So I got back to SB Saturday afternoon and should be here for at least 2 weeks. Tuesday I went on a beach dive at Hendry's and wrapped up my scuba certification. The dive lasted 40 minutes and couldn't have been much better. The conditions were perfect. Great visibility, water temp wasn't bad, and I saw some awesome sea life. Last night was the kick off for Fiesta, which is essentially the biggest celebratory time in SB. Fiesta last through to the weekend, with festive parades, dances, dinners, and tons of partying daily. It's truly a great time to be here. So that's the weekend plan, enjoy the local cultural, while inebriated.

Next weekend I'm heading up to a lake to spend 2 or 3 nights on a boat trip. My roommates buddies do this about 3-4 times a year and I have yet to go, but have heard nothing but great stories, so it's time I exchange a hotel bed for a sleeping bag and have some fun out on the water. The weekend after that is my buddy's bachelor party in Vegas. Just booked my ticket for that, so it's set.

Poker continues to go well. I finished July just short of my Aug 1 goal which was $2.5k. I picked back up and hit $2.6k pretty quickly, so now I'm going to be continuing 50nl while mixing in some 100nl. So far so good. Up $400 in August in about 1500 hands, so the account is at about $2.8k. One thing that I think I need to work on is lengthening my sessions. I'll win a couple buy ins and be happy and call it a night. I'm averaging maybe a hour a day, single or 2 tabling. I should be able to consistently play 2-3 tables and for a couple hours at this point. I don't know why I'm settling for contentment, when I should be going for what I'm capable of. But then again, what I'm doing right now is working, and I question if I should change that. Anyways, I'm pumped to be rolled for 100nl and am looking forward to my hourly rising. Goal 1 done. Next stop a solid winrate at 100nl until I reach at least $6k before I even start to think about 200nl, which I'm hoping is the beginning of 2011. That's 5 months to make $3k+ at 100nl. Definitely doable. Good luck guys.

Las Vegas was great, yet different. Rather than either partying myself retarded with my buddies, or entertaining clients, I spent a ton of time with my parents. Slightly different experience as I wasn't suggesting to Mom that we should hit up the Rhino, or grind 2/5 at the MGM. Instead, I introduced them to Naked Fish, had a great time at the wedding and reception, enjoyed a nice pinot at the Mandarin Oriental, and got a phenomenal massage at the Hard Rock's new spa. I walked by the line for Rehab, which immediately excited me for Wideman's bachelor party next month, where we plan on doing a Rehab/Vanity Sunday.

From Vegas I flew to Minot, North Dakota. Nothing to report here, it's a dump. The casino in New Town, ND had no rooms available so we made the 90min commute daily. The casino also isn't home to an AT&T tower, so I had no reception. Fun times in the middle of no where. I decided to drag my coworker with me Thursday night, 90min west to Sydney, Montana so I could cross off state #22 in my 2010 states prop bet. We noticed we were driving into a storm, but being two dumbass Cali guys, we didn't think much of it. Until we couldn't see out of the car. Nothing. Rain was dropping in buckets, from the top, from the side. 60mph winds were kicking in. So he pulls over. At this point, the car is shaking violently and I think I'm in a tornado. We sit there for 5 minutes wondering if this is it. If I'm going to die in a rental car in North Dakota. Hail starts hitting the car repeatedly, as if thousands of golfers are lined up outside teeing off on the car with their driver. I'm petrified. So I pull out my camera and record some video of what could be my final minutes. Then it "clears up" enough to drive, so we continue on to Montana, where we ate at a steakhouse called the Cadda Lac (I think). Lightening is surrounding us, the national weather website warns of severe thunderstorms and flooding, the 2 hotels are sold out, so we decide to drive back through the storm. It was quite the rush chasing down this storm.

Can't see shit


Storm to the right, sun to the left


By far, the most ridiculous thing I've seen in a long time is a 300lbs dude, no helmet, in a thunderstorm, driving up to the gas station to get a 30 pack.

America! Fuck ya!


I'm not sitting in Denver Airport, sooo eager to get back to SB. As far as poker, July ended up exceptionally well. In about 6000 hands at 50nl I managed to clear about 1400$ and the account is now sitting just shy of my 2500$ goal by August 1. I don't feel like playing today, so I'll most likely get there tomorrow. I'm getting a little nervous about playing 100nl, somewhat actually within a BR, as I only usually ever play when I'm tilting, so I might wait until $3000 or so. I hope everyone had a great July and has a better August.

A poker blog from me, a rarity. Not going to be strategy filled, as I have no idea what I'm talking about. I think analyzing hands is somewhat pointless for for heads up matches, as the game is so flow and opponent dependent that, IMO, there are going to be so many ways to play one hand, and not one "right" play. I've never really understood why people post hand histories in their blog, they're boring and the feedback is mediocre.

After shipping muddy back money I owed him, breaking even, and months of not playing, I was left with around $200 in my UB account in the beginning of June. I'm not sure what came over me but I decided to start "grinding" and started at the 50nl HU tables, with 4 buy ins.

Fast forward 10,500 hands since then and I'm at about 28bb/100, for about $1450 in winnings. Including about 500 more hands at 25nl HU and 100nl HU and I'm at 32bb/100 for a total profit of $1870 in 11k hands. So now the account is almost at $2100. I plan on moving up to 100nl at $2500 (my goal by August 1). If the account ever drops to $2000, I'll move back down to 50nl. If it ever gets to $6-7k, I'll move up to 200nl which is my goal by 2011. I'll grind there for awhile, when I get to 40k, I'll then move to 5/10 (perhaps by 2/11), then get that up to 200k and move to high stakes (summer 2011?). Should be pretty easy.

I'd like to say that I'll offer coaching like everyone else in the poker world, attempt to charge a silly amount that's essentially a huge rip off for the student, but I can't. I don't really know how to explain how to play, or even if I'm playing correctly. I'm just going to enjoy the heater for now and see what happens. It's also been a minor miracle I haven't REALLY tilted in this 11k hand stretch. I guess that just shows how hot/lucky I've been.

Heading to Vegas Friday for my cousin Jim's wedding. Staying at the Hard Rock 3 nights. My buddy sent me a link to some special the Hard Rock was running for a couple of hours on Monday before they sold out. Every summer day was $30 a night. So I'm paying about $90 for the entire weekend. Unbelievable. No plans besides enjoying time with my family who I rarely get to see. As much as I love living in SB, I hate living so far from my family and friends in the Bay Area. Seeing them a few times a year just isn't enough. Wedding is Saturday. Hot rock massage at the Rock Spa on Sunday, followed by a flight to Minot, North Dakota on Monday, where I'll be installing a surveillance system at 4 Bears Casino.

Stay thirsty my friends.

I want to get like 5-8 magazine subscriptions since I'm taking more deuces these days. And to read on planes if I'm awake.

Let me know your top 5 or so. By now most of you sort of know me to some extent.

Sports
Chicks (playboy is as adult as I'm willing to go. unless someone does a great job convincing me of something worse)
Gadgets/Tech
Fashion (sorta?)
Fitness
Business

Other stuff that might be interesting, IE not bluff or cardplayer. Help me out.

I'll preface this with a warning, I'm in row 41F, in a large plane going from O'Hare to LAX, and usually F indicates a window, not the case on this oversized United POS, and I barely made this flight after running from terminal F to C after a 1hr delay in Buffalo. So I'm a little tilted. First complaint, I hate aisle seats, and even more so despise middle seats. My body has grown acclimated to shutting down in an airplane seat. I travel so much, put in long hours, switch times zones frequently, and use the small crevice between the seat and window as a bed. On the aisle, I'm in no man's land. Nothing provides comfort; not the army soldier on my left and especially not the inconsiderate passengers who feel it necessary to bump into me. Walk straight or diet. It's not that hard. These same people find it necessary to use your seat, in front of them, when getting up behind you, as support.

The 5 minute schpeel flight attendants give before every single fuckin flight I've ever been on (300+?) is so useless. We all know how to buckle the seatbelt. If we don't, we deserve to deal with the repercussions of not knowing how. We all know that the seat we're sitting on is also a floatation devise we never hope to see if it actually floats in freezing water somewhere in the middle of America, or worse, an ocean. I don't care that there are 4 exits on the plane, as I only plan on using one.

A funny drinking game to play on a plane is drink every time a flight attendant says "stow." This word is never used in normal day to day life, yet on a plane it's the golden word.

Me and my ipod are not going to bring the plane down. Why do I have to power this off? I hate to admit it but I've risked my life as well as the life of everyone on the plane quite a few times when I rebelliously left my ipod on, threw my hoodie over my head, and continued to listen to Chicago upon departure. And landing. We made it safely.

The guy 2 rows up in 39H doesn't fit in his seat and is wearing jean shorts. People on a plane that take up 1.5 seats should pay for 1.5 seats. People that take up 2 seats should be tossed in with the oversized luggage.

I noticed in the airport today on multiple occasions, groups of guys that are friends tend to dress identically. I find this hilarious. One group of 4 guys were wearing hats, striped Abercrombie shirts and kaki cargo shorts with running shoes. Another group had the same pale tan, blonde hair cut, flip flops and tshirts. Has anyone noticed that people that wear those teva looking sandals with 5 different straps are 100% always geeky? It never fails. There is nothing cool about these sandals. I'd rather wear crocs to be honest. Or just be bare foot.

Shouldn't a hamburger come with things like lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles? Always? I bought a hamburger yesterday in Irving, NY that had 2 buns and a patty. Aren't people who make and serve this embarrassed?

Toll roads are one of the top 5 things I dislike about the East Coast. I decided to drive from Buffalo over to Niagara to see the falls. You'd think this would be a cheap excursion, for something that is completely natural like waterfalls. I'm driving, talking on my phone, and hit a toll booth. Its $1 and I think I have $10 on me so I drive to the cash only booth. I pull up, check my pockets and realize I've lost that $10. And that I have no cash. So I put down the phone and ask her if she takes cards. She doesn't. She says she takes coins. So I get out of the hummer I rented, walk around to the trunk to see if I have change. People are now honking. I have 45 cents. She looks at me and says that's not good enough and requests my driver's license. She takes down when seems like every word on the license, gets out of her booth, writes down the license plate number and issues me a ticket. This is a 5 minute procedure. People behind me are beside themselves at this point. I think I see middle fingers in 5 straight cars. She tells me I can pay this on the way back, or mail it in within 5 days. $1.

I drive off and think; sure, I'll just pay it off on the drive back after I atm money somewhere. But wait, I paid down my credit card and have $14 in my checking account (this all happens the day before I get paid). The minimum atm withdrawal most likely will be $20. I'd overdraft if I did this. So I decide I'm not going to go this route and I'll just mail it in. But then I pull up to the bridge before the Canadian border that says I owe $3.25. I still haven't found money in-between the last toll and this. So I ask the girl, "Do you take cards?" Nope. "Will you take down my license info as well?" No. She makes the cars behind me reverse so I can reverse and pull parallel to a convenience store that has an atm. I overdraft. Which is probably like $30. So now I'm in for $34.25 to see the falls. I make it to Canada and park for $20 (they took Visa). $54.25 to see the falls and take pictures for about 15 minutes. Then I drove back. Here is the $54.25 picture.

On a happier note, a pic from the 4th of July in DC

And a beautiful Pittsburgh summer

I'm back in SB this week, before I head to Vegas for a wedding next weekend. Last weekend's scuba trip out to Anacapa Island was amazing. I got 4 dives in and generally had a great time. Once I buy a camera for underwater I'll probably dedicate a full blog to scuba diving. If you live near the water, I highly suggest getting certified.

This weekend has been relaxing thus far. Got the car washed, had a costco lunch, played 1100 hands of poker yesterday. I'm thinking about seeing "Inception" today since all I'm reading on facebook is about how good it is. I also intend to go buy some local art down at the beach. Until next time...

I don't even know where I left off. Probably talking about work, traveling, or something along those lines. That's not going to change much, as it's all I still do, but I'm really having a blast right now. Oh and I've put in 7k hands since June 1st, which could be a recent record. What's more impressive is I've only tilted once or twice in those 7k hands and only for a one or two buy in hit. I'll get to poker later. First, life...

I went out to Vegas for a meeting June 3rd at the Stratosphere. Which was convenient, since I got work paid for travel out there, then stayed at the cardrunners house that weekend with Drama, Shipit, Taylor, Wiggins, Stinger, LL2, iRock, and Gaucho. We ate a great meal at Strip Steak, had a great night at Tryst, and I can't remember much of anything else. Oh yeah, me and shipit beat Taylor and Wiggins in 3 straight 2 on 2 hoops games, so Taylor and Muddy were down $300 each. I think some others had side money on it. I hadn't played in 5 or so years, but you never lose the outside shot. Never.

I flew straight to Harrisburg, PA to make sure an expansion at Hollywood Casino was going ok. Then Wednesday drove to Pittsburgh to do some work at Rivers Casino, since they too are adding table games. Saturday late, I flew to Medford, OR to do work at 7 Feathers Casino until Wednesday. The details of these trips has left my memory. I got back to SB, worked a couple days, then started my scuba certification classes Friday through Sunday. Saturday night I had a birthday dinner to go to in LA at some Korean BBQ place that was pretty damn good.

I had a short week in SB and went out to Vegas again to stay at the CR house one more time. Wiggins had 7 buddy's from Chicago in town, and I've became good friends with a few of them, because of my many trips to Chicago and we're in a fantasy baseball/football league together. The weekend was pretty damn wild. Highlights were getting a ton of bottles at the sickest table in Vanity at the Hard Rock Friday night. Getting entirely too drunk for Stingers birthday Thursday night at a country bar off the strip called Stoney's, a great massage day with Drama, Wiggins, and irock at South Point (no homo). RM seafood, Touring Italy at Olive Garden, 7am Jack n the Box, a stoned taxi driver doing donuts and running over cones on the way to the Rhino, and a bunch of other nonsense, at NYNY, OG, etc. Not gonna lie, I was pretty much dead by the time I left on Monday to go to Charles Town, WV for work at a Hollywood Casino there.

Worked all week in WV, then decided at 3am, before my 6am flight on Friday morning, that it would be fun to stay in DC for Independence day. So we grabbed hotel rooms at the Crown Plaza on K and 14th and partied in DC all weekend.

Friday we started off near the mall area where a ton of locals go and drink wine and beer on the grass. It's a pretty cool site, supposedly something that goes on every Friday night in the summer. After that we went to a bbq then headed up to Adam's Morgan area and proceeded to black out. Saturday we went and saw Strasburg pitch and ate at a great restaurant called Ten Penh, asian fusion. Sunday we rented bikes and went all over the city seeing a bunch of monuments, ate at a great japanese place called Kushi, then saw the fireworks out over Washington Monument. Monday (yesterday) I flew home after a long trip of almost 2 weeks. This week I'll be in town, and this weekend I have a scuba boat dive at the Channel Islands. I think I'm flying to the Buffalo area next week so I'll probably see Niagara during the summer, followed by a trip to install a system at 4 Bears casino near Minot, North Dakota.

I'm still trailing in the bet I have with a buddy for most states in 2010. I'm at 20, he's at 24, so I still have a good amount of work to do.

I'm not going to post poker graphs or HEM results since I don't want to curse myself, but I'm up 21 buyins in 7000 hands playing heads up. I'm playing very solid, staying focused, running good, and most importantly having fun (which is a whole lot easier when you're winning). Plan is to win about 25 more buyins and move up.

I hope everyone has been having solid results at the tables and in life. I'll check in later. Till then...I'll wish all of my buddies who are playing tomorrow in the main event, a fuckin HUGE good luck.

-Spud

The new version of Cardrunners is up and running. Even though it's going to take some getting used to, I think it looks awesome and will prove to be much better than the prior version. I'm eager to explore some of the newer features, though poker has completely taken a backside to life and studying, watching videos, reviewing HH's isn't of major importance to me. Hopefully that'll change as it gets closer to WSOP and I make a few trips to Vegas to play cash games. I'm really excited about jungleman becoming an official CR pro. I've followed him for awhile and can't wait for him to be more active in the CR community.

Since I was promoted to Manager of Engineering, I haven't traveled. Which is really quite a change for me, since at this time last year I probably had 15-20k miles traveled, as well as my trip to Asia. I've really enjoyed my time in the office, but I'm eager to get into hotels and airplanes again. Monday the 10th I'm flying to Vicksburg, Mississippi for the week, so I'll be able to knock off 2 more states (I'll grab lunch in Louisiana) in my race with DG to see who can visit the most states in 2010. Currently he's at 16 (drove from Cali to NC to relocate for his job) and I'm at 14.

Scottsdale for spring training turned out to be ridiculous. Much more fun than the bachelor party last year. It felt like we never left. The W still had a fresh new exciting vibe, the weather was great, baseball was in the air. Quite a few athletes were at the hotel pool party Saturday night, which is always fun, as they tend to attract smoking hot women. We had so much fun we've already booked next year's trip. Another sports related trip I've booked is Niners vs Panthers in North Carolina. Me and my buddies are going to visit DG in Charlotte and hit up this game October 24th.

Finally, I'm going to sign up to get scuba certified the weekend of June 4th at Anacapa Dive Center. I've only been once, in Hawaii, quite a few years ago and fell in love with it. It was my intention to get certified when I returned, but then I got drunk in college and forgot. So here I am, years later, able to afford the gear, living in one of the best areas in the world to go diving (the Channel Islands) and I'm going to do it. If anyone has any advice, recommendations, knowledge about scuba diving, definitely don't be shy to send me a PM or comment.

Till next time, run well readers, run well.

-Spuddy

I'm finishing up 6 loads of laundry, with 2 more still to go (I have more clothes than anyone I know, which is just stupid) so I felt like it was a good time to wind down and type up a quick blog.

Life has been really crazy for the past few weeks. 3 or so weeks ago when I was in Maine one of my best friends, who happens to be our lead engineer, resigned to work for a partner of ours. He got a great opportunity, making more money, moving to North Carolina, doing more government projects and leading a team of project managers. I'm really happy for him even though it's one less good friend I'll have in SB.

After the roller coaster of emotions subsided, a few weeks later our boss decided to resign as well and explore an opportunity with the same company. For those keeping score, in the engineering department of our US office, the only 2 guys ahead of me just resigned. Panic set in shortly after he told me and I realized, "wtf are we gonna do?" This resignation came as a huge shock to everyone in our office, and was much harder to deal with on a professional level. That being said, with loss comes opportunity.

So after giving it some thought, I decided, if I was offered the position and compensation, I want to take over the department. So that's what I've done. I've been put in charge of the department. I'm certainly no where near my boss technically as he is truly gifted, however we plan on hiring someone with tons of computer/networking experience and rounding out the department.

This opportunity is extremely exciting for me, as I've always wanted to lead. I love this role. I look forward to helping everyone grow, and strengthening our department as a whole. Since I've never been in a managerial position like this, I have a great amount of learning to do, but am extremely confident I'll catch on quickly. I'll begin interviewing a few of the qualified candidates shortly and am eager to fill that position soon. From there my goal is to bring the new guy up to speed quickly so that his value is felt immediately.

I'm leaving for Scottsdale, AZ tomorrow morning out of SB and arriving in Phoenix around noon to begin partying all weekend while watching Giants baseball. Hopefully it will be as wild as last year. About 15 guys are going. We're staying at the W where we went to a phenomenal late night pool party with a bunch of athletes last year, so hopefully that goes on again. I'm looking forward to the girls, the weather, the pool, baseball, steakhouses, and chaos.

From Phoenix I'm flying to Seattle Sunday night, for a meeting in Washington Monday morning at 8am with an Indian Reservation. I'll be staying at the Westin in downtown Seattle Sunday and Monday night and leaving Tuesday back to SB where I'll be the rest of the week.

I hope everyone is running as good as me right now in life! Peace.

I thought it would be a great idea to purchase some golf clubs. 2 or 3 weekends ago I went "golfing" with a bunch of buddies. I had just got back from a 3 week trip in the miserable north east cold, and went to Glenn Annie course on a clear blue day with a view of the Pacific. The thing is, I didn't swing a single club. I didn't have clubs, so I paid a $12 fee to be on the course, drove a golf cart for 18 holes and drank a bunch of beer. Honestly, I had a blast. A buddy of mine even complained that I was having more fun for $50 less than him. I smoked a cigar, saw a drive deflect off our buddy's back on the fairway, saw a buddy puke on one of the greens and other entertaining things. There was one thing missing though, and that was me actually playing.

Fast forward to last Friday where I found what look to be "good" clubs for $20 on craigslist. After work I immediately bought them, then on Saturday bought a bag from Play it Again Sports and a putter and glove from Sports Authority. I was officially ready to golf. Except for a I didn't realize how fuckin terrible I am.

I just got back from the driving range. My right thumb has a blister I popped and my left palm is really sore. I bought about 80 balls and didn't make it through but 70. Not one of those 70 "strokes" would have out driven a 12yo girl that has been playing for 6 months, hitting from 30 yards behind me. I was easily better when I was 15 than I am 13 years later. Evidently being bigger has nothing to do with driving the ball. I felt so clueless out there that I couldn't say one thing I did right.

I have no idea if I'm too far from the ball. If the ball is too far forward, or too far back. If my knees are bent enough, or too much. My grip on the club. What angle I should be holding the club. My backswing feels foreign. I whiffed. A ton. And played it off like a practice swing. No less than 20x. I don't know where to strike the ball. Clearly it wasn't too low, as nothing got air. My follow through is like playing air guitar, it feels correct, but could be completely superfluous. Maybe the balls were just bad? Or maybe it was because I averaged 7 holes a year of golf for the past 4 years?

Actually, I think it was the $20 clubs. Yeah that's it. It was the clubs.

Left for Vegas Saturday. Checked into Caesar's and used the $20 sandwich to get a room upgrade in the Palace Tower with a huge jacuzzi. I love jacuzzi's. The Palace Tower ended up being extremely convenient as the tradeshow was on the 4th floor in one of the ballrooms and I was on the 21st floor. Saturday night was spent eating a ridiculously good meal at Naked Fish, followed by some drinking, then a limo to Olympic Garden. Fun was had there.

Sunday afternoon we began setting up the tradeshow booth. In N Out was delivered for lunch, then we took a break around 10 to eat at Bradley Ogden. The food was pricey and pretty good. I wouldn't go back however. We ended up working until 4am then getting up Monday morning by 7am to make it to the tradeshow by 8am (I had to iron my pants which I'm awful at). The show was long and boring, lasting from 8am to 6pm. I left early to take a nap from 4pm until 6:30pm since we had a private party cocktail thing at the Palm in Caesar's. Took a limo over to Aquaknox at the Venetian for some pretty damn good seafood. After that we headed to XS, got a sweet table right next to the stripper pole and partied late again.

Woke up at 7:45am for the 8am start Tuesday morning. Struggled through another slow day, took down the booth and took a limo to the Golden Steer. Had a great dinner there then went to Pure for some more fun. Left early to play some poker at Caesar's, started falling asleep at the table, eventually we got to 4 handed, no one but me wanted to play short, so the table broke and I left, up a little. I called it an "early" night as I was just exhausted at this point. Wednesday morning woke up and had lunch at Beijing Noodle #9 and hit the road back to SB.

Once again I'm looking forward to being back in SB for a few weeks. I might head out to Arizona for a sales trip March 8-9, then immediately flying back out March 12 for Spring Training in Scottsdale, AZ with 15 of my buddies. We did this trip last year for a bachelor party and had a ridiculous time, so we're going again. We're staying at the W again, where we attended a crazy late night pool party that quite a few Giants, D McNabb, Urlacher and some other pros were at. One of my favorite parts of the trip is dinner at Don and Charlies where I saw a few Giants hall of famers, and a few front office guys. If you're a baseball fan, I highly recommend going to spring training.

Life's really good right now. I hope it is for you guys as well.