Aaaaaand Im back.  This is my first blog since leaving Las Vegas and World Series of Poker back in July.  During the summer I shared my Vegas experience with you and was very pleased to hear that people actually enjoyed reading about it.  When I left I figured I'd stop blogging cuz nobody wants to really hear about my everyday life in Chicago.  I mean, that would bore the reader and I could have ended up possibly losing the following that I had built up back in summer.  I promised that I would blog from time to time as I travel and play but Ive been slackin hard.  I haven’t been blogging for a number of reasons, 1) Im lazy 2) I never bring my laptop with me anywhere and I have been traveling a lot 3) Lazy as hell 4) My computer is a piece of shit from 2007 5) Im the slowest typer, it takes me 2 hrs to write 1 page… u get it.  Anyways, a lot happened between now and then.

I got home from Vegas in mid July.  Fresh off my first WSOP final table I felt great, coming home with my head held high.  Over the next 3 weeks I played cash games and went out a lot.  I won 6 out of 7 sessions for around $7000 over this span.  The next move was Lawrenceburg, IN and the Indiana State Poker Championships.

I took a greyhound down there and got picked up by my friend Kurt.  We were staying  at his brother’s house near Cincinnati so I didn’t have to spend loot on hotel.  The first tournament was a big one.  There were almost 1700 entrants into Event #1 and I won the tournament.  My first ever 1st place and it felt so great.  It was especially sweet considering I took the worst beat of my life 1 month earlier when I got knocked out in 8th place at the WSOP, ending my shot at half a million dollars.  The tourney ended after 3am on day 2.  It was 6am after taking the picture, getting paid out and filling out all the forms and stuff.  They comped me a room for the night so that  it would be convenient for me to play the tournament the following day at noon.  I didn’t sleep while in the room.  After deep tournament runs like that it is hard to turn your mind off.  You have been making so many difficult and complex decisions that your brain is in constant evaluation of every important hand.  In addition I was getting a lot of texts and tweets that morning so I didn’t sleep at all.  I played the tourney at noon.   At 2am we were down to around 50 players and done for the day.  I beasted thru the day on no sleep.  The next we resume and I end up getting 5thplace.  The next 2 tourneys I played I cashed in getting 21st and 14th.  I busted the main event and it was time to get out of there.  I cashed in 4 straight and won the big one.  Basically I made Lawrenceburg my… well u know.

2 weeks later I went to Atlantic City for 16 days for the WPT tourneys.   We had 10 of the days comped so that was good.  I only cashed in 1 event even though I played well, and played well against some world class opponents.  I didn’t drink and party that much on the trip, I was focused on winning but that’s poker.  I came home and played a 1500 at Horseshoe Hammond, the whole crew played but only 2 of us cashed, I wasn’t one of them.  Another 2 weeks at home and it was time to start my stint on the WSOP Circuit.

We went down to Elizabeth, IN with a pretty nice sized crew.  It’s fun bein on the road w your boys in other cities.  We attack these cities together and we root for each other when someone goes deep.  The camaraderie is something very special.  I bricked the first 6-7 tourneys but then cashed in 16th in the last one before the Main Event.  The Main event was a $1600 buyin with a first place prize of $107,000.  After Day 1 I had an above avg stack and was focused.  Day 2 I grinded and played perfect.  I went from big stack to short stack a few times throughout the day but every decision I made was correct.  With 2 hands left in the night I win the biggest pot of tournament and make the final table as the chipleader.   I got some nice media attention as a result.  The next day we came back to play down to a winner.  The final table was being streamed live online so a ton of people were watching the final table live, texting me and telling me to do stuff on camera.  My friend Lenny wanted me to make my chip stack into a giant penis… but I didn’t do it.  I went on a tear, running over the table and knocking out 5 of the first 6 players.  When we got down to 3 handed I let it get away.  I bluffed off a million chips in a hand that I misplayed.  After this we all had even stacks.  We played on, everything else ended up being pretty standard and I went out in 3rd place.  A nice payday no doubt but I cost myself a title and an extra $60,000 by misplaying 1 hand.  I have learned from this mistake and will not fail myself next time, that’s a promise.  I was headed back to play the Hammond series and I was riding high ready to ship it on my home turf.

The Hammond series was where I was going to shine brightest.  With all my friends and supporters, I was ready to run deep and win a title in front of my people.  I almost won 1 too.  I crushed one of the $350 events, holding the chiplead most of the tournament which had a field of 800 players.  I ended up going out 19th after losing a 1 million chip coin flip when the average stack was 175k.  Oh well.  The rest of the series I ran like absolute dog shit, playing perfect and getting miserably sucked out by a laundry list of mops.  Mops of all kinds;  angle shooting Asians, stubborn middle aged men with stupid poker hats that are sick of me raising them, old lady mops… they were all there and they were getting there on me.  After Hammond I took a full 2 weeks off.  I went out a lot and enjoyed Chicago nightlife.  Ok Ok.. let me rephrase that.  I went out almost every night and everything always sucks and every bar and club has a whack seen and a bunch of dudes.  So much sausage Jimmy Dean himself once raised an eyebrow at our city for crampin his style.

So that’s that.  Im really starting to take off here...  Ive cashed for about $170,000 since June and am up another 5 figures in cash games over that same span.  Now Im in Atlantic City and the trip has been awesome so far.  When Its over ill write about it and share it with everyone.   Im feeling really good about things and couldn’t be happier with my life right now.  Well, yes I could.  I want to make it big and wont stop till I make it to the top.  I will fight to make my name in this business, I will fight to be a star and will shine bright one day soon.  In the meantime I will just take what the defense gives me, I will be patient and let it come to me ... hopefully it comes soon.