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Vegas: Day 3 report

There’s bad and good to report from today. I’ll get right to it. I played two sessions of $2/$4 Limit Hold ‘Em at Aladdin. I lost 73 bucks in about 4 hours or -4.5 BB/hour. I just seemed to get crap cards and any time I got a good hand, someone drew out on me. Good example: I had AKs, raise before the flop and get 2 callers. Flop comes AKx, giving me top two pair. I bet and one player calls. Next card is a J. I bet, get raised, call. Next card is a blank. I check, he checks. He turns over JJ for a set of Jacks to beat my two pair. Normally, I wouldn’t mind “the best hand winning” if he’d ever shown it was the best hand. More importantly, I was better than 10-to-1 to win the hand after the flop. That was the worst one, but that stuff happened a few times and I got terrible cards (I literally won 5 pots in 4 hours. And I’m not talking big pots with showdown. I’m talking any pot at all.)

Now the good: I played another session of $2/$4 tonight and made $50 bucks in 2.25 hours or +5.55 BB/hour. It’s not a very long session, but I played very well and seemed to be making good decision. My table image was key as they saw me as very tight/very aggressive. Ironically, the hand I remember most was one where I folded. I had AA in early position and raised with 2 callers. The flop is 885. I bet, get raised, then re-raised and I fold. Obviously, I was beat, but I knew I had to be beat by some crappy cards. I was glad my ego didn’t take over and get me married to the hand. I laid it down and eventually saw both other players turn over an 8 (89 and 8J). I was 75% to win the hand before the flop.

So, I lost 73 this morning, won 50 tonight for a 23 dollar loss today. Overall, that puts me at 194 down, overall.

I doubt I’ll gamble any more tomorrow, but if I do, it’ll be something like throwing a 25 dollar chip on the BlackJack table and letting it ride till I either lose it or break even for my trip. That sounds like a fun way to end things.

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Vegas: Day 2 report

Not too much to tell so far. I lost 28 bucks in a Hold ‘Em tournament and made 55 dollars at the 5-dollar blackjack tables.

The only notable hand in the tournament (again, the structure was almost silly) was when I was dealt KQ in the big blind. 3 or 4 callers and the flop came K45. I bet, three calls. Turn is a rag. I bet, get 2 calls. River is a rag. I bet, get one call. I lost to a set of fours. Now, why the lady never raised when she flopped a set and the turn and river didn’t fill any draws, I’ll never know. Anyway, that hand took most of my stack and I just kinda’ wasted away after that.

Played blackjack at Bellagio and lost 40 bucks in about 15 minutes. Basically, the dealer just kept busting everyone up. I had a blackjack… and it was a push. She got 20’s and 21’s like they were going out of style.

Played in the $1-$2 NL Hold ‘Em game at Aladdin. I thought games like that only existed in fairytales. Turns out they’re real as can be. Problem was that luck was frowning on me. I bought in for 60 bucks. About the second hand, I got TT, but the lady to my right raised it to $20 (yes, this is a $1-$2 blind game with a max buy-in of $100) and since I hadn’t seen her play yet, I figured I better fold. Couple hands later, I get 55 and she does the same thing. Again, I fold. A few hands later, I get KK UTG. I make my standard raise to $6. I get two or three callers. Flop comes ten-high rainbow. I bet $10, guy goes all-in (for about $35 more), everyone folds to me and I quickly call. Turn is an A, river is a blank. He turns over ATo for Aces-up to beat my KK. I’m down to 15 or 20 bucks.

I fold for a while till I get AJo. Lady to my right makes it $10 and I call. Flop is K-high, she puts me all-in, I fold. I buy another $40 in chips. Several hands later, I get AKo. I make my standard raise, get re-raised to about $20 and then there’s a caller. I move in and both call. Flop is 835 rainbow. The original re-raiser checks, the cold-caller moves in quickly and the other player folds. Turn is a K, river is a blank. Cold-caller turns over 33 for a set of threes to beat my Kings with an Ace kicker. $100 gone.

So, why was I saying this was such a great game? Because it was. I only wish I had about $1000 sitting around for me to play in that game. I think I could turn it into $2000 in about 6 hours, assuming luck didn’t continue to frown on me. Having a guy hit a 5-outter on me on the turn stinks. Having AK, getting called by a 33 that holds is frustrating, but at least I was the dog to begin with. Whether he should’ve been calling 10x the BB with 33 is another story altogether.

I guess I should mention that all of these people were very loose and sometimes aggressive. I rarely saw a premium hand shown down, even when there was a lot of action. Also, I think at least two of the people at the table were off-duty dealers for the casino. I’m not sure how that works.

So, the bright side to everything: These people were so easy to read it was scary. When 33 hit his set, and moved in, I was certain he had a set. Earlier in the evening, when a guy made the nut flush on the river, I knew it immediately. When the guy to my left had a big fat pair, I knew it before he even bet. I did get my money in as about an 80% favorite and if I’d won that hand, I would have doubled-up my buy-in. So, about 80% of the time I turn my $60 into $120 in about 15 minutes. From there, I’m pretty sure I would’ve just run over the table.

I’m actually considering trying again tomorrow, but I need to take time to cool off first and evaluate it. After all, I did lose $100 tonight, regardless of all that odds talk and gibberish.

Trip summary: Lost $58 yesterday, lost $113, down $171 overall.

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Vegas: Day 1 report

As far as gambling goes, there isn’t too much to report. I played a $55 NL Hold ‘Em tournament at the Luxor and busted out 8th of 33. Here are the highlights:

Short stack moves in immediately to my right, I have QQ and move in for about 3 times what he has. Everyone folds, he turns over AJo and catches JJ (flop and river) to double up.
I have AJo in middle position, minimum raise by UTG, I move in, he calls with K7s. Sure enough, he makes a flush on the flop.
I move in with K7o and am called by K2o. 2-pair hits the board and we split.
I move in with ATo and it holds up against Ax and Q6o.
I play the waiting game and finally have to move in with KTo. Next player to act moves in for about triple my stack with KK.

All in all, I feel I played nearly perfectly. I was shocked how obvious some physical tells are when playing live. I’ve been playing online exclusively for several months, so I’ve had to learn more about the mathematics, betting pattern tells and other nuances. I was able to steal with absolutely nothing several times after the flop and that kept me in the game.

The tournament structure was a complete crapshoot. We started with 250 in chips, were allowed a 50-chip add-on immediately for 3 dollars (initial buy-in was 55), so we had 300 chips. Blinds started at 10/15 and moved up every 15 minutes (15/25, 25/50…). Also, we started with 11 people per table, so we didn’t even get around once before the first level of blinds was done.

Anyway, I lost, but I played well so I’m ok with it.

Then I played some 5-dollar blackjack. Ultimately, I broke even. I was up to about double my buy-in of 40 bucks, then dropped to 10 bucks, then doubled-up twice and left even. So I’m down 58 bucks for the day.

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Million Dollar Baby

Heartbreaking.

I don’t throw sappy words like that around lightly. The thing that struck me most was how quietly everyone left the theatre. The theatre wasn’t packed, but it only takes one person to make a sound and no one did. We were all thinking Would I have done that? I don’t think so. But I might have. I don’t know.

I really don’t even know what to say. I’m almost afraid anything I’d write would just be superficial and hokey. I’ll say this: Movies like this are the reason I first considered acting and screenwriting. Movies like these are the ones that count, they’re the ones that affect people. What I just saw wasn’t entertainment, it was something else. Something more.

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Third and (hopefully) final day of filming

One reason I haven’t posted the name of the short that I shot is that there isn’t a name yet. The producer was soliciting ideas from one and all yesterday, so I’ll be trying to think of a clever name.

Anyway, yesterday was the final day of principle photography and it went pretty well. I really felt comfortable all day and finally felt at home with the idea of being on set and having other people depending on me. It was a really fun experience and went very smoothly. It’s been neat to see practical applications for my training and I’ve really felt prepared while shooting. It’s also been reassuring to have the director, assistant director, producer and other actors tell me that what I’m doing is funny and real. A couple times, I’d finish a scene and then have someone tell me they really liked what I did, that it was funny, or just worked well for that scene. And that was reassuring because sometimes I wouldn’t necessarily be going for funny, but just doing what I felt the character should be doing at that time.

All in all, this was a really great experience and I feel fortunate that this was my first shoot. The people I worked with were excellent and I really learned a lot about making a movie and what it’s like as an actor to film something substantial. I’m grateful that I shot a short as my first movie and I think it was just the amount of work and commitment that I could take at this point. Between working full time, having a friend in town and making the short, I’ve been really exhausted, but it’s been worth it.

The class that made this movie will be making five more as the semester goes on. I’m going to keep in touch with people in hopes that I can land a role in at least one of the other shorts. I will be getting a DVD copy of this short sometime in the next couple months and the “premier” for all the shorts for the semester is May 7. I can’t wait to see the finished product and I hope it’s good. It’d be great if I can be in two shorts at the premier, too.

I said that I this was “hopefully” the final day of filming because there’s a possibility we’ll have to do some re-shoots next month. I hope I can dodge that bullet, but I might have to redo as scene or two before it’s all over.

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Second day of filming

Obviously, the novelty of counting the days of filming will be lost if I ever land a feature film, or even another short for that matter. I’m not really counting the days of filming for this particular project so much as I’m chronicling the first ever days of my filming experiences.

Today went pretty well. We shot three scenes–two interior and one exterior. The interior scenes were fun and a lot easier than the exterior scenes have been. For one thing, I was sitting down for most of the shoot, rather than standing in cruddy shoes on hard dirt. For another, everyone felt closer, which made it feel more like a big group effort than a sort of sprawled production.

The second interior scene we shot is the last scene in the film. One of the little funny things the director has thrown in is that my character wears the most hideous sweaters ever, and they get worse as the film goes on. So, during the last scene, he’s wearing an old-lady sweater with terrible colors (basically black with bright green, pink and yellow patterns and little balls sewn into the shoulders). Also, it had shoulder pads. Anyway, the other actor and I felt that it was a little awkward to end the scene the way it was written. We thought it would be appropriate for the other character to comment on how good my sweater looks (because it would contrast with an earlier scene where he calls my sweaters “Cosby Sweaters”). So, we ad-libbed a couple lines about my sweater at the end. Anyway, my reaction to one of the other character’s comments kept making people laugh… in fact, on one take, one of the sound guys and the director laughed out loud. The irony is that those are probably the two people who should be most upset about someone laughing out loud while the film is rolling.

Anyway, it was fun. The exterior scene was a pain because it was drizzling and it took forever to set up (even though it was only about a 45 second scene). Tomorrow, all our scenes are outside, so I’m not really looking forward to that. The good news is I don’t have to be on location till noon and we’ll be wrapping tomorrow evening.

So far, it’s been a blast. I can’t believe people actually get to do this for a living.

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First day of filming

Well, it couldn’t have been better. We had some technical difficulties, which meant some extra standing around, but that turned into rehearsal time and I think it helped us a lot. I shot two scenes and I thought they went pretty well. Nothing spectacular, but the director, assistant director and producer all said I gave them exactly what they wanted, so I feel I really can’t do any better. I’ve already realized that I’ll never be completely satisfied with anything I do, so my goal should be something more objective like making sure the director is completely satisfied.

Anyway, both scenes went well and things were pretty easy overall. I didn’t take any pictures with my own camera, but the producer got some, so hopefully I can get some (digital) copies. I guess kind of a funny movie fact is that I had my script in my hands in both of the scenes today. The script called for a clipboard, but someone else had to use it for something, so the director just said, “Why don’t you just use that?” I imagine it’s not often that an actor is carrying around his script while shooting scenes. It was kind of comforting to have it near, but I realized how easy it would be to use it as a crutch.

Tomorrow, I’m shooting the first and last scenes of the short, so that should be interesting. I also might be shooting a quick outdoors scene and it sounds like we’re re-shooting one of the scenes from today because an actor flubbed his lines. I guess that’s just part of the process.

My first (friend) visitor

My buddy and old roommate is coming to Dallas for a few days for a job interview (which I was able to get him at my company). So, he’s coming in tomorrow and he’ll leave on Tuesday morning. My mom came to visit back in July, which was super, but not the same as having a friend visit. I’m looking forward to hanging out and having some company. Even for introverted people, being a hermit can be a real drag after a while.

This is not the first friend I’ve had come to town, but the first friend I’ve had stay at my place.

Then to Vegas

My buddy leaves on Tuesday morning and then I head to Vegas on Wednesday morning. I’ll be there till next Saturday. A buddy and I are staying at the Bellagio for free thanks to some hookups his dad is getting. I’m looking forward to playing some poker and blowing some money. I hear there is all kinds of stuff to do in Vegas and I have a feeling I’ll feel like I’m leaving when we were just getting started.

Then to L.A.

I haven’t been since early December, so it’s about time! I’m going for work, but I hope to meet up with the ol’ acting coach–I haven’t seen that joker since August or something. Maybe I’ll have a rough-cut of the short by then and we can discuss it and talk about what I have to do to improve to being a mediocre actor.

Ok, I’m beat. I’m going to read over tomorrow’s scenes real quick, then go to bed.

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Action!

Tomorrow is my first day of filming and it’ll be the first time I hear someone yell “Action!” to get things rolling. It’s exciting, but I hope it’s more of a metaphor for the beginning of my acting career. It’s hard to see any further off than this little short film, but I hope this is a new beginning. I’ve been preparing for this for a while and I’m ready. I’m super excited and I can’t wait to be on set and see the finished product in a few weeks.

Anyway, I’m taking my camera, so hopefully I’ll get some good pictures to remember this by. Hopefully this will be the first of many movie sets I’m on.

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Irony is fun

Well, I was saying how poorly Thursday’s audition went… and then I just got an e-mail offering me the lead. I’m really excited, but also conflicted. I read for three parts in another student film today and the audition went really well. I felt much, much better afterwards than I did on Thursday. Also, they asked if I had any conflicts this weekend–when they’re shooting–and I said no. Of course, technically, at the time I didn’t have any conflicts. Now I have this small conflict where I’ve been offered a role in another film.

Anyway, I e-mailed the ol’ acting coach asking him for input. I have till Monday at 6pm to tell Thursday’s auditioners if I’ll do it. Although I’d love to book both jobs, I almost hope today’s audition didn’t go as well as I thought and I don’t book it. At least that way I won’t feel bad for having to bail on someone. But it also seems like that’s part of the business. I audition for stuff that overlaps just like they audition multiple people for each part.

Anyway, it’s exciting that I booked the first short that I went out on. Also, the role I booked looks pretty fun. The short is a mockumentary about “free-running” and it’s pretty funny and well done. It seems really tongue-in-cheek and ridiculous, which is very much my style.

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Mediocre audition today

I drove out to the University of Texas (UNT) in Denton for an audition after work today. It was for a short student film, so I didn’t feel all that much pressure (it wasn’t like I had to prepare to read for DeNiro or anything). I think I could’ve done much better with a little more preparation time, but that’s just life. Basically, I didn’t see any sides until I happened to talk to a guy who’d already auditioned and had his copy handy. I read it once, got called in as soon as I’d finished reading and went through the normal introductions. Then, I read through the copy once more and basically went straight into my read. The read was tough because it was basically a monologue. For a monologue, it’d be nice to have a bit to prepare.

Anyway, my acting coach prepared me for most of this, so I wasn’t thrown off. I just didn’t do a good enough job of preparing quickly. I’ll find out tomorrow or Saturday if I booked it. I doubt I did, so this time I won’t be disappointed if I don’t get the call.

Two more auditions on Saturday

I have two more auditions on Saturday. One is for another student short (I think I’ll be reading for the part of a rich-kid amnesiac who’s got to remember who he is in time to claim his inheritance) and then I’ll be reading for a feature film. It’s a Christian film whose target audience is teenagers… the strange thing is I’ll be reading for the part of a 16-18 year old. I’ll be 25 in a month.

Anyway, at least I’m experiencing “the process” and learning more about myself. I wish I had a mulligan on today’s audition, but I kinda’ get a mulligan each time I get another chance to read for something.

New car comin’ soon

I’ve been driving the same car for almost five years and I freakin’ hate it. In about 7 weeks, I’m going to be getting a new one. Nothing is official or final yet, but I’m moving that way. This seems like great timing because I don’t know how long my car will last and, if I keep getting auditions, I’ll be doing a lot more driving soon. Today’s audition was about 45 miles from my place. The two on Saturday are both 40 miles away from here, but only 20 miles from each other. I don’t trust my car to drive that many miles too many times before it croaks.