Grinded Into Oblivion

I actually won a couple hands today in the $1k NL at the Commerce. I had aces twice and both times got a lot of action and had them hold up. I started at a wild table with William Lin, a crazy Asian player from Denver, controlling the action. I was really impressed with his play, which was borderline insane and borderline genius. There are a lot of good players from Colorado, and he's one of the best. Someday I'd like to play a Best of Colorado tournament with players like Lin, Dapo Fadeyi, and Francois Safieddine. It would be a lot of fun since these guys are all pretty nuts.

I got moved to a shitty table, but it was a pleasure to be there. The Grinder got moved to the table a bit after me, and he put on an exhibition. Never in my life have I seen someone play the game as well as he did on this day. It really was entertaining and inspirational to watch this master at the height of his powers. Here I am getting sick of it and hating poker, and the Grinder showed just how beautiful the game can be. His creativity is incredible. Someone today asked him why he still plays - he has nothing left to prove. He said "to prove I can still win." There's also a famous quote from the Grinder that he only plays $1000 tournaments "to crush people's dreams." It occurred to me that when you play like the Grinder, it never gets old. Every hand is an adventure, and there are infinite permutations, infinite options. He really doesn't seem like a particularly nice, interesting, or even intelligent fellow, but my god can he play the game of no limit hold em.


I have no idea how he got to playing like this. I can't imagine learning to play like the Grinder. You'd have to experiment in so many tournaments and donk off stacks so many times trying weird plays. You'd have to play hours and hours and hours of no limit hold em without worrying too much about the financial consequences. And you kind of have to go all or nothing and play every hand like the Grinder, or not try it at all. Going halfway just gets you into trouble.


It was an enlightening, encouraging day, reminding me why I play poker and how high the ceiling is. But it was also a discouraging day, as I realize I will never play poker like Michael Mizrachi.

The Grinder eventually got me, calling my all-in reraise with king-queen and defeating my ace-four of diamonds.


The Gambler had amassed a very large stack with seven tables left when I left the casino. I bought half his action today, as I think he's turned a corner in tournament poker. I stole yesterday's blog title "I Hate My Job" from him - that's his favorite phrase and the title of his blog. As long as he doesn't have to tangle with the Grinder, I think he's got a great shot at the final table. And if there's hope for the Gambler, there's hope for me too.