I played Day 1c of the Main Event this year and was surprised at how tough my table was. There honestly weren't any fish at all, and there was a super aggro Finnish player two seats to my left which severely limited my options. Even though I busted in the final level of the first day, I honestly think I played very well overall with two exceptions that I've discussed & fully analyzed with others since; what can I say, it just wasn't my day.

My friend Justin made it to Day 4 but busted about 150 spots from the money due to some really unfortunate -- but very +EV -- situations. I think this was his first live tournament ever, so I'm glad he found out sooner rather than later how much it truly sucks to play for 4 days and not cash. Especially in the Main Event. But major props to my buddy Nate Meyvis for going deep and getting it in super good before busting yesterday. One day it'll be Meyvis' turn, and it honestly couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Anyway, I decided to put some side action in a last longer bet with a friend. My 5 horses are: Michael Mizrachi, William Thorson, Matt Affleck, Bryn Kenney, and Joseph Cheong; I'm up against John Racener, Theo Jorgensen, Alex Kostritsyn, Scott Clements, and Michal Wywrot. Thorson's my wild card -- he'll either win the tourney or lose a huge pot pretty soon...hopefully the former.

No more than 60 seconds after we finalized our picks tonight, Clements lost a big pot with AA for half his stack. I was on top of the world until Theo doubled up one hand later to take the chip lead, sending me back into :(

Time for my guys to make a push -- go! go! go!

I'm in Malaysia for a quick 3-day sightseeing stopover before heading to Hong Kong for the final 6 days of my journey through Southeast Asia. Originally, the plan was to fly to Bangkok after KL, but I decided to skip it in favor of HK due to the recent escalation of violence there. A few quick notes:

- I tried chili crab in Singapore (a local specialty) and it was AMAZING. I'm not a seafood person AT ALL, but this was seriously very very good:

- Kuala Lumpur means "muddy city"

- There's a stronger Islamic influence in KL and Malaysia in general than I expected. I'd estimate that 85-90% of the women I've seen are fully clothed head to toe and wear scarves over their heads & hair. Islamic architecture is prevalent everywhere and is quite beautiful. Lots of mosques here too -- going to visit a few tomorrow.

- Had a full Malaysian meal tonight and was pretty impressed by a few things. First, the Malaysian version of Satay is *much* better than the rather boring (by comparison) Thai variant. Tons more flavor & complexity in the Malay style. Also tried Laska for the first time tonight -- went with the Assam Laska since I love Tamarind and spicy food -- and loved it. Really cool mixture of flavors that complemented one another well, resulting in a fabulous soupy entree. Not quite as amazing as the chili crab above, but still strongly recommended if you can find it!

- I cannot get over how stunning the Petronas Towers are at night. Whoever designed the lighting deserves a high-level artistic award. The lights seem both radiant and dim at the same time; they're almost neon/flourescent in a way. I could stare at them all evening and never get bored. Definitely my favorite skyscraper(s) in the world in terms of night beauty.

From the side streets:

Next stop: Hong Kong!

After just over 2 weeks in Koh Samui, Nick and I headed to the city-state of Singapore for 6 days. This place is amazing -- it's by far the cleanest city I've ever visited, the average quality of life here is very high, and overall it reminds me of a really nice city in America or Europe. The "primary official language" here is English (awesome), but there are actually 4 official languages in Singapore.

One of the things I love the most is that the tap water here is clean. Anyone who knows me knows I drink ridiculous amounts of water, so not having to stock up on bottles is a welcome reminder of home.

Singapore is notoriously tough on crime, and the result of this is a very clean, safe, friendly city. So for instance, if you decide to try and sneak some weed into the country and they catch you, you aren't sent to jail. You get executed. No joke. They don't mess around here -- I had to apply for a special permit to bring in one of my prescription allergy medications because it's classified as a narcotic!

We're going to Universal Studios Singapore today, which should be fun, then heading to the zoo in the evening for their famous night safari show.

But what I think you guys will gawk at the most is our hotel: we decided to splurge and booked ourselves at the brand new Marina Bay Sands in the harbor. It's a huge new hotel/casino/resort built by the Sands (same people who built the Venetian & Palazzo in Vegas). This place is sick baller! My only regret is not visiting one month later because the big SkyPark attraction on the roof doesn't open until June...FML.

The casino here is massive (see below) but doesn't have a poker room! WTF?! I've been told this may change in the future, but for now there's nowhere to play poker in Singapore. Huge oversight IMO.

One final note: citizens of Singapore aren't allowed into the casino without a "casino pass" which can be purchased for S$100/day or S$2k/year. Apparently the government really doesn't want its citizens to gamble. But it's obviously free for tourists to enter; however, they did check our passports for a valid visa at two checkpoints upon entry and again when we left. Obligatory pics:

View of our hotel from a boat tour in the harbor:

View of the hotel at night from the casino entrance:

The casino here is HUGE but doesn't have a poker room (sick beat):

Day view of the city from our room:

In front of the hotel at night (my camera spazzed out for some reason):

Nick and I enjoy some specialty beers at the local Belgian beer bar:

<3 Singapurrr, but hate our blog software. It's tilting me to no end and I don't feel like fixing all the pictures and all the other stuff it f'd up while trying to publish this entry. ASDLKFJAFRFIJGMLDGDJFAOPIWEFUASDFLKASPOFMEWRK:,ls

While stumbling around the internet today, the thought crossed my mind of registering the brystmar.com domain name. It was then that I noticed that Full Tilt Poker really does own my soul, or at least the internet rights to it. :(

I grabbed MicoTX.com as a consolation prize and will have it redirect to pokerstars.NET since I do not support gambling websites.

PS: new CR is great, but our blog software might have actually gotten worse. It's still the SAME GARBAGE FROM BEFORE but with more problems. In order for it to display the above brystmar.com link properly, I had to write my own HTML -- and that's only to accomplish something that was cutting edge on the web 20 years ago! I'm an e-Business major well-versed in web design, so it's hard for me to express in words how upsetting this is...

Hey guys, long time no see! Been pretty busy with poker, coaching, and sitting on the couch lately. The usual.

I was in San Diego the past two weekends for my friend Derric's (SixPeppers) bachelor party and then wedding. Both were tons of fun, got to see a bunch of poker guys I hadn't seen in awhile and great times were had on the whole. The day after the wedding, I hopped on a plane to the island of Koh Samui in Thailand where my former student Nick is renting a house.

My layover in Hong Kong was interesting. I had a lengthy discussion with a local college student about China and his + his friends' perspectives on various events in modern Chinese history. I truly enjoy talking to locals in the places I visit, and especially so when they're from my generation. Also of note was the Popeyes franchise location in the HKG airport:



Got to our house in Koh Samui yesterday and I'm still trying to get adjusted to everything. Our location is great: inside a gated community, very close to a private beach. My room:



Shared balcony with Nick:


Living area:




It's not a villa without a pool:


The fastest, cheapest, and by far most practical mode of transportation here is by motorbike, so Nick and I each have our own to get around town. They drive on the left side of the road here (damn British) which always requires a quick mental adjustment when I get on my bike. It's a lot of fun to buzz around the island on these things.



This seems like a great way to experience Southeast Asia for the first time, even though none of us speak Thai. Many of the locals speak broken Engrish which is fun for me to interpret, but everyone here is super friendly.

Nick's Russian friend Dennis flew in today and is staying with us for about ten days. I think it's funny how both Nick and Dennis are both totally fine sleeping in their rooms with no air conditioning (it's ~85 degrees and extremely humid here pretty much all day & night), while I crank the A/C in my room. It's nearly impossible for me to sleep when it's hot, so room is the only cool place in the entire house. The guys always shiver when entering my door, which is hilarious because they both live in Moscow.

We're going to one of the famous Full Moon parties tonight on a neighboring island; I've heard some really cool stuff goes down at those so we'll see what the deal is tonight. Only regret so far is missing my beloved Spurs' run in the playoffs. Go Spurs!

More from Thailand later in the week...

Happy new year, blog! Some of you may remember my goals from last year were:
1) Stop tilting
2) Play shorter sessions
3) Practice drums/guitar
4) Go out more

In retrospect, I failed pretty badly at most of those for the first half of the year, esp 1 & 2. I had my two biggest losing days in April/May of last year at -$43k and -$24k, respectively. And I wasn't playing 25/50 in those sessions. I really grabbed hold of myself after those days, however, and cut out the tilt. Second half of the year was much better.

Goals for 2010:
1) Continue tilt control. This will always be my #1 priority. I want to be the best at quitting (Tommy Angelo-style).
2) Work out regularly & put on some muscle. I started the year 5'10", 145-150lbs and hope to put on ~15lbs of muscle this year.
3) Learn drums for real. I'm quite good at Rock Band drums and replicating complex rhythms in general, but I've never played on a real kit before. I was fortunate enough to have a friend lend me her Gretsch drum kit a few weeks ago until she moves into a bigger place, and I started lessons this week. Having a blast, this is tons of fun!
4) Go out more! I live in downtown Austin for a reason...

More about #2: I have a super metabolism that's allowed me to eat anything I wanted for my whole life without ever gaining weight, so in order to put on weight Greg pointed me to this somewhat radical diet called GOMAD. Basically, you drink a gallon of whole milk every day in addition to your normal diet. So since I've started working out regularly, I'm gonna give this a try until until I hit 170. LOOK OUT JERSEY SHORE!

Gotta drink your milk like a baller:


Progress so far, even after throwing away two empty jugs:


That's it for now, just remember:

I saw Avatar in 3D at the IMAX last night and I'm still buzzing from the experience. I've never been so overwhelmed by a film in this way before; its epicness cannot be overstated. There are a million other reviews & misc write-ups about this film out there so I won't bore you with mine; only thing I'll say is this:

My gripe with the movie is that it preached a bit too much about environmental protection and about how bad/evil the military is with its ambitions of planetary destruction. But this in no way detracted from my enjoyment while sitting in the theater last night.

...And I can't imagine not seeing it in 3D. Many 3D movies make use of the technology in a way that feels pretty gimmick-y, but with Avatar it didn't feel forced in any way. I simply forgot I was wearing the glasses for most of the feature and was able to enjoy the awesomeness that is Avatar at the IMAX. Go see it and you'll understand!

Those of you who know me know that I'm really into beer. What began as a hobby to explore the refreshingly complex world of beer eventually morphed me into the beer geek that I am today. So when I was offered the opportunity to purchase a bottle of the 2009 batch of Sam Adams Utopias in October, I jumped at the chance.

Since I'm assuming most of you aren't familiar with Utopias, this probably doesn't sound like a big deal, but this is no ordinary beer. Firstly, it's brewed over a period of many years, combining a blend of batches and ingredients -- some of which are aged for up to 16 years in a variety of woods and casks. This is a completely different type of beer from anything that's ever been brewed: it has no perceptible carbonation, is best served at room temperature, and this year's batch has an alcoholic content of 27%. It's the strongest fermented beverage ever created, but dwelling its high ABV as the key point of this beer would be a tremendous misjudgement.

What makes this "extreme" beverage even more special is its rarity. Utopias is only released every two years in very limited quantities (only 53 barrels were bottled this year), and even still it's typically not something you can drive to the liquor store and pick up off the shelf; I had to pre-order my 25oz bottle over a month in advance. And due to retarded trans-state alcohol laws, this was the first time Utopias was even made available in Texas...the liquor store where I purchased mine only received 12 bottles total!

The bottle it comes in is made of ceramic, is branded with a unique serial number on the base, and is shaped like the bronze brewing vessels you see at large breweries. True to form, one side has sliding metal "doors" which reveal a picture of Sam Adams himself. Overall, the packaging is super sweet::




The tri-fold booklet explains the qualities and history of this "extreme beer" to those lesser informed about its uniqueness. It also contains a code redeemable for a complimentary custom-engraved Utopias crystal glass created specifically for this beer by world-renowned glassmaker Georg Riedel. That arrived today, here's what it looks like:




So how does it taste? I'm actually waiting to open it until after Christmas so my brother (also a beer geek) can enjoy this truly unique experience with me, so you'll likely have to wait until part 2 in January to hear my review of this beer. In the meantime, you can read reviews by some fellow beer geeks on Beer Advocate.

I'm sooooo looking forward to opening up this beast!

I saw a segment on the Science Channel last night about this "magical" African fruit that makes sour foods taste sweet, and it blew my mind. This looks like so much fun...check out this vid about miracle fruit from the NYT: