There's a lot going on in my life right now. I'm proud to say that Skjervoy and LearnedFromTvs baby www.nutblocker.com went live last week. This is a project I've been helping with over the last six months but Andreas and Tom deserve all the credit. I won't get into explaining the site as its schedule for its official release soon so stay tuned. There's going to be a lot of content from some of the smartest people in their fields. In the mean time you can explore some articles that have been posted and a bunch of "Poker Player Snapshots". The PPS format will be the same for all the people involved with NutBlocker so visitors can get to know everyone. Here's the link to mine.

http://www.nutblocker.com/interview/190/the-poker-players-snapshot-galen-cranston.html

With one interview down I have one to go. My friend Krissyb24, a SNE girlfriend of our very own Fishbones11, went on the QuadJacks show PokerEh! last week. The show is co hosted by my old WSOP roomie EVhero from www.EVhero.com. Anyways I came up in conversation during Krissy's interview and he asked me to do an interview March 8th. Its a Skype based show and goes for about an hour. I have no idea what the interview will be about but I'm looking forward to it and will post the link when it goes up.

Moving away from poker stuff I want update a little bit on my life. I just spent the long weekend in Toronto with Sophia's family. I was treated to a bunch of different Indian meals and had a very relaxing time. Her parents live right in the middle of the Asian suburbs and because of this we ended up at a hole in the wall place called Akina Sushi. This place is $15 all you can eat sushi within 90minutes. I knew I was in for a treat when the place was packed and I was the only white guy. The sushi had massive pieces of meat with little to no fillers. It was by far the best spicy tuna or salmon I've ever had. Our first order didn't seem to have as much sushi as we expected so we reloaded. BIG mistake as all of it came at once when we were already stuffed. My second order of spicy tuna and salmon came on a 20 piece plate. This was followed by 24 more pieces of various sushi. FML death by deliciousness! In the end the four of us powered through the sushi and went home to have food comas.

Last but not least I want to mention my birthday party April 9th in Montreal. My actual 27th birthday is the 5th but this is a party to top all parties Bal en Blanc. One of my staples of grinding music Armin Van Buuren will be headlining along with Ferry Corsten, 1/3 of SHM Steve Angello and Fedde LeGrand have been named so far with other yet to be named. If Deadmau5 make an appearance I might just die of happiness. If you're within a 10 hour drive I highly recommend you make it to this night. If your single I quintuply urge you to make it out as French girls + big name DJs + all white party + drinking + ????? things people do + all night = Profits. I'm going with Sophia so I'll be on people watching capacity only but its going to be one hell of a birthday.

I haven't been poker blogging as much as I should so here's my Hero Call of the day.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?6319420

Ok so his 3b PF can be a very wide range of things so I don't put too much thought into my call. 4betting would be spew given I raised UTG and he's 3b because he will have more AA and KK in his range with this dynamic.

On the flop I hit the top pair kicker with no redraws. Against others I might check fold but against a guy I have had many wars with I can't give up yet. When he bets its similar to his PF 3b as he will follow through here with 100% of his range so I can't narrow his hand down too much yet. Knowing two Aces are spoken for I think he's less likely to have AA and more likely to have Axxx or drawing hands. Again like PF a raise would be spew as I can't get it in here and semi bluff folding this hand is just dumb.

On the turn when I hit my 2nd pair I'm starting to like my hand a bit more. At this point I figure he thinks my range to be a lot inside straight cards that have just hit on the turn and not too many flushes. I have to assume he thinks I would check raise get in any combo straight/flush draw on the flop along with all my Axxx with flush cards. Its possible I have a high flush such as KKxx with hearts. When he bets this big I'm pretty sceptical because my hand can't ever be that strong and it seems like he wants me to fold so I call.

On the river I just put my big boy shoes on and make the hero call. If my logic on the turn was sound than the river changes nothing. I figure he's unlikely to jam a straight so its nuts or air time.

Crack Head Friday

I wish that title was just something catchy to draw readers in but sadly its a literal statement. My dads on vacation and I borrowed his truck. It was nice having a set of wheels for once and I took full advantage of the situation running needed errands and going out of my normal downtown radius. One of the main reasons I don't have a vehicle is parking in my building is $300 a month. For Ottawa that's an absurdly high fee. At $300 a month you get the pleasure of parking in an unguarded underground lot that anyone can just walk into with no cameras.

I finished up my last session of the day at 4pm and headed down to P1 to get the truck and head to pick up Sophia. We were going out to the Ottawa Valley, country side, to eat at my friends steakhouse he's the GM at. I got the to truck and noticed the driver door was slightly ajar. This couldn't be good. Inside the window I saw about a hundred gas receipts strewn all over the place. I got in an did the standard what's missing check. The Garmin GPS was there. Ok this is going well already. My dads old people CDs were still kicking around. Yes this is nice. Two glasses cases remained without the glasses. This ones iffy as I believe my dad took them to Cuba so the jury's still out on this one. The change is gone!#!@#!# ZMOTG!@! That was basically $4!

All in all the person broke in, made a mess and took the change. I'd like to thank them for closing the door enough that they didn't drain my battery. Much later in the night while walking Molly the dog I ran into my friend Denis. He's a street performer that I've been buddies with for a few years now. I told him about the truck and how I was shocked they left the GPS. He responded with "Ya the crack dealers aren't giving shit for that stuff".

As for the dinner it was amazing. Sophia hadn't ever been to a proper country town before. I told her that country people take their meat very seriously so we were assuredly in for a treat. The TOSH restaurant did not disappoint. To start we had crustini flatbread topped with mushrooms and brie cheese. That was followed up by proper chicken wings crispy dusted with lime and sea salt. I say proper because they were large chicken meat wings not the BS breaded monstrosity nonsense that plagues most places I've ordered wings. I really love crispy wings and these were just perfect. The apps got followed up by Sophia's 12oz Filet and potatoes. I took Jake's advice and ordered the 24oz Ribeye. He said they always over cut the steak and its often times 34-40oz. It was easily the biggest steak I've ever been served. The only negative of the meal was the truffle mac and cheese side that sucked. Can't win em all.

Anyways much love and luck goes out to my beautiful girlfriend Sophia who started writing her LSAT four minutes ago for the second time. She knows what score she needs to guarantee law school admission where she wants to attend and she just missed that mark the first time.

As for me I have a bowl of oatmeal to attend and two sessions to play before she comes home.

Follow me on Twitter @Gakn29

I had some free time today and finally caved into trolling the NVG for the first time ever. I came across the Tri "SlowHabit" Nguyen thread on TwoPlusTwo. It can be found in the NVG forum.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/view-poker-coaches-should-winning-players-critique-tri-nguyen-1148903/

I never followed this guy closely so I had no idea what to expect. The more I read the sicker I got. This guy is a manipulative piece of shit peddaling his wares to the easily duped. He claims to be able to teach anyone to make $100,000 a year from poker. More specifically coaching poker. He says that a coach need not be a winning player to coach. This is absurd and insulting. He claims to have won over $1M but has results for only $200k from a few years ago. Some of his quotes were

"But what if you're not a big winner?

No problem. There are many great poker theorists out there who for whatever reason cannot apply their awesome knowledge at the tables. People understand this.

Thus, there is a way to brand yourself as a leading authority in your poker niche."

"What if you no longer play online poker?

That's a minor issue. As long as you still remember how to play poker, we can make it work."

"The key is to position yourself in the right place to succeed. And that's what Tri is best at.

He has helped tons of players monetize their poker knowledge and generating thousands of dollars in passive income."

"I agree my 2010-11 results aren't impressive. I don't play much poker anymore and only play when I'm preparing a strategy book to make sure the strategies are up to date with the games."

I coach all the time and if I'm lucky I'll rack up an extra $10,000 a year from something I put considerable effort into doing. I'm someone who has been beating the games I play in for years. I charge what I consider to be a fair rate and have a few sessions every week that I'm available. According to Tri some busto player can coach and make $100,000? To learn that information you have to buy one of his books ranging from $100-$2500 or pay his $5000 coaching fee. What is wrong with this guy? I've always thought that coaching prices are out of whack in a lot of cases but this has to be the best example of it ever. Be awful at poker.......coach......make $100k somehow?

Thankfully big names on 2p2, like Ike Haxton and skier_5, picked this apart in great detail along with his lackeys who are pulling the same coaching scam stunts. It just makes me sick. After all this nonsense it got me thinking.............

Sign up for the Gakn29 No Limit Holdem school for the low low price of $500 per session and 10 minutes in the closet with your girlfriend/wife! You can learn the expert NL skills that racked me up over $300,000 at 10/20 back in 2006-2007 such as getting AA and KK in PF or on the flop or on the turn or on the river! Make sure to get your calling hat ready because you're only going to be playing pairs! You can also learn how to bust your account once a year at 100/200. You'll learn great game selection such as playing Taylor Caby HU to get bad beated that one time for 10k pot.

Hurry up don't delay I was once the hit hands get paid fold everything else boss of NL!

Follow me on Twitter @Gakn29

Ok so I just updated TN and Stars and low and behold I face the annoying "Pot Betting %" error that removes all my preset bet sizing and Peow Peow Pot button abilities. That button is located on the right trigger of my Xbox 360 controller I use to play. Apparently the new TN update is compatible with Microsoft game pads and my Pinacle Gamer profile won't be needed. Back to the point.

This error has happened to me twice before. Once it was a their fault and once was mine. I assume TN will fix this somehow in the next day if its a universal problem but I'd like some input from other using TN if its just my problem. For some reason I can't log in to TN support forums so I'm asking all the tech wiz types here. Having to manually scroll my bets in is simply unacceptable.

Thanks in advance.

***EDIT***

I did just found a thread 100% dedicated to this and I'm luckily not the only victim. If you're affected as well its here waiting for support to respond. Also my new spiffy IKEA chair. I've wanted one since visiting Ecart in London a few months back.



Follow me on Twitter @Gakn29

I rolled out of bed just before noon with the biggest smile on my face. Today is the annual Winterlude Stew Cook Off! Lots of restaurants and butchers set up booths to serve their stew for the low entry cost of $10. All the proceeds go to the Ottawa Mission, for homeless people. Anyways I had 7 bowls and my hands down favourite came from Aubreys Meat Market with their Game Stew. It had Bisson, Veal, Venison and Rabbit meat mixed in with veggies and a delicious broth. Clearly I had two bowls.

One of the guys serving for the Pub 101 booth directed me to his bar for Macallan Scotch tasting. Suddenly by 2PM I was full of stew and free Scotch. I ran the numbers in my head and decided it was best I stopped drinking and went home to grind. The day time drinking tipping point was that Tom had to goto work at 4 and Id be on my own at that point until 6. No worries I'll hop back on the drink in a few hours.

I got home and finished up another winning session on Stars. I'm $1800 away from my 50th BI at 2/4 since Jan 11th. The graph isnt ready to be shared but I'm passed the halfway mark of the $50k stipulation. I can say that I'm winning in 1/2 - 3/6 and cut out all 1/2 as of two weeks ago. I don't plan on playing 5/10 until Gavz gets back from his vacation and he can help me through it.

I had my first back to back losing days Wednesday and Thursday but managed to only lose a BI each day. I consider those losses to be "winning" losing days. I'll gladly lose 1 BI if I'm to book a loss.

This hand I just have to share. At the time I had this table open in the top right of the screen. My top middle table was dealt AA44ss and the top right had AQQ4ss. For some reason I was looking at top right but thinking about the top middle and instantly 4bet a 3bet and cold call. I realized it the milisecond after my $160 went in and just hoped nobody shoved. Lucky for me I smash the flop and win the $1400 pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?6312635

Follow me on Twitter @Gakn29

I enjoyed reading Verneer's latest Coaching blog and figured it was best to respond via my blog than in a little comment in his. I share a lot of the same feelings as Verneer and the 2p2er who called out a lot of the coaches out there. Coaching is a tricky business. Students need to realize that hiring someone does not equate to guaranteed profits. They need to work hard to help the coach help them. Coaches need to ethically look at what they charge, what they offer and who their target market is.

I feel that anyone who charges for poker training better be a winning player within a reasonable amount of time. If you have moved down in limits you shouldn't coach at your previous limits. I know I turned down three people in December who wanted 2/4 coaching on Stars simply because I wasn't playing in those games anymore. My opinions were no longer backed up by recent results and I would have felt like a snake oil sales men pedaling my wares. Two of them said "Your results speak for themselves" and wanted to pursue coaching anyways. I told them when I was back in the games on Stars I would gladly help them but until that point I referred them to a friend.

My biggest fear was misrepresenting myself and having a specific hater, who loves to flame me on 2p2, get wind of the fact I was coaching but not playing. My reputation means a lot to me and I wasn't willing to risk it.

As I've stated in previous blogs I've come back to Stars and have been winning, a lot. I've progressed through 1/2 to 2/4 and am comfortably playing 3/6 eyeing the 5/10 games since January 11. I won't post results or graphs until my vacation or the first $50k but I will say things are rolling. If I were to be asked today for coaching at 2/4 I could ethically accept but don't really want to coach that high and help people in my games. If I were to take on a student at 2/4 I'd have to charge a lot for revealing information that will be used against me. The cost would be too high.

I would never pay $300 - $500 an hour from anybody who didn't have a specific step by step plan for every second of their time. Poker winrates do not and should not transfer over to coaching rates. If you are going to charge such a high fee for coaching you better be an educator. I have no degrees in learning and all my coaching experience has been trial by fire. By that logic I have no business charging more than a lawyer or doctor for my time.

My coaching method has evolved many time over the last two years. Most recently I've been having students make me a 30 minute video of 4 tables with or without them voicing over their thoughts. They get it to me and I review and note take alone. We meet up on Skype and go over the video together with me in charge of the playback. This has all but ended any dead air during our sessions and everybody thus far has said they liked it.

I know this takes up more than an hour of my time and you'd think I'd want to charge more for this. You'd be wrong. I'd guess over half of the people who hire are PLO50 players that are tired of breaking even. Would it be fair for me to charge a really high session rate to someone who isn't winning? If I did can I guarantee they will immediately start winning? No, on both account.

For PLO50 players I settled on $75/session if they get a 4 session package. To me this is enough money that I'm happy to forego my personal time, otherwise spent being wasted, to help others. To the students its a reasonable amount of money that they will be able to recover easily. I stopped accepting coaching requests for players under PLO50 because its simply not worth it to the student. They can learn everything they need to get up to PLO50 simply by reading or watching videos.

The 2p2er had a few very solid points. If someone is selling their time they better lay all their cards on the table. There should be no question as to their credentials, what they offer you and the cost vs benefit. If everything is to your liking then go ahead and hire them. If you sense even the slightest air of misrepresentation or extortion then run for the hills. Never ever hurt your financial situation hiring a coach. Find someone who is a good fit for your needs and personality.

Personally I wouldn't hire someone I didn't believe to be a good person. Not all educators are nice teachers but I have to believe they want me to succeed in order to get my money. Don't let yourself be another Girah/Hasseeb victim.

If you want a very lengthy read about the MTT grind in Cabo San Lucas, PCA and Aussie Millions check out my friend Marty's blog.

Follow me on Twitter @Gakn29

As I've stated in the previous blogs all things poker have been quite positive lately. I woke up Wednesday ready for a solid day of grinding. I went through my normal morning routine and thought I was ready to play. I loaded up the $11r PLO TCOOP along with five 2/4 tables. Its hard to explain but something was wrong. I just wasn't there mentally. I often refer to PLO as Neo seeing the Matrix of numbers and for no reason I just wasn't clicked on. I knew I wasn't in the zone of tranquility that accompanies crushing session. I quit my session 22 minutes in and walked away $250 richer. I was in a mind state that winning an extra few buyins wouldn't have improved my mood but losing would have really pissed me off.

By 12:30 I declared a state of 24 hour staycation. A staycation is when you don't leave your city but treat the day like a holiday. For the next few hours I played COD3 and planned my evening out. Sophia and I were going to hit up a lot of nice restaurants for an appetizer and drink per location. By the nights end we had spent $200 at three fine dining restaurants. We split a lobster bisque, spicy popcorn shrimp, seared ahi tuna, smoked blue cheese plate, jumbo prawn cocktail and bacon wrapped shrimp. To drink we had a nice bottle of Australian Shiraz along with some scotches and the mandatory Kronenbourg blanc. I'm very lucky to have a girlfriend who shares my love for food and drink. Restaurant hopping is one of our favourite activities and a great way to explore new cities.

We made our way home around 11PM so she could go to sleep. Having a 9-5 job does impede her ability to make it out on weekdays passed a certain point. Not to fear my friend Shawn came over to watch a retro SNL and wait for Tom to get off at midnight. Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon put on a clinic during the Weekend Update while we downed a few vodka waters. FYI the best vodka vs price has to be Uncle Tito's handmade vodka from Austin Texas. At midnight we collected Tom and heading to Pier 21 for $3 drink night.

When I got in the door I saw two empty bottles of Grey Goose on the front bar. Pier is not a bar that sells bottles so I was confused. I ordered my drinks and continued chatting to my friends. It wasn't until 30 minutes later when I asked about the GG bottles that the bartender told me the guy I was standing beside for the past half hour was NHL player Claude Giroux who was in town for the All Star game. The rest of the night was filled with laughs and good times.

Today I woke up a little fuzzy around the edges. I knew poker wasn't possible yet so I settled into a Spartacus watching session. Eventually I gathered my strength and decided to grind after a shower. From the moment I sat down to the moment the session ended I crushed everybody. 500 hands and 9 BI later I was happy with my $3600 win. My edge was back in fantastic way. Running good and playing well is a lethal combo.

If you find yourself struggling at the tables I suggest taking a staycation and just be nice to yourself. Do whatever gives you the most joy. I've made so much money lifetime from the sessions I don't play. Forcing it rarely has a happy ending. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Follow me on Twitter @Gakn29

Its come as a great and welcomed surprise to me that the a lot of the 2/4 regs on Stars are underestimating me as an opponent to their financial detriment. I've played 75% of my action the last week back at 2/4 and it has been going very well. I'm quite aware and respectful of the graph/profits posting curse so I'm keeping that closely guarded until I hit $50,000 on the year or take a proper vacation.

The regs that I have thousands of hands on adjusted pretty quickly to my new/old style. With one or two exceptions, they haven't adjusted to the point of giving me problems. Also, they aren't massively spewing in a "I don't respect that player" fashion. On the other hand the new regs are just waffling money in hand over fist in really bad spots. I mentioned in my previous that my game was tamed by the Euro sites. Thanks to Gavz making fun of me for a good ten minutes on Skype I made the necessary changes and started a new back to my old antics on January 11. That is the day I woke back up to a better world of PLO.

It may be corny of me to quote a movie to describe my feelings but I'm going do it anyways. In the Departed Jack Nicholson says "I don't want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me." This sums up my approach to poker perfectly. When I had the Euro sits approach to the Stars games I was constantly reacting to other people. Now I watch as the table reacts to me. If you want proof I'll post some QQxx all in PF spots from seemingly tight 22/14/4 regs. You must earn that type of tight player spew. It isn't just given to you.

For the record PTR is not tracking me properly if at all. Its more than 5 figures off. The graph will come in due time but just not yet.

On a side note I wasn't the one who Tweeted death threats to 49er Kyle Williams even though I've been accused of it by multiple friends. It will be interesting if he is on the team next year or if he'll be put out to pasture Nate Clements, fumbling a game winning INT against the Saints two years ago, style.

Follow me on Twitter @Gakn29

It was really nice to turnaround yesterday's 3 losing sessions by winning 3 in a row today. The games on Stars have been really good lately. I came to a pretty big decision to stop playing any other site except Stars. In the past 4 months I'd split my time between Stars and the Euro sites. I was winning a lot on Euros but lost $22k or so on Stars. I'm basing that off my PTR graph since I played on multiple computers. I came to a big realisation that winning on both sites at the same time is very difficult.

Last year when I was killing the 2/4 games I was losing on the Euros so when the situation reversed itself at the years end I started wondering why. In my opinion the games play so differently that two seperate approaches must be taken to beat the games. On the Euro sites the players are much looser and aggro post flop but overall pretty tame preflop. Stars is the excact opposite. Its full of 3/4/5 bet wars that simply don't exist in the same way on the Euro sites.

I got in the habit of playing a more passive PF style on the Euros and got taken advantage of on Stars. This month I went back to my old ways on Stars and now playing the Euro sites is difficult. I know I could play both sites if I really set my mind to it but itd be very taxing on my brain.

To help guide myself to a rocket ship graph I've been recording my thoughts pre and post every session. Its been keeping me focused and on task as if I have a boss to report too. The profits have been rolling in the last week but I don't have anything to really be happy about yet. I'll start posting some of my recording when I feel ready to share.

One last note I'm basically the best NL MTT player ever cashing 1 for 1 in the $22r TCOOP today in for $60. It took the BEST player, Chris Moorman, to skillfully call off half his stack with JT to bust my AQ. I'm not trying to say he did something wrong just that winning in turbos is 100% skill not luck. Take me I skillfully shoved into AA/KK three times before getting my AA/JJ in 3 times to get a big 24Beibers stack.

GL all and hopefully more people I know/play against win big in the TCOOP. SixthSense, a PLO guy, already shipped a 2 card event for $80k+!

GO NINERS!!!!!!

Follow me on Twitter @Gakn29

Ok guys I will start blogging more about poker in the coming weeks but I have to write about the trip to Boston and the 49ers win. I will say I'm a huge fan of the new VPP system as I'm collecting those little bastard at record pace. The 50% extra VPP hour is very nice as well. Anyways if you're a fan of the NFL then hold onto your socks this story is for you.

P.S. I won $49 off a foolish Alex Huang and have parlayed that bet into this weekends Giants game. Suggestions are welcome for how I should spend the $98 I'm going to win.

Last weekend seven of my friends and I made the 7 hour drive from Ottawa to Boston to go see the Patriots play the Broncos. We intended to see the Steelers play as we bought the tickets a week prior when it was clear that the Texans were moving on. Tebow foiled our plans by knocking a less than stellar looking Pittsburgh. It took me two days of internal debate as to whether I would still go. I truly hate both franchises with a fiery passion and my all time favourite team across any sport, the San Francisco 49ers, were playing the afternoon game that day. Eventually I caved because road trips are always bad ass. My solution was to cheer for the Patriots defence to crush Tebow and drink while Brady was on the field.

Our drive down to Boston was the most stressful 10 hours in recent memory. The weather forecast DID NOT call for the mother of all snow storms. Last year when we drove home from Pittsburgh vs Baltimore we saw a Mazda 3 do a triple backflip into the woods. The driver was shaken up but was fine overall. This trip we all called shot as to what car we'd see laid out. I went first and picked a Honda Civic hatch back. Twenty minutes later on the outskirts of the Ottawa region we passed an upside down Civic with people standing around it in a non fatality body language. Those little cars seem to hold up in big accidents from what I've seen.

We were driving in Drew's Dodge Ram 4x4 which translates into a tank on wheels. The stressful part came from Eric's Nissan Altima without snow tires. Imagine watching someone playing Tokyo Drift on a highway for 10 straight hours and you'll understand what I was going through. For some reason Eric kept using his brakes and each time I thought that would be the one that spun them off into the ditch, other cars or us. We would been fine as the truck would have crushed their car but I was second worried for them. Miraculously we made it into Boston safely.

For some reason I thought Boston was a rough and unfriendly place. People weren't "Hard Ons" but really nice. In my opinion Americans are some of the friendliest people on the planet. Sorry to my UK friends but the average American is way more receptive to strangers than the UK people are. Americans seems surprised when you walk up and talk to them but in a good way. My mother always told me to be nice to people until they give you a reason not too and it will open doors. She was right. I strongly endorse having strong interpersonal skills. Anyways back to the trip. The night ended over the BIGGEST pizza I've ever seen.

I woke up Saturday surprisingly not hungover. Instead I had the excited jitters of knowing my beloved 49ers were to play their first playoff game in years. This is the first time in my adult life the Niners have a Super Bowl contending team. I spotted the potential in the preseason but all my friends, minus Tom, thought I was crazy. In week 3 I bet someone 3 cases of Kronenbourg Blanc in a last longer bet vs Green Bay. I was laughed at by 20 in the room but I'm the one laughing now. Those 72 beers will be shared at the Super Bowl party.

My only stipulation about coming on the trip was I would be in front of a TV at Gillette Stadium before kickoff of the Niners game at 4:30. Before getting on the train we had lunch at South Street Diner where I had one of the best burgers of my life for $8. It was a massive beef patty and I got to pick 4 toppings of roasted red peppers, onions, mushrooms and cheddar with $2.50 Pabst Blue Ribbon tall boy to wash it down. That was one of the three drinks I'd consume over the next 8 hours.

Everyone around me was getting drunker by the minute. Shawn and Drew had 6 breakfast beers each and then drank a 26oz bottle of Jaggermeister and Red Bull in coffee cups on the train out to Gillette. The rest of the crew packed drinks away at a solid clip while I held it together so I could focus on the game. San Fran was playing New Orleans gun slinging offence and everyone expected a blood bath. New Orleans won the coinflip and wasted no time driving down the field. It looked as if they were going to score when the hit that sidelined the Saints running back turned the ball over on the 3 yard line. To my great joy San Fran marched down the field and scored to make it 7-0. Vernon Davis slam dunked the ball over the uprights in an obvious taunt to rival Tight End Graham. The Saints got the ball back and Drew Brees throws and interception and we score again, 14-0. The Saints and Niners have non scoring possessions until the Saints fumble again and we score making it 17-0.

The Niners are billed as the defensive threat of the NFC and they were putting up points in record speed against the wild west offensive squad. Everyone around me kept saying the game was over and I should relax but I knew it was only a matter of time before Brees' breaks lose and puts up points. I really didn't like that we only made a field goal on the third score. Within a blink of an eye the Saints put up two touchdowns and it went to half time 17-14. I finally had a moments rest from my vigil in front of the Vizio at Tobey Keiths bar and grill. I looked around and saw a sea of Patriots jerseys littered with Broncos and figured I was in the seventh circle of Hell described in Dante's Inferno.

The third quarter was pretty inconsequential with the Niners only adding a field goal to make it 20-14. At this point it was 7pm and six of the group headed off to Gillette for the Patriots game leaving myself and Shawn at the bar. Shawn snagged us some seats at the bar and we sat down for what would be the most exciting 15 minutes of sports I've ever watched in my life. Canada winning Olympic gold in hockey was nice but this, this was something I'll remember for the rest of my life.

I was pleading with God for a measly 3 points to make it a two possession game. My prayers seemed to go unanswered as the Saints got the ball with 7 minutes left. Drew Brees dropped back in the pocket and hit Darren Sproles in mid stride. He juked around two Niners secondary and marched all the way down the field into the endzone. It was the fantastic play I'd been fearing and for the first time the Saints held the lead at 21-20.

The clock had just over 4 minutes left and I turned to Shawn and said "I have faith in Alex Smith to get it done". Some old man beside me muttered "you must be the first person in the world to say that". The ball was moving up the field slowly but surely when Frank Gore, the running back, broke loose. I was on top of the bar screaming in a bar full of people for him to make all the way. It was at this time I noticed the one other San Francisco jersey out the 70,000 people at Gillette Stadium. When Gore got tackled we shared an understanding nod in approval of the last play. We were within field goal range and needed one more first down to kill of the clock and kick a game winning field goal. On 3rd and 2 we took a twelve man in the huddle 5 yard penalty. This made me sick because if we kicked a field goal the game would lie in the passing leader of the season Drew Brees' hands.

Cue the greatest 30 yard run in the history of feet. This run rivals the accomplishment of Moses crossing the Red Seas. I would give anything to have been in the huddle when Alex Smith, the slowest player on the offence, called his own number on a all or nothing fake to Frank Gore bootleg left. He snapped the ball and faked it to Gore. The entire Saints defence bit hard! Nobody saw it coming. Alex slowly made his way down the left side line untouched until the ten yard line where he got the biggest block in the last 17 years of the Niners franchise to put him in the endzone. Sadly we missed the two point conversion so the score was 26-21 with just over 2minutes to go.

This is the classic offence vs defence battle and I was very nervous. Brees got onto the field with visible determination. If memory serves me correctly it was the third play that put the dagger through my heart. Brees hit tight end Graham in the middle of the field. Allstar line backer Patrick Willis, whose jersey I had on, missed his tackle and took out his own teammate leaving Graham a clear path to the endzone. A two point convert later they held the lead 29-26.

Shawn turned to the bartender and ordered me a drink. Three of the girls who had been serving our group came over to cheer me up as they say the look on my face but I wasn't ready for that just yet. The clock had 1:40ish left and we had the best field goal kicker in the NFL on the sidelines.

We got the ball back and had our mission cut out. We needed 40 yard to be on the outskirts of a long field goal to tie. Again my memory isn't 100% positive but I think it was the third play when all hell broke loose. The Saints decided it was a good idea to blitz six and leave Vernon Davis, the one weapon who had been beating them consistently, in one on one coverage. Smith threw the ball high and long and again I was on top of the bar as Davis made the catch to put them deep into Saint territory. A field goal would tie the game but that's not what legendary stories are made from. With less than 20 seconds on the clock on the 14 yard line Smith takes the snap. He looks left then hits Davis cutting to the middle within the 1 yard line. The Saints DB hit Davis pretty hard but he fell forward into the endzone. It is going down in Niners history as "The Catch"

Imagine the greatest feeling of your life mixed in with 17 years of disappointment and the thrill of dethroning a giant, multiply it by a thousand and you might have some idea of how I felt at that moment in time. Winning $61,000 in the WCOOP was nice but this was way bigger than myself. I don't really remember the ensuing minute but Shawn says I was jumping and screaming and rushed the other San Fran guy and picked him up. Out of the woodworks flew in a dozen or so other screaming people who joined our mosh pit of celebration. I've been waiting since 1994 for a team to take us to the promised land and its two wins away!

Once the win was solidified we headed to Gillette to see the live game. Long story short the Pats killed the Broncos and I scored big points with the crowd around me with my "Save a horse kill a Tebow" chant. Sometime into the second quarter Shawn was asked if he was mad he missed the beginning of the game to which he replied "I would have missed the entire game just to see Galen flip out like he did".

In all honesty after the smoke settled I wouldn't have wanted to change a single moment of that game. Four lead changing touchdowns within four minutes of the end of a playoff game is just wild.

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