PartyPoker Support

PartyPoker's customer support is notoriously the worst. After two years of dealing with them, I have finally learned to at least have fun when writing an email:

To: info@partypoker.com,vip@partypoker.com,
cruises@partypoker.com
Subject: Party Poker Million V-- verification
Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 00:22:31 -0500


Early Saturday morning I won an entry into the Party Poker Million V cruise. I still haven't received any information regarding this package--- dates, times, etc...

Please send this information so that I can make the necessary arrangements. I also suggest that you look into a system in which your players are quickly informed when they win an entry into your flagship tournament. If only there were some sort of "electronic mail" type of system so that you could easily communicate with your players! I know--- there are a million technical hurdles to overcome, but hopefully your staff can put their heads together and think of some sort of solution.

Thank you,
Chris Seybert

A few of the hands from last night's tournament

There are a few hands that I wanted to post from last night's tournament, with explanation for anyone who is interested in poker.

Scariest Hand:

#Game No : 34505xxxx
***** Hand History for Game 34505xxxx *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny:19611295 Level:15 Blinds (1500/3000) - Saturday, January 28, 03:05:17 EDT 2006
Table January Semi-Finals II Day2(568571) Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 7
Seat 4: HERO ( $34144 )
Seat 5: davidaquila ( $54941 )
Seat 7: DannyOhBoy ( $31994 )
Seat 8: THREEKINGS04 ( $103562 )
Seat 10: PSTARFISH ( $39956 )
Seat 6: glibglub ( $40584 )
Seat 1: buckscopa ( $90896 )
Trny:19611295 Level:15
Blinds (1500/3000)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HERO [ 6c 6d ]
THREEKINGS04 folds.
PSTARFISH folds.
buckscopa raises [9000].
HERO is all-In [34144]
davidaquila folds.
glibglub folds.
DannyOhBoy folds.
buckscopa calls [25144].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qd, Kh, Ah ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 5h ]
buckscopa shows [ Kd, Qc ] two pairs, kings and queens.
HERO shows [ 6c, 6d ] three of a kind, sixes.
HERO wins 72788 chips from the main pot with three of a kind, sixes.

There were 14 players left on 2 tables at this point. Top 9 got the prize package. 10th place paid $500, 11th place paid $300. (The tournament cost $270 to enter, so it was a huge difference to finish anywhere but in the top 9) The player "buckscopa" had been raising preflop very frequently.

I don't like getting into a coinflip in a situation like this. I thought that I had the best hand with a pair of 66s (which I did, at about a 53% favorite to win), but I didn't think that he would call my all-in (his call was absolutely horrible by the way... only if he was certain that I had a small pair can this call be good), and I knew that I needed to pick up some chips to survive.

When I saw the flop, I thought I was done. The turn saved me, but I still wasn't safe because there were 4 cards, any king or queen, on the river that would have beaten me.

My Biggest Mistake


#Game No : 345062xxxx
***** Hand History for Game 345062xxxx *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny:19611295 Level:16 Blinds (2000/4000) - Saturday, January 28, 03:40:18 EDT 2006
Table January Semi-Finals II Day2(568571) Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 4: HERO ( $61788 )
Seat 5: davidaquila ( $62482 )
Seat 7: DannyOhBoy ( $113750 )
Seat 8: THREEKINGS04 ( $32978 )
Seat 6: glibglub ( $44468 )
Seat 1: buckscopa ( $80611 )
Trny:19611295 Level:16
Blinds (2000/4000)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HERO [ Qs Ad ]
davidaquila folds.
glibglub folds.
DannyOhBoy folds.
THREEKINGS04 raises [16000].
buckscopa folds.
Your time bank will be activated in 5 secs. If you do not want it to be used, please act now.
HERO is all-In [57788]
THREEKINGS04 is all-In [16978]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kh, 2h, 7c ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ks ]
** Dealing River ** [ 8s ]
THREEKINGS04 shows [ Kd, Ac ] three of a kind, kings.
HERO shows [ Qs, Ad ] a pair of kings.
HERO wins 28810 chips from side pot #1 with a pair of kings.
THREEKINGS04 wins 67956 chips from the main pot with three of a kind, kings.

There were a total of 11 players left at this point, 6 on my table and 5 on the other table.

I still don't know how I feel about this hand. I put myself in the worst situation that I faced in the whole tournament--- I was a huge underdog. The reason was that I felt that the player "THREEKINGS04" should be making a move with a very wide range of hands, a big enough range that my AQo would be a big favorite over. I thought a long time before deciding to play--- I knew that we would be playing for all his chips.

I think that the key here is that he didn't just raise all-in. Most players pushing a wide range will just raise all-in. BUT, it's also tricky, because a person can raise an amount which indicates that they are committed to the pot, and also make it appear that they want a call. So sometimes it's difficult to tell whether a "less-than-all-in" raise is indicating a strong hand, or whether it's disguising a weak hand.

So I'm still undecided about this hand. In hindsight-- it's easy to say that I made a very bad mistake. I was in a bad position after losing this--- I was the shortest stack remaining in the tournament out of the 11, and a little desperate.

The next two hands I was dealt 88. The first one, a guy raised to 9200, I reraised all in with 88, he folded. The second, it was folded to me, I raised all-in with 88 and stole the blinds. Then I was back in the running with 48000 chips.

Sealing the Deal

#Game No : 345063xxxx
***** Hand History for Game 345063xxxx *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny:19611295 Level:16 Blinds (2000/4000) - Saturday, January 28, 03:43:48 EDT 2006
Table January Semi-Finals II Day2(568571) Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 4: HERO ( $44010 )
Seat 5: davidaquila ( $56482 )
Seat 7: DannyOhBoy ( $107750 )
Seat 8: THREEKINGS04 ( $73956 )
Seat 6: glibglub ( $44468 )
Seat 1: buckscopa ( $69411 )
Trny:19611295 Level:16
Blinds (2000/4000)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HERO [ Kc Kd ]
glibglub folds.
DannyOhBoy folds.
THREEKINGS04 folds.
buckscopa is all-In [69411]
HERO is all-In [42010]
davidaquila folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, Qs, 4h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6d ]
** Dealing River ** [ Qc ]
HERO shows [ Kc, Kd ] two pairs, kings and queens.
buckscopa shows [ Ad, 5h ] a pair of queens.
buckscopa wins 25401 chips from side pot #1 with a pair of queens.
HERO wins 92020 chips from the main pot with two pairs, kings and queens.

There were 11 people left. This was a no-brainer hand. The only hand that I was behind to was pocket aces. The player "buckscopa" made a mistake by going all-in to steal the blinds. He should have just raised to 12000 or so.

After this hand-- the rest was just a matter of time.... I knocked out the 11th and 10th place people, and the rest of us were cruisin'.

#Game No : 345064xxxx
***** Hand History for Game 345064xxxx *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny:19611295 Level:16 Blinds (2000/4000) - Saturday, January 28, 03:46:32 EDT 2006
Table January Semi-Finals II Day2(568571) Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 4: HERO ( $82020 )
Seat 5: davidaquila ( $72482 )
Seat 7: DannyOhBoy ( $107750 )
Seat 8: THREEKINGS04 ( $73956 )
Seat 6: glibglub ( $38468 )
Seat 1: buckscopa ( $21401 )
Trny:19611295 Level:16
Blinds (2000/4000)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HERO [ 9c 9h ]
davidaquila folds.
glibglub folds.
DannyOhBoy folds.
THREEKINGS04 folds.
buckscopa is all-In [19401]
HERO calls [17401].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2d, 8d, Th ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 2c ]
buckscopa shows [ 6d, Ad ] a pair of twos.
HERO shows [ 9c, 9h ] two pairs, nines and twos.
HERO wins 42802 chips from the main pot with two pairs, nines and twos.

I made this call for precisely the same reasons as I called with AQ in "my biggest mistake". Only this time it was an easy call because not as much of my chip-stack was threatened.

#Game No : 345066xxxx
***** Hand History for Game 345066xxxx****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny:19611295 Level:16 Blinds (2000/4000) - Saturday, January 28, 03:52:30 EDT 2006
Table January Semi-Finals II Day2(568571) Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 4: HERO ( $125421 )
Seat 5: davidaquila ( $66482 )
Seat 7: DannyOhBoy ( $99750 )
Seat 8: THREEKINGS04 ( $89956 )
Seat 6: glibglub ( $32468 )
Seat 1: golfjoynt ( $97757 )
Seat 2: SuqmeJohnson ( $10125 )
Seat 3: halfkeg ( $62554 )
Seat 9: Carmen35 ( $82948 )
Seat 10: lynkish ( $67539 )
Trny:19611295 Level:16
Blinds (2000/4000)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to HERO [ Ac 7d ]
glibglub: its been a long time since I played just one table, like this
davidaquila folds.
glibglub: usually 4 to 8
glibglub folds.
DannyOhBoy folds.
THREEKINGS04 folds.
Carmen35 folds.
lynkish folds.
golfjoynt folds.
SuqmeJohnson is all-In [10125]
HERO: me too... i was playing 8 in the beginning.. last 2 hours just this one
halfkeg folds.
HERO calls [6125].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kc, 2s, 2h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ As ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ad ]
HERO shows [ Ac, 7d ] a full house, Aces full of twos.
SuqmeJohnson shows [ Ks, Qd ] two pairs, aces and kings.
HERO wins 22250 chips from the main pot with a full house, Aces full of twos.
Player SuqmeJohnson finished in 10 place and received $500
SuqmeJohnson has left the table.

Taxis in BsAs

In every other city that I've been in, taxis charge not only for the distance travelled, but also for the time spent in traffic. So, taking a taxi in rush hour naturally cost more.

Imagine taxis that only charged for distance travelled.

That's the way it is in Buenos Aires. Every single one of the taxi drivers that I've encountered could kick the red off of the necks of NASCAR drivers. Seriously. They're completely fearless, and sometimes I just take a taxi for the pure experience.

I'm picking up some tricks.

My first multi-table tournament in 3 months

I've been solely playing Single-Table tournaments online for a very long time now... A single table tournament starts with only 10 players, and progresses very quickly... they usually only take an hour to complete.

Tonight, on a whim, I entered my first multi-table no-limit holdem tournament in over 3 months. There were 490 entrants, the top 9 people got a cruise and an entry into a $10,000 buy-in tournament aboard the boat. The details of this are here: PartyPoker.com Million V

Anyway, I won. I guess I'm going on a cruise on March 12,2006 until March 19... the tournament is Limit Hold'em, which I haven't played in ages. I'm going to have to brush up on the game.

Like, 5 minutes ago I won. I think I'm in shock.

What you see is what you pay

What you see is what you pay in Argentina. It makes so much more sense than in the U.S., where they add state sales tax to everything.

I just don't understand why sales tax isn't included in the price of things in the U.S.. Every state has a different tax, and for a transient like me, there is no chance of me knowing how much money to get out at the cash registers. I lived in Nevada for almost a year, and couldn't tell you what % the sales tax is.

I'm perplexed. There isn't a single reason that I can think of that adding tax at the end of a bill is better.

"Been away so long I hardly knew the place..."

I'm back in Argentina.

Tomorrow I'm moving into an apartment in Palermo Soho, one of the hippest areas of town... it's chock-full of great bars and restaurants... I saw the place today and was really impressed. It has 2 bedrooms, a big balcony, AIR CONDITIONING (which is really the most important thing to me right now... I feel like a slug, leaving a trail of sweat wherever I go), a nice kitchen... it even has a miniature washing machine... I'm not sure if I'll ever use the washing machine--- it's like a novelty machine, I've never seen one so small... it's something that I would expect to win at a carnival by tossing a ping-pong ball through a 40mm diameter opening.

Right now I'm staying in a studio apartment that my Spanish teacher Adriana owns... It's free, but small and hot. I think that I've lost 10 lbs. in the last 24hrs... I keep being reminded of a Seinfeld episode where Kramer says "Wow, It's like a sauna in here!" when he joins Jerry and George in the sauna.

Of course it's not that hot though. My body was just finally adjusting to the Michigan climate, and it'll take a few days for my internal thermostat to equilibrate.

Counting my eggs

I was wrong in my last post--- the 2005/2006 transition really does have significance.  It’s a whole new freakin’ tax year, hoorah!

Today I met with an accountant, for the purpose of organizing my finances so that Uncle Sam doesn’t prison rape me at the end of 2006… or that some OTHER criminal doesn’t either.

This whole tax business has actually been quite frustrating.  I was supposed to meet with a tax attorney, one that was recommended by a couple other tax attorneys in Kalamazoo, to discuss some of my questions about filing expatriate tax returns.  That guy ended up being a big sissy though, and he directed me to the accountant that I talked with today.

It’s not like the accountant-guy wasn’t nice.  He was very like-able.  There were some peculiar things about him--- one of which was that he had a weird backward-and-to-the-right head jerk tic sort of thing… it was a little distracting-- I kept instinctively glancing over his shoulder to see if there was something that I needed to look at…  Also, he wasn’t able to answer any of my questions.

The area of tax law that I’m exploring appears to be a very dimly lit but surprisingly roomy corner…

There are a few good things that came out of my meeting this morning though:

1. I know that I have as good (or better) of an understanding of expatriate tax returns as an accountant that deals with it regularly.


2. It won’t be difficult to organize myself in a way that saves me a considerable amount of money, without even treading into the gray prison-bitch realm.

It’s possible that I’ll eventually have answers to some of my questions from today, and be able to legally owe even less in taxes… but, in terms of a reduction in the # of bombs/bullets that can be bought, the # of prisons that can be built, and the # of wiretaps that can be installed due to my hard work, I am relatively happy.  Even a very efficient independent contractor would have a difficult time murdering many people with the money that I voluntarily relinquish to the BEST DAMNED COUNTRY in the world.

I really do hate the USA.  It’s funny in a way, because if I didn’t at one time truly believe in this country, I wouldn’t feel as compelled to escape now.

Now Year

It’s a brand spankin’ new year.

I’m not sure why everyone chooses the start of the new year to emotionally “clean house”.  I’ve sometimes thought that maybe it’s a result of something as simple as throwing away your old calendars and appointment books and writing a new number on all your checks.

I don’t have any calendars though...  or appointment books… and I may have written as many as fifteen checks last year…but I’m still not entirely immune.

Most theories aren’t perfect.