Marcelo's career peaked in 2011-2017. Usually he just sat down at the table with the regs and started negotiations. Everyone knew him very well, so no further explanation was required:
urubu111: hi
urubu111: are you there?
Ben86: yeah
urubu111: 20k?
Ben86: come on
After losing two flips, Ben got angry.
Ben86: hate it
Ben86: never ask again
Ben86: want to focus on normal poker no flips
urubu111: ok good luck
A couple of days later, Marcelo again sat down with Ben, who was ahead of the curve.
Ben86: I don't flip anymore
urubu111: don't you want today or should I not offer even in a month?
Ben86: never
Ben86: only poker from now on
urubu111: ok
But Urubu did not back down:
urubu111: sorry to disturb you again, but if I offer something from above
Ben86: how much?
urubu111: default 1%
Ben86: ok then ok then
urubu111: 10k
Ben86: ***
Ben86: always the river
urubu111: if you're on tilt and want more, I'm ready
Ben86: no, I hate flips with all my heart and never wanted to
After a series of bad sessions, Ben wrote that he lost $140k in 44 flips with urubu.
Some players immediately denied Marcelo his strange entertainment.
urubu111: 10k flip, oddsen
Odd_Oddsen: not today
urubu111: I'll pay 1%
urubu111: jungle, samrostan, I'm waiting for anyone
w00ki3z: I don't flip online
w00ki3z: live... maybe I would agree
urubu111: idiot, go back to the jungle
urubu111: forhayley
forhayley : yo
urubu111: one 1k flip?
forhayley: not today
urubu111: would you agree for 1%?
forhayley: -
urubu111: gl
Ike Haxton : god he's annoying
But one player almost never turned down an urubu flip.
urubu111: 5k flip, anyone?
urubu111: 2607? true teller? forhayley?
Trueteller : yeah
Trueteller: I can
urubu111: ok truetelller
urubu111: October 9th is flip day so today is no commission
Trueteller: hehe
urubu111: let's go for plo 50/100
urubu111: 5k each
Trueteller: no commission I usually don't flip
urubu111: ok , then the standard 1%
Trueteller: ok
urubu111: it was a semi-bluff
urubu111: spin twice until someone wins both boards?
trueteller: no let's just flip
*** BOARD *** [ ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Trueteller: shows [ ] (a straight, Deuce to Six)
urubu111: shows [ ] (a straight, Ace to Five)
Trueteller collected $9998 from pot
urubu111: where did this come from?
After that, urubu persuaded Timofey for a few more flips.
*** BOARD *** [ ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
urubu111: shows [ ] (a pair of Kings)
Trueteller: shows [ ] (two pair, Sevens and Fives)
Trueteller collected $19998 from pot
urubu111: lol
*** BOARD *** [ ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Trueteller: shows [ ] (a straight, Five to Nine)
urubu111: shows [ ] (a pair of Tens)
Trueteller collected $19998 from pot
urubu111: lol
But that evening for the Brazilian, everything ended well. Flips for the rest of the bankroll he won.
*** BOARD *** [ ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
urubu111: shows [ ] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
Trueteller: shows [ ] (two pair, Tens and Eights)
urubu111 collected $63998 from pot
However, Marcelo was not always so lucky. One of the summer sessions against Timofey in 2013 ended in disaster for him.
“What an idiot I am,” Marcelo wrote on 2+2. I can't believe I lost my entire bankroll in flips again. Obviously, this is a huge amount of money for me, it's been three days, and I'm still crying.
Having lost a bankroll, urubu usually returned to the middle stakes, where he did well, but then another crash followed. This went on for many years, but lately he has not even close the funds for such adventures.
In 2019, urubu started a new blog on 2+2, where he said that he made another attempt to conquer the middle stakes without shots and flips to high stakes
– I play PLO200 and PLO100 on PokerStars , my bankroll is $6,400, which is average. Here's my schedule for this year, made it in BB on purpose to make it look even cooler haha.
In mid-2020, he wrote his last report:
– This year I played 160,000 hands on PS with a 90 buy-in loss. I also did not play perfectly – too nitty. EV is only +5bb. I don’t even want to lay out the schedule, it seems that my terrible wound will never end.
The state is oppressive. I am becoming more and more convinced that luck is needed for a successful career. I love poker very much. I've been playing for over 10 years and still enjoy it. But every time I sit down at the table with thoughts: “I will still lose.” I'll take a break. I thought that I became stronger psychologically, but this downstreak does not go out of my head.
After that, Marcelo almost did not write for almost two years. But last week he returned and opened a new topic on 2 + 2, where he remembered his turbulent youth and invited readers to ask him any questions.
– When was the closest you came to giving up? ( ed. – One of the old urubu blogs is called "I'm Brazilian and I will never give up!" )
– In poker, every time I don't hit a flush draw, ha ha. In life, 19 years ago, when my brother died after a hard fight with cancer. He was 13.
– Why did you start flipping at all? You made good money with a regular grind.
– Started just for fun. I love it when chips fly across the table, haha. Then he started to do it in the hope of winning easy money/getting off/on tilt.
From 2011 to 2017 I did terrible things, I hope this never happens again. I lost time, friends and money. Now I really regret it. Then I started working on myself. Crazy thoughts still visit me, but in general, it seems that I managed to cope with it. I consider this a big victory for me.
Sometimes it makes me sad that in poker I became famous for what I myself am ashamed of. It is clear that from the outside it was all a lot of fun, and that stage of my life will forever remain in my memory. But I want to believe that I have already turned this page, and my new life will be no less memorable.
They call me a legend. Like it's cool when people aren't afraid of such huge losses. It just doesn't apply to me. I have never been a high roller. This was my weakness.
– How did you feel when you lost huge sums? Did you have any other sources of income?
– Most of the time I managed to stop on time, but sometimes I bet all my money. And sometimes I gambled with money that I had no right to lose, or not all my own.
When you lose your entire bankroll in five minutes, the feeling is not the most pleasant. I felt like I was the most miserable person in the world. Trueteller made me hate Hillary Duff for the rest of my life!
I hate all the players who demanded a commission from me for flips. The exceptions are ben86, human0 and King of Áustria, who later became my friend/backer/godfather. Many of us have never even met, but I still feel good about them. I love everyone who gambles with their heart! But I can't stand grazvis1.
I almost forgot Raul ( ed. – German top reg RaúlGonzalez ). We haven't spoken in a long time, but everyone knows how great a player he is. We were never friends, more like flip buddies. But he is one of the few high rollers that I can call a good person. All these poker millionaires are terribly greedy, they only care about money. Jerks. Raoul is the complete opposite. He gave me very useful psychological advice. It is a pity that at that time I let them pass my ears. But I still really appreciate his willingness to help me.
– Are you bankrupt now?
– Naturally.
– The biggest flip in your career?
– 3 times 100k, two lost, one won.
Everyone is interested in stories about large sums. Sometimes I really risked my entire bankroll. Before some flips, I even called the bank to find out exactly how much money I had left. It's a completely different feeling than when you bet $100k and have another $400k in your account.
And my favorite gambling story isn't even in my top 100 biggest bets. It was the final of the 2019 Copa Libertadores, one of the most prestigious South American football tournaments. My favorite Flamengo team reached the final for the first time in 40 years and for the first time in my life. The news showed people selling houses to get tickets, others walking across the country, fording a river full of alligators. There have been many such crazy stories in Brazil.
I was also impressed and put everything in my pockets haha. Caught odds of 2.4 to win in regular time. Do not be lazy and look at Youtube excerpts from that match. God, at that moment I felt like I was in a real fairy tale ( ed. – for those who are too lazy to watch... Flamengo equalized the score in the 89th minute, and pulled out a victory in the second added minute ).
– When was the last time you flipped? What are you doing now?
– About two months ago on GG. Now I regularly play poker, I continue to grind Omaha. Not so long ago I invested with friends in a bar, but nothing came of it.
– Let's flip?
– Now I take from all 5% on top. Let me know if you're interested.
Do you live in favelas?
– No, but very close. Every day I pass by, but I don’t even think to go there. You can consider me a coward... When I get close, my legs start running on their own, and my breath gets lost. It's really scary there. I can't imagine how people live there and walk the streets every day.
– Why do you hate grazvis1?
– Once we flipped $5k and he started whining about how the rake would be $2.5 more if you spin it twice and split the pot.
– Do you remember this hand?
– I don't even know if Trueteller was joking or not. In general, he is also one of my favorite players. As far as I know, he always flipped with me. And at first, for him, these were really huge pots. For this I am especially grateful to him. Over time, he became the final boss in all varieties of poker, $10k became one blind for him, but he, like no other, deserved all the money in the world. From 2013 to 2017 I lost about $500k in flips to him. And he simultaneously tore all his opponents into other games, so he probably didn’t even notice my money.
In those years, I often sat down at expensive tables and offered flips to regs. I didn’t even contact him initially, because he was sitting on short-stack CAP tables. He thought he was being pressured by money. Once I offered to everyone another $5k flip. None of these arrogant idiots even dignified me with an answer, and Trueteller wrote: "I don't mind if you want to." So first impressions can be deceiving lol.
– What is your result in flips throughout your career? Tell me about your career.
– A couple of years ago, I tried to estimate, it turned out to be about $100k profit, but with the commission that I paid to the regs, it will be about zero or even a small minus. I started flips with a $650k upstreak lol. I do not regret that I did not come out at the peak, but rather that I started to flip in general.
I started playing poker in 2007, and on a serious level in 2009. Specialized in HUNL, then switched to PLO, because by 2011, only jungleman, urnotindanger2 (Scott Palmer), boosted J (Justin Smith), masterblstr (Scott Seiver) and other players of this level gave me action. I was good, but not good enough to beat these guys, and I didn't have the patience to sit and wait for the fish. Moved to 6-max PLO, where I was never one of the best, but thanks to my reputation I was able to become one of the most successful players in the $2/$4-$10/$20. Winning seven figures, no kidding. The best month ended up in the black at $250k, for example, at $2/$4 I didn't know what variance was at all.
I lost everything not because of flips, but because of my terrible approach to the game.
