September Monthly Update, Lock Pro Retreat Recap

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It's been a while since my last entry so this is going to be a really long one. September was a while ago but I'll try to remember some things. The 1st weekend Paula & I spent in Winona & then I had 3 fantasy football drafts on Labor Day. Despite 2 of my 1st round picks being Arian Foster & Chris Johnson I was very happy with my drafts & am currently 3-2, 4-1, & 4-1, so you really can't ask for a much better start.

The next weekend 1 of my good friends Josh got married in Winona at his parent's house. They have a really nice home and land so it's not the small type of backyard wedding you might be thinking of. They also have 1 of those brick oven stoves & I'm not sure how much the alcohol had to do with it but at the end of the night I had some of the best pizza I've ever tasted. I love weddings because as you get older it's tougher & tougher to get everyone together, and it will likely only become more difficult considering I'm only 27. The next day we stayed at my brother Jeff's (hubs89) to watch the Vikings blow a 20 point 1st half lead, which has become a trend since.

The next weekend 1 of my good friends Kyle was getting married & I was a groomsman. The wedding was in Stewartville & the reception was in Rochester, which is about halfway between where I grew up (Winona), & where I live now (Farmington). My good friend Bryan lives about 2 minutes from the reception hall so a bunch of us just crashed at his house for the weekend. We had the groom's dinner Friday night & then partied at Bryan's for a while afterwards. Saturday was the wedding & then we did a little after partying at Bryan's again. Everything went well. Some of us stayed at Bryan's to watch the Vikings blow another 20 point lead.

I don't remember what I did the rest of the month other than watch the Vikings blow another 20 point lead. I have a nice 3 TV setup downstairs & another 50 inch around the corner in case you need to grab a beer, some feed, or go to the bathroom, & have the NFL ticket so I usually have some people over for the football games. The way it's worked out this year is everyone didn't have shit going on the weekends I wasn't home & then everyone had something going on the 2 weekends I have been home for games. My friend Ryan (Skapman33) did make it over to watch the Vikings only win this past weekend though.

Last month at the tables I made a $7,680.25 before rakeback, but ran pretty far below EV. They added $500 & $1K HU STs toward the end of the month, which has made for some interesting swings but will turn out to be amazing for me in the long run. I had 1 day at the end of the month where I lost $17K, mostly to 1 player who I was 2 tabling at $500s & who proceeded to run 15% above EV against me over 180+ games. I haven't had a near $20K losing day in quite a while so that was different but I'm anticipating more in the future. Now I just need the EV to become neutral and have some + $20K days. The guy who took most of the $17K off of me said he was going to be on at noon the next day & never showed. I played him a little the following day but probably didn't make more than $2K back off of him. Of course he ended up spewing it all off to other regs & hasn't played since September 29th.

We left for Europe September 29th. The person on my 1st flight smelled like they hadn't put deoderant on or showered for days, so that was fun. We had to switch flights in Chicago & London. Our flight from Chicago was running late, which is never fun when you are trying to catch a connecting flight. When we got to security in London the lady looked at my ticket & said "you aren't gonna make it but you can try." Thanks for the confidence. We ended up running through the airport & making our flight anyway.

We arrived in Paris and our luggage never came out, which is not exactly the thing you want to happen when you're in another country. They said our luggage would be delivered to our hotel between 8 & 9pm. The street setup in Paris is just crazy. Instead of 1 street going vertical & 1 horizontal, they're just going every which way with no rhyme or reason. Then there would randomly be a round about w/ no lines for lanes & people are just making their own lanes 3 deep w/ constant honking of the horns. I'm pretty sure our taxi driver almost killed about 3 people on the way to our hotel.

Our hotel was partners with Best Western so we figured it would be reasonable. Well, it was quite interesting. With me and our luggage in the elevator it was a tight fit. We got upstairs and the room was super small w/ no AC. It was fine though, as I think getting an expensive hotel is usually a huge waste of money on vacation considering you aren't in your room often. By the time we got to our hotel we were dead tired. We had been up for 36 hours or more by the time we got any sleep. The 1st night we didn't do a whole lot besides go out to eat because we were so tired. Our luggage didn't end up coming until past midnight, which was a little frustrating as the thought of not having luggage in Paris was awful. I assume since our flight from Chicago to London was late that they didn't have time to load the luggage onto the plane from London to Paris.

The next day we did a lot of site seeing, with the main stop being the Notre Dame. The Notre Dame was really cool & definitely the nicest church I've ever seen. We walked everywhere w/ a map but toward the middle/end of day my feet were destroyed and just killing me. Ever since I tore my achilles tendon in college I haven't been able to walk or stand nearly as long. At the end of the night we went to a bar until about 2 am.

The following day we went site seeing again, with our last stop being the Eiffel Tower. We stood in line forever & then finally got tickets to go up to the summit. It was cool and all but kinda overrated in my opinion. Paris was alright but really my wife and I are more beach vacation people. Give me an ocean & a drink in my hand & I'm happy. Living in Minnesota probably adds to that.

The next day we had to catch a train to Lyon for the Lock retreat. This was definitely the part of the trip I was most excited for. Our owner rented out an entire castle (25Chateau de Bagnols) & had planned a lot of activities. All Lock pros were invited, as well as some employees, a Bluff magazine reporter, and some of the gambling911 staff. There were about 50 people total. The castle had a taxi pick us up at the train station. We were some of the early arrivals. Arriving at the castle was just amazing. We had seen a lot of pictures but seeing everything in person is just so much different. After getting home I realized my wife and I did a really poor job of taking pictures with ourselves and others in them, as usual. My wife took 80,000 pictures of everything else though. Our suite had a bedroom, a large living room area, and a large bathroom. The toilet looked like a throne. After checking in we went outside for some welcome champagne and appetizers and got to know everyone.

At 8pm we had a formal dinner with a string quartet. As with every dinner at the castle, it was a 7 course meal with all the bread you can eat & all the wine & beer you can drink. If your whine glass was empty they would pour more. If you didn't have bread on your plate they would put some on there. After dinner there was a DJ and all the whine, beer, and mixers you could drink. We stayed out until 2 or 2:30 and had a lot of fun getting to know everyone better.

On day 2 breakfast was served until 10:30 so we set an alarm & made it down there around 10:15. Breakfast was buffet style with eggs, bacon, sausages, numerous croissants (the best containing chocolate chips), jam, parmesan tomatoes, banan bread, deli meat, drink choices, etc... At 11 we had archery. They showed us how to do everything & then gave us 30-60 minutes to practice. It was pretty hard at 1st but by the end of pratice myself and a lot of others were doing pretty well. After pratice we had a team tournament, with teams of 6, with 1st place receiving gold medals and 2nd place receiving silver medals. Of course our team ending up taking the gold. I was a little disappointed that they didn't present us w/ medals on a podium w/ our anthems playing but I can't complain with a gold medal. Do you have a gold medal? After the team tournament we had an elimination singles tournament where I took 5th. Lock's legal council Bryce ending up winning the singles tournament, earning the title "King of the Castle" considering he was also on our gold medal winning team.

After archery the itinerary listed lunch from 1pm to 3pm. I assumed lunch was buffet style like breakfast where we could just show up anytime between 1pm & 3pm. I was wrong. When it said lunch: 1pm-3pm it literally meant that it was a 2 hour 7 course lunch with whine. The food was very good.

After lunch we had some free time so Paula & I walked around & looked at the castle/gardens. Then I came up to talk to our owner Jennifer as she was informing Matt Stout that he puked on a 17th century antique the night before when he was blackout drunk. It was news to him. I then had a long talk with Jennifer. The more I talk to her the more I'm impressed with her passion for her work, her ambition, and her innovative ideas. She also listens to ideas from her players, which I think is very important. While we have our hands tied on a lot of things because we're on a network, if there's a good idea she's going to do everything she can to get that idea implemented. Eric "Rizen" Lynch has also done an excellent job helping out in that department. It's nice to see a site doing things right from the top down, as I think a lot of poker sites are ran pretty poorly. I have full confidence that Lock will continue to grow and I'm very proud to represent the site as an elite pro. We were supposed to have hot air balloon rides at 6pm but while talking to Jen I found out that they had been rescheduled for early the next morning due to the high winds. That left us with more free time so we met some people down by the pool & enjoyed some Heinekens. The bathroom doesn't have a shower so after the pool I took my 1st bath since I was 8, which was interesting.

At 8pm we had dinner in the winery again. It was a buffet style pig roast, which was really good. The dessert was especially good. After dinner we had a poker tournament. I think we started with 200BBs but due to time constraint we had to move the blinds up very quickly with 10 minute levels. All of the pros put in a $100 last longer bet with the winner taking it all. My wife Paula has no idea how to play poker. She doesn't know what a straight or a flush is. I have tried to teach her before but she got frustrated and we just stopped. She ended up playing in the tournament anyway. Some of us who don't take $100 last longer bets as serious were drinking during the tournament. I ended up reshoving AA vs Frederico (LAGTARD) Silva's 77 preflop & he binked quads. Shortly after Paula was out. I planned on sticking around for some drinks but as I looked around the room none of the other pros who were out were still in the room. It was about 12:30 & we all had a 6:30 am wakeup call so I figured maybe everyone went back. I should have known better with this group. It turns out a lot of people stayed until the tournament was over at 2am, while others stayed up playing cash games until 4am. Since he runs so good Greg (HokieGreg) Tiller scooped the tournament, beating Bryan (PrimordialAA) Pellegrino's wife HU. It sounds like Primo's wife knew what she was doing. People said she would 3bet bluff Hokie & then show the bluff saying "I knew you were a nit" which probably would have been fun to watch. Quote from Jeff (HurricaneJeff) Romano: "After the free-roll was over there was a 2 4 NL/PLO cash game where it just escalated to degen heaven. Diego ended up winning the most while the DJ spewed off $400, proving the only thing worse than his music was his poker game." In all fairness the DJ was a very nice guy & had culteral differences to deal with. His music also got much better the last night, as I think a lot more people started making requests.

The next morning we got our 6:30 am wakeup call. We all met outside & took cars to the takeoff spot for the hot air balloon rides. When looking at what a wreck some people were I didn't feel so bad about missing out on the end of the previous night. Watching them blow up the hot air balloons was pretty interesting. We went in a basket with Rizen and his girlfriend, HokieGreg and his girlfriend, and PrimordialAA and his wife, along with a photographer and our pilot. It was a very cool experience. I thought we might start a forest fire when we heading down into the trees & the pilot was triggering the flame for the hot air but we stayed safe. After the hot air balloon rides we had a quick stop for some champagne & orange juice & then got a quick breakfast.

After breakfast we had horse and carriage rides and a picnic, which was catered by the castle. I felt bad for the horses at some points going up the hills. It was clear that they should have had 2 horses on all of the carriages. There were numerous times when we just got out and walked a little while going up the hill in order to make the horse's life easier.

After the horse and carriage rides we had a 4 hour wine tour where we went around to different wineries & did some wine tasting. I'll leave another epic description from Hurricanejeff here: "The first winery was incredible. The guy Domanie was the 5th generation owner of the vineyard and knew his shit. We got to eat grapes right off the vine and then he taught us how to taste the wine and what makes a wine good. Leo blew up chat box with him and sparked some good convos. Nicky started 3xing each type of wine we couldn't get enough of the Reds. We bought a case and left for the 2nd winery. The bus was pretty rowdy for about 5 minutes until everyone passed out and 1 hour later we were at our new destination. The owner of the 2nd winery was a lady who just nitted up the wine tasting. She filled maybe 2 ounces per sample and shook her head when we got 2nds. Needless to say the 1st winery dominated." I've always been more of a beer & mixed drink guy but after drinking so much wine on this trip it has definitely grown on me some. After the tour we had some time to take a bath and get ready & then we had another 7 course meal at 8pm. I don't even remember what we ate but I remember the meal was really good & definitely the best at the castle. During dinner we were also going downstairs 1 table at a time for individual photo shoots for future articles,etc... Marc Alioto also showed up for dinner in a dress, due to losing a prop bet to Francisco Costa.

We had a dance floor in the winery the last night so after dinner we had a nice party. I wasn't sure how much the dance floor would be used, especially considering the questionable music choices of past nights but after a while almost everyone was out on the dance floor with much better music playing. Marc (AznAllin007) Alioto stole the show by tearing up the dance floor & Francisco (YuranPT) Costa grabbed the mic & did some rapping. I think we were about the last people to leave the winery around 3:30. It was definitely my favorite night. In the morning we got up and had some breakfast. I then went and got some Lock Gear from our owner Jen. As if she hadn't already done enough for us she also gave us a nice big bottle of wine to take home. We said our goodbyes & headed to the train station. I can't thank our owner enough. She has already been an amazing owner & this trip just adds to it. It was also nice to meet most of the pro team and some of the other people behind Lock. Everyone was really cool & we all just hung out like we had known each other for years. I can't wait for the next get together.

Here's some articles about the event. I believe Bluff magazine will also be doing a piece on it:

http://www.gambling911.com/poker/lock-down-lock-poker-retreat-100311.html

http://www.gambling911.com/poker/lock-poker-retreat-comes-close-100511.html

http://www.gambling911.com/poker/yabba-dabba-doh-lock-poker-pro-marc-alioto-forced-dress-female-fred-flintstone-100711.html

http://www.gambling911.com/poker/locks-jennifer-larson-online-poker-visionary-101011.html

http://www.gambling911.com/poker/poker-pro-matt-stout-barfs-17th-century-antique-101011.html

Here's the 1st profile from gambling911 of our Lock Pro team. I think they're doing a profile on everyone but I'm not sure:

http://www.gambling911.com/poker/leo-margets-poker-player-profile-lock-poker-elite-member-100211.html

Following the castle we took a train to Amsterdam for a day and a half. We got to our guesthouse at night, which was basically an apartment. The lady had me pay, showed us a map and some other stuff, & told us that essentials were in the cupboard. In the cupboard were numerous bongs & bowls. In the dresser was a bag of weed with rolling papers. They were even kind enough to supply a magazine full of naked women. That night we went to an Italian restaurant & had some dinner and drinks. We started to watch a movie afterwards but ended up going to bed to catch up on sleep.

The next day we were ready to leave for the Anne Frank house when I noticed my credit card was missing from my wallet. I searched all over the apartment & couldn't find it. We went back to the place we ate the night before, which was at a hotel, praying that they had my card as it would have been a disaster if they didn't, as I would have had to get access to a phone & figure out how to cancel my card. We went into the restaurant & I asked the worker if anyone left a credit card the night before. She looked at me with a blank face & then finally said to check with the front desk at the hotel. I asked the guy at the front desk & he responded with "credit card?", which was not a good sign. He went in the back room. Eventually he came out and asked for my passport. The chances of them having my card just went up as they almost certainly have a card in the back room if he's asking me for my passport. Finally he came out with my credit card. What a relief! That made my day. I also realized I left my glasses at the castle. I don't wear glasses regularely outside of my office & bedtime but I do wear them all the time when playing online poker as my contacts start to tweak out if I'm playing for a while.

After we got my card we went and ate some more Italian and a drink. Other than 2 meals in Amsterdam & Paris we ate pizza or pasta every time. We then went to the Anne Frank house, which was pretty cool. It was pouring rain that day, which we were probably due for as it was 70 and sunny every other day during our trip. We then wandered around in the rain & went back to our guesthouse to change. We could always smell when we were coming up on a coffeehouse. After that we grabbed a quick bite to eat and went on a candle light dinner cruise with wine and cheese. We were supposed to stop and walk around the red light district during the cruise but for some reason we never did. It was still a nice cruise though. After the cruise we grabbed some pizza & then stopped at a bar on the way back. The next morning we left for the US.

Our dog Gunnar stayed at a pet resort for the 10 days we were gone, where they basically play all day. He's a 2 year old lab full of energy so he doesn't stop playing. When we picked him up he looked super skinny. I guess he played a lot. Next time we'll have to up his food servings for the trip.

Monday & Tuesday this week I played some $230 Canterbury Fall Classic events with my brother, just for a change of pace. On Monday I basically doubled my stack without seeing showdowns. Then I had AK w/ 30BB with antes in the CO. The hijack raised & I re-raised. He 4bet & I snap called, considering as long as his range is at least QQ+,AK I have to call in that spot. Only a super nit will not be that wide, and many will be pushing something like 99+,AQ+ as a standard. Online ranges would be much wider but I wouldn't expect much wider than 99+,AQ+ live unless it was a young kid who had been 3 & 4 betting often. He had QQ & he held. I had about 2bb left & lost w/ 33.

On Tuesday I never really got anything going. I got lucky with KQ in a 3 way all in where I reshoved 11bb vs the button's AQ & the BB overcalled w/ AJ. Later I pushed 11bb w/ AJs in EP & the button iso shoved KQs & binked. This entry is way too long already for me to talk through any postflop hands.

Thursday & Friday I plan on playing the $500 events. One of them is 6 max. Then on Saturday I'm playing the $1K main event. My bro is playing the last 2 as well.

I planned on posting a bunch of Europe pictures but don't really have the time so maybe in a later entry. Until then, you can find pictures of the castle here: http://jhubpoker.blogspot.com/2011/07/july-update-lock-pro-retreat.html

Lock has added 12 person hyper SNGs. Check them out. They have also made some MTT changes.
Results:
September 2011:
109.8 hrs played
Total Profit Pre Rakeback: $7,680.25