I can’t believe it’s over!
I worked harder in the past nine days than I have ever worked for that long of a stretch without a break in my life. Since the 20th, I felt like I was in the movie groundhog day:
Wake up 10:30am. Shower, grab a bite to eat, then get in the car and head down to the recording studio on East Flamingo, about a 30 minute drive from my house.
As soon as I get there, we load a show and I step into the booth with my partner on the broadcast and we essentially stay in that tiny little room for about 8 or 9 hours.
I then drive back home and do my homework for the next days shows. We were doing two one hour shows a day, so that meant my homework would take over three hours every night to complete. I would watch the shows, make notes on every hand, record time codes, come up with funny tag lines, and analyze the gist of the hands so that I’d be prepared for the next day’s work.
In bed by about 2:30am… and then do it all over again… everyday… the exact same drill.
By the end of it I was losing my mind a little bit as evidenced by my insane doodling. My doodling in between hands became completely nuts. Just random scribbling, the kind of thing you see in a mental institution. 9 days of nothing but work, work, work, in such a small room can make you nuts and I was on my way.
I didn’t turn my TV on even one time during that stretch, never surfed the internet, and barely had time for showers and food (also thanks to my assistant Patty I was in good shape since she has been juicing for me every morning).
Saturday was supposed to be a day for fixes, which means any lines we may have stumbled on, or names we may have mispronounced would have to be corrected. I planned on getting in and out of there quickly and hit the links by about 2pm. Fat chance. We didn’t get done until 8:00pm that night.
When we were finally finished it was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. 14 excellent poker shows done in about 10 days. I did commentary for the PCA that will air in the U.S. and then did the entire season of the APPT. The quality of the APPT shows are incredible. The same crew that does the WSOP on ESPN is doing the APPT events also and I think the tour is going to be a huge deal in Asia, and of course in Australia where the finals were held.
I’m very proud of myself for taking the job seriously and really giving it my all. Prepared every morning, not out partying, and really caring deeply about the finished product.
My buddies who were waiting for me at the golf course, instead had to wait for me at dinner. As soon as I got to Paymon’s I inhaled about 3 Peroni’s, man did I need that! After dinner we all went over to my place to shoot pool, play Golden Tee, Backgammon, etc.
The thing is, my flight to Italy was leaving at 9:50am which meant that I needed to leave the house by 8:00am. I wasn’t packed, and my buddies were still at the house at 6:00am! Oops. On top of not sleeping, I polished off about 19 Heiniken Light’s to go along with the Peroni’s I had at dinner. It was just one of those really fun nights where the beers were going down like water. I was such a good boy for two weeks, I really needed to let loose and be irresponsible for a night.
I called up Patty and she came to the rescue. I gave her my list of stuff I needed to pack and she got it done like the trooper that she is. I still forgot a few things, but the important thing is that I made it to the airport and am now in LA waiting for my flight to Frankfurt.
I still have loads of work to do: a couple columns, a couple book edits, and some PokerVT questions that need answered, but I’m planning on getting some much needed sleep on the plane, then worrying about all of that when I arrive in San Remo.
I play the tournament on April 2nd, and despite not having actually played any poker recently, nothing but poker has been on my mind day, after day, after day. Sometimes that’s better preparation than actually logging a lot of hours. I’ve been analyzing play, watching some amazing plays (this Grant Levy guy is one sick puppy), and feel like I’m in tune with my game. We shall see.
It’s a long trip ahead. After San Remo I fly to London to do VO work for the EPT Copenhagen, and then from there I go to Monte Carlo for the EPT Final. Right after that, it’s back to Vegas and the WPT Championship.
After that… I throw the phone in the garbage, bury the computer… and try to break 90.
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