I’ll Be Trying the Sunday Grind
10:00am $215 Sunday Warmup ($750,000 guaranteed)
1:30pm $215 Sunday Million Special Edition ($2M guaranteed)
2:30pm $530 Sunday 500 ($500,000 guaranteed)
3:30pm $215 Sunday Second Chance ($200k guaranteed)
4:00pm $109 NL Hold’em ($80,000 guaranteed)
4:30pm $109+R NL Hold’em ($150,000 guaranteed)
5:00pm $215+R NL Hold’em ($150,000 guaranteed)
I know all the young guys usually play all of these and more and it’s a typical day for them, but it’s like a monster challenge for me and I’m kind of excited about it. My biggest problem when I play online is that I always end up doing other things. Sweating the hockey scores, checking out the forums, watching TV, texting, or whatever. I never really take them as seriously as I would if I was playing in a live tournament. I’m going to try tomorrow and see how I do.
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I had a great time in Biloxi, strangely enough, and even stayed a couple extra days after I busted. I found one good restaurant at Beau Rivage that had a decent dish for me, and I got my friends totally hooked on the Tofu lettuce wraps there. I also checked out Imperial Palace, and was totally shocked! The Imperial Palace in Las Vegas is an absolute dump, while the Bellagio is beautiful. Down in Biloxi, I swear the Imperial Palace is totally modern and really nice! We ate at the asian restaurant there too and had another great meal.
Aside from that, I sweated Hoyt Corkins who won his second WPT title. We were on the same flight together from Vegas and then he rode with me to the hotel. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that I’m not the only WPT stats geek out there. Hoyt was really hoping to top the 4000 WPT points mark for final table finishes to join me, Phil Ivey, and Gus Hansen as the only others that have crossed that mark. He certainly did that! Congrats Hoyt! He is truly one of the good guys in poker. I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about him, and he never has anything bad to say about anyone else. That is extremely rare in the poker world, we are mostly a bunch of beauty salon gossipers 🙂
Since I’ve been home I’ve spent the majority of my time online catching up on e-mails. There is so much to do this month in terms of preparation for some exciting PokerStars projects, including, of course, the NAPT event at the Venetian which occurs on Feb 20-24, just before the LAPC main event on Feb 26th. I’ll bet we get OVER 750 players for that event, if anyone is interesting in making a wager. We are qualifying tons of players everyday for that event on PokerStars. If you haven’t yet qualified, you need to go to PokerStars.com right now and jump into some satellites.
After a full day of e-mails and stuff I took a break to workout. Last year I was looking to bulk up a bit, and I gained 15 lbs. This year I’m less interested in any of that, and instead I’ve decided that the David Beckham body just make better sense! Haha, easy peasy right? We shall see, but it means more cardio which I enjoy anyway, and also lighter weights and more reps. My trainer never let me used to do any cardio since she said it was counter productive to gaining weight, but I am done gaining weight. I’m 158 lbs now and I can’t get to 170 lbs or I’ll lose a prop bet to Ted Forrest that I made about 10 years ago. I laid him 20-1 odds that I’d never weight 170 lbs ever in my life… and the next day I went vegetarian!
I’ve also been looking into Bikram yoga. Jennifer Aniston’s body looked awesome at the latest awards show. Super strong and toned, and it’s all from yoga. I’ve read, and heard great things about it and how it helps strengthen your core and I’m really excited to get started. I’ve never been, but I have a friend who goes so they’ll take me. Weird going alone for my first time I think. I have no clue what to do.
From sitting at a poker table all these years I have VERY tight lower back and hamstring muscles. So bad that it hurts too much for me to do standard crunches. I think yoga is going to help tremendously. I hear Bikram is super tough, they do it in 105 degree heat, but luckily I absolutely love the heat. I think I’ll be able to get through a 90 minute class without puking.
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Today I have no serious plans. Sunday, I’ll be doing the grind, and then on Monday I have an early morning meeting on the strip that I’m looking forward to, then later that night a dinner with some of the people from the meeting.
On Tuesday, I’m going to try and make the early morning Outlast the Pros tournament on PokerStars, because later that night I’m doing a paid appearance on the strip. I haven’t one of those in quite a while… maybe a sign that the economy is headed in the right direction? We shall see.
On Wednesday or Thursday I’m headed to LA to have some fun. I got tickets to go see the PeeWee Herman show! For real. I know, sounds weird, but I think it might be pretty funny and my friends are big PeeWee fans.
After that I’ll be free for a few days before I take part in the Premier League event. 12 invited players, including Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth, with a $100,000 buy in and a $400,000 first prize. You play in heats before the finals and prize money is awarded in each heat as well. It’s poker, and I’m excited to get ready for a long and action packed poker schedule from Feb 12-May 1st. Lots on the schedule:
Feb 12-18 Premiere League
Feb 20-24 NAPT Ventetian
Feb 26-Mar 3 LAPC
Mar 5-7 NBC Heads Up
Mar 8-12 Bay 101
Mar 14-19 Commentary work in London or Vegas
Mar 21-26 EPT SnowFest
Mar 28-Apri 4th Poker TBA
Apr 7-11 NAPT Mohegan Sun
Apr 12-17 Commercial Shoot in London
Apr 18-24 WPT Championship
Apr 25-Apr 30 EPT Grand Final Monte Carlo
That’s going to “hopefully” be my busiest stretch of the year. It will be a grind on the body and mind and I’m already thinking of ways I need to prepare for it. I don’t want to burnout along the way. May will be a month of peace, although I most likely will have to play in one additional tournament in the middle of May. After that… oh my word, its WSOP time again! Rolls around so soon.
TV schedule: WSOPE coverage starts tomorrow night on ESPN2 I believe. First episode features Caesars Cup action.
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I actually enjoy being busy, but I also love to spend time catching up on TV and vegging in between. A healthy balance is key. My level of happiness is very good in most all areas of my life. I feel like I’ve dealt with the loss of my mother and that she is definitely in a better place. Cliche I know, but I do believe that.
Poker: I’m trying REALLY hard every tournament and I think I’m playing well
Poker Related Work: Feeling great about where my head is at from that perspective
Health: Energized to get my body into good shape
Personal Life: Excellent.
On that note, I’m going to put some brain food in my body, go do some cardio, then probably grind in the 0.10-0.25 cent games on PokerStars. I’ve been stuck on that level for a while now. I’ve played 1798 hands and have profited $33.60 at that limit. My bankroll is $160.18 (started with $10) and in total I’ve played 4859 hands. I need to get to $250 to jump to the next level, but it’s been tough.
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