I’m Ready for War

I don’t know if it’s just me, but nothing gets me more pumped up for a tournament than watching Rocky. I just finished Rocky I where a beat down Rocky Balboa gave it everything he had trying to prove to himself, Mickey, Adrian, and the rest of the world, that he could go the distance. Tomorrow is Round 1 for me and I’m ready to come out throwing jab after jab, giving it everything I have. The tough part is actually trying to get to sleep as I’m way too excited right now! This tournament means so much to me this year. So much more so than last year. Last year I had such a great series that by the main event I had little to prove. This year, I have a TON to prove. Other than watching Rocky today, I did a very quick photo shoot over at Wynn, made some last minute arrangements for the wedding and watched some poker on TV. I didn’t want to be near the Rio today and have any energy sucked out of me. In fact, I made a few decisions for tomorrow to help keep me focused: 1. I might be a little rude to fans tomorrow. Not rude like mean rude, but I’m not going to spend my breaks taking pictures and signing autographs like I normally do. Tomorrow is way too important to get distracted. 2. No Text messaging. Normally I keep people updated on my progress during the tournament in the General Forum at www.fullcontactpoker.com. Tomorrow I will still periodically give you all some chip count updates, but no hands or anything like that. Last year Josh Arieh described this event as a war. For a poker player, this is as close as you’re ever going to get to real combat! Take no prisoners… destroy people… gut them for every last chip. The old, “Rip their hearts out of their chest, take a big bite, and then spit the blood back in their face.” Nice graphic huh? LOL. I’m ready. *************************************************************** Last night I attended the Bodog party at Rain and had a good time. I’d seen Shannon Elizabeth around the poker scene, but was never formally introduced. I had a booth right next to hers last night so we finally got a chance to officially meet. I was really impressed. She seemed like a genuinely nice person and I don’t know exactly why that surprised me, but it did. We talked for a while and found that we have something in common: we are both reality TV freaks and ended up talking about Real World: Austin for quite some time. She had to leave early since she was playing day one, but I stayed and waited for some other friends to show up so we could go to the after party. The after party was being held in the Real World suite up on the 28th floor. Myself, my little sister Dana (I’ll explain), her husband Colin, and four of Dana’s friends. Dana is Regev and Oren’s little sister which in turn makes her my sister. As a teenager I spent so much time with that family and always felt as though they treated me like a son, or brother. I miss my brothers deeply. They live in LA now and we don’t see each other enough. When we do see each other, though, nothing ever changes.