The timing was so odd. I flew in from London and planned on seeing her. The plan was to see her today, but I didn’t get the chance. My brother, who has been at the hospital literally every single say since February, was not there either. He went on his annual road trip with his buddies to New Jersey to see the Giants game. A part of me feels like she’s been trying so hard to fight to stay alive for us, and this weekend she finally felt like it was OK to go. She was literally THE most unselfish person I’d ever met. She got so much joy out of simply feeding people. I mean that. She loved nothing more than to cook and care for people. This Christmas will be a different one for sure. She usually cooks up a massive feast that all of my friends look forward to.
Some say she smothered us too much. I don’t give a crap what any of those people think, she smothered us with unconditional love and you can never do that “too much” no matter what these crackpot therapists say. I’m a Momma’s boy and I’m proud of it. Women like her, you just don’t see that often anymore.
Full of life and laughter, super friendly to any and everyone. All her neighbors loved her. Not just liked her, but I sensed that they loved her for real. I’m so lucky to have been raised by her. So many people, I think, loved her so much because they wished they had a mother like her. I genuinely believe that. I was lucky.
She loved to dance and laugh. Some of my best memories as a kid were at dinner parties she’d throw at the house. As always, a monster feast, music, lots of wine and drinks… my dad telling jokes that had everyone laughing, then dancing in the living room.
You know how some people never feel like their parents are proud of them? That was never in question with my mother. She always told me and showed me how proud she was of me without fail. I always felt loved by her and that’s an irreplaceable bond and feeling. She told me she loved me… EVERY day. I mean every… single… day.
I can honestly say that I don’t know one single person in the whole world that didn’t like her. It was impossible to not like my mother. She could be tough and opinionated for sure, but she was always honest and wasn’t afraid to share her opinion, whether you asked for it or not! Maybe that’s where I got it from…
So I’m in Toronto now. I think the funeral is on Wednesday or Thursday, I’m not quite sure yet. If you knew her, it would be great to see you there.
I never post pics in my blog, but this pic just sums it up really. This picture was taken in Atlantic City when I won the Borgata event. A happy moment for me, and she’s right there.. as she always was… as proud as ever.
A little youtube clip I found also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE5r8B1nqdg
(Viewing Wed 2pm-8pm, Funeral Thurs 11am at Jerett Funeral Home 6191 Yonge St 416-223-4813. To send flowers e-mail brian@pokerroyalty.com.)]]>
Before I get into my top ten list, I want to remind you guys to all tune into the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge again this week on FOX right after the first NFL football game. Also, you can see some behind the scenes stuff if you checkout PokerStars.tv.
10. FCP Protege Show. Back when FullContactPoker.com was an online poker site, we did a show that aired on FSN where I crowned my first protege. I was heavily involved in the concept for the show and had a lot of responsibilities in terms of making it happen. When we finished the show, I felt such an amazing sense of accomplishment and was very proud of myself. If you saw the show, you’d remember the “Jerry incident” which I thought came off very well. We combined a poker show with a little bit of my other passion, reality tv with hidden cams and all. It was so much fun!
9. Three Eagle Putts against Team Antonius. This one happened recently. After losing on day one with a 59 to their teams 58, on day two I drained 3 long eagle putts for an astounding round of 56. One of those putts actually came from the rough, had to go up to the green and then broke about 6 feet downhill. I crushed the putt, but was lucky to have it hit the flag stick and drop right in.
8. APPT and PCA commentary. I do a lot of commentary, in fact, I’m in London right now doing commentary for the European Poker Tour, but nothing was more difficult for me than doing the 14 shows in 9 days that I did for the PCA and the APPT. Grueling, long days working in a small room with first, A.J. Benza for the PCA and then a whole week with Paul Koury doing the entire APPT season. Also there was the 441 crew who does the World Series of Poker broadcasts for ESPN. Everyday after voicing the shows I’d head home, watch the next days shows, make my notes, and much like groundhog day, I’d do it all again the next day. When we finished that, I just felt very proud of the hard work we all put into making those shows the best we could. What a brutal schedule that was.
7. Beating my dad at Cintar for the first time. My dad passed away in 1996, but I have nothing but fond memories about him. Coolest dad in the world, and all my friends agreed. We used to sit in the backyard by the pool, he’d have Dean Martin playing on the radio while drinking a glass of homemade wine in the summers. He taught me a game called Cintar, which is like 9 Men’s Morris I guess. There is no luck in the game, it’s all strategy. I could never beat him. I could beat my brother, but never him. One day when I was probably 12 years old I finally beat him and it felt like I conquered the world! I had a very different style than he did, and for years after that we’d play and eventually I got to the point where I could usually beat him.
6. 2nd Place in the Fall Classic at the Palace Club. The Palace Club Billiards is where I misspent most of my youth. Snooker was my passion well before I got into poker and I played the snooker tournament there every week. Once a year we had a big, double knockout tournament called the Fall Classic, and that day I ripped through the field winning all my matches until the final. I had to wait about 6 hours to see who came out of the losers bracket, and finally faced off against Paul Chan, a guy I had already beat that day 3-0. He’d have to beat me twice to win it. In the first set, he smoked me 3-0! I was iced by the long wait. It looked like it would all be over after he took a 2-0 lead in the second set, but I stormed back tying it at 2-2. Chan ran the table on me in the 5th and deciding game, but the $500 second place prize was by biggest cash to date. I was still so very happy that night.
5. PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge. If you’ve seen the show, you’d see just how much money, time, and effort go in to making it a success. There had never been a successful poker show with this model, so the cards were stacked against us. In the end, though, I feel like we hit a home run. Casual viewers are loving the show and the ratings are through the roof! The highest rated poker show EVER! I’m extremely proud of the show, and it just feels so good to put in the hard work and have it pay off.
4. Writing a Play in the 3rd Grade. Our 3rd grade teacher gave us an assignment, and that was to write a play based on some Greek Mythology with the main character being a guy named “Ice Ribs.” Earlier that year, I wrote a short story called, “The Lost Army” which was essentially a rip off of some Rambo stuff. I loved Stallone in Rambo and had seen First Blood like a million times. That story had a Rambo like character going back to singlehandedly rescue soldiers that were all presumed dead. He found the soldiers, killed lots of people in the meantime, and eventually brought them all home on a stolen chopper. LOL.
Anyway, everyone in the class was asked to write the play and I decided to write it like a screen play with a narrator and dialogue for all the characters. We handed them in, then in front of the whole class, Mrs. Weaver chose mine. We ended up acting out the play in front of the whole school and I was given the title of “Writer, Director, and Narrator.” I always felt like I had a creative mind when it came to film and stuff, so this was just so fun for me and it made me feel like I might actually be good at it.
3. Little Shop of Horrors. When I went to Vanier High School, after bouncing around from A.Y. Jackson to A.I.S.P. (Alternative Independent Study Program), the drama teacher asked me to play the lead role in the high school play, Little Shop of Horrors. I told her, no, since it was a musical and I can’t really sing. She assured me that the lead role doesn’t have to be a good singer, since he was a nerd by the name of Seymour (played by Rick Moranis in the movie). I ended up loving the process and despite the fact that our rehearsals could not have gone worse, and many doubting whether or not I’d be ready, when the curtain dropped, we had our best performance yet. Too bad I can’t find the tape, I’m sure it would be good for a laugh or two. At the time, I was on such an adrenaline high.
2. NBC Talent Hunt as a kid. When I was a kid, I think 12 years old, I was a very confident little boy and was certain that I’d grow up to be an actor. Well, NBC came to town and my mother took me down there to try out for “The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking” to audition for the role of Tommy and also to try and impress the studio heads. The local news was there, and I did an interview with them. I wish I had the footage. I was so cocky! I said the following before my audition, “I have no doubt that I will be a huge star. No doubt whatsoever.” Almost 3000 kids auditioned and I was one of the first asked to perform. I was asked to pretend like I was walking a tight rope behind Pippi in an attempt to save her. You had to do this in front of all the other kids. When I finished, the director stopped the auditions and said, “Kids, that is exactly how it’s done.” A very proud moment for me as a kid, very good for the self esteem to say the least.
In the end, only 6 kids got called back for a second audition and I was one of them. The movie never ended up happening, and it was at that age that my pool playing days were starting so I kind of abandoned that dream and that eventually led me down a very different path that landed me at the poker tables.
And the most memorable non-poker related moment of my life:
1. Scoring the game winning goals in the semi-finals and finals on my soccer team in the playoffs. I loved soccer as a kid and got into organized leagues where I wasn’t one of the best players on my team. I’m left handed, but kick with my right foot, yet still preferred playing left wing. I wasn’t much of a goal scorer, there wasn’t a lot of power behind my kids, but I was sneaky quick, and was a pretty good passer. I’d often beat the defender down the left side, quickly trap the ball, then send in a cross with my right foot to the front of the net. All season that year I had a total of 5 goals in 12 games. In our semi-final game, with the score tied 2-2 the ball somehow got through the defense on a corner kick and essentially just kind of “hit my foot” and I beat the goaltender on the left side of the net, scoring the goal with the side of my foot.
In the finals, it was late in the second half, my whole family there to watch me play, and our defense sent a kick high, and long. As mentioned, I was pretty quick, and while I couldn’t catch up with the ball, the goalie left his net trying to grab the ball, but out of the air, I got my right leg on it and was able to kick it over his head and it just barely trickled in the top left corner. We won the game 1-0 and my teammates picked me up and we cheered, and laughed and had the best day ever! Crazy thing is, when I dream of that moment, in my dreams… the ball never goes in the net. Instead, it hits the crossbar and I don’t score. I could never figure out why that is…
I’ve had lots of interests in my life and took great joy in playing soccer, acting, hanging with family, and of course, writing. I don’t think I’m all that much different today than I was when I was little. A little older and wiser sure, but still a kid at heart. Golf has replaced snooker as a passion, and poker is now obviously a big part of my life where Cintar is not, but not much else has changed.
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The beds on these planes are a bit of a pain. You can sit up straight, or lay flat. The problem is, if you want to change positions, you have to get up, move your blankets, etc. flip the seat over, and then do all that again if you want to sit back up. There is no middle ground. It’s totally flat, or totally upright, and as mentioned, you have to get up to change it any time you want to move positions.
2. The entertainment system is archaic. The last three times I’ve flown with them, the entertainment system didn’t work at all. On this flight, mine didn’t work, but the guy next to me was willing to switch seats with me. I was very thankful.
They have 12 movie channels, but unlike most modern entertainment systems, there are no video games, and you can’t choose when you want to watch a movie. You just have to kind of hope you catch one early enough to watch it. On top of that, of the 12 videos, only about 5 or 6 had picture quality good enough so you could actually make out what’s happening. The sound didn’t work on some, and there were blurry lines on all of them. Some not TOO bad so you could actually watch without hurting your eyes too bad.
There is also no where to plug in your laptop. and the amount of light you get to read is very, very tiny and very limited. I found it impossible to read.
3. Food. On other flights, Luftansa specifically, the food is excellent, but I found the food on the Virgin Atlantic flight to be the worst of any I’d taken overseas. I’m a vegan, and most flights are usually very accommodating, but it didn’t seem like they tried very hard, essentially taking a cabbage head and drowning it in some sweet and sour sauce. Not exactly a meal. No appetizers, no salad, no fruits for dessert.
The staff was nice and I never yelled at them at all, but I pay a lot of money to fly overseas and comfort is important to me when I’m spending that kind of money. British Airways is also doing direct flights from Vegas, and I may just have to give them another chance. It’s been a while since they lost my luggage, so I’m willing to forgive and forget. I never took the Virgin flight much this year because of my past experiences and gave them a chance to win me over, but it was an epic fail. Sorry Mr. Branson, those planes need to be upgraded.. and get some internet on them while you are at it! That would win me back!
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WSOP Final Table was just nuts this year! What crazy, crazy hands. I was sweating it big time, and thank you Joe Cada for saving me tons of money on my Phil Ivey vs. Darvin Moon side bet. Cada had me pulling my hair out the way he played Moon. I felt like Cada would be able to slowly and carefully grind Moon down, but Cada got in there guns a blazing and played right into the more inexperienced players hands by playing lots of big pots in marginal spots.
Cada had so much more experience, but it seemed as though he just wasn’t used to playing a guy like Moon. There were specific adjustments I thought he would make against Moon that he didn’t. Moon bluffed in some strange spots, but didn’t play too many hands. That’s easily exploitable using an extreme version of small ball that dictates limping and min-raising from the button and absolutely NO RE-RAISING OUT OF POSITION! Especially with hands like 99 and AQ. We already know Moon is capable of going all in light, so why would we re-raise him with hands that we really need to call him with? Risk all the chips in a marginal spot?
I’m so happy for Cada that he won, I’m just saying, I would have played Moon completely differently. If I got all in vs. Moon it was likely going to be with some kind of made hand vs. a bluff or an inferior hand. It certainly would not have been 99 vs QJ all in pre-flop. SCARY!!! I dodged a bullet with that bet. Phew.
The ratings were great. Many sites misinterpreted the ratings and didn’t report the whole story. It’s true, ratings dropped from a 1.90 to a 1.82, but it’s very important to note that the carried the ratings for 2.5 hours rather than 2. That’s a pretty big deal.
Truth is, the ratings WERE up this year about 8% over the whole tournament. The numbers don’t always get reported accurately because they get rounded up or down. Last year the series got a 0.95 and this year they were up to a 1.04. Last year gets rounded up, this year rounded down.
Most importantly, since 2007 the ratings are headed in the right direction, up 22%.
Jeffrey Pollack did a lot of good work for Harrah’s in creating a bond between players and “the suits” and it’s made for a better WSOP. He will be missed.
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I’m currently in London for the week doing commentary for the EPT season that is set to air soon enough. I find myself doing more and more commentary and really enjoying the process. I don’t mind working, it’s kind of fun otherwise I wouldn’t do it.
What WASN’T fun was my last online poker session at PokerStars! Wow, what a bloodbath, I lost 9 buy ins in 5 hours playing $100-$200 NL Hold’em. I’d never lost that much in a session online ever. I usually just quit if I lose 20k or 40k, but before the session decided I wanted to log a longer session. I lost some creepy hands and felt like I was on the set of High Stakes Poker! I’m so streaky sometimes when it comes to luck. Really hot, or really cold.
It’s that time of year when I do a lot of thinking. The weather starts to get bad, I don’t get as much sun… and I reflect on “life.” Always, always seems to happen around this time of year and through the holidays. I start thinking, “What exactly do I want to do with my life?” What kind of goals, or areas of personal growth I want to work on. This year seems to be even more confusing then normal. Not necessarily in a bad way, I’m just not all that sure what the future holds.
Poker for example. Do I want to learn how to become a better no limit hold’em player, or will I focus more on my bread and butter which are mixed games at the Bellagio? The High Stakes Poker show still haunts me for so many years, but I’m not one to quit and I’d like to learn how to play better. I lost predominately because of bad luck, but I also don’t have enough experience in games like that to really be a winning player against those fields. They are so tough. Guys like Ivey, Durrr, and Patrik are just so much better than me I’m totally outclassed. it’s fun to compete against them, but I’m not really equipped with enough hands under my belt to stay afloat.
If I chose to get better at the game, it would take a lot of dedication, and I still haven’t decided if I’m willing to make that sacrifice.
Personal life. I got divorced close to two years ago and have since been pretty private about my personal life and that’s not going to change. I believe society kind of dictates that it’s important to get married and have a family to find happiness, but I’m not so sure. I have nothing against that, and would happily get married again if the situation was right, but I don’t feel like I “have to” to be happy. I am happy, like 94.32% of the time. However, I have also been very guarded about going down that path again. I learned a lot from my first marriage, funny, a friend of mind calls the first one a “starter marriage” before you get it all figured it out! Haha, there is some truth to that. What I look for in a woman has changed dramatically from, say, five years ago. I think my priorities were a bit out of whack before, but now, I have a much better idea of what’s most important to me.
I genuinely believe that you have to REALLY like the person. Sounds stupid right? I mean, you have to want to spend time with them, a lot of time, and always want them around. A best friend that you are also in love with. I see other married couples that just detest spending time together. I always wonder why they even bother? When you have kids, that changes things for sure, but if you don’t, why torture each other? I was really lucky in my marriage. Our divorce was not dramatic at all. It was agreeable and VERY civil. No lawyers, no kids and we remain friends to this day. She is a great person, we just weren’t right for each other at all.
I have two very different sets of friends. The married ones, and the single ones. The married ones complain A LOT more than the single ones, but the single ones often seem a bit lost, even if they don’t see it. The grass is always greener on the other side I guess…
The single ones seem to have that tag line, “Dude, I love being single man, it’s the best! I can party whenever I want, date whoever I want, total freedom.” It sounds really good, but I don’t always believe that THEY believe that. I’ve been on both sides of the fence, and will say that I see pros and cons to both, but neither should dictate happiness at all. I’m a big believer in the fact that if you aren’t happy single, meeting someone, no matter how great they are, isn’t going to miraculously change that. I believe that you have to be happy alone before you can ever truly be a good partner for someone else.
OK, no more deep thought blogs until next year, lol, I promise!
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It’s a par 5, and we were long in two in a bad spot in the thick rough. It’s uphill to the green, but then way downhill once it’s on the green. I always, always chip, even from the fringe, but Christian said we can’t chip this one close so we’d have to putt. Sam and Ted both blew it way right and by the hole. I choked up on my putter and hit it WAY too hard. Luckily, it was on line and ended up hitting the pin, and dropping in for ANOTHER eagle! We shot 27 on the front, and they missed tons of putts and shot 31 giving us a nice lead going into the back.
They parred 10, 11, and 12 and it looked like it might be a bloodbath, but they finished strong making birdie, birdie, eagle, eagle, birdie, and par on 18.
We are huge underdogs to those guys on both the par 5’s and the par 3’s. For example, on #13, a par 5, we simply cannot hit the green in two, but they had a 9 footer both days for eagle. On par 3’s, we sucked bad, missing the green about half the time! The longer out we are, the better for them because they have the big hitters.
On hole #15, a short par 4, they had TWO balls on the green! Sam hit one short, it hit a SPRINKLER head and landed on the green! Christian also hit the green, first time we’d ever hit that green in 1, and once again, I drained a bomb that broke about 3 feet. I made three eagle putts on the day. We’d never had two in a round before.
On hole #18 we had 95 yards out, all three of us missed the green badly, but Christian hit one to 20 feet. Ted tidied things up making the putt right off the bat for a 29 on the back for an incredible 27-29=56 round to beat their 31-29=60 round. After 36 holes, we won the match by 3 shots.
You’d think we beat them by 10 shots based on the reaction, but it didn’t surprise me too badly. They obviously felt like they had the nuts and couldn’t lose, but in the end, we came up big and made tons of bomb putts in pressure situations. That’s the difference in this match. They are all better ball strikers than us, and it’s not even close! On the greens? We’ll kill them. All of my guys are better putters than Patrik and Mikko. Jimmy is a great putter, but the other two just don’t have the same kind of feel as my team does on the greens.
If you watched us play you’d think we were drawing completely dead in this match. I’d challenge their spotter to disagree with the fact that we won because we made bomb after bomb in clutch situations. If it wasn’t Ted it was Christian in the anchor seat. Sam didn’t make any putts on day 2, but he made plenty on day 1.
When we lost on day 1, nobody on our side whined or cried. We said “Good match” and mentioned that if they shoot 58 they deserve to win. No one was bitter, no one said anything.
When we won on 18, they pretty much bolted. Obviously annoyed with losing, but obviously feeling like the match was not fair… yet it was their side that wanted to up the stakes, not us. I had nothing at all to do with setting up the match. I never did any of the negotiating at all. I just showed up, agreed, and tried to play the best I could.
If we would have lost the match, I can assure you we would have said “Good game, well played,” shook their hands, and maybe discussed a rematch if we felt we had a chance. There was none of that. They lost and feel cheated. We beat them by THREE shots in 36 holes! We made tons of bomb putts. We could have EASILY shot 60 on day 2 had it not been for all the bombs we made on the greens.
I dunno, maybe it just stings more because they felt like going into the match they were stealing, and that turned out to not be the case. I’m just speculating here, but maybe they were trying to hustle us, and since they lost, they feel like they got hustled. I just wish they could have seen how we won. I wish their spotter would have tracked how many 25+ foot putts we made.
That night me and the boys all celebrated at Kona Grill drinking loads of sake. Lots of high fives, lots of laughs, and lots of sake! So much so, I ended up sleeping on the floor next to a bucket when I got home (and no, I did not drive.)
Today was a day of rest. Tomorrow it’s all about Ivey. I’ll be there to support him every step of the way. I have a substantial amount of money bet on Ivey in one specific bet: a must win bet against Darvin Moon. I loved my bet early on, but the last WSOP show definitely scared me. He made some plays, did some lying, made some laydowns… he seemed to play really well. The reason I liked my bet originally despite the huge chip disadvantage is that I felt like Moon get outplayed short handed against the more experienced players at the table. However, if Ivey gets down to 4 handed, I have confidence in his ability to finish. He’s a great finisher and is very tough to beat, especially short handed.
On the night of the 8th I’ll be flying to LA to play in a charity golf tournament with the Entourage guys. I’ll only be there for the day and plan on flying back in time to watch the heads up, hopefully with Ivey involved.
Here’s a random prediction:
1. Phil Ivey
2. Joe Cada
3. Darvin Moon
4. Jeff Shulman
5. Eric Buchman
6. Steven Begleiter
7. James Akenhead
8. Kevin Schaffel
9. Antoine Saout
I’ll be down at the Rio all day. If you want to see a spectacle, you should definitely check it out.
After all that, hopefully celebrating with Ivey on the 9th, I’ll get geared up for another season of High Stakes Poker. I’m just hoping to avoid quads for the 4th time on that show! Walking back on that set give me the ebie jeebies sometimes since I’ve had so many weird things happen to me on that show. I don’t claim to have played the best on that show, but I will comfortably lay claim to the fact that I have been the unluckiest player on that show. Hopefully I get a few breaks this season, but all I can focus on is playing the best I can. You just can’t let past demons haunt you…
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Omaha 8 or better
Stud
Raz
Stud 8 or better
2-7 triple draw
Pot Limit Omaha (cap)
No Limit Hold’em (cap)
2-7 NL Single Draw (cap)
Stud H/L regular
The limit games were $1500-$3000 and the big bet games were played with $500-$1000 blinds and a $30,000 cap. That’s a much smaller cap than normal, and I found it a little odd, but I’m not complaining. I actually think it benefits me in that particular lineup for several reasons.
Last night I played a hand of no limit hold’em that ended up causing a bit of controversy: I raised to $2500 with 6s 8s and the big blind called me. The flop came K-10-4 rainbow. The big blind checked, and I bet $3000- he called. The turn was a 7, he checked again, and this time I bet $8000. The river was the 9, and after he checked is where things got a little funky.
I started counting the pot in my head to try and figure out how much was left to bet. We’d each put in $2500, $3000, and $8000 thus far, leaving $16,500 left to bet. I said, “I’ll bet the pot,” then threw out $13,500, miscalculating how much was left. So my verbal action was “pot,” but the amount of chips I actually bet was $3000 less than it was supposed to be.
My opponent called the bet, and as the pot was being pushed towards me, the hand still face up on the table, I realized that the bet was supposed to be $3000 more since I actually verbalized the word pot. What do you think? Should I get the extra $3000 or not? I think there are decent arguments on both sides.
Anyway, I’ve really been enjoying playing poker lately. I feel like a lot of distractions I may have to deal with aren’t as pronounced lately, which allows me more time to focus on poker. It’s kind of fun feeling like a professional poker player again. Let’s face it, in the last couple years I haven’t played much poker outside of the big tournaments. I haven’t been a “regular” in any game at all. I decided after the WSOP that I would start playing more poker again during the Bellagio tournament, but I expected that to be in December. I didn’t think I’d have time until then, but I decided to make the time.
To really keep your game sharp and play at a high level it takes genuine sacrifice. It’s a sacrifice I’m not so sure I’m willing to make wholeheartedly. With all of the other things I do that are poker related, on top of my addiction to golf, I don’t think I’ll reach my peak any time soon. A few years ago I was a regular in Bobby’s room, but a lot has changed since then. Golf is a big deal to me, but also, being a part of PokerStars Team Pro has me traveling a bit more and doing lots of other things.
I love my life. Absolutely, I’m a happy camper and have the opportunity to live a stress free life. Having said that, I also have a thirst to be a better poker player. I’ve always done very well playing in mixed games. Before the poker boom, that’s how I made a living.
I look back sometimes on my career path and I see major differences between where I went, and where my buddy Phil Ivey went. At the time when I spent less time playing poker, he became an animal, playing both online and live regularly. A crazy work ethic, with absolutely no distractions. There is no question in my mind that all of that experience helped Ivey become the player that he is today.
Thinking about that motivates me. I know I’ll never be in a spot where I have complete freedom to play poker ALL the time, but that doesn’t mean I can’t play more than I have in the last few years and I think it’s important for me on a personal level that I do.
Now, when I say play more poker, that means mixed games. It does not mean no limit hold’em cash games at all, because games like that just don’t regularly happen at the highest levels. You’ll never, ever, see Bobby’s room turn into a no limit hold’em cash game. Most of the high stakes players in the world at least play a few of the other games, and more and more I see the younger guys playing the mixed games.
For a while I was worried that big mixed games would die out, but the obvious truth is that mixed games have longevity that a no limit cash game could never have, despite that being the game of choice among most new players. Eventually, all true poker players try to learn all the games. Playing just one game becomes monotonous and boring.
So I’m 3 for 3 this week at Bellagio and plan on going down there again to play for about 6 hours or so. There is one negative side effect to going down there for me. When I stay home at night, I’m usually up at like 10am, workout, golf, and live a healthy lifestyle. Going to Bellagio brings out a bit of the degen in me. Staying out late, drinking, then waking up too late to golf. It’s a difficult balance that requires a good amount of discipline. I’m sure I’ll get it all figured out eventually, in the meantime, I’m going to just ride the rush and see where that takes me…
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100-200
100-200 (25)
200-400 (25)
Now let’s look at this laughable start. The ante in the 200-400 is 50 in pretty much any event you are going to play on the WPT, but they decided to randomly just chop it in half! Not only that, we have the absolutely useless 50-100 level instead of a level that makes just a ton more sense, the 150-300 with a 25 ante. If you are going to start with 60,000 in chips, and you want level 4 to be the 200-400 level, this is better:
100-200
100-200 (25)
150-300 (25)
200-400 (50)
I would bet my left testicle that if you polled a panel of rationale people, no one would think Jack’s blind jumps are better.
I think the biggest flaw made with the structure is ante size across the board. It’s another foolish gimmick, falsely trying to sell the idea of “more play,” when in fact, the way you add more play to an event, is by adding levels NOT lowering the ante by 50%. That just makes for a less interesting game of NLH.
They’ve totally lost it. If they want to add play, the way to do that is by adding in the 2500-5000, 25,000-50,000 levels back into the mix. The current structure sees 50% jumps throughout the tournament because of the omission of those levels.
Don’t let yourselves be fooled by this absurd gimmick of “more chips means more play” because it is a flat out LIE! Matt Savage actually wrote a column not too long ago that I was in complete agreement with in relation to the new phenomenon of “deep stacked tournaments.” Don’t be a sucker, and think about it. You get TOO much play early, but you only get that because levels are being omitted from the later stages of the event.
I love Jack McLelland and think he is a great guy. Having said that, these new structure tweaks are just plain garbage and I’m genuinely shocked by the logic.
END RANT
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Some people took exception to me posting stats that come from the WPT site are there in plain site for all to see. I just did the work of compiling the list of facts with no opinions as to what this says about “who is good, and who sucks.” In fact, if you look at the bottom 10, you see a guy like Matt Glantz who I’ve played with and know he is a winning player in tournament poker. Him being in the bottom 10 simply shows how variance in tournament poker can effect one’s results, therefore you have to be sufficiently bankrolled in order to stay afloat on the WPT.
I posted 176 players. There is going to be a bottom 10! If I posted 132 players, then player 135 would be in the bottom 10 based on past results. This does NOT mean they suck. Some of them very well may suck, but their previous results don’t tell the story either way, much like Carlos Mortensen’s ROI of $107k per tournament doesn’t mean that he is the BEST WPT player, it just means that he has gotten the best return on his investment over the years. It’s just stats people, chillax!
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Last night, after busting out with JJ versus 66 all in pre-flop in a decent sized pot, I decided to head into Bobby’s room to play a little poker. I hadn’t played in quite a while, was bored, and felt like playing. I’m glad I did, it was a lot of fun! I played till the wee hours of the morning and had a few really nice glasses of wine with the guys. I enjoyed it so much, I’m going to head back in there tonight to play again. The game was $1500-$3000 HORSE, 2-7 triple draw, and High-Low Regular. I ended up playing pretty well and won a little over a bean in the game. Probably won’t be doing any drinking tonight, but I’m going to probably going to start a game with Eli. Eli put such a sick bluff on me in a limit hold’em hand last night that I felt compelled to punch him in the stomach. And I did. If he bluffs me like that ever again we are going to just have to drop the gloves and fight. Big deal, Israeli soldier, whatever, meh. I’m not scared, lol… ok, maybe I’m a bit scared 🙂
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It’s one of the key reasons that a solid satellite system is essential for any live tour to be successful. Without smaller feeder tournaments, the cost of playing is too big. Now, I love the WPT, but I think one of the biggest mistakes they’ve made is not focusing more on a feeder system involving online satellites. It’s essential.
In my spreadsheet, I only included players who played a minimum of 30 events. Even at 30 events, it’s not a large sample by any stretch of the imagination, but I had to cut it off somewhere and 176 players qualified. Since I did it all by myself, I wasn’t about to include anymore than that.
There are several categories:
Player Name
Events Played
Total Earnings
Cashes
Final Tables
Earnings Per Event
Cash Percentage
Final Table Percentage
You’ll be able to access the entire spreadsheet if you’d like at Spreadsheet
Top 10 Players in Earnings Per Event:
1. Carlos Mortensen $107,354.29
2. Jonathan Little $93,077.19
3. Martin deKnijff $92,130.72
4. David Chiu$91,053.53
5. Gus Hansen $90,816.93
6. Tuan Le $90,781.26
7. Nick Schulman $77,838.60
8. Michael Mizrachi $69,479.43
9. Daniel Negreanu $68,591.79
10. Alan Goehring $59,936.17
Bottom Ten Players in Earnings Per Event:
Don Barton $2,056.33
Matt Glanttz $1,794.71
Jean-Roberte Bellande $1,792.57
John Esposito $1,678.67
Yosh Nakano $1,547.50
Jason Lester $1,010.52
Robert Williamson III $1,000.00
Alan Schien $938.45
Dan Alspach$728.47
Frank Kassela $606.29
Essentially what that means, is that for every $10,000 on average that these players put into an event, they get back what’s listed. This list is going to make it SO much easier for me to turn people down when they ask me to stake them in an event, lol.
Top 10 Players Based on Cashing Percentage:
1. Casey Kastle 30.0%
2. Stan Goldstien 26.7%
3. Nenand Medic 25.9%
4. Dave Ulliot 25.8%
5. Can Kim Hua 25.7%
6. David Oppenhiem 25.6%
7. CHris Bell 25.5%
8. David Chiu 25.0%
8. Dteve Sung25.0%
8. Lee Markholt 25.0%
The most amazing thing about this list is that Casey Kastle, who cashes at an astounding 30%, is actually LOSING money on the WPT with an ROI of $7092. If you are going to make it on the WPT, the most crucial stages come late. You can’t waste opportunities and you need to raise your game at the late stages. You don’t get tons of opportunities, but when you do, you just have to get to that final table in order to make any money.
Top Ten Players Based on Final Table Percentage:
1. Gus Hansen 15.6
2. Scotty Nguyen 11.1
3. Jonathan Little 10.8
4. Phil Ivey 10.5
5. Ted Forrest 08.8
6. Daniel Negreanu 08.6
6. Can Kim Hua 08.6
6. Humberto Brenes 08.6
9. David Pham 08.4
10. Steve Sung 08.3
10. Hoyt Corkins 08.3
Gus makes the most of his opportunities for sure, he’s that kind of player. When he gets deep he’ll usually have a healthy stack of chips in front of him. His FT is the best, but his cash percentage isn’t in the top 10, but still respectable at 20.0%.
Women’s Earnings per event including all women who have played 30 events:
1. J.J Liu $29,222..86 (35th overall) out of 176 tabulated
2. Kathy Liebert $19,610.25 (58th overall)
3. Jennifer Harman $18,222.49 (61st overall)
4. Mimi Tran $11,174.64 (86th overall)
5. Vanessa Rousso $10,088.00 (90th overall)
6. Annie Duke $6,503.27 (119th)
7. Clonie Gowan $6,340.26 (122nd)
8. Kristi Gazes $5,238.10 (128th)
9. Jennifer Tilly $5,204.71 (130th)
10.Isabelle Mercier $5,061.45 (134th)
11. Evelyn Ng $4,639.54 (141st)
12. Cyndy Violette $3,012.00 (159th)
Of the 12 women who qualify, only three are showing a profit, with Vanessa and Mimi right on the borderline when you factor in expenses and taxes.
Of the 176 players eligible with enough events played, only 56 of those have an ROI of $20,000 or more. Shockingly, of the 176 eligibly, only 90 of those actually have an ROI of over $10,000. That means there are 86 people out there who have played 30 or more events and are overall losers to the investment.
A lot of the players between $10,000 and $20,000 are alos likely losers. What does that tell you? You better be playing satellites if you want to be able to afford the tour. Either that, or grind it out in the cash games.
When I started out, I grinded in cash games and satellites in order to be able to afford the expensive buy ins in order to play the tour. I’m afraid I don’t think enough people really think about how they are managing their money when it comes to deciding whether to play an event.
If your ROI is at $10,000, but you are playing satellites on a regular basis and getting into events, for say, $3500, then you ARE making an overall profit.
On that note, good luck to you all if you are playing the WPT tomorrow! I am playing, for sure and looking forward to it. I’ve spent way too many hours on this thing, but it was fun, because I am a full on stats geek. I got all of my numbers from the www.worldpokertour.com site, and will be updating the numbers every once in a while.
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I am SO very happy with the show. Wow, just amazing numbers in terms of viewers and I really think the show hits a demographic that is mostly totally new to poker and likely doesn’t watch shows like PAD, High Stakes Poker, or even the WSOP. The whole point of creating the show was to introduce people to poker in a format that they are more comfortable with: a game show format.
We retained 15% of the NFL audience with ratings of 2.1 million households
and estimates at around 4 million viewers. That makes the show officially
the highest rated poker show in US history. I’m still in a bit of shock!
As I mentioned in my preview blog about the show, as a poker player, when watching the show, you have to think about the bigger picture here. The target audience is NEW players. That’s really good for ALL of you! It’s certainly good for poker.
The poker is fast paced, but again, what that does is give the contestants a real chance at winning big money. If you have a deep, slow structure, they’d have a tough time getting through three players. The faster structure increases the luck factor, but there still is enough skill involved to make the play interesting- especially to players who are new to the game. The response as a whole has been overwhelmingly positive. Don’t forget to tune in this Sunday for the second episode.
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POKER: I’ve been playing on PokerStars.com every day as of late, mostly in the $400-$800 8-game mix which has been going steadily with several games going at once. I’ve been on a heater too, only having one losing session this entire month.
I’ve also resumed my match with “2eazy” who I’d promised I’d play 5000 hands of heads up NL Hold’em with on PokerStars in a $25-$50 game. I hadn’t played a lot of heads up since before the WSOP, and early on in our match he outplayed me badly and got me stuck. Then I essentially “gave up” and went into uber insane gamble mode, since I knew we only had 1000 hands left to play and the only way I could win the match was to increase variance. I ended up losing $15,000 in that match, and we still have another session or two to finish it.
Once we are done playing the $25-$50 match I agreed to play him a 20,000 hand match at $200-$400. That one will take a little longer obviously, and there is also an “escape clause” in that one where the losing player can quit at any point. I think it will be fun and I’m looking forward to getting that first match over with so we can start the next one soon. If you want to watch the matches, I’ll always tweet when I’m playing at Stars www.twitter.com/RealKidPoker.
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GOLF: I played in the Pro-Am this year at my home course, TPC Summerlin and it was a lot of fun. I was paired with Jeff Quinney, a guy with a swing that is similar to mine. He goes to the Jim Hardy school and has what’s called a one-plane swing which is very flat compared to other golfers.
We were killing it! It’s a best ball format with handicaps and we started out -9 through 9 holes with Quinney shooting a 30 on the front. On 10, 11, and 12 we blew it, parring all three holes and we ended in a tie for 9th place at -12. It was lots of fun.
I go down there to watch some of the golf. Today I’m going to go sweat Ben Crane who I know through my agent Brian Balsbaugh. Brian used to rep golfers and Ben was one of his clients. He’s a good dude and he’s easy to root for. He shot 68 in round 1 and should easily make the cut with a solid round today.
I also ran into Rocco Mediate who’s a bit of a poker player also and he was struggling. Saw Aaron Baddelley is off to a nice start and I wouldn’t have bet on that one! The night before the pro-am I had dinner with him and Ben at Brian’s house and his right eye was so swollen it looked completely shut. He’s allergic to dogs and must have pet Brian’s dog. It did NOT look good at all! I saw him the next day at the pro-am, though, and it looked like the Benadryl worked wonders.
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SAKE: When I get together with E-DOG at Kona Grill we end up killing the sake and the other night was no different. We always come up with bizarre ideas while there and on this night Erick challenged me to a stand up comedy set for $100,000 with some of the money going to charity. To make it fair, I told him he can hire Brad Garrett or whoever he wants to help him out, but that I’d prefer just doing it with no help from writers at all and I’d lay him a price. I’ll let you guys know if this ever happens
After dinner we all went to my house to do a golf pool for the tournament. Then, Erick went after my books again. I have boxes of my book at home that are there for me to sign and he likes to mess with them, writing messages on random pages. He’ll write “I hit the ball like a vegan, signed Daniel Negreanu” or other equally stupid stuff.
He grabbed a box and was running off with it, so I tackled him. He was gonna throw one in the pool, or who knows what. We were on marble floor and I got him in a choke hold, fell on top of him and he has a nice cut to remember the evening. We then continued to wrestle for position, and he has 50 pounds on me so he flipped me, and in the process, I could of sworn he broke my nose! It was just bruised and I’m ok now.
It got weirder after that when he tried to give me a wedgie and my underwear just ripped to shreds. I had to get even, so with his back turned, I grabbed the top of his shirt and just ripped it off of him, lol.
That only got him fired up as he took a case of my books to the pool and was threatening to throw them in. So, I got out my trusty 7-iron and threatened to smash his car. Man sake nights are awesome, lol. It was a lot of fun, and thankfully the swelling on my nose is going down.
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I’m excited to see how the first show comes off this Sunday. Being a part of a show, and then seeing the edited down version if often very different. I had a blast doing the show and definitely think there are some great moments.
This Sunday, Father Andrew Trapp, a Catholic Priest will be featured on the show. You just don’t see that everyday! You just don’t wanna miss this first show, wow.
I want to make it clear what this show is: it’s a game show FIRST and a poker show SECOND. The blinds go up quickly and they get high pretty quickly, which I actually think benefits the contestants. The slower the structure, the harder it would be for an amateur player to get through a celebrity, a PokerStars Team Pro, and then me. The more luck involved, the better for them.
The contestants are mostly just “regular people.” Not aspiring poker pros or internet phenoms, mostly inexperienced players who qualified by playing in freerolls on PokerStars.
What this show is expected to do, is to draw in an audience that doesn’t necessarily watch poker on television, but will watch game shows. Tons of money will be given away, and even viewers at home will have a shot at some cash just by watching.
For the contestants, the rules are simple:
20,000 in chips with 400-800 blinds to start, and you face off against a celebrity who is playing for charity. Celebrity wins, $5000 goes to their charity, if the contestant wins, they get a trip to Bahamas for them and a friend valued at $5000 and move on to round two. In round one, I will be sitting right next to the contestant. I can’t see any holecards, but I can tell them what I see. They also get one “timeout” which allows them to get advice from me on a particular hand.
In round two the stakes are raised. The contestant plays a Team Pro, and if they win, they get $25,000! For that match, they’ll have an earpiece in, and I’ll be sitting in an isolation booth where I can see the contestants holecards and give them advice directly into their ear. There is a twist: twice during a match, the pro can shut me up by pressing the dome of silence. When they press that button, the contestant can no longer hear me. Win match two, and it’s decision time.
The contestant can take the $25,000 and walk away. However, if they decide to press onward they can risk the $25,000 and play me for $100,000 and also have a chance at a million dollars in the final show. Beat me, you get $100,000 with no strings attached and qualify for a shot at a million in show five.
What I love most about the show, is that this money is potentially life changing for some of these contestants. It’s real drama and I’m surprised how affected I was emotionally by it all. I got to know some of these contestants, so I felt their pain, and in some cases… their joy.
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ESPN magazine the body issue is supposed to be on the shelves soon. I’m in it, as are Jennifer Harman, Scotty Nguyen, and Phil Hellmuth and his pretty little nipples, lol.
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I’m back home in Vegas and loving it. Waking up at around 9:00am, working out, eating well, then heading to the golf course for a round. It’s been a month since I’ve golfed so I’m a little rusty, but not that far off. After golf, I head home and play on PokerStars for a couple hours, then I catch up on some Tivo: Survivor, Amazing Race, Curb Your Enthusiasm,Heroes, etc.
Speaking of playing on PokerStars, I’ve been playing regularly in the $400-$800 8-game mix and really enjoy it. I do want to explain one important thing to those considering playing: you are NOT allowed to dodge any games you don’t like. You have to play all 8 of the games, that’s the whole point of a mixed game. You can’t just play your best games and sit out on your weaker games, it’s not allowed.
I’ve really been into playing poker the last little while and am enjoying it. I won’t be able to play on High Stakes Poker this year because I’ll be in Europe, but I do plan on playing some live poker in December hopefully.
I’m looking forward to playing in the WPT Bellagio event coming up soon. I’m a streaky player and when I’m focused it often means that scores come in bunches. I didn’t realize I was even in the hunt for CardPlayer of the Year, but that gives me a big of extra motivation down the stretch to do well.
One thing I did notice, that I really, really, don’t like, is that CardPlayer changed their scoring system for player of the year to include certain online tournaments. That’s just plain wrong. There already is an Online Player of the Year award and not one live event counts for those standings, so why should an online event count for player of the year? Big mistake if you ask me and I don’t think it makes any sense at all.
Without counting the online tournaments, I’d have a legit shot if I made a final table or two, but counting The JovialGent’s online win puts me back about 2000 points and that will be tough to make up this late in the year.
Yes, I am a stats geek, and yes I care about stuff like that. It’s why I play tournaments. If it weren’t for stats, I probably wouldn’t play tournaments at all and just grind playing cash games. Stats are fun!
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After a 17 hour final table, a commercial shoot, and a flight to LA, I’m finally back in the US. The initial shock of finishing second has worn off for the most part and had given me a chance to reflect on my career, my life, where I am, where I was, and where I want to end up.
The final table started out better than I could have ever hoped. Despite starting the final as the short stack, I was quickly able to become a contender by the end of the first level. I knocked out 7 players on my way to the heads up match against Barry Shulman and I think it will make for exciting television when you see how the key hands played out:
Hand #1: 3 handed, Barry was a short stack and went all in from the button and because of a dealer error, ended up doubling through me. I was supposed to have Q-2, an easy fold, but the dealer launched my card too high, and flashed. So instead of a 2, I got an Ace for A-Q. I called Barry’s all in and lost the hand to his J-10. If the dealer hadn’t made that error, I would have folded the Q-2 and Barry would not have won that hand.
It’s a major pet peeve of mine. I obviously know that dealer didn’t do it on purpose and that the outcome can be either positive or negative, but those kinds of mistakes generally irritate me, because the outcome is directly connected to a dealer error. Yes, I could end up with a better hand and win the pot, that would be good for me, but it would have been a sick beat for Barry! Point being, if the dealer doesn’t flash the card, the hand that was SUPPOSED to be played no longer happens.
Lifetime those situations have always seemed to kill me. A flash card changing a players holding has always seem to screw me one way or the other. Nothing at all I can do about it, I surely can’t just fold the A-Q there, but I just have a really bad history with those situations and I feel like I’m owed a few breaks on dealer errors.
The dealer later came up to me to tell me how awful he felt about it, and I certainly didn’t blame hm in the least. It’s an annoying pet peeve of mine, but I don’t feel like the dealer should be chastised for it, it “happens.”
Hand #2: Early in the heads up match with the blinds at 40,000-80,000 I min raised to 160,000 from the button with AA. Barry re-raised me to 460,000 and I just called. The flop came out K-8-3 with two hearts. Barry bet 500,000 and I moved all in. He immediately called me with Ah 5h. The title was on the line right here. If I fade the flush, I win my 5th bracelet. The turn was a heart, the river a meaningless Ace. That knocked me down to 2 million in chips to Barry’s 8 million.
Hand #3: I’d fought back numerous times and after hours of play I finally regained the chip lead with a 6 million to 4 million lead before the following hand: Blinds at 60,000-120,000 with a 15,000 ante Barry made it 250,000 from the button. I called with Qc Jd.
The fop came Js 8d 5d. I checked, and Barry bet 300,000. I check-raised to 900,000 and he went all in. With such a draw heavy board and so much money in the pot, a fold here would have just been a horrendous play. Once I decided to make the check-raise, folding was just not an option. I either had to just check-call the flop, or check-raise and call and all in. There really isn’t a middle ground there. I called, and Barry had AA.
The turn was a Jack!!! Now I was one card away from winning the title and Barry had to catch one of the remaining two aces to beat me. The river was an Ace. Poker can be so mean sometimes!
On the last hand, Barry made it 250,000 and I went all in for 2 million with 44. He called with 10-10, and that did it. Second place. I so hate second place and really can’t ever get used to it. I never used to finish second, winning the first 8 tournaments I’d final tabled, sick run for sure, and I guess thing even out in the long run.
The WSOP in particular has been rough in that regard. I have 4 bracelets, 4 seconds, and a 3rd where I was a monster chip leader against two amateurs three handed. I could easily have 6 or 7 bracelets right now, but I’m stuck at 4. I’m not at all happy with that number and feel like I should have more. I’ll get more, but still, I feel like I should be at 6 by now at least. The second place finish did put me on top of the all-time tournament money leaders list at over $12 million in career earnings which is something I’m proud of, but I think Ivey will crush that in November! He need a 5th or better and I think he’s going to win it all. He’s the best player in the world and he has plenty of chips to play with. He’ll need some luck, but if he gets to 20 million in chips- look out!
Back in January I was asked what were my goals in poker for the year, and my #1 goal was surpassing Jamie Gold on the all-time money leader list. Check.
After the tournament, I was a tad emotional. I was asked, “Every time you got knocked down you kept fighting and fighting and never quilt…” It made me think of my mother. I said something like, “I don’t quit. I never quit. I guess it comes from my mother. She’s a real fighter and I must have learned it from her.” Not like dealing with a stroke and playing a poker tournament is at all similar, but the fighting spirit, the will to survive, some people have it, and some don’t. My mother, by all doctor accounts was supposed to be dead right now, instead, she’s making progress. It’s slow progress, but it’s slow and steady. She’s sooooo close to talking again.
My brother was with her while I was playing and he saw her mouth the words, “He’s gonna win, he’s gonna win.” He would relay the good news as I’d move up the ladder and it brought a smile to her face. I know she’ll be happy that I came second, but winning would have been a lot cooler!
The tournament ended at around 5:30am and I had a car picking me up at 6:15am to go to the studio to shoot a commercial for PokerStars. I literally headed straight back to my hotel, packed my bags, got in a car, and had to spend the day on set with no sleep after playing for 5 straight days, the last night, with no sleep.
It went better than I expected, although my left knee was in some serous pain from my Thai boxing debacle with my buddy Sam. Right after filming
whisked away to the airport, because I had to be in LA for the new FOX show “PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge” which we’ll be shooting in the am and will be airing on Sunday, Oct. 11th after the football games. I love the concept for the show and think it will be a fun and exciting project. Tune in and see for yourself…
I’m in LA for three days of shooting and then will head back to Vegas. My home course in Vegas, TPC Summerlin is once again hosting a PGA event to benefit the Shriners hospital and this year I plan on playing in the Pro-Am which should be a lot of fun. I think Hellmuth may also be playing, and yum yum, I’d like to get some bets down against him on the golf course! My swing might be awful, but he makes me look like Jack Nicklaus.
Right after the golf event, I’ll be playing in the WPT Bellagio event and I couldn’t be more excited about my tournament play. I know when I play well, and I know when I could do more. At the WSOPE in London, I played as well as I ever have. It helps me when I face top competition because it simply forces me to play my A-game. Against lower end competition, I think it’s a bit of a mistake to play too sophisticated because that will be lost on your opponents.
So yeah, I’m in my hotel room now, just got back from sake and beers with my two very best friends from high school, Regev and Oren, who live in LA and we remain as close as ever. Two of the best human beings I’ve ever met in my life. Macabee!!! (they are Israeli and that will make them laugh, inside joke.)
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