Marty Kunz - Weasel? Clown? Both?
Jan 3rd, 2024 Newsletter
Cold Deck Quote:
"Besides lovemaking and singing in the shower, there aren't many human activities where there is a greater difference between a person's self-delusional ability and their actual ability than in poker." - Steve Badger
The News... Meet Marty. Now run.
*Marty with all the chips.
Marty Kunz - WeaselClown64
- Card Player, Longhorn, and just an all around....ok guy -
Pet hand - QQ
Me: When did you start playing poker? What was it that got you “hooked"?
Marty: When I was about 5-6 years old. My dad and stepmother taught me on the rug of the living room floor. I had a can of change that I had saved up, and we would play $0.01-$0.05-$0.10. 5 card draw, 5 card stud, 7 card stud, and Mexican Sweat. Those were big stakes for a 5 year old! I got hooked on NLHE when ESPN started airing the WSOP regularly, and soon after my hunting/fishing buddies started playing NLHE regularly on hunting/fishing trips. After Moneymaker won, I was hooked.
Me: You won a Daily tournament at the WSOP in 2018. I have played in those before and they attract players of all talent levels and reasons for playing. On top of that, there are a TON of people in those fields. Tell me how you binked that tournament and how it all came together.
Marty: That Daily had 221 entries, and you’re right-it was filled with all sorts of players, including a lot of pros. Many of the pros that were there for the Main Event played in that Daily since the Main Event was starting the following day, and they entered the daily as a “tune up”. I played extremely tight and got good hands at the right time. As the field dwindled, I got hot. But what really gave me the boost I needed was when it got down to two tables, I got 5-5 and flopped quads….and got paid on them. The very next hand, I got 5-5 again, flopped a set, and turned quads AGAIN. And after announcing to the table, there’s my quad fives again, I jammed my stack and got two callers. That put me in a commanding chip lead for the tournament.
At the final table, I had Darvin Moon (previous Main Event runner-up) on my left, and I was very nervous. I nitted up and let a lot of the small stacks knock each other out and kind of coasted. I knocked out Darvin in 6th place and then I KNEW I could win it all. Several offers for a chop were made, but I wanted the WIN (the money meant nothing at that point). We got to heads up at about 4:00am, and I had a 10-1 chip lead on the other guy. I told him before we started heads up that I was going ALL-IN every hand, which I did. He kept folding. Then I made sure he watched me go ALL-IN blind, and he folded again. The next hand, he jammed and I called with 5-8 os. I spiked a 5 on the flop and it held against his A-Q. It was the greatest feeling in the world.
Me: Most of our readers probably know but you and your wife owned Celebrity Card Club (CCC) here in downtown Galveston. How did that come about?
Marty: I lost my job in Odessa due to a downturn in the oil/gas business. Julie and I were looking for a way to return to the Houston / Galveston area. I was job searching when I got a call from the guy that had previously owned the Celebrity card Club in Odessa. I was a regular there, and when he sold that club he bought “The Vault” in Galveston and changed the name to CCC. Covid did a number on his business idea and he called me offering to sell it. Julie and I discussed it and decided to take a chance. We sold our house in Odessa and “came home”. We had always planned on retiring in Galveston and this gave us the opportunity to down sooner rather than later.
We gave it everything we had, but owning/running a poker club in Galveston is a tough business model. After almost 2 years we realized we just couldn’t make enough profit to make a living off of it. Looking back, I have no regrets. We met a LOT of great people, many of which became friends. And I can look myself in the mirror and say that I tried.
Me: I can imagine putting in the hours you did at that card club and the number of characters and hands that you saw and had to deal with. Without going into specific names, what did you learn about the spectrum of poker players and their motivations to play? Follow up: Did seeing this array of personalities, intelligence, and I imagine, at times, degeneracy change the way you think about and play the game yourself?
Marty: As the owner of a poker club, your eyes are opened to a whole different view of poker players and how games are run. You see things MUCH differently as a floor man or dealer. Bluffs are much clearer, hands seem much more obvious, and you spot player tells MUCH quicker and more easily from the “non-player” point of view. For the most part, the players we had were just “regular folks”, but of course we had several local “pros”, degenerates (that would gamble with rent money), degenerates that were deeply in debt but would continue to borrow more money, people that would keep returning to the ATM machine until it wouldn’t give them any more money.
It was a great experience to study PEOPLE, and I think I’ve become a much better player because of the experience. I also dealt a lot, and being a dealer helped me improve as a player as well.
Me: If someone bankrolled you with you keeping all winnings, giving you a choice of the following 2 which would you choose: Explain why.
1. Play in a $250,000 high roller Triton Event.
Or
2. Play in to the next 13 WSOP Main Events ($10k each)?
Marty: Easy answer! I’d take the 13 entries into the Main Event. Any tournament is hard to win or even cash. While the $250K high roller tournament has an enticing payout, it’s ONE TOURNAMENT. Even professionals are happy making the cash 15+% of the time. There are just too many variances in tournaments. I’ll take the 13 chances-the odds of making the cash or running deep are much greater in that scenario than one shot, no matter the entry/payout.
Me: I hear that you recently became a grandparent. Congratulations. How this experience differs from having your own child?
Marty: You can hand this football back when you’re done playing with it! Seriously though, it’s been awesome so far. It’s a feeling that’s hard to describe (seeing your family grow another generation), and seeing your child holding THEIR child as the torch is passed. Julie is enjoying it a LOT more than me, though. I’m not a “baby” person. I have had a saying with my kids that will certainly apply to my grandchild (and the ones that follow this first one): “I love my children (and now grandchildren) more and more the older they get…every day.” We’ve been staying with my daughter and husband ever since Samuel was born, and it’s been awesome to be here to see all the “firsts” for them. It’s been a special Christmas for our family, for sure.
Me: What is your favorite poker moment or experience?
Marty: When I was in Odessa, they had a tournament series at the CCC-Odessa. They had 12 tournaments over a period of 1 week. Chris Moneymaker was there for the series. I got to play against him in several of the events. I also got hot that week and cashed in 6/10 tournaments entered. One of the events was a Tag Team event, and Chris asked me to be his partner. It was a ROE (PLO and NLHE format). He told me “I’ve been watching you play this week and I think we can win this event. You play the NLHE hands and I’ll play the PLO hands. I was shocked and thrilled, and nervous as hell, but I couldn’t refuse! We ended up winning the event, which was VERY cool. He was a great guy to hang out with and play poker with for a week. It’s my favorite poker memory so far. I’m still friends with Chris on social media and we “talk” every now and then. Great guy and great ambassador for the game…
Me: You have seen and played a lot of cards. What goals and aspirations do you still have in the game?
Marty: I haven’t cashed in a WSOP bracelet event yet. That’s the first goal. The second is to win a bracelet. The 3rd is to cash in the Main Event. 4th is to make the final table at the Main Event. I like to play cash and tournaments, but I really like big field tournaments (like the WSOP). I feel my game is geared towards that, and it’s where I have had the most success. I went on a 5 year run where I cashed in at least one tournament at the WSOP for 5 years in a row. I’m looking forward to going back next year and continuing the streak!
Me: While watching last night's Texas vs. Washington game, I couldn't help but think that it was an instant classic and I walked away feeling very satisfied. Was this your reaction to the game?
Marty: I hate you.
* The last question was neither asked by me nor answered by Marty. It is fake news.😉
Resolution vs. Goal
I am not one for setting new year resolutions as I believe they are typically hastily made promises to ourselves about things we regret or would like to change.
However, I do believe that the new year is a good time to set some achievable goals to see how we do and to evaluate our progress through the year.
For instance, while cleaning up after last night's VFW tournament, one of the players said to me that he was going to begin keeping a log. J.D., who runs the game told the player that it was a good idea as he had started 18 months ago and it gave him a baseline to monitor.
I could not agree more. I began documenting all of my poker play last January. It allows me to see how I am doing month to month and, yesterday, I was able to tally it up to see how I did for the year. Perhaps if I hadn't documented it I would have a guess as to how my year went but I have a hunch I would be way off.
This type of information makes me a lot more confident to know what types of games I am winning and losing in and what shots I can and should take.
Some other goals could be:
Amout of study hours to meet or a certain number of tournaments to play.
I hope you will consider at least the type of goals you would set for yourselves.
This week's Tip of the Cap goes to Chris McNeese. Chris placed 6th in the 10am daily at Caesar's Palace last week. Great job Chris!
Zoom with Joe! Joe hosts a free zoom meetup during our Tuesday Freezeout games. Give it a try if that sounds like fun.
The ZOOM password is 432777
2023-2024 Points Leaders
- Michael Culpepper 29
- Joe Schwenk 21
- Marty Kunz 15
- Adrienne Culpepper 14
- Rey Martinez 14
- Stan Blazyk 14
- Tommy Harken 13
- Efren Hinojosa 9
- Brenda Ayala 9
- Moody Freunberg 9
Recent Results
- December 26th, 2023
- 1st - Andrew
- 2nd - Marty
- 3rd - Margaret
- January 2nd, 2024
- 1st - Joe S.
- 2nd - Margaret
- 3rd - Rey
Coach's Corner
If last week's video on implied odds left you wishing you had pursued freecell as your hobby game, you aren't alone.
Here is some content of which the importance can not be overstated. If you learn preflop ranges, you are well on your way in this game.
We play preflop EVERY hand. Knowing what your opponent is likely to have, is critical in navigating the rest of the hand.
Level: intermediate.
Recent Results
2023-2024 Points Leaders
- Michael Culpepper 23
- Marty Kunz 15
- Joe Schwenk 15
- Adrienne Culpepper 14
- Rey Martinez 13
- Stan Blazyk 13
- Efren Hinojosa 9
- Tommy Harken 9
- Brenda Ayala 9
- Moody Freunberg 9
Recent Tuesday Freezeout Results
- December 12th, 2023
- 1st - Joe S
- 2nd - Steve U.
- 3rd - Andrew
- December 19th, 2023
- 1st - Tommy H.
- 2nd - Jonathan A.
- 3rd - David M.
Coach's Corner
If last week's video on implied odds left you wishing you had pursued freecell as your hobby game, you aren't alone.
Here is some content of which the importance can not be overstated. If you learn preflop ranges, you are well on your way in this game.
We play preflop EVERY hand. Knowing what your opponent is likely to have, is critical in navigating the rest of the hand.
Level: intermediate.
Venmo Addresses
Michael Culpepper - @Michael-Culpepper-14
Joe Schwenk - @Joseph-Schwenk
Jonathan Ayala - @Jonathan-Ayala-55
Have any questions or feedback for this newsletter? If so, please email me
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