CARDRUNNERS

Besides my minor accident, yesterday was a solid day. Work wasn't too bad. I had some stuff to do, so that kept me busy. After work I went to lifetime to workout. I decided that I was going to get a personal trainer. I really want to take working out seriously this time around. First of all, I don't really know what I am doing. Second, having a trainer will motivate me. It is def a bit expensive, but I figure it is a good way to spend some of my hard earned money. I decided not to lift until I start my program with him so I just ran two miles. It always feels good to get back into running. 2 miles is about as much as I can do right now, but I plan on getting it up to 3 miles and then just running 3 miles about 4 or 5 times a week. I think that should be a pretty solid routine.

When I got home it was already pretty late and I decided to just play some mtts and relax. I had the League tourny coming up and there was the UB 100 and UB aruba satellite. I played really loose in the League tourny. I got a big stack early but lost a few coin flips and then ran top two into bottom set. NH Jac. The other two tournaments went a little better. I cruised along in the ub 100. I actually missed the first round because I was on the alternate list. When I sat down my first five hands were A10 (flopped two pair), QQ, KK, AA, AQ. I won every hand and was up to 9k in 5 min. It was smooth sailing from there on out. I ended up busting w/ 66 vs A10 at the final table. The guy w/ A10 made a terrible call in a pretty big pot. What can ya do... The aruba wasn't as smooth sailing. I had an ok stack most of the time, but I didn't get a big stack until there were about 14 left. I had about 6k in chips w/ 150-300 blinds and raised it to 825 w/ J10d. The flop came 8d9dx. The guy that called me pre had called me the hand before and I was pretty sure he'd bet if I checked to him. I checked and he bet pot. I instamoved in and he folded. About two hands later I got a free look in the BB w/ 56. The flop came 1066 and I bet out like 1/3 of the pot. I got two callers including the guy who just bluffed me a few hands earlier. The turn was a 6. I bet out about 1/2 of pot and the guy hit the bet pot button. I moved in and his 6s full of 10s was no match for my quads. I was now up to over 20k and the chip leader. When we started the final I think I was at about 25k. It didn't take long for my good luck to continue. I got dealt AA and raised. I got a reraiser and a guy pushing over the top of that. I called. One had QQ and the other had KK. My AA held and I was up to about 38k. About 5 hands later i got dealt KK and raised. I got reraised and pushed all in. The guy showed QQ, but flopped a set and won a 17k pot. Ugh. I proceeded to play poorly for about the next 30 min and bluffed my stack down to 18k. At that point I knew I had to settle down. I did for awhile. When it got 4 handed I started to raise a lot. My stack was growing from the raising, but it was clear I was starting to get out of line. I then picked up KK after raising 5 pots in a row. One of the other guys had QQ. My KK held and I was in great shape again. 3 handed Sheets gave me a ton of trouble. Everytime I had a hand, he folded, and when I didnt he raised me all in. I was not liking my chances. Thankfully I lucked out again and picked up AA to sheets KK. He raised the button to 4k and I pushed for 30k. AA held and I was up to 60k. Sheets whet out a few hands later when I raised the button, he pushed the sb and the bb called. It was sheets 88 vs his AQ. I was very very glad to see a Q river. I knew I'd have a much greater chance against the no nam ethan sheets. Going into HU I had a 2:1 lead and was feeling great about my chances. About 3 hands in the guy pots from the button and I called w/ K9. The flop was 109x and I checked. THe guy bet pot and I didn't think he had anything so I raised allin. He instacalled w/ AQ. I thought to myself, I'm finally gonna win an aruba seat here. That though quickly vanished as an A came on turn. UGH. I was now down to about 30k to his 90k. A few hands later he min raised the button and I pushed w/ AQ. He had KK. BRICK, BRICK, BRICK, BRICK, AAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCEEEE. One of the prettiest rivers I've ever seen. I proceeded ot really grind him down HU. I played a lot of small pots and just outplayed him. The final hand came when he was down to 20k and the blinds were 800-1600. I pushed A9s on the button and he called w/ KK. The flop was A98xx and I won my first aruba trip. SWEET.

I think today I will play for an hour or two after work and then watch some HBO and then the NBA game. I'm hoping the heat can pull out a victory tonight. I have a $5 bet with one of my good friends that the heat will win.

Andrew

Typical of Ohare Airport, my flight was delayed and hour. I didn't mind too much. I've traveled enough in my life now that I come to expect delays. When I got to Vegas I had to wait 45 minutes for our bags to start coming onto the bealt. That was a little more annoying, because I was pumped to be tehre and wanted to get out of the airport.

So far, not being 21 has not caused me any problems. Although, I have yet to try to play poker.

When I first got here, I met up with my friend Ryan (steam boat on ub) and put my stuff up in his hotel room. He's staying at Bally's and it's a nice room with a good location. We decded to go to the Rio to check on how Taylor was doing. When we got there, we found Bill (zimba). It was good to finally meet Bill. We had a few beers and just shot the shit for awhile. David (Guacho) called me and said he was waiting for the 10/20 game at Bellagio. Ryan and I decided that we'd at least go check it out. When we got there we were far down on the list and decided to get some drinks. We ended up just drinking at the bar next to the poker room for a few hours. Spud and Pinksock showed up first. It was cool to finally meet spud. I've talked to him a ton online and I always love putting a face to the name. Pokertrip and Denny Lemuix stopped by for awhile. Finally, Taylor showed up after busting. At that point we decided that going to a strip club was a good idea. I wasn't sure if I'd get in, since I don't have an ID, but I figured it was worth a try. I ended up using one of the other guys ID's and got inwithout a problem. That was probably was a bad thing. While I had a great time, it definitely got out of control pretty quickly. Lot of alcohol, strippers and vegas don't mix that well if you want to get out cheaply.

Ryan and I are metting up with Taylor, Melissa and Guacho for lunch in a few minutes. I'm gonna try to play some poker to recoup my strip club "loses" or I may just go lay by the pool for awhile though. I'm just gonna see where the day takes me.

I also think we are going to go try to see O tonight. I'd really like to see taht show. I've seen Mysteque (no idea how to spell that) and it was a great show.

Good times.

Today is the first day of class and it's pretty damn cold outside. This winter has been incredibly warm and I'm tired of it. I like the warm summers and cold winters in Illinois. I really like snow in the winter. We really haven't had any snow this summer. It's crazy. We got about 1/2 inch last night and at least things are looking somewhat white. It looks nice. I also like the crisp cold weather in general. I hope it keeps up.

I had two classes today for my first day. Near the end of the first one, I got a bloody nose. I haven't had a bloody nose in probably at least a year. I was surprised and wasn't sure how to react. At first, it wasn't bad so I figured maybe it was just a minor bloody nose. I didn't really want to get up and walk out in front of the entire class (I was in the back row). I waited a few minutes and it got worse but it still wasn't flowing, there was just a little blood. I decided I should leave though before it got worse. I got up to walk out and I opted out of holding my nose. Right as I got to the front I felt some blood flowing out of my nose, so I had to cover it up and blood smeared all over my face. Sweet. I cleaned it up and came back a few minutes later, but now I'm the kid with the bloody nose. Gotta love good first impressions.

Gonna play some poker today to make a video or two. I'm hoping to get in a good session.

Here are some more PCA pics courtesy of Jeanine Deeb and Facebook.

JohnnyDrama (_thefinisher_), Steve, Melissa, Taylor, Brianw09, Me, Jeanine


P0ker H0, Adam from P5 (orange shirt), Denny, Court from P5 (hat on in back), Mattg1983 (Blue shirt), pinksock


Gaucho, Zimba and myself


Taylor and Melissa

I "graduated" on Saturday. I put that in parentheses because I still have one online class that I need to finish. That's not a very big deal though and I'll get it done soon. Anyway, I walked and it was a pretty good experience. I can't believe that college is finally done. It was weird leaving the campus knowing that I would never come back as a student.

Here is a pic with me and my good buddy Manzo.


I've been pretty busy since I got home. I got back to my house Saturday night and went to bed soon after. Sunday I had a long day. We got up and went to church and then drove downtown to meet up with some family friends to have brunch. Interestingly enough, the girl that chose where to eat chose the pub that I went to for New Year's Eve. I got a kick out of that and it brought back some good memories. After that I came home and watched the Bulls look good, the Tigers get crushed and Golden State play tired ball. Monday we headed downtown to look for apartments. We found a great place that is about 2-3 blocks from Wrigley stadium. It's a four bedroom apartment and it's really nice. I'm living with three of my long time friends from high school. It's gonna be a blast living there. Our lease starts July 1, so I'll move in as soon I get home from Vegas. I didn't take any pictures of the inside, but here is the outside of it. We have the main floor and the basement.


I haven't commented on Sopranos/Entourage for awhile. I think this season of Sopranos has been very good. I've liked every episode and I like where it is going. After fairly disappointing 4, 5, 6 seasons I didn't expect much. I'm really glad they are delivering.

As far as Entourage, it's not as good as years past. I even think that since season 2 it has gotten worse each season. It's still a funny show that is worth watching. I just wish they wouldn't try so hard to input a story line and instead would show more of the guys balling and hooking up with hot chicks. That's why everyone likes the show, isn't it?

Strange note: My brother decided as a way to make money he would buy these exotic frogs and sell them. He also decided that my bedroom would be a good place to put the massively large aquarium. I have this huge aquarium with three big ass frogs in it. As I was typing out this blog I looked up only to see one of the frogs eat a cricket. Pretty cool. The only problem was that the crickets in there were making noise the entire last night and they made it hard to sleep. Oh well.

I would take a picture of the tank but my camera is broken at the moment. I dropped it at a bar one of my last nights in champaign. I've dropped it many times before but this time it basically landed on the lens and now it won't work anymore.

I've had some camera issues lately so I haven't posted any pics. In fact, I'm still having camera issues. I finally replaced my lost camera with the same one. The problem was it was discontinued and the only one they had left was on the floor. I figured I'd just take it because I really liked my last camera. I don't think that was a good idea, because the quality is absolutely terrible. Just another thing I need to take care of.

Anyway, I went to a shitload of cubs games last week. I had only been to 3 all year and I managed to go to 4 in 5 days. I didn't even mean for that to happen, but it just did. My friend, Higgins, called me on Monday and said he had an extra ticket for Thursday. I hadn't seen him all summer, so I definitely wanted to go. In addition, it was against the Reds and I'm a huge Griffey fan. On Friday, my buddy, Berra, was in town with a bunch of his friends. We got bleacher seats and got there early. I had never sat in the bleachers before and I loved it. You gotta get there early, but it was definitely worth it. The people in the bleacher are just more easy going and are basically there to drink beer and have fun. Saturday I had won good tickets. They were the best cubs tickets I had ever had. The game was great with a Grand Slam, but it did rain the entire game. On Monday, I got a call from my friend at 1230 and she said she had an extra ticket for the 120 game. I couldn't turn that down. That game got rained on as well, but was another solid game.

A funny story from saturday was that my other friend was supposed to go to the game and sit with his friend and his friend's family. The problem was that the night before had been rough. He got in the game and had great seats. Not long after, he got nauseous and started to head for the bathroom. On the ramp down he turned and started to throw up. This kid does not throw up quietly (we had heard him throwing up earlier today) and there were probably hundreds of people walking up and down the ramp. Pretty funny stuff. Anyway, the grand slam that Ward hit would have been hit directly to him. The kid that caught it was his friend and if you watched the replay you saw him lean to the side where there was an empty seat. Thats where my buddy would have been. We probably saw the replay that included a zoom in of the kids celebrating the catch 15 times that night. We gave him a lot of shit.

Another quick side note. I have pretty much been addicted to messing with my iphone while driving. I was wondering how long that would take to bite me in the ass. When I was driving to the cubs game on Monday, I was sending a text to someone about how I just got a ticket and I managed to run right into a giant Salvation Army truck in front of me. The two guys driving the truck came out and gave me a bunch of shit and then did the same when I ended up next to them at a stop light a few blocks down. Luckily, I drive a shitty neon and other than busting the front light there really wasn't any damage.

Now some pics:


Me and Higgins at cubs game


Bleacher seats on floppy hat day


Random drinking picture with Higgins and Manzo


Taylor's Birthday - all of my friends thought itd be funny to wear Cardrunners shirts.


Lot's of CR shirts


My buddy Uri about 2 hours before he puked his way out of a grand slam ball.

I had a good weekend. On Friday we had a beer pong tournament that consisted of 16 teams. The winner was slotted to get a bottle of Patron and lots of respect. I wasn't sure how the turnout would be, but it ended up being very good. After some friendly discussion of whether it should be random partners or picked partners (I caved and went with picking partners) we got the tourny underway. It didn't last long for me. My teammate was my roommate, Sioson. We got matched up against two kids we went to high school with. These guys either still play beer pong a lot or they just got incredibly lucky against me. They made 8 of their first 10 cups. Sioson and I made it somewhat interesting and got it to 3-1, but it just wasn't to be. They eventually both made the last cup and we didn't even have a chance to keep the game alive. We headed to fifty/50, a sports bar/club down the street, after the tournament.

Saturday we got a pickup game of Softball going. It was a nice day, but incredibly windy. The wind definitely made it harder to field the ball. I had a good game at the plate with over 10 RBIs. My outfield play left a lot to be desired. I never adjusted properly to the wind and let the ball fly over my head on more than one occasion. We ended up winning 32-22 or something to that effect.

I didn't get the chance to play any poker over the weekend like I had thought I would. I mostly just avoided being on the computer. I spend so much time in front of a computer during the week, that it's nice to get unplugged on the weekends. It's like in the new south park episode where they can't function without the internet. I really felt like I could relate to that episode. That's def not a good thing and it's something I need to address.

I watched Juno yesterday. Very solid movie. It was a good, uplifting story and hilarious at the same time. There were just a ton of great lines throughout the movie.

I watched the last episode of John Adams yesterday as well. It was a great series, but I'm glad it's over. You can only take so much of old whiny John. They portrayed him as a very obnoxious/arrogant man.

On Saturday we were walking down the street with a few people wearing Cardrunners gear. Some guy shouts "Colorado Rockies" all drawn out and gives us a fist pump. One of my friends responded, "it says Cardrunners, man." The guy didnt' know what to say. It made for a funny/awkward moment.