template change

I was getting bored with the look of my blog and decided to change it up a bit. I don't really like most of the one's that blogger.com has to offer. This is at least a change from what it has been and is at least decent.

I finally got around to getting a safe deposit box. They only had the smallest one's available but oh well. It will do for now. I can always get a second one if I need it.

Grinded 170+ sngs today and make a little over $1k. It was such a grind though. I don't know why I was so tired and unfocused but I was having such a hard time concentrating. My eyes were hurting and my throat hurt. I felt like I was for sure coming down with a cold but right now I feel fine.

The guy from my office that I went to Vegas with talked to me today about renting out a pretty decent sized office space in the building we both rent from. Apparently it is just in a bad location and so no one is renting it. It's like the cost of my little office and is large enough to put a bunch of desks in and stuff. We could rent it out or use it ourselves. Either way we'd save money.

He also brought up the idea of using the space to start a poker school. I think I finally have the credentials to actually start one if I were interested. Obviously I have the sng credentials as I have played like 45,000 sng's and have made over $70k in them. My mtt game is coming along nicely and I definitely could teach them as well, at least in my opinion. Recently I finished in 76th in the Sunday Million for $2k, won the Second Chance for $47.5k, took 5th in a $109 for $2k and took 4th in the $55^3 for $5.8k

Before that little spurt of scores I just didn't really play mtt's. I didn't have the time and I like the consistent income I am practically guaranteed from sng's. My OPR now shows $125k profit and I am in the 99.99 percentile for the last 120 days on PokerStars and in the 99.98 percentile for 2009.

There are so many details I would have to iron out and so many things I'd have to weight and consider before doing something like this. But, it is an interesting idea nonetheless.

another deep run

Played a full Sunday schedule. Probably played upwards of 40 tournaments. I took some terrible beats early on in my session and I think that put me in a little bit of a funk. I was less focused and definitely misplayed a lot of spots. In the Sunday 500 on Stars I got it all in for like 50bb's btn v sb with TT. I don't know how bad or not bad that is. Guy had KK. I raised the button, he 3bet, and I shoved.

Got like 34th or something in a $75 on Full Tilt which was pretty disappointing. I misplayed a huge pot. Well, I don't know how bad it is. I really don't know exactly how good or bad I am at mtt's I guess. I raised from mp with 66. Guy flats me. 883 flop. I bet, he snap shoves, I call, he has 99. If I had folded after my cbet I would have had 25 bb's. In retrospect I just don't see myself being ahead here very often. He isn't snap shoving Ax and I don't think there was a flush draw out. I think I can find a fold here. I wasn't happy with my snap call.

Finished 4th in the $55^3 on Stars for $5.8k or so. I haven't totaled everything but I am guessing I just over doubled my $3k Sunday BAP. I had requested a bankroll of $3k to play the bigger buy-in Sunday tournaments. I ended up losing a huge pot 4 handed with JJ to AA. Pretty sick cooler.

It's a tad frustrating to keep getting crushed in my mtt BAP and do well two weeks in a row for my high risk BAPs but I guess that is just how it goes. That's poker.

back to the grind

Got back to the grind today. Played sngs for like 6hrs and made $900. It's nice adding in the $60/45mans and the $36/180mans. I don't need to play as many games since my $/gm will increase by adding these. Variance will increase but I am staked to play these games, I have $10k to work with, and emotionally I am definitely at a point where I can handle the swings.

I went and saw DeAngelo and then came back to the apartment to play a night of mtt's. Got 5th in the $109 turbo for $2k. QQ lost to AJ. Meh that's poker.

It felt good to get back to the grind. I watched the E:60 Phil Ivey over and over while grinding. Ivey talking about playing 16-18hour days and Howard Lederer talking about his, "desperate need to be the best" really gets my juices flowing. I get amped to play. It keeps me focused and hungry.

The live coverage of the main event final table was tonight. I missed the beginning so I chose not to watch any of it. I want to watch it from beginning to end.

Tomorrow I am playing a full Sunday schedule of mtt's. Staked to play like $3k worth of larger buy-in tournaments plus the small ones for my mtt BAP. Will probably be upwards of $5k in buy-ins. I'm pumped and super confident. I have cashed in like one Full Tilt tournament this month so I'm gonna go ahead and predict that my next big finish comes on Full Tilt. Hopefully in tomorrow's $322 FTOPS event!

3^3

I'm up playing the most painful tournament ever. I don't know why I entered a $3^3 (1 rebuy + 1 add on) where the add on is 6,000 chips. I busted out of all my other tournaments like two hours ago and would love to go to bed but I'm a moron and registered for this stupid tournament. Seriously first place is like $1.4k. This just isn't worth my time. I'm more than likely going to min cash and end up going to bed down a few hundred regardless. I'm just losing much needed sleep.

I got in at like 11pm tonight from Orlando. It actually felt good to feel the cool brisk air here in Boston. I've been pretty uncomfortable walking around all day in the heat. Maybe I have just become acclimated with the Boston weather. Either way I am glad to be back. I mean in a way I feel sad. I feel like I didn't enjoy Disney as much as I should have. When I think back on the trip, I kind of regret not just putting my phone away and totally relaxing and having fun. I feel like the entire time I was doing something poker related on my phone.

And as I write this at 4:15am, I just busted the $3^3 in sick fashion. Can anyone tell me wtf is going on in this hand?

PokerStars Game #35027211934: Tournament #208702972, $3.00+$0.30 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XXIV (1500/3000) - 2009/11/07 4:13:30 ET

Table '208702972 63' 9-max Seat #4 is the button

Seat 1: Mondogarage (188070 in chips)

Seat 2: budziha (73561 in chips)

Seat 3: Armstrong3 (80131 in chips)

Seat 4: lootz11 (126248 in chips)

Seat 5: anthony8484 (25798 in chips)

Seat 6: TulsaTrent (82224 in chips)

Seat 7: msusyr24 (47540 in chips)

Seat 8: bigun339 (97361 in chips)

Seat 9: PersianSultn (210262 in chips)

Mondogarage: posts the ante 375

budziha: posts the ante 375

Armstrong3: posts the ante 375

lootz11: posts the ante 375

anthony8484: posts the ante 375

TulsaTrent: posts the ante 375

msusyr24: posts the ante 375

bigun339: posts the ante 375

PersianSultn: posts the ante 375

anthony8484: posts small blind 1500

TulsaTrent: posts big blind 3000

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to msusyr24 [Ts As]

msusyr24: raises 44165 to 47165 and is all-in

bigun339: folds

PersianSultn: folds

Mondogarage: folds

budziha: folds

Armstrong3: folds

lootz11: folds

anthony8484: folds

TulsaTrent: calls 44165

*** FLOP *** [4d 9d 7d]

*** TURN *** [4d 9d 7d] [7c]

*** RIVER *** [4d 9d 7d 7c] [8d]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

TulsaTrent: shows [5h 7s] (three of a kind, Sevens)

msusyr24: shows [Ts As] (a pair of Sevens)

TulsaTrent collected 99205 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 99205 | Rake 0

Board [4d 9d 7d 7c 8d]

Seat 1: Mondogarage folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 2: budziha folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 3: Armstrong3 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 4: lootz11 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 5: anthony8484 (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 6: TulsaTrent (big blind) showed [5h 7s] and won (99205) with three of a kind, Sevens

Seat 7: msusyr24 showed [Ts As] and lost with a pair of Sevens

Seat 8: bigun339 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 9: PersianSultn folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Okay now I can go to bed. Gnite.

greatness

Phil Ivey is the fucking man.

http://espn.go.com/espn/e60/index

He makes me want to continue to work my ass off and become great. That coupled with my recent score really has my confidence and determination at an all-time high.

As soon as I get back to Mass and back to the grind I know I am going to absolutely crush. I'm going to grind sngs for 6-8 hours each day and then play mtt's/study at night.

I'm calling it right now. The next six months are going to be absolutely insane.

I also really want to play more live events. Hopefully this recent win will allow me to sell out some BAPs for larger, higher risk events that though they are high risk, I am certainly +ev in.

At times I have worried about my social life. I'm already introverted and I spend so much time playing poker that I tend to put my social life on not only the back burner but I sometimes just cut it out all together. I'm not so worried about it anymore. When you hear about the success stories of those who make it to the top, you almost always hear about them working long hours and struggling. You don't hear about them kind of working and then going out and having a good time. Those are the average players you never end up hearing about.

Now one of my goals I had written down previously was to contact more of my friends and family on a regular basis. I don't plan on forgetting this goal, I simply just don't care if I am going out drinking and doing things that normal 21 year old's are doing. I still want my friends and really love hanging out with them and rely on them for all sorts of things but I'm just not too concerned about going out. I used to think it was some sort of equilibrium I would have to eventually reach where I balanced poker with a social life. I stressed about this a lot because I was so worried about looking back in ten years and thinking I wasted my life. Well if I look back in ten years and am not very successful then maybe I will have wasted those years. But I refuse to let that happen. I am going to look back in ten years and be ultra successful with all the world's options open to me. My relationships will also be much improved. There's no need to worry. I know what I want to do now.

the tipping point

Maybe things do happen for a reason. It's interesting to think that had I done a tad better and broken even, or a tad worse and not had enough money to play more than a couple Sunday Majors, I never would have played in the Second Chance. Had my investors said they wanted me to just ship back money after Foxwoods I never would have played. I had been talking to my sister about coming down to Clemson Saturday night, and again had I done that I never would have played.

It's just weird to think how one little event can change the course of so many future events. Example of the tipping point I suppose.

dozing off

I'm in Orland, FL. Got like an hour of sleep last night and spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. I can't go to sleep. The Domino's delivery guy will be here in 45 minutes. At our resort everything is closed. The restaurants, bars, the gift store. No room service. Kind of irritating. I am so unbelievably tired but equally as hungry. I really need to eat.

PokerStars called me at 1am today to verify some of my transfers. Their support truly is fantastic though. The lady I talked to was super nice and even took care of some cashout questions and processing questions that I was sure I'd have to answer in the next couple days with my recent withdrawal. Still weird to get a call at 1am when they are very capable of seeing what timezone I am in and doing the math.

I don't know if this is weird but I haven't told too many people about the win. No one in my family even knows. When my mom wakes up at 5am and works her ass off, it makes me feel bad in a way. To call and say hey I am 21 and played in a poker tournament and shipped $47k in a night. Even making $20k in September is something I kept to myself for the most part. A lot of my friends struggle with money since they are broke college kids and it's just weird mentioning the kind of money I am making. I want to tell my friends and family but I think it just comes off as bragging and it makes me look like an asshole. "Hey look at me I played a game on a computer and won $47k." Maybe I am over analyzing this just as I do with everything. Meh I don't know.

I want to keep typing because I need to stay awake but I just have nothing to say right now. I am practically delirious.