few days then back on the road

I'm back at home in Freeport today. It's nice to have all the comforts of home: a warm cozy bed, home made dinner, and of course my computer. I have a bunch of appointments this week and I need to catch up on everything before I leave for LA. I'll put in some time playing online, but I'm going to take it really easy as my time in LA will be pretty intense.

Tonight will consist of relaxing and trying to finish FF12 which I left unfinished about a month ago. Going to be an amazing evening.

leaving ac and happy to do so

Tomorrow morning I'll be leaving Atlantic City and going home for a few days. I've spent most of the week in my room relaxing, playing a few of the last events at the Borgata. I didn't cash in any events here, unfortunately, but the relaxing time alone really let me sit back and think about things.

I'm trying to debate how long I'm going to stay on the road. It's been pretty clear that I won't stay traveling all year by myself, it just gets to boring. Right now it's likely that I'll take a break after the LA Classic and decide where I want to go from there. I've learned that such along time away from friends and family takes it's toll, and I don't think I could travel all year without a close friend that was also playing the circuit.

It's really a double edged sword for me. I can't get famous just playing online poker, but I can't make near the amount of money on the road as I can online. I've spent alot of time thinking about it, but the answer seems pretty clear to me, and that is to travel a bit, and give myself breaks in between events. Tournaments make you Famous, but cash games are what will make you rich. This is at the heart of what we play for, for some it's one more then the other. If it ever comes to a point where I'm rich or I'm famous, I can likely change my focus so that I'm both rich and famous. As self-centered as that sounds, that's the life of a poker player.

What I'm lacking on the road is made up for what I have at home. Controversy, what I have on the road I can't get at home. Having a better balance will make me a better player, and most importantly, it will make me a happier person.

i made day two

Day one I sat down and within the first level had already won a 300 bet pot. I was up to almost 40k, and my table was great.

But that was the last of that.

The rest of the day I was stuck missing every flop, and getting monsters flopped on me. I had 3 monster juiceballs at my table who would play any pair like it was the nuts, except they always had 2 pair or better when I was in the pot. Here in an example hand.

Guy limps Under the Gun. I raise 55 from middle position. Folded to him and he calls. The flop is 347, he checks, I bet, he calls. Turn J River K that are checked down and he shows 77. He couldn't possibly play his hand worse, but hey, what do I know. He's sititng on 90k going into day 2 and I only have 12k.

Today most likely will turn into me busting quickly, but it's possible that the cards will have mercy and I can double up a few times and get back in the tournament.

busted and off to borgata

Yesterday was a relatively short day for me, but I managed to squeak up to 14th place for a $28,000 payday. For me the day was all about picking up monsters and rags. Every time I picked up a real hand I couldn't get action, and every time other time I picked up something like 92o. Somehow I made it through the first level of the day without busting or doubling up.

On the break I got my first real press time when Cardplayer asked for a video interview. It actually turned out great, which for me is wonderful as I'm not exactly the best speaker, especially in on the spot interview situations. Hopefully this will be the first of many.

After the break I held true to my word. With only 80k in chips left and 5k/10k blinds, Kido Pham opened under the gun to 30k and a player in middle position called. I looked down at 77 in late position and moved in the rest of my stack. Young Cho, an aggressive player (to the point of being crazy) reraised my bet, and the other players folded. I was extremely happy to see Young turn over AKo, so I was ahead and this pot would over triple me up. The flop came down T83, but the turn was a King, and that was the end of my event.

Hopefully I can turn one of these deep runs into a real stack and a final table.

I'm in the airport in Atlanta already out of Memphis and about to get on a flight for Atlantic City. The Borgata's WPT Championship kicks off tomorrow, to what sounds like a very large field. I'm going to continue working on more aggressive play and hopefully this will allow me to build up chips so that when we get into the money I'm the player busting shortstacks, not the shortstack sitting around to double up.

Oh yea, I'm up for the year now.

still in heaven

But without many chips!

I started the day exactly as I planned, and within 30 minutes I had busted 2 players and built up to almost 200k. Unfortunately, because of my busts, we received a new player in the seat to my left, Kido Pham. To those of you who don't follow poker much, he's a super aggressive player that I do not want sitting next to me. Basically it means I was no longer be able to abuse the table, and was forced back into the game I played yesterday.

I battled the blinds, and the 2 bluffs I tried both failed miserably. I found myself shortstacked again and looking for a spot to double up. Eventually the bubble burst, and we were in the money. We voted to continue play to 18, and we redrew for seats.

My 2nd table wasn't fun either. Kido drew the seat to my left (again!) and Victor Ramdin drew the seat to my right. This meant that I was going to be very hard for me to be able to play, and was forced more to wait for the hands. Victor had some tough beats, and went from the chip lead to bustout in about 30 minutes. He's a good player, and he's an aggressive player, but sometimes that means he losses the chips faster then he wins them.

With the blinds at 3000/6000, and a 1000 ante, I found myself very short on chips, and with such high blinds I couldn't wait any longer. I moved all in 3 times from the small blind, the button, and then the cutoff, and of course 3rd times the charm and finally was called by the big blind. I had 99 vs his AK, and the board came out all baby cards and I doubled back to almost $200,000 in chips.

The rest of the day was just a story of bad cards and missed flops, and when Gavin Smith busted in 19th to signal the end of the day, I found myself stuck with only $109,000 in chips. We start tomorrow with 4000/8000 blinds and 1000 ante, so I'm going to have to catch something early or I'll be having a short day.

Either way I'm guaranteed over $20,000 so it's not so bad

heaven

I just looked up the tables for tomorrow, and I do not recognize a single player at my table. 44 players left, and I know 16 of them are very solid pros. None of those 16 are the 7 I play with tomorrow! It's just amazing, and hopefully I can take advantage of it.

tunica day two

The day is over, and I while I survived, I didn't win many chips. I finished the day at 67k, which puts me short on chips starting tomorrow. Honestly, I should be busted from the event, but I made some interesting plays, and had the cards fall in a way that I never ended up all in. Even down to 15k chips, I somehow made it to over 50k without risking my tournament life. I have yet to be all in and called, which is great, but I still wish I had more chips.

There really wasn't any interesting hands all day. I basically stole money from Captain Tom Franklin all day, and when he busted in level 9 I was stuck to fend for myself. In level 9 I reach up to almost 90k, but blinds and antes ate me away, and after only playing a handful of pots in the last level I ended the day nursing my 67k.

I wish I had something interesting to post, but it was just that boring of a day.

Oh wait, Daniel is definitely gay.

day 1 over day 2 hell begins

Day 1 of the WPO WPT is in the books. I sat down to my table, with 7 donks and an open seat. To say I was happy would be a vast understatement. Unfortunately, halfway though level one, Devilfish came and took the open seat, but he was two to my right, so it wasn't a big deal.

Throughout the day I really didn't have any big hands, but I did finally get some publicity. Poker Pages has listed me as a notable player, which is pretty cool considering I've never won anything big, and I haven't played that many events. They had a few hands from my table that I was in posted, which was cool.

Unfortunately, day 2 won't be such a cakewalk. I have a terrible table draw, with Daniel Negreanu directly on my left. For those of you who don't follow poker, he's a great player who loves to play hands, so I'm going to be stuck in tons of pots with him. I hope I flop some big hands early or he gets bad beaten out of the event, else making it though the day might be a feat.

I am very happy with how I'm playing, though, so I hope that can carry me through the day.

running well playing well

Tomorrow begins the $10,000 buyin WPT Championship here in Tunica. The structure for this event is great, with 90 minute levels, and an added 150/300 level that will allow us for alot of play in the deep to medium stacked range, which is great for me. Normally going into these events I'm nervous, but I am very confident. Since I wrote that I was looking to improve my play, I've been crushing the online games, and dominating the tournament fields. I'm not afraid to make the correct plays and pull the trigger on bluffs that I know are timed right. I will play slightly more aggressive than usual, and try to take advantage of the amateur players early. I will look to avoid big pots without monster hands, and hopefully chip up during the day.

But today I put up one of the best days online I've had in a very long time. Total winnings were about $6,500, and I was up as much as $8k at one point. It just seems like I'm seeing situations very clear, and my reads have been amazing. The only way I can describe it as if a lightbulb went off somewhere and spots that I used to have problems with are now clear as day.

Here are some casino pictures that I have taken. Nothing that exciting, but shows some classic Mississippi casinos.

beauty rest for tomorrow

Online YTD +$15,500
Tourny YTD -$9,500

The Gold Strike

The Grand Casino

Main Entrance

Got what it takes?

Degenerates live here

i got owned by kgb

You guys know the scene, KGB and his Oreo. Well today I had a read like that and completely did not go along with it. It cost me a good amount of chips, and likely costs me a chance at the final table.

The $2000 6handed event started today with about 150 players. I played amazing. I went from our starting $4000 stack, to over $45,000 without playing a pot over 20 bets. I have never played such mistake free, aggressive, and play-filled poker ever. For 9 hours I moved to near the top in chips without ever risking many of my own chips. If I can continue to play poker like that for the rest of the year I have no fear that I will end the year with some amazing results, both in tournaments and cash games.

Finally my starting table broke and I got moved to KGB.

I started the hand with about 43k in chips. I found JJ utg at 300/600 blinds, and raised to 1800. One of the shortstacks with about 13,000 put on a show worthy of hollywood, and then moved all in...

A few orbits earlier he played what seemed like a normal pot. It was a blind war, and he called a small bet on the flop, and on the river, he checked and the player in seat 2 bet out 2000. He put on a similar show for about 2 minutes, and then raised to 4000. Seat 2 reraised to 10,000, and they ended up getting it all in with Seat 2 the nut straight and Seat 1 the 2nd nuts, both hitting the gutshot on the river.

Back to my hand, I knew he had a monster. For the whole 45 minutes I had been at the table there had not been a single reraise preflop besides from me. They even were talking about how 'if I reraise you, you better have aces if you come along'. So I knew this guy had Aces, or possibly kings, but JJ only 20 bb deep is just so hard to fold.

"That's quite a show, you got aces down there?"

"Hu?"

"Ok I call"

"Yea, I got aces"....

I lost that pot, and another small pot that orbit to put me down to 24k. I still had plenty of chips, but I was so pissed at myself for playing that big pot when I had such an easy read.

When we hit the bubble at 19 players, we took a limped pot 3 way to the flop, with me holding 33 in the Big Blind. The flop was a pretty beautiful 753, giving me a set of 3s. An old guy led out from the Small blind, I raised, and then he put in a small reraise. I knew I was beat, there is no way this guy doesn't at least have a higher set. Frustrated, I fold 33 face up and the table is shocked, and the Small Blinds reaction I can only describe as "How the hell did I not just take all of his chips?"

At least I learn from my mistakes.

The bubble burst a few hands later, and we redrew for seats. On the first hand I picked up JJ again, and raised it, eventually getting all in with a young aggressive player who had 99. He spiked a 9 on the river to send me out in 18th with a paltry $2700 payday.

I can see my end of the year stats now:

45 cashes
1 final table
0 wins

At least I didn't lose money, right?

day off (sort of)

Today I woke up, but was pretty tired, and decided to skip the 2.5k at the GoldStrike. Instead I was going to relax, put in some hours online, and get ready for the 2k 6m tomorrow (or today I guess)

I finally got out of bed at a nice comfortable 1pm, and loaded up some tables. I might be hiring a poker coach, so I wanted a really solid sample of my play. I decided to move back to PokerStars and play some 2/4. I'm happy I did. With about a month off from Stars, my game is at a much higher level then I thought it would be. I found the games pretty easy, even though I was running really well. I ended up playing about 9 total hours, and pulled down an impressive 13 buyins ($5500). Tomorrow if I don't go deep in the 2k event at the strike I'll continue playing on stars to see how sustainable my winrate is.

Overall I'm finally up money on my Tunica trip, even though I'm still down a bit on the year. But if things keep going at the rate they are now, I might be in the black before I leave for Atlantic City.

off to bed

33rd

I cashed today in 33rd. As with any tournament, I'm unhappy because I didn't win, but I feel I played extremely well in the event. My bust out hand was the biggest marginal spot I had been in the whole tournament. But before we get to that...

As I got to my table at the start of the day I realized the chip leader who had been battling The Grinder all day yesterday is directly to my left, and I know that means I'm going to have to catch some hands or be short stacked in very short order. On the 2nd hand of the tournament I find QQ and open utg+1. Some player in middle position moves all in, and I call for almost my full stack. He has 55 and another player donates to my stack. What a lucky guy I am!

After the first table broke, seat 2 was filled by Vanessa Rousso, who is legitimately hot. She's also a very good player, which means I'm not all that thrilled with her being moved to my right. Seat 1 is Nam Lee, and Lee, Rousso, and the CL Chang were battling in pots the whole day. I'd say almost every pot the table played at least one of those 3 were involved.

Luckily the cards were coming to me at the right time, and although I doubled to over 80k early, after playing some pots I was down to around 50k when I pick up good old AA. Nam opened UTG, and Vanessa called, I moved all in, and an old guy who was playing very tight overcalled (Awesome!). Nam looked distressed, but folded, as did Vanessa. The old guy had AQ (Even more awesome), and Lehr congratulated me again asking how I managed to get paid off with every big pair I was dealt. I was up over 100k into the top 10 in chips. I ended lvl 2 with $120,000 and way ahead of where I wanted to be, so I was very happy.

The rest of the day was completely uneventful. I took a few pots down and floated from the 100k mark until we hit the bubble. Costing 11k per round, I quickly fell to 80k by the time we made it into the money.

We redrew for seats, and I was in heaven. Lear got moved directly to my right, again. The chip leader was to his right, so I knew I was going to have tons of resteal opportunities. To my left were 5 old guys (aka really tight players), and Chang.

A little over a round after we redrew I picked up 88 in the big blind. Chang opened in middle position for 12k, I said to myself that I was going to play back at him with any pair any ace and any 2 face, as Chang opened at least 3 pots per round. When I looked down to 88 I knew I had to reraise. If I had simply raised an amount of 20-25k, then I'd be committed to call a push from him anyway, so I want to take the play away from him, so pushing or folding was the only play. Pushing with 20bb in this spot was marginal, but I knew with the payout structure the way it was, that I'd take the more aggressive play every chance I could. I moved in for just under 80k and he called pretty quickly with JJ. He flopped a set of jacks to seal my fate and eliminate me in 33rd.

I plan on relaxing the rest of the night, watching a movie, and possibly playing a bit of poker

later

end of day one of the wsopc: tunica

I ended today with 46,900 in chips, which is just slightly over average and puts me probably 35th overall. I think I misplayed a hand late in the day, and I should probably have 60-70k. I chose to just call a raise from the LAG who had built up to about 70k with AKs. The flop came KJ4, and I c/ced his bet, hoping to c/r in on the turn. The turn was an 8 and he checked behind. The river T I debated blocking bet, but I couldn't pull the trigger. He bet out 20k, and I'm actually happy I didn't lead, as I'm about 90% sure he made a big hand on the river, and since all I could beat is a bluff I laid it down. In retrospect I should have re-raised it preflop, but I had just 3bet a few pots in the last 20 minutes, and I really did not want to play a pot for all my chips vs the best player on the table.

When I was around 25k, I 3bet a 20k stack all in with QQ, and he called 16k more with KJo. He seemed like a solid player and I have no idea what he was doing. The table congraduated me for the donation when my queens held.

Interesting, we drew for seats for the start of day 2, and I drew the direct left of the LAG I played with all day today. I'm pretty happy about that, as he opens alot of pots and I'm going to have many chances to resteal his bets. I am going to start the day playing my standard game and just see where we go.

I'd like to enter the money (36 players) with at least 80k in chips, and hopefully the final table with at least 300k. The average stack going into the final table will be just over 400k.

off to bed

dinner break

Had an interesting day so far. I'm sitting at 16.5k from the 10k starting stacks. I keep getting big hands flopped on me. I've made correct folds in way more pots then I'm happy with. Twice I've had the nut straight flopped on me, I've had multiple sets flopped on me, and there this crazy LAG that has flopped top pair or better almost every hand he's played against me.

But, I managed to double though some dead money with KK vs QQ, and I just took down a pot with the nut straight before the break.

- Some guy was trying to convince me that if someone re-raises preflop it's always Queens or better. He was a huge donkey and I played with him on Friday.

- I prop bet someone that an old donkey at my table had top set. He of course took me up and the old guy showed top set of queens. Ship that $100 thank you.

- This euro guy tried to angle shoot me when I tossed in $1050 to reraise his raise of $250. He tried to say the "big chip rule" because I tossed in an orange and two $25 chips. The floor ruled in my favor though. Apparently he's a regular player in vegas, and the few belliagio grinders at my table knew him. He got in an argument with one of them at the start of the day and mentioned something about "that shows your character". I repeated that line when he called the floor and he went on a tilty down spiral; busting later that level.

- Two players at my table were well enough known to get photographed by the media. I didn't know either of them, so probably means they aren't very good and just play alot. They also were the first two players to bust.

- 2006 WSOP Womens champion was at my table. She stacked off to the most obvious set of aces I've ever seen in my life, at 25/50 - 200bb deep.

- We had set over set 3 times in the first 4 levels, and one guy actually laid his set down. I normally go a whole tournament without seeing it once.

- The Grinder went from 10k to 40k to 10k in about 2 hours. He's on the table next to me.

- As we were leaving the tournament area the LAG at my table was talking to his buddy and I overheard him say "that kid is good" as I walked by.

i'm probably forgetting a few things, but that's all for now

circuit main event

Today is the circuit main event. We start with 10,000 in chips with 75 minute levels, so it should be much less of a crap shoot then the prelims. I'm aiming for 50,o00 at the end of the day, and plan on playing aggressive to take advantage of the weak/tight players I'm likely to be against.

Yesterday I played for about 7 hours and lost 1k. I feel like my cash game play has hit a wall. I don't feel I'm improving, but the games get harder, and my opponents get better every day. I'm going to spend the next few weeks really focusing on improving my play, and hopefully a lightbulb will go off and I can start consistantly winning again.

gl to anyone playing today

rush is here

I ended the night up 4k, which is a very welcome sight. Unfortunately, It was also 10 hours of play on saturday night, so 4k isn't even really that much of a rush. But, it puts me about even for the trip so far, and that's fine in my book.

hopefully the trend continues tomorrow

Online YTD +$8,500
Live YTD -$100
Tourny YTD -$13,000

there are donkeys everywhere

And they all run like white fire against me.

Todays 1k nlhe event was very short for me. My first hand I played I raised 66, got 6 callers. The flop came Q64, they checked to me, I bet less then half pot, and they all folded.

Great.

Near the end of level 1, I'm in the BB with AQs, and there are 8!! limpers to me at 25/25. I raised to 225, hopefully just taking the pot down. The old donkey to my right who only had $600 left decided to call. I put him all in on the Jd8d3c flop and he calls with t9d. He gets there of course, but I'm still fine with about starting stack.

Shortly into the 2nd level I'm around 1700 of the starting 2000 stack. Only good player at the table raises, some huge donkey calls (earlier on a 4 flush board he flashed a diamond and mucked, and was angry when he was told he didn't show the hand down.) I have AdKd in the BB and decide to reraise his 175 open to 675, leaving me with 1025. He thinks for awhile, and looks like he is going to push, but just calls, to my surprise the donkey calls also.

The flop couldn't be any more beautiful with Ah8d3d. I check, considering they are drawing to 3 outs at best, the good player looks disgusted with the flop so I assume he had something like KK QQ, and the donkey bets 500. I put the rest in and he quickly calls with 88.

Great.

I miss my draw and am sent out of action early. The $5000 circuit championship is on Monday, and I already signed up for it, so I am opting not to play the $1000 limit event tomorrow. Going to spend the first Sunday in months just playing online with all the weekend donators.

Rush is coming I know it

how do i get back from the goldstrike?

So I found out today there is no taxi service in Tunica. The bus service stops at midnight, so if we go late at the GoldStrike, how am I supposed to get back to the Grand hotel that's 4 miles away? I have a feeling I'm going to have a huge beat sometime this week by going deep in an event at the GoldStrike.

So I really don't know how I'm going to proceed from here. It would be really crappy to get stuck in Tunica without a way to get back to my hotel room...

But I was impressed by the amount of poker down here. The GoldStrike has at least 100 tables going tonight, including the tournament. I sat down and played some 50/100 stud/8. It's alot harder to keep track of cards live as compared to online play. I dropped 9bets ($900), but I felt I was at least even money in the game. I like improving my game outside just holdem, so I will probably take some time to play non-holdem games every so often. I will probably spend the rest of the trip winning tournaments and playing online, as the pace of play live and the winrate I can get just isn't what I can get online.

I have a bunch of pictures, but I'm tired so I'll toss them up tomorrow night.

finally a brag

Today started out much like the last week has gone. I woke up and quickly got my dirty clothes from the bahamas to laundry service. I was told I was too late for today's cleaning, and that they don't clean on the weekends (because noone here needs clean clothes on the weekend), so I'm stuck with almost nothing to wear until Tuesday. On top of that, they charged me $85 for less then a week of clothes!

At least the tournament went a bit better.

I'm about 10 minutes late for the start of the $1000 6 handed event. It had a decent structure with 3000 starting chips and 60 minute levels. I sit down at my first table, and it's just huge mega fish everywhere, like 6 to the flop at 25/25. Twenty-five minutes into the level I flop a royal flush draw and push all in over a raise, he calls and I turn my Royal and am doubled up really early. Of course we got the standard crowd and "oooooo ahhhhh he got a royal flush!"

Unfortunately I couldn't keep it going, and hung from 6k to 12k for the next 6 hours. I got it all in preflop at 300/600 with AQs vs 9to and lost, and that was my tournament. We had 235 players, and I busted 40th, a few tables from the money.

I am going to eat some dinner, and head over to the Goldstrike to register for the $1000 nlhe event tomorrow. Most likely will finish the night at the online cash tables.

i need a brag soon

I'm writing this at 8pm from ohare concourse g. My flight at 4:50 was canceled, and I was put on standby for the 7:30 flight, which has been delayed til around 10pm, and will likely be canceled. I'm not sure if I'll make it to Tunica in time for my first event.

Also, I found out the Broadband Wireless from Sprint that I bought today won't work with my computer, because my PC Card slot is actually an ExpressCard slot. I'm going to be stuck on the road for 3 weeks using crappy hotel internet, so I hope the hotels I booked have decent internet.

At least I have my luggage, but that will probably be lost again in this chaos...

hopefully I'm writing from Tunica at midnight

My hell

All that Yellow = Delays

leaving for memphis

So I continue to get bad beated, even after leaving the bahamas. First off, I left my camara charger and battery in the bahamas, hopefully I can find a replacement before I leave today. The worst is that the airport lost my luggage - on a direct flight. Apparently getting to the airport an hour early in the Bahamas, on one of the slowest travel days of the year, is not early enough.

It's bad because almost all the clothes I own are in that bag, so if we can't get it before I leave for Memphis, I'm going to be stuck with almost nothing to wear for a whole 3 weeks (I don't come home again until Jan 31st). So if I sit next to you in Tunica and I stink, blame the airline.

gotta run and finish my stuff

10k fight yo

The whole ordeal was at least 10 minutes, and I missed the first part of it. Here's my first shot at uploading a video, hope it's entertaining.

Mom, you probably don't want to watch this.

damage

Poker wise this trip has been horrible, not only live, but online also. I played in 4 tournaments ($8000, $1500, $1000, $500), and didn't make the chip race off in any of them. Online I'm down about $3000 total, which is about a $8000 swing from the first day. Hopefully Tunica is better to me.

My flight leaves at 5:20 today, and I will be running trying to finish everything before I fly into Memphis tomorrow at 4:30 pm.

until then

Online YTD +$2000
Live YTD +$800
Tourny YTD -$11,000

finally a good dinner

Tonight we went out to a good steakhouse, and I ate my first good meal of the trip. We also bought a bottle of Dom. The waiter thought we were joking when we ordered it, and some old guy came over and asked us who the big winner was. It was by far the best champagne I've ever had, and at $369 for a bottle, it had better be. The total tab for 8 of us was a modest $1140.

I was going to go out tonight, but I took a nap and didn't wake up til midnight. That's probably for the best, as my flight leaves tomorrow, and I have alot of things that need to be done (outside of playing poker).

Poker wise the trip has been brutal for me. Even fish like lambchop are winning against me. I am going to try to put in 1000 hands before bed, and hopefully I start running better. I'll report the damage before my flight tomorrow.

DoGGz out

uploading problems

The Atlantis internet is very slow, so uploading the movie file isn't going to happen until I'm in Tunica. I have it compressed to 30mb, but that's still to much for the 10kb upload speed.

a night in pictures

Monday night I decided to take off and go out. Poker has been bad to me for the last few days, so I definitely needed a night off, and it didn't disappoint. It started at tame as can be, but we ended up almost getting in a fight with a Magic The Gathering dork, and somehow ended up in a brothel. Words only do so much justice...

We started at around 10:30 pregaming in the lobby waiting for Lukie. He met this chick a few days ago, and he keeps trying to meet up with her. Look, if you are on vacation in the bahamas, and a chick wants to meet up the next day, that's code for "you are a nice guy, but I'm not into you". After about a half hour he shows up.

He was wondering around the casino looking for her, because she ditched him earlier in the day.
No dice!
But we get on our way and hitch a ride in a cab. Lukie is in the dumps about this chick, and the conversation is hilarious, but I can't do justice for it here.
We get to Senor Frogs, grab a few beers, and before we know it Lukie is tongue in mouth with some chick. I've never seen a chick want it so bad. I go to the bathroom real quick, and as I walk back Gabe is in the face of this guy, and it looks like things might go down. I take the chance to get some pics, and a video that is priceless (I'll post later). This is apparently Panella, Berkowitz' boy. This goes on for what seems like forever...
Jordan doesn't seem to like it much either, and they trade smack back in forth. Eventually a girl comes and saves the day (see video)

After that all breaks up the girl Lukie was with is walking out with her friends, but without him. He comes over and sits down, apparently striking out again, and we yell at him for not getting laid. The Bartender comes over and says "Yo man, go get laid!!" This pic is priceless.
He ends up chasing the girl down and leaves with her, hopefully to get laid. The bar closed shortly after this, and that's probably a good thing for Jim. He was a bit hammered.
But we can't leave without one last shot. Thanks Berkowitz, you balla.
Amazingly everyone wants to go to the stripclub. This isn't even a stripclub, it's a brothel. I'm having bad flashbacks to Aruba, but I only have a hundo on me so at least I can't spend anything.
This place is so shady even Gabe didn't want to stay long.

Gabe "So I'm in a private room with this chick, and I just couldn't do it"

Stripper "It's not me baby, it's you"
Gabe "Yea, fuckit I'm done"

The rest of the group is still in the back, but Gabe, Rob, and I roll out.
The cab drive is pissed that we have no cash, so Gabe runs to the casino and hit up the ATM. We happen on Lukie, who is eaten up. It looks like he got attacked by a vampire.

He informs us that he struck out again, but at least she marked her territory.

We decide it's time to head to our rooms. I hope this guy wasn't dead.

i need a 4th chance

The last 2 days I have played my 2nd and 3rd chances ($500 and $1000 respectively). Both tournaments were pretty uneventful, and I didn't get over 10,000 in either event. Todays $1000 drew about 200 people and first place will be around $60k, so that would have been nice to go deep in. Tomorrow is the $1500, and I expect the field to be just as big. Hopefully I can get something working and last more then 3 levels.

Online play has also sucked. I'm on one of those streaks where I just never flop anything. Before you know it the whole table is playing back at you because you never ever have a real hand. It's frustrating, but I'm playing well, so there's nothing to worry about. I'm down about $3000 online for the trip, and about $9000 in tournament buyins. Not exactly a good start...

long day of play ahead though. later

Jim had a tough table

Busto!

The beach?... I'll take the lobby

grinding instead of partying

I really feel out of character this morning. Last night I stayed in and played poker instead of going out and partying with the guys. That is definitely not like me. In a way I feel good, because I had the discipline to put some hours in at the tables, but I'm also disappointed because I know I missed a great night out.

The poker gods did not reward me either, as I ended the night on a 5k downswing.

Tonight I plan on more of the same, but I'm going to the play the $500 mtt they have running tonight and try to work on my aggressive game.

On the tables until then

grinding inside

It wouldn't surprise anyone to know that the lobby is full of players playing on their laptops, including us. The Atlantis internet has been poor, so it's been difficult, but I'm up about a grand and have been playing since noon.

With half the field playing today, it's the beach or the poker tables, and I'm not on the beach. Hopefully lambchop busts here in a bit so we can start drinking.

Back to the tables

short day

It's late, but I finally got online to put in a few hands. There isn't much to say about the PCA. Plenty of online donks, lots of bad play, and terrible Bahamas dealers. I never got above 21k, and was stuck on the shortstack for five levels until I busted at 300/600 - 75. I reraised all in with AJs and the initial raiser had QQ. No ace came to save me so I was on the rail.

But, the day was fun. My friend from college flew in today and was walking around looking for me all day. He flew in without a room, and no way of getting ahold of me. I ended up hooking him up with my friend to share his room. We spent most of the night looking over the beautiful Atlantis resort and relaxing.

I have some sweet pics overlooking the Atlantis, but the Atlantis internet won't let me upload it, so I'll post them later. I'm off to play some hands.

- later

brandon

Roblambchop

Atlantis

internet bad beat

So, I made the mistake of booking a hotel that doesn't have internet in the rooms. They have an 'internet cafe' with internet from $10 for 30 mins to $25 for 3 hours. It's 2007 and they don't have internet on a $200 a night room! I have to walk over to the Atlantis to use their wireless in the lobby. It's not a big deal, but it's annoying. It is something I'll make sure I don't have to deal with again.

The welcome party last night was pretty tame, but putting more faces to names was great. I met up with boost, lukie, gabe, jfish, lambchop, and bmxicle. We were on the lookout for michael1123, but we hardly know what he looks like, so that might be a problem. Gabe was hammered, and I hope he doesn't get hangovers or his day today will be miserable (I know from experience!)

Play begins today at noon. I looked over the seat assignments, and didn't recognize anyone from the handful of people I found at my table, so that should be good. But, the structure is starting at 50/100 instead of 25/50, so we have about an hour less of play then I originally thought.

Also, I won a $200 warm up SnG, and am up about $5000 online since the new year, putting me +$5800 on the year so far. I'll try to keep consistant numbers posted so you can follow my progress.

Online YTD +$5000
Live YTD + $800
Tournys -$7200

- later

leaving home...

Tomorrow is my last day here at home. I've waited so long for this day, it seems pretty surreal that it's here. It's a real mix of emotions; on one hand I'm so happy that I can finally get on with my life, and on the other hand I'm going to miss the comforts that home brings.

On the road I won't get to use my computer, which is a shame because I put alot of effort into making it run great. I tossed a pic of my setup down at the bottom. Every time my relatives are over they ask to see it, thanks to my dads big mouth. It's pretty funny, considering most of my relatives are not the tech savy type.

I'll be ariving late on the 4th, so I might not get internet set up until the 5th. See you in the Bahamas!

- later