CardRunners

 Hey guys!  Things are still the same....but I'm over it and am going to quit complaining and figure this shit out.  Basically since my last post I haven't done anything poker wise at all and I'm going to take tonight off as well.  I just needed to have a couple days off to regroup and get my head straight and figure out how I'm going to attack this problem!  

Life wise:

I am really enjoying being back in Seattle for the moment!  My mom has family night at her house every Monday it's been great to attend those again.  Last night was my niece's 6th birthday so we celebrated that with some amazing tacos, cake and ice cream!  My family has been really nerdily into puzzles lately.  Seriously every family night that I've been to we eat,  then my 2 brothers, mom and I conquer a massive puzzle!  I haven't done a puzzle in so long but man are they good times....LOL!  

Tonight I'm getting together with a good friend of mine who I haven't seen since I've been back and then we are going to Taco Tuesdays!  I haven't been back to Taco Tuesdays since I've been home so I'm pretty pumped about the reunion.  I'm going to basically eat lots of tacos and not drink very much because I'm still trying to get over this cold I've had for about a week now and I'm driving so.....drinking +driving =no good!!  

The past couple days I've been watching a show called Mad Men.  It's actually a pretty good show about an advertising agency in the 1960s.  I'm such a huge fan of getting whole seasons of shows and just watching them all....it's just so much fun!  I only have about 4 shows left and those might get polished off tonight! 

Exercise wise:

I've been running at  Discovery park  I feel so lucky to have this park so close...it's about a mile to the park and the loop around the park is 3 miles so all in all my usual run these days will be about 5 miles!  Apart from running I'm trying to decide between joining a regular gym or joining this rock climbing gym by my house.  I have all the gear for rock climbing and I really want to get good and into the scene...problem is I don't know that many people that actually do it.  But I'm sure I could just go to the gym and meet some people in my same situation...so I'm thinking I'll check that out this week sometime!  Also this year I'm going to learn how to snowboard....for real...the conditions here are just perfect for learning!  So much powder and turns out I have a bunch of friends that go up to the mountain regularly...so it's pretty perfect!

Poker wise :

 I'm going to catch up on lots of videos that I haven't gotten to watch and then just start grinding out the 2/4-3/6 games on UB and then probably 3/6 or 5/10 on Bodog as well.  Those are the only sites I have enough money on to play cash....so hopefully that will start working out!  I would like to say that I'm totally done with tournaments but I just don't know if I can do that.  :(  I'm pretty sure I will still be playing on Sundays but that is all and I won't play in any of the $500 or $1000 entries.  Hopefully that will all work out!  

Anyways guys thanks so much for the support and I'll keep you posted on how things are going!  I hope you all are crushing it!  

Love! Love!

Hey guys!  Sorry I haven't been updating this very regularly....honestly I've been pretty down in the dumps lately.  Everything in my life lately just seems to be not working out.  Poker and relationships specifically.  I don't know if I've ever felt this bad about stuff in general actually.  I've always been a pretty happy and optimistic person but lately some stuff that has happened has really been making me question everything that I've always believed in.  This clearly sucks!  :(

Pokerwise I had a really good year until about August.  I'm down a bunch of money for the last 5 months of the year total.  This means either I'm about to hit a big score or I just absolutely suck at tournaments.  Honestly I'm thinking I'm just not very good at tournaments.  I don't know I'm having a really hard time thinking clearly about the subject of poker right now.  I'm just really questioning if I'm even good anymore at all.  I mean sometimes I feel like I'm just dominating and am really good but maybe that is just when I run good....i don't know!  Lately I've really been thinking about just taking what is left of my bankroll and getting some other kind of job and quitting.  The whole computer aspect of poker is something I hate and am horrible at.  I can just never seem to get the internet, my computer or the poker computer programs to work!   I've been thinking of getting some sort of travel job that would let me explore the world which is my main passion at the moment.  Honestly who the hell knows what to do really.  I would like to just be really good at poker and start to make some money again.  :)  That would be great!!  But lately I'm not even winning at cash games! Clearly my day of tournaments today was very very frustrating.   I've got heaps of things to figure out that is for sure.  

Lifewise things are a little too personal to be discussing in my blog.  But the jist is nothing is ever what you think it's gonna be and sometimes that is awesome but sometimes it really sucks!  In general 2008 has been a pretty rocky year for me, so I hope to find a little more balance in 2009!  I do still have faith that stuff always works out but man it's rough sometimes while you wait!  Anyways guys sorry if this post is totally negative....hopefully the next one will be back to it's upbeat self! 

Love, Love!!

Hey guys!  Well I finally feel like I'm back on the poker ban-wagon.  It's great to be back in the States for the Sunday tournament schedule.  I felt so much more alive only having to get up at 9:30am instead of 4am!  Not that I had any amazing results or anything but I felt like I was playing well and I did cash in a lot of the tournaments  I entered.  I never went super super deep in anything so most of the cashes were min but still better than not cashing.  

Basically I'm just feeling really happy to be back home and to get back into a routine!  I moved some of my stuff into my new apartment last night.  My place is super small but very nice. The important thing is it's very close to a sweet park and good running trails. :)   It's basically a mother-in-law apartment with a separate entrance and everything.  The lady who lives upstairs seems super sweet....she brought me dinner tonight while I was in all of my tournaments for absolutely no reason at all.  So so nice!

Goals for the time I'm in Seattle are to....

1. Not party as much at all.
2. Grind as much as possible...cash games mostly and then tournaments on Sunday and maybe Wednesday night if I just can't help myself! 
3.  Exercise a bunch...either get a trainer or I'm thinking about getting serious into rock climbing so which ever one works out better!
4.  Not date anyone unless I'm super super into them.
5.  Learn how to snowboard and at least get decent!! 

Well that's all I can think of for now...I'm sure there are much more but that's a start!  I'll keep you guys updated!  I hope everyone is running well and loving life!  :)

Love! Love! 
 

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Hey guys...well it's 2am on Christmas and I'm still up because I'm trying to wait for Santa obviously.  I've had an insane couple of days.  But I'm finally back home in Seattle and just in time for Christmas.  I flew back from Australia on the 22nd...got into San Fran and then found out that  basicallly all flights to Seattle had been cancelled and I wouldn't be able to fly out until the 26th of December.  Clearly there was no way I was going to spend my Christmas at the San Fransisco airport., so I ended up driving home with a random girl that I met in the airport line.  There is never a dull moment in my life these days.  So yeah 14 hour flight, then waiting at the airport for about 5 hours trying to get home, find out there is no way then rent a car and drive until 5:30am, sleep at the random girl's great Aunt's house for about 3 hours, get up and then finally get to the Seattle airport about 7pm the next day!  

Good thing is... I'm home safe and sound and I made a new friend on the journey!  

Christmas Eve was great.  My brother's and my neices and nephew came over to my mom's house and we all just had some good food and got some good gifts!  It's really great to still have kids around to watch open up presents...they just get so excited and I love it!!   My younger brother and I are spending the night at my mom's and then tomorrow we will wake up, open up gifts here, then head over to my Dad's house and do the same there.  My grandmother that is from Australia will be there so that will be good to catch up and tell her all my crazy stories! 

The snow here is insane.  My mom hasn't been able to leave her house for a week!  I'm hoping the snow will clear up a little so that I will be able to get to the house I subletted after Christmas.  As of now there is no way my little badass Civic would make it there.  :(  I'm pumped to move in, get things settled, and start getting some work done!  This weekend might be tough for work because I'll be seeing all my friends that I haven't seen for awhile but after that all business! 

Sorry this blog hasn't been very poker related lately but this will change in the next couple weeks.  I've noticed my blog is no longer on the featured page.....that is sad.  Not a very good Chrismas present at all but I understand....maybe I'll make it up there again sometime soon.  Anyways guys I hope you are all good and have a super nice Christmas!! 

Love! Love!

 Well guys....I haven't given you any pictures in a long time....so here you go!  This is what I've been up to in Aussie!


Whitsunday awesomeness....if you ever go to Australia or live here already you must go here!  



Rat Tail Awesomeness...so many people rock these here..it's kinda insane!!!  This was a random dude that I made take a picture with me only because of his rat tail...he loved it!  LOL!



My whole sailing group on the Whitsunday trip....clearly in my group picture the gangsta pose is in order!



My Fraser Island Group...with our pink 4x4......so much fun!  Another must do while in Australia!

This was a lake on Fraser Island where we went the first day!  This massive sand hill lead right into the lake.  We would run up it and then run down as fast as we could and then jump in the lake.  So much fun!  One of the guys on the trip actually dislocated his shoulder during a race we had down the hill into the lake...that was not so fun.  






On this trip there were 3 separate 4x4s that all caravaned together for the trip!  This is all of us right before getting back on the ferry to leave the island.  :)



APPT Sydney!  Me, Jono and Peter Eastgate.  We met Peter (WSOP winner this year) at Star City and then ended up going out with him and some of his friends at Ivy Bar in Sydney.  He was so nice and so not arrogant.  You would never know he won the World Series by talking to him...he was totally cool.  Jono is cool too, obviously!  :)



Some of the boys out at Ivy Bar....probably mid dance party....holler!



Random Hot Girls love me out on the dance floor.  This girl couldn't get enough....LOL!  



And last but of course not least.  Us the night we got evicted from Star City at 6am!  Good story about that night I'll have to tell you all later!  :)  Alright I'll write more later!  

Love!! Love!!

 Hey guys!  Well sorry I haven't blogged in awhile.  I've haven't been around my  computer much at all in the past couple weeks.  I took an amazing trip up north to the Whitsunday islands and to Fraser Island.  I totally loved it up north and also learned a lot about the way I want to travel in the future.  When I come back to Australia I'm going to do it different than I have done it this time.  I will not get a flat and I'll just travel around from place to place however  and whenever I please.  It just doesn't make sense to spend money on rent when you are barely at your house.  So now I have a semi-plan for what I'm going to do in the future.  As of now I'm thinking I will go home for Christmas and probably stay in Seattle for a couple months....see how things go. Hopefully work a lot and make some serious bank.   Then sometime in March I"ll come back to Australia for the Kings of Leon concert, then make my way up north and see the places I didn't get to see, then maybe Perth for a bit, then New Zealand and then probably Thailand.  Now all of this could change at anytime but at least I have some sort of plan!  I'm hoping to find someone cool who wants to and can travel around with me.  But I'm so picky about travel partners so we'll just see what happens!  I'll just put it out there and if I find someone who is in a similar boat awesome...if not I guess I'll just do it solo again and meet heaps of people along the way.  :)

Pokerwise the brutal-ness continues.  I just can't seem to win at all lately.  I played in the APPT Sydney main event and got knocked out  before the dinner break...which was pretty crushing.  I made one really terrible play where there was no option but to fold on the river but I just couldn't let go of it.  That decision left me pretty short stacked and then I got it in with KK in a re-raised pot versus KQs, flush draw flop and dude clearly got there and I'm out.  :(  Very very upsetting mostly because I really can't afford to be playing in these high buy-in tournaments.  At least a friend of mine took 20% of me but still I need to be much better about bankroll management if I want to succeed in this business.  It could also help to run and play better!  Ha! This next week is def. going to be a study week for me in Sydney.  There will be lots of video watching and poker forum reading going on.  I am the coolest obviously.

So since the APPT is going on here in Sydney all my Australian poker friends are in town.  Needless to say things have been crazy as ever as far as going out goes.  I don't think I've gotten to bed before 8am since they have been in town.  Last night a couple of friends of mine got evicted from their hotel room at Star City (casino here in Sydney) at 6am.  I can't give away all the details but lets just say it involved climbing over numerous balconys, 4 boys and 1 girl (me clearly), rocks being thrown, and about 7 very large and in charge security guards!!  Hilarious but very dumb at the same time.  The Kanye West Concert is tomorrow and I'm debating on whether I should go or not.  A couple of my friends are going and we met this guy out one night who invited us to the Kanye West after-party....so clearly that would be amazing!  :)  On that same night we also met and hung out with Peter Eastgate the WSOP main event winner.  He was super cool,  super chill and super nice.  He was NOT an arrogant F*** at all...which was def. a nice surprise.  If you met him you would never know he just won 9 million or whatever it was.  Thumbs up for Peter Eastgate being a nice guy!

Good times here in Sydney...I don't think I'm going to go out tonight things have just been way too crazy lately.  I live here in Sydney but I literally have not been home in 2 days.  I just have a really hard time at saying no to any sort of fun that is going on!  Maybe one of these days I'll settle down....but maybe not...who knows!  Anyways guys I hope you are good and I'll post some pics soon!

Love, Love!!