Hey guys! I'm heading to Rome in about 2 weeks with the girl, will be staying there but traveling throughout Italy! Anybody has any experience staying/visiting there before? Any travel info or tips or recommendations are welcome! Even if you haven't been there, but heard of interesting place/restaurants/tours we should go...please FEEL FREE to leave lots of comments! Thanks for all the help and keep running good at the poker tables cause I know I have so far this year:)

Alex

I just finished writing a 20 page paper for one of my class and it was pure hell! On the poker front, I been studying every single day with books and videos whenever I have spare time...sometimes at a starbucks or at a local Barnes and Noble or even at home if I can avoid being distracted by my tv and computer. I also finally put down my part of the money for the "house/mansion" my friends are renting over the summer during the WSOP in Vegas. The size of the place is absurd with 7 1/2 bedrooms...pool table...swimming pool...jacuzzi..and a fireplace in the master bedroom! I'm so looking forward to staying there for at least a week and maybe play 1 or 2 events that are around the $1500 or $2000 range...those events will probably be PLO and 7-card Stud. Also one of my best friend is planning to move to Vegas to being her "professional" poker career...she came back from Vegas couple days ago and got to hang out with the likes of Kenna James and Kathy Libert by staying with them too....with Kenna offering to help improve her tournament game if she moved down there. I do believe she is in loved with Kenna and wants to make the relationship work. This is very sad for me in the way that she is moving away as I have gotten to know her very well over the past year playing poker, talking about life issues/advice, traveling around, and having fun...basically one of my best friend who is a girl. But this is her dream come true as she always wanted to take a shot at being a professional poker player and not working a 9-5 job that makes her unhappy and unfullfilled in life. While it is sad she is moving away to the West Coast...I only wish her the best in everything she does out there and will continue to support her if she ever needed help! Plus it's not like in another country...it's in Vegas and I could always fly down there to visit her and have fun at the same time...LOL!

On a serious note, I also started to play 1-2 tournaments for the last 2 days and hope to continue the trend till FTOPS and the WSOP starts. I been playing the "Daily Doubles' and the "Fifty-Fifty", by playing everyday and studying books/videos too...I hope to improve my tournament game at an astonishing rate in about a month or two...obviously it takes more time..but pretty sure my tournament game will be alot different in that amount of time by playing everyday. Until then...good luck at the tables and keep soul-crushing the fishes!

So ya...as the title above mentioned..I was robbed at a poker game I hosted a game this past Wednesday night...it was the most retarded shit ever. This was the second time it happened, the first time while I was playing in a high-stakes limit cash game about 3 years ago. I was so pissed off when it occurred. My thoughts was something along the line like "here I go again" as I knew the drill...the robbers said "get on the ground"..."be still"..."be silent" as they emptied our pockets. At this point, I was sorta immune to this kind of thing and not really afraid as I thought the robbers wanted just the cash from the game and not escalate the situation further (shooting somebody or roughing up people)..plus it was the 2nd time it happened to me. I personally about $3k in cash and additional $2k of the game money. We did call the police and they took our account/witness statements about what happened. So now I can only hope they catch the assholes who did this and put them in prison! God, when money is involved..people do some crazy shit and I'm not just talking about the general scumbags out on the street...I'm also talking about money between friends. As some people like to say..."money is the root of all evil"...I simply do not believe that statement...I mean when the topic of money comes up between friends, family, or between 2 people that knows each other...things just gets too complicated. When the other person ask for your help in times of need/crisis...sometimes it hard to say no if it does not jeopardize our own financial well being. I don't mean that if someone ask $5k for their mortgage payment , that I will automatically give it to them...maybe $1k here or $2k..but it adds up pretty quick overall. So I have decided to stop lending to anybody these days and focus on finishing college in about a month, starting up my poker game, and continue to practice my online tournament game for FTOPS.

I just finished moving all the furniture like the poker table, 12-13 chairs, 4 lamps, and etc out of the apartment and into a new location. Still have a few thing I have to move like the tv and one more chair...but everything else is already moved. Also have a "semi-date" tomorrow at the Washington DC Botanical Gardens with my ex-girlfriend as I have not spend any quality time with her recently due to a combination of school, work, poker, and the robbery. I actually was on tilt for the last several days that I accidentally yelled at her over the phone when she was trying to make me feel better/looking out for me after the robbery...guess I took out my anger/tiltness on her. But I'm trying to make it up by bringing her to the DC garden as she had told me a month ago that she would like to go check the flower exhibits and buying her lunch right after. Oh well, that is all folks...if you managed this far into the blog...thanks for reading and hearing my vent..LOL...and good luck at the tables unless you are playing against me!

P.S.- I just bought a new wireless security cameras setup for my new poker game, while I'm not foolish to believe it will stop everything ...it is an important layer to the security of the game!

Well...it happened again...11 days have past since my last blog. It seems to take some discipline to keep blogging everyday..something I apparently don't have..lol. But I am going to try blog either every day or every other day. Yesterday, I was woken around 11:30pm by a phone call by my ex to remind me that I promised to help with her parents Easter egg hunt...boiling eggs...painting them and hiding it around their vast backyards. Her folks house is one of three in the neighborhood that rotates annually between them to host the egg hunt where little kids from all over come for some Easter fun. In all honesty, I was not really into it because I was hungover from the previous night..but it was not much of a excuse cause she was also there with our friends. In fact, during our drunken haze..she decided to ask me to help her...giving me puppy eyes and her adorable smile..(Yes..I'm a sucker and women are the rake)..of course I couldn't resist. Anyway...after the call..I slept for another 30-40 minutes and jumped in the shower. Since I was in a rush to get there by 1pm...I didn't even have time to grab some quick breakfast. Once I got there at her folks house...I walked inside and into the kitchen/warzone...her mom was boiling 2 giant pot of eggs and my ex was busy painting them at the breakfast table. I sat down next to her and she gave me a smile and a sarcastic remark "nice for you to join us"...more so because I was late. I smiled right back at her and grab the nearest brush...rapidly painting other eggs that needed to be paint. After all the eggs were done...we both started to scatter the easter eggs all around the backyard..which by the way is very big. Her folks from what I recalled did very well 3-4 years back in the stock market and managed to cashed out before the whole market crashed...so they got this nice house and a sizeable fortune stored away for their retirement. I know it sounds lame, but It was nice to spend some quality time with her outside of work and poker.

Anyways..this whole week I will be writing papers for 3 different classes cause I run bad in life...also I am studying CR videos non-stop and reading couple poker books like "The Poker Mindset" by Hilger and Taylor...which is a must read for any serious poker player. Finally...my friend Alicia arrived in Vegas today to do her thing, which is to learn from Mr. Kenna James and play several WSOP circuit events and hopefully strikes it big. I really have faith in her ability to either cash deep in one of the events or straight up win it....plus the money aspect of it would be really nice. I am staking her in it too because I seen how she done in the past and also want to help her realize the dream of being the 1st women to either win a non-ladies WSOP circuit, the WSOP main event, or a WPT event...which I know she is more than capable and just need more experience/playing more tournaments to have that breakthrough. One thing that does bother her is that she thinks I don't believe in her poker ability as such, when in fact I really believe everything she has told me so far about her goals. I don't think she read this blog...so it's safe to say..I try to keep her more grounded because whenever she falls short in the past...she takes it so hard on herself..which in turn makes me sad, while at the same time being so proud of her inside. I don't think I would ever admit this to her, but out of all my poker buddies and I know a few really good ones that play high-stakes cash or travel around the world playing major tournaments...none of them have impress me as much as her...just seeing her never giving up and also looking forward to the next tournament while constantly playing her A-game is just a sight to see! Well anyways...if you have gotten this far..thanks for reading and good luck at the tables...also good luck to Alicia in Vegas...hopefully...you do us both proud..Holla!!!

Lately, I don't know why or the reasons for it...could be a combination of staying in Maryland and not going to places outside of it, not going to A.C. since Jan 09' to play high-stakes poker, or having people (including my ex..sweet girl who probably has my best interests at heart) giving me life/poker advices even tho I don't think they are qualified to give...but maybe I'm wrong and just don't listen...but some people just f%#k#^g annoy the hell out of me! I mean they massive tilt me with their excuses or "stupid" explanations and most of the time I just smiled and respond in a calm voice back to them...even through I want to eloquently discuss the ways in which you tilt me in life and that they need to shut the "f$%k up" and stop sucking at life while making people around them miserable! I swear the god today...I wanted to snap at 4 different people...starting first with this idiotic guy at a coffee shop who probably has no life and just bother other people by peppering them with stupid questions. Now I'm not a mean person at all, I actually make a habit of going out of my way to make friendly conversation with people that I see on a regular basis like the baristas who makes my coffee and grab my pastries....friendly enough that they don't charge me sometimes:) Anyways, I sat down at a table near an electrical outlet for my laptop and begin doing school work followed by checking my e-mail and studying couple poker videos on CR. The guy who is always there at the coffee shop decided to strike up a conversation with me..which I respond in a friendly manner...exchanging the usual "how u been"..."what you been up too"...etc. After a solid 5 minutes of engaging in a pointless conversation...I turned around back to my laptop to focus on my work..while clearly telling the guy that I'm busy...as this point...he continues to blabber on about how the weather is nice today (it looked like it was about to rain and whatnot) and blah blah blah...I kept my back turned towards him...but nodded slowly in order not to be rude. But this guy wouldn't shut up and he finally taps me on my shoulder and ask me if I was listening...it took every ounce of my will not to scream at him and say "leave me the f**k alone and stop asking me if I was listening because I obviously was not listening with my Ipod earphones on my ear and my attention was focused on my laptop"

Then there was a bunch of people at my poker game who also decided that it was "Let's piss off Alex today with stupid caring questions". I had sat down at the game and played several hands differently while listening to my Ipod and paying close attention to the action each hand...this usually results in me having a serious expression. Anyways..I played couple hands like flush draws with a pair or limping alot more with strong hands in a way that would off balance my opponents...sometimes it works and sometimes it did not...plus I had several things about the poker game that weighted heavily on my mind..which resulted in me being "gloomy" on the inside..but still able to camouflage my exterior by being all smile and friendly to everybody at the game. So I had 2 players who ask me if everything is ok and that they notice I was out of my "game". They weren't that close friends of mine, more like clients still...but I appreciated their friendly attitude...so I smiled...tell them it was a long day or week so far and assured them that I was ok. So they proceed to say it again this time...outloud at the poker table when I played a flush draw less aggressively than I used too...they must something must be wrong with me and again I almost exploded and said "Thx for pointing out that I'm having a bad day even tho I just told u not 20 minutes ago that I was fine and that it was just a long day....Oh btw..u two are ***king douchebags"

Finally this 4th person....oh boy...if I ever started to begin an angry rant at this person...I seriously believe that I would not be able to stop screaming and telling them how much they suck at life and how they look at the world and poker in general...in a way that just boggles any serious poker player mind....anyways if you have gotten this far...thanks for hearing me vent and sorry about the lack of poker content for this entry! Until then, good luck at the tables!

Ya, I just realized how easy time flies when I put off blogging for a day or two..next thing I know..it's been 4-5 days since my last entry! So I missed out on the A.C. trip with my friends this past Saturday, wanted to go..but I had a helluva Friday night followed by some heavy drinking. On to Saturday morning, my friends were calling at 10am and kept on asking/pushing me to come along...but I was just so tired that I told them to head up without me. That night I took it easy, chill with some friends who were still in town and just call it an early night. Sunday, my friend Alicia left for L.A. to see her friend and a little R n R (lucky!) and I was in charge of running our $1-$3 no-limit game at the apartment and it was easily one of the most juiciest/sickest $1-$3 NL in awhile. There had to be around $4.5k on the table and everybody was in a gambling mood. Hell, one guy was stuck $2.3k in the game! I was up at one point $800, but towards the end of the night..I took 2 bad-beats that end up getting me stuck $160. The 1st beat was when everybody folded to the BTN and he raised it to $17 with "9-3o" and I called in the "BB" with 5-5. Flop comes 7c-Ac-2d and he cb $20 on it...now I thought he didn't had much and called (hindsight..I should have raised his cb)...anyways turn is 5s! I hit gin and I check-raised his $50 bet to $160....and he insta-shoved on me...I snap-called knowing that I was good and the river came "4h" giving him a straight! Then this hand come up, the BTN is now UTG and he raised it to $13...folds to me on the CO and I have A-A. I re-popped to $45 and the SB re-raised $75 on top making it $120 total...now the SB has been playing tight...I was pretty sure he had either K-K or Q-Q...so I decided to play this sneaky and I smooth-called with the intention of folding if any of those cards flopped. Well the flop comes 6d-Kd-Jc...he checks which confirmed my suspicion that he flopped a set of Kings...I checked..turn comes "Jd" and he comes out firing $70 with about $320 behind...now I called knowing that I have huge implied odds because if I hit my "A" on the river...I'm pretty sure I would be stacking him..(but I don't know if that play was correct)...anyways river blanks and he announced all-in and I folded (he shows his Kings full). I believed that it was the right play to try to trap, but it backfired on me this time...I could have re-raised his raise pre-flop...but given my loose image (as he mentioned after the hand)...he would have instant-shove against me and my loss would be larger!

Anyways, today I decide to concentrate on improving my tournament game in preparation for FTOPS XII on May 6th, I will be studying all the tourney videos on CR for the next couple weeks and also reading several books. Also going to play more online tournaments soon this coming week ranging from the $10 (Daily Doubles), $24+$2 (Various GTD), $50 (Fifty-Fifty), $69+$6 (GTDs and Sattys), and maybe a few $100 thrown in the mix. Hopefully, all this studying and practicing will improve my tourney game and give me an actual shot at making deep in several FTOPS events! Well, thanks for reading this if you guys got these far and good luck at the tables!

As the title says, I can still play poker. Which is surprising considering I haven't played any high-stakes "live" poker since January in Biloxi, Miss. This past Tuesday, I received a text from my friend that he was planning to play a limit game at a local homegame in downtown that runs once a week...so I said to myself...why not and I was pretty bored too. He text me with the stakes and what time it starts...they were playing $50-$100 limit mixed games (H.O.S.E.) and apparently it would be stock with crazy don't care about money types of people. I had to borrow $2k from my friend as most banks were closed by 5pm. I arrived at the game and it didn't disappoint me at all! I got there around 7pm and bought in for $3,500 in seat 1...my plan was to just play super-tight for the hour and switch it up during mid-course of the game. I managed to run up my initial stack all the way to a little above $7,600 over a 9 hour session...so I made about $4k...which is really good for me.

So this Saturday, I'm planning to head to Atlantic City for some serious grinding with some friends...we will probably will be staying at the Borgata or the Taj. Also I ask my ex if she wanted to come down too since she never been to A.C. before and I thought it would be nice to show her around...but as soon as I offered...I started to relized my mistake because if I'm only staying for the night..there wouldn't be much time taking her around A.C....shopping...dinner...drinks and playing poker all at the same time. As I asked her already, I really couldn't take it back and now I have to hope that she can't switch schedule with one of her employees (evil huh?) and hence can't make it on the trip with me. But it would be fun as there is some fun activities we can do and I would take her to the famous "Bobby Flays" restaurant for some good ol' lobster and steak dinner. Also one of my friend played in a charity poker tournament yesterday hosted by Mike Sexton for the "Paralyzed Veteran of America" down in Washington D.C....it was a $500 buy-in for a really good cause and she made it onto the final table before busting in 7th place out of 100 something ppl. She also impressed/got hit on by Kenna James that he gave her a business card and told her next time that she is in Vegas..he will give her some lesson and buy her dinner...nice hit for her.

Also great news today, couple of my poker buddies (Brandon, Jdawg, Eric, Daniel, and some others) are now confirmed to head to the 2009 WSOP and they sent me an e-mail today about renting a house off the strip for a month or two. The 2 houses they sent me for consideration was the same one couple of them used for the last year WSOP and they knew the owners of the place...so it means less paperwork and cash on spot equal less headache! So to offset the cost, we will probably have 6-7 people crashing at the place...which is ok considering all the links for each of the "mansions" have 6-7 bedrooms...swimming pool..pool table...tvs..etc and I think it would be a awesome experience to live with 6 other poker players for a month since I never done something like this before...imagine all the degeneracy...wild antics...prop bets and the immense poker knowledge contained under one roof...so sick! But I have to see if I really want to because I also want to bring a friend of mine down there because she wants to give it a shot at this year WSOP in couple tournaments and I probably will stake her if I continued to run/build-up my bankroll rapidly in the next 2 months.

Few links for the houses:
-http://www.rentalads.com/listings/17250/17428/house.htm
-http://www.rentalads.com/listings/25750/25825/house.htm
-http://www.rentvine.com/default.cfm?cs=416&action=detail&ad=35736
-

Oh well...at least I'm trying to be consistent in blogging...hope the rest of you guys are doing good at the poker tables! Ship It Holla!

Wow, so I noticed my last written blog was on Oct 26, 2008...god I'm so lazy! Be warned! There is a little emo stuff near the end of this blog...so if you just want to read about my poker life..skip the ending at the bottom! Anyways..since last October..I been to Las Vegas (1st time) with my friend Alicia and then back to Atlantic City with her for the Word Series of Poker Circuit Event during the month of December. I staked her in couple events and she managed to final table a $500 event and played pretty well before busting in 4th place for $10,920. So basically..I got half of her action and was overall pleased with how she performed in A.C.

Onto January 2009, I went with her down to Biloxi, Mississippi for about a week in time for the WPT Southern Poker Championship and staked her in events #9, #10 (this was her 1st PLO rebuy event ever and she wanted to have some fun...so I obliged and she got to play next to Erick Lindgren), #12 and a $1k mega-satellite to the WPT $10k ME. She played really well...even busted an FTP pro "J.J Liu", but unfortunately could not make anything happen. She did came close to getting a $10k seat in the $1k WPT satellite, alas she busted as the "bubble girl" in 16th place:( It was not all bad news, while she was grinding the tournaments and trying to make us rich, I played mostly pot-limit Omaha cash games in the casino. The action was so sick and plenty of "live" fishes at all the tables. At one $25-$25-$50 plo table..it was dominated by 3 online poker players (including me) and I managed to win about $6k-$7k while making new friends with the online guys...it was pretty bloody...we literally took the table by storm...one guy was up $14k and the other online dude was up probably $11k...ya this reinforced my belief that "live" players sucked..LOL! Then the next day, I won another $4-5k in some more omaha cash game. Towards the last day in Biloxi, I dropped $3k in a juicy plo game after my top set of kings could not hold off a flush draw after getting it all-in on the turn and he rivers the f#%k*%g diamond! So I can't really complain since I won about $9k...well more like a little above $3k after all the expenses...hotel, airfares, tournament buy-ins ($3,230), a $1k ring for my friend (don't ask me..more to just make her happy since she mentioned that she never owned a nice/expensive ring before and I was up around $10k during that time), and limo service from and to the Biloxi airport (don't ask why..again).

Trip Report
-Hotel, airfares, limo service: $1,720
-Tournament fees: $3,230
-David Yurman jewerly ring: $1,000

Total expenses: $5,950

-Winnings from cash games: $9,000 (approx/rounded)
-Winnings from staking: $0

Total profit: $9,000>>>>>Total overall profit: $3k

Onto March now, the first week I skipped town and went on a road trip with a friend to Orlando, Florida to Disney World and to Daytona Beach...overall it was a blast and something that I needed. So right now I been focusing on college (last semester), running the family business (3 Chinese restaurants), and operating a poker game. Also I recently decided to focus on working/studying my NLH, 7-card Stud, and PLO game again. I'm doing this because I realized that I been slacking off since August 08'...right around the time I started to relax and just enjoy my success from the previous months leading to August. Alot of my poker playing buddies even mentioned that I seemed to have lost my "edge/instinct" in poker and life-wise (which is a long story itself). That actually made me sad to hear my friends say that, I know they mean well...well most of them anyways, but it kinda threw me off track. Honestly, I'm hoping to go back to the way things were about 8 months ago and become a force to reckon with in most forms of poker...especially PLO/limit/mixed games. It's always funny to hear people say that they can beat the games after they stop playing for a long period of time and still assumed that their skills have not diminished. Well folks, sorry to burst your bubbles..it doesn't work that way...one has to constantly practice/play or study the game to retain/exceed the level they are currently on. If you think just because u ran hot for couple of sessions/maybe weeks in a cash game or managed to win a few "donkaments"...u are that good...trust me..ur not. I seen so many "poker one-shot wonders" personally that have disappeared over the years to know better. There was Travis from Maryland who miraculousy build-up a $25k bankroll in 3 months all from beating homegames in MD and he decided to stay for a month in Vegas during the 2008 WSOP to take a "shot" at the cash games...he shipped it in less than 3 weeks! Then there was Sean, an online poker player and a friend who took down 2 tourneys within a 2 month period for around $32k....well due to bad money management/partying/playing to high...he shipped it too! So it's simply not enough to relie on your natural talent because there is always someone out there that is constantly honing his or her game...and to think just because u have done well or even "luckbox" your way in the past...variance will eventually catch-up.

-Question: Are you a one-shot wonder or will you be around the poker circuit/industry for some time? Just remember the game of poker is not for everyone...some people say they can handle the swings/lifestyle of a poker player when in reality they really can't or they can just stomach the good times....they have 1, 3, or even 5 bad sessions or they don't cash in several tournaments...all of a sudden they panic or "tilt" really hard and start questioning themselves...really sad in all honestly (I seen it in my friends and I probably have done this myself..not anymore tho).


Finally life-wise, my last semester of college is progressing well...not too hard to maintain A's and B's. On the relationship front...it's so-so. Lately I been hanging out with my ex since she finished college and moved back into Maryland...we been doing the whole lunch/dinner/movie dance kinda thing. The problem is that I seem to want to get back with her and at the same time...I have some doubt...not because of her particularly....she is beautiful...makes me happy....caring/laid-back personality and body-wise...she is pretty well-endowed that other girls would be a little jealous. Also adding to this....I recently met this girl down at "BlackFinn" (local restaurant/bar)...names "Britney"...blonde hair...5'8" or 5'9"....light green/emerald eyes...petite/tone...and has this amazing/sexy/adorable smile that I ever seen from a girl....we ended up talking cause couple of my buddies knew her friends too and we grab a big round table to share drinks on. It turns out we had a few things in common....apparently both our parents were in the same country club before I moved to Gaithersburg.....we were both on the tennis team in our respective high schools that competed in the same league/county. We both would like to travel to the same countries...after I ask her to write down 6 places she would like to visit....4 on her list was also on mine (Thailand, France, Germany, Italy). Also we both are the same age 22...know the same people/friends in the area and she loves miniature golf....that definitely sealed the deal in me wanting to get to know her better. I don't how she is still single..she looks and sound perfectly normal....maybe karma is balancing my life out and actually rewarding me by introducing me to this girl?...hahaha..good one me! If nothing significant is gonna happen with my ex...then I'm more inclined towards asking her out in the future and see what develops. Hopefully, she will still be single when that time comes around:)


2009 Goals for me:

-Study/Play more "live" high-stakes cash games (50-100, 75-150, 80-160, 100-200)
-Study/Venture more into online/live tournaments
-Build my bankroll as high as possible before the 2009 WSOP starts and see if I want to head to Vegas then
-Rebuild my killer instincts in business and poker (not sure what I mean...just need to get it back)
-Eat healthy or at least more vegetables
-Stop spending/buying unnecessary stuff


Good Luck to the rest of you at the poker tables!!!