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