Poker…

Poker has been going really well so far in 2012.  (Although it’s been a tough last couple of days…ha ha.) Prior to Black Friday, I was sitting up to $2/$4 HU, although game-selecting hardcore as those were new stakes for me.  Things are a bit different now, so I play a little lower, but I feel my game advancing quickly…more than pre-Black Friday, in fact.  (I don’t really know why, but it’s strikingly evident.)  Let’s hope this new bill passes before I get my Merge money seized too.  Ha!  Anyway, good stuff on the poker front.  More updates to follow, of course.  As for coaching, for those of you who’ve contacted me about my reduced coaching rates, I’ll be starting to contact you guys within the next week or so.  If I don’t, please just email me.

Health…

My one big resolution was to start cutting out all meat except bird and fish products but try to eat as much raw food as possible.  There’s been 45 days so far this year, and I’ve cheated on 11 of them.  I don’t know if you consider that good or bad, but it’s pretty good for me.  Plus, I’m eating extremely healthily just in general.  Once I can finally ditch the beef, pork, etc. with no cheating, I’ll start eliminating the rest of the meat products and dairy.  It’s quite a process when you’re addicted to degen’ eating, though.  Still, I’m down a ton of weight from when I started this healthy transformation back in October.  Just got to keep raising the bar to get to the ultimate goal of a complete raw vegan lifestyle.

Valentine’s Day…

Lastly, I want to wish all the females out there a very happy Valentine’s Day today/yesterday, depending on your time zone.  My girlfriend is about 1,400 miles away working a 12-hour shift at a hospital, so my Valentine’s Day evening is going to consist of getting in the spa, which is heating now, and doing some relaxing and meditating out there.  Tranquility for the win.

Okay, that’s it for today.  Blogs to come in the near future will include more from The Unfiltered Truth About Men series, poker updates, progress on my health, and other stuff I find blog-worthy.  Hope everyone’s crushing at the tables and enjoying the new year!  Cheers, y’all.

The person…

I don’t know much about him, honestly, but he seems like a super-nice dude.  As a big football fan, he’s great for the game.  He’s a winner and works extremely hard.  This is what I know.  Because he’s not my personal friend, all that matters to me is how he approaches football.  If I had children, I’d have a vested interest in what kind of role model he is.  Even though I’m not a Christian, nor religious at all, allowing my children to see him pray to Jesus on the football field would still be setting a solid, positive spiritual example, in my opinion.  Period.

The praying…

To start, who cares?  This is such a non-issue.  Why is literally anyone upset about what this guy does in his own personal space?  Unless he’s hurting or endangering others somehow, leave the dude alone. Religion is each person’s individual right.  If he’s uber-religious and enters into some meditative, peaceful place when he’s praying, more power to him.  How does this upset so many?  I’ll never get it.

America’s negative reaction…

I’ve pretty much stated how I feel about this already.  Those who are extremely opposed to this, what’s your basis?  Maybe I’m missing something.  But why does this irk you so very much?  Seems like a completely reasonable thing to do if he so desires.

America’s positive reaction…

Hearing the extremely religious people defend Tebow’s praying sort of makes my ears bleed, but that’s just me.  The end result of their argument, no matter how hilariously they arrived there, is correct.  God does not help Tim Tebow win football games.  He doesn’t help him complete passes.  So on & so forth.  I think most of these Christians know this.  Hopefully, he’s praying for strength and/or thanking God for the opportunity to play professional football.  Sounds pretty humble to me, a very good quality in this day and age…especially for professional athletes.  Do I think he’s talking to Jesus Christ?  Of course not. But damn, that doesn’t make it wrong in any way.  Any disagreement I have with the mega-religious people is not aimed at their opinion of this topic, it’s usually the elitist demeanor in which they convey their message.  (But I’ve come to expect this from most Christians, so no big deal.)

All in all, Tebow appears to be a very good person and an exceptional football player.  The way I look at it, praying is his way of meditation, which as I said before, is just a vessel to a very peaceful & calm place.  And if I had to go up against all those insanely large NFL defenses, you’d better believe I’d be meditating my ass off too.  Cheers.

I had two solid resolutions for 2011 and one that was just for fun.  Here they are…

Poker: Move up in stakes. 

This was the most important goal for me as of January 1st, 2011.  Unfortunately, that opportunity was pretty much crushed on April 15th, 2011.  Prior to Black Friday, I was sitting HU NLH cash games from $100 to $400.  Although not ascending in stakes could be perceived as a failure, it’s no different from what happened to all my friends.  I take solace in that.  (2012, get it right!)

Health: Get healthier & lose weight.

I was between 228.1 and 228.9 pounds early in 2011.  (I can’t remember the exact number.)  I started implementing more fruits into my diet & many vegetables too.  And after gaining an average of about 5 pounds per year for the last 12 years, I ended 2011 at 209.4 pounds, a loss of between 18.7 and 19.5 pounds!  Boom!

Twitter: Attain a minimum of 200 followers.

Although this started as a joke, I really did want to hit this number…ha.  Started 2011 with slightly above 100 followers & somehow ended it with just over 420.  (Thanks for the support, everyone!)  My Twitter name is @KnoxItAll for any of you who’re interested.

Other bullets from 2011…  1. I made strides in my slow path from my standard degen’ eating habits toward the eventual goal of becoming a raw vegan.  2. I had a benign pyogenic granuloma removed from my nose in November, which was scary for only a hot second.  3. Lastly and most importantly, I nabbed me a girlfriend!  I’ve been single and dating since mid-2008.  I’m very particular and, although I met some wonderful ladies along the way, there was always something missing.  When I reconnected with Reniece (@RenieceSmiles), who I’d originally met when I worked at Citigroup, she had everything I wanted and so much more.  Brilliant way to end the year.  :)  

Let’s stay true to the same format for 2012!  Here are some of my resolutions & other goals…

Poker: Play 360k hands & move up in stakes.

Not much to say here.  I want to average 30k hands per month.  Also, I’m playing roughly the same stakes I played last year and more along the lower side, actually, due to the poker economy.  I want to move up, period.  I don’t have a specific level to reach; there are too many questions marks with online poker for me to be able to confidently do that.

Health: Get healthier, lose weight, & reduce meat intake to birds/fish only.

I’m still pushing toward becoming a raw vegan slowly but surely.  My next step in this process is eliminating red meat, pork, etc.  This is my overall goal for the year, but I’m hoping to make much larger strides than just this.  Stay tuned to this blog and my YouTube channel (KnoxItAll) for updates on all this throughout the year.

Twitter: Attain a minimum of 750 followers.

Ha ha…why not, right?  ;)

Other bullets for 2012…  (Most of these are super-random and of no real consequence.)  1. Thinking about growing my hair out and rocking the Greg Brady ‘fro.  I’ve done this before and loved it.  My hair is buzzed right now, so that’s a long road if I decide to make the journey.  2. Add raw recipes to my Facebook page that I think others will actually enjoy.  This is to help, if only a little bit, anyone interested in improving their health.  3. Read even more.  4. I’m moving from Vegas back home to Kansas City at some point in the year.  Really jazzed for that!  (Vegas is whatever when you live there. It’s a very cool city.  It’s much better to visit.  Just my opinion, though.)  5. Continue to keep very meticulous records, financial & otherwise.  6. Slow my soda intake down to basically nothing.  Quitting would be best.  Okay, I guess that’s all I can think of for now.  I know there are more tidbits, but they aren’t very important, I’m sure.

I hope all of you have a stellar year in 2012 and achieve all your goals.  Godspeed, y’all.  Cheers!

This first entry is all about sex.  That’s a pretty big subject, I know.  We certainly won’t cover every aspect of it today.  Ladies, do your very best, while reading this entire series, to stop thinking about these life situations like a woman.  You’ll never even begin to understand us if you continue to do that. So if your tendency, when you see your dude “covertly” notice another girl’s breasts, is to think he’s an asshole or that he may think she’s “better” than you, then you need to relinquish that mindset right here and now.  It’ll get you nowhere in seeing the world as we do.  Make sense?  Good.  Now, let’s get our hands dirty!  

Importance of sex…

“All men ever think about is sex!  Ugh!”  Well, nope.  Not true.  We don’t only think about sex, but we do always think about sex.  And that’s a huge difference.  It’s unfair to be upset with men for wanting sex nearly all the time.  Ladies, we are not making a conscious decision to be horny…far from it.  This is an involuntary DNA-written primal instinct.  Has your instinctual need to care for your baby ever been questioned or looked down upon?  Of course not.  And before you say that’s much different, please think about it.  Although guys generally articulate our sexual desires terribly, that’s simply a reflection of our insensitive delivery method, not representative of the desire itself.  Please don’t confuse our super-bad communication skills with the subject in which we are communicating.  Big difference.  The bottom line is that no man is ever going to stop wanting a lot of sex…ever.  We can fix our crudeness in regard to “requesting” it, but the urge will never disappear.  The quicker you accept this, the better.  Also, the quicker you stop looking at us as “wrong” for these biological urges, the happier you’ll be.  If there’s an issue with this in your relationship, talk about it!  Don’t tell all your girlfriends and not your dude.  Speak to him in plain terms.  We don’t speak “girl.”  (You should know this by now, but girls still speak in this cryptic code that we just don’t get.)  Be direct.  If the foundation of your relationship is actually solid, you can get this issue fixed right away.  This is the easiest sexual discussion of them all to talk about too.  So if you fear discussing your man’s constant sexual desires with him, you should start evaluating if this is someone you really want to spend years with.

Selfish sex…

From zillions of conversations with my friends over the years, I will openly admit that men are usually pretty selfish lovers.  As with anything in life, intent is important.  A man’s intent is not to deprive you of sexual gratification.  It’s just that he’s too damn dumb to think about it most of the time…ha ha.  This is not a justification, though…simply one of the reasons.  (Yeah, some guys are complete assholes and just want to bust ‘n’ bounce.  But most of us aren’t like that.)  So how do you fix this big problem, ladies? Well, you’ll notice a theme forming here.  Talk to him without tip-toeing around the problem.  Shock and awe, ladies!  ”But, Jesse, how do I do that?”  Here’s how…  Articulating to him that the more pleasure you have, the more often he’s going to “get it” is going to be a big draw for him.  Also, guys know that y’all talk to each other a lot.  The last thing we’d want is for all your girlfriends to know we aren’t measuring up in the sack.  Believe that.  In doing research for writing this series, I talked to a lot of my female friends.  Up until that point, I had no idea how many girls out there have never had an orgasm…ever!  Like, what?!  If that’s the case, nothing to be ashamed of.  But it definitely is going to be a big problem in your relationships and ultimately contribute to their demise a lot of the time.  Why, you ask? Because you’ll never want to have sex because you don’t know how amazingly awesome it is. And your man, who’s had thousands of orgasms, is very well-versed on this awesomeness…ha.  And we won’t go without it completely.  (Once every week or two weeks isn’t enough to keep a man, girls.)  So talk to him about this.  Go at it together.  Real couples with real love can talk about stuff that society says is weird.  Fuck society.  Choose happiness.  If you tell your dude what the issue is and you spell it out, he’ll be stoked to help you with your long-overdue…explosion.  :)  Try different positions, foreplay, etc. We aren’t vagina experts…far from it.  Paint us a picture.  When we’re doing something that’s good, let us know!  We’ll know to do it again next time.  The more we can tell you’re enjoying yourself, the more we enjoy it too.  Lastly, guys don’t know how much love, romance, feeling safe and protected, etc. factors into sex for women.  So sometimes we just want to get right to it.  If you need to feel how much he loves you and be believably romanced a bit before you get it on, tell your man!  Say something like this…  ”You know, I’d be so much more horny AND horny more often if you told me how beautiful I am, how happy I make you, etc.  I know that’s so girly of me, but that’s what gets me going.  And I’m willing to be a little more kinky for you in return.”  If you give him full disclosure like this, it’s a fantastic start. It also offers something in return, which we love.  Not only will this open up your communication lines more effectively, but you’ll probably be surprised how some of the compliments you’ll get from him are genuinely right from the heart…and how they’ll come more naturally as time goes by.  Not only that, your sex is going to just get exponentially better the less refined you are in the bedroom.  Finally, even when you can tell he’s giving you compliments just to get some booty, you’ll still appreciate the mere fact he’s making a real effort to do his part.  And that’s what it’s all about.  :)

After sex…

This topic is more for the girls not in committed relationships already.  And we’re skipping to after the first time you’ve had sex with a new guy.  This is going to be a foolproof way for you to know if he’s into you.  But don’t let your need for a relationship cloud your vision.  After you have sex with the guy, if he doesn’t want to hang out after, he’ll never call you again except to get more sex.  Period.  Every time. Guaranteed.  Hey, if we legitimately like you, we’re going to want to hang out and kick it.  If you hear, “Well, I better get showered.  I need to…” after y’all finish, that’s bullshit.  He was just trying to get some.  You’ll never be his girlfriend.  So now you’re probably wondering how to avoid giving into him the first time, as he was probably very dashing up until he came, right?  Well, that’s a skill you’ll have to hone over time.  Some guys are very good, so you just have to use your instincts.  Just try to make sure you aren’t one of those girls who always needs a guy to feel complete.  If you are that type of girl, be objective and admit it to yourself.  If you don’t, you’re likely to have this happen to you a lot.  And guys can sniff these types of girls out pretty easily.  (Men are super-predatory in that regard.  It’s a terrible trait but a reality, nonetheless.)  So stay alert and vigilant when evaluating your new suitor’s intentions.  It won’t take too many guys before you notice a pattern and can completely avoid these situations.

Okay, I’m going to stop for today.  I’d love to hear your questions for the next entry.  I sort of just winged it today, so the format was a bit rocky.  My only field research was asking girls questions.  I didn’t really gather questions from the girls, though…ha.  (Typical.)  So let me know what baffles you about guys.  But be ready for a real answer, even if it’s gritty.  Nothing, literally nothing, is off-limits.  A few topics I’m willing to discuss are…  1. How your heterosexual guy friends definitely want to have sex with you no matter how much you think they don’t.  Yes, that’s right…99% of the time.  (And that’s not an exaggerated percentage.)  2. Infidelity in relationships or marriage.  3. Masturbation.  4. Interpretations on how flirting is defined.  Men and women are vastly different in what is looked at as flirting.  (This will be eye-opening to most girls, I think.)  5. Jealousy.  This one will be awesome too.  So yeah, let me know any other topics you’d like discussed or questions about those I’ve just mentioned. If you’re too shy to post in the comment box, just email me at knoxitall@gmail.com or send me a Twitter message at @KnoxItAll.  Everything will be anonymous to my readers, of course.

Okay, I’ve got a meteor shower to go check out.  Hopefully the Vegas lights don’t make it too bright to see.  Peace & love, y’all.

LIBERTY IN OUR HEARTS – Thanks to Richard Shilling

Being an online poker player, the laws in other major poker playing countries have a dramatic impact upon my everyday life. None more so than the United States, which prior to April of this year contributed about 50% of the players that I would face on a daily basis. It is with great interest then, that I follow to 2012 US presidential race. In my mind, there are only two candidates that you can be serious about when it comes to the possibility of having a quick and easy return of US players to the global online gaming market. I’ll leave it to you guys to research these two guys more meaningfully, but I’ve come up with some of the pros and cons I used when comparing the two of them.

Gary Johnson

Pros

• Has spoken out explicitly about online poker in this campaign and you get the sense it would be something high on his agenda
• Comes across as less radical and possibly more appealing to people hearing the true freedom/liberty message for the first time
• More likely to work with other people/parties in office and actually bring about some meaningful changes

Cons

• Doesn’t have the following or money raising capabilities that Ron Paul does and thus stands even less chance of earning the nomination
• Foreign policy
• Maybe a little too willing to compromise on freedoms in order to please more people

Ron Paul

Pros

• Greater recognition of his name and fundraising capabilities
• The most consistent politician in recent memory at presenting his beliefs and following through on them
• Has spoken out against government action on online gambling in the past (as shown in this clip from 2007 below)

Cons

• More radical, which I personally think is a good thing from a philosophical perspective, but it does make him more polarizing to voters
• Aged 75 and not getting any younger

Reason.tv: Gary Johnson or Ron Paul?

Failed to Adjust to Heinz Aggression
From what I saw at the final table, Lamb failed to adjust to the relentless aggression on display by Pius Heinz. The German was to his right, giving him plenty of opportunities to either play back at him or to see flops and then outplay him. It was clear by the performance that Martin Staszko put on in the heads-up match that Heinz was vulnerable in his post-flop play.

In addition, Lamb got into a habit of three and four-betting light way too often. The players knew this based on the information given during the broadcast, and that is one likely reason that Staszko decided to correctly call an all-in bet with pocket sevens on Tuesday.

You Cannot Consistently Get All-In With the Worst of It and Win a Tournament
Regardless of what you think of his play at the final table, you cannot escape the fact that every time that Ben Lamb moved all-in and was called, he had the worst of it. This happened twice on Sunday and both times he sucked out to stave off elimination.

On Sunday, his luck ran out and the pocket pairs that he ran into both times held. The first hand on Sunday was a poor spot for Lamb to shove, especially when Staszko was giving off tells that he was strong. Lamb’s image was that of a lagtard and he couldn’t luckbox his way out trouble.

Pius Heinz made the transition from playing poker online to playing live, but Lamb failed to change up his game enough during the final table to take it down. At best, Lamb was playing his B game. His B game and some incredible luck got him to third, but it cost him the Main Event title.

Like I said, the point of this was to do a discipline check.  There are many other benefits, but I probably didn’t get many of those in doing one as short as I set out to do, which was 24 hours.  I honestly thought it was going to be impossible for me to do…ha.  So off I went.

Started at 8 a.m. on October 20th, 2011.  By about midnight that evening, I was definitely to the point of feeling a bit “spiritual.”  Honestly, it was awesome.  As I had to get up by a little past 8 a.m. the following morning, to help my parents with a few labor-intensive chores across town, I hit the sheets to ride out the last 7 or so hours in bed & unconscious.  Had some AMAZING dreams, which may or may not have been water fast-borne.  (Definitely not claiming it was the cause, but…who knows, right?)

Up and at ‘em the next morning & decided to have a water breakfast as I moved a ton of boxes in and out of my parents’ garage.  I felt strangely amazing.  I also felt a strong sense of accomplishment.  (No, not for helping my folks; I do that semi-frequently.)  I honestly didn’t think I would make it the full 24 hours, let alone a few more than that.  Not patting myself on the back.  Well, I kind of am but not in a boasting manner; I was/am sincerely happy and surprised.

Got back home around 7 or so in the evening and finally ended up having dinner at 9 p.m.  I went 37 hours with only water.  And the nutty part of it all was that I truly felt at peace.  I know I’ll get heckled by a few for saying such a thing, especially being a really secular-minded individual.  But I’m only conveying these unfamiliar feelings with my extremely limited vocab’.  It was a hell of a feeling, guys.  I felt like a light bulb just glowing brightly, living in the exact now.  Remember in the first “Spider-Man” with Tobey Maguire?  The morning after he’d been bitten, he looks in the mirror with his glasses & it’s blurry.  He takes them off and sees with the utmost clarity.  Best example I can give.  But I am fully aware of how “out there” this sounds.  Again, it’s just a novice articulation of feelings I experienced in my mind & body.  It was great, put simply.

So the raw exploits continue.  Never been happier with the way I feel…ever.  Hair is softer…waayyy softer.  My eyes are more vividly colored, both the blue & white parts.  My skin is getting younger.  It’s just bananas…ha.  After midnight here in Henderson, so we are now on Day 22.  Hope everyone is doing brilliantly.  Mucho amor para todos ustedes.  Peace, guys.

Since they left I’ve been in the most amazing routine of getting up early, grinding poker, smashing the gym, relaxing, studying and playing cricket. I’ve become so dedicated to the gym that I’ve changed my diet massively and am tracking my caloric intake and making sure I’m getting a ton of protein as well as taking a bunch of different supplements. It’s paying off in so many ways, I feel great physically, but mentally am in a great place which is allowing me to have my best period of poker in months and months. I’m really excited about doing more of the same in the next few months until the LifeFish meet again in Decemeber.

The cricket season has started and I’ve been filling in as captain the first few weeks, which is a totally new experience. I still have a lot to learn and not sure how long I’m going to get this opportunity, but nice to be thought of for the position. I’m feeling the best I ever have about my bowling as well. In my three outings so far I’ve taken 3, 2 and 3 wickets and kept the runs tight, pleasing to say the least when it was only two years ago I was barely getting a bowl in matches.