JJ BANKS’ Blog

     I took a break from poker on Wednesday. I especially didn’t feel great about how I went on “tilt” at The Luxor the other night and donked off $150. So Wednesday was basically just a day for drinking, hanging out around Vegas and acting like someone on vacation. Ironically, I did play some $2/5 NL Hold’em at The Bellagio where the bad players are few and far between and I won like $10 after a few hours, but since I didn’t approach the game like I normally do I’m not counting the win towards my losses so far.

     I got back to serious poker playing on Thursday when I sat down at a $1/2 NL Hold’em table at the MGM Grand. “And eventhough I never won with my AK the MGM Grand was the beginning of a good day!” I didn’t really get involved in any big hands, I just picked up a pot here and there and after three hours I was up $130. However, The MGM Grand has that gay “LA” rule of not being able to buy in for more than $200 at a $1/2 table, so there never was much money on the table for the taking. Realizing I would have to run extremely well to make a windfall at this table, I got up and left for brighter and greener opportunities.

     For some reason I kept finding myself at The Mandalay Bay poker room during my trip. Maybe it was because the poker room at the hotel I was staying at, The Luxor, was kind of chitty, but MB is where I went next. Now, I define myself as a tight player so you know its a pretty big deal when I say that the table I sat down at was one of the “tightest” tables I’ve ever played on. Phil Ivey once said that you should never go into a poker game with a strategy, instead you just need to react and adjust to the players you’re playing with. Normally, I’m the tight player in a game full of “loose splash the pot with chips” kind of players, so being a tight aggressive player is the way I apporach those situations. Here however I had to make a 180 to my normal playing style. Here I got to play like a Gus Hansen or a Tom Dwan and I was the “loose bet/raise every hand” player because I knew the players at the table we’re only going to continue or playback with basically nothing short of the nuts.

     But don’t get the idea that I’m exploiting the playing style that I normally institute. Like I said I’m a tight player, but I’m a tight “aggressive” player and there’s a difference between a tight “aggressive” player and a tight “passive” player which would take another blog in itself for me to explain. Just let me sum up that the tight passive approach is perhaps the worst way you can play No-Limit Texas Hold’em and after 5 hours of playing with these lambs I was up $371.

                                                                                                   The Venetian Poker Room - Las Vegas, NV

     Friday was my final full day so I spent it at my favorite poker room in Las Vegas; The Venetian. And although the layout of The Venetian poker room reminded me of my homebase at The Borgata the result of this session was back to the typical Vegas luck I had been having for the week: 8 hours of playing = -$178. 

     So after five full days in Las Vegas I only had one shining moment so I guess when you look at it like that it’s actually kind of amazing I only finished down -$702. I’ve been told that this series of blogs have sounded kind of depressing to the readers and while it is fun and exciting to be in Las Vegas…let’s face it things in life are always a lot more fun when you win! Everyone feels smarter and better when they win and self-dout and insecurity can creep in when you lose. But when you play poker, really play poker, the day-to-day ups and downs shouldn’t bother you. All you should be concerned with is if you’re playing the best you can which means are you constantly making the right decisions? I honestly feel I played good the whole trip except for that one late night donkey buy-in at The Luxor for $150. To me that was the only time I was playing on “tilt”.

     While I was playing at The Venetian some old local player said the following: “Can you imagine playing this everyday? I can’t. I hate this. I play 4 times a week and I don’t know why? My first thought was “well you’re just a degenerate gambler” but the more I thougt about it the more I realized that there are no short-cuts in life or in poker and you really need to learn to enjoy the journey. Maybe now wasn’t my time for WSOP glory. Is the kid that won event #34 and $500,000 a better poker player than me? I don’t know, I’ve never played against him but then again I shouldn’t be concerned either way about it, because in order for me to really start to enjoy the journey I can only focus on myself and my game. Will there ever be a World Series of Poker Final Table in my future? I don’t know. I’ll just have to keep playing and find out.  

                                                                                                                      The Final Table

AND JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THE TRIP WAS OVER…..!!!!

                                                                                                               Wizard World 2009

     So what do you do when you come home hungover from your trip to Las Vegas? Most people might say spend the day in bed watching porn, but not me, instead I grabbed whatever leftover cash I had and headed over to the Philadelphia Convention Center for Wizard World 2009.

     Wizard World is an expo of everything involving comics, toys and TV/movies. And maybe I was somewhat desensitized from a week full of winning and losing hundred dollar pots at poker that I was indifferent while paying $10 - $25 for some old comics I wanted to add to my collection. This convention did rock though. Most of the vendors were nice and willing to make deals and the comic selection well exceeded my expectations. Just imagine if I had won Event #34….I definitely would have purchased a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15.

But back to reality, here is what I picked up at Wizard World 2009:

The Nam #1 - 11, #16

X-Factor #24

Marvel Comics Presents: Weapon X #76, #77, #81

The Incredible Hulk #340

Wolverine #2, #3, #7 - 10

Wolverine (Mini-Series) #1 - 4 

The Punisher War Journal #6

The Uncanny X-Men #103 - 106, #108, #129 - 132, #139, #183, #229, #232 - 233

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     One of the rarest comics in my collection is “Iron Man #5″ so needless to say I’ve been a fan of Iron Man pretty much my whole life. And after the taste that “Spider-Man 3″ and “X-Men 3″ had left in my mouth I was a little nervous about how Tony Stark was going to come off on the silver screen. Thankfully, while I don’t think the movie is as amazing as all the fanboys will tell you, I did find “Iron Man” to be really well made and very entertaining.

     “Iron Man” is a very uber-dorky, nerdy, and techy movie but that’s actually what I was expecting and hoping for. Because as much as Tony Stark tries to come off as this “too cool for the room” playboy he really is nothing more than that geek who knows how to turn your toaster into a death ray. However, the whole big badass weapon maker who learns how to love came off kind of sappy. Plus, is it the goal of Marvel movie producers to pick the most annoying actress possible to be the female lead in their movies? Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts would have been better if her character was a mute, ex. “What is that some kind of thing to pick door locks?” The device blows up the lock. “Oh wow!”

     Overall, “Iron Man” is a step in the right direction in a post “Spider-Man 3″ and “X-Men 3″ cinema world. It’s sound and VFX are top notch. Robert Downey Jr. nails his role as Tony Stark and director John Favreau did an excellent job of updating Iron Man’s story to the modern era, a task that’s a lot trickery than most movie goers think. And the future looks bright for this franchise as hints of War Machine and The Avengers have already been put in place.

     “Yeah, peace. Without war you’d be out of a job.” - Tony Stark

THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Rated: PG - 13
Runtime: 152 min

     Not that there aren’t enough people talking about this film already but for what its worth here are my two cents about the biggest movie to hit the screens in a decade. First of all, I’m a big fan of the Tim Burton era of Batman. In fact I’m such a fan of Burton’s work that I didn’t even bother to see “Batman Begins” when the series restarted itself a few years ago and I really had no desire to even see “The Dark Knight” until I heard everyone going apeshit over it. So I then figured, well I have to check this out, but in order to do so I thought it would only be fair to start with where Batman go his new jump start.

“Batman Begins” (2005)

     “Batman Begins” was a great film and I thought it really shined in separating itself from the previous Batman films. Nolan presented a fresh new viewpoint of a story that had already been told. However, I found the film dragging in some places, especially in the beginning. I thought they could have gotten to Batman making his Batcave and going to fight the bad guys a little faster. Also, the casting was kind of weird. You got an English actor trying to come off as an Italian Mafia Boss? And for some reason Liam Neilson has never been intimidating to me. Don’t even ask me about Katie Holmes’ character. I did like how the ending set-up the next film, but to steal a line from The Joker I’d like to ask Christopher Nolan “Why so serious?”

“Why so serious?”

     Ok Batman fanboys get ready to flame!!!

     To me there’s enough cynicism in the world already that I don’t need it in my superhero movies. I like triumphant endings where we know good has conquered evil. Once again “Why so serious???!!!” You guys do realize that when all is done and said this movie is still about a guy who dresses up as a fucking bat and fights crime. So “Why so serious?” I understand how this extreme grittiness and edge would appeal to certain guys at certain ages, but I want my superheroes to just be superheroes and not case studies in manic depressive indentity disorders.
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      Next, let’s take a look at the cast of “TDK”. How many people did Maggie Gyllenhaal’s agent have to blow to get her this role? I mean c’mon I’ve seen hotter girls working at the DMV. Also, as great as Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker is, to me that role isn’t that hard. Put some crazy makeup on and act like a complete psychopath is actually kind of one dimensional role, but hey it’s a shame he croaked before the film came out, so let’s all praise him. And just exactly how was The Joker able to get all these thugs that gave me “Manhunt” flashbacks and set-up all these elaborate schemes at a moment’s notice? It’s funny how fanboys claim how realistic this film is when actually its very far from it.

     What “The Dark Knight” did accomplish better than any other comic book film ever was that its plot actually had a legitimate reason for having more than one villain in it. This was pulled off way better than any other film ever (yes I’m pointing at you “Spider-Man 3″). Overall, Nolan made another very original and exciting story about Batman but for all these fans standing in line to see the film for the 7th time with a raging hard-on, I think you need to relax.Â