The Clock: Jeff218

The 3 websites I spend the most time on are:
CardRunners, ESPN.com, Sherdog

My worst habit is:
Heroine. I just love Wonder Woman, Joan of Arc, etc.

I’d want my last meal to be:
This is a tough call. It would have to be either these Vietnamese spring rolls my mother makes, Sapporo Ichiban beef flavored ramen, or hard tack.

The readers would be surprised to learn that:
I can do a double backflip into a no footed air grind wheelie seat grab tail whip. Blindfolded. Of course, this would surprise me also.

My celebrity crush is:
Tom Selleck.

The most surprising song on my iPod is:
In Da Tub by Bert and Ernie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHs07H253ms)

The TV Shows I DVR are:
Pawn Stars, American Pickers, Top Gear, Man vs Wild, Dual Survival, Boondocks, Venture Bros, Family Guy, South Park, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, SNL, Dirty Jobs, Inside MMA, Fighting Words, and Spongebob Squarepants.

My largest personal indulgence is:
Tie between food and booze. I love to eat and I have to drink.

The coolest place I’ve traveled to is:
There was this eccentric old man named Dick (not joking) that used to live in town (he is now dead). He was a financial advisor for years and had become extremely wealthy. He was also a raging alcoholic. One night I was at the bar with a friend named Phatty (not joking) when we ran into Dick, who was shit canned. He needed a ride home, but did not want to leave his car at the pub. We were sober and knew him pretty well, so he asked us to drive his car back and have the other person follow in one of our cars (so we could get home).

We get to his house, and it was spectacular inside. He has a library with, “over 20,000 books”, a wine cellar, a full bar with 10 of everything you could imagine, a fireplace big enough to make most crematoriums jealous, and this huge plastic fishbowl type thing with literally thousands of matchbooks in it from various hotels around the world.

The dude had two hand carved chairs that he bought in Thailand. Did I mention they had freaking ivory arm rests? When asked, we were told, “It was illegal to import these”

For our trouble he gave us each $100 and tried to force us to take a bottle of Absolute vodka, which we inexplicably declined. I swear I am not making this up.

I drive a:
2006 Cadillac CTS and a 1998 Chevy Tahoe (so baller)

The top 3 items on my ‘bucket-list’ include:
I don’t do bucket lists. My philosophy is that whatever happens, happens. Are there things I wanna do? Sure. I’d love to spend significant time in the UK checking out historical landmarks. I’d love to attend a World Series game at Target Field (GO TWINS). I’d love to try not to pick up some strange disease while on Safari in Africa. But if that stuff doesn’t go down, that’s cool too.

If I could go back in time and witness one single event, it would be:
Tom Selleck being born. He had chest hair from day 1, right?

Favorite Drink at a Bar is:
A double Absolute vodka with cranberry juice.

The talent that I don’t possess that I wish to have is:
I wish I could sing. I’d prolly give up the top fifth of my left pinky finger for that.

The 3 things I’d bring with me on a deserted island are:
Assuming I had food and water:

1. Lots and lots and lots of booze.
2. Somebody to spend the time with.
3. A library worth of books.

If I could switch shoes for a day, I’d want to be:
Rush Limbaugh just so I could get him addicted to pain killers again. He deserves it (or worse).

Can you describe your computer setup:
I built my desktop myself with RodeoBlue’s help on component selection. The rest is standard poker guy stuff with dual 22” monitors, a wireless rechargeable mouse, and some fancy pants Logitech THX speakers. I’d send a pic, but I’m too tired/lazy to get our camera out.

If I could implement any one change to an online poker room, it would be:
Lower the damn rake at lower stakes in order to make the industry more sustainable.

In all honestly I think the sites are their own worst enemy. For example: I am learning heads-up. To do so I am peddling my wares at 10nl. The other day I played a donk for about 350 hands before I was finally able to stack him. When he left I had all the money on the table but LOST 43 cents because UB took about 45bb in rake for the match.

If the sites keep doing this, there won’t be any money left in the SSNL games. As we all know, the money filters up. So when you lose the 10nl’ers, you lose everything.

My most memorable day in poker was:
This is not an actual poker tale, but the following never would of happened without it.

The clear answer is the day Ezra and Taylor interviewed me for a job at CardRunners. At the time, CR was much smaller and Green Plastic was still very active in the higher games on UB and FTP. Getting to sit down with he and Ezra on a conference call was a very big deal. I remember exactly where I was and what I did during the whole thing. It is funny that I remember being interviewed, but nothing about when I was actually offered the job. I guess Green Plastic > Job.

If you wanna talk about poker specifically, it is one of three:

1. First big (for me) tourney score. I won about $1500 in some $10 donkament on FTP back in 2006.
2. The day I won almost seven buy-ins at one table at 100nl on UB in early 2007.
3. The time I hit quads over quads, also at 100nl on UB in early 2007. It is literally the only hand of my career that I could recite bet for bet, card for card.

My most memorable day at CardRunners was:
I wish I could give a happy thought, but very sadly, it has to be the day I found out CR charter member, and friend, Lou Pinella died. We were not best pals or anything, but I knew him well enough as our paths had crossed hundreds of times in the forums, chat room, and via PM, email, and Facebook. He was an amazing guy, and as much as the site misses him, I am sure it is much, much worse for his wife and son.

RIP LP

If I could re-choose my poker screen name, I would have made it:
Tom Selleck FTW

The largest amount of cash I’ve ever held in my hand is:
$16,000 and change. Right out of college I got a job selling cars. Shortly after I stated, a couple came in and bought a used Ford Expedition with cash.

What was your biggest losing day and what was going through your head afterwards?
I have no idea. My worst run was over a 2 or 3 day stretch in January of 2008 when I dropped 14 buy-ins in about 1k hands. It was a little tilt and a ton of coolers. I’ve had several ppl look at the hands and most agree that I just had a bad stretch. Happens to the best of us, you know?

My biggest poker pet peeve is:
People who apply their own issues, faults, and insecurities to others. For example, just because you play bad if you check your results mid-session, that does not mean the same holds true for me. I mean, if you are not mentally strong enough to play well after seeing visual evidence that you are down 216bb, it may be time to reevaluate things.

My favorite prop bet that I play regularly is:
I don’t do props ever. Honestly, I find just about all of them to be stupid.

When you are sensing or feeling tilted, what do you do to unwind/relieve the anger?
If my daughter is home, I call her to my office and have her sit with me while I play/work. For worse tilt, I just go and hang out with her for awhile.

For super ultra monkey tilt, I murder people and bury them in the woods.