Before Christmas I played in the 5 diamond classic wpt main event and got 8th for 125k or so. I just went to play randomly because I was getting a bit bored at home and wanted a vacation, but I'm starting to really get into the live tourny mind-set. You get so much more information live and it has so many elements that online doesn't, it's very interesting.

After that I went home to spend Christmas with my family and friends. Was a really good to see everyone again and it's amazing how all my cousins are getting so old. Time goes by fast.

I have a lot of friends who just graduated and are trying to get jobs so I have been partying a lot and having tons of fun. I've been playing a decent amount of poker but not to the extent I thought I would be.

Poker is going good, very swingy (taking shots at 200/400 and 500/1k with all my own action can be so stressful). I was thinking of goals I had for poker, but its so unrealistic to set goals when playing in such high variance games. I just want to put in a lot of hours and keep learning the game. If I can make what I made last year I would definitely be happy, but I think i can do much better.


I decided to live in LA next month for most of the LAPC and some good live cash games. Also, I'm moving to Malta in March with some friends and am excited to play on some euro sites.


I've decided I wanted to take a break from making videos. When I first started making them I was always really excited and looked forward to making videos, but lately I cannot pull myself to do it. I feel pretty burned out and will be taking a break. I'm going to be crazy busy the next 2 months before I move!

ciao
ben

Last few weeks have been really busy. I've hired an interior designer to help make my place look a bit nicer. So far it's working out well and the place is definitely going to look a lot nicer than it is with all white walls, so plain.

A friend I studied with in Sweden came to visit for a couple days while he was on a road trip with his brother. I visited him earlier this year after doing ept's and had a blast. He lives on the Spanish island Mallorca, right next to the party capital of the world, Ibiza.

2 poker friends who I've lived with in Buenos Aires are coming to Milwaukee in a week or so. We are going to spend a day in Chicago, most of the week in Milwaukee, and to Madison for Halloween. After a week of partying and grinding, were headed back to Buenos Aires to visit friends, go to Creamfields (huge electronica festival), see a Boca game, and party. I'll be there about 10 days and I can't wait, especially since it's starting to get cold here in Wisconsin, it's awesome to go to Argentina where its summer.

Poker has been going great, I've already logged about 40k hands this month. It's so nice to be at my own place with my own bed and office. The one reason I hate traveling is because I hate playing on a little laptop with an uncomfortable chair. Just the thought of this tilts me. I should be able to keep putting in a lot of hands at the highest stakes for the rest of the year while I am at home. I'm close to reaching my 1mil on the year goal, and if I keep putting in hands I should be able to crush that goal.

I've been thinking a lot about the last 2 years because a lot of my friends here in Milwaukee haven't really seen me much since I've been so busy traveling. I think it was the best experience in my life. Studying in Sweden with a bunch of international friends was not only fun, but life changing. Then after seeing that side of the world and going to Argentina, it put even more things in perspective. I lived with other poker players and friends from Sweden, Canada, US, and Argentina; this really emphasized the fact that everyone is different in this world, every culture is different, every person is different, and you really need to understand these differences before you can really understand that person. I can't wait to go back and see BA and all my friends, I'm really excited.

I'm probably moving to Malta, near Sicily early sometime next year with a group of friends that I've lived with in Argentina. I'm really excited to go back to Europe and be able to travel and learn about the world. It's so easy to travel there and it's not like the US where you'd have to hop on a long plane ride to go to another country. You can just hop in a car and go to many different countries, much cheaper and faster.

Back to the grind
-ben

I apologize for not updating my blog as frequently as I have before, but have been very busy. I'm finally moved in to my new condo and have been using this as an excuse to play as little as possible. I've been finding that I'm routinely making excuses for not playing poker, maybe it's because I am getting bored with it, or maybe I'm overwhelmed by having so many useless errands to run, I'm not sure.

I'm also at a point in poker where I don't know how I want to budget my playing time. I think I will play more 5/10 and 10/20 6m and the few 25/50 games that run. I used to play about 2x as many hands as I have lately. It's so much harder to put in a lot of hands at higher limits and at the moment I don't feel I'm playing as well as I was earlier this year. Whether a lack of motivation or just too many distractions to blame, I'm not sure which. Either way, I need to get my ass in gear.

I've been toying around with omaha and so far I like it a lot. I enjoy the faster pace and more action. It seems more interesting than NL at the moment.

I'll probably be living in Milwaukee until early next year, then hopefully move to Malta with some poker friends. I really like my new condo, 18th floor, 2 balconies, 3br 3 bath, amazing view. I think I got the best deal on the market and this is the time to invest in real estate. I never really realized how big of a pain in the ass it is to have to buy new furniture, plates, towels, and the hundreds of small things I would have never thought of. That said, I am so relieved to finally be living here and have internet and cable and ready to grind. Now I just have to do it.

So its back to the grind for me. It's been a good 1+ months since I really grinded and now I feel lazy!

I just made about 3 videos that should be put up pretty soon. I hope you guys enjoy them, I played a pretty aggressive game and got into a lot of interesting spots.

Finally back home in Wisconsin. It's really nice to be back, however I had a really good time in Vegas. It was great meeting a lot of people, playing a lot of poker, and I loved the nightlife. I'm actually thinking about buying a house in Vegas, but that probably won't be for awhile yet, as I am trying to buy a condo here in Milwaukee first.

My car's audio decided to just stop working BEFORE I made the drive. Somehow I ghetto-rigged my speakers and an ipod with like 1/5 of the battery. We used this ipod (without charging it) for like 20 hours straight. It finally died about an hour before I got home. I have no idea how this is possible. i have never had an ipod that could even last a full charge for that long. Anyways, the drive home went smooth, had a friend fly down to help me out with the drive. I ended up getting home at like 330am yesterday morning. I had way too much coffee and I couldn't sleep when I got home and ended up staying up until noon when finally I crashed. Somehow I was on like 60 hours with 4 hours of sleep or something.

I've been very productive in the short time I've been home, but seem to be running bad (in all things). My bank is being retarded once again and has taken over a MONTH to get me a new check card, after I asked for it to be expedited. This is really really irritating when it is my only card. So I went to the bank 10 minutes after it opened, waited 20 minutes in line, and the lady asks 'when did you request a new card?'. I'm like, 'actually it's been over a month ago'. Then she tilted on me because she said 'actually' didn't work for her. I'm the one who gets screwed over by my bank and I get treated like ****? Finally she sees my checking account balance and she started acting real nice. It's annoying always being treated like crap in situations like this just because I'm young. Looks like it's time to get a new bank because I've had a ton of problems with mine and I'm done with it. (end bank rant)

I took my car in to get it's audio fixed and it's all under warranty so I'm happy about that, however it's going to be a week Poker has been going well lately. Swingy, but well. Vegas went something like, run at 41% w$@sd for 35k hands breaking even. Then all of a sudden a 250k weekend. Cool. Get home, play a bit and I'm back to 37% w@sd for 2k hands and stuck 40k. I think I have been so swingy lately because I've been playing more HU and very short games. I've been really happy with my very short game, but haven't played 6max as much just because there are so few games running at 25/50 +. I'm hoping to put in another 20k hands this month. I'm very against setting monetary goals now because I think it's bad for my game. I never think of how much I'm up or down on the day, and usually don't check my cashier or PT until after the session, and I really don't want to start. I just want 20k hands of 25/50+ on my A game, and that is all I can ever aim for.

I'm actually going to miss lollapalooza this year I'll be going on a cruise with my family in early-mid August. Too bad because the lineup looked amazing. I'd recommend checking it out if you can make it to Chicago.

I'm not really sure what I am going to do the next 6-12 months+. I'll probably be staying in Wisconsin until it gets cold, then move to another country again, but haven't really narrowed it down yet.

The next few months I should be back on the grind. I'm hoping to crush my yearly goal of $1mil and am on pace so far. I want to put in a lot more hands the next 6 months, keep working out and eating well, and am looking forward to buying a condo (really excited about this, it's fun).

I'm sure you all have heard all the Favre rumors floating around. Brett seriously can't make up his mind for the life of him. His indecisiveness for the last 5 years is almost comical. Doesn't seem like Packers are going to let him go and are actually pursuing legal action against the Vikings for trying to Favre about playing while he was under contract. It will be really interesting to see what happens with this. I love Favre (obviously, I'm from WI), but I would HAAAAAAATE to see him playing in a Bears or, even worse, a Vikings uniform.

Looks like I've written my first book.

Ben

Vegas has been great so far. The drive here took just short of 27 hours and it actually wasn't that bad at all. My friend from back home drove down with me so it went by pretty fast. Was really fun driving through the mountains in Colorado.

The first week here I really didn't play much poker because I had another friend visiting from San Diego. Pretty much spent the first week exploring vegas, going to cirque du soleil, golfing, working out, grilling, going out, and hitting up a couple sushi restaurants. I've also gotten way too good at fifa for ps3. It's a sick game, especially when you have competitive roomates.

Cirque du Soleil was awesome. I saw love and ka and each were well worth it. I'm looking forward to seeing O sometime this week. Last night me and my housemates went to Body English and we had a blast. I really like going out with my housemates because we all know each other from Argentina and always have a good time going out. Too bad most of us aren't here for that long. I liked Body English a lot better than Pure. The setup, music, and crowd just seemed way better. I'll try to get some pictures up once I get them off my friends computer. I'm starting to realize how crazy vegas is after talking with different random people here. I've met some characters.

I've gotten back into gym mode and have been going there about 4 days each week. There's a really nice one by our house thats open 24/7 and has a ton of free weights and machines. It's so easy to work out when its open all the time, next to your house, and you really like the gym.

I also got to meet a lot of leggo people at Greg's party. I haven't met anyone from leggo ever, so it was pretty cool to finally see everyone. It was funny because right when I walked in the door I could pick out Greg and Aaron's voices. I had a really good time and it was nice to meet some of you there!

I'm thinking about doing a multi-part video series for my next videos. I think it's really important to show how to adjust to certain opponents and make plays based on game flow. I'm actually looking forward to doing this.

As for poker, I've put in a little over 30k hands here. Wasn't running the best as my w$sd was around 43% during these hands. I have no idea how I am up in those 30k hands because it was sick. I obviously don't like running bad but it's nice to really talk over hands, review sessions, and cut down on tables just to kind of keep myself in check that I am playing the best I can. I'm going to try to grind out another 25-35k hands while I'm here.

Wish me luck in the main,
Ben

I kind of have a forced poker break right now, which is good and bad. I had a computer guy come to my house 2 times to re-install my motherboard in my laptop that I use with my 30" (my poker computer). He didn't fix anything at all so now I have to mail it in to get it fixed. I am really annoyed by this because now I can't really play poker So much for getting in a lot of hands at home! Now I really really want to play!

Kind of nice to have a break though. Been hanging out with a lot of friends and family, spending some money, working out, running, and working on my golf game.

I bought a new set of golf clubs a couple days ago. Nike irons and Big Bertha driver. I don't play that much golf, maybe 5x a year the last few years, but will be playing a lot more in the future. Golf is extremely relaxing and I really enjoy it. I got a hybrid iron, which I had never actually even heard of before (man I'm a golf fish). I used it today and it was great. Totally replacing my long irons. Easy to hit as well. If any of you golf, I would def. recommend getting one.

I also went down to Chicago yesterday to go look at a car and I'm sold on it. I've always loved cars and decided to buy a used '05 M3 with like 25k miles on it. I couldn't be happier and I really really love this car. I pick it up tomorrow and am really excited to drive it home. It has some serious balls, looks great, and I don't feel like I really wasted money since it's not brand new or anything I couldn't drive regularly.

Here are a couple pics...






I'm going to be driving down to Vegas probably around the 7th to 10th (if I get my computer back in time, fingers crossed). It will be a long drive from Milwaukee, but I really want to have a car there and also bring a lot of stuff for the house. (computer chair, monitor, golf clubs, etc) I would never be able to fly with all that, especially now that they charge you just for your FIRST bag...WTF!! I'm really looking forward to doing a lot of golfing in vegas.

That's it for now, thanks for reading.

-Ben

Finally got back home a few days ago. The flight was actually pretty good, even though I had 2 middle seats on both my flights. From BA to Miami, there was a woman with a baby next to me. She put her baby in something like a car-seat and the baby was directly to my left. I ended up falling asleep on the baby and woke up to a lady yelling at me and punching my shoulder. Hard to sleep in middle seats!

Right when I got home I set my computer up to my 30" to get ready for a week of grinding. However, I wake up the next morning and my computer is dead. The adapter worked, but it wouldn't charge my computer. I called dell and they said I needed a new motherboard. (This computer is like 6 months old). Oh well. They shipped the motherboard to the repair-guy they contract through. I was pretty happy that within 2 days the guy was at the house ready to fix my computer. However, he recieved a dead-on-arrival motherboard so I need to probably wait another 3 days to a fking week as;dlkfja;sdlfjk.

I guess I should be happy that my computer waited until I got back to the US to break. I would have been screwed if this happened while in BA. Anyways, the last few days I have just been working out and chilling with friends. A week vacation from poker, which is OK. I cashed out a bunch from stars/ftp and am now car shopping, hopefully for a slightly used M3. Will definitely post pics when I get it!

The beginning of this month was great for poker and everything else. It still is, but had a few frustrating shots at nosebleeds. Was up about 125k within a few days but afterwards I took some shots at 100/200 and 200/400 (which I definitely do not regret). Frustrating to run bad at those limits. Set over set for 90k, QQ to JJ aipf for 90k, and flush allin turn vs AAs and river 4 to a flush, shipping away another 100k pot. All I can do is play my best and get the money in good vs my opponents range, and thats what I consider winning at poker.

The point of this isn't for me to complain, because I really don't believe complaining about bad beats is ever productive, and most often the opposite, quite destructive. The point of this is to illustrate that we all run bad at times of course, but it's how you handle running bad that really separates the weak and the strong in this game. I really didn't care at all when I lost those pots because thats the risk you take taking shots and being a poker player, but if your +ev and have an edge you really can't be upset about anything. Getting upset only lowers your winrate and makes you a worse player, its very simple.

Anyways, I am extremely motivated to finish this month strong (still having a good month and can't complain). I've already played about 20k hands and would really like to play another 20k or 30k hands before this month ends and book another solid winning month.

I'm thinking about buying a new car and would also like to start condo-shopping when I get home. I haven't spend any of my winnings and would really like to enjoy some of the money I've been making. Also, I kind of miss having a 'home base'. After traveling so much I never have really my own place because I am always changing apartments and moving.

Life has been good and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I'll certainly miss BA and my friends here when I'm back in the states. I'll make sure to post an update then!

-Ben

I just got back into Buenos Aires last night. I was in Mallorca and Las Canarias visiting some friends that I studied with abroad in Sweden. It was an amazing time, and it really sucks that I didn't stay there longer. My friends were so hospitable and showed me all around the island. It was my first time seeing black sand and a natural ocean pool. Las Palmas (the island I was at) was amazing. I never knew an island could be so incredibly diverse. On the beach I looked behind me to see huge sand dunes, mountains, and volcanoes. The center of the island was the most mountainous with villages throughout it. It was great seeing my friends there as well because I hadn't seen them in about a year.

I'm back in BA for a couple weeks, then back home to see family and friends for a couple weeks before Vegas. I'll be in Vegas the first of June to mid-July, hopefully we can organize a leggo meet up. I'm also really really looking forward to lollapalooza this year, the lineup is just unbelievable. It's the first week of August if anyone is interested. The last 2 years have been amazing.

Poker is going absolutely amazing. I had 2% of the 3rd place winner for Monte Carlo, which gave me a nice 34k bonus. Also I played about 20-25k hands of cash and ended up somewhere around 275k. (Unfortunately I only have about half of that on PT since I am having trouble importing from other sites.)

I just got done with my first session this month and it's nice to be playing again after a 1-2 week break from playing. I ran sick hot today and am up about 85k on the day already. I am back in grinding mode and looking forward to putting in some hands this month, unlike the last 2 months which I have only played like 60k hands total. I'm nearing in on my 1mil goal for the year already. Hopefully by the end of Vegas I will have hit it.

I'll be making 3 videos this month and am excited to get those started. It's been really hard making them since the last 1.5 months I have been traveling so much.

That's all for now,
Ben

I busted early from San Remo. I had a pretty aggressive image postflop on my table and got 56s allin on a K56cc flop to an under the gun raise from a nit. Somehow he showed up with K5, gg me.

San Remo the city was kind of boring so right after I busted out I took a train to Florence, Italy, where I've been for the last week. Been pretty relaxing here and I've been able to grind some. Once again, I'm having a great start to the month, up about 100k in not many hands. I've had some good HU matches and have been playing my best poker.

Also, been hanging out with skier_5 and sauce123 here and we have had a great week. Lots of poker talk too, and I think all of us have learned a lot.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Monte Carlo. It will be a long day but will be nice to see my college roomate who I haven't seen for awhile. I'll be rooming with him at Monte Carlo. I'm definitely going to try to help him with his poker game. I really like teaching people and having them sweat me because it really helps myself play better and think more clearly, as well.

I'm still having problems with moneybookers and don't think I will be playing on these euro sites for quite some time again. Hopefully after WSOP. I'm also thinking of relocating to a different country, but really have not decided yet.

I saw some comments on my last entry about Buenos Aires, Argentina. It's a great city, and all of the information you could want can be found here:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=724

Looking forward to meeting some of you at Monte Carlo and in Vegas.

suerte,
Ben