CardRunners

Uh...yeah so I haven't updated in a while, it's not because I've been too busy. I just haven't felt much like talking to a blank computer screen . I'll try to write up about as many people that I can think of that I met and interacted with, if I forget someone I am sorry, you must not have entertained me enough.

Jeff Miller - Very cool person, first of all. Not nearly as politically correct of a speaker as you would think judging by his forum posts (obv he has to be more professional in those), but a fun dude to hang out with. I think people from Minnesota and the Dakotas are the same kind of retarded, because he seemed like someone I would know from home. I guess you would call him "normal", but I honestly have no clue what a normal person looks, acts, or sounds like. A fun person to have in Vegas, too bad he couldn't stay for a long period of time in Vegas, it would have been fun to see him burnout Vegas Style.

Spudt - I was really psyched when I heard he was coming to the lounge we were at and he definitely lived up to the hype. He made me laugh a lot in chat, so it was cool to meet him in person. He is mainly responsible for my only blackout drunk night in Vegas....the guy loves Jager.....he fuckin showers in that shit. Yeah, so I guess I got kicked out of that lounge, but nobody knows why (including me, but I probably deserved it). Another person that would have been really good to hang out with in Vegas for a longer period, but his job keeps him really busy.

Lou Pinella - Holy shit. That's basically what I said in my head when I first saw him. You know how you talk with people online for a while and then make up in your head what you think they look like? Well, his was by far the furthest away from what he actually looks like. I totally thought that when he showed up with Spudt he would look like an older guy with a gut that coaches Little League. Instead he comes in looking like a .com billionaire, I was very impressed with Lou from the short time I got to talk to him. Good people.

StacysMom001 - Met him while working at the booth, he entered an event that he didn't even know how to play (some crazy mixed games), so he automatically gained respect from that. He was pretty funny when he talked to us and seems like a good guy.

Brian Townsend - Didn't talk to him much, he seems pretty reserved around people he doesn't know, which is understandable. Had some small talk, but not much else. He seems like a good guy though, definitely got the vibe that he's pretty picky about the friends he keeps, but is really loyal to them.

Brian Hastings - He's basically how I thought he'd be. A really cool guy that is enjoying his life right now. Doesn't take himself too seriously and doesn't have an ego. He knows what he can do and isn't afraid of a challenge. He's another cool person out of the many I met over the summer.

Luke (aka AceCR) - Just an awesome person. He went out of his way to make us feel welcomed at his apartment and I think his hospitality actually made a lot of us feel more comfortable in Vegas. He kicks ass on the grill and knows how to show people a good time. People like him and Bass are a must in Vegas, because they know the area and are just good people to hang out with.

PrincessDonk - She's got a very opiniated personality and isn't afraid to talk shit, which pretty much clashes directly with mine. I think she thought that I didn't like her, but she's definitely cool in my book. I think it was mainly because most guys wouldn't talk shit back to her, but I ain't afraid a no girl. Fun person and is really nice once she figures out you aren't a "creeper".

Schaffem - He's basically what you would expect from his posts. Really cool personality and lot's of great stories. He's good at going with the flow, which makes him great to hang out with in Vegas. Good times were had, and he's good people in my book.

DirtyChum (Joe) - Started off with a funny first impression of making Wiggins look like a celebrity while also flatout dissing Taylor. Then we all hung out in a group for the CR party and had a great time, he seemed like a really cool dude, it's too bad our group was too lazy to put something together late in vegas. We definitely would have had a fun time to end the trip.

Desirae - I didn't talk to her that much, but she seemed cool, I was surprised to learn of another female at CR. From what I hear she's pretty damn good too, so much respect. She held her own and was a good sport at the strip club. Another cool person to add to the list.

I can't really think of much else, but honestly 99.6% of the people I met in Vegas were really cool. So if I didn't mention you, you are probably cool, but you also may be part of that .4%.

Later.

Make Love In The Club - Circus Circus Puppet things

(I know this was posted by Jeff in a thread, but I showed him it.)

Here's part two of the people I met in vegas, I will start with other people that stayed in the house with us at the CR house.

Ezra - He wears his emotion on his sleeve, which leads to awesome moments and other more emo ones. I have to give huge props to Ezra for how he handled the task of basically running everything promotional wise in Vegas (we thought we were burnt out) and also dealing with a tough family issue part way through the trip. I don't know where he found the energy (drugs probably) to keep on truckin' along, but he had high energy even the day that we left. He would often get off one task to start another, then another, then another, but usually he'd get back to the original task and finish it. Again, I can't really blame him since basically all of Vegas was on him. Overall view on Ezra is that he is just a really good person, willing to help anyone out (he fronted me cash so I could get a laptop, thanks again.) and is just a good person to know. Good people, for sure.

Caroline - I already wrote something like this when she left the house, so I'll just copy and paste it here:

- Caroline is really smart, deceptively smart actually, and she knows it.

- She has a really friendly personality and can hold her own in most conversations.

- She totally could have been lame and been a party pooper, but she wasn't. So props for that.

Oh one extra thing, that meeting every person twice theory is just totally retarded.

Kevin - I'm really disappointed in Kevin, because he should have been there the whole trip. He came in and clicked with the group right away and was really fun to have around. He definitely would have been cool to have as one of the 7 week people in the house, but it was still good times. One weird thing that fucking freaked me out one of the first nights he was there....I was in one of the bedrooms (reading...yeah, that's it.) and I thought I heard Taylor in the living room. I was like....wtf is Taylor still here for (it was the night of the bbq at the house) and I go out and realise it's Kevin. The dude sounds just like Taylor when you first meet him, it's some strange shit.

RodeoBlue (I refuse to call him Max) - Is a strange motherfucker.

The following are people I met and had some time to hang out with, but not as much as the first group.

Taylor Caby - Sarcastic and really smart. Luckily for him I'm a sucker for good sarcastic humor. He's probably one of the most calculating people I've ever met and isn't afraid to tell you your shit stinks. In the end is a really good guy though, who may not be a crazy party guy, but is still cool in his own way. Also he is insanely competitive, I know now why he got to where he is (besides having God-Like timing).

Andrew Wiggins - Is probably one of the coolest people I've ever met. I'm not sure if that's a compliment for him, or something I should be ashamed of......anyways. Just really cool and easy going, with a genuine love and appreciation for life that is pretty rare to see. On the outside he may look like the surfer stoner type (which is definitely one side of him), but underneath is a really clever and really smart person. He helped me out quite a few times in Vegas without a thought and I appreciate it. Plus, he gives a damn good interview.

Joe Ward - I really wanted him to win the Main Event this year, because it really couldn't happen to a better person. The funny thing is, you know it wouldn't change him that much, he'd still drink his Bud Light and flip out when someone asks him where his accent is from. His rants were fantastic, and not just because he has a cool accent, it's because he really has a knack for story telling and is really clever (don't let the accent fool ya, he's sick smaht). If he wasn't busy with his Mayor duties in SnG Land then he seriously could be a writer of some sort. When all is said and done.....He's A Gentleman.

Ben (aka Bass) - He reminds me a lot of a friend from back home, asside from the big beard, long hair, and love of bacon pressing. He's one of the people (Jeff being the other) that I talked to quite a lot on aim before I ever met them in Vegas. Ben is good people, he knows his shit and is always down for a good time (he showed us the ropes at the Rhino, which probably saved me a nice chunk of change). With him there really wasn't the phase of sizing someone up and trying to figure out what they're about. He's pretty easy to just get a long with right off the bat, and if you know him for a day you feel like you've known him for years.

Michael Berra (drama drama drama) - Don't let his chat room persona fool you, even though he wishes everyone AIDs and for Trevrob to smash his teeth on the sidewalk, he's a good guy. I didn't get to hang out with him much as others, but you can tell he's just a really good guy. He was always in a good mood when I talked to him and overall is very likeable.

That's all for now, I will get to others in the next part.

Note: I say the word "really" way too many times in this post. I (really) need to improve my vocabulary.

Video Of The Day -

Dirt Nasty - 1980

So looking at Trevor's blog I guess he decided to post part of his trip report. I planned on mostly writing about the people I met this summer, because Vegas is Vegas and the people I met are what made the trip worth it.

I'll start off with the main CR House crew, the guys who went through it all the ups and downs over the 7 weeks (luckily it was almost all ups).

Andrew Fegan - It's really strange how your first impression of someone changes so drastically as you get to know them. I didn't have a bad impression of Andrew at the beginning, but he seemed like a really quiet guy....like really quiet. It turns out that he is just freakin awesome, it takes a little bit for him to get to know people, but he opens up and has one of the funniest deadpan senses of humor I've ever seen. He had so many awesome one liners through out the summer (after we needled him enough on random crap) that I can't even keep track of them all. He's just a really good guy that looks out for his friends and is fun to hang out with.

Trevor Robinson - The bastard kept saying I looked like Eric Seidel, well you look like part of the lollipop guild, so how about that? Just kidding, Trevor is the ball of energy of the group, he likes to go into a situation and make everyone enjoy it more. He is very good at making friends (and holy shit does he name drop) and is overall very likeable. If you run into him at a 1/2nl live game prepare to have your mindblown by his sick metagame prowess. Also he slips in and out of a Scottish accent and he doesn't even notice, it's freakin hilarious. He's just a good person that enjoys life, and enjoys making the people around him happier.

Mike Bates - Again it's weird how your first impression changes as you get to know people. I gotta say though at first he made a damn good impression on me at Outback by basically having the same thoughts on veggies as I did. He also says Pop, instead of Soda, so that wins major points as well. At first I thought Bates was a cool guy, I didn't realise how many levels there are to him though. For one the guy has motivation that is second to none, when he gets a goal in his head he goes at it 100%. He also killed a lion....so that's pretty cool. Also the one thing that suprised me the most is how funny he is, sometimes he'll be a total goofball and walk around the house doing funny ass stuff. Other times he is the extremely competetive (Fegan and Bates had some epic battles) and strong willed. Bottom line, the guy is going to be very successful in whatever he does, it's just his way. Good guy, someone you really want in your corner, and DO NOT want against you.

Mike Wong - I hung out with him the most at the beginning of the summer. I think he is the most artistic and creative out of the rest of the group and can hold a conversation on nearly any subject. He's a damn good cook (I'm not a huge garlic fan, but those burgers were damn good) and just overall a good person. He's one of those guys that will alwaya go out of his way to help someone out and goes the extra mile to make sure things are running smoothly. He was the workhorse for most of his time with us driving and cooking, but he took it in stride and didn't complain once. Also it was fun talking about music and I found some good stuff from his collection and he found some new rappers and whatnot to check out. Just overall a really good person that is very driven, smart, and creative.

That's a lot of writing, I'll continue with Ezra in part 2 of this big ass post.

Video Of The Day -

Three 6 Mafia featuring Project Pat, Young D and Superpower - Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body)

Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body) Video

Just want to say good luck to Drama and LL2 today in day 2a of the Main Event.

Vegas is coming to a close quickly and I will be happy to get back home and work on a lot of stuff I've been neglecting. While in Vegas I've met a ton of really cool people (I will write up a blog entry talking about the people I've met and interacted with before I leave). The biggest thing I've gotten out of Vegas is motivation...I never really put as much effort into poker as I should.

I know I am a winning player and I know if I work hard I could be really good. I've just never really been around so many successful poker players, and it gets my drive to succeed going. Hopefully I will keep that motivation when I get back and run my bankroll up to a more comfortable level (downswing+vegas has killed my BR). In the past it was always easy to just skip poker and mess around on the internet doing absolutely nothing productive (one of the major ones being CR OT and Chat) or playing video games.

I'm not saying that I'm going to be obsessed about poker when I get back, but I will devote more time to it and actually give it a go and see if I can make something out of it.

Good luck to Brian Townsend and Desirae in their respective day 2s, and anyone else I forgot to mention that is still in, good luck to you too.

Later.

Volume 10 - Pistol Grip Pump

Last night was the CR Party at the Rio (McFadden's) the setup was decent, except for the surfing music the band there constantly played as loud as possible (I checked the amp....it was at 11). I had the urge to either surf or shoot a Tarantino style movie for the first half of the night.

We started playing beer pong, Schneids and I were the Minnesota Connection both being from Minnesota (Minneapolis and Brooklyn Park). We took on Trevrob and Kevin (SlevinKala....kalav......ok just Slevin) we jumped out to a massive lead early and had only 3 cups to hit in order to win. Trevor and Kevin made a nice comeback, but we ended the game after a couple clutch shots (Schneids ended the game soon after we got them to the final cup).

So then we take on Taylor and Ryan Daut (who was saying before the games got going that he is horrible at beer pong). I'm not sure if he is good or not, but he had some side wrist snapping type motion that seemed to work really well (at least in the game vs us). We put up a small fight, but it just wasn't to be and we were quickly knocked out. I then proceeded to talk with Bass, Jeff218, Zimba, Schaffem111, princessdonk and several other CR members for a while. Everyone was very friendly and in good spirits (open bar dude!). The night at the bar ended with an epic game of beer pong I've titled "The Battle Of The Brians" (the name sucks, but two straight nights of going to the strip club till 5am will do that).

Hastings vs Townsend came down to the final cup on each side and Townsend's team making a big shot to take the match. They had money on the game and I'm not really sure how much, but either way it was fun to watch the two battle. The party moved to the Sapphire and Jeff and I made a clutch move going to get breakfast at the All-Star Cafe (or something similar to that name). We got breakfast and then proceeded to take a free limo to the Sapphire where we met up with Bass, Schaffem, Trevor, Bates, Fegan, Rodeo, Daut, Desirae, and DirtyChum (aka Andrew Wiggins' #2 biggest fan)  till around 4am. I didn't spend that much at the strip club (I'm getting better and better at not wasting money), but still had a good time.

I'm in the sattelite room right now waiting for my shift to be over, so I can go catch up on some sleep.

Later.

Video Of The Day:

(just to remind people of the stupid bar band)

Dick Dale and the Deltones - Misirlou