It's only been 3 months...

I'll be the first one to admit that the advent of Twitter has made the willingness to take the time to blog practically...well...old news. The ability to relay your thoughts and actions on a minute-by-minute basis is something that we never could have dreamed of just a few years ago. Never the less, I thought I would update everyone on my last three months.

I made my 5th annual trek to the WSOP in late June. I have seen the WSOP evolve since I first went and watched them at Binion's in 2004. This year, I played in a $2,000 NLHE event (the same one I've played in the last two years). I won't recount all of my tweets from the event but I did get a chance to played with "Wretchy" and "TitanTom" from online fame, Allan Le (Nam's brother), Tiffany Michelle, and Joe Serock. I lasted until after dinner break and when I returned, I picked up K-K in the SB on the 2nd hand. An early position raise allowed me to shove for about $9,750. He hemmed and hawed for a bit and called with A-K. Four bricks and an ace on the river later and I was out. Tough way to go out but not a whole lot I could have done different.

I played in two more RIO nightly tournaments and a $500 Venetian Deep Stacks event. All of them ended in various heartbreaking fashion as I just really didn't run well that week. I know that's going to happen from time to time and I just picked a bad time to run bad. I had a fantastic time sweating my favorite players until 2 or 3 in the morning each night and also got to meet a lot of people I had met online via PokerRoad.com.

Last week, I went back out to the RIO to play in the first WSOP DreamTeam Event. I played in the event with my friends Andrew and Robin and we were "Team Willing2Die." There were 122 teams entered in the event and we finished in 19th place. Unfortunately, the top 10 teams cashed so once again I was shutout. It was a fun tournament although the structure is pretty shallow and really collapses after about 5 or 6 hours. The picture above is me laying down K-K on an A-Q-10 board to Dan Michalski of www.Pokerati.com. He showed me an ace so it was another $%^&ed hand at the RIO :):).

After a lot of online play over the past 30 days, I have made a commitment to play less online and more live. I'm hoping that it will put a little more fun in my poker game as well as giving me a little more time with the family (and wife) during the week. My limited live results really haven't been half bad as I have 3 cashes in 8 career WSOP tournaments, 3 cashes in 7 Chumash tournaments with buy-in's of $200 or more, and I took down a Saturday daily tournament at Caesar's Palace. Unfortunately, this year has been relatively horrible as I'm 0 for 6 in live tournaments. I'm hoping to turn that around over the next few months as I'll be hitting the Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino and a few tournaments at the Commerce.

I plan on getting another blog in over the next few nights as I talk a little football and share some thoughts on my poker career and what the future holds for me in the coming months and years.

Thanks for reading,

W2D

NFL Schedule released

Today was one of those days that pacifies the diehard NFL fan during the off-season. 2nd only to draft day, the release of the NFL schedule gets me pumped up and also allows me to plan out my Qualcomm Stadium attendance for the coming season. It looks like my schedule will be as follows:

Home Opener vs. Baltimore (Tailgating with my wife)
Monday Night Football vs. Denver (Going with buddies from work)
December 20th vs. Cincinnatti (Weekend trip with the kids/Tailgating)
January 3rd vs. Washington (Tailgating with friends)

I'm so pumped....the Cutler trade to Chicago has pretty much handed the AFC West to us for the next couple of years so we really need to take advantage.

Anyways....I have not been playing a ton of poker lately. I'm looking to ramp up the volume in the coming weeks and win a WSOP Main Event seat. My current economic conditions don't point to me dropping ten dimes for an entry this year so if I don't win a seat, I'm pretty much screwed. If it gets to that point, I'll play in a couple of mega-satties when I'm in Vegas (6/18-6/21) but I think the best value is still winning one on Full Tilt.

I have lots of other thoughts to convey but I am literally busy day and night so I'll have to carve out an hour to drop some more deep philosophy on you. lololol

Thanks for reading,

W2D

I took 2nd in the Full Tilt Big Double-A last night for around $2,500. It was my fourth 2nd or 3rd place finish since my last MTT win almost 10 months ago. I usually find myself with a big chip deficit when I reach heads-up and last night was no different....to the tune of a 11-1 deficit.

I ended February up around $3K for the month and am up around $14K for the first two months. Not bad for a "recreational player" If I may say so......I figure I'm getting geared up for the WSOP :):).

Talk to you soon,

W2D

Shameless Plugs

I wanted to take a quick second to direct your attention to a couple of poker-related things:

1. A friend of mine who I have spent many an hour talking life and poker with via AIM, Stephen Lawrence, has had one of his poker articles published at the following link:

http://foxpoker.com/articles

Stephen, commonly known as Virge, is a great poker mind and a helluva nice guy. I encourage everyone to check out the article and if you're looking for some cash-game coaching, please consider Virge as a worthy candidate.

2. I have been putting a ton of time in at the Pokerroad Forums and am running a couple of different contests for the LAPC Main Event. I spend most of my time in the "Live Tournaments" section of the forum so I again encourage you to first check out Pokerroad , then check out the forums and especially the Live tourney section. I am, of course, Willing2Die on the forums.

Thanks for reading,

W2D

Update

Things have been going real well the last couple of weeks as life continues to be a fun journey. After my two big online cashes on January 13th, I was even for most of the rest of January and ended January up over $11K. I started February off with a bang as I took 3rd in the Full Tilt $23K on Wednesday night for a little over $2,900. I have now played only 28 MTT's in 2009 and I have four cashes with three of them being a 3rd place and two 2nd's. It is vastly different from what was occurring in 2008 where I was having a ton of cashes with no deep finishes. There is definitely a calm and controlled aspect to my end game where I just let things come to me and don't make as many "fancy" plays as I used to. The caliber of play is still sub-standard enough that you can allow others to make mistakes for you. After Wednesday night's score, I told my wife that I was calling my shot right now...I guarantee I will win a WSOP $10K entry this year.

The Super Bowl lived up to every expectation anyone might have had. The 4th quarter was undoubtedly the greatest quarter in Super Bowl history and Harrison's play was clearly one of the Top 5 plays in the history of the NFL. There may have been flashier or more difficult plays but for the context under which it occurred (Super Bowl...:00 on the clock...14-point swing), they don't get much bigger. Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

UFC 94 ended up being underwhelming. I went 6-4 on my predictions although I think I got hosed on the Kim-Parisyan fight (That was one of the worst fights I've watched in months). Jon Jones was the most impressive fighter of the night. Considering he's been training MMA for about a year, I'd love to buy some stock in that guy's future. The main event was disappointing as GSP was just too much for B.J. "Vaseline-gate" has overshadowed his dominant performance and just today there is talk about GSP-BJ III. I'm not even sure I want to see that. (See my UFC Fight Night predictons below)

The 2009 WSOP schedule came out and, as usual, I'm excited for those 45 days of the year. I hope my job doesn't mind my brain being somewhere else for that month-plus. (just kidding lolol). I already booked my flight for June 18th-June 21st. I'll be playing the $2K on 6/18, maybe the $1,500 on 6/20, and hopefully Day 1C of the Main Event. I've cashed in 3 of 7 WSOP events I've played so I always feel good going out there.

The pokerroad gang played one of my voicemails on the 2/5 PRR episode and Joe Sebok even said "I love Willing2Die" on the air. If a 38-year old married father of three gets giddy over that, I think he has serious problems.

Here are my predictions for UFC Fight Night (Feb. 7th):

Joe Lauzon v. Jeremy Stephens (I'm going with Lauzon even though I'm not a big fan of his talents. A Stephens KO wouldn't surprise me)

CainVelasquez v. Denis Stojnic (Cain by 1st degree murder/He's the future UFC heavyweight champion)

Mac Danzig v. Josh Neer (Danzig wins a tough decision)

Luigi Fiorivanti v. Anthony Johnson (Johnson by head removal)

Kurt Pellegrino v. Rob Emerson (Pellegrino is very under-rated...he takes this one)

Dan Miller v. Jake Rosholt (UFC debuts rarely go well...Miller submits him)

Matt Grice v. Matt Veach (I'd be pompous if I said I knew anything about these guys but it's Veach's UFC debut...that means Grice wins)

Gleison Tibau v. Rich Clementi (I'll go with the guy who over-achieves over the guy who under-achieves...Clementi wins)

Nick Catone v. Derek Downey (Both are UFC debuts...Catone takes his Sadollah-related frustation out on Downey's head)

Steve Bruno v. Matt Riddle (No fighter should smile as much as Riddle does and I don't think he'll be smiling after this one)

Thanks for reading,

W2D

UFC 94 Predictions

I've been a diehard MMA fan since UFC I was televised while I was in the police academy in 1993. I've seen hundreds of cards from Dream to Pride to Strikeforce to EliteXC to UFC to Affliction.....but I have never been so pumped for an MMA card as I am for UFC 94 tonight. I'm a big B.J. Penn fan and am hoping he takes it but I have a ton of respect for GSP and just want to see an historic fight. I thought I'd take my shot at some prognosticating for tonight's card:

UFC 94

Matt Arroyo v. Dan Cramer ARROYO
Jake O'Brien v. Christian Wellisch O'BRIEN
Chris Wilson v. John Howard WILSON
Manny Gamburyan v. Thiago Tavares TAVARES
Jon Fitch v. Akihiro Gono FITCH
Nate Diaz v. Clay Guida GUIDA
Karo Parisyan v. Dong Hyun Kim KIM
Stephan Bonnar v. Jon Jones BONNAR
Lyoto Machida v. Thiago Silva MACHIDA
B.J. Penn v. Georges St. Pierre GSP

As you can see, I love B.J. but I picked GSP. If I was betting on the fight and could get +160 or +170 on B.J., I would definitely go that route. At this point, I think GSP's wrestling is going to be the difference but I'm praying for an epic B.J. performance.

I'll check back on Monday to see how I did.

Thanks for reading,

Eric "W2D"

January

Quick update:

I'm heading to the Commerce on Sunday to play in the LAPC $335 event at 1:00 P.M. Just another example of why my wife is the best woman in the world..she didn't bat an eye when I told her I was going.

My goal for the year is to read twenty (20) new books and I've already powered down two of them. I read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. I highly recommend both of them. I've compiled a reading list for 2009 which so far includes the following:

According to Doyle by Doyle Brunson
The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas Ricks
Elements of Poker by Tommy Angelo
Just 2 Seconds by Gavin Debecker
The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman

I'm always looking for recommendations so if you know of any "must-reads", please let me know.

Thanks for reading,

W2D

Biggest Night Ever!

Wow....I'll cut to the chase. I had my biggest night in my online poker career last night as I took two 2nd places in big TILT tourneys for around $11,000. It started with the Fifty-Fifty as I built up a big stack early and pretty much maintained a nice stack throughout the tournament. I took two bad beats enroute to the final table but perservered and got to the FT with above-average chips. It was a really, really difficuly FT that took sometime to finish. "TheMasterJ33" was hyper-aggro and we reached the 6-hour break 7-handed. Within five minutes after the break, we lost three players and we got down to 4-handed. I had lost J-J v. A-2 when two deuces flopped and was down to 4BB but somehow battled back. I bobbed and weaved until "TheMasterJ33" somehow busted 3-handed and I was heads-up at a 6:1 chip deficit. First prize was $11,500 which would have been my biggest online score ever but it was clearly not to be. My heads-up game sucks balls...I didn't last too long and took 2nd for $7,300. As this final table was finishing, I was down to the final two tables in the $23K guaranteed---->....

The $23K was a lot like the fifty-fifty as I got a big stack early and pretty much maintained it throughout. The final table was vastly different as the play was horrible and I think it took me around 25 minutes to get heads-up. By this time, I was brutally tired (2:45 in the morning) and although I had about a 1.5:1 chip deficit, I again stood no real chance. I took 2nd for $3,700.

I clearly left around $6K out on the felt due to my inadequacies at heads-up play but am in no position to complain. It was my 2nd largest single online score ever and my biggest night of my online career. It feels really great to start the year out this way and I owe it to two things:

-I ran like a Jamaican sprinter chasing free bobsled lessons.

-My live session at the Bellagio last week may have been an epiphany. It was my best live session ever and as I sat in that particular room (my favorite poker room in the world), I had time to reflect on my poker "career" and whether I was going to continue to pitter away at this venture or really start thinking like a "professional" and make something of myself in poker. I'm not saying by any stretch that this is the start of a mountainous climb but I do think I've changed the way I look at my poker playing and how I can't simply "waste time" playing poker when I have a wife and kids. I owe it to them and myself to play my "A" game at all times and maximize the time I spend playing.

I have a real sense of confidence and "being" at the poker table right now and, based on experience, it's best to ride that wave as long as it's there. I'm hoping I can go on a tear in January and maybe sew up my WSOP funds for the year. A very special shout-out to Smokkee and Virge who provided some much needed rail support at the very late hour. Thanks, guys! I owe you...

On a sidenote, this was another example of the "hotel" effect that I've talked about for years. I'm currently in a San Francisco hotel for the week which is no coincidence at all.

The Chargers season is over...I'm bummed but as usual, they weren't boring this year. Let's draft a WR and a LB and get it on next year!!!

Thanks for reading,

Eric "W2D"

Another Degenerate Weekend!

My wildcard weekend turned out to be one of my better weekends ever in Vegas. We arrived at McCarran at around 9:00 on Saturday morning and went straight to Bally's. We really didn't have any idea where we were going to watch the games but as soon we got to Bally's and saw their awesome sportsbook and attached sports bar we knew that was the place. The first game (Atlanta/Arizona) wasn't starting for another few hours so I killed some time in the "Party Pit" by losing a quick $200 at blackjack (I hate that fucking game...it is 3 times faster than Pai Gow which means you can lose money 3 times as fast).

We got ourselves the best seat in the house at the Sportsbook around 11:30 and never left until around 9:00 at night. I placed several wagers on each football game, bet every race at Santa Anita/Los Alamitos/Delta Downs, and bet a ton of different college basketball games (around 70 wagers for Saturday). My losings were neglible...tempered by a boatload of Bud Lights and 2 (maybe 3) pretzel dogs. The stage was set for the Chargers/Colts game and they surely didn't disappoint.

I've watched plenty of NFL playoff games live as well as 3 Super Bowls but I have to say the atmosphere in the Sportsbook was something quite unique for the Charger game. I guess the combination of almost everyone in the room having some wager on the game as well as having been drinking most of the day makes for a "special" type of electricity. This was the 3rd epic, history-making playoff game the Chargers have played in the last three (3) years. I will definitely never forget that experience.....at least not until this Sunday when they play another epic battle in Pittsburgh.

After the game ended, the five of us went across the street to the fine establishment that is Bill's Gambling Hall. We hit Bill's Steakhouse for dinner (I didn't really like the Pan-seared Scallops) and then I hit the dice for around an hour. Some good rolls let me leave up around $200 and then we wandered over to the Bellagio. I wanted to show the other guys the poker room there and was telling them stories of the different things that have occurred over the years in Bobby's room. We walk in the poker room and I immediately see some shadowy figures in Bobby's room. I get closer to peer in the windows and sure enough, the Big Game is going on. They have hardly been playing the Big Game live over the past few months but sure enough...Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, and David Oppenheim are playing 5-handed. For someone like me, that is basically like going to Cooperstown or meeting your favorie movie star. I was mesmerized just seeing them sitting there. I would have given my left nut to have sat and sweated one of them for 5 minutes. The 4 other guys I was with were not quite as enamored with them as I was. We left the Bellagio and went back to Bally's where I won $300 at Roulette before losing $100 at Blackjack. I hit the room at around 2:00.

3 of the other 4 guys that were there had to leave for various reasons so I was left with a guy that I had met just the day before. We ended up getting along real well and took up the same spot at the Sportsbook around 9:30. We stayed in that spot for 12 hours and this time I bet on pretty much everything that was on the board. Horses, College basketball, NBA basketball, NHL Hockey, NFL Football...I placed over 100 bets on Sunday and ended up losing around $120. I got killed on the over (+41) for the Minnesota/Philadelphia game when it ended 26-14. That one cost me $175 and the Laker game didn't do me any favors but I made up for it in the Stanford/Arizona game and a couple of exactas at Santa Anita.

After we finally staggered out of the sportsbook, David wanted to go back over and check out the Bellagio so we headed across the street and strolled into the poker room. He asked if I was going to play some poker and I didn't really plan on it but I had always wanted to play at the Bellagio so I threw my name on the $1/$2 NL list. I got a seat around 10:30 and didn't really have a plan as to how long I was going to play. The table ended up being great and I played one of my best live sessions in a long time. I played all night until the game started to break and we were down to 3-handed. We played a few more hands 3-handed and I ended my session up at $826 after starting with a $200 stack. I ran back to Bally's trying to get out of the 29-degree weather as fast as possible. I hit the pillow at around 4:30 and ended up getting up around 9:00 and heading straight to the airport for the return trip.
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I have three (3) main goals for 2009 (not resolutions):

-Read more books
-Stick to my diet and workout routine
-Avoid procastination and time-wasting at work

Easy goals...nothing special...but they will help me tighten the screws in my life this year.
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I have my poker stats for 2008 and, to be honest, they're pretty embarrasing. It was my worst year in four years and I basically turned poker from a second income to a hobby in 2008. Here's hoping I can rekindle some of the magic in 2009.

2008 Poker Statistics

Overall winnings- $1,843
Online winnings- $10,378
Live winnings- (-$8,535) <----this included a $10,000 entry to the WSOP Main Event
Biggest online cash- $7,730 (Full Tilt)
Biggest live cash- $3,850 (WSOP $2k event)
Online MTT ROI%- 34%
I played in 641 online MTT's...I won 19 satellites on Full Tilt for seats $216 or above...I made 15 final tables in big MTT's and only won 2 tournaments.
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I'm currently finishing up Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It is the third book I've read from Gladwell and it is clearly his best. I highly recommend it.

I'm pumped for another great NFL weekend and I'm excited to see what rabbit the Chargers can pull out of their hat this week. L.T. is done...Merriman has been done...WR Vincent Jackson got arrested for DUI last night...There aren't many things going their way except two big players: Darren Sproles and Mike Scifres. GO BOLTS!!!

I'm heading to San Francisco Sunday night so maybe I can get some good online volume in and maybe start the year off on a positive note.

Thanks for reading,

W2D