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Comments on EdmondDantes' blog |
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Sorry I missed it, Ed. Looks like you cleaned up...again. I must say your posts alter my way of thinking and an otherwise blah day turns into an hour of reflection. The cell phone salesman just blew my mind!
Sunday, September 09, 2025
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That cell phone guy is AWESOME!!!
Oh and congrats on the donkament scores.
Sunday, September 09, 2025
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Nice, going Ed. Is there really that much of a difference between driving to the Commerce and Redondo. I'm thinking 15-20 mins difference at the most. Anyway, nice tournament. The chop was classic. Funny that the guy came up to you asking why you chopped.
Nice touch with the Pavarotti tribute at the end. Funny, you should show the clip of him singing Nessun Dorma. When Potts was making his run on the English show, my father-in-law, who is Scottish, sent me some clips of Potts. Since I'm not an opera fan I wanted to compare Potts with Pavarotti to see how good he was. i found the same clip as you on youtube. The version of Nessun Dorma he sang for the finale was better than the one you included here -- although this one is more dramatic.
Monday, September 10, 2025
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| The Fat Man Sings |
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On Friday last, I was inspired by Pechorin's recent run through Europe and weighed my immediate options for a live poker tourney fix. Hmmm….I could head down to Redondo Beach for the soft home tournament I deal for a friend. Alternatively, lakong wanted me to come with him to the California State Poker Championships. The CSPC is a bigger field of better players (obv), but on a Friday afternoon that West LA to Commerce run is an even worse drive than the one to Redondo Beach. My home game host also pitched that he’s restocked the Jack Daniels, pushed back the start time to let me duck the worst of Friday afternoon traffic and adjusted the blind structure like I’ve suggested. Ok, Redondo it is.
New & Improved
We start with 3000 chips (5/10 blinds, 15 minute levels), run about 4 hours and pay 3 spots. If we finish early and there’s interest, we run a second one. I serve as the principal dealer and ad hoc floor person by virtue of my ability to shuffle, calculate side pots and interpret the dead button rule, all while under the influence of alcohol. Friday, we drew about 12 guys and ran a $100 freeze-out with 50% to the winner.
As I mentioned in earlier posts, several of the players in the game lack fundamentals and make plays that are hilarious or nauseating depending on whether or not they hit their 4-outer. One player in particular has, to date, shown little or no sense of hand values or judgment in the times we’ve played. That said, he’s a nice guy and anxious to learn, so I’ve given him a couple of basic books to get a better handle on the game.
Last night the improvements in his play were noticeable. He’s playing fewer hands, betting his good hands (he used to slow play any decent hand) and showing down quality. Unfortunately, another player in our group (the host) didn’t really pick up on it.
Midway through the tournament with the blinds at 150/300, UTG raised to 1000 and it folded around to the DB (our host), who called. Small blind folded and New & Improved player announced a re-raise to 3000. UTG min-raiser promptly re-raised all-in and DB… called. WTF? They show down…
QQ (UTG) v 66 (host) v JJ (New & Improved)
The queens held and our host was out. New & Improved player had both players covered courtesy of an earlier boat, so he survived the beat and continued.
On the break, the host came up to me, “My call with the sixes was a bad call, right?” Not one to sugarcoat, I told him that no, it was moronic. “Well you know New & Improved. He could have anything. I figured he’d have something stupid like 97 or KJ.” Are you brain dead? He’s playing different tonight—tighter, more card and board aware—and he’s shown great hands all night. And what about the UTG player?
Follow your head...or don't
In any event, he was out and I was still in. I continued to deal and play ABC poker and, as expected, the field thinned to 6 or so after a couple of hours. The key point in the tournament came with the blinds at 150/300 when it was limped to me in the big blind with K5o. Flop is a nifty KT5 and I led out with a half-pot bet, about 20% of my stack. One caller to the dealer button, who shoved. I called, of course, and the other player shrugged and said “I guess I have to call.”
We show K5 v KJ v AQ and I’m dodging fishhooks for the win.
Hold…I burn and turn a Q…hold…I burn and river a blank. K5 goot!
Down to four players, I was a slight chip leader but everyone was pretty evenly stacked. I dealt out a new hand and as players were checking their hole cards, another player started chop talk.
I was on the DB with AQo and curious to see how this developed but I stuck to my usual “I’m good either way. Whatever you guys want.” The small blind, heretofore open to chop talk, was suddenly uninterested in a deal. “Let’s play for a bit.” Uh, noted. We played on but I was concerned about the small blind now.
The blinds were 300/600 and with a fold to me, I raised my AQo to 2400. SM insta-called and the big blind folded. Careful, Edmond.
Flop came AJT rainbow. SB checked to me. What hands would make him duck a chop…probably TT+, ATo+. The only hands I really wanted him to have here are KK, QQ or AQ…and I had a Q so that made AQ and QQ less likely. Whatever, I shoved anyway. It’s a home game, right? He beat me to the pot and I expected the worst when he turned over…A 9. Ok, so much for my ability to read a player. Thank god I didn’t have the good judgment to follow it.
My AQ held and now I was the monster stack. The other players were beside themselves and howled at A9 player for loading me up. Feeling generous, I offered the following chop “If you want, I’ll take the winner’s share and you guys can split the rest.” They took it immediately, I pocketed the six hundie and we were on to tournament #2.
As we’re setting up, New & Improved took me aside and said, “I was surprised you would let us chop with a big stack like that.” I confided in him, “Uh, you know I can’t win MORE than the winner’s share, right?” He’s obviously not at that chapter yet.
Rinse & repeat
Ten of the original twelve stuck around for the second tournament, this one for a $60 buy-in. Again, I ground my way down to the final three not getting out of line with anything. I’d normally be more aggressive late (these guys LOVE to fold near the money), but I could tell the player to my left wanted to go home. Last thing I wanted was him calling my T5o button shove light. Sure enough, a few hands later, he raised with J9 and called a shove for 30 BBs. J9 < AKo and we were down to two. The other player and I then chopped for 1st and 2nd place money with a little premium for the dealer.
At this point, it was about 1a. I was net $700 on the evening not counting drinks and goodwill generated. Meanwhile, lakong sent me a voicemail that he’d chopped a satellite but pretty much fizzled in the CAPC event. Meh, sometimes it’s better to take the sure thing.
Opera in a poker blog? WTF?
You may know that last week the music world lost a giant when tenor Luciano Pavarotti succumbed to pancreatic cancer. Unlike many classical music or opera stars, Pavarotti was open to other genres and made his music more accessible via charity concerts and collaborative duets with such artists as Bono, Meatloaf, Queen, James Brown, Barry White, et al.
He was launched into popular culture well past his prime after a performance of Nessun Dorma for the opening ceremony of the 1990 World Cup in Italy. It’s an aria from the final act of Puccini’s opera Turandot and became his signature piece. You can see him singing it at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics at Torino, Italy below. Not bad for “past his prime”, right?
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He spent the latter part of his career pretty much phoning it in to opera houses (one critic put it succinctly…”he reminded me of a friendly stagehand who'd wandered onstage in the middle of an opera and decided to make the best of it.”) and printing multi-platinum CDs with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, aka The Three Tenors.
No opera critic ever gave him the high marks for his Three Tenors gigs that he’d have pulled for one of his 70s era performances of La Boheme, but audiences loved the crossover work, and on his worst day, he could easily hold his own with likes of Bono and Meatloaf. Furthermore, selling out a stadium paid better than selling out the Metropolitan Opera House. Play with worse players and get paid more? Pavarotti understood the value of good game selection. RIP, sir…you were a MONSTER.
Nice Potts
Fast forward to the summer of 2007 when Paul Potts, a contestant on Britain’s Got Talent (an American Idol type show in the UK), sings Nessun Dorma in his audition as seen below. It’s perhaps better titled “Cell phone salesman in bad suit sings Puccini and stuns Simon Cowell and 2,000 members of the audience to tears...”
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Potts ultimately won the entire competition, beating the odds maker favorite, a talented 6-year-old girl singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. He released an album and the single of that aria reached #2 on the UK charts, the highest position ever for a classical recording.
Believe it or not, there’s a lesson in these two performances for poker players. First, however talented you are, there’s value in good game selection. Exposing others to your talents may turn you on to a bigger market that can have a dramatic impact on your bankroll. Less competition for better money? Put your ego away and your wallet will prosper. Second, as the host of my home game learned, you need to remember that the guy that looks like a donk may, in fact, have real talent. Be careful how you judge him on first glance; he may just leave you stunned and sobbing.
Still digging,
Edmond
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