Dalton Trumbo

If you missed it, you must see the PBS documentary about Dalton Trumbo. He was a screenwriter, a magnificent screenwriter from the 1950s. But more importantly, the man had ideals and he refused to surrender his values at, what turned out to be, great personal cost. But this blog isn't really about Dalton Trumbo. It's about Edward Lewis.

Mr. Tumbo was accused of being a communist by McCarthy in the early 50s. He refused to cooperate with the Unamerican Committee. He accused McCarthy and his henchmen as setting up a concentration camp for writers. Dalton was sent to jail for two years and then blackballed from his profession. He struggled mightly financially and socially. His friends were afraid to be seen with him. His 8 year old daughter was harrassed at her school to the point that she had to be pulled from the school. A treasure trove of Dalton's letters were recently discovered and are the most moving pieces of writing I have ever read.

But what I really found fascinating was the interview with Edward Lewis, the fine film producer who was 90 years old. This man had made tremendous amounts of money, won numerous awards for his films and had a wonderful marriage and several very successful offspring. He was ruminating with the interviewer about his life and said (I'm paraphrasing):

"As one gets toward the end of one's life, one spends a lot of time looking back at what they did over that time that they can say they are really proud of. Even though I lived an almost idealic life in so many ways, by far and away, the most proud moment in my life was when I insisted that Dalton Trumbo be listed in the credits for the movie Spartacus. Everyone said not to do it. He was toxic. He was blackballed. But the man wrote the screenplay and I demanded that he be given his due credit. It was the first movie after he was blackballed that he was given credit for. Nothing in my life compares to this act I did which I did just because I thought it was the right thing to do."

Its so easy to get caught up in the whole American dream shtick of trying to accumulate as much money as possible at any cost. But when it comes down to it, the only thing that really matters is the good that you do in the world. Make money - sure. But whenever you get an opportunity to do the right thing just for the sake of doing the right thing, grab it. You'll be a much happier person for it.

Tourney #2

So I finished 15th in the $340 event. Next was the $2000 event. Again in this tournament I was not getting playable starting cards through the first five hours. In many ways, I find this to be not such a horrible thing. It forces me to throw away a lot of hands and since it was a deep stack tournament, I had plenty of time to be patient. It was a good time to develop the proper table image. In this case - tight. Most times, eventually, you start to get some hands and you start to hit a few flops.

My patience paid off in spades. I hit a set and Mr. Aggressive went all in ahead of me. Big win. Then I was getting paid off with some big pairs. Very few times I was called after the flop. Then as we floated down to thirty players, I hit card dead territory. Something we all hit at one point or another. Then I just got caught. My 400,000 in chips had drifted down to $260,000 and I knew I had to make something happen, if my cards didn't improve on their own. So I'm in the small blind, one of the tighter players who had a lot of chips, but uncharacteristically, was playing a lot of hands was on the button. Its folded around to him and he makes a standard 3X raise or $75,000. I've got 88 (remember that hand last tournament?). I really don't have a choice in my mind. There's a good chance the button is weak or not strong enough to call a big raise. I go all in. He instacalls and shows me AA. I lose. I'm out in 22 place but I win $5000.

Recapping my efforts in these two tournaments;I finished 15 and 22nd and I netted $7000. I very good week. But I was really pleased with was my play, especially in the Mega. I was able to tread water very nicely during a prolonged card dead phase. I picked the proper times to steal and developed a perfect table image. It wasn't about the cards at all. It was about creating a proper pacing; playing the player and keeping an eye on average chip stack and other indicators. But most importantly it was about picking the moments to raise in which it was virtually impossible for my opponents to call if they didn't have a very narrow number of hands. This is so critical in professional tournament play. My risk control was allowing me to build up a stack without (or rarely) risking my chips through to the river. Again, in my courses, I spell this out in great detail.

I love tournament poker the most because it is existing in time-space continuum. Its about seeing the world as it exists, evaluating each moment in relative terms and evaluating choices and making the proper one in this best manner. Its almost important as how you bet as how much and when to bet.

Now I'm sitting in my hotel room in Atlantic City. Another deep stack tom'w. I hope I continue my focus. Especially since my cash game has been killing me lately. But that too will pass.