Napkin Nights!!!

So for the last couple of weeks I've been browsing around on Myspace and it seems like every cool club kiddie has a picture on their profile from a company called Napkin Nights. This company basically goes around to all the nightclubs in vegas and takes pictures of all the local regulars. It's pretty much a rite of passage, I think... and it seems like everybody who's ANYBODY in the club scene out here has at least one. I've seen them around taking pictures at Pure and Tangerine... but they always just go right by me.

Well, now I'm proud to announce I've joined the cool kids club out here. I went to the opening of Tao, which is a new restaurant and nightclub in the Venetian last night. I popped my Napkin Nights cherry... I'm soooooo excited. I really feel like doors are going to open for me in this town, now.

So ladies and gentlemen... here it is...
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waaaaaaait for it
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Stacked

So a couple of cool things have happened in the last two weeks.

Cool thing number one. I got an email from a buddy named veeRob about some sort of MTV poker special that they were trying to get people for. They were having a little production meeting at the Bellagio last Friday, so I shot the casting director an email and said I would love to meet with the producers and see if there was anything I could do for the show (i.e. I wanted to be on MTV). So I get an email back saying to meet the producers at the meeting at 6pm outside one of the convention center rooms.

So I hit the meeting with Bobby and another poker buddy named Chris Duty. We get there and it's pretty informal... turns out that it's a special for Stacked, the new video game that Daniel Negreanu, Evelyn Ng, David Williams, Eric Lindgren and a few others are getting behind. They had about thirty people show up for this informal meeting where they basically explained they needed extras to play some poker in the background for this special that's shooting in October. They're not paying anything... but you could get the chance to meet Daniel Negreanu.

It looked like with the players involved with the game, they pretty much had all the poker pros they needed... and the producers really didn't know too much about poker and said they weren't planning to really do much with it in the future. The production meeting was kind of a whiff.

But it turned out that Stacked was having there press party starting at 7pm in one of the rooms. We stuck our head in and they had all these monitors setup where they were debuting this video game. Also some catering and an open bar. It looked like it was going to be fun. When we started making our way to the bar, though, we got stopped. They asked who we were with... we said nobody... and were informed that it was strictly invite only. So I'm like, "well, how can I get an invite?" I got this blank stare back like I was out of my mind... but then one of the video game crew recognized me and gave the go ahead.

So we got to chill at the Stacked party with tons of great food, an open bar, and the debut of the greatest poker video game ever. The producers of the video game got the Alberta AI team to work their POKI project into the game... so it's supposed to have hands down the best artificial intelligence ever to hit a poker game. We played around with it a little bit and it looks badass... there are a few little problems that I wouldn't mind changing. It goes a little slow. I'm told there's a way to speed up the hands when you're out, but it wasn't apparant how to do it... and it's not quite clear what, if anything, some of the controls actually do (like there's this option to have your avatar smile or frown... does that really do anything?). Also, I put the competition on the hardest setting and was playing a sit-n-go... started off with 1000 chips with the blinds really low. I decided to push all-in with Q5o and one of the AI players who had limped in early called with A9o. So I don't really know what that's all about.

But yeah, the competition for "best poker game of all time" award is pretty slim... and this game looks like it'll take it easily. So that was pretty cool getting to demo the game before anybody else. Also pretty cool when Daniel and Evelyn and David showed up. All three of those cats are ultra cool.

The highlight of the evening, though, was meeting arguably the most famous poker player ever... Bill Fillmaff. That's right... he was there at the party. I guess in real life, he's a webmaster and he's running the Stacked website. Soooooo pimp.

Labor Day...

Been a good few days at the poker tables, so today I hung out with Joey for awhile. He got some recording equipment a few days ago and we've been trying to lay down some tracks. So today we went all-out and hit up a labor day sale at one of the local music stores. I took home a pretty cheap controller, a low-end acoustic-electric guitar, and some software to make a little music. We've been talking about starting a little band with my little brother (Bobby's like Dr. Worm on the drums)... I think we're finally going to hunker down and put some time into it. I've been playing guitar and keyboard since I was twelve and I'm just getting to the point where I feel like the stuff I write is worthy of being listened to. Now we just need to find a kickass female vocalist to fill out the sound a little. Oh yeah... and we need a name.

Bobby made a few hundred yesterday at the Balley's 1/2 NL game... he said it was super-soft and told me about a pretty cool hand where he had AQo... three people limped in and he made it 25 to go. All three called... that's how crazy loose this game was.

The flop comes AJ6 all different suits. All check to him and he bets 60. A younger girl sitting a couple spots away debates internally a bit before putting in 60 more chips. The turn comes another rag and she checks to him. He pushes all-in... but at this point he's got her well covered because she only has 25 left in front of her.

As she's taking her time debating the call, Bobby figures she probably has a jack or a weaker ace... and even though in either case he's very far ahead, the pot already has $220 in it. Now he's betting her last $25 and she's getting about 10:1 pot odds to make the call. If she's got a jack or a six, she's right to make the call at this point even though she only has 5 outs left. If she calls, he's not really going to like it even though he's far ahead. The pots big enough that he'd rather win it right there.

So Bobby makes a pretty cool play. As she's thinking about throwing her last $25 chips in there, he shrugs a little and says to her "I've got the ace" and shows it to her like he's helping her out. She gives the "I-accept-my-fate" nod and shows a jack and folds. Then she thanks him for taking it easy on her and letting her save the $25.

When he told me that story, I just thought... wow... nice play, bro. You get this player to fold a hand she was pot-committed and should have called... you avoid the 11.4% chance that she'll get lucky on you and hit her two pair. And all the while, her and everyone else at the table views it as you "just being nice". Gotta love it.

So that's a new play at the tables that I've never though of before... exposing a winning hand with a card or two to come to get a weaker hand to fold when the weaker hand has the pot-odds to call and try to draw out on you. Just make sure you don't try it in a tournament, because usually they have rules against exposing your hand to solicit action. That's one of the rules I really disagree with... as long as your headsup in the pot and nobody else is effected, I don't think there should be a rule against showing your hand.

Hope you all have a very safe and happy Labor Day. PLEASE be careful... it's a dangerous time. So wear your seatbelt and don't drink and drive... or drink and boat... or drink and dial ;).