The World Series of Poker is summer camp for grown men. You can quote that from nobody else but Stuart Paterson. He is the best, honestly. There aren’t many people in life that have a sense of humor like him. If you don’t know him personally and haven’t hung out with him its hard to catch onto his humor. Once you get to know him he will attack you, so be careful giving him too much material. I give him a ton of material so he always cracks on me pretty well.
Anyways, He is completely right in his statement. Stu, Hans, David “Chino” Rheems, and I were all hanging out at Stu’s and he said that no matter what, every summer we will be back in Vegas playing in the WSOP. I’m pretty sure he’s right. Even if we aren’t all still playing poker full time I think we will always make it back to play some events, the main event, or just to meet up with everyone again like last summer. Some of our friends live in different parts of the country but we all make it back to Vegas when the time comes for the WSOP.
It has been pretty exciting living out in Vegas for the last 5 weeks. I take everything for granted sometimes and wish I didn’t. It’s hard to be positive and happy all the time and realize how lucky you are when you play a game that has so much disappointment. Realistically you aren’t supposed to win in poker. That bothers me because I always want to win. I will continue to do my best with my chosen occupation and try to come to terms with the game and accept everything involved in the poker lifestyle. I think that is one of the biggest factors in being successful. You have to realize what you are involved in and keep a level head.
I played the Bellagio Cup 2k and played good once again. I got pretty deep being shortstacked the whole way and lost a flip nearing the bubble. It feels good to be playing well and getting deep consistently in tournaments. I think I had to adjust to the live pace and that is why I have played better than I was playing when I first got out here. I am definitely more confident as well. The blog also helps because I have to come back and face the world in what I do right or wrong in any given tournament.
Aside from the Bellagio Cup I dedicated a day to playing SNG’s and played three and didn’t do very well in any of them. I lost a couple flips and then bricked a 17 outer in my last one. I probably should of played the hand differently but I had been running pretty bad in the previous two SNG’s having no chips. I decided to gamble with my open ended straight flush draw to win a huge pot and lost. I think it was bad SNG strategy but If I would of won the pot I would of been able to get heads up pretty easily probably.
The Main Event is here and the buzz is crazy. I remember last year being pretty exciting getting deep in the Main, but I think this year its going to be even more insane. I am playing tomorrow and went to the Rio tonight to register and the Rio was packed. It could just be because it is Saturday, but regardless it was pretty hectic in there. I am excited for the poker to be played and am going to stay positive and hope I can outdo my performance from last year. It would be pretty exciting making the final table and being able to dwell on that for three months before you had to play it. I disliked the idea of postponing the final table but you have to adjust to the rules and the tournament and still try to win, even if it would be three months later. It seems pretty interesting how much marketing and advertising you might be able to sell if you are one of the final nine and have a shot to win the Title.
The goal is to go into the final table with the chip lead and make a million off advertising. I would wear a million patches like Nascar drivers, and maybe even sport a face tattoo like Mike Tyson if a company paid me enough. =) Just kidding. The main event is a marathon not a sprint, I learned that last year. I will take it one day at a time and hopefully I can be fortunate enough to have a shot to get deep and maybe make the final table. That would be awesome.
I just got out of the gym and its about 3am. I might wake up and work out before the main event I’m not sure yet. I need to do well in this tournament. I will probably head back to Florida if this doesn’t go well. I don’t know if I will stay and play the Bellagio tournaments or what.
Other than poker, Hans and I went out last night for the 4th of July and relaxed a little. It was nice to go out since he hasn’t really gone out and not many of my friends like to go to clubs and relax. Its pretty amazing to stand on the top of one of these buildings like the Rio and look out over on Vegas. Some of my poker friends have left Vegas or were leaving last night, so it was also good to meet up with them and see them before they left.
Alright guys I guess I’m going to try to get to sleep and get ready to make a run in the main event. I will update the blog throughout the days with hands and other interesting tidbits of information. Hopefully I have a lot to write about over the next week or so =)
