Phoenix

Phoenix has been a blast. I'm staying with my friends, Josh and Emily, and they're great people to hang out with. They're both really kind people at heart but they aren't afraid to speak their minds about any topic and I really respect that about people. I've lost the only 2 credit card roulettes of the trip, including a 9-person meal at Benihanas but even that can't dampen my spirits. It's been 70 degrees with clear skies and I'm understanding why so many people flock here. 38 degrees and rainy in Seattle or 70 and sunny in Scottsdale? I was even motivated to take a quick jog around the neighborhood today since it seemed criminal to be sitting inside with weather like this. I'm coming back in late February for Spring Training and I'm really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow we're flying to San Diego for New Years Eve. I'm not sure what we have planned but I'm sure it'll be great just because of the crew that will be there. I'm going to try to take a lot of pictures but I'm really the worst ever at taking pictures. I just get lost in my experiences and never think to pull out my camera. A big effort will be made tomorrow and maybe the next post will have pictures. Happy New Year, everyone.

Yo!

This post is dedicated to Nancy Martin. Most people gave up on me a long time ago but she sent me an email yesterday urging me to revive the blog as a New Years resolution. She's on my case every single time that I see her and the persistence is finally going to pay off. Thanks, Nancy.

I also have to apologize to my friends in the Blogger community. I don't know why but ever since the death of my blog, I felt like I couldn't be a part of your community anymore. I deleted my Bloglines bookmark and haven't read about your amazing lives in years. I've missed Al's last two birthday bashes and have been a huge ass about it. I didn't RSPV with a No or anything, I just acted like that world didn't exist. I don't know why I reacted like that but I am truly sorry. The part that makes it even more brutal is that every time I see guys like Otis or Pauly or talk to someone like Spaceman or The Rooster, they have nothing but love for me. It's unreal that I could act like such a D-Bag and have these guys still be so great. I saw Al in Vegas on day 1 of the WSOP this year, after nearly a year of failed contact with the man, and he was all smiles, happy to see me and genuinely wished me the best of luck. I don't know how I would have acted in Al's spot but I know I wouldn't have been such a big man. Thanks to all you guys and I'm really going to try to be a better friend in the future.

Since my last post, about 15 months ago, not a whole lot has changed. I'm still traveling as much as I can, still drinking too much, still "living" in Seattle for 3 months a year and still trying to make a living with this poker stuff. Games are tougher but I have minimal bills and have still been able to earn my travel/drinking money with poker funds. I am currently working on purchasing my childhood home from my Dad and I will get that completed in January once I get home from my next trip. Let's talk about the trip!

For those of you who don't like to read, here's a Cliff's Notes breakdown of my trip:

12/29-31: Phoenix
12/31 - 1/1: San Diego
1/1-4: LA and Orange Counties
1/4-1/10: PCA
1/10-1/16: Philly
1/16-1/19: NYC
1/19-1/21: Washington DC

Tomorrow morning I'm flying to Phoenix to hang out with some poker friends. I'm staying with Josh and Emily for 2 nights before flying to San Diego on the 31st. I'm going to spend NYE in San Diego before heading up the coast to LA to see some college friends. I'm going to try to get up there early on the 1st and see if I can get tickets to the Penn State-USC Rose Bowl. I went to the Rose Bowl in 2001 when my beloved UW Huskies beat up on Purdue and it's still one of my favorite memories. I think it would be fun to watch USC get pummeled and I will try my best to make it to the game. I'll be in SoCal until January 4th when I fly to the Bahamas for the PokerStars Carribean Adventure. I always end up hating the Atlantis by the time I leave but, for now, I'm really stoked for the trip and the tournament. On January 10th, I'm flying to Newark and will be in Philadelphia for almost a week, hanging out with my friend Mike and his mom Nancy, the driving force behind this blog post. On the 16th, I'm heading up to New York to visit with some friends who are flying East for President Obama's Inaguration. We're going to spend the weekend in the city and then head to DC on January 19th and party during the Inaguration on the 20th. On the 21st, we are flying back to Seattle out of Newark. So, if anyone out there is still reading this and will be in any of those cities at any of those times, let me know and we'll get a drink or five. Holla!

I'm hoping that the blog from now on will consist of trip reports of debauchery and everyone will be entertained with my shenanigans. I'd love nothing more than to get this puppy rolling again so please wish me luck. Hope to see you again tomorrow.

Yo

Hey y'all. If you're still reading this, you're really dedicated. Bless you, child.

I'm in London for the European World Series of Poker, or E-WSOP for short. This is the biggest buy-in that I've ever played and might be the toughest field that I've ever played against. I start tomorrow and at my table are two tough Scandinavian pros, a very good 2+2er that I spent all day with today, and 4 other players that look pretty good. One of the Scandinavians is Patrik Antonius, arguably the best player in the world. The other is Lars Bonding, a successful tourney pro that is known for being very aggressive. Sadly, he's in seat 8 and I'm in seat 7 so I might be playing pretty tight for a while. Anyway, the best updates can be found at these two websites:

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop-europe/wsope-main-event/
http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/

They might actually be running the same updates but if not, definitely go with PokerNews. They employ Pauly and Change100, two of the best tournament reporters out there and they'll definitely be on top of everything. Wish me luck!

In sports news, the Mariners have imploded. There's still time to turn things around but it looks really bleak. However, IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON!!! There won't be many Mondays where I can post after TWO big wins from my teams in Seattle so I have to take advantage of it this week. Boise State 14-game win streak? OVER. GO DAWGS!!! Obviously the Seahawks won and it's nice to get a good game out of Shaun. I love Mr. Hasselbeck and I know he'll be good so if the run game holds up its end, I think we're going to be good this year. Go. Hawks.

Soon, I'll put up a better post about traveling and whatnot but I'm going to bed for now. Holla.

Deep

I made it pretty far in the $5K NL on Wednesday, busting a little before midnight. It was my second straight long say and I woke up on Thursday morning feeling like crap. I decided to skip the $5K Bellagio event and hang out at the house, recharging my batteries. Evidently it worked since I made Day 2 of the $2K NL. I'm 5th in chips out of the remaining 130 players and we restart today at 3 PM. I have 151,200 chips and the blinds are at 1K/2K with a 300 ante. Pokernews.com is the best place for updates. Pauly is doing the love updates and he'll definitely be on the ball. Here's an article about the tournament thus far: http://tinyurl.com/2hnze8

As you can see, the jafro is making a comeback. If I make a final table I think I'm going to have to pull out the weedwacker and get it trimmed down a bit. Anyway, send your good vibes and I'm confident that I can make this final table. Holla.

HOLLA!!!!

Step 1: Post a blog entry bitching about running bad.
Step 2: Run good in the next tournament you enter.
Step 3: Profit!

I won my first table today in the 1500 NL Shootout. The 90 winners come back at 9 PM for the second round and the 9 winners of those tables advance to the final table tomorrow. 90th through 10th places all get $6,757, 9th gets $9,828 and the eventual winner gets $264,107. Tournaments are so ridiculous.

Anyway, it feels good to cash but I'm obviously not totally satisfied with the result. The best place to check for updates on round two is PokerNews.com and we'll be starting at 9 PM. Wish me luck!

Blech

29,000 chips at the dinner break. We'll have about 30 minutes left in the 300/600 level when we come back at 9 PM. My table is easily the toughest that I've ever been at in my life. Let's try to pick up some hands, eh?

Runnin' Good

35,650 at the second break. Had a nice suckout for a 24K pot. My table is pretty tough...good loose players on my left with a lot of chips. I'm playing pretty tight and hopefully I'll find a hand to win a big pot off these mofos. David Benyamine is the only name at the table but everyone seems pretty good. Peace.

5,000 NL

right around 20K at the first break. last hand I defended my SB to a LP 325 raise with 77 and check-called his 450 flop bet on a 422 flop. the turn was a 7, a decent card for my hand. I led for 1100, he raised, and we got the rest of his 9K in there. AA no good, sir. Let's hope I keep turning sets against overpairs. Holla.

break time

I have 57,000 at the break. There are 7 left so the average is around 43,000. I don't think I'm playing very well and I think I could be at 80K if I were playing perfectly. I'm going to come back more focused and hopefully take this one down. Erick Lindgren and Nam Le's brother seem to be the only tough spots at the table. wish me luck.

Running Good

I have 13,775 at the first break. 7 left and everyone else has between 1000 and 3500. blinds are going up to 100/200 so I think I'm a decent favorite to win this table. Wish me luck.

WSOP

Yes, I know. It seems like half of my bog entries start with some sort of apology for not blogging very much.

Poker has gone pretty poorly so far and I haven't had much to write home about. I've entered 7 tournaments and have cashed zero times. I've made exactly one dinner break and failed to ever get above my starting stack in a whopping five out of seven tourneys. It's been pretty gross. I think I'm playing well and I'm getting better every day so I'm not panicking yet. The weird thing about tournaments is that I can go deep in just 1 of 25 and still make a lot of money. Anyway, I took the weekend off and came in to today planning on playing really good and breaking the slump. It wasn't to be but I'm planning on typing up reports of my tourneys from now on to make sure that I'm not leaking too badly. Here's my write-up for today:

First hand of the tournament. MP limps, I limp on the button with J9o, SB completes and BB checks. Flop is KQT with 2 spades, MP bets 100, I raise to 350 and he calls pretty quickly. Turn is an offsuit 6 and he check-calls a 775 bet into the 900 chip pot. The river is the 2s and he leads for 1000. I call pretty fast, deciding that I'm never ever finding a fold and he obviously has A2ss for the nuts. One hand and I'm down to 2825 chips.

I splash around for a bit and chip back up to almost 5000 chips. Memorable hands include:

I raise QJs to 150 in EP. Annie Duke calls, as do the button and BB. KJJ flop and I bet 400. Annie calls very quickly and the others fold. The turn is a brick and I bet 1000, leaving myself with about 1600 behind. She thinks for a few seconds then folds. I feel like 800 may have been a better amount but I don't really like checking.

I raise to 150 with 55 in EP and both blinds call. The flop is Q86, I bet 350 and only the BB calls. The turn is a 3, the BB checks and I bet 1000 chips. He asks how much I have left, about 2200, dwells for a bit, then folds.

Blinds up to 50/100. UTG+1 limps, I raise to 400 in MP with AJo, guy directly to my left coldcalls the raise and the SB makes it 1150 total. UTG+1 thinks for a while then calls 1050 more. I fold and the guy behind me calls. Flop KJJ again, SB check-calls 1K from UTG+1, turn goes check-check, then UTG+1 calls a 1K river bet. AA for BB, QQ for UTG+1. Why can't I just play bad here?

Same QQ guy limps, Bushman limps on my right, I raise to 600 with 99, 3500 behind or so. UTG calls immediately and Bushman folds. Flop is 863r, and QQ guy check-folds to my 1100 chip bet. Bush informs me that he folded 88, lol.

Now comes the second big pot of the tourney. I open in MP to 300 with red Queens. Guy to my left calls and the Laggy donk in the BB calls. The flop is JJ7 with 2 hearts, I bet 650 and the BB asks how big the bet is then calls pretty quickly. The turn is an offsuit 9, he checks and I decide to check behind. This guy is cabaple of c/ring with a heart draw or some sort of T9/89 hand and I figure I'll still get money out of his 7s on the river. The river is another J for a final board of JJ79J. He fires 1500 and I think for about 30 seconds whether or not he'd call a shove with a 7. I have 2450 behind. I decide that it's a bad spot since his most likely hands are a Jack or a missed heart draw. I call and he obviously has Jc3c.

The table breaks and I'm moved to a tight table. I fold every hand until the break and I'm down to 2200 chips. First hand back from break, loosish dude limps in MP. This is never any sort of good hand. Jeff Madsen limps on the button and I look down at A9cc in the SB. I think it's a pretty easy shove and I stick in my final 2100. Now the BB tanks for a bit and calls the 2000 more. Limper and Madsen quickly fold and I can't beat AQ. GG.

Despite the poor start, I'm actually really enjoying living in my house and having the opportunity to talk to my roommates about poker. They're all really great players and are excellent at explaining hands. Steve Billirakis won the first event of the WSOP for $538K and became the youngest bracelet winner ever at 21 years and 10 days. That'll definitely be a tough record to beat. Another roommate, Justin Bonomo, finished 4th in one of the tournaments and cashed for over $150K. There are only 4 of us playing at the WSOP so Chris Bush and I definitely hope that our turn for a 6-figure cash is coming up. The sick part about the house is that the two 19 year-olds, Ozzy and Roman, are both amazing players in their own rights and have helped me as much as anyone. I'm so ready to go deep in one of these bad boys.

I tried to figure out a schedule for every day coming up and here's what it looks like:

6/12: Event 21, 1500 NL Shootout
6/13: Event 22, 5000 NL
6/14: Bellagio Cup Event 4, 5000+180 NL
6/15: Event 25, 2000 NL
6/16: Event 27, 1500 NL
6/17: Event 28, 3000 NL
6/18: Event 30, 2500 NL/6-handed
6/19: Bellagio Cup Event 9, 2500+120 NL
6/20: Bellagio Cup Event 10, 5000+180 NL
6/21: Event 35, 1500 NL
6/22: Event 37, 2000 PL
6/23: Event 38, 1500 NL
6/24: Event 40, 1500 Mixed HE
6/25: Bellagio Cup Event 15, 1500+90 NL
6/26: Bellagio Cup Event 16, 2500+120 NL
6/27: Bellagio Cup Event 17, 5000+180 NL
6/28: Event 45, 5000 NL 6-handed
6/29: Event 47, 2000 NL
6/30: Event 49, 1500 NL
7/1: Bellagio Cup Event 21, 2500+120 NL
7/2: Event 52, 1000 NL with rebuys
7/3: Bellagio Cup Event 23, 2500+120 NL
7/4: Bellagio Cup Event 24, 5000+180 NL
7/5: Bellagio Cup Event 25, 5000+180 NL
7/6: Event 55, 10000 NL, MAIN EVENT!!!

I'm already $18K in the red and there are over $70K worth of tournaments left on this schedule. I'll probably(hopefully) make a few Day 2s and will probably(definitely) take a few days off for my sanity. Anyway, I'm going to try to blog daily from now on and I'll even post updates from my cellphone if good things are happening throughout the day. Obviously my next post will really be in a month but I feel like making outrageous promises.

Anyway, if you don't really care about poker, rest assured that I'm doing fine. I love the guys in my house and we're getting along really well. Hiring a cook was one of the best ideas that we've ever had. If you're reading this, please come and visit me soon. I usually only play from noon until 1 or 2 PM and then have the rest of the afternoon off so we'll definitely be able to kick it if you make it down here. Check out Chris' blog if you want proof of the awesomeness of what's going on down here. I was planning on writing more and possibly posting some pictures of my own but it's getting late and I'm tired. Peace.

Yeah, Yeah

I should blog more. I know. I have a ton of respect for people who can live full lives and still find time to blog every day. Since I've come home, I've done a lot of kickin' it and feel like I never have time to blog. On the other hand, I do still spend a lot of time online and the "not enough time" excuse is pretty easy to shoot holes through. I guess it ultimately comes down to laziness and, as you know, they don't make men much lazier than this one. C'est la vie.

I've been getting in quite a bit of poker over the last week. I'm still playing like crap but I've made almost $7K since my return so it isn't all bad. I made the final table of the Stars $100K tonight but busted on the 5th hand of the final table. Here are the last 3 hands of the tourney:

1) Big Blind is t8000

CO (t132391)
Button (t70721)
Brando (t156536)
BB (t127604)
UTG (t222784)
UTG+1 (t83016)
MP1 (t200747)
MP2 (t85512)
MP3 (t616689)

Preflop: Brando is SB with 6c, 6h.
2 folds, MP1 raises to t20400, 2 folds, CO raises to t56400, 3 folds, MP1 folds.

Final Pot: t79600

------------------------------------------------------------

2)

MP3 (t167591)
CO (t70321)
Brando (t152136)
SB (t119204)
BB (t222384)
UTG (t82616)
UTG+1 (t180347)
MP1 (t85112)
MP2 (t616289)

Preflop: Brando is Button with Ac, Qc.
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t20000, 3 folds, CO calls t20000, 3 folds.

Flop: (t43200) 6s, Qh, Tc (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, CO bets t49921 (All-In), UTG+1 folds.

Final Pot: t93121

-----------------------------------------------------------------

3)

MP2 (t167191)
MP3 (t105521)
Brando (t151736)
Button (t114804)
SB (t213984)
BB (t82216)
UTG (t159947)
UTG+1 (t84712)
MP1 (t615889)

Preflop: Brando is CO with Ah, Qh.
UTG raises to t20000, 4 folds, Brando raises to t151336, 3 folds, UTG calls t131336.

Flop: (t305472) 5c, 4s, Kc (2 players)

Turn: (t305472) 8s (2 players)

River: (t305472) 6s (2 players)

Final Pot: t305472

So, the same guy opens to 20K on three consecutive hands. The first hand is an easy fold when the shortstack makes a small reraise. Then, on the second hand, a short stack just calls for almost 1/3 of his stack. I had a tough decision without the call but I was planning on jamming. The short stack's flat call looked very scary to me and I talked myself out of the squeeze. I think the third hand is close but I'm not sure if pushing was correct. I was really hoping that the raiser would make a FU call with AT or AJ but he had Queens and I was gone. I usually fold AQ in that spot but I'm not sure what the correct play is. I don't really ever get frustrated when I get bad beat or set up at a poker table but I get annoyed beyond belief when I make a donkish play or don't know what to do. Hopefully I can iron out the holes by the time the World Series of Poker rolls around. I really feel like I'm a much stronger live player than online for a number of reasons, mainly: (1) I pay attention all the time and (2) There are so many tells to pick up. Also, live players are much worse than the average online pro so that helps a lot too. Speaking of the WSOP...

I suckered some people into backing me for the entire World Series so I'll be playing in a ton of tournaments this summer. I considered taking $60K out of my investments and trying to hit it big on my own but I ultimately decided that I'd rather just take the backing deal. I think it's a good deal for both of us and I'm really looking forward to winning some money. I'm staying in a house with some great poker players again and those guys will help my game out a lot. I felt like I got really good last summer just being around these guys and getting to pick their brains about hands. They're kind of a who's who of online poker and I'm really lucky to have them as friends. We're also hiring a live-in cook this year so we won't need to hit the Carl's Jr. as often. All-in-all I think it's going to be an awesome summer. I definitely want to blog a lot during the series to organize my thoughts but who knows if it'll really happen.

So there you have it. Sorry, I'm not reforming. I am going to make a concerted effort to cut down on my drinking between now and the Series. During the Series I will drink verrrry rarely and only on nights when I don't have a tourney on the following day. It would be extremely irresponsible to take on a backer and come hung over to the tourneys that he's paying for. That's all for now.

First Place

First place in the AL West: Your Seattle Mariners! Let's hope that more games get canceled so that Felix can pitch every other game.

No pics of French girls from last night. The party was a lot of fun and I met a lot of really nice people. There was also a lot of good wine. We're driving back to Wiesbaden this afternoon, as soon as Cliff and Matt finish their marathon. On Monday, Julia and I are heading to Munich for the day and I'll be flying home on Tuesday! Homeward bound!

I'll answer the questions re: poker and drinking in a later blog when I have more time. Thanks for the concerns and I'll see everyone early next week!