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wpt final table

02.28.2008

I am at the final table of the LA Poker Classic at the Commerce Casino on the World Poker Tour. Unfortunately, I am not playing but it is cool watching from the studio audience. The two Phils, Hellmuth and Ivey are both at the final table, and neither of them has won a WPT event so far and as far as I know, they've never played at a final table together, certainly not at these stakes at least. The winner will get over 1.5 million dollars. One of the Phils is probably the greatest Texas Hold 'em player in the world. The other one just thinks he is and will certainly tell you that he is!

I'll keep you updated and I'll add photos later.

update #1: 5 hands into it a Phil Ivey is bleeding chips. He's lost half of his stack so far. Also, its kinda boring to watch... its not as fun when you can't see their hole cards.

update #2: its getting better. Phil Hellmuth just made a bad call and doubled up Nam Le and had a mini meltdown like only he can do.

Update#3: Hellmuth just got knocked out and he was actually quite the gentleman about it. I think his poker brat persona is mostly an act. He seems to be a nice guy and shook a lot of hands on the way out and even signed an autograph or two.

update #4: Ivey won it all... we didn't stay until the end because it's boring watching people play poker when you don't know the hole cards. We did go downstairs and play some poker for a while and I did pretty good!

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full frontal nudity

02.27.2008

Hopefully that title got your attention. But unfortunately, you won't find any full frontal nudity in today's post, but if you check back tomorrow, you might!

Here's the deal folks, ever since I've had this new blog (almost a year), I haven't posted any of the fine art nudes that I occasionally shoot because of the controversial subject matter. While I personally don't have a problem with the artistic images of the nude form, I respect the fact that some people are offended, outraged, shocked or would just rather not see them and they are entitled to their opinions and views... it's America after all. But it's my blog, about my life and the things that I shoot, so I figured I'd openly share these images with the world as I share the rest of my life with you.

So I have decided that I will occasionally post these images, but you will have to enter a password to view them, that way no one accidentally stumbles across any images that they may potentially be offended by. Seem like a win win situation to me, eh?

I personally don't see what the big deal is... I am not shooting pornography or anything vulgar... I have no desire or aspirations to shoot for any mens magazines or websites. I try to capture beauty, and light, and shadow, and lines and to create some art. My long term goal is to one day have my images hanging in The Getty (or another world class museum) or published into a killer coffee table book. Something to be proud of and not ashamed of or embarrassed by.

If you are interested in posing for me, feel free to send me a note. I am always looking for real people to shoot. You can always see my personal work at thebecker.net if you can't wait until tomorrow to see some boobs.

Feel free to leave a comment or thought on the subject, but remember... no anonymous comments. Feel free to disagree with me, but please have the courage to stand by your convictions and leave your real email address.

miscellaneous monday #22

02.25.2008

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How 'bout them Oscars last night? Jon Stewart is hilarious! He's the real reason I tuned in (via my DVR when I got home from playing poker). I wish Juno would have won best picture, because out of all of the movies that were nominated... I liked that one the best. I also loved There Will Be Blood. No Country was a good film, but I don't think it should have even been nominated for Best Picture. What do I know????
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Ok, so the poker tournament at the Bike last night was for charity. All of the money was going to be donated to wives and families of fallen police officers and firefighters. They raised about $25,000 last night, with all of the money from the buy ins going to the charity, and we were playing poker for donated prizes (like plasma TV' and cruises). I played well, and every time I went all in, I had the best had (the entire night). Unfortunately I got out drawn just about every time, but I am still making very good decisions ever since going to poker school. By the way, two of the poker school instructors were there and I had a chance to thank them and give them some feedback on the class. But the highlight of the night was playing in position (just to the left) of poker professional Chad Brown. He was a super cool guy and I found out he was engaged to his longtime girlfriend Vanessa Rousso, who is also a pro player. Of course I gave him my card during one of the breaks and made him promise to check out my website and blog and forward the link to his fiance, so hopefully they are tuning in and I'll book the wedding for later this fall. (Chad, call me bro!).

I do want to tell y'all about the first hand I played against Chad. It was shortly after he joined the table and I had a pretty big stack. I was on the button, and a bunch of people limped in in front of me, so I raised it up pretty good with AK suited. Everyone folded except Chad. The flop came A, 6, 8 rainbow (all different suits). He checked, so I made an almost pot size bet just to take it down since I was fairly certain I had the best hand. He then re-raised all in. I thought about it for a second, then called to see him turn over 9, 7 off suit giving him an open ended straight draw. The 10 came on the turn and I doubled him up. Oh well, at least I didn't knock him out... because then I wouldn't have had the chance to chat with him or find out that he was engaged. I'd rather book the wedding then win a cruise to Mexico or another plasma.
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This year is already flying by... I can't believe it's going to be March later this week and the big photo convention in Vegas is just 3 week away and the baseball season starts shortly after that.
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There's not much else going on with me right now besides [ b ] school stuff. I haven't been shooting a lot so all of my camera's are in the shop getting cleaned and tuned up. Oh, and since the weather has been warming up, I have been riding my bike again. I want to get down to 250 by Vegas.
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I love the Razzies. I am sure Larry the Cable Guy will probably win one next year (unless Keanu Reaves makes another film). Kudo's to the stars who actually attend the ceremony and pick up their award. I think it's so important to be able to laugh at ones self.
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Edited to add: Faithful blog reader Elma send me this fabulous photo. I think she should name the babe Becker. I am just saying.
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257.2
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Fun weekend with Friends

02.24.2008

I had a great weekend hanging out with some good friends. On Friday, a few of use went over to PF Changs at the Irvine Spectrum, then saw the U2 3D movie. I had already seen it, but now one else had so I went again.

David Jay, Allie, Jasmine Star, Jessica Claire, Tammy & Dane Sanders:

Then on Saturday I went up to Pasadena for a photo convention, and a few of us skipped out of the trade show for lunch at the Yard House.

Brook Todd, Gene Higa, [ b ], Joe Photo, Joel Serrato & Jose Villa:

Which one of us do you think has the worst drinking problem?

Then that night I went over to a cool engagement party for my friends Tim & Sherry. I rarely get to go to these as a guest, and I had a fabulous time just enjoying some of my favorite people on the planet. Tim is the creator of the [ b ] logo and he has referred me many weddings over the years, so it was nice to run into 5 of my past wedding couples. They have awesome friends, including James and Carrie who hosted the best "Sangria & Tapas" party ever. I'll be shooting the wedding in September.

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junk mail

02.22.2008

I feel like Kramer on that episode of Seinfeld called "The Junk Mail". I am so sick of all the crap I get and it can't be good for the environment. How can I stop the mail? I am not talking about email spam/junk mail. While that is annoying, I have a killer spam filter on my server and spam rarely gets through to my inbox any more. I am talking about actual physical junk mail that clogs my mail box every single day... including the new Pottery Barn catalog that came yesterday. I also got 4 offers to refinance my house, 3 rather large catalogs, a bunch of different coupon books and just random crap that I have no use for.

I have a PO Box where I get my checks and most of my business correspondence, so all I get at my house is bills and junk. For most of my utilities, I've even signed up for paperless billing to be more environmentally friendly, but I still get swamped with garbage every single day. Tell me there is a way to make it stop!

I picked up my mail on Monday (the holiday) and here's what the box looked like when I went out to fetch the mail yesterday (Thursday):

As you can see, my postman just crams it in the box. Good thing no one sends photos to my house.

If there is anything I can do to cut down on the waste and get off of some of these mailing lists, please let me know, but I don't want that old oatmeal guy to come visit me like he did with Kramer.