I used to be a mad film buff during high school and loved watching every trailer on http://www.apple.com/trailers/ to see what movie I should see next. After university started, and cinemas fell out of favour as a social outing, I haven’t had the chance to see nearly as many movies as I would like. Thus, I was pretty happy this weekend to see not one but two (!) movies!
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
I never read or heard about this movie until I saw it mentioned in two CardRunners blogs on the same day (yep, my source of movie gossip nowadays is a poker blog, sad I know...). It got a pretty big thumbs-up from both so I thought I’d give it a try. The film is essentially a really standard romantic comedy with a very predictable plot and few twists and turns (and by few, I mean like one, or none).
Basically, the story goes like this. Peter (Jason Segel) is devastated after being dumped by his actress girlfriend Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) and goes on a holiday to Hawaii in an effort to forget her (get the title?). However, lo and behold, Sarah and her new beau Aldous (played by Russell Brand, who is seriously hilarious throughout the movie) are at the same resort, leading to a series of awkward encounters and contrived situations. Eventually, after meeting and falling for the ultra cute Rachel (Mila Kunis), it seems that Peter has finally moved on...or has he?
LOL :)
Anyway, despite the super standard plot, I have to say that the movie is pretty awesome since it does the simple things really, really well. What the film lacks in originality it certainly makes up for in its witty script, the really likeable characters (who all turn in decent performances) and the several ‘lol wtf?’ moments (you’ll have to see it to understand...).
Overall, I’d rate this movie an 8 out of 10. I won’t be buying the DVD, but I’d be happy to see it again. For more reviews, check out http://au.rottentomatoes.com/m/forgetting_sarah_marshall/, where the tomatometer sits at an impressive 84% overall.
21
21 is based on the book Bringing Down the House (by Ben Mezrich) which in turn is a non-fictional (but highly exaggerated) recount of the exploits of the MIT Blackjack team who card counted (definitely a verb) their way to riches in the 1980s. As many of you probably know, Full Tilt Poker’s Andy Bloch was a member of this team.
The movie itself focuses on Ben (Jim Sturgess), a brilliant but nerdy MIT math student who needs to rack up $300,000 to pay for medical school. Fortunately for him, his teacher (Kevin Spacey) happens to be in the business of blackjack card counting and, upon recognising Ben’s genius, invites him to join the team. Soon, Ben is making thousands of dollars and living the high life in Las Vegas. He goes on shopping sprees on a whim, visits the hottest clubs and bars in town, and sleeps in the most luxurious high roller suites on The Strip. He even gets the girl of his dreams, played by the awesome Kate Bosworth (Blue Crush, Superman Returns). Unfortunately for Ben however, he soon succumbs to the variance of life (a.k.a. his inner demons, a bitter rivalry with a teammate, a corrupt teacher, and a security guard hell bent on revenge) and has to use all his reserves of character and determination to bounce back.
Will he be able to? I guess you’ll just have to watch and see...
(Spoiler: He does.)
In many ways, this film is like an updated version of Rounders. While 21 isn’t nearly as good, the similarities in plot between the two are quite startling. In both, you have a college kid paying his way through school via gambling (though, as us poker players know, neither Mike nor Ben is really gambling!). In both, you have the dramatic fall from grace when the main protagonist’s ego gets a little bit too big (having your entire bankroll on the table might just be plain stupid though...). And in both, you have the amazing “one chance only” comeback, giving the protagonist a sense of redemption and an optimistic outlook for the future.
Because of these similarities, 21 is sure to appeal to anyone who enjoyed Rounders, which is just about anyone who plays poker. For those unfamiliar with Rounders, if you nevertheless enjoy light, fast paced, style-over-substance kind of movies (think The Fast and the Furious, Ocean’s Eleven, The Italian Job etc.), then you’ll probably find something in 21. If, on the other hand, you are someone who prefers the depth of Amélie or Adaptation, then this is probably not for you.
The new generation of young, internet poker players will probably like this film more than most since Ben’s exploits are quite comparable to their own. While grinding in a dimly-lit, smoke-filled basement, à la Mike McD., was probably a very foreign concept to most, stumbling into a remarkably easy get-rich-quick scheme while at university probably isn’t. Also, most players won’t have actually lived the extravagant Las Vegas lifestyle that poker promises, so being able to live it vicariously through the film certainly won’t hurt its appeal.
On the whole, I’d probably give this movie a 7 out of 10. Of course, my poker background has probably caused this rating to be higher than it otherwise would be and the general population will probably not find it nearly as appealing. The media, in particular, has not been very favourable and the tomatometer currently languishes at a dreadful 31%!
Still, I wonder if a decade from now we will look back on this film as the one that spawned a whole generation of wannabe blackjack pros, all gambling to a chorus of “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!”
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Heads-Up and Back to Basics
As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to play some heads-up this week in order to improve my six-max game which I felt was getting a bit stale and desperately in need of a shake-up.
The focus of my one week sojourn into heads-up would be playing in 3-bet pots and to this end I had to do two things which generally aren’t recommended. First, since I was only playing at 50NL where good 3-betters are relatively rare, I had to seek out the best regulars to ensure that I was getting good practice. Secondly, I decided to 3-bet and to call 3-bets with anything remotely playable in an effort to put myself into as many difficult postflop situations as possible. Though I was certainly losing money by doing both these things, I think I can regard all the lost money as the cost of improvement. In any case, if what I learn wins me just one big pot when I move back to my normal game, I’ll have broken even!
So was the experience beneficial? Without having actually put it into practice yet, it’s hard to say. But I think I’ve certainly improved my game and added some moves to my repertoire. In addition to playing in many 3-bet pots, heads-up requires you to learn unusual plays like floating check-raises with ace-high for value and floating out of position. Both these plays aren’t really recommended in six-max and while I certainly won’t be using them with nearly the same frequency at six-max, they are some extra tools I have in my shed now. Heads-up also forces you to really read hands and ask yourself what your opponent is representing and what you can represent. This in turn lets you improve your bluffing frequencies and also your bluff-catching capabilities. On the whole, I think the week has been a worthwhile investment and I might try to play some more heads-up in the future.
I thought I’d describe one thing that happened this week that I thought was pretty cool – I sent a player busto! Basically, I sat opposite this player at 50NL who I thought was a good regular and who would therefore be 3-betting a lot (I had seen him sitting with a four buy-in stack just a few minutes earlier). A few minutes into our match, however, I soon realised that he was actually awful. His stats were something like 60/5/0.5 and he wasn’t even raising his own button let alone 3-betting. I almost quit him since this wasn’t the practice I was after but I decided that easy money was easy money and elected to play on. About an hour later, I was up seven buy-ins. He then surprised me by asking if I wanted to play higher (tilt anyone?). I of course gladly accepted and we went to 1/2 NL where I took him for three more buy-ins. The last time he reloaded he only bought in for $190.10 so I’m pretty sure he was busto when he lost that last buy-in.
Now, I know that all sounds really harsh and demeaning but for some reason I found it really comforting. I think it’s because it made me realise that there are other people out there who are really struggling with poker; it wasn’t just me. I think this can be easy to forget when you’re going through a rough patch and all you read about are people having insane months making tens of thousands of dollars.
To finish, I thought I’d write out my poker goals for the next two months. For starters, I’m going to stay away from six-max for just a little bit longer. While I’m eager to put all my new heads-up tricks into practice, I’ve decided to wait until I can change my PartyPoker screen name (on the 14th May). This should make things a little easier when I return since I’ll have reads on my opponents while they’ll have no idea who I am.
When I do return, I plan to grind 1/2 until I’m ready to make another (yes, ANOTHER...) tilt at 2/4. It’ll be uni holidays in July so I’m hoping to be ready by then. With more free time and less distractions, I’ll hopefully be able to really focus and make that shot at 2/4 my last. My goal in the meantime is to make 10K playing 25,000 hands at 1/2 at 10PTBB/100. I realise that 10PTBB/100 is a pretty ridiculous win-rate to aim for (if I played four tables at a time, this would equate to $160/hour which is unsustainable at 1/2) but I think it’s within the realm of possibility if I play well and run better. Even if I end up being unable to achieve it, I think having the goal will still help me in my play. You see, moving down limits is mentally very difficult as it quite literally is going backwards. It’s like getting dropped from a sports team and being told you’re simply not good enough. I remember last time this happened, I spewed really badly because I couldn’t take the lower limit seriously. I couldn’t believe I was stuck playing 1/2 players again and tried to show who was boss by four- and five-bet shoving Q9s preflop and shoving gut-shots postflop. Invariably, I ran into AA or top set. This time, with a goal that requires strict discipline to achieve, I’ll hopefully be able to rein in these spewing tendencies and play much better.
The focus of my one week sojourn into heads-up would be playing in 3-bet pots and to this end I had to do two things which generally aren’t recommended. First, since I was only playing at 50NL where good 3-betters are relatively rare, I had to seek out the best regulars to ensure that I was getting good practice. Secondly, I decided to 3-bet and to call 3-bets with anything remotely playable in an effort to put myself into as many difficult postflop situations as possible. Though I was certainly losing money by doing both these things, I think I can regard all the lost money as the cost of improvement. In any case, if what I learn wins me just one big pot when I move back to my normal game, I’ll have broken even!
So was the experience beneficial? Without having actually put it into practice yet, it’s hard to say. But I think I’ve certainly improved my game and added some moves to my repertoire. In addition to playing in many 3-bet pots, heads-up requires you to learn unusual plays like floating check-raises with ace-high for value and floating out of position. Both these plays aren’t really recommended in six-max and while I certainly won’t be using them with nearly the same frequency at six-max, they are some extra tools I have in my shed now. Heads-up also forces you to really read hands and ask yourself what your opponent is representing and what you can represent. This in turn lets you improve your bluffing frequencies and also your bluff-catching capabilities. On the whole, I think the week has been a worthwhile investment and I might try to play some more heads-up in the future.
I thought I’d describe one thing that happened this week that I thought was pretty cool – I sent a player busto! Basically, I sat opposite this player at 50NL who I thought was a good regular and who would therefore be 3-betting a lot (I had seen him sitting with a four buy-in stack just a few minutes earlier). A few minutes into our match, however, I soon realised that he was actually awful. His stats were something like 60/5/0.5 and he wasn’t even raising his own button let alone 3-betting. I almost quit him since this wasn’t the practice I was after but I decided that easy money was easy money and elected to play on. About an hour later, I was up seven buy-ins. He then surprised me by asking if I wanted to play higher (tilt anyone?). I of course gladly accepted and we went to 1/2 NL where I took him for three more buy-ins. The last time he reloaded he only bought in for $190.10 so I’m pretty sure he was busto when he lost that last buy-in.
Now, I know that all sounds really harsh and demeaning but for some reason I found it really comforting. I think it’s because it made me realise that there are other people out there who are really struggling with poker; it wasn’t just me. I think this can be easy to forget when you’re going through a rough patch and all you read about are people having insane months making tens of thousands of dollars.
To finish, I thought I’d write out my poker goals for the next two months. For starters, I’m going to stay away from six-max for just a little bit longer. While I’m eager to put all my new heads-up tricks into practice, I’ve decided to wait until I can change my PartyPoker screen name (on the 14th May). This should make things a little easier when I return since I’ll have reads on my opponents while they’ll have no idea who I am.
When I do return, I plan to grind 1/2 until I’m ready to make another (yes, ANOTHER...) tilt at 2/4. It’ll be uni holidays in July so I’m hoping to be ready by then. With more free time and less distractions, I’ll hopefully be able to really focus and make that shot at 2/4 my last. My goal in the meantime is to make 10K playing 25,000 hands at 1/2 at 10PTBB/100. I realise that 10PTBB/100 is a pretty ridiculous win-rate to aim for (if I played four tables at a time, this would equate to $160/hour which is unsustainable at 1/2) but I think it’s within the realm of possibility if I play well and run better. Even if I end up being unable to achieve it, I think having the goal will still help me in my play. You see, moving down limits is mentally very difficult as it quite literally is going backwards. It’s like getting dropped from a sports team and being told you’re simply not good enough. I remember last time this happened, I spewed really badly because I couldn’t take the lower limit seriously. I couldn’t believe I was stuck playing 1/2 players again and tried to show who was boss by four- and five-bet shoving Q9s preflop and shoving gut-shots postflop. Invariably, I ran into AA or top set. This time, with a goal that requires strict discipline to achieve, I’ll hopefully be able to rein in these spewing tendencies and play much better.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Futsal Fun
Both my indoor soccer teams notched up wins this week. It was the first win for either team so it definitely feels good to be finally on the board.
Coincidentally, this week also happened to be the first week that I decided to bring a camera along to film the games. Evidently, the boys play much better when Facebook fame and fortune is on the line so I think I’ll have to keep bringing it along.
Anyway, there’s not going to be much content in this post. Just some videos to enjoy!
To start, here's a nice goal set-up by Keighran.
Next is Warren setting up Jon for a solid tap-in.
Here's me setting up Warren and getting taken out in the process.
A nice one-two by Ben and Keighran before Ben scores the first of many goals for the game.
Here Jason once again overestimates how fast I can run. Luckily, the goalkeeper decides to get in the way of the ball and I set Ben up for the open goal. A nice shot on the first touch too!
And here's another nice first touch shot from Ben.
And that's it!
Hopefully, we can continue on our winnings ways next week. I'll keep you informed.
Coincidentally, this week also happened to be the first week that I decided to bring a camera along to film the games. Evidently, the boys play much better when Facebook fame and fortune is on the line so I think I’ll have to keep bringing it along.
Anyway, there’s not going to be much content in this post. Just some videos to enjoy!
To start, here's a nice goal set-up by Keighran.
Next is Warren setting up Jon for a solid tap-in.
Here's me setting up Warren and getting taken out in the process.
A nice one-two by Ben and Keighran before Ben scores the first of many goals for the game.
Here Jason once again overestimates how fast I can run. Luckily, the goalkeeper decides to get in the way of the ball and I set Ben up for the open goal. A nice shot on the first touch too!
And here's another nice first touch shot from Ben.
And that's it!
Hopefully, we can continue on our winnings ways next week. I'll keep you informed.
