Happy New Year!

It all started with an awesome ringing in of the new year with some good friends of mine whom I had not seen in quite some time at a concert near Times Square. I had to leave the concert at 3:30am to go to the subway, get my luggage from my sister’s apartment in the West Village, then take a cab at 4:30 to catch my flight at 6:40, direct to Salt Lake City for a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician refresher course. While I’m waiting in the subway station, I listened to a voicemail I had received from an 800 number. I learned my flight had been cancelled, and I had been rebooked on a 4:45pm flight to SLC with a layover in Atlanta. I headed back to catch the end of the show and wish some final farewells to my friends. I then headed back to my sister’s place and crashed until 2pm, then got all set to take a cab at 3.
Well, here’s where I dropped the ball, I suppose: being so used to flying in and out of Reno, an airport that’s never had a line longer than 3 people, I didn’t account for traffic, that it’s JFK int’l, and one of the busiest travel days of the year. So I arrived at the airport a few minutes after 4, and had no shot at making my flight, despite a very helpful Delta agent’s assistance. So then I was standing in the ticketing line to get rebooked, and there was one window open and a line about 50 people long. I decided to call in and change the flight, which I did successfully, and was booked on a 6:49pm flight to SLC via Minneapolis. I went in to print my boarding pass at the self service kiosk, which found my reservation, but then informed me I must speak with an agent to proceed and print the boarding passes. Well there were 200 people in line to drop bags and speak to agents, but thanks to my resourcefulness and ability to think outside the box, I went to check in curbside, where the line was 5 people long. Success! I checked my bags (somehow for free--I can catch at least one break, right?), headed to security and found my way to the gate. After some slight delays, I boarded the plane, then proceeded to taxi for about an hour before taking off.
I landed in Minneapolis at about 9:40, and we were at the gate 10 mins. later. In my past experiences, flight attendants have been pretty good about letting those who are catching connecting flights deplane first, but for whatever reason, that wasn’t the case tonight. So I’m caught behind this fairly heavyset fellow trying to pass him on either side going up the ramp, and I finally squeeze by. I ask the woman at the gate for directions to gate G9, she tells me, and I bolt. Racing down the moving walkway, I even yelled to one person as I approached, “Pick a side!” Thankfully, she obliged, and I sprinted on. Up the escalator and about 4 moving walkways later, what I was certain was just a mirage appeared: an airport attendant driving a golf cart. I yelled out, “Salt Lake City flight from gate G9 left yet?!” He replied,
“I’m not sure…” At this point I had pretty much already gotten on the cart and he said,
“Where’re you going?”
“Salt Lake City.”
“I don’t know which gate that is.”
“I do, G9, step on it!”
This saved me about another ¾ mile sprint, and I was so relieved to see the plane still there at the gate. I had already checked and knew it was the last flight to SLC for the evening, and I was concerned that if I missed even a little bit of this course, I may not be eligible to complete it--potentially costing me all my tuition and travel expenses. I’m not home free yet, the door to the ramp was closed and there was no one at the desk. I begin waving frantically in the window and pressing my ticket up next to it, hoping the pilots will see me and notify someone on board to come get me. How do you signal “PLEASE!”? I guess because I was waving so frantically, they knew I wasn’t just bidding them adieu, and sure enough, a pilot picked up the phone, a flight attendant walked into the cockpit, crouched down to see me, and a moment later was up the ramp checking me in.

PHEW!

Smooth sailing until I land in SLC, where, obviously, my bags do not arrive. Mind you, the forecast here over the next 10 days is about 32 degrees, and all my winter gear is in my two checked bags. So I have the clothes on my back: a long-sleeved thermal, jeans, and sneakers. Here, I dropped the ball again, I got on my computer as I waited for my shuttle, instead of filing a delayed baggage claim. I only realized this at the moment the shuttle arrived, and I was reassured by the shuttle agent that I’d simply be able to claim them over the phone. I got in the shuttle with another couple who was getting dropped off nearby, and I pitched to the driver that I’d like to stop at anywhere that might be open so I could at least get a hat and jacket. I tried half a dozen places and had no luck. He dropped off the other couple, and the driver got tired to waiting at a red light after a few cycles, so he decided to just go for it. Instantly, he got pulled over. Luckily for him, he got off with a warning, and luckily for me, the driver thought to try a truck stop en route to the University Guest House where I’m staying. I picked up a jacket, hat, and gloves, all for $50! I arrived at the hotel, checked in, and am now ready to catch about 4 hours of sleep before I have to wake up at the crack of dawn and get into diligent student mode. I tried claiming my bags over the phone, but I was informed doing so will be impossible, and I must file the claim at the airport. So tomorrow I will have to hitch a ride, hopefully from a classmate in whatever miniscule amount of spare time we both have, to and from the airport.
The best part is that, despite all the hassles and unfortunate circumstances I experienced today, I’m still maintaining a positive attitude. I cannot be stopped! This is going to be a great course and a great beginning to something that I’m certain I will find truly rewarding. I must attribute most of this energy to a wonderful visit with all of my beloved family and friends. Thank you to all of you who are a part of my life, you mean so much to me!

The Longest Day

So I left my house in Tahoe at 2 AM and got a ride to SF airport for my 7:40 flight. arrived to JFK at a little before 5 PM, then flew to Dublin, then to Barcelona, and everything went to plan. That is, until my bag didn't arrive in Barcelona! Having had my luggage not arrive before, I knew to just stay calm, carry on, and they'd deliver it to me. The problem was that I didn't have the address or phone number of my Hostel (stups). So I'm exhausted, but determined to play the first event of this European Poker Tour series, so I make my way to the casino, where the first thing they tell me is, "You need to wear pants and shoes to follow the dress code." She points me towards a mall and I go purchase both since I don't have my luggage. I get back and they say, "Tomorrow, please bring a different pair of pants."
I have really been modifying my game a ton, so I was excited to practice some new strategies in the live arena, especially after such a mortifying WSOP. So I was excited, but really regretted playing about an hour into the tournament, I was just so exhausted. I stuck it out anyway and ended up taking 9th out of 160. I made an embarrassingly bad fold on the money bubble: Dag Mikkelson opened cutoff to like ~20K at 1500/3k because BTN had 37k, I had 48k, and BB had 30k. I look down at ATs and obv fistpump...fold!? ZOMG WTF!?$%^&* Not really sure what happened, but I think it had something to do with being exhausted, having played all day and not wanting to have nothing to show for it, but regardless, this was the pussiest and maybe worst fold of my entire career. Ironically, the bubble boy called Dag's BTN shove from SB with ATo and lost to Dag's KTs LOL! Guess it was a good fold afterall!
I played event 1 of the WCOOP tonight and lost in level 3 after losing with AK to TT on AAT board and then to Q7 with QQ on a T36 board--he had a flush draw. I'm trying to accumulate chips as we speak in the Full Tilt $150, so maybe I can make something out of that.
Tomorrow I'm excited to actually partake in some of the more experiential portion of the trip. My plan is to go to the beach, maybe grab some tapas, and if I can manage, get on a bicycle for either a guided or self guided tour.

Can't sleep, so I guess I'll blog...

Today was an awesome day, I took down the $100 1R1A turbo tournament on PokerStars for ~$25K, and best of all was I beat JohnnyBax heads up for the win! I have been on a bit of a tear lately, done some different things to revamp my game a bit, and, I didn't realize this at first, but I took away so much from hanging around the poker players I stayed with in Las Vegas. Picking up little pieces of each player's style and game and using that to tweak my own--and to punish them when they're at my table ;)--has made a tremendous impact on my recent success.

I went to visit my sister in San Francisco after she recently returned from Thailand! She was still pretty jetlagged, so the first night I was there I went to play poker at Lucky Chances cardroom. There was a long list for the $5/$10 and there was a super soft looking $20/$40 NL game, so I decided to take a shot. I played very straightforward most of the night, but I manipulated my image well and got some clutch folds. I made one questionable call where there were two flush draws on board, and I suspected the player who bet the river had the flush draw that missed, not the one that got there, and I was wrong. I don't mind the way I reasoned through the hand, but what I should have done--and what I did on a later hand--was talked to him to see if he'd give me any information. One thing that I have always struggled with in live poker is coming from an online background where I don't take much time at all to make my decisions, and not taking advantage of all the extra opportunity and information up for grabs.

I have planned a trip to Europe to play some big buyin MTTs in Barcelona, London, Paris, and Amsterdam, all across the span of 2-3 months. I'm getting really excited, and I have a lot to do to prepare before the trip. This is similar to my year last year where I busted my ass to prepare for some international travel, and I think having that on the horizon not only gives me a lot to look forward to, but it also forces me to make sure I have all my ducks in a row.

Last big thing on my plate at the moment is a really exciting job opportunity as a poker coach with a new training site that will unveil in September. I'm so flattered to be offered this job because, afterall, the way I got good at online poker was watching a training video, and here I am getting ready to produce my own videos!. I'm just generally excited to get my name out there in a legitimate way. I'll also have the opportunity to do some private coaching, which is great because I have always loved teaching/coaching and it has not been a part of my life as of late.

Can't keep quiet

I took third in the Sierra Poker Classic ME, and I'm pretty happy with how I played with the exception of this hand: with still 9 left, shortly after resuming, I had about 80k in chips and was sitting two to the left of a solid $5/$10 player named Eric from Sacramento, who had the chiplead, but wasn't tremendously far out in front of me. The day prior, I had 3bet him once when he raised in LP and I was OTB, and that pot I took down without seeing a flop. Now, I looked down at 99 OTB and Eric raised from HJ to about 2.5x. I 2.5x'd his raise and he flatted. The flop came 662 with two clubs, he checked, I bet a little over half pot and he 2.5x'd that bet. It was a pretty clear shove or fold spot, which I hated because I was pretty certain that if I pushed he folded all worse hands and called with all better, but if I just called, I give him a chance to catch up and didn't feel like I had such a lock hand that I could risk another card rolling off. I decided that with the slow structure and relatively deep stacks that I could find better spots to pick up small pots and run over my opponents, rather than risk it all in this obviously marginal spot. I mucked and of course Eric turned over the QThh. What I really hate about this hand is that I always mock live players for not having a plan or ever expecting the obvious and knowing how to react, and I simply didn't have a plan once I bet. Anyways, I hung around for a while, we got down to 3 handed and I got all in with AK vs. A9 and lost when a 9 came on the turn. Still a nice showing for only my 2nd big buyin tourney.

I'm in Vegas now. Yesterday I played a $1060 at Caesars WSOP-C and did well until I lost with 99 to A6o AIPF. I had some good hands, one where I got all in with a Q hi flush draw and was elated to see my opponent turn over a 9 hi flush draw, another where I defended my blind with Q8hh vs. an UTG raise, something I wouldn't normally do, but my opponent seemed especially weak and I thought would pay me off with a lot of weaker hands. I flopped a flush and got 2 good streets of value from him before I got a little greedy on the river, thinking he was calling anything and betting a little too much.

Today I went to Venetian to play a $500 DS event, which I didn't realize was a 2 day event and I had never been so happy to get coolered with 30bbs at 8/1600 with QQ vs. KK because A) had I gone deep I would have been forced to miss my friend's graudation party in LA, and B) because I had decided to buy into a Nevada SPCA charity event hosted by Jen Harman. I was multitabling for a little which was incredibly distracting and stupid and something I need to not do anymore, but finally I busted the DS event and could focus on the Charity tourney, and wouldn't you know it I settled for nothing less than 1st place! I obviously ran super hot, but I don't think I made a single mistake when we got down to it. I had the pleasure of playing with Negranu and Jeff Madsen among others, and not only did I win a seat to the WSOP ME, I got a really nice Curtis & Co. watch, an astonishing trophy and some other really neat prizes.

Tomorrow I'm off to LA, but I'll be back for more come Monday.

First live win!

Well it's been a while since I've posted and what better time than after booking my first live win!? During the Sierra Poker Classic here in Tahoe, I trumped a massive field of 35 players with a $340 buyin to take down 1st place and $4500. I really turned up the volume on the aggression factor, open shoving at least 50 times at the final table because people were so concerned about cashing that they would just fold what was clearly the best hand because they didn't want to gamble. HU was more of a battle than I would have liked, I started with nearly a 5:1 chiplead, and at one point, Phi (pronounced fee) Tran reclaimed the chiplead until this hand: Phi limps OTB with 70k chips, blinds 12/2400/300, I look down at American Airlines and decide to raise of course, so I bumped it up, 6k on top, he calls, which was surprising because in the past he had been mostly folding when he limped and I raised. I guess since he had some chips now he decided he was ready to gamble. Dealing at this point was Kevin Ferguson, who interestingly enough, dealt both Jamie Gold and Joe Hachem's final hands for their respective WSOP Main Event victories. Kevin dealt a Q34 flop with two clubs, I led out for 9k, Phi called. Turn was an offsuit 2, making me a little worrysome about 56, but not so much that I'm not still going broke, my read was that he had a Q, and not a Q with any of the possible 2 pair combos on board, maybe Q8-QJ, he wasn't raising with hands like these on the button. I lead out for 21k and Phi shoves relatively quickly, but I called even quicker. He turned over the Q7s and the river came Kd to just about seal it up for me. Tom Sexton, Mike Sexton's brother, was there as tournament director and was announcing the action via microphone to the massive 3 person audience.

I played 5 events in San Diego, made 2 cashes, one of which was a final table, and in that $500 buyin, I got 7th for about $3900. Without a doubt I'm building my confidence in my live play and really starting to get pumped and prepared for the WSOP this year.

Awful Hero Call

It's not easy being back in the poker world. I had a couple good sessions last week and forgot it was actually possible to lose. I have been playing well for the most part, with the exception of my attempt at being a hero just about 45 minutes ago. I went to Harvey's with Wes and he got sucked out on with (I assume) the nut straight vs. two pair that filled up on the turn. I stuck around and we got down to 3 handed with a regular player and a visitor from SF. I had played with the regular last weekend and definitely got the best of him, I even picked up a pretty crucial tell. Tonight went his way though, as the first hand 3 handed, he straddled UTG/BTN and I picked up KTo in sb, and decided to make it $30. Both players called and the flop came K84 with two diamonds. For some reason, I checked, the BB bet out $50, BTN made it $120, and I decided to just flat. I was pretty sure I had the best hand, but I didn't want to cold 4bet and get shoved on, or get flatted and be OOP, and I thought this would appear as a huge hand and maybe get me to showdown. The turn came 6d completing the flush. I checked and he bet $225. I called relatively quickly, thinking now he definitely can't bluff the river because he's gotta be concerned that I have a flush! The river came Qs, I checked and he bet all in. At this point, I acknowledged the read or "tell" I had on the guy, but after about 5 minutes, decided I wanted to be a hero and called off the last $900 or so in my stack. He turned over A7dd for the nut flush! I am so frustrated with myself, I just needed to have a little faith in my read and dump the hand on the turn as played.

Anyways...Wes and I grinded together in the newly set up poker office for the first time today and I think it's gonna be a tremendously beneficial set up for the development of both of our games. I have two 24" monitors on the way from the Full Tilt store, I can't wait to have those set up, I have a good feeling it'll increase my winrate and just my general comfort level while playing.

I got a good settlement for my totaled Jeep; I'm glad to finally have that off my plate and start car shopping again. Unfortunately, when my things arrived here in the trailer, SO much of my stuff was damaged! I was really disappointed and it seems like there's very little I will be able to do about it. Just one thing after another!

My classes are coming along fine, but I have yet to go skiing a single day, which was a huge factor in me deciding to move here. From what I've heard the conditions haven't been great, they haven't had any snow since Christmas, but regardless, still somewhat pathetic that I haven't been to even check it out yet.

Sigh...hopefully I can get my act together and start putting up some good results soon, I'll grind tournaments all day Sunday so that might be a good place to start!

Well, I finally have a chance to post some pictures of my car. She's a beauty, ain't she?

What a way to end my sabbatical...crashing the car I just bought no more than a month ago.

WEMT Course, Caro's Game, ASOP

This course is super intense, classes are 8-5 M-F, and an additional 6-9 on T & Th. This final week is full of testing after one day of touring local EMSs. I'm excited to be getting 9 college credits for it, assuming I pass, all crammed into one month. I'm also excited to have been exposed to this field and have the opportunity to be an EMT or Ski Patrol, and to just generally feel confident in outdoors situations guiding or whatnot.

I'm also getting really excited to move to Tahoe and finally be settled, it's been a long 3 months "on the road." I'm looking forward to starting school back up, grinding out a couple classes, a ton of poker, and fitting in some skiing when I can.

So this course has been limiting my poker play quite a bit. I have played maybe 3 hours online in the non-existent free time I have, just a little $1/$2, and have won a few buyins. I also was informed about a game taking place at a bar in the town of Jackson Hole, and I decided to check it out. It was also $1/$2, and I swear the players there were the same ones whose pictures were taken for Caro's famous Book of Tells. It was pretty fun, I sat down with $300 and walked away with $656 after 2.5 hours of play. There was one woman in the game who was playing every hand. She first outflopped my QQ with KQ, then my KK with an A hi flop and she shoved the turn, another A. I didn't see her hand but I'm pretty confident it was the correct fold.

Finally, she limped UTG, a nervous player in MP made it $10 to go, I called OTB with ATo, and the woman UTG obviously called as well. Flop came T33 with two clubs. She leads out $15, the PFR flats, and I decide she's got a weaker ten, and he's got AK or a pair lower than tens, because I don't give a player credit in this kind of game for flatting with an overpair on that kind of board, so I bumped it up to $60. She instacalls, and the PFR's chest starts pounding. I'm thinking, "Okay, I guess if he doesn't fold he's got the overpair or TT, I give him enough credit for an easy fold of the AK." He ends up folding as he exclaims, "God Damnit!" Turn comes Jh, she checks, I shove, she deliberates and calls. The river comes another A, she turns over T9 and I scoop the pot with aces up. The PFR showed his KK after the hand, no comment.

The only other notable hand was when there were scattered limpers and I rapped the table in BB with A7h. The flop came AT6 with two spades, and I checked. A LP limper led out $5, the button flatted, I decided I definitely had the best hand and raised to $25. The first bettor folded, and the button instaflatted, so I put him on a draw. The turn was a 3d, so I led for another $40 (I wish I had led for more but I overthought things a little in the moment and wanted to try to keep the pot reasonable) and he instacalled again. The river brought the innocuous 5c so I of course checked to induce a bet, and he obliged with a $50 bullet that I proudly snapped off without a second thought.

I just now set the date for the annual Alexandria Series of Poker. It's always fun to get together with old friends at holiday times and rejoice as I strike them. :) This year is a little different because I'm going to match the prize pool and donate that amount to a charity of the winner's choice. I've been wanting to give back from poker for a long time and I've slacked on taking action.

Road Trip!

Mad and I spent last night in Las Vegas. We stayed at Palace Station, a little ways off the strip, but just about the best hotel you could ever get for $45. Plus, who cares about being off the strip when you have a brand new car to take you to the strip!? Anyways, we went first to Mandalay Bay where we dined at House of Blues, then I dabbled in craps as Mad looked on. I was up and down and up and down until finally an obnoxious guy came over and bet on the darkside, and then it was all down, $210.

We drove down the block to the New York New York and rode the roller coaster, which was a blast. Afterwards, we proceeded to the Venetian where I played $1/$2 for about an hour, lost $128, biggest pot I lost was with KQo in sb. A player in EMP, with whom I'd already had one confrontation of which I was the victor, raised to $10, two players called including the button, I called, and the four of us saw the flop: K64 rainbow. I went into check/call mode, $20 on the flop, $30 on the turn (7s adding the flush draw) and $50 on the river (offsuit J), the other two players quit after PFR's first bet. I did feel that I was likely beat as I can't beat much other than a bluff, especially since if he did have KJ he was now ahead. However, considering we had one confrontation already and I figured him to be an aggressive player, I thought I was strong enough to look him up. My biggest mistake in the hand was probably the preflop call, but I think my subsequent play was fine/standard. He turned over two Aces and dragged the pot.

I followed those two stellar performances up with a speedy exit in the 12:30am nightly $150 tourney at Harrah's, right nextdoor. I was literally plugging my ears to block out the middle aged drunk hicks at my table, only reminding me why online poker>live poker. I suppose I got a litte impatient, but again I was confident about my edge on my opponents, so after playing it tight for a while, I got a little frisky with my QhJs in MP, limping in after two others. The button limped and we saw the flop: J84 all hearts! When four players checked to me, I fired out 300, the button flatted, the first limper flatted, and we saw the turn, which I was planning on checking almost regardless of what it was. Unfortunately, it was the Qc, giving me now two pair and a decent heart draw. The button had been solid, but for whatever reason I couldn't give him credit for having slowplayed. I fired out 1000 and he raised all in for 1400 more. I never plan on making a Hellmuth-esque fold in this spot, but I wonder how loose his range really is here? It obviously didn't feel good, and it felt a lot worse when he turned over KThh, leaving me 4 outs, none of which decided to make an appearance on the river. I hung around as a shortstack until finally my A4 fell to 33.

Not a very lucky night in Vegas, but I had fun!

In the morning, we got on the road and made it to Salt Lake City around 8:30, where Mad had contacted a co-worker from ARCC who had been generous enough to offer us a place to stay. We got to see a fair bit of the city, got a bite to eat, and now are resting up before finishing up the drive tomorrow.

Live and Die in LA

Phase II has been a big week for me back in the states. Mad's car was certainly performing at a very mediocre level, making us a bit weary about the road trip we had planned through the wintry mountains. We decided to change plans, she sold her car and I decided to buy my own, which I had planned to do in San Francisco in January, en route to moving to Tahoe, but this way I will have that portion of my move out of the way, and Mad and I will be stress and hassle free on our road trip, which has now been significantly shortened by the car buying process.

Our plan to start The Abs Diet this week was thwarted by the tremendous number of options for dining out in LA, which we've done for just about every meal thus far, nice life, IMO. Anna, Mad's former roommate, has a friend named Miles who works on the show Real Time with Bill Maher, and incredibly, Miles got us tickets to see the season finale show, televised live. The show featured Ashton Kutcher, P. Diddy, Jon Meacham (editor of Newsweek), and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). The show was really a fun experience and very educational as well. Last night we went to Upright Citizens Brigade comedy club to see a show with a variety of comediens who were mostly hit or miss, but the host, Brody Stevens--who I swear was hammered, but Mad begs to differ--was hilarious.

I've played poker 3 nights since I've been here and have had little success. The first night I got 3rd in the $30r on AP for about $2k, offsetting a decent portion of my roughly $2500 of buyins that day. The second day I played I final tabled the evening $50 (1r+1a) on FTP. I went into the final table in 7th place, and the second or third hand in, I picked up 22 in the sb. Cutoff raised and with a little influence from a friend on AIM, I was persuaded to shove my 13ish BB stack over his 3x raise. I hate the shove only because when called I'm clearly never dominating, and in this case I was in fact crushed by his 66.

Sunday was frustrating but I felt I was much more focused and less mistake prone. I got 61st in the Stars 2nd chance, when my AK fell to AJ. Later on that evening, I found myself deep in the 11pm $109 2x which has a new blind structure since I left in October. The structure helps, but a tarnished table image doesn't, I got 12th place when at 3k/6k blinds, button 3x'd with a smallish stack, which obviously was surprising and made me a little weary of extreme strength, since he didn't just shove, but I was looking at KQs and felt it was too strong of a hand to lay down, especially since his OPR was experienced, he might just be trying to get us (the blinds) to level ourselves thinking he's strong. I shoved and was instantly called by the big blind who turned over A8o. I couldn't win the "race" (46/54), and $700 wasn't quite what I was hoping for when taking on the responsibility of a new car, but it will have to suffice.

I can think of several reasons why my results were sub-par this week. First I suppose I should start by saying that 3 losing days is hardly sub-par when it comes to tournament poker, but based on the month I had in September, let's just say my expectations were high.

• Rust - Having just returned to the states from a different world, jumping right back into my usual routine of 30+ tournaments in a day was maybe not the best idea, but I really liked the benefits of playing that many tournaments and was in a good routine before I left.
• Stress - With the prospect of buying a new car and all the implications going along with that and being in an unsettled and distracting environment rather than a home base were two factors that definitely accounted for sub-optimal playing.
• The "What can this money buy?" syndrome - I've read time and again how you have to desensitize yourself to money and you can't sit at the table and think, "Oh man, if I win this tourney, I could buy a new car!" I always thought that was such a random hypothetical situation, but I realized as I was playing I was very hopeful to win one of the many tournaments I was playing where first place was equal to or significantly greater than the total cost of the car!

This week I'm reading The Abs Diet by David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men's Health. It's very interesting and motivating, but while I say that, I've yet to take any action on diet and exercise, which I definitely need to do! It's very tough to start a diet or exercise routine in an unsettled and/or unfamiliar situation, as I've mentioned.

I saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire, a sort of grim fairy tale about an Indian boy who gets a chance to be on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and knows answers to the questions from childhood experiences. I saw the film at ArcLight, which is a very modern movie theater showing a wide variety of movies; we are in Hollywood, afterall. I hope the movie gets a lot of publicity, I highly recommend it.