy about it, especially the guy that doubled me up twice, but that's poker!