JJ BANKS’ Blog

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND BEST WISHES IN ‘09!!!

     Wow, when we look back at 2008 years from now I’m sure we’re going to say, “Man, what a shitty fucking year!” But for now let me indulge you with some “Best of ‘08″ lists based on the opinion of the smartest, wittiest, and coolest human being on the planet…me! And if you disagree with any of my choices I’ll come to your house and kill your family.Â
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     Enjoy and God Bless!

BEST BOOKS I READ THIS YEAR
(doesn’t necessarily mean they came out in 2008)

4. The Vengeful Virgin by Gil Brewer

3. In The Money: Strategies for Winning Texas Hold’em Cash Games by Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari

2. The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon

     After reading this I wish I could tell you that the worst is behind us, but I’m not so sure, especially with an inexperienced jackass moving into The White House.

BOOK OF THE YEAR
Harrington on Hold’em Volume 1: Strategic Play by Dan Harrington

     One of the best poker books ever written.

FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2008

Honorable Mention:
“Vampire Weekend”
Vampire Weekend

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
“Real Emotional Trash”
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

     OK, I need to start listening to more new music, but Malkmus and friends released a masterpiece this year.

FAVORITE VIDEO GAMES OF 2008

3. Ninja Gaiden II

     And “yes”, I did finish this game despite its insane and at times brutal difficulty level.

2. Castle Crashers

GAME OF THE YEAR
Grand Theft Auto IV

     This game lived up to all the hype for me and is one the reasons why video games now share the same artistic platform as music and movies.

(Editor’s Note: I’m disappointed I didn’t get to: “Gears of War 2″ or “Left 4 Dead”.)

BEST MOVIES OF 2008

6. Iron Man

5. Starship Troopers 3: Marauder

     My biggest surprise of 2008! The true sequel to the original. 

4. Step Brothers

FILM OF THE YEAR
Cloverfield

     I went back and forth between “Clovie” and “TDK” when determining this, but as cool as “The Dark Knight” was, the theater going experience that was “Cloverfield” made it #1 for me. Throw in some clever internet marketing and an active forum and message board community and you have the most revolutionary and entertaining film of 2008.

(Editor’s Note: I’m disappointed I didn’t get to “Pineapple Express”, “The Wrestler”, “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”.)

                                                                                                                               Hawaiian Gardens Casino - Hawaiian Gardens, CA

     So I was back in Los Angeles last week and despite the bad structure the poker rooms have for their cash games, there’s just too many card rooms around for me not to check them out. I was on a shorter trip than last time so I only had two nights to check out some places I hadn’t played at before. The first place I played at was The Hawaiian Gardens Casino, and my first impression was this place is going to be a shithole because as I was walking towards the poker room I was exposed to at least 3 poker zombies mumbling about their bad luck and bad beats. Great. So I was thinking this was going to be a loser place for losers, but actually the poker room was really well run. Even better the $3/5 No Limit Hold’em game had a max buy-in of $300, now it’s not as good as the normal $500 buy-in I’m use to but its better than the $200 max buy-in that most card rooms in LA go by.

     So maybe the poker room was filled with poker zombies and a good number of house players, but there were some decent players as well as some pretty terrible players. Actually, the mood of the Hawaiian Gardens poker room can best be described as a sports/island bar that just happens to be surrounded by poker tables, so it’s actually kind of a fun place to play if you can put up with the occassional filth that you’ll run into. I played $3/5 No Limit Hold’em for a few hours and finished up $196, which wasn’t that bad considering I lost $100 on my very first hand.

                                                                                                               Normandie Casino - Gardena, CA

     So while I had some time to kill before catching my red-eye flight home I stopped by The Normandie Casino. Now it was around 5:30pm and I was shocked to learn that there were no “no-limit hold’em” games running. What??? Had I just entered a time warp to 1997 or something? Everyone was either playing low stakes limit hold’em or stud. I did find a Omaha Hi-Lo game going with limits at $3 - $6 so I took a seat at that. I really enjoy playing Omaha Hi-Lo and its too bad I don’t get to play it as much as I’d like because usually the games that do run at  The Borgata are too high for my bankroll. Now what’s great about Omaha Hi-Lo is that compared to how many people that play Hold’em and don’t have a clue as to what they are doing, there are even more, and I mean way more players that play Omaha Hi-Lo and don’t have even the slightest clue as to how to play.

     I played the game for a few hours and finished up $47. It seemed like a lot of work for just $47, then I noticed that the rake was $5 every hand regardless of the size of the pot. To me this is kind of crazy but the rake at The Normandie Casino is based on how many players are in the hand and not the size of the pot. For example, 9-7 players = $5, 6 - 5 players = $4, 4 players and below = $3. Now this really stupid because let’s say you have only a $10 pot, the house takes half you money. Now this doesn’t seem like a big deal but over time it can really add up and it makes it equally hard to accumlate chips in a limit game. Also the game was filled with house players and with more players with bad teeth then I’ve ever seen. Not to mention I got to talk to people who still have rabbitt ears on their TVs and are sweating the digital TV cable switchover in February ‘09. Yes, people like this still exisit and most of them live in trailer parks in California. But overall I had a decent time while playing in LA again, and although I still don’t think LA Poker is anywhere as good as the poker I get to play every weekend at The Borgata, I think I’ve grown to understand it and tolerate it more for what it is.

But just one last question……WHAT’S WITH ALL THE FUCKING EATING AT THE TABLES!!!! IT’S GROSS, SLOWS DOWN PLAY AND IT’S ANNOYING!!! TAKE 15 - 30 MINUTES AWAY FROM THE TABLE AND STUFF YOUR DONKEY FACE AND RETURN!!!