December Blog,

Poker Moneyz

I realize I haven't written a blog in awhile, so I figure this time I'll write a nice long one touching on my life and what not.

First; last month was amazing for me. Every November for the last 3 years I have always run super hot and won at least 10k, this November was no different. I won approx.:

$5000 - 1st in a $225 freezout at a local underground club (NL 50max people)

Felt pretty good because its a local club Ive been playing 2/5nl at for years, and it was the 2nd time they had ever ran a tourney (the first time I wasn't there to participate.)

$1850 - Chopped 3 ways in a $77 6max tourney on stars. I ended up winning it outright though, so I guess I shouldn't have chopped...

$3650 - 1st in a $109 turbo on stars.

I also final tabled this tourney 2 times after in the same week.

$1000 (approx.) profit playing live underground 2/5nl cash. Would have been more but I took a pretty gross 2k hit one night.

So, all-in-all, last month I made around 11k playing poker, and was/am stoked about it.

However, this month has been pretty gross, I've lost about 4k in tourney buy-ins and $950 playing 5/5nl (at an overraked game I shouldn't have been playing). My hands just haven't been holding, but Im still really confident in my play. Hopefully, it turns around soon, so I can show a profit for this month too.

Poker Thoughts

I've been playing underground poker for the last 4 years, mainly because there are many games close to where I live at university. But the games are overraked, and even though I am a winner in them, I know that I'd have a much better ROI playing standardly raked casino games. The shitty part is that the casino is a 2hr drive from my house, so it's a pretty big hassle. I've decided that Im not going to play underground games anymore and just stick to online tourneys and the occasional trip to the casino. I think EV wise this is the best decision I could make. I'm getting older now and I should be game selecting better and spending a little more wisely.

School

Im proud to say that Ive been getting straight A's this year - something that Ive never done before. I MIGHT be getting a B+ in one of my classes, but Im not 100% sure yet... regardless Im really happy about my grades and Ive been busting my ass hard to get them. I need to have good grades to get into law school.

Books

Last month I only read two books because I had A LOT of school related work to do, but I read Mike Matusow's biography "Check-Raising the Devil." That guy has had a crazy life in regard to drugs and poker, but after reading the book I have a lot more respect for him than I ever thought I would. One thing about Mike is that he is brutally honest, which is a quality I respect. He truly wears his heart on his sleeve.

The other book I read was called "A Beautiful Mind" Im sure most people have seen the movie, but the book was written after the movie and is a much more extensive account of John Nash's life. For those of you who don't know, John Nash was a genius mathematician who invented game theory and did it all while battling schizophrenia. A truly amazing book, and man. I believe there is truth in the saying, "there is a fine line between genius and insanity."

I actually also got halfway through the book "Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner. The book basically asks questions about life that aren't asked that often and from an economical perspective. For example, Why do most drug dealers still live at home with their moms? I mean they should be making a lot of money right? This is just an example of something they ask. This book has me captivated.

This month I've also started reading the book "The 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene. And I've just ordered:

Blink by Malcom Gladwell

The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell

What the Dog Saw by Malcom Gladwell (Ive already read Outliers by Gladwell and highly recommend it)

SuperFreakonomics (the sequel to Freakonomics)

Know-it-All: One Mans Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Man in the World by A.J. Jacobs (basically this dude read the whole Britannica Encyclopaedia Collection)

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (only fictional book out of the bunch, apparently won a million awards)

I love reading and learning and my hunger for it has only grown stronger with age.

Christmas

My family and I are supposed to be going to Ellicottville, New York for a Ski/Snowboard trip on Christmas morning and coming back a few days later. Right now I think it's looking pretty bleak though, because there simply just isn't that much snow on the ground. We've been going to my family's yacht club every year for Christmas, so this will be a nice change.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays.

FREE RAILM0!

http://www.cardrunners.com/pokertools/session/614792/replay/

I'm kinda bored, so I figured this would be a good time to update my blog.

The past month has been really hectic for me. With the beginning of school and work, I haven't had much time to play poker. September is always a tough month because it requires me getting use to getting up early again and operating on less sleep. The last month, I have consistently got up at 7:30am and gone to sleep at 2am. I start classes at 8:30am this goes till about 2:30pm and then I work from 2:30pm till 11pm at night. I only work 3 days a week, but I have classes every day.

Right now I'm taking an economics course as an optional I have. I'm finding it super enjoyable and had my first presentation on the" Social Economy" this week and I crushed it. I find economics really enjoyable for some reason. While all the other students are complaining about how hard it is, I'm intently reading my books every night and actually enjoying it. Some days I go to second cup, grab a latte and chill on their couches and study with the other coffee shop nerds, it's really enjoyable for me. No Im not gay lol

I've been going to the gym 5-6 days a week again. I feel really good and I've cut down a lot. You can see it in my face. I used to get nervous about doing any cardio and eating less carbs cause I didn't want to lose any muscle gain, but I realize it doesn't matter and I may have to sacrifice a bit of muscle to look good for the ladies. I'm still slamming protein pretty hard, so I'll be alright. It certainly has cut down on my food bills a lot. I'm also eating out only once a day now instead of 2 or 3 times. But I still eat healthy when I do eat out. When you go to university it's hard not to eat on campus all the time, but they have some alright choices when it comes to food. Jimmy the Greek is the best for sure. They boil their rice and potatoes, along with some tender chicken. I get that almost every day, but I tell them not to put any taziki sauce and just drink water with it. In the mornings I have a bowl of oats and a protein shake. Some times in the middle of the day I have another protein shake and some fruit. So the diet has been going really well. Sometimes I cheat a bit and have juice - but whatever.

I haven't been playing too much poker and when I have I've got smashed. I played a $125 tourney the other day. I get AA utg and limp, aggro guy in mid 3bets me, it folds around to me and I 4 bet, aggro jams and shows QQ. Flop comes AxJ, turn T, river K... GG lol I think I'm going to take it easy with poker until the Fallsview Classic in January. I'm moving to Las Vegas for the summer, so I'll be able to get all my 5bet jamming out there.

My best friend came back from med school for a 2 week break he had. So I spent a lot of time with him and his family playing soccer and having barbeques all day. Playing sports outside and barbequing at night is pretty much the best time I can possibly have. Then we usually light up a fire while chilling outside and talking. I can't wait till we both get good careers. We're going to invest in a lot of businesses together. It's awesome having a friend since you were a little kid and knowing that you can trust him with your life. I would literally do anything for that guy, and vice versa. Rabba!

Well, that's about all I've got to say right now. I usually get 200 or so views whenever I post, so thanks to all you faithful who continue to read this.

So I decided last night that Im going to get straight A's this year in Uni. Before this year I would usually do everything the night before and end up getting c's and b's in my courses. Most of my friends have graduated uni, and I really want to push myself even harder than I already do. Im capable of getting straight A's, so why not make that a reality. Ill just have to study a lot. Im going to spend a lot less time playing poker too. I really want to get into law school and poker will always be there, so Im going to take the next couple years and really focus on school. Although I still want to go live in Vegas next summer.

I listened to a speech last night that really changed my thinking. And I believe that its the best speech Ive ever heard in my life. I think it would be healthy to listen to it a couple times a week.

There are no girls in my life right now. And to be honest, that is on purpose. I don't want to have anyone distracting me while Im studying and trying to make money. Girls are a lot of drama, and really take up a lot of time. It wouldnt even be fair if I dated someone right now, because I wouldn't have any feelings for them anyways. Ive grown kinda cold after the whole thing with Jess. Not that Ive become a bad person - but Im definitely more wary of women, and dating in general. I actually don't think its possible to care for someone again. But I guess we'll see what the future holds.

Here is the youtube clip that I encourage all of you to listen to the end. I promise you wont regret it.

The last couple weeks have been pretty eventful. I've been running well in live cash games, including a $4000 scoop at 5/5nl (went 60/40 chop with someone though). I did also get drunk one night with another CR member Railm0 and proceeded to shoot off $1400 to some reg at 2/4nl (yes I'm an idiot). I also started playing on Stars again the other day. I played in my first Sunday million in a couple years tonight and cashed in it, coming 600th, lost JJ vs Ak aipf. Of course he spikes an A on the flop and takes down a 250k pot... sigh.

I staked Amanda Musumeci in the legends of poker main event and a 1k event. She ended up coming 13th in the 1k and busted the main. Awesome performance by her, and it's too bad she got sucked out on twice in a row, otherwise should would have ft'd the 1k for sure. Id def stake her in the future. She's definitely trustworthy and kept me posted from her table through text messaging, fb, and twitter. I bought 15% of the 1k and 10% of the main event. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I think she's a solid player.

What else? OH, I played a crazy variation of beer pong the other day. I bought this ghost pepper sauce from Vegas this summer and brought it home as a gift for one of my buddies. Apparently, it's the hottest hot sauce in the world. We put 3 drops in a cup with beer and randomly mixed the cups, then we flipped a coin for what side of the table we were to play on. I run like a champ so of course he got the side with the hot sauce cup. I hit his hot sauce cup right away - it was on like donkey kong. He drank half and told me he felt like puking. Naturally, I proceeded to chirp him, but then felt really bad when he actually did start puking! He was shaking and puking and I was asking him if I should call an ambulance, he kept saying no, but he didn't look so good. He said it was hard to breathe... It blew over after about 20min and he threw the hot sauce in the garbage hahaha. Crazy night!

I start school in a couple weeks... I'm not really looking forward to it, as I'm going to be studying really hard this year and not putting in as much time at the poker table as Id like. BUT, next summer I'm going to live in Vegas, so I'll make up for some lost card time there. Hopefully I bink a bracelet this time. RAGER AT JEFF MILLERS PLACE!

Just a quick update. Ive been doing well these past couple weeks. Im down a few buyins playing 5/10 fr. But Im on a crazy heater playing 2/5. So Im pretty happy with life at the moment.

I wanted to share a quote that I think really speaks to me and conveys how I feel about life in general:

"We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and - in spite of True Romance magazines - we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely - at least, not all the time - but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don't see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness." - Hunter s. Thompson

Have a great week.

Running bad

This month has been pretty tough for me. I always think twice when someone tells me that they've been running bad, I always wish I could see the hands they played to evaluate if they are actually running bad or just playing bad. I can assure you though, that I am running poorly. For those of you that don't know me, I play 2/5nl fr at underground clubs around Toronto. I have been getting it in as a massive favourite and it feels like I continually get turned or rivered for my whole stack. But such is life. This has forced me to evaluate my play, and though I've been losing the past couple weeks, I feel that I've got better as a player, and I feel that that counts for so much more than any monetary goal I feel I should be hitting.

Lately, I've been in super depressive mode. It feels like nothing can go right for a long period of time. Its really frustrating, as I feel Im constantly fighting one battle to the next. Im sure this is life for everyone though. When I hear about other people's struggles I don't feel so bad, because many of mine pale in comparison and I suppose I should be thankful for that.

Thoughts on the Girah Scandal

Many of the people I see ripping on Haseeb and Jose have been low stakes grinders, or random NVG trolls... Although I believe they got what they deserved, I don't feel like some people should have the right to rip on them since there is no way that they have affected anyone other than the highstakes community. For those of you that are part of that community; you have all the reason in the world to be vocal, but I find it annoying when a bunch of 25nl grinders are ripping on highstakes pro's for something that has no bearing over them whatsoever. Again, I'm not defending those being held accountable, but I do feel all the micro grinding trolls should lay off. Haseeb mentioned that Jose sounded like he was contemplating suicide - isn't that enough? Everyone should relax.

Love makes us blind

I want to thank Hastings for convincing me that it is definetly possible to fall in love again. He let me know that hes just gone through something a lot similar and hes feeling really confident in himself and his approach to women. I know that I dont want to even think about falling in love for a very very long time, but its awesome to have an intelligent mind reassure me that is possible. I guess only time will tell if hes correct.

t's been about 3 months since we broke up, and I know now that we will never be together again. I spent a lot of time dwelling on how much I loved her, and I really didn't want to let her go, but I realize now that I have to. I started thinking realistically about her... She was treating me poorly towards the end of our relationship, and I think I had too much faith that the situation would get better. I now realize that breaking up was probably good for us, and I don't think I could every marry someone that is capable of doing that to me. Love makes us blind. I've learned a valuable life lesson from this though: never get too attached to anything. Never open yourself up to the point that you can be torn down later. Personally, my biggest enemy is myself, if you are able to mess with my psyche, then you are able to tear me down. That is only possible if I love you.

Recently, another girl has shown a lot of interest in me, but these past events with Jess have turned me cold toward relationships. I made it very clear to her that I didn't want a relationship. She attempted to text me a bunch of times after we hung out one night, and I refused to respond until she messaged me again 3 weeks later. I wanted to make clear that Im not looking to get into anything. Ive decided not to be with another girl for a very long time. And I don't want to make new friends either. I have my small group of trustworthy friends, and I will continue to rely on them and trust them only.

I really like being alone to be honest.



Jacked that song off Haseeb's new blog, but I cant get over how much I like it.

When I was a kid I used to watch all these movies depicting a foreshadowing of events that would eventually happen in one's life when they mature. I had all these ideas about growing up, going away to college, living on my own, meeting the girl of my dreams... The media has portrayed love as a cataclysmic event - that spark that goes off in your head when you see that one person. The awkward smile... she gazes at her feet for a moment before she looks up at you with her beautiful eyes and seemingly sees right into your heart. You know; that woman in the summer dress that happens to be reading the same book you read last week. You smile at her; all the while your mind is racing, trying to find the words. "Not now, not this time, you have to say something idiot." You fumble over your breath and manage to squeeze out a pitiful... "That's a really good book you're reading..." Normally, you'd expect her to glance up from her book, only to return with a sideways smile. But not this girl, this girl is different. As soon as she looked at you, it was love at first sight. She perks up, smiles at you, and says "do I know you." Of course she doesn't know you, but not only are you awkward at starting up a conversation - she's just as bad at finding the words to continue them.

Its 3 years later and my heart is in pieces. Who knew a 5'3 female could tear down a 6'2 guy. Yes I'm defeated. Although she wasn't that girl reading a book in the summer dress, she was the equivalent to what my mind had conjured as my perfect match... she was reality. She was caring, but most of all - she loved me. She paid attention to me... she listened to me. It's something that I believe people take for granted -having someone to listen to you. I loved going to bed each night knowing that I was being thought about. I thought about her day and night since I met her, and I still do. She'll always be in the back of my mind. No matter what I do, it doesn't go away. I know she's never coming back, but something inside of me doesn't want to let her go. Maybe I'll never be able to let her go. Maybe I'll get married one day and still have her looming in the back of my mind until my death, never really allowing me to love another. "I love you, I'll never leave you"- those words haunt me. How she would grab my hand in the middle of the night or stare right into my eyes when she was talking. I miss that. She always held her feelings in, but those little moments are what made me realize that she really did love me. It's the little moments that let you know if you love someone. I've had a lot of time to think about this and I've came to the conclusion that it's not the big things that occur that define your relationship - it's how you felt during those little moments. I remember looking at her and just thinking "God you're beautiful, when will it end?" Everything in life has an ending right? You leave on vacation and when you get to your destination, you think "In a week I'll be leaving this place... it's too bad." At least I do. I guess that time has come for my rendezvous with love. I know this has happened to almost everybody, but sometimes I wonder to what degree. Is love just an infatuation? Is it possible to find another girl to love again? I have so many questions that I probably will never have answered - at least not anytime soon.

All I know is that this is real and I miss her.

Arrival

On the 15th I left for vegas with my buddy Kyle Chang, who is also a poker player. Id been waiting to go back to vegas for awhile and play in my first world series. I finally sucked it up and took a week and a half off school to make the trip. The plane trip was only 4.5 hours from Toronto, and some guy next to us had snuck a 26er of rum onto the plane which we mixed with our Pepsi. The waitress got suspicious because we were ordering so many Pepsi's and asked if we were mixing... "Of course not," we replied. Not sure if there is a penalty if you're caught doing that, but it was well worth it. We ended up staying at Imperial Palace, which obv isn't the nicest casino, but its right in the middle of the strip and we split $700 for the whole 2 week stay, considering there were two beds in the room. My initial decision was to sell shares of myself for 3 events at the wsop. I took to the online community, but nobody knew me well enough at 2+2 to stake me. Luckily, I have some friends and family that know my game and decided to back me. I ended up selling 60% of myself for just the first two events, and went on my own for the 3rd.Which was good on them because they ended up making 150% ROI.

We got off the plane at 11:30pm vegas time and cabbed it to the Rio to beat the morning rush and sign up for all the tourneys. The first tournament was a pretty incredible experience for me. Ive spent the last 4years of my life grinding online and playing underground games around Toronto to help pay for my school and life. Ive spent thousands of hours studying this game, wrecked a relationship with the one girl I'll ever love, and spent a lot of nights alone in my room... finally being able to step into the Rio and see everything was mind blowing. The final table stage setup was absolutely insane.I was listening to the recent CTZ and heard Andrew mention that it looks likethe Fulltilt final table set up - and I have to agree with him. It looks exactly like that lol. There were soo many people, and everywhere you looked there was someone you know from the poker world.

First ever WSOP eventwith Phil Laak

My first tournament - none other than Mr. Phil Laak sat at my table. He was quiet, quirky, and was reading some book called "The Genius in all of Us" and highlighting key verses. He seemed pretty intelligent. We went heads up in a hand full of pots over the course of the 7 hours I played with him, and I have to say that I had the advantage simply because I know he can read board textures and at the beginning of the tourney he had to guess if I could as well. I pushed him out of most pots we played and eventually he just avoided me. Although toward the end of the day he was short stacked and I shoved him with AQ only to see him wake up with KK - obv he held and I doubled him up before this hand happened... old man limps utg, it folds to some dude who also limps in mid-position, it gets to Laak in the cutoff and he jams his entire stack.. The old man snap calls and has aces obv lol. Laak shows up with KT, spikes a K on the flop and a T on the river. Old man goes spinning and Laak says "I didn't think anyone limped with aces utg anymore - I thought those days were over. That was the worst play Ive ever made in a tournament." I said "Ya, I\'m pretty sure that move is age specific." He laughed and went on about how happy he was, and how he was going to focus on the 1.5k and not sign up for some other tourney anymore. Oh, and Jennifer Tilly brings him food during the tourney because he wont eat anything from the casino. Overall, he seemed like a nice dude and was the only TV pro I ever really talked to during my stay. I ended up busting that tourney in the 8th level.

Random Nights

That same night me and Kyle went to the Venetian to drink a bit and play some cash games. I ended up making $1100 @ 1/3 PLO that night, and was pretty happy even though I busted the first event. When I got back to our hotel, I kept thinking about how I needed to bink the Venetian $120 nightly tourney to have a nice roll for the next two weeks as I only had about $1600 spending cash I came with. I had cashed in this multiple times last time I wasin vegas and even took a 2nd place. It seemed like an easy tourney with over 6k for 1st place, and I told Kyle that that was where the easy gold was at.

The next night I ended up strolling around the strip all day and played the nightly again, I ended up busting out and walked all the way from the Venetian to Aria because I had to check it out. The Aria is the best casino in vegas imo. Its so futuristic and the architects should be awarded some kind of medal for their work. The place is absolutely incredible, and for anyone that's been to Aria before, you'll know what I mean when I say how nice this place smells lol It smells like vanilla or something, but its just amazing. No words to describe, it sounds stupid, but its true. The poker room was small and I ended up jumping on a 2/5nl game. It was 5am when I got there and was super tired. Id have to say that its the first time Ive played in a 2/5 game anywhere and felt that a majority of the players were very intelligent. I ended up losing a buy-in that night and went home a little depressed, mostly because I was tired and spent though.

Binked the Venetiannightly 120

The next day I played the Venetian nightly $120 and ended up chopping 3 ways for $4700. This sickest thing about the chop was that the guy with the biggest stack (by a bit) and another guy took $4400 each and gave me $4700 because I refused to chop. I told them Id take a majority share or Id play it out... assuming theyd say no - they actually accepted the offer. Kyle was sitting behind me for the whole final table drinking one of those foot-long rum slushies, they are pretty good imo. So now my roll is sitting pretty and its time to own some lives.

1K FR NL event

I played the 1k nl event and did super well. The first day was pretty gruelling. Surprisingly, 6 minutes before the end of the last level of the day, we were all in the money. That night I was super stoked. Not just because I knew I was in the money, but because everyone who invested in me was going to get something back. I really wanted to prove to my investors that Iwasn't a bad investment... With 115 people left I had a monster stack. I was getting texts from my friends in Canada that were watching pokernews and telling me more stuff about the tourney that I didn't know. Such as, how big the 2nd largest stack was etc. I headlined a few reports and my friends weregoing wild because they were reading that I was the largest stack with only 100 to go. I told myself not to get too excited, because Im super competitive and Ididn't want to get too upset if I didn't win it.

I got into a bunch of little all-ins by other guys, in which I lost 4 in a row. For example, a guy shoves K9 in the cutoff for a quarter of my stack. I snap with AJs and he spikes two kings. Or I get it in with AQ after its folded around to me in the cutoff and the BB has QQ. There was a hand where I called an all in from a guy I had some history with when I was holding ATs for like 80k chips. He showed up with QQ and I felt kind bad about my call. Its just that I continually pushed him out of pots previously and was reraising him a lot. I assumed he just got sick of me. And he just opened jammed after I 4 bet him. After all this chaos, I still had a significant stack when this hand happens... it folds around to me in mid-position and I min-raise with A2s, the BB is the most ultra aggro player Ive played with at a table and that is a big statement considering Im usually the one that is the most aggressive. He ends up 4betting me and I smooth call, knowing that his range is SUPER wide and I don't want to 5 bet only to get jammed on, which, he is more than capable of doing with almost any two. Theflop came down 89T and he thinks for a minute and checks. I also check, knowing that if I bet, Im prob getting re-raised or flatted with QJ, KJ, AQ, AK, AJ,..etc. And wont have any idea where he is in the hand. The turn brings a 4, he bets out (don't remember how much) but I ended up 2.5xing his raise, he thinks fora super long time and minraises me back. I end up jamming... he goes into the tank and says "I think that we are both spazzing out right now.. I want to call you so bad... I have AJ and I think we have the same hand.." I said in my head "I wish!" lol he ends up mucking the hand, and I rake in the chips with a huge grin on my face.

On the second days break, I got a text from Jeff telling me that he was coming to rail me and Eric in our events. It was really cool to finally meet him, and I have to say that he is a great guy IRL. We ate some lunch and I ended up being 8 minutes later for my tourney lol.

Bust out hand

I ended up busting the tourney in 53rd for $7611. I had seen about 6 hands at the table before this hand occurred: I had approx.180k (average stack) It folds around to the cutoff and he ends up like 2.8xing it (for the life of me I can't remember what the blinds were at). I remember that it was a big 3 bet because everyone was minraising to steal at this stage in the tournament and whenever I saw someone raise more than 2x it was almost always a hand like a small pocket pair that they were raising, as if to say "go away, I most likely have the best hand but I don't want to see a flop." I had 4bet these raises almost everytime in the tourney and got folds everytime. The SB was a very aggro player and in just 6 hands I had seen him 4 bet someone twice and cold call a 3 bet. He seemed pretty intelligent. Anyways, the SB ends up minraising the 2.8x from the cutoff... It gets to me and I jam my entirestack in the BB. I had Q6o, but imo my cards were irrelevant. I jammed for the reasons I stated previous, plus the added fact that I was a new face to the table and hadn't played a hand yet. There was 500k and a bracelet on the line,and no one is calling me light. Given that noone had any reads on me at all, they would have to be folding AQ and worse. JJ and worse. And QQ is completely player dependant on if they call with it or not. So that leaves us with them calling my jam with AK, AA, KK, and prob like 65% of the time with QQ imo. My fold equity is so good here and I could have added approx 100k chips to my 180k stack. Not a bad play imo. And I would do it again... Unfortunately, both the cutoff raiser and the SB had AA LOL. I ended up turning a gutshot for 4 outs totake down the pot for a triple up, but the river blanked and I went home with a bunch of wide eyes looking at me in amazement. Some of my friends liked my play, others didn't like it. If both players didn't have AA and they ended up mucking, I would have told the story and looked like a genius, but since they called, maybe some people think I looked stupid. What they don't know, is that I had made so many plays like this previously in the tournament and was correct in my assumptions. I made it as far as I did hardly going to showdown, and Im really happy about my performance.

Cash Games, Smaller Tourney, and Cirque De Soleil

For the next fews days, I mulled around vegas and went shopping and played some 2/5nl. I have to say that the Polo outlet store was by far my favourite store other than Gucci and Louis haha. I played the Rio daily $235 tourney. 1000 entrants signed up, and I ended up min cashing for $460 with 73 players left. 1st place was 40k... On my last 2 days, I decided to play some 5/10nl. Im used to playing 2/5nl and have taken some shots at 5/10, but this was still considered taking a nice shot to me. I ended up getting stuck 1k after I tried to 3 barrel bluff a bad player and ran into two pair... I re-issued another 1k and ended up turning it into 5k. Overall, I was super happy with my play, and 5/10 at the Bellagio wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. My only regret was that I didn't go take a shot at 10/20 my last day. But maybe it was for the best :)

I also saw Cirque De Soleil "O" at Bellagio. My friends were busy playing cash games, so I ended up going alone and got a great seat because of it. As most of you know, the show is based on water, and the stage is a multi-million dollar stage for sure. I got to sit in the Loggia row, where there is no one behind you or in front of you and I sat dead center. It was easily the best live show I\'ve seen in my life and I encourage anyone to go see it while you are there.

Conclusion

Overall, it was a great experience. I ended up flying outwith a nice wad of cash a check from the Rio in my pocket. My two friends stayed longer than I did because I had to come back to Toronto and attend class. My one friend came back yesterday, and my other friend is still down there and apparently is up like 6k in 14 days playing 2/5nl... looks good onhim but he's a SUPER NIT hahaha. Hes getting bottles tonight at XS so holla atthe brown guy wearing shades in the club trying to smooth talk ladies.

I can't wait to go back next year and hopefully more people online will trust my play and be willing to stake me for next years WSOP.

It was also really nice to finally meet Jeff Miller, Alex Huang, Jessie Knox, Cpar, and some of the other CR guys. And a special congrats to Eric for shipping half a mill and beating Helmuth HU.

Here's the link:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/184/staking-selling-shares-live/erik-lemarquand-small-wsop-package-1045330/