Poker Video: Misc/Other by Tommy Angelo (Micro/Small Stakes)

I blame both of you for making my life more enjoyable

Time to lie in the bed with the lights off for 45 minutes of pure happiness

This really is the best video series I have ever seen on any poker site, my girlfriend doesnt play poker and doesnt want to learn but she still loves this series.

That is the nicest compliment we have received. Thank you, and tell your GF thanks, too.

Wayne

great episode again.
I am mos def guilty of blaming myself because of a bad play and tilting because of the bad play.

I also tilt because my opponents play bad...and get lucky with it

It was a real good episode for me

By far the best video series on ANYTHING I've ever seen. Excellent work and looking forward to part two!

Tommy you should update your Med 101 stuff on your site also if you get some time .

With regard to playing the blame game...at what point are you responsible to speak the truth (right speech)?

There's a difference between falsely blaming others or circumstance for your own weakness, or correcting others' accusations out of a sense of "justice", and communicating to others (and oneself) the truth for the sake of the greater good.

That monk needs to say to that girl, "I was in my garden with my fellow monks (or wherever he was) when you said I got you pregnant."

Because, it's better for the girl and those involved to face reality as it is. Plus, there may be some guy out there running around getting girls pregnant and taking off. A reality that people should be aware of.

Just as, in poker, it's much better to say, "I missed that turn bet" or "I got outplayed" or "I shouldn't have played that hand OOP" rather than blame luck, your opponent, or simply shrug and do nothing about it.

Speaking the truth plainly to others and yourself, not for the sake of feeling vindicated or out of a sense of a justice, but for the sake of the truth...is a better course of action.

The mp3 version of this episode definitely is not on par with the previous episodes. The audio isn't as good as the video version which the prior episodes there was little difference in quality.

We were toying with various audio settings on this one. I have posted a more standard (higher quality) mp3 and wmv.
-Rusty

This is the first episode that doenst download to my Ipod, it says that the file cannot be located??? Has anyone managed to download this one successfully?

Amazing series!

I blame both of you for making my life more enjoyable

We accept!

Tommy you should update your Med 101 stuff on your site also if you get some time .

Thanks for the prod. I just added a link to a Jon Kabat-Zinn guided meditation that he did at Google. And I made a note to go add stuff to that page more often. :-)

With regard to playing the blame game...at what point are you responsible to speak the truth (right speech)?

There's a difference between falsely blaming others or circumstance for your own weakness, or correcting others' accusations out of a sense of "justice", and communicating to others (and oneself) the truth for the sake of the greater good.

That monk needs to say to that girl, "I was in my garden with my fellow monks (or wherever he was) when you said I got you pregnant."

Because, it's better for the girl and those involved to face reality as it is. Plus, there may be some guy out there running around getting girls pregnant and taking off. A reality that people should be aware of.

Just as, in poker, it's much better to say, "I missed that turn bet" or "I got outplayed" or "I shouldn't have played that hand OOP" rather than blame luck, your opponent, or simply shrug and do nothing about it.

Speaking the truth plainly to others and yourself, not for the sake of feeling vindicated or out of a sense of a justice, but for the sake of the truth...is a better course of action.

This is one of the areas where I still have more questions than answers. The truth - yes - that is the objective. But the nature of truth itself at every moment in every situation is ALWAYS entirely dependent on the judgments going on inside a human mind. And as we know, one man's truth can be another man's fiction. This happens billions of times per day.

I do believe it is possible that when the Monk chooses not to correct the facts, that he is speaking a level of truth that is higher than anything I have ever spoken. I don't understand it. But I do have faith that this is so.

Tommy

I think one of the coolest things about this series is its application to everyday life, not just the obvious poker situations.

Thanks again for your work on this series Wayne and Tommy!

No no no, thank you. Hey, top billing? Far more than I deserve. All credit goes to The Great Kazoo. I just added punch lines. <cue rimshot>

Seriously, Tommy and I appreciate all of you for downloading and watching or listening. We tried always to keep you in mind as we worked on it and it seems we accomplished our goal. If someone hears us fifty years from now and we are still relevant, then we did it. If we aren't, then it is a far better world.

Working with Tommy was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and if any of you are envious, know that I understand and my good fortune never went unappreciated. If I am not the better for it, then the fault is certainly not Tommy's.

As we often said to one another, we could not have done it better, only different.

Best wishes to all the DC guys, and special thanks to Entity, who made it better.

Wayne

Tommy you are amazing!!!!! Change my life bro. Thanks so much..
JA

Cool, found 4 of my biggest tilts:

- This player is horrible but he keeps winning - tilt
- Man the software annoys the crap out of me - tilt
- This guy is typing trash in the chat against me - tilt
- Those guys are talking crap about me in the chat - tilt

http://www.translationparty.com/#2127439

I've mostly been using it for rap lyrics, but this seemed quite appropriate

Now this is what I call a good time. :-)

Here's the first back-to-English version from the list:

"To book this groundbreaking series of Tommy is a great friend, the past has been lovingly crafted one year."

Let's pretend that was two sentences, and look at the first one:

"To book this groundbreaking series of Tommy is a great friend."

I interpret this to mean that somewhere there is someone who has a great friend who is a bookie who is taking action on the series. I haven't yet conjectured what sort of action that would be. Maybe the second sentence will provide some clues:

"The past has been lovingly crafted one year."

Hmm. This sounds suspiciously like past posting. I wouldn't take the bet, whatever it is. Or maybe it's a reference to tender-hearted history book writers. Hard to say. Japanese is tricky.

Tommy

Did you ever hear of 'deposit tilt', tommy?

No I haven't. Sounds like fun though. What is it?

Thanks for all the awesome videos Tommy & Wayne, really changed my life.
What I consider essential is the great delusion topic. I watched Fight Club again just a few days ago and Tyler says "everything you posses, someday posses you" and I think this is true. But how do I get unattached to all those material things. Knowing that I am attached to them doesn't get me unattached to them.

But how do I get unattached to all those material things. Knowing that I am attached to them doesn't get me unattached to them.

The "path" of "enlightenment," whatever it is, and wherever it goes, is first and foremost different than the path you are walking. Attachment is so much a part of us that almost everyone almost all the time doesn't even know it's there. To undo something this fundamental is no minor matter. The only way you can gradually increase your non-attachment is to be willing to do some drastic shit. And then, you have to learn what that stuff is. And then, you have to do it about a billion times. So the answer to your question isn't "Here's what to do." The answer is, "Are you willing to do anything to get rid of the suffering that attachment causes?" If you are insufficiently desperate, then information about "how to" is unlikely to help, because you won't be insane enough yet to actually take up the practice. If you are ready, I think this is as good a place to start as any:

www.tommyangelo.com/meditation101.html

YES. Finally that small but noticeable feeling of something being incomplete in my life is gone. This has been the best series I've watched on any poker training site. Congratulations Tommy, Wayne, and DC. You are the nuts.

Just beautiful

Now to release the music

Fantastic series, in every single way.

I can't wait to watch it all over again.

Thank you Tommy and Wayne for making that much more sense of life.

wow

This is the pinnacle of human achievement, no joke.

Fantastic, fantastic series. The subscription pays for it self on this content alone. You two have steered me back on track as I was very prone to tilt before but I'm consciously noticing lack of tilt when I get 2 outered for the 3rd time in a row.

Now when that happens I say "Money would have gone in all the same if the positions were switched therefore this is an EV=0 spot" and I banish it from my mind.

Like someone else who has posted feedback my gf who doesn't play poker has watched the first episode and loved it, this is like general life self-improvement series in the sense that ANYONE can benefit from it.

Tommy & Wayne are the nuts.

<3<3<3

Now to release the music

Just started on that last night! Eventually it will be at this address:

www.tommyangelo.com/the_eightfold_path_to_poker_enlightenment.html

(The page is not published yet.)

When the music is there, I will blog about it here:

tommyangelo.com/blog

And I will tweet about the music page when it is published. My tweet name is thetommyangelo.

Like it says it episode 8... stay tuned!

Tommy

Oddly enough, I also made my gf watch Episode 1. I guess it's got that "mustshowsomeonewhohasboobsasap" kind of appeal.

I've read a lot of posts saying things like, "Thank you Tommy, Wayne, and DC, for making this series.”

I seem to be unable to say the words “you’re welcome” with integrity. That’s probably because it feels to me like thanking me for writing stuff is like thanking a raindrop for being wet. That’s not to say there’s something wrong with thanking a raindrop for being wet. I can imagine situations where that would be quite appropriate. It’s just that I wouldn’t be surprised if the raindrop didn’t say anything back, and if it did, it would probably say, “Who? Me? What’d I do? All I did was fall through the sky like all the other raindrops and go splat.”

Let’s move on to something I’m better at…

Thank you Joe, Rob, Jay, Chris, and Chuck. This thank you comes in two parts. First is the general thank you from the poker community for making this very special place in the poker cosmos. And second is from me for saying yes to me so many times.

Thank you Rob Cole (aka Entity), the unsung hero of this project. Rob is The Carpenter. He is the scaffolding. He is the polish. Rob is a like a huge slave-labor force that doesn’t eat or complain.

Wayne and I made the audio tracks, and we scripted the visuals. All of the slides were made by Rob. All of the 8 movies were constructed by Rob. Many creative decisions were made by or guided by Rob.

Rob and I made the first three movies sitting side by side. The other six we made remotely. We had hundreds of opportunities to stress out. One time we were talking and we realized that if we get all stressed out while working on a project whose primary purpose is to teach about how to reduce stress, we must be doing something fundamentally wrong.

Dear Wayne: Thank you for losing everything to a hurricane and moving to Vegas. Thank you for starting the radio show called “Bibliothech” on holdemradio.com and inviting me on your show to talk about my book. Thank you for then having the idea that we do a series of broadcasts on holdem radio where we talk about you and your poker and I try to help you fix it. Thank you for keeping that idea alive after your radio show ended, an idea that molded and morphed itself into what became EPTPE.

But mostly, Wayne, thank you showing us that it’s all okay. It’s okay to freefall. It’s okay to go splat. It’s okay to phase change into vapor and be lifted up, just to fall again. I have no idea what I’m saying now. Thank you Wayne.

Tommy

Keep breathing while you two getting so many compliments it's easy to get lifted into air

It was a great serie

A little more than two years ago, TT asked me to arrange a limo for Joe Tall and his beautiful bride for their wedding. I said I would be happy to do so and would even drive them. And that's how I met Tommy, who is now my best man.

His wife Kathleen asked his friends to write something for Tommy's 50th birthday and I said that was easy. "If Tommy is your friend, you think you're his best friend." He really is my best friend, because they just don't come any better.

I'm so incredibly lucky. My friends include this remarkable guy, TT, Joe Tall, Entity, Krantz, the incomparable Death Donkey, Sklansky, Malmuth and Mike Minkoff of Professionalpoker.com, and a dozen more. Had it not been for Hurricane Charley, none of these people would be in my life.

That's what is known as hitting a one-outer.

I cannot thank you all enough, who have downloaded and listened and written us about the series. We put all we had into it, and you have told us it was worth the effort. Tommy and I have enjoyed your reactions. We thought we had something, but you let us know we did, and we thank you.

Best wishes to all, and we hope you suffer less and love it more.

Thank you, Tommy, and you are most certainly welcome.

Wayne Lively
Las Vegas, NV

One more thing: You mentioned movies as a good remedy for coming back to the present tense, I really liked the idea. And right when you said it, I thought of the poker table you're sitting at as a movie. I guess that would be mindful watching. Watching the movements, colours, actions, clothes etc. just like you would in a movie to calm your mind/body.

Yes. Exactly.

Didn't try it yet, but I think it could work for me.

No doubt it will.

Tommy

curious if you wrote that swing into beethoven? thats really quite good. thanks for the series.

Do you have any plans for a second serie? If so, please give us a nugget.

No plans. I have intentionally decided to not know what comes next, projectwise. Could be a book, a screenplay, a theater show, a soundtrack. As of now I am in a planned no-plan zone. I plan to end the no-plan zone in a few months. At that time, I will have plans, or at least I'm planning to. Hard to be sure about these things. :-)

Tommy

Tommy,

May seem like an odd question but since I wear glasses too I was just wondering. Do you usually meditate with or without glasses? I tend to wear them since I'm wearing them most of the day but I was wondering if maybe I should be wearing them only for things like Driving or Poker?

On a related note, what would a Buddhist think about Lasik Eye Surgery?

Thanks,
Nick

Awesome, thank you

Wayne, breathe. You won't regret it.

I thought the series was...meh.




And by meh, I mean - of such high quality that it created such a chasm between DC and all other sites that one could not fathom choosing anything over DC.

How the music release going for you Tommy?

/ z

How the music release going for you Tommy?

/ z

Big progress is highly probable this week. The new EPTPE area at my site will have mp3's of most of the music from the series, and other stuff. The over-under line on completion is one month. Thanks for asking/nudging. :-)

Tommy

Thank you guys!

Im having a problem with this video.

I wanted to watch it again and I click the link to this episode and it never stops buffering.

Is anyone else having this problem. Also I tried other videos and this is the only one its happening with.

Any advice?

Could someone possibly send me a jpg of the animated Tommy Angelo BLUE cap? I find the image oddly soothing and I think that it would be great to have as an avatar to remind oneself to stay in the moment, etc.

I thought you would like this website on meditation, do you think it is a good guide?

http://www.meditationexpert.co.uk/sitemap.html

I would like to start meditation daily as part of my 2010 goals.

I loved this series, because I have been doing yoga and meditation for years and I love how it relates to the poker game as much as the mathematical or western psychological ideas.

Nice and inspiring series, but I must say it: the musical intermezzos are the most awfully chosen musical themes I've ever thought someone must think of. At a point, I suspected this is on purpose: to tilt listeners so as to make them more aware of the theme's importance.

As I was finishing episode 8, I was thinking the exact opposite! The musical choices were fantastic counterpoint to the topics discussed and the occasional unrecognized intros (e.g. comfortably numb) that morph into the clearly identifiable melody at just the right time was masterful. Of course the music is skewed towards someone with a background in classic rock (at least on the pop side of the music)

The music may not work for everyone but for me everything about this series was a home run! The 8 fold path has a permanent home on my iPod because I plan to listen to it many times in the coming years.

I watched this whole series and I still want to go to the zoo and punch a penguin right in the face, everytime I lose a hand. Help!

I will not be attached to winning , I will not 3be attached to winning. I will......... omfg KJTQ every time I have AA goddammit #$#(&%(#&(@! a duck.

I just finished the series (audio on the iPod is a great thing) and I had the exact same thought when accepting blame was discussed.

My example / question is: Presumably we all agree that Martin L. King's struggle for black american civil rights was a good and just cause. A good philosophy should not lead us to reject fighting for justice. Perhaps there is a way for Buddhism to lead us to the same action but for reasons other than justice.

Does the Dalai Lama believe the goal of Tibetan independence is a bad goal?

I see value in avoiding the blame game but I'm not clear how this would lead to the right action of struggling against Jim Crow or South African apartheid.

MLK was fighting for his rights and the rights of his people. He wanted to give his children better lives. Justice would be him wanting revenge for the atrocities that were put on his people. To me Justice in this sense is more like a revenge type thing. It would be like Tibet being given it's independence and then seeking sanctions or war w/ china. I think the pursuit of happiness for u and ur fellow country men or ethnic group and the fight that goes with it is not seeking justice. In South Africa most of the people that participated in aparteid were given slaps on the wrist in most cases. Justice would be seeking death penalty for all. Anyway sorry to get too deep into this just my opinion.