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I always wanted to travel. I love seeing new places, having fun and crazy adventures, taking pictures, singing. I call it making memories. i had my first chance this January. I was playing in a tournament. I can't remember which one it was, but during one of the breaks, Kenna James told me that I had to go to the Aussie Millions. Here I'm thinking: Whoa, Australia. I've never been there! And I remember in 6th grad I did a report with one of my girlfriends on endangered species in Australia (I did most of the work). Our presentation received an A++; and because the teacher thought it was so good, she put us on one of the local channels in Michigan City, Indiana. The song "This Land is Your Land" was played at the end of our presentation.
So… Australia. It was fate that I ended up there. almost didn’t go because I was having a hard time and I thought it would be really expensive. It expensive, but I got a discount and Kenna extremely convincing. He said I’ll have the time of my life there. So, okay. This was my secondlongest fl ight ever, but I fl ew business class and it wasn’t so bad. I fl ew into Sidney (soooo pretty) for a brief stop and from there to Melbourne. I was given eight nights free! I was treated like a princess, hanging out with the hottest girls with cute Nicole Kidman accents… it was heaven. On top of that, I had a pretty nice run in Australia, fi nal-tabling two preliminary events. I did not win either one, but cashed about 30k. That’s a lot to me and I was satisfi ed with it. All I can say is that I’ll try to do better next time.
Since I’ve been back to the States, poker has gone downhill for me. All I do is lose, and what I win I usually give back either by playing tournaments or cash games. Tournaments are tough. Dan Harrington said that you have to play for 500 years to break even on tournaments. Only the really good and really wealthy can afford to play tournaments all the time. Tournaments are so different from cash games. Cash games you can play for a million years if you have a lot of money or live that long. You can rebuy until you have none… and even after you have none you can get a credit or steal. Whatever fl oats your boat. But in tournaments — even with rebuys — at some point they end. Whoever wins gets a ginormous pat in the back. And of course the trophy and the money.
A friend told me that tournaments are hard because only the select few are able to play so many. NO one has that much money to gamble with (to straight buy into tournaments) — unless you’re Barry Greenstein, Phil Ivey (and his horses), Ted Forrest, Jennifer Harman, movie stars, or millionaires. It is possible to go dry in twenty tournaments in a row, to quote my friend Mike Landers.
I’m one of those who’s been given the opportunity to play in a lot of tournaments. After Australia I played in Borgata, Rincon WSOP 5k event, LA Poker Classic, Bay 101, and Wynn Classic. So in the course of two months, I played fi ve tournaments. Most people are only able to play fi ve to six a year. Bay 101 was a bad beat. Life bad beat… just kidding. I played like a dummy the fi rst day, short-stacking myself almost immediately, and ended the day not so impressive.
Coming into the second day I was pumped. I felt like I could wait it out a little and try to be patient, hopefully get a big pair and double up. I got K-K in the small blind with 13.5k, blinds 500/1000, 100 ante. Under-the-gun raises, secondposition reraises, and third position made it 20k total. I felt like I needed to get really lucky to win this pot with K-K!
It folds to the guy who put in fi rst reraise. He calls. Flop comes Q-x-x. They both check. Jack comes on the turn. Immediately the fi rst guy goes all in for about 15k. Other guy calls, and here I was already packing up. Someone has got to have Q-Q or J-J or A-A. First guy turns over 6-6; other guy turns over 3-3; I triple up. I run my stack to about 150k by the dinner break, but make a donkey call right after the dinner break and end Day 2 with 91k. I busto Day 3 in 30th place, running Q-Q to A-Q.
nice crazy man. Almost like my twin. I swear we think alike. Great start to a beautiful friendship. We made frozen pizza one night and almost burned down the hotel. But Ted really liked the burnt crust. I’m a pokah playah! I don’t know how to cook anymore or buy my own groceries or how to drive. I’m lazy. Or I can also look at it in a positive way. I could save time by paying someone else to do stuff for me while I play online. I know a couple of online pros who have live-in maids so they can sit in front of the computer. I have friends and we help each other out, although I am more of the slacker and the most frivolous with money. Poker players are really a spoiled bunch…
I just busted out of the Wynn Classic. I felt like I had an unlucky table draw. Erik Seidel was to my left, Mike Sexton was across from me, and Toto Leonidas was to my right. I was card dead, and every time I tried to make a play I either got reraised or check-raised. Ick! I made a stupid mistake early and short-stacked myself: I misread my chips. I had meant to call 500, but I threw in a 5000 chip and two 100 chips. I over-check-raised the pot on the river with middle pair when the board paired. I tried to play it off like I had a full house, but he had the nut straight. Ooopsies! I was short-stacked the whole time and busted out with 10-10 vs. K-K. GG me…
I’m on a major downswing. To stay sane, I took some days off from poker to do fun things with old friends and meet new friends. I went to the beach, went sightseeing in Mexico, saw Red Rock Canyon, and did a little drinking and clubbing. I can say for the fi rst time since my win at the Bellagio, April 2007 that I am happy. I am happy on my downswing. But I’ve gained a lot. I’ve gained some really good friends and people I know I can trust — for the fi rst time in my life. Maybe I even got a little wiser about life. Who knows? The only reason we exist is to live. What is greater than living? So even though I’m on my worse luck ever — getting one-outed twice in one week, getting sick, still don’t know how to drive — I am smiling because I know good things come to those who are persistent.
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