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One of These Days

Date: Thu, Jul 17, 2008 Professional Internet

At 9:00 am this morning my alarm went off. Forty-five minutes later I hit the snooze button for the last time and drug myself out of bed. I folded up the couch bed half-way to make more room for my computer chair. I sit down and roll my chair up to my desk. In front of me is my Macbook and next to it lies a notebook that doubles for a mouse pad. On the notebook just above my mouse is....a list. And this particular list, lists the things I would like to accomplish tomorrow.

Making lists is something I have only recently begun to do. Up until this point I just kept a mental note of everything I needed to get done. Well, the good news is my memory is not getting any worse, but unfortunately it is not getting any better either, which left me forgetting all the things I have always forgotten.

Things to do Tomorrow my list reads:
1) Jared Tendler call
2) Spend 15 minutes on Rosetta Stone
3) Swim at least 2 times
4) Change address at bank
5) 15 minute video with audio.

If I were to make a second list of the things I accomplished today it would read:
1) Jared Tendler call, check
2) Spend 15 minutes on Rosetta Stone, unlikely but still possible
3) Swim at least 2 times, three times actually double check
4) Change address at the bank, lol R U SRZ? uncheck
5) 15 minute video with audio, total hands of poker played today=0, so obviously uncheck

Tonight I will finish my mojito, perhaps fix another, look a the beauty of a full moon reflecting over the ocean and make another list. Much like the list today and the one yesterday, tomorrow's list will be more of the same. It will consist of the things I didn't do today and probably won't do tomorrow. One of these days I am going to make a list and get everything done. Then I am going to sit back and wonder why I ever made a list in the first place. Is there really anything else that must be done?

Vegas Blog

Date: Thu, Jul 17, 2008 Professional Internet

After being super busy in Vegas and then having things to catch up on once I got back home, I finally have some time to write about the WSOP. I am currently on a plane to Santa Rosa for my last trip of the summer. I am going to see Stox to play in his member guest. Not with him though….lol. He kicked me off the team awhile ago…hahaha. I am playing with his buddy who I had a blast hanging out with last year Scott Davis. Stox didn’t really kick me off, but rather he has another friend who wanted to play and it worked out fine because Scott’s guest from last year couldn’t come so Scott and I are just going to have to win the whole thing together…lol. You heard it here first.

Vegas was amazing. My wife and I (Leatherwife) had fun pretty much non stop. We took breaks having fun by playing in the actual main event, but I’ll get to that later…lol. When we arrived in Vegas we got to meet pretty much all of the coaches the first night out at dinner. Everyone was even cooler than I hoped for which was exciting. It was great meeting Hunter and his wife. Leatherwife and I got to hang out with them some and relate married couple poker stories which was actually pretty entertaining. Hunter and his wife are awesome people and a lot of fun to be around. I also got to meet the legendary Ed Miller. It was pretty cool to get to hang out with him and I think I forgot to thank him for his great books that helped me get over the hump from a losing player to a solid winner back when I was first learning poker. But he was an extremely nice guy and definitely a lot of fun to be around.

I also got to meet “The Bryce” and our CEO here Jim and both were fun to hang around and get to know some more. Both great people. Jim didn’t look at all like I expected him to for some reason. He looks lot younger than his age. I got to hang around Bryce some and also watch him dismantle some poor guy at 30/60 HU for about an hour. I had a blast hearing his reasons for certain plays and my personal favorite was when I would ask him why he would make a certain raise or 3 bet and sometimes he would say something like, “Well, I mostly just did it for the ‘Fuck You’ factor.”….LOL. The guy is a trip!!!

Hats off to Mators. Making it that far is truly an incredible feat and he must’ve played some pretty amazing poker at the WSOP this year to do as well as he did. I am really happy for him because he is such a nice guy. We got to meet him and his fiance who seemed to be another great gal from the brief time I spent with her. I like Matt a lot because he is pretty straightforward and let’s you know what he thinks. He’s not the type that is going to pussy foot around. If he likes something he’ll tell ya and if he doesn’t he’ll also tell ya which is a quality I love. The great thing too is that there isn’t much a warming up period with him in the sense that he will reveal his true colors the minute you meet him. I love that.

I also got to hang out quite a bit with a guy named Rob Hwang, but known in the poker community as “Action Bob.” Action Bob was another guy that I absolutely loved. He is a really nice guy. He is just a cool customer and can be fun hanging out with in virtually any setting. I probably drank a little too much and talked about it a few too many times while we were all out drinking, but I fucking love his name “Action Bob.” I mean how cool is that? Imagine going up to girls in a bar and introducing yourself. You’re like, “Hi. I’m Action Bob, what’s your name?” And the girls are like, “Oooooohh Action Bob eh? Nice to meet you.” Think about how much fun it sounds to meet “Action Bob, as opposed to saying, “Hi, I’m Rob.” Just doesn’t have the same ring to it imo. He lives up to his name too. We went out a few times and he is the type of guy that likes to keep the party rolling while others might be winding down. Again, that is part of why I love him because I, and Leatherwife believe it or not, are the same way. Shoot, if you’re having fun why stop? 10 years down the road you remember the fun night out, but you don’t really remember the hangover. That’s always my attitude anyway. Actgion Bob also had a great finish at the WSOP and I think cashed for around $60k! Nice work Action Bob!

I have to dedicate a paragraph to Stosh as well. Stosh was seriously the man. You would be hard pressed to find someone more fun to hang out with than Stosh. He is full of life and has a unique personality that will just crack you up all day long. There were several times at the Stoxpoker party at my suite where he had me pounding my fists on the bed or wall because I couldn’t contain myself. He was just so freaking funny. When he flipped coins with a drunken Mbolt1 who was using the Martingale method I just about lost my shit. Stosh is also as dedicated to Stoxpoker as anyone you’ll meet too. He, like me, calls the place home and truly loves the site. I hope Stosh finds it in him to blog more because you guys would really get a kick out of him. I promise you it would be one that gets popular in a hurry.

I was also very fortunate to meet Jade Lane and his girlfriend. Jade was a really solid guy and was super nice and fun to hang out with as well. It was interesting to hear from him about his experiences in Afghanistan and the ensuing mess. He offered some pretty interesting insight about that and I was really excited to hear from him about that. I admire Jade as a person, because anyone who puts their life on the line to protect guys like me who get to enjoy the fruits of their labor, are heroes to me and get my deepest respect. I may not be a fan of the war as you guys know, but I respect an honor people like Jade more than I can even describe with words. It was truly a pleasure meeting him and he is really a great guy. It wouldn’t shock me in the least to see him go on to being one of the best players in the world someday. Anyone who is that tough mentally AND has natural poker aptitude is going to go a long way in this game. I know I will certainly be rooting him on along the way.

I also got to hang out with Sunny Mehta and Geoff Herzog who were also great guys. Believe me I’m not making this shit up and just trying to say something nice about everyone. It was seriously an unreal group of great guys with great personalities and big hearts. I talked with Sunny for awhile and he was really funny and cool. Geoff was also a lot of fun to meet and just seemed like an outstanding person. He was outgoing but maybe slightly more reserved than some ( I could be way off though), but just seemed like an all around awesome guy and I was sure rooting hard for him as he made his way to day 7 I believe. He is obviously a hell of a poker player and probably an even better person. Congrats on an awesome finish Geoff!!

There was one more guy that I got to meet that just about tripped me out. Wayyy back in the day just as I was starting to learn poker, I met a guy who is a top limit holdem pro named Michael Casella. I met him in the line to a movie back when I lived in California and we started talking about poker. He was a top pro back then and I was a total donk, but he nonetheless offered to come to my house and help me after the movie and also help me set up poker tracker. He helped me via AIM with some questions I had, and the next thing I knew I was doing like 10x better at poker. He also told me to get a copy of Ed Miller’s Small Stakes Holdem and between those two things, playing poker for a living became a very real possibility. If I hadn’t met Michael it is very possible I wouldn’t be writing this blog right now. I lost touch with him about 3 years ago, but apparently Stox and Ijay talked to him at the Stoxpoker booth a few hours before the party in my room and invited him. When he walked in the door I kinda did a double take and then was like, “No fucking way.” It was great to see him again and I am glad to hear that he is doing so well with poker. He still plays the big limit games and kicks ass.

The hard thing to believe was that we had all of these people, in addition to my good friends, in the same room for the Stoxpoker party! Mbolt1 and I were joking that the amount of money won from poker in that room must’ve been insane. I’m not sure exactly what it would be, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it was $15-20M. And like I said before, they weren’t just great poker players, but great people as well. I didn’t even mention Ijay come to think of it. He was a great guy too! He struck me as extremely intelligent and very witty. He was quite the combination of wit and intelligence and a genuinely nice guy as well. Also come to think of it I met another great guy in Stoxpoker member Lanford and his girlfriend. They were both great to get to know and Lanford did a great job at the booth. They were at the Stoxpoker party as well and were just an all around great couple to get to know.

This blog has gotten pretty darn long I guess huh? I intended to talk a little more about what I actually did while I was there, but honestly, I’ve been to a ton of nice restaurants as well as nice golf courses/hotels so talking about that stuff is not that big a deal. What is a big deal and something money can not buy, is good people. And I just wanted to talk a lot about all of the wonderful people I met and friendships I made because that is what is really important. If you make a lot of money and then go to enjoy the success and all you see around you are a bunch of assholes, then there is really nothing to celebrate anyway. That being said I do have some pretty cool pics of where I stayed that I would like to share. The room was pretty baller and I hope you guys enjoy them. I do want to send out a special thank you to Pokerstars. The treatment they gave me was absolutely first class all the way around. Their VIP rep Scotty is absolutely the best. He took care of us really well this week as he usually does, but this week Stars really went above and beyond. Putting me up in a $3k a night room is pretty amazing so way to go Stars!!

All of these pics are thumbnails and if you click on them they become full sized....

Me already hammered before we got on the helicopter: