Well, Happy (quasi belated) New Year. I went back to West Hartford for a few days (Man, I'm doing a fair amount of driving lately) to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with my family. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new year. It's typically a happy holiday (in stark contrast to the high holiday coming up, Yom Kippur) but it wasn't such a happy time.

Backtracking slightly, I had gotten in a day early (actually, in the morning, because I spent all night at Travis/Costanza_G's house playing video games, go me) and immediately started fighting with my mom. This happens frequently, but the long and short of it is she's been stressed (between her mom about to die, a long commute to teach, her new condo/losing a decent amount of money in the market, and other stuff) and she's taken that stress out on me. Fine, whatever.

The night before the holiday I picked up my sister Martina and my cousin Lauren from the train station. We went out to eat together then went to a bar - Lauren is great at bar games, and crushed me in darts. We played the bar game "family photo" together and actually set the bar high score. Ship it. So that was fun. But the following day (morning of Rosh) my family went to services (I don't go to services, not much to say here but I don't practice religion...) and upon their return everyone in my family intended on visiting my Grandmother in the hospital. For a recap, my Grandma is quite old (92) and has late stages of Alzheimer's - it seems she weighs 70 pounds or so. Quite scary, the hope is she's well enough to return home, but it's looking unlikely at this point.

I didn't go to the hospital because I got into a fight with my mother (my mother said to me she "burnt a good steak," which I still find pretty funny on several levels). I ended up going to the family dinner slightly late (I wasn't sure when to arrive) and the mood was fairly mellow/sad (obvious given circumstances) and unfortunately some of that was taken out on me. (Below is a picture of the tables... Everyone finished eating but me, and lucky me I was still eating alone. Call it self pity, but I decided to take a picture just to show that, lol. In the background is my cousin Paige)



The people there included: My cousin Jason, his wife Sheri, and their son Mack; my Uncle Johnny, his wife Kim, my cousins Elle and Paige; Kim's mom Grace; my mother/sister; and my cousin Lauren.

The following day I did end up going to see my grandmother (with my mom, we made up) and I drove to Boston. I spent most of today catching up sleep, and my objective before I return next week is to get an apartment. I'm staying at a Holiday Inn, which isn't terrible but seems overpriced for what it is. I needed my own space after constantly being with either a friend or family or so for the past 2 months.

1 last story: A guy named "Alan" from the Boston Ballet has been calling me every 10 days for about 3 months. Yes, we've spoken 10-12 times. The reason is I went to the Nutcracker this year (enjoyed it) and had my name on a call list. He has been very persistent about selling me a ballet package (we're friendly at this point, each chat is about 10 minutes or so, haha) and my reason for not buying one was I didn't have an address. (Not to mention I wasn't even sure if I was going to be in Boston to enjoy the tickets!) I finally caved in today and bought a flex package... So I'll be seeing at some point this year Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Jewels. I'm actually pretty pumped. Oh, I'm getting a student discount, since GKA's GF is sending me her ID to use for the tickets. Sweet.

Hopefully once I have my own domain I can actually log some hands! (I played just over 1k online hands last month...)

Well, I have neglected my blog a little bit. I am watching the debate right now and it's pretty interesting... Also have been watching this show "Dexter," which is quite good. I had a bunch of fun tidbits/short stories to write about, but in short:

I am in Boston at the Brom (Skye, Dub, and Nate's apartment) and it's been fun. I've been here for several days. I'm getting better at Halo (a recent comment I missed was "what's my Halo name," and it's "Zelijos" - if you're a 49, you'll likely destroy me! )

September 21st was my birthday - I turned 23. It wasn't a good birthday, it wasn't terrible, but I fought quite a bit with my mom about stupid things. My sister did come in from the city (I was planning on writing a whole little story about a decision she made recently, but that will have to wait). I'm not that into gifts, but I basically didn't get anything. Which is ok, I specifically said I don't want anything, generally because whenever I have an impulse about getting something I buy it myself.

I have a reading list that I want to knock out; Basketball on Paper, Fooled by Randomness, Seven Seconds or Less, and Black Swan. Also, a vampire type series was suggested by a few people (I'm blanking on the name as I write this) so chalk that up there.

My Grandmother has gotten quite a bit worse. She was admitted into the hospital a few days ago, and it doesn't look good. I don't know the full details, but in short she's in the stage of Alzheimers where the person forgets to eat/drink, and generally starts not feeding themselves. Sooooo they are not nourished/need IV/etc. She hallucinates a fair amount now, so my understanding is it's almost hospice time. It's torn my mother up most.

I haven't played a wink of poker in 10 days! I don't really miss it, either. I can go long stretches without playing a hand, and normally when I get back into the flow, I love it and am fully recharged. I guess the reason I've never burnt out (as opposed to others) is I don't play enough TO burn myself up. If that makes sense. I have lofty goals for 2009, but this month is not about that - nor is next month, I think. (Next month is massive NBA prep, actually.)

That's it for now, ripped of the smaller stories that I'd normally post - I'll get back to those soon.

So I'm home now, I've been home for 2ish days. Sleep schedule is still a bit bizarre, (woke up at 5am today!) but I wanted to give a final recap:

1. About poker, I started jotting down hands in my blackberry, (except for my final sesh, since it was mainly HU, so I didn't have the time nor desire to jot down stuff) and rather then go over them, I'm just going to C+P my notes and if someone wants to know more about a hand, I'd be glad to share involved details and analysis. I was up 8k which over 3 seshs of NLH (and including -1500 at shorthanded PLO) which was a decent trip, but then had a miserable final night (when I should've left) which saw me drop 7.5k. So, over the span of a week, I won a few hundo. WOW.
2. I bought 15% of sleephippo (Ryan) in the main event, and he busted first day, which sucks for me. Would love, "just once," whenever I buy a piece or participate in a live event, to get some positive ROI juices flowing.
3. Travis and I ended up sticking with the condo... We had a convoluted system in place which worked briefly to play Xbox live (at Cory's hotel room at the Taj) but we generally just played a ton of HU halo and watch the office (It was fun)
4. One night Mikech, Cory, Travis and I wanted to go out in AC. We tried and epically failed: There just isn't much to do around 2am in AC. (Plus, it feels dangerous and seedy, whereas Vegas seems clean and safe)
5. I got to see some friends (and quasi-friends) so that makes this trip "feel" like a success - JTL (John the Laywer), Owen, aforementioned Ryan/Cory, etc. I also played with a few poker celebs (although surprisingly there were few around AC) including the dude who is entering the WSOP final table with the chip lead. (Dennis Phillips) He played tight bad... In fact, in general live players are absolutely brutal.* I'm predicting this guy to not play any hands, move up money, and bust 4th. Mark my words here.
6. I'm going to Boston today (prolly in a few hours) to hang out with Skye, Alex, and Nathan.

Hope that sums up the bulletpoints?

~~

Somewhat unrelated, but I'm gearing up for the NBA season. I've spent the past 2 days working heavily on the NBA sabermetric project (still as yet unnamed) which is a stat-driven "company/corporation" created by 2p2er KBFC (Keith) and includes a few other guys (including me!). The current study that has held my focus is a creation of a stat that measures shot selection. Meaning, how early in a shot clock a player is jacking up a shot, and its relative impact on eFG%. I will post more when I have some findings, but right now nothing is too revolutionary. (Outside of a funny suggestion for a name, "STD," or Shot Time Distribution)
This also includes doing further researching, so I've been revisiting some archives posts on the Wages of Wins journal (Dave Berri's stat) and must say I've done a 180 on his work. I used to think it was a useless stat, but now I think it's pretty good... Still many flaws in his work I can't get into here though.

*Jump/hop skipping around, the games at the Borgata were FAR nittier then in Vegas. There are several reasons as to why, but the regs were just so nitty it was frustrating: I raised more pf then everyone else at the table combined in every sesh.
First, the game features a 10 dollar chip rather than a 20 dollar chip. This tends to discourage action.
Second, the game is a 5k cap, which does limit the action somewhat. In Vegas not every table was deep, but tended to be that way; in AC, few had the 5k cap.
Third, cash is no longer used. Which is a joke. Only chips; I love playing with bills. For many reasons.

The hands:
AThh-5 handed, 2 limpers I completed in the sb. Bb made it 90, they called so did I. At5dd, ck, bb bet 150, fold fold I made it 465, he made it 900 I shove and win vs ako.
77-6 handed I open utg+1 to 70. Sb jenny calls, t32 w 2 spades. Chk I bet 110, she calls. Turn is a e, she bets 230 and I call. Riv is a 4, she bets 600 w 660ish behind, I call, she mucks.
QQ-i open next hand to 70, she calls otb, blinds call. Kq9hh flop, chk to me I bet 250, she shoves, I snap and beat a9hh.
K6o-down to 4hand, blind to 40, I make it 130 otb, he calls. We check down a final board of tt778 and I win.
89o-6 hand, 632w 2c. (I made it 70 in the co, all call) checked through. Turn is the 7, putting 2ds. Checked to me I bet 270, 2 callers including a shortie w 500ish. Riv is an offsuit j, checked to me I bet 660 and they fold.
74dd-btn makes it 60, sb calls so do I. T74r, td chl I bet 110 btn calls sb makes it 230 more. He has 3.3, btn has 2k. I call, btn calls. Turn is a 4, sb checks, I bet 770 and they fold.
Aqo-limper, I make it 110, he calls. J86r, he check calls 130. Turn is a blank, he cfs to 420.

J8o, find a vb?
43cc, spew?
42ss got lr
Ako float bluff
Aqhh not hitting anything called rr dubious
J7ss, 3bet bluff on turn
77 folding the turn sigh
Ajo btn 5h now
Aa, kqxx (200,600)
Q9o folded to raise
Ak rr q high won
Jj call down vs 22
44 bluff ak9 2nd barrel
Kthh turned gutflush draw
Limp raised folded ako
And then called a 3bet and lost to a set of qq
66, Actually hit a set!
89hh bet at9 turn and got value
Kqo the kq3 board
85o raise bet bet got a fold,

Sept 14
J9o, limped pot running into qt
Kto, peeling for gutterball aq3 ss.
Ako running into a 50bb kk l/r
Ajhh running into aqo kt7 board
63cc limped pot q53 w 2h, 3 turn 2ds.
97hh call bluff on a q 9 6 2 w.hh
22 spiked a boat terrible turn
84ss, rr a55 flop.
86o get q87r. 6 turn
Atss qtt flop lost to qt.
63o overlimping then calling
86o cr bluff on 993ss
Kqhh got 3bet on the turn
Tt, called utg raise so did 2 others. 300 ish in there, 872 w 2dd. Call, raise to 800 w 2400 more... I fold.
74o 754 flop
75o squeeze, k65r

So right now I'm in Sleepyhippo's hotel room at the Borgata, since Gene's condo doesn't have internet. (More about that later) Surprisingly there is a lot to report! Since it's 3am, and nothing has happened today (except for me playing a VERY brief HU sesh @ 5/10 winning a grand total of ~400$, lol go me), lets roll backward. Will say Ryan commented on my live poker game as though "I'm playing online, I just push push push," so I'm not really sure how to take it. Anyway...

Sept 10th:
Staying at Atlantic Palace*, which is on the boardwalk, Travis and I woke up around 3pm. We walked along the boardwalk looking for a place to eat, we settled on a Greek store named "Bill's Gyros" or something like that. It had 1 dollar bills plastered all along the walls, which the waitress estimated to be worth ~9k. So, lots of 1$ bills. The rest of the boardwalk, like AC in general, did not impress me, as it was filled with circus like attractions, garbage, and many many pigeons. (In fact, one pigeon hovered over my head and nearly attacked me, had to run away from it... Strangely the pigeons are not afraid of humans on the boardwalk)
We then drove to the Borgata to meet up w. the Hippo himself (Ryan) who was in the process of playing the 2.5k event. (Funny enough he was at Kathy Liebert's table for the duration of the day) He made it to day 2 (WOO!) so GL to him. Travis and I were going to play live, but instead got captivated by the Sox-Rays game that lasted until the 14th inning.

Also, since we can't play Xbox live at Atlantic Palace, we tried the Xbox in the Borgata room. That wouldnt work since their input is protected. So, I came up with the idea of moving the TV in Atlantic Palace TO the Borgata. Travis fully supported this notion...
However, we stumbled when we tried to move the TV in Atlantic Palace, it is somewhat old and the plastic started to crack, so we ditched that plan.

Sept 9th:
After arriving very early that morning (or late the previous night, depending on one's definition) Travis and I ran out to get a sandwich at a nearby deli. After coming back we played Halo 3 on legendary (beat the campaign in just over a day, so woot) until dinnertime...
We had dinner with Gene (who drove in from Philly with his girlfriend, Jane) at Wolfgang Puck's. For whatever reason, Wolfgang is not the chef at his own restaurant. The food was mediocre, but it could be I ordered wrong... (I got lambchops, which I love, so who knows) We treated them as a way of saying "thank you" for allowing us to stay in the condo. I think I ended up speaking too much, because it felt like I was talking for 80% of dinner. (Gene, weigh in here!)
Ended up watching The Office all night, since we couldn't get xbox live to work. (And who plays poker??? )

Sept 8th:
Travis came over, and this is when we started the Legendary Halo campaign. Pretty much the plan was to leave around 8pm, so we would avoid New York traffic and get into AC around midnight. I was not looking forward to the drive, since last year it took ~7 hours. ("last year" meaning December, but that also was because I left from Boston, swooped down to Enfield to pickup Travis, and then finally was en route to Atlantic City) We went to grab dinner with my mom before leaving, and apparently I did something to the TV so I had to fix it before heading out... Obviously I couldn't fix it, which led to a massive fight. Just wonderful!
The drive to AC was peaceful, although long. The major gripe I have with New Jersey (aside from the smell I suppose) is there are all these minor little tolls that irritate the hell out of me. One of the tolls stops you for 35cents... On my list of "to do" is to get an EZ pass. It has been on my list for a year now tho.

Sept 7th:
Went to a Women's expo with my mom. One of her friends set up a booth (she's a therapist who wrote a book and looked to sell it at this expo) so our intent was to visit her. (She's pretty nice) Apparently during the weekend over 14,000 people strolled through the convention, so it seemed like a good idea.
We didn't spend a long time there (Both my mom and I don't like large settings like conventions/expos) but one interesting tidbit is that the place actually smelled good. I'm sure it had to do with the fact it was a "women's" expo, so most of the ~14k people there were women, but I guess that was unexpectedly nice. Also, most of the women were unattractive.
A few of the booths were kinda cool (again, we didn't linger long) and we both got chiropractor scans, body fat tests, etc. My BF% is 9.7%, which I'm actually pretty proud of (it's in the "athletic" tab) since I haven't been running or working out for the past 2 weeks, and before that I had been playing basketball very irregularly.

That's about it, GL to Ryan in the tourney!
*Travis and I are not sure if we're going to stay in Hippo's room or Atlantic Palace, Atlantic Palace is a studio which means they wouldn't let us put a cot in there, so Travis has been stuck on a small couch. Also, there is no internet and it's a small ways away from the Borg itself. So, we'll see.

~~

Also, I have a vid coming out tomorrow, and a few to come for "leggo week".

Hey guys, had a bunch of stuff to update, most of it random. The first is I am fairly apolitical. I have a real frustration with politics that stems from the fact that no matter how "involved"/knowledgeable of matters one can become, very little can be done from this. The lack of control is upsetting, I suppose.

ANYWAY, that said, I don't see how anyone could vote the McCain/Palin ticket. I mean, seriously. My issue doesn't lie with McCain; nor do I think Obama* is all that wonderful. But Sarah Palin represents everything wrong with America in my eyes. To those Europeans reading my blog, she is the definition of an American hick. She's a creationist, she is about to be a grandmother at the tender age of 44, and her biggest claim to fame is being a hockey mom. She's far too conservative/right wing for me, far too backwards. So, although I likely wont vote, (waste of time!) in spirit I'm casting my vote for Barack.

*Note that the more I see of Obama, the more I like him.

~~

I'm planning on going to AC on Monday through Monday (8th-15th, I think) because it's TOURNEY WEEK BABY there. Gene, friend/vegas roommate/student, has a condo there and offered to let me stay there, so that's pretty baller. (I need to confirm details actually, I'm lagging behind all this) If you're going/planning on being there, give me a shoutout I suppose.

For now, the plan is going to be no Tourneys (the tourney schedule doesn't look that good), but when I get there I have a feeling the bug will bite me, and I'll continue to donate more money to live donkament players riding the variance train. Chasing the allure of "binking a big one".

~~

Andrew Bernard is my favorite character on the office. Just so awesome. And I love Pam. I'm pretty stoked for season 5. There's no character I dislike, but Toby is the worst. Obviously.

I'm still having a problem with security deposits. For Boston, Dave Tufts was going to handle everything with his mom, which would've made things easy and simple, given she was/is a lawyer. However, she doesn't want to help him, which means matters have fallen to me. (For a recap, we only got 1k out of 5.2k back, which is a ****ing joke) My Uncle is a lawyer in CT, but Boston is obviously in MA, so he can't help me there - I would have to find one, and that isn't exactly a strength of mine. Most likely this will fall by the wayside, which is terrible as that's a potential 1k-2k loss. For Vegas, I put up the deposit all on my own, which was a mistake - I should've factored it into people's rents. Anyway, we only got back 600 (!!!) of 4k. They sent me about 25 pictures of damages and so forth, and although the cleaning fees seem a bit exorbitant, this is actually somewhat fair. (As opposed to the Realtor company in Boston) Anyway, more work for me in that I need to run the figures, and see what people owe while there in Vegas. And then I need to collect, which is a ***** too. Going to figure this out soon.

I went to Travis's house in Enfield the day before last and the day before that as well. We mainly played a good deal of Halo 3, which is fun - although our doubles ranking has somewhat stagnated. His roommate Clint is a pretty nice guy, he cooked dinner one night and lunch the following day, so mad props for that. The reason I bring this up though is I pulled "an Olson" the 2nd night, as we all got dinner together... On the bill, I wrote constructive criticism to the waitress. (Who was terrible) Olson told me about this once and it seemed like a great idea, and this was such a good spot for it, I had to try it out. I feel kinda liberated after doing it, to be honest.

I think that's it for now, I am still undecided about where I'm going to live, I'm stuck between buying a beach house w/ my family and living there or renting again in Boston, but both would just be spots to keep things while I'm traveling around. We'll see!

The view yesterday...



anyway, the quick funny observation is I've spent a decent amount of time with my mom the past few days and she does one thing that's fairly embarrassing. When we're in the grocery store or CVS or whatnot (just running a simple errand) and she sees a cute girl she'll loudly say: "Oh Robert, she's beautiful!" She doesn't realize her voice (like mine) carries, but c'est la vie.

Going to Westbrook, CT for the day (leaving shortly) but I have a ton of updates to make. My uncle has a beach house there so I'll be able to relax and have fun / all that stuff today. Anyway...

The main post I want to "get out" is that I still haven't gotten the deposit from my Boston apartment back. The security + last month was 5,200$, and technically I was supposed to get it within 30 days of leaving (I ended the lease early, June 1st) and that never happened. Dave Tufts (my roommate) and I had an issue with this. Anyway, a few days ago we got the check - or what was left of it. 1,000 dollars. Yes, it's sick. Basically, the landlord tried to (is trying, I should say) take advantage of us, as he deducted 2,600 for Realtor fee (when he was supposed to eat the realtor fee) and another 1,200 for carpet replacement (which was both exorbitant and unnecessary). We both were expecting ~4k+ back.

As it turns out, (the ongoing past few days) our landlord "Mark" (never go to Jet Realty, as they practice shoddy business) didn't exactly cross all his "t's" nor dot all his "i's". You see, Dave's mom is a lawyer and spotted the fact he never put our deposit in an interest bearing account. (Which by the letter of the law he's required to do) Anyway, we're entitled (or we believe) to 3x the amount + damages. (or something like this) We'll see how this all washes out, but since we were treated so poorly/they tried to take us through the ringer, it will feel good (I HOPE!) to enact some revenge. So, basic message of this blog post is: It's terrible when people take advantage of you, and sometimes you can't do anything about it (like we thought would be the case here) but we have a chance to enact justice so we're going to pursue it as much as we can. (We only wanted the ~4k we felt we should get back, but now we may be able to recover more, we'll see)

Note that I still am owed deposit from the Vegas people, but everytime I've called them, they've hid behind the shield of "30 days" to give me back deposit, which ends tomorrow. So, come the end of labor day, I hope to collect that too.

I've been visiting my mom in West Hartford, CT for the past 4 days. It's been pretty decent, I got the book release out (if you haven't gotten it yet, contact me via PM) which I'm eager to hear how it's accepted - not much is written about 3bet pots (playing as the caller) so hopefully it's a good learning platform... I think I'll be here for a few more days*

Mikech told me he played in a 50-100 game at the Bellagio 2 days ago, I'm a little bummed he didn't contact me about buying a piece (it was really late EST so he assumed I'd miss the call) and the lineup was Guy Laliberte, 2 friends of Guy's that were in town for the fashion week or whatever it was, Charles Oakley, an Indian businessman, another French guy not affiliated with Guy who was also there for French week, Mike, and only 1 other good pro. A lineup like this never happens online and is likely a once a year type game live. The hands Mike told me were just so unreal, it really goes to show poker is all about game selection. (It was playing like .1-.25, people were raising after limpers to 5k...) Would've been nice to have a % of that!

Moving on, there is a small life lesson I've been thinking about which is not saying everything on my mind (in public) that I could have said - I generally withhold alot, call it experience or wisdom I suppose, but the reasoning is most conflicts that could come up are not worth the positive functioning. Who knows. (This applies specifically to politics or religion)

While I've been here, I've visited my grandmother twice with my mom. My grandma has Alzheimer's and it's gotten pretty bad. Visits are pretty frustrating, but I do them for my mom. My grandmother ends up asking 5 or 6 questions again and again, and it's hard to keep answering them. (She broke her hip not too long ago, and constantly forgets that she can't walk right now) In highschool, one time I was playing omaha hi lo online with a few friends nearby, and she called me. I couldn't really focus on the phonecall since I was playing, and I got involved in a big pot. (At the time) I ended up scooping it, and in my exuberance, I yelled "Grandma, SCOOOOOOP!" which whenever "grandma" or "omaha8" is brought up, certain friends never miss the chance to yell that. My grandmother used to play poker regularly at foxwoods... (Low limit stuff obv) One time I played for 20$ 3handed stud against a cousin of mine named Yale and my grandmother. I won. Should i have lost on purpose? :/

So, plans to come: I want to go to Europe. I want to go to Europe for a long time. I'm pretty sure within a few weeks (deciding whether to go to the Borgata in 2 weeks or not for the WPT) I'm going to fly to London, then from there go to Sweden. I have it set in my mind that I just love that area. Not sure why, I suppose I've had great interactions with Scandis... The main thing I need to clear up though is the whole full book release, which I'm waiting on a certain person to finish up a certain forum. (hmmm) I think that's it for now, it certainly had been a while since my last update!

I don't even want to enumerate too many thoughts on Turningstone, other than I've run horribly and dropped about 18k this trip. The 5k "main event" was more of the same, getting there late because I had to bust a guy HU at 10/25 (that atleast worked) - and when I sat at my table, it was amazing since it was all old guys and 1 guy named "Justin" who I think could've been Stealthmunk. (He acted fairly immaturely and was loud, so that would fit with his reputation) So I lucked out in the table selection department, but I didn't win a single hand other then 1 3bet that worked (AA no good vs KQ, JJ lose to AT, I'm out!) Structure seemed good.

I had dinner with Clayton Sauce and Dave Tufts yesterday, so that was cool. Food was OK... Met some people I hadn't met before (Thac, Stinger, some tourney players) and so on. Really, I haven't slept much, barely gotten any work done (did a vid w/ clayton atleast), and put in a lot of losing hours, so I'm just not thrilled w/ TS. We're leaving in a few hours (I think?) so that's a bright spot.

Going to include some pictures since just now I was at Emeralds with a bunch of friends which is always fun, so atleast that is a " " moment... (We took the pictures because Teddy built a half and half pyramid)

Skye on left, Teddy on right


Our waitress Amanda on the left, Skye on the right


Teddy on left, Clayton on right

So I'm here in Turningstone. I decided to go up early w/ Travis (Costanza_G) - the plan was to initially head up the 21st w/ Dave Tufts, but I got a little bored so it made sense to come up here.

I am thinking it was a minor mistake, because well, Turningstone sucks. I played the 6max event today, and was exhausted since I was up all night/day the day before playing poker. Funny enough, since I've been here, I've played 20/40 limit, 5/5 NL, 5/10 NL, 10/25 NL, and 5/10 PLO. Quite a mix of games!

There have been a bevy of interesting hands, but I'll breeze over them for now. In sum including the tourney/expenses, I'm stuck about 1k, which isn't good obviously but could be a ton worse. The tourney field seemed incredibly soft. I got there 20 mins late because I went out to breakfast at sunflowers or something like that with friends. (I read in Craig's blog he didn't like it much, for breakfast purposes it was solid) And my table draw was outstanding. I was so tired I had the "get a big stack and crush or lose and goto bed" mentality, which really isn't the right way to approach things. But I got a pretty big stack - essentially I was limping/overlimping everything and people were check folding flops with regularity.

The "big" hands were... I rr J9o from 300->800 (heh) out of the bb vs btn, he calls, A Q J, I bet 950, T on turn, I decide to bluff 1200, he calls, river is another J, I decide I need to value bet small so I bet 1175 - expert play huh!!! He was pretty disgusted.
A few hands later he raised to 350, got a call, I rr small to 1050 with AK, he called and so did the other guy. Flop was A A Q, he open shoved into me and I beat Q9.
Guy open limped into my blind, I had 33, I raised it 500 more, he called, 5 5 2r, he c/rai and I called and beat A2.
New table an open limp, I raised K7o out of the SB to 850, BB called me. K 7 6r, I c/c 1k. Turn A, I c/c his all in and beat AQ. I was playing well HUH!

At the lunch break I was sitting with 25k, starting stack was 6k, and avg was probably 12k. Upon coming back, I got involved in 2 slightly interesting hands I suppose. A guy I recognized from TS who goes to Michigan was on my right (gave my BB a ton of respect the entire night which I liked) raised a CO limp to 1k (100/200, the guy who had limped had been incredibly fishy and hit everything super standard etc.). I called with KQcc, fish folded. J 9 x w/ 1 club board, I checked, he bet 2k leaving himself 7k, I shoved, he called me with AJo, and I didn't win that.
So I was halved, but I immediately rebounded when UTG+1 opened to 500, I flatted AA in the SB, BB called too. Flop came Q 5 2 w/ 2 diamonds, checked to pfr who bet 850, I made it 2400, he shoved, I called and beat his A6dd.
After this I shoved 10bbs into a short stack BvB w/ K3o and lost to A5o.

I was stealing alot and the hand of the tourney came down to this: (It isn't exactly masterful, but I had been up for a long time) I minraise 94dd otb 100/200/25, shortie in the SB cold calls, BB with 20k calls. Flop came Td 9x 6d, shortie shoves, and the BB instantly reshoves. Well, I have a pair and a flush draw, and a chance to have 60k chips. If I lost I was at ~5k with a break coming up so hopefully I could bust. Easy decision. I was against 68o and QJdd. A diamond hit the river though and I was very short.

Unfortunately for me I made it to the next 45 min break, which sucks, but I did shove 17bbs in BvB A5o and got called by AJo and suck out. Woohoo choo choo. After the break, I shoved 66 to a 55 limp to double up, got whittled down a bit, shoved 89 and beat 77 to double up, whittled down a bit, and at this point there were 40+ people left. (20 cash) 300/600/75 UTG makes it 3.2k which is unusually large and worrisome, but I was in the BB with AQo and 17k. (Just under 28bbs) I actually considered folding, but I shoved into QQ and lost. Sigh tourneys.

There is a ton more stuff going on, basically I've hung out with Teddy/Wes/Alex/Clayton/Travis/Etc. a decent amount which is fun, and some cash game hands which are more thought provoking, but I'll leave that on the back burner. Peace!

This will be short, bc I've been in Northampton the past few days. I've been staying w/ GKA and TBach, and have been playing a decent amount of bball while here... And I've been watching The Office. I hadn't watched the Office at all prior to these days, and wow, it's hilarious. I love Dwight/Michael/Ryan, just so funny.

I hadn't seen GKA, Tbach, or Skoolboy (Dave, Teddy, Wes) in a while (2.5months?) so it's nice being here. A few days ago we went to a bar where Wes works (or used to work, not sure) that has a ton of pool tables, and while playing I ran into another friend of mine named Evan. Funny enough, Evan is the kid who got me into 2p2.

Hmm, anything else? I think the only other thing to mention is GKA and TBach both play SNGs, and since I've been here I haven't played much poker, but I've gotten a small SNG bug. They're kinda fun. I say "kinda" because they're really frustrating at times, but you get to move all in alot, so that's cool. I'm going to play 500 SNGs or so and just see how I do... so far it's ok!

I hope I'm not forgetting anything, will have more to say about TS or whathaveyou when that actually happens! Also, about the book (people have expressed interest in the last blog comments) it's not being sold for another 12 days or so forth. Sorry!