Missing WSOP, NBA Playoffs

Not a long blog, kind of on a tangent most likely. Real happy to go to Thailand as I love it there, going to miss doing a meet up with everyone at WSOP this year which makes me sad. O well, I'll most likely do it every year from here on out, and by every year I mean til I am 75 or so. I would most likely not play any events because they are so boring and it lowers my hourly. Although, you can have a huge pay day and get luckily signed by a poker site which is a huge perk. If I were to play any event it'd probably be the 2-7 NL single draw event since it has the smallest field and thus a better chance at a bracelet without having to waste a few days to bubble an event(never even played the game before, but I'd just be super aggressive). Also, NBA playoffs, rooting for the Suns since I like Nash and their squad, I also think the Lakers are so stacked it's insane. So, I'd like to see someone take them out, and seeing that he Magic are down 3-1 in the series, and I hate the Celtics since I an east coast NJ/NY guy. Watching the Suns vs Lakers game right now with a few minutes left int he first half. This is insane, every shot has dropped for like 5 minutes now.

Anxious for Thailand and June 1st

I'm very excited to get back to Thailand and see more of their culture. Also to simply just have fun in a new environment. I'm not sure if I am going to do any other traveling, but with round trip tickets being ~$2k a piece for both I and Laurie each, I think it'd be wise of me to try and see places like New Zealand, Bali, Fiji, Australia, or any of Asia while out here. This is difficult as it is tough to stay on any kind of budget for the trip. Also, while most friends of mine seem to think that if you play poker you can just take tons of time off, that is far from the truth. Sure, I can take time off for vacation and take off random weekdays like your average working person. However, I put in more hours at my "job" than any friend I know that is not a poker player, maybe some WallStreet guys put in more time, but that'd be close. Anyhow, if people say well go to those places and what not, then I end up costing myself a ton of money in expected income. A good way for me to relate this to my non-poker friends is that it would be like a casino shutting down to go on breaks. When operating they have a said edge, but if they needed to close they give up "expected" income even though on any given day they may actually lose. However, statistics always pan out over large sample sizes. While I can't look at life merely as expected income lost, I do need to heavily weight it within my options. You don't want to get so caught up in missing out on money you'd expect, that you don't enjoy your life while you are young. Poker has allowed me the freedom I've wanted and I will travel with it and make the most of what I can. My advice for fellow poker players who get caught up in this, is to allocate time for friends and traveling, and set up some hours where you will definitely play. I hope my trip goes well, pretty stoked for it.

Some pictures for those who don't know Phuket, Thailand.

Streets during the day time

Muay Thai Fight

Street at night time

Karon Beach, 5 minutes from us

Kata Beach, our beach

Kata Beach also, I'll try to get a shot of Laurie in this location

Leeeeeeebron James

I enjoy the NBA but mostly just the postseason. Mainly, I just root for Lebron to be the best of all time now. I figured I'd take a blog and speculate about his future since most others are. Some thing he'll be loyal and remain in Cleveland and I think this is insanely optimistic to say the least. He clearly wants to be the best ever and has the talent to do so. However, in Cleveland his 2nd best player is comparable to the 4th or 5th best player on these teams making deep runs in the NBA playoffs. He's a Yankees fan (like myself), but doesn't live in New York, what's that tell you? He isn't as loyal to his city as he claims, he even wears Yankees caps to the Indians vs. Yankees games. With this knowledge and the fact that he will be wanting to dominate and win every year, and yes I think he can do this with the right squad, I'll speculate the teams I'd like to see him play for or that he may, I'll leave alot off.

1) New York, the team isn't so hot but they can sign 2 max free agents. Lebron has talked about how he wanted to be the first billionaire athlete. Clearly he didn't know who Tiger Woods was, as he just accomplished this in the past year. If that's his goal though, New York is the place for him to be. With D'Antoni as head coach I don't really want to see it but who knows.

2) Miami Heat, Dwayne Wade could stay and Lebron could also have a house in a state with no state tax (although this isn't too big a deal, but if he makes another $500,000,000 living here he'd save somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,000,000-$10,000,000 dollars). I don't like this fit either, he could use another star, and although Wade is a superstar, his style would not mesh with Lebron's as he needs the ball too much. I'd prefer to see Lebron with a nice big man like Chris Bosh.

3) Cleveland, blah I hope he leaves, I think it's a disaster for his future if he stays other than the city loving him for life which they should anyhow. He has one bad game in 7 years in the playoffs and they boo him? He's saved the franchise, without him this squad probably wouldn't be in the playoffs.

4) New Jersey Nets, with this new billionaire owner it would be interesting, but I can't see them turning it around like he thinks. An interesting scenario I'd be curious to see turn out.

5) Los Angeles Clippers, I would like to see this out of all the teams, although they underperformed last year Lebron could play with rising talents like Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon. Lebron would help them develop and they can be stars while allowing him to still control the team.

Anyhow, these are just my thoughts, I know everyones' varies.

Poker was meh yesterday, won a few grand I think, had a guy down to 5bets at 15/30 right before I went to sleep and lost about 1500 or so to him, o well pretty decent day overall.

Ignoring Swings in Life

I used to blog about things that were relative to both poker and life and so I will continue that trend with this new blog. Before I get started though, I had a fun time at the Yankees game yesterday, I'll post some pictures later. They lost 10-6 to the Rays but it was not that close, they were down 10-2 in the 9th with 2 outs and sparked a comeback. In fact the last game I went to they also scored 4 runs in the 9th to lose by 1.

I maybe lost like 1.1k or something at 30/60 the other day which is hardly anything, about 18 bets or so which is a typical quick swing in LHE. One of those railbirds started typing "omg, I can't believe you just lost that much, sorry he ran." To which I replied "meh, w/e". In the past especially when times are going well it's easy to look at a quick loss and shrug it off, however when in a tough stretch sometimes it is not that easy and these little swings can get to you. Some buddies have reminded me though that the past is the past and to move on. Remembering all day that you just lost, say 15k to start the day, will not help at all. It will actually do the exact opposite and hinder your play, most likely clamming up and getting ran over. Thus, if you can try to remember to put past losses behind you fast and treat each game as its own individual game. In doing so you will see a positive change reflected in your game if you have not been able to look at this game like that already.

Some of you may be wondering how I am relating this post to everyday life. Well, in countless ways poker is related to stuff in every day life. People go through swings with everything, whether it be emotional or physical. Those who aren't mentally tough will complain and bitch about stuff, such as I am so unlucky, I can't believe I broke my ankle, or I can't believe I just lost my job. When it reality it would be much more beneficial to realize that you can't alter the past and only make solid strides forward. Instead of complaining about the injury and moping to yourself, rehab as hard as you can to get back faster. Instead of complaining about losing your job, put together a great resume and go find an even better job.

Case and point, the PAST IS THE PAST, don't dwell, go onward faster and stronger and you will see great leaps in your life.

1st blog - Heading to Thailand and congrats to brother

For those who don't know me I am Reese and I play poker professionally. I used to blog for www.stoxpoker.com which I decided to leave after producing a mass production of poker training videos. The site was later caught up in scandals and cardrunners took over. Anyhow, I'll be blogging alot more to keep family and friends posted on my adventures and how life is going.

A few things for the first blog, I'm headed back to Thailand, I went by myself in September of 09' and have wanted to go back since. This time I am heading back with my girlfriend, Laurie, and will post a bunch of pictures when I get them. It's nice to be able to travel whenever and be able to afford going on random adventures at this age in life and I am able to do that all because of poker. I wanted to talk about another topic of how I came to playing full time but I'd rather do that so I am posting a 2nd blog shortly.

Secondly, congrats to my oldest brother Brooks and my new sister-in-law for getting married this past weekend, I'll probably post some pictures later. I was honored to be the best man and it was a great wedding/reception. I thought I'd be most nervous giving my best man speech but I actually wasn't and I was extremely nervous with the rings in my pocket. I probably checked to make sure they were there about 58 times or so within 2 hours. I'm little jealous as they are in the Dominican Republic and I'm stuck in New Jersey.

I'm headed to the Rays vs Yankees game tomorrow at Yankee stadium and praying some of the rain holds off. It says 30% chance of precipitation which I think the site of weather.com always says so I'm not too worried. I'm heading with my girlfriend, friend, and grandma. My grandmother is a huge Yankees fan so I had to take her to a game before I left for Thailand.

Some pics from the wedding

The girlfriend and I at the rehearsal dinner

Sippin some tea gettin ready for Thailand

Thinking of my turn equity vs balancing my ranges

the best man and the couple

stretch limo


best man speech