Still Alive, Part 2: APT Sydney

Whoa two updates in a week, I must be going crazy. I thought I'd give this blog some more love, and since I recently played and ran deep in a major (for Australia) tournament, I decided to do a small little tourney wrap up. The tournament at the Star Casino here was branded a billion ways - a "special event" of the Asian Poker Tour (APT), NPL Million/Main Event, Star Summer Series, etc. Basically, it was a $2000 freezeout which attracted 648 runners, with 282k going to first. Big, for sure, and I was happy to try my luck and aging poker hand in this donkament!

On Day 1, I was seated at an eleven handed table due to lack of tables; I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of so much fine company in such close quarters... and fine company it was. The players were mostly "pub" players, meaning many of them had qualified in small local or regional satellites. aka, this was a fish fest of greatest proportions. My first table was a poker player's dream - 10 other passive, never-raise-without-"it" players who would rarely get out of line, so you didn't have to worry about being outplayed or bluffed too often. One of my first notable hands was when EP opened and received 6 calls, including myself in the SB with JTs. Flop came Q95r, and the whole table checked around (I was so shocked). So when turn came low, I fired thinking that if anyone even had a Queen, they'd be way too weak to defend against a big river bet. 3 people called me haha...then I brick river naturally. I figured AQ KQ were surely raising preflop right?? And I'm repping incredible strength when I bet into 3 people on river, so fire river I did, a healthy 3/4 pot. I think KQ QJ is folding always, would have been so surprised if they did call me there, in that spot. I was pretty sad to leave that table, and grinded the next few hours at a slightly harder table. But not too much harder...promptly stacked a dude's 20k @ 100/200, when I had KK, he limp/called with QJo.. and we somehow got it all in on the turn on a Qxxx board, him check/shoving me. gg

One interesting hand was when I had T7o in the SB limped pot, CO had limped. I check/raised the A98 flop (two clubs) since I figured he was just stealing, but he called me which was slightly annoying. I bricked the turn, but led thinking I'd get him off his non-premium Ace since he hadn't raised pf, and I was in the blinds damnit! I always have some shit there. The glorious 6 arrived to my great surprise, and I fired huge. He tanked for like 3 minutes, eventually called, and I experienced the best live poker feeling for me...rolling over rags no one suspects that have turned into the absolute nuts. He had turned two pair, oops! My plan was probably to shut down on the river, but if river was a 3rd club, I might have fired huge again.

My best bluff of the tourney happened a few hours later when I raised over a shorty's late limp with K4c, flop AK8, and I checked it back which seems alright/standard. He led 2k into me on a blank turn and I called just because I might have the best hand, it's a bit disguised and I might be able to outplay him river, which came another blank. He fired 2350 with about 9k left in his stack. I put him on exactly A9 or AT, and because I didn't think he'd be the type to call off his tourney with only 1 pair, I threw out a bunch of yellow 5k chips to set him in. I knew if he thought about it, I don't really rep much by checking the flop, just calling his turn bet, and shoving a meaningless river. It should have been an easy call with just his Ace, but I was sure enough that he didn't see it that way. I'd never pull this sort of bluff on someone I knew was a thinking player. After all these hands, I bagged up 115k (start with 30k) and called it a night.

On the long 14 hour next day, my chip stack see-sawed mightily. One of my 3 or 4 freeroll-should-be-out of tournament spots happened early on. I was big stack at table, with almost 100 BB, and opened in EP with KK, only to find a capable player 3betting me in position (who had a giant stack too). I thought that there was not enough history for me to 4bet and get him to 5bet me light here, and his 3b range wasn't limited to premiums, so calling easily seemed like the correct play. Plus we were extremely deep (for poker tournies) and I strongly doubt he was getting it in with me with AK. And finally, I like being tricky. Flop came Jack high rainbow and I check/called on flop. To me, there were tons of bluffs/air in his range (he seemed like that kind of guy?), so no point in raising this flop. And I really get no value in this pot from KJ/AJ if I raise. The turn was a Queen, not a great card since QJ/QQ got there, but not to worry I thought to myself, I still have fucking Kings. He checked behind which relieved me a bit, since we wouldn't have to play for stacks now. River was a low blank and I checked because I thought he would 1) bluff very high % of the time thinking I'd fold 77-TT, 2) value town himself with J-x or Q-x, or 3) not call my river bet since he probably wasn't that strong overall for checking the turn. He bet quite large, like 19k, and I snap tossed in the only blue 25k chip on the table. But he rolled over the hand I literally least expected to see, AA! That hand seriously almost never entered my mind, except in a "oh wouldn't it be funny if he had..." moment. If I had had fewer chips, we woulda gotten in preflop and I woulda been done. Instead I still had 100k and plenty to work with at 600/1200.

I dwindled mightily during the course of the next few hrs, openings and cbets not really getting through, in addition to whiffing every board. With the increasing blinds, I dwindled to about 15 BB before my 2nd tourney-saving moment, I shipped it pf with TT and got flatted by a player with JJ...however he folded when a player with KK reshipped over the top. QQ was also in the blinds but he folded! Flop came T high and I more than tripled up, was so hot to suck outtttt. I finished and went on the best dinner break ever...the thai fried rice was amazing....

When we went back at night, the blinds had gotten huge and I was once again a bit short, below average. Got in JJ vs TT fortunately, flopped quads, and held phew. Lost a huge pot with 88 to T4c on a J87cc board, kinda sucky to lose that one, would have had about 400k. One of the most fun hands I played this tourney went down when I failed to see UTG had opened to 20k, and I looked down at 84s in the SB and completed lol. BB called as well, and flop came 832r, I thought to myself, "Andrew you idiot what have you gotten yourself into" as I check/called 32k. Turn was an Ace, but I was undeterred to his 67k bet since I thought he was just muscling a big stack, so I called. River went check check and I won a huge 270k pot with that dumb hand. Later on, I lost A4o to K9o in a blind on blind shove in a pot worth 350k, so ended the night down to 120k, 10 BB for tomorrow's day 3! We had gone into the money sometime earlier that night, and got down to 43 people.

Day 3 was fun up and down as well, and I had hopes on nursing the short stack I had into something. I ran extremely well and picked up KK against QQ, got a guy with 300k to stack off to me when I opened A6o and he defended with 54s...board came A654 and we got it in on the turn after a sneaky check of mine on flop. Stayed a bit below average for the majority of the day after being above average all day yesterday. Won a nice pot off my friend and poker pro buddy Jim Collopy when I opened QTd and he defended BB. Flop was 993 and I checked behind waiting for some backdoor draws to develop. I spiked a T and he bet/called my 71k on the turn and 140k on river. After I took out a shorty, I was up to 1.2m at 12k/24k, which despite being only 20 BB, was plenty to work with this whole tournament. At one point in the final 18 players, I got all in with AK against the eventual winner's AJ, and we chopped a 1.6m pot, very annoying as I would have been among the leaders. Then a blah hand came up, expertly played by my friend, where he called my triple barrel bets of 110k, 155k, and 255k with T8s on a T43K7 board, where I had A-high. I finally bowed out in 11th place when I made a trivial reship with A6s with 15 BB against the large stack's open on the final table bubble, and he happened to have 88. I had great fold equity for sure, just unlucky he had 88 and I couldn't outdraw. 11th paid a nice 14k, and brought my great, unexpected and lucky run to and end!

I thought I played very well throughout this tournament, at least for someone who hasn't really played a significant live tourney since EPT Madrid 2.5 years ago. The level of play was definitely much lower than I have been accustomed to, but never underestimate the power of cards and hands. No pro in the world can win anything without some cards and luck. This time around, I was lucky enough to FINALLY cash in a poker tournament at this terrible casino. It took me long enough (stretching back to 2008).

My next tournament will most likely be another random little $800 freezeout, up in Macau this time as part of the Red Dragon series. I have a bit of time to kill and I get to splash around in Asia! Right L?

I'm still alive down under!

Hello World! I realize this latest blog post comes almost exactly 2 years to the day I last posted, and many apologies for having sorta dropped off the face of the poker and blogging world. I just wanted to say that I am indeed alive and definitely enjoying my time in Australia to the absolute fullest these days. Boy, 2 years, there really is so much to catch up on. For this post, I'd like to focus on highlights of my travels and life stuff (yawn?) The next post that I'll write shortly will focus on the poker side of things, including a deep run I made at the recent APT Sydney main event, which I took 11th in. Guess I can still play some cards :)

The hugest change/transition for me has been my semi-retirement from poker. As many of you poker followers may have noticed (or not), azntracker is no longer found at the tables on PokerStars. In fact, I've lurked on the PS lobby at times, and it seems like the games I used to play are pretty much dead. Gone. Sure there are hypers going all the time, but I know I chose the absolute best time to stop playing when I did and move on, which is just about as amazing timing as when I first got into it. I reached that turning point last year, both financially and mentally, where poker was no longer the most important thing in my life. And I am so happy for that.

Since my retirement, I've decided to chase my dreams of working with the future adults of this world...I'm now a graduate student pursuing my master of teaching degree, specifically in primary school! I know. Up until 4 days ago, I have known exactly 0 people that have had a passion in both poker AND teaching. This has been such a change for me, and since meeting her, I realized just how incredible and unique my ride has been. I have a renewed sense of appreciation for where poker has taken my life and allowed me freedom to usher in the next phase of my life - contributing and enriching children's lives instead of endlessly shoving on people's blinds... So I thank you for the renewed inspiration to write, Miss L.

So what's been happening since 2011, tough question. The biggest trip I've ever taken comes to mind, and I was able to pull this thing off successfully at the beginning of this year. Remember that this is a mixed poker and travel blog so I'd love to briefly mention that trip! After a pretty meh end to a relationship I had here, I was excited and ready to get out and travel for a little while before college started up. After celebrating New Year's at the beach near Sydney, I flew to New Delhi to meet an American classmate I hadn't seen in ages. We roamed around the "Golden Triangle" part of India (New Delhi-Jaipur-Agra) and I was able to see some of the most incredible sights and horrific living conditions alike. While I would recommend India to just about everybody (I'd love to go back again), no amount of preparation will ready you for what you'll see, hear, taste and smell. The crowded and dirty streets will smack you in the face and the smells will burn and linger for hours. The Taj Mahal is the most beautiful thing my eyes have ever seen, and the daily life and conditions are the most brutal and sad things I have experienced. If you are not humbled after passing through here, I have no words. And you will get Delhi Belly... google it :)

From India, I went to an even poorer place according to GDP stats and whatnot: Nepal. Beautiful mountain scenery, the most serene canoe on a gorgeous lake with the Himalayas towering above, and hiking pretty terraced hills and landscapes - that is what Nepal is to me. And some of the friendliest people too! I randomly met someone in a stopover in China, who was flying to Kathmandu, and she invited me to stay at her family's house in the city. Being the optimistic/naive person that I am, I actually hit her up when I arrived, and lo and behold, I spent 3 nights at her family's house in Kathmandu! Talk about getting a taste of the real life there. This was definitely in contrast with the people I met in India, night and day.

After Nepal, I had a day and night to transit in Doha, located in Qatar, the richest country in the world by GDP/capita (100K per capita, the US is ~50k by comparison). Wanting to check out the site of the 2022 World Cup (not really), I got my first taste of the Middle East. It was a pretty unique day spent under the desert sun, exploring the Souqs (markets with literally everything you can think of, even hunting falcons) and walking by random parked orange Lamborghinis in a country swimming with oil money. Following my little time in the oasis, I was off to Osaka for some truly contrasting experiences as you can imagine. Went out for a little bit there with friends before separating and exploring Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Kyoto and Nara on my own. I'd never been to Japan before and was told that I'd love the weirdness, amazing Jap food and pretty sights. And it certainly did not disappoint. Some of those temples in Kyoto are out of this world beautiful and the deer in Nara certainly were entertaining. I spent another few nights in Tokyo after I rejoined my friends before flying off to the next destination with my friend.

We went to explore Seoul, South Korea and the DMZ border with North Korea. That was a pretty awesome experience, and I finally heard the American accent again since the American military is stationed there.  After a bunch of Korean food, we were off to Shanghai for a similar 5 day stay and exploration. If you've ever been to China, especially the large cities, you would discover that it is a wildly contrasting place. Just across from the bustling metropolis with towering mega-scrapers and an Apple Store you need to see to believe, lies traditional China in terms of old run down buildings, street markets and general dirtiness. It's definitely the crown jewel mega city of China and I'd recommend anyone to visit. Unless of course you were choosing between it and...

Hong Kong, my next destination. As always, I like to call HK my 3rd home, as I have tons of family here to visit and it is a wonderful metropolis where I can use and practice my Cantonese. I know the city very well and try to make this a yearly destination. After my usual hangouts with friends and family, my final stop on the way back to Sydney was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I was by myself once again so I just went around the touristy places, including the Petronas Towers. Movie tickets, even at the posh theaters were only US$4! And I finally got my first taste of an Asian massage after much internal debate... lots of "FOMO" "YOLO" and "When in rome" thoughts finally persuaded me. No, I did not opt for the ending, though it was proffered by the masseuse.

After 7 long weeks, I was back to Sydney for the start of my new phase of life, as a graduate student. It initially felt so strange to be a student again; it had been 5 years since I last stepped into a classroom. But because of my looks (young), I fit right in and have since made some very close friends whom I am very fond of. A few months ago, I was in a month-long "prac," which is a placement in an elementary school where I would take over the classroom for lessons! The class assigned to me was Kindergarten, an age group I was a bit wary of. Aren't they a bunch of snot-eating babies I thought?? But upon meeting them, very rarely (if ever before) had I felt such love from so many tiny cute human beings. I really died. It seemed like my heart melted every time I came in, even if I was stressed about doing my lessons and being observed. I can't express how much I think I will enjoy teaching. It's almost more of becoming a role model for the children and setting good practices for them to emulate, and I cannot wait to be that for them. Certainly beats winning a meaningless flip in a random $200 SNG hahaha.

The first year just finished and I am excited to be embarking on yet another adventure in only a week. I'm getting my scuba certification this weekend, so I'm extremely stoked to be scuba diving in Western Australia along with a 2 week roadtrip up and down the coast. From there, it's onto Kuala Lumpur again for a couple days before a long stay in HK. I may be visiting Myanmar and/or Taiwan from there since they are so close, not sure yet.

Stay tuned for my next post on more poker specific stuff, including my deep run in the APT Sydney a few days ago. There were some interesting hands there and it was certainly a fun splash back into live poker.

Cheers and thanks for reading :)

Light December Grinding

So it turns out that instead of pushing for 3m or 2.75m or any other number of VPP "goals" that I had set for myself earlier, I have ended up taking December very easy and haven't logged too many hours. I feel that I've worked hard enough this year where I don't need to justify another big month in grinding out 250k VPP just to get to that milestone, as I'm currently on 2.5m or so. It really is pretty nice to not have to make yourself play when you don't have to, really. So, when all of you finally DO hit your goals, definitely treat yourself and relax in life! I just purchased a sweet toy for myself - a 13" MacBook Air. It really is a beautiful piece of art. I definitely recommend this to anyone who even has an inkling of an urge to get it - you won't regret it (just get an external HDD to go with it). I waited far too long to get it!

My December running, during the sessions that I have played, has been pretty gross. I'm doing very well with my EV/redline which is nice to see, but my running in high stakes (300s and above) is simply a mess right now. No matter, I know I'm playing quite well these days and eventually it will show. Just gotta put some volume in, if I feel like it, that is.

In other news, I have booked a 3 week trip to Singapore and Hong Kong in mid-January-early Feb, right around the Chinese New Year. I've never been in Asia during this time, so it'll be cool to hang out with my extended family and friends during that time up there. Not sure if I'll make it over to Macau though... maybe if I get bored. Because of that, it will be another light VPP month to start off 2012. I'll be away from Sydney for the first time in 6-7 months, so that will be kinda awesome. Surprisingly, I haven't traveled much at all since getting here, something I'm not too accustomed to!

Good luck to everyone making their last 17 day push to get to your goals. Hang in there, and make sure to enjoy the holidays too!

The Grind!

Hey guys, it's been a while since I last updated, so here's a quick update to my pokering as well as some random banter on the European economy and American politics that I've found highly amusing. I don't normally talk about non-poker or travel stuff, but why not change it up once in a while!

My grinding of late had definitely slowed down as I mentioned in my last post. However in the past few days, I've figured out why the action has been so dry in the mornings lately. There has definitely been a shift a few hours backwards from early mornings in terms of peak action. Now the middle of the night here, which corresponds to mid-afternoon in Europe, seems to be peak. Apparently the euro regs are out in full force then, so I have been adjusting my schedule accordingly. Riding the reg train is never fun results-wise, but I've been able to get back up to 10k+ VPP days, which puts me ahead of pace for finishing 2011 with 2.75m VPPs. I plan to finish out the next 350k VPPs by mid-December or so, taking a break here and there, then relaxing for the rest of the year and probably a month into 2012 as well.

In addition to poker, what's on my mind constantly these days is the European economic contagion that seems ready to just explode day after day. Not only are markets way down already, the worst part is that there's no end in sight for the economic woes of Greece, Italy, Spain, and even France. My stock portfolio has performed beyond abysmally and has really overshadowed any of my profits in poker these last 6 months.That has been the overwhelming dis-motivating factor for me and poker since a good week's grinding can be wiped out in a single day in the stock market! But of course, as in poker, investors cannot be emotional about this kind of stuff, so I've practiced that philosophy and haven't made rash decisions. Let us hope that both the new leadership (of Italy and Greece) and existing officials can steer the Eurozone from disaster.

In a completely different topic, I hope all you international readers of my blog are enjoying the circus that is going on in American politics at the moment, specifically the Republican party candidate debates! In an entertainment point of view, the stuff that is going on is pure gold, but from a political view, it's just highly embarrassing for Americans. One of the early frontrunners, Rick Perry (who is now governor of Texas, same state our old lollable president George W. Bush was from) recently made a super funny gaffe during the debate where he forgot a key part of his statement (The Third Agency..umm..oops). I almost want to feel bad for the guy, but then I realize this is serious stuff we are talking about... the potential leader of the United States! Not to be outdone, another candidate named Herman Cain also had his moment recently (Cain on Libya) where he had little to no clue on a major recent worldwide event. And then of course there's Michelle Bachmann (A good montage here).

Anyways, as the year draws to a close soon, I hope everyone's doing well either in the pursuit of SNE, or whatever goals you may have. There are only 43 days left, so let us gogogogo!

2.25 M Update

Hey all, just checkin back in here after a bit of a hiatus. In the good news department, I recently just cracked the 2.25M VPP milestone at long last! The bad news has been the severely decreased action on Pokerstars in the past few weeks, especially at the higher stakes ($200 games and higher). I'm not sure if you guys have noticed the same or not, but the difference has been very significant. Consequently, it's been a very slow grind each session in terms of volume. It makes me wonder how it was at all possible that I attained 30k VPP every session back in February... it's taking me days to get 30k VPPs now. Granted I was playing way more hours (~10/day vs 2-4/day lately). There simply aren't 10 playable hours in a day anymore, only 4-5. And even during those times, the rake reduction, limited action, and new players registering have causing my VPP rate to plummet. I will still aim to to play as much as I can, as my profits are directly correlated with how much I play, as is the case for any long-term grinder.

As I write this, it is easily the hottest day in Sydney since I've been here. It is currently 33 C (92 F) outside on just a completely beautiful clear day. It's almost too hot! I am really thinking of getting back into cycling these days because I just can't let these upcoming great days go to waste. I've been running a fair bit, but back home in the states, cycling was my huge passion. I'll be buying a used road racing bicycle, and if I ever do leave, it shouldn't be a big problem to re-sell it for maybe 60-70% of the price.

Here's to hoping the action picks back up on Pokerstars, although I'm not counting on it. As has been my mantra throughout the year, I'm just going to push myself to play only as much as I'm comfortable with while still being responsible and realistic with my attainable goals.

Revisiting EPT Madrid :)

Hey all, hope everyone's been enjoying the changing weather (for the better for the bottom half of the world hehe)! I recently stumbled upon the broadcast for the my final table at EPT Madrid 5 months ago and thought I'd share a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQBfetxPkgk. They only show one hand of mine, my bustout, so it's not that interesting but thought I'd post it anyways. If you go to 7:20 of the video, you can marvel at one of the biggest nitfolds that has ever been made at an EPT final table. It annoys me that AK guy made such a terrible laydown (given his effective stack of only 23 BBs) and was still able to get 2nd in the tournament. My late friend 'Dana Gordon' would be absolutely rolling over in his grave if he ever saw this one...

I'd like to respond to some of the comments I've been getting or have received in the past. First off, I DO use Table Ninja to all those who question how I can get by without it. Honestly though, I wasn't using it as late as last year... and have no idea how I got by without it. The preset raise and flop/turn/river bet settings are invaluable, in addition to the auto sit back in feature. I also use TN to simplify registering into SNGs. Easily the most worthwhile $60 I've ever spent.

I actually don't use a HUD because when I'm in as many tables as I am, the overload of information from having people's stats displayed on the table would be too hectic for me. If I played cash games, then a HUD would be of utmost importance. However, I feel the dynamics are quite a bit different in SNGs as people's VPIP/PFR stats change throughout the different blind levels. I believe I have a feel for how most people play, even unknowns, and I certainly already know the tendencies of the most common regs (at least I think I do :p)

Also, it may look like a massive jumble of tables in that video if you've seen it, but there's actually method to my organizational madness. I always start with a standard cascade that goes down my screen, then pull aside the higher stake games ($300s and above) to the bottom left of my screen. I also drag out games that are on the bubble, ITM, or HU to the center/right. It's a flurry of activity that could make someone dizzy, but it's actually quite fun and enjoyable for me, if I'm not losing everything that is.

I've been playing quite a bit more these days, although it is hard to rack up the VPPs as action seems to be a bit limited especially at higher stakes. I'm getting roughly 8k-10k per full session, which boggles my mind as to how I got 30k+ each day back in February :) No matter, I'll see what I can do. Good luck everyone on their grinds!

Update!

My last blog post wasn't really a post at all, and it was a rather depressing one at that, so this'll be a short, fun, happy one!

In the past, I've been asked to show what it's like to mass-multitable SNGs, aka record me doing so. Well wait no longer! I recently uploaded my first video to YouTube (my late friend Paresh and our rental car exploits in Uruguay) and it really wasn't that painful. Therefore, I decided to attempt to record myself playing during one of my sessions, which is never a great idea since I'm busy enough as it is. I think I was in about 30 tables as I recorded this, which is pretty high, and something I'm looking to limit in the future (read below). You can view the fruit of my efforts here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kMOW--2Su0

I was sitting pretty close to my monitor as I usually do and my phone was even closer, so I was unable to record the whole screen. You get the overall idea though! Depending on your previous notions about multitabling, the action is either not as fast and furious as you would think (I'm in that camp), the complete opposite, or just... what you expected. I'm not trying to impress anyone, but just simply showing you what my daily grind looks like for hours at time :)

On a serious note, because the vast majority (more than 80%) of my games are 6max, I am convinced that the high # of tables is having a detrimental effect on the quality of my game. It has definitely contributed to my downswing here, that I am sure of. Consequently, I've been meaning to scale down the number of tables I'm in; no more 30+ tabling if I can help it. In addition, I've actually been making some pretty significant changes to my play style in an effort to improve my overall play. I won't get into specifics, as I suspect many of the regs I play with probably read this blog. Suffice to say that I'll be becoming harder to play against even as I do maintain a solid load of games (anywhere from 15-20 range).

In other news, if any of you guys are American and/or care about baseball, holy **** what just happened??? According to my friend, the Red Sox were 95% to win their game vs the Orioles going into the bottom of the 9th, and Tampa Bay was less than 1% to win their game vs the Yankees when they were down 7-0 going into the EIGHTH inning, but both outdraws occurred to push TB into the playoffs. What an unreal run for both Tampa Bay and Boston in September, just wow wow wow.

Cheers for now!

Goodbye Dear Friend

As the poker community has heard now, one of my best friends, Paresh Jain aka Dana Gordon on 2p2 and on Pokerstars, has passed away.

I'm not used to dealing with the passing of such a loved one as Paresh, and so I may be rambling at times so I apologize in advance. Also, I think I'll have a hard time putting his essence into words because it seems bleh to summarize his life in only a few paragraphs, but I'll try my damndest. Hopefully I won't be in tears by the end of this post although I can already feel them. And I'm not sure whether to use 'was' or 'is' in reference to him, so **** it I'm gonna use 'is.'

I met Paresh 7 years ago when we first started at the University of Virginia together. We were both SNG donks back then (I guess I still am lol) and he was back then, and remains now now, my best poker friend as we helped each other quickly learn and grow as poker players to crush all those silly games back in the Party Poker days. His regimen and approach to thinking is beyond admirable and I learned that pretty early on. He is an absolute delight to hang out with, talk strategy, play MTTs with (both $20 frat tournies and eventually Super Tuesdays and such), and just plain party with. He has met many of my high school friends through me and others, and together, we have a core group that exists today and transcends poker. As luck would have it, my best friends now are actually his best friends from the small town of Roanoke in Virginia that I would never have met otherwise.

This dude is seriously the craziest, most fun-loving, adrenaline junkie, and all-around great buddy anyone could ask for. We went skydiving in college, jet-skiing at the PCA (we were the only two ppl from our group that would go), and definitely wanted to do much more. After college, we went on two separate sweet trips to South America which embodied all that is awesome about him. Who else would randomly go with me to the Amazonian jungle in Manaus (Brazil) with me? On the other trip, we randomly rented a car in Montevideo, Uruguay, drove ourselves to the LAPT in Punta Del Este, and actually came close to having a serious accident as he drove 110 kmh over a pretty steep hill on a bridge to get some air! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vk2Tpwl6eE, notice techno blaring) We severely bottomed out the car, punctured the radiator, and the car instantly started overheating haha. We had to get help from some old dude in a bar at 2am who didn't speak a lick of English, and all we could muster was an "hola" or "gracias." My friends think we are insane.

We also hit up Europe a couple times (EPT Monte Carlo and most recently the EPT Madrid). We went on a sick drive last year that started in Geneva, Switzerland, went through the French Alps and Italy, and ended in Nice (France). My other buddies were like "wtf we're gonna fly, have fun you idiots" so it was just Paresh and I. And most recently, we hit up Madrid just cruising around randomly both at night and during the day. However, I was stuck in the tournament for a while and didn't get to go around with him like I had planned to (doesnt everyone bust Day 1?) Oh how I'd give up my winnings in a heartbeat to just spend 3-5 days more with him.

Oh and the music. As someone mentioned above, he is ALL about rockin sick beats, house, trance, techno, hip hop, mashups, anything fun and exiting with a beat. We were roommates for the last year, so Apartment 1912 in Arlington, Virginia was definitely the place to be if you wanted to rock out to techno beats blasting from both of our rooms. We'd grind poker during the day together and then I'd sweat him in his nightime MTTs sometimes while he played. Little known fact - when he is deep in an MTT, he loops the same song he's on literally 30 or 50 or however many times until the final table is over. Just incredible passion. Here are a few of his favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay8zFH5a59Y, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L1zqyUwefs, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqY-Q32wPv4, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5ezEcaZz6Q. Listening to these are going to make me well up everytime. ****.

I hope you all now have a more complete view of the guy that is Dana Gordon. I could probably talk and write for hours more about him; he is just that special to me. I feel blessed to have met him, shared some of the most fun moments of my life with him, and simply being associated with him (and I'm not even religious!). I'll save the clichés because he is as far from a cliché as one can be. My thoughts and prayers go out to his parents, his brother, and the rest of my friends (hang in there tuttle, chuc, natt, ben, leb, gabe, cara and all). Goodbye, and may you rest in peace Paresh.

spwwacewwwavy!!

Slowing down...

It's been quite the turnaround these days! And I'm not talking about my poker downswing... that's been as brutal as ever, and I'm officially at my trough/bottom as I type this. I'm talking about my playing volume, which has taken a precipitous drop these days for a few reasons. The first and most important reason is that I have been going out with a super awesome Australian chica for almost 3 weeks now. Poker runbad be damned because finding someone in Australia who's as cool as her way more than makes up for it! I've been hanging out heaps with her, consequently I haven't been getting to sleep at a decent hour.

The other contributing factor to my slowdown is "Bjoerni89" and his ridiculous VPP accrual the last few months. He has leapfrogged me in the VPP race, and is almost 200k points ahead of me as of a couple days ago. If he continues at his torrid pace playing the 2k/5k HUs, I am powerless to overtake him and he'll probably get the record if he wants to. This would very much reduce the significance of me breaking the record.

In light of these developments, I'm currently reevaluating my end of year VPP goals. My goal is, and always has been, to play as much as I feel like. You may recall that I started 2011 with this mantra, and it has certainly paid off so far. While playing poker on a regimented schedule is importance to me, my life and enjoyment of it takes precedence always. Now that I'm in a relationship and the outcome of the VPP record is becoming murky, I'm definitely thinking about my schedule a lot more.

One factor that is on my side that could help my VPP grind is that the DST (daylight savings time) changeovers will happen soon. On October 2nd, Australia's DST starts, meaning that our time will advance by one hour. Meanwhile, on October 30th, Europe's DST ends, meaning their time will go back by one hour. As a result, for the rest of the year (and until April of 2012), I'll be able to wake up/start 2 hours later and still enjoy the peak hours in Euroland.

Accompanying these DST changes, obviously, is the new change of weather! The weather, already great here even during the winter time, has been steadily getting better and warmer. We are entering spring, and so temps have climbed into the 70s pretty much every day now. With the sweet weather, I've been running quite often and will be doing the Blackmores half-marathon (13.1 miles or 21.1 km) this Sunday. This is the longest run I've ever done and it should be really exciting since Sydney is shutting down tons of roads, including the Sydney Harbour bridge, just for this event which is expected to attract 35,000 runners. I'll try to get a decent time (under 100 minutes), but I'll let you know about that!

I also went to Maroubra Beach a few days ago and look forward to many many more beach trips this "summer" in December, January, and February. There are heaps of beaches in Sydney and around it, so I'll want to see them all. By the way, it is really weird to even think of going to the beach on Christmas Day and New Years Eve haha! Maybe I'll be getting used to that...

SNE 2x, one more to go...

Well this post has been a few days late, but better than late than never (in most cases!) I finally crossed the 2M VPP threshold on August 21st, exactly 1 month and 1 day after my 1.75 millionth point. In my previous post, I said that I aimed to get my next quarter million points in less than a month but unfortunately my pace these days has been mediocre at best. I am truly settling into life here in Sydney, more on that in a bit, and so my attention to poker hasn't been as strong. This has not been conducive to my usual 10k+ VPP days; I just simply can't do the 5am wakeup call everyday. But I'm trying my best.

In addition, while I rarely like to complain about running bad, I have been battling a horrific downswing ever since I've arrived in Sydney that hasn't come close to turning around. Even as my 10,000th game came and went (aka sample size is getting up there), my results have been downright nasty bad. It is very likely due to the high number of tables I play at a time and the fact that 90% of games are 6max, which require the utmost attention unfortunately. All things considered though, it has not been a pretty picture, and so it's been difficult to motivate myself to play with the ever-real prospect of another -5k or more session. However, even though I am down at the tables each of the last three months, I am up post-rakeback. I will continue to stick with this tradeoff of potentially negative ROI in exchange for VPP generation because the record is so close now. Only need to get SNE one more time this year :) That is, if fellow high stakes grinder Bjoerni89 doesn't challenge me I suppose.


Good time for a quick non-poker related tangent. I find myself becoming more and more desensitized to money in general (both good and bad) simply due to the ridiculous amount of swings (read: loss) that I've experienced in the last month in poker and the stock market. In case you haven't been keeping up, the worldwide stock market is suffering through its worse period since the 2008 GFC. I find it interesting to note that people who don't follow the financial world at all have little to no idea that there is worldwide financial turmoil lurking in our midst (European sovereign debt crisis, potential worldwide global recession starting with the US, etc). Only when someone loses their job or gas prices surge will most people actually care about this sort of stuff in their day-to-day lives. It's fair enough though. And yet I am glued to the world financial/general news these days.. it really is a fascinating world to learn about and keep up with. For example it is appalling to me that 1 out of 5 people in Spain are unemployed, while the unemployment rate in Australia is only 5%! And Steve Jobs? More like Steve Unemployeds....

So before this post gets too sidetracked, I'd just like to say that despite these recent uncertainties/variance, I couldn't be happier these days. I'm in such a lucky and awesome position and no amount of losses should ever make me feel negative. I simply wanted to keep people apprised of my poker swings and make sure they know that everyone goes through dark days (more like months!)

Like I alluded to before, I've been spending heaps of time out of my apartment, meeting up with familiar faces and meeting others through friends, and generally just been enjoying everything Sydney has to offer. It's also great when it seems like I know more places around Sydney (at least the touristy names of places and restaurants) than even other people who live here do.

As you can tell, I'm becoming quite fond of this place and there's no telling how long I'm going to stay. I'll have to make those decisions as time passes, but so many facets here have just worked out so well. The transportation is excellent, the banking system here in conjunction with Pokerstars has been first-rate and buttery smooth, and the weather is unbelievable with spring just around the corner. I'm even having the occasional 5-star steak dinner at Roy's in Cab. Yes, I just made that up, but it's sensational and you should try it sometime when you get a chance. #shamelessplugforsomeoneelse. Life is good these days.

1,750,000 Update

It's been exactly one month since I last blogged, and it's a neat coincidence that I happened to reach and pass 1,750,000 VPPs today. The action has been pretty great, and I've been grinding along most every day here. For the month, I've only completely taken off 2 days, which is quite an accomplishment for me because of the odd schedule I'm on. Whenever I need the extra sleep, I will give myself a couple hours in the morning (typically till 6 or 7am) and shorten my sessions, which I have done on more than a few occasions. As for the poker itself, it has been a frustrating grind for sure. High stakes have not been too friendly to me, or any stake, for that matter. It is quite alright though, since after FPPs and milestones, the grind is still a very profitable one even if I am down for the last two months. Everyday I start my grind with the hope that things will go crazy at high stakes to make up for the hundreds of games of runbad preceeding...but, I'm always prepared that it might be another bad one. It's always beneficial to have a positive attitude before and during your sessions even though it may not make a lick of difference; it might just keep you sane. I hope you all would adopt the same mindset if you don't have it already!

I feel like I am completely at home in Australia. I'm going to "work" everyday bright and early at 5am, finishing by 10am typically. After my sessions, I look to hit my mates up to hang out or do whatever. So far, we've driven out to a few unique and picturesque places around the Sydney area, including the Blue Mountains (the rural outskirts an hour west of the city), beautiful Watsons Bay/Vaucluse, and the truly unique cultural anomaly of Cabramatta (I saw perhaps three white people the entire afternoon we spent there). My vocabulary is surely changing as I'm adopting many more of the little words/expressions that makes Aussie English so interesting and funny. I still have my accent though :)

Here are some pictures here and there of the Aussie life-

A couple of these guys randomly showed up on my balcony... I thought they were somebody's escaped pets at first. They don't like bread crumbs, and I haven't seen them since.

Real Black Swans!

The Three Sisters rock formation in the Blue Mountains

Beautiful winter sky from Watsons Bay/Vaucluse

A more unique view of Sydney from Vaucluse. There's that bridge again..

Lighthouse on a hill in Vaucluse

One of the signs discouraging suicides, a regular occurrence off the cliffs unfortunately.

Due to a cyclone that destroyed banana crops in Australia, prices are bananas for bananas...

The next 250,000 VPPs will be pretty fun because of the bonus that awaits me when I get to the 2m VPP milestone. Typically, it takes me about 1 month to make 250k, so my next post might come exactly one month from now announcing my 2m VPPs! Of course, I hope I can get there before that. I really would like to be as much ahead of schedule of breaking the VPP record as possible because I plan to go traveling later this year. I was talking to a fellow grinder at a table today, and he said that he had about 1.67m VPPs and had earned 600k last month playing 5k HUs vs Isilildur! As I've said before, I really have no chance versus anyone multi-tabling the 2k/5k HUs in terms of VPPs, so if he decides to overtake me and continue onwards, I cannot keep up haha. That issue aside, my personal goal is still to hit 3m VPP, as that's a perfectly attainable # for me pace-wise, and it's a great incentive for me to grind daily now.

Sydney Update!

10 days ago, I left off with the very start of my poker grind and new life here in Sydney. Back then, the weather was atrocious, cloudy, and raining off and on pretty much all hours of the day. Since then however, all that messy weather has cleared, and every winter day now is gorgeous with blue skies (temperature a quite comfy 15 C/60 F). I am definitely getting used to my 450am alarm, much better than I would have thought. Because I am only getting 6-7 hours of sleep every night, I have a "mask of sleepiness" on me pretty constantly, but I am adapting well. Plus, I'm able to nap whenever I want if I'm not doing anything out with people or errands after my sessions. I took my move here very seriously, so that is providing all the motivation I need to keep up my odd schedule. My adjustment has been so severe, as I now consider getting to bed after 11pm and getting up past 5am "late." Some of you may know my old schedule in the states frequently included the exact opposite of those times; I'd often sleep in past 11am, and sometimes go to bed after 5am!

Poker-wise, it's been pretty standard every day at the tables. I am fully entrenched in the swongs that is the nature of the games I play. Every session, I am up or down heaps (like my newly developing Australian lingo?), but mostly down unfortunately. I've already had two -9k days, including today. Normally that wouldn't be too big of a concern, since I'm used to those by now, but this is the time where a downswing hurts the most. I didn't start with much money in my account, so I've been dipping into the zone of my Pokerstars balance to SNG stakes ratio. In fact, during one session last week, I actually ran out of money when registering for games! I usually register for games that never run anyway (so I have stopped doing that). Also, being registered for every game in the lobby and of course the games I'm already playing in automatically deducts 12k+ from my balance, so it's quite crazy. It's better now though, as I have received some money in my account through FPPs, transfers with friends, and I'm approaching my 1.5m VPP milestone...only 3k to go!

So all in all, life down here has been hunky dory, save the fact that I can't win flips in my $500 games :) My social network has been expanding, although it's still very tough taking the initiative and engaging others, while trying not impose too much since I know I'm an outsider. It will take time for sure. Thankfully, I am just fine on my own as well...I just bought some awesome new running shoes yesterday and have gone on two long runs already (14 km and 8km). Today, I did one of my most memorable and pleasurable activities here - the sunset+twilight run across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, around Circular Quay, and to the Sydney Opera House. The views are breathtaking and I highly doubt I will ever tire of these sight. Sydney's downtown skyline (they call it the Sydney CBD, or just "city") is majestic too, as is the opposite facing North Shore skyline (where I live!)

Here are some grainy/crappy pictures I took as I crossed the bridge one night. The lights/colors projected onto the Opera House and the Customs House were part of an art exhibition called "Vivid." Definitely very cool.

It's past 11 at night here, so I'm already late for bed. 6 hours later and I'll be starting it up again. I hope my poker work ethic down here is inspiring you guys to do the same! Cheers, mates.

Sydney at last

Ah, my first official Friday night here in beautiful Sydney, Australia. What a wonderful feeling it is to be settled finally and actually feel relaxed. Moving to another country is tough, but not insurmountable, and I've finally done it. It's hard to believe that exactly one week ago, I was on a plane flying across the Pacific (on the new Airbus A380!!!... sorry I'm a semi-aviation buff). In the span of 4 days, I found a furnished apartment in a sweet area called North Sydney (directly across the harbor from downtown), applied for it and got accepted, submitted my new documentation to Pokerstars, and got my account officially active again. I am a very independent person (however lazy at times) and when I want something, I apply 100% of myself to attain it. It is an immensely satisfying feeling for me to accomplish what I wanted to especially in such a short time frame.

Since getting my account restored, I've put in two sessions at the tables so far; yesterday was a tester session where I eased back into the grind. I definitely felt a bit rusty at times, but I was surprised how automatic most of the decisions still were to me – thank God :) I started “late” around 9:30am Sydney time, and only earned about 2800 VPPs before action died. This morning I was determined to get a longer session in, so I set the alarm for 7:00am and grinded the latter half of the prime Euro hours, earning a more respectable but still weak 7.2k VPPs. I was done by noon and hung out all day shopping with a friend and just relaxing.

And so here I sit, 9 on a Friday night, feeling pretty sleepy already. Since getting here, I've been fortunate enough to meet some new friends through my cousin and other friends, and so my social life will hopefully develop more as I settle here. I actually passed on going out with some of them tonight because I'm so exhausted from my early wake up today and the fact that I will have to start tomorrow even earlier. My plan for the coming days/weeks is to sleep very early around 10-11pm and be up and grinding by about 5am. This will be crucial in order to take full advantage of the peak Euro hours. Sydney is 8 hours ahead of all major European poker-heavy cities (Madrid, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin), 9 hours ahead of London, and 13 hours ahead of Brazil/Argentina. Therefore, I'll be playing when it is evening or afternoon time for the vast majority of the grinders on Stars. It's a pain to wake up this early of course, but then I'll have the rest of my own afternoon/evening free!

It is too early to tell what sort of VPP pace I will be able to maintain with these funky hours I will play. However, I do know that I need to average an even 250k VPPs/month, or ~8,333 VPPs/day in order to break the VPP record of 3.055m set by 'WizardofAhhs' last year. This had been very doable for me, but of course I don't know the future climate of SNG scene. From what I have seen though, action is buzzing at high stakes, especially with the introduction of the new $300 6max turbo SNGs. My general plan will be to play as much as I/my body/my sleep schedule feel comfortable with while taking regular days off, and perhaps even some trips overseas with friends. I am not looking to kill myself, quite the contrary.

From final tabling the EPT final in Madrid and having a trip of a lifetime there, to packing up everything I own in Washington DC, to finally jetting myself and everything over to Sydney – 13,592 miles in total – the whirlwind of the last month has been an unbelievably fun ride in my life. Some may find this excruciating, but I feel quite the opposite. I am simply blessed (I'm not even religious) not only to have these opportunities but also the wherewithal and desire to ACT on them. I've run super hot in having everything work out well so far and am extremely appreciative of that as well.

In closing, I sincerely hope everyone who aspires to live the dream, whatever that means, to go out and do it – it takes drive and desire more than anything, even money. If you want it bad enough, stop reading and go. I've done it and I'm no better than anyone reading this right now :)

By the way, huge congratulations in order for George “Jorj95” Lind III, runner-up in the 2011 WSOP Event #11, 10K Omaha 8/b Championship for 287k. Good run man, very nicely done. Mad jeals.

Australia Bound...

Just like that, I will be leaving the USA tomorrow and making Australia my new home for at least the next 7 months (till end of 2011), if not a few more months into 2012. I will deeply miss everyone around here but life moves quickly, and everyone's gotta make decisions that's best for them. Mine is clear: close out the year as best I can, aka rack up as many VPPs as possible.

With regard to the VPP record, I can honestly say that my mindset about that is the exact same as in January when had 0 VPPs. I'm going to start playing in Sydney as if the year just started, so I'll play as much as I feel comfortable with and just see where that takes me. I will still be eyeing the VPP record, but I really have to see how long it takes me to get up and running in Sydney and then reevaluate. If the action isn't significant enough to give me a real chance, or my pace simply isn't enough to get the record, then so be it. My history of not setting a goal (without sufficient information) has worked out well for me so far :)

I'll definitely post here as soon as I'm set up in Sydney, which hopefully won't take too long. All you guys catching up to me, it's time for me to (try to) pull away again! I'm super stoked about this next phase of my life and I'm sure I will be content with wherever it takes me.

EPT Madrid: Part 2 (The City)

Coming off a fresh high I had never experienced in live poker, I decided to rebook my flight for the 2nd time after finishing the final table so I could actually explore the city of Madrid. I had heard some things about the city but not really too much so I was curious. Little did I know that I was in for a treat!

Due to the convivial nature of friendly poker players, as well as the fact that a hundred people with one common obvious interest are often crammed into a room for hours at a time, it is always inevitable that I meet someone interesting and fun to chill with. One of them was Jen Shahade, a poker player, announcer, author, and apparent sicko at chess. We were able to meet up with others around Madrid a few times which really makes these sorts of poker trips a delight for me.

Thanks to some uncanny connections which involved meeting a fellow SNG grinder who also played the tourney, I was able to meet an additional couple people who actually live in Madrid! They both made time for me out of their busy schedules to show me the ins and outs of "Old Madrid." There are enough neat alleyways, plaza squares, colorful buildings, and quaint shops/restaurants to make most people just want to walk around and explore even before heading towards the popular tourist attractions. I certainly enjoyed these facets of the city more than the standard repertoire of art museums/cathedrals/etc that European cities are known for. Here are some pictures to whet your appetites:

Typical residential street

The one and only true negative of my time was the lack of sleep. Before the trip I was taking it easy and getting my 9-10 hours a night. Even during my SNE run in February, I still got 9+ hours per night (but I probably needed all of them!) Suddenly in Madrid, I was averaging half that since I'd get back late each night to the hotel super amped-up from continually getting deeper and deeper every day. After the tournament and meeting my two friends came the ensuing 2+ hour lunches and dinners with drinks along with nightly hanging out at countless bars/lounges around the area. With all that, who would rather sleep! I even rebooked my flight back a 3rd and final time, just to extend the fun in Madrid and delay the inevitable return back and annoying preparations for my move to Australia. I just didn't want to say bye.

Fire Art @ San Isidro Parade

You can see all the rest of my lovely iPhone-quality pictures @ http://bit.ly/ivamLS. If I had known I'd be sightseeing as much as I did, I would have brought my actual camera. It is funny to think that my original itinerary had me leaving on May 9th; I had accidentally booked my return flight on Day 2(!) of the main event oops. You can tell I was really looking to go there and come back as quickly as possible, since I had Australia on my mind. I didn't actually end up departing until May 18th.

Thank you Madrid and friends for a truly wonderful time there. If I only spoke Spanish, perhaps I'd be contemplating a move there instead of going the absolute opposite direction - Sydney, the topic of my next post.

EPT Madrid: Part 1 (The Poker)

I just returned from Madrid, Spain and a wonderful but absolutely exhausting trip! Because it was a tale of two stories, I will break up my trip report into two parts: The Poker and The City Experience. Here is the first part about poker, and I will write the second one in the coming days.

Wow, just wow, at the fortune that awaited me at the EPT Madrid. From the start I was on fire. I'll try to limit the discussion of hands as they tend to be boring and no one cares, so I'll just recap quickly. I immediately got a pretty good table draw, a theme that would continue throughout the tournament until the final 2 tables. Ended Level 1 with 40k from 30k starting stack as I had KK and rivered a K on an A-high flop. During the 2nd level (75/150), I had QQ and flopped a Q 4-way and got some nice value from button bluffing twice into me. Was up to 50k by the end of the 2nd level; I hadn't run like that in the beginning of a poker tournament pretty much ever, and I thought I was invincible. During the 3rd level, picked up AA and won a large pot to get up to 55k, and then got 3 huge streets of action with AQdd on Jxx (2 diamonds) and rivering that 3rd diamond vs hustla16 (great player). Ended Level 4 with 80k, almost tripled up. Last year at the EPT Monte Carlo, I lost in the 3rd level with AQ vs AA on AT6QQ, so I was thinking maybe this made up for it haha.

I had one cool hand where I flatted pre with 44, called a cbet on 977 flop and called a double barrel on Ace turn. The river came a 9 counterfeiting me, but he checked, so I bet to rep the Ace or 9 or 7 which worked! I knew we were splitting if I checked back so I had a perfect freeroll to pick the pot up. For the rest of the afternoon/evening levels, 300/600-500/1000 nothing much really happened until the 2nd to last hand. I was gifted about 30k after some guy 3bet his KQo and called my 4bet jam and I held with ATo. That would be another running theme of this tournament - never losing an all-in and not ever having a scary sweat... Ace on turn gg him. Ended Day 1 @ 120k.

The next day would not be as smooth, but I would rejoin the ranks of the chip leaders after I won KK>AQ followed by the this hand. I had called a raise pre with KQo then decided to bluff raise the T53 flop which he called. I shut down on turn/river but was good anyway vs his flush draw. I had another KK>AQ to get up to 275k, def among the chip leaders middle of Day 2, and then the first/only bad postflop hand of the tournament happened. I cold-called a button 3bet from the SB with red 99, then check/called three streets on a Jack-high board, hitting a flush on the river too (he had QJo, with Qd). I definitely misplayed that hand, as he shouldn't be bluffing the turn too often, but oh well. We made the money at the end of Day 2, and I ended with about 155k.

Day 3 was pretty awesome as we played down from 104 players to the final 3 tables. Had an AK>AQ to get up to 250k and then got moved to the TV table to show off my 25 BB stack at 5k/10k blinds! I've never passed the 5k/10k level of any major live tournament (reached it twice at PCA/WSOP 09), so it felt like a breakthrough to get to 6k/12k! During the dinner break I drove around by myself for an hour, which was liberating after being trapped in the casino and playing for all these days. When I returned, I was able to find a lucky double up with KK>JJ versus Alex Gomes, a good friend and Team Pro who would be at my tables the next 2 days including the final table. After the double, I pulled off a successful 3bet squeeze with JTo and won A7>AQ, runner-runnering my way to 704k to end the night. The most chips I've ever had in a liveament!

Day 4 started off pretty miserably as I raise/folded twice and 3bet/folded once to drop down to 440k before getting all-in for my tournament life for the first time, 99>AQ! AQ had been pretty brutal versus me this tournament so far. I chipped up nicely after the double, raising most hands I got and was able to climb to about 1.6 million before being moved to the TV table again. A big hand then happened where I raised UTG with KJo and was flatted by the BB...flop 963 which I cbet and was called, turn was the lovely Jack but I decided to slowplay...river K, and he check/called my 200k bet which rocketed me to 2.3 million (56 BBs and 3rd of 11). That would be my high point of the tournament, unfortunately, as the rest of the night I was completely card dead and my raises were getting 3bet and my lone 3bet was shoved on. I ended Day 4 with 1.25 million and as short as that was, I was ELATED to make the final table!!! A dream come true.

The final table was just an awesome experience for the 30 or so minutes I lasted there. We had an initial meeting to discuss a redistribution of the prize structure, but talks broke down and we resumed play. For those of you watching the live stream, hopefully you caught me raising to "1 million" on one of the first few hands. "oogee" had opened from late position and I 1-million'd with A9o from the SB (with my 15 BB) which worked. A few hands later, I button minraised with my 17 BB with T8o, which also worked. Later I shoved about 19 BB with 44 from MP successfully, 3/3 with pretty meh hands, but good spots. Unfortunately my aggression would get the best of me, as my 20 BB reshove with 33 got tank-called by AQo and I lost my flip in brutal fashion.. 99474 board! AQ was definitely the hand to be against in this tournament, so very strange. After losing that 3.5 million chip flip, probably worth 600-700k or so, I calmly walked off, congratulated and wished everyone the best. gg.

€130,000 ain't bad for sure, but of course one always wonders what could have been...even 6th place was double that of 8th place, a lil absurd. Despite losing that hand, I am forever appreciative of my fortune and chance to get to that stage. I had an amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I was definitely on top of the world every moment of that tournament. I had every reason to be all smiles all the time even during and after my bustout. I could not be more satisfied with how I played that tournament, as everything seemed to flow amazingly and I stood tough in the wake of all the seasoned MTT pros and Europeans. The interviews were really fun to do as well, and I hope to see myself on TV or wherever soon :) They told me that the poker show would be broadcast all over Europe in the coming weeks, so I'd love it if you Euro readers could send me links to them!

I'd like to thank everyone for their support... on Facebook, Twitter, the 2p2 SNE thread, in person, over AIM/GTalk/MSN, everyone! The outpouring of attention was really awesome and I'm glad that I was able to give you guys a good show. Just one card away from potentially giving you guys an even better one :)

EPT Madrid Quick Update

Hey guys, what a fantastic run at the EPT Madrid main event so far for me. I've got 704,000 chips (not 104k as reported by Pokernews/Cardplayer), which is good enough for 12th out of 24 left. The remaining field, including my table, seems very manageable with only a couple big names left (Alex Gomes and Victor Ramdin). Good thing I am friends with both ;)

I am so so stoked to have made it this far, and I realize I may never be in this position again so I'm trying to cherish every additional minute I'm in the tournament. I thank everyone for their support so far on this run. Up till the very end of yesterday, I've just kinda crept along/survived without much fanfare so the attention has been pretty minimal. Today might change that hopefully. In terms of payouts, it really doesn't matter until the final table, but I'm sure loving the spot I'm in now regardless of the money. I truly wish there were a way to bookmark my life at this point right now!

So a few more allins that go my way, and I'll be headed to the final table tomorrow! They are live streaming it with revealed hole cards for everyone for the first time in EPT history. That is going to be so awesome to play, just so awesome. And to think I booked flight the day before I flew, and all that random craziness happening with the 1st flight. Oh fate, you tricky devil!

Gl me.

Andrew's First Day At the Airport

What. A. Day. So it all started when I awoke at 830am (having slept at 430am) in order to purposely make myself sleepy and exhausted for the rest of the day. The red-eye flight to Madrid was at 5:40 in the afternoon and arriving at 7:30 the next morning, so I really wanted to be nice and sleepy for the whole flight. Good idea in principle right?

Everything was hunky-dory until about an hour before our departure when it was announced that our Aer Lingus plane was having some trouble with one of its wing ailerons (the control surface that allows the airplane to bank and turn - kinda important). After two hours, it was declared that the flight was canceled. My roommate and fellow poker player 'Dana Gordon' absolutely bolted to the nearest customer service desk to rebook as we were trying to beat out everyone else who was also running. It was truly a mad and funny scene being in a giant hoard of people flying down the corridors at frantic pace. Then we hit the wall. There was already a crush of people at the desk for previous flight cancellations and all sorts of crazy. A cluster**** as we call it.

We spent the next 3 hours calling United Airlines while also standing in the line that advanced 1-2 people every 5-10 minutes; it was truly excruciating. Finally, my roommate managed to secure a rebooking that would take us to Paris via Air France, then on to Madrid the next day! Problem: It was 9:25pm and we were in the C terminal, and the departure was at 9:50pm in the A terminal, about a 20 minute commute. The ensuing mad dash to the A gates completely obliterated our previous run. We arrived panting, sweaty, and utterly drained both physically and mentally at everything that had gone on today. But it was not to be. The French people manning the gate said we were too late and that was that.

Spent, exhausted, and ready to go home, we took a cab ride back to our apartment in Arlington. It was such a strange feeling to have spent 8 hours in an airport only to take a cab back... to where we had started our day. We tried our best and made do with what we had at our disposal. It was good to practice some of the tactics that have made us successful poker players, namely patience and calm/logical thinking, no matter the crappy situation.

We're both going back to Dulles tomorrow to make the same flight. Let's hope they have a different plane :) (Btw who lets an airplane aileron get busted to the point of a flight cancellation??) I'm hoping to start Day 1B on Sunday. I've also extended my stay there till the 12th, just because now I want to get as much Madrid in me as I possibly can!

Last minute EPT Madrid!!

I have to say that after the black Friday events a fortnight ago, my life has seemingly been on an overdrive whirlwind, contrary to anything I would have expected from being freshly "unemployed!" All these days have been spent endlessly thinking/evaluating decisions, trying to sort out where to move to, applying for visas, preparing everything at home for the eventual move, and still finding time to chill and hang with friends. After over a week of anxious waiting, I was greeted today with the great news that I have been granted an Australian visa for 12 months! It looks like I'm finally 100% to move to Sydney and will probably do so sometime in the next couple weeks.

But even before that happens, I further crazy-fied my life by choosing to randomly purchase a ticket to Madrid, Spain for tomorrow afternoon to partake in the EPT Grand Finale on Saturday. Might as well add to the whirlwind while I'm still able to, makes for an exciting life =) I'll be traveling with my good friend, roommate, and poker sicko 'Dana Gordon.' It'll be tight as we plan to rent a car and explore Madrid for as much as we can before we play the event. Who knows, maybe this last minute decision to play this tourney will pay off! A full trip report to come after I get back.

Good luck to everyone still deciding whether to / where to relocate to continue our livelihoods :)

[0 VPP since April 12, 2011 hehe, still #1 on the list though]

#GG

Hmm, what to say! April 15th - Black Friday - will forever be seared into our collective memories as the most important day in the history of online poker. The swiftness and effectiveness of US law-enforcement agencies in shutting down each of the top three poker companies' operations in the USA is staggering and simply mind-blowing. With all this commotion, there has been very little information to come out either from the sites involved or the Department of Justice/FBI. As such, it's crucial that we all keep the speculation to a minimum and just be patient for official information.

Now in the aftermath, everyone will certainly have concerns, priorities, and plans for handling this epic event, but I imagine the #1 item on everyone's mind is the security of our funds. At the beginning as everything was unfolding, my take on the money situation was pretty grim and I really didn't expect a high chance that we would ever be getting our money back. Since then however, positive developments have occured such as Pokerstars' personal calls to every Supernova+ VIP ensuring that our funds are safe. I had a 20 minute phone conversation with SteveD, the VIP manager of Pokerstars, that was comforting. Even though he wasn't allowed to disclose any particular details, it seemed like the situation is under Pokerstars' control. We even joked about the fact that PS didn't just close up shop and disappear with all our money haha. In addition, I've learned that during Pokerstars' licensing requirements in the Isle of Man, it was stipulated that all player funds be placed in trust accounts that cannot be seized by any authority other than the listed trustee. Whatever that means. I'm sure there is a myriad of other legal technicalities that are involved, as well as countless factors that will come into play, so we'll all just have to wait and see.

In addition to the integrity of our balances, of course we are all wondering about the future of online poker in the US. It certainly looks bleak, but we really just don't know enough about the situation to make any sort of educated predictions. Lest we forget, it's only been 3 days(!) since the **** hit the fan. And it's been weekend days where obv nobody works in the US government ;) Naturally, we can't help but speculate and think of continuing the life and traveling to foreign countries to cash out and continue playing. If this were to happen, I would probably go back to Sydney, Australia where I was already planning to visit this year anyways. It would work out quite well, so hopefully that's an option. Or perhaps O! Canada; I've always wanted to visit Vancouver.

Anyways best of luck to all of us these next few days/weeks as the situation unfolds itself. No one can really do anything at this point so it's just best to just accept what's coming and make the best of it.