I’m here at Foxwoods (for those that don’t know, it’s a casino complex in the middle of nowhere in particular in Connecticut) and I’ve been playing three days solid trying to win my seat into the WPT. It’s not going well so far. I got pretty close by winning my way into the final act but then bombed from that so now I’ve only got a day left to get in. Argh! Anyway, gotta keep positive so fingers crossed today’s the day. One good thing that has come of the trip so far however was being invited to go over to ESPN to film an episode of the Inside Deal. Appearing on the show with me was Chad Brown, who’s one of the nicest guys I’ve met through poker. We got to see all the famous studios in ESPN and shown all around the complex, which is HUGE. I’m fairly sure I saw some famous American sports stars but being from the wrong side of the pond I couldn’t tell you who they were! Anyway, the episode is here and ready for viewing… http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4619206
It’s been a while…
So 2 weeks ago my brother Nick and I were geared up to go on a 5 day trip off the coast of Mexico to dive with great white sharks (in cages of course!) and tuna fishing. However, 30 minutes before getting on board the boat in San Diego we got a call from our Mom telling us that our grandmother had just passed away. She was 85 and had been sick and in pain for a few years so it was not unexpected. We of course canceled our trip and drove to LA to be with our family. My Mom and aunt were already there and I know it was hard on them losing their mother. But it is hardest on our grandfather… They were married during World War 2 and have remained so for 65 years, despite being displaced from their homeland in Ukraine during the war (caught between Hitler and Stalin), moving to Venezuela after the war (where my Mom was born), and then to LA where their jewelry store was destroyed in the Rodney King riots. I spent most Thanksgivings over the past ten years with them since I lived in CA and now vegas. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose someone you’ve been with your whole life. We had a traditional Russian Orthodox funeral and burial last week, which was really beautiful.
My older brother Rick was also in town for the week and he and Nick and I had some down time to hang. We ended up playing a lot of Wii Sports Resort… Really fun game.
Anyways it was good to spend time with the family, although not under optimal circumstances.
The whole experience reminded me what was important in life.
So now I’m back in Vegas for a bit… I played online tournies this Sunday for the first time in a while… No luck in the UB events but I did manage a win the HORSE tourney on another site.
Later this week Nick and I are going on our shark diving/tuna fishing trip… should be awesome!
After that, I’ll be going to the Taj in Atlantic City to play their $2500 PLO and $5000 NLHE main event.
Getting back to the grind after Aruba sure isn’t EZ . The parties were non-stop and the best! The Dan Band was so much fun! The poker was non-stop, and Matt Savage and his staff /dealers ran the best tourneys I have ever played in. All the UB staff need a really BIG thank you for all they did…Melissa, Jo, Gustavo, and Ernesto just to name a few. You and all the other hard working UB employees that came from Costa Rica and all over the world make Aruba the #1 destination in poker.
The best way I know to get rid of the Aruba hang-over is VEGAS BABY !! I leave for Vegas next Thursday to teach at the WSOP Academy, http://www.wsopacademy.com, Nov. 6-8 with Phil ,Greg Raymer, Shawn Rice and a lot of other great pros. Attending one of these camps will surely help take your game to the next level . If you would like to attend our cash academy, coming up Dec. 5-6th, for FREE and get $1000.00 for travel, listen to my radio show every Sunday night at 9pm EST, “The Ultimate Poker Show,” on http://www.roundersradio.com. I will be giving out the passwords for the Sunday night $5.00 and free roll tourneys that can get you eligible for Vegas.
UB is also running steps for a 12k package for Foxwoods and a 17.5k for the Bellagio. I love playing these steps while I’m playing MTTs. The main reason is that when you play steps remember “tight is right”. I find if I am playing these with other MTTs it helps me play a little tighter, and anybody that has played with me knows that I need that. J A couple of nights ago I bought into 3 step 7s for 97.15 each. I lost one and built the other two up to a step 9 and 10. Last night I played the step 10 and chopped the Foxwoods seat with a very good player, “maximilian71”. I was ahead in chips so I got 8,500 he got 7k . My 291.45 investment in the step 7s paid off nicely, plus I still have my 750.00 step 9.
Hope to cya all in the steps soon or better yet loose your hang-over and join me in Vegas Baby…
I say that because at the moment I’m writing this it is 28 degrees outside my front door. Fall is turning to winter in a hurry around here. We have already had snow twice this year. We got 8 inches in a day while I was away in Aruba. Last year the snowfall came 5 or 6 weeks late and it really hurt the economy in my area. The central Oregon area is dependent on tourism because of the local ski resort. When there isn’t good snow, all the local businesses suffer, especially the hotels and restaurants. So although it seems very cold at the moment, it’s actually a very good sign. I can’t wait for there to be enough to get my snowmobile out again.
So what’s in store for me in the late fall/ early winter? The ducks have 3 more home games. This week is a big one. The 5th ranked USC Trojans are in town the face off with the 10th ranked Oregon Ducks. It should be crazy game since it is a night game on Halloween. Besides that I plan on getting back into playing a ton of poker. The winter months have always treated me well playing online. I think It’s because I totally engross myself in it, and have the least amount of distractions during this part of the year. I know something that has been hurting my game as of late is not maintaining a schedule. I plan on getting back on a set schedule and sticking to it. I am going to try to get to 1 more live event before the year is up and I am leaning towards the circuit events in Tahoe.
Other than that not much is going on with me. I am fully recovered from the wonderful Aruba trip and glad to be back home. Bring on the snow!
OK so as much as I loooooove Aruba, its officially time to end the litany of “i heart Aruba” blogs & move on to more poker conquests. That is, just as soon as I add my 2 cents to the field! I’m about to head back to LA to finish network pitch meetings to sell my pilot “Grifting,” but before I go I wanted to leave you guys with a bunch of fun vidblogs I shot while on my 2 week Aruba adventure! Everything from drunken gambling in casinos, offroad jeep adventures, Hellmuth party freestyle rap, and did I mention drunken casino gambling? Plenty of that to go around — and god knows how I managed to shoot the footage I did without security tossing me out! So enjoy that last Aruba memories of 2009, & next time I blog I will have some great updates about the future of my new TV show! Rock on! First the Poker Parties: Then the Jeep Offroading: And of course plenty of live drunken gambling: -hd.
Man it’s been a long time since I’ve written. My bad. Things have been insane since I brought the snow to Colorado. Since I couldn’t cross the rockies, due to rain, snow, and highs around 35, I had to turn around and head south back into New Mexico. I left on a Wednesday under mostly cloudy skies and was getting rained on within 5 miles. It didn’t stop until I hit New Mexico and was so gnarly that I had to stop and buy the “warmest gloves you have for sale”.
It rained off and on all the way to my destination of Tesuque Village just north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. I stopped there because that’s where the only person I knew between Colorado and Vegas along the 40 lived. My friend Katy who I’ve known since I moved to Vegas and has made an appearance in this blog moved to this little town, a “magical vortex”, a while back and loves it. She’s managing the Tesuque Village Market, this little hippie store that is a small market, bakery, restaurant, and bar. The night I got there is when this Welsh vintner with vineyards in Colorado was having some function thing. I posted up at the bar, drank organic margaritas, eventually tasted some wine, and had a great time. Very neat special unique corner of the world.
The next day I hauled ass across the Southwest and made it back to Vegas in one piece. Trip complete! Over 10,500 miles, two sets of tires, three oil changes, one roll of duct tape, and three sets of gloves. It was the most amazing journey of my life, and I strongly recommend anybody to take a trip somewhere by yourself. You don’t have to be by yourself the whole time, but the solo traveling really gives you opportunity to clear your head and think about things.
Gladly home, I reluctantly started the process of moving out of the house. I got screwed by roomies in the last few months, and moving out was a super pain. We didn’t even come close to cleaning the place.
Over the weekend Jared and I drove down to LA for our 10 year high school reunion, and that was an interesting experience. We realized quickly that if we buy drinks and stand by the bar we’ll eventually talk to everybody we’re interested in seeing . About five years ago one of my best friends, Anthony Casturita, died in a car accident. He went to Iraq, came back, and died on the freeway. On the way to the reunion Jared and I drove by his old apartment and gave like a “rip homie.” We got there, and he showed up. Jared grabs me and drags me in front of Anthony. He’s put on about 50 pounds, I read the nametag, and am like, what? “I thought you were dead?” He laughs and says, “You’re like the 8th person that’s said that already. WTF?” Turns out his cousin, Eric Casturita, is who the victim was, and somehow it circulated through our class that it was Anthony. He was disconnected enough, living in San Pedro, married, etc, that nobody ever talked to him and we all thought he was toast. Pretty awesome news having one of your best friends effectively come back to life.
So back to Vegas, move all week, ugh.. and then head off to Aruba. Shelley and I flew out of Vegas at 6:30am trying to keep our schedules somewhat normal which is a difficult thing to do when flying to the Caribbean from the West coast. About an hour into the flight some dude passed out. The flight attendants get on the intercom and ask if there is a doctor on board. Turns out the dude that passed out was the doctor on board. LOL. Partied all night in Vegas then got on the plane. Fortunately we didn’t have to land in Flagstaff and we made it all the way to Miami. With a 5 hour layover. Not sure how I planned that one but whooops. We took a cab to South Beach, and it was way overrated imo. Maybe we weren’t in the right spot but the strip right on the beach was meh, every place felt the same. The beach and water was sweet though. Shelley packed sand in her shorts all the way back to Aruba. That trip went like this:
Night one: Get there, have a few drinks at the circle bar, which is actually a square, and we re-name it the square bar.
Night two: Welcome party. Vinny Favorito made fun of my Hawaiian shirt. A few of us jumped in the pool. Then we threw the rest of the pros in the pool. Then Phil Helmuth says, “I have $500 each for the first two women that jump in the pool naked.” . . Splash! There was less than 2 seconds from end of his speech to splash. I have no clue how she did it. Then we threw some more people into the pool, Nick and Mike Binger threw everybody else into the pool, and the rest of the night is a blur.
Day three: hung on the beach all day. Got to sleep early.
Day four: Played day 1 of the main event. Couldn’t get anything going really. My table was Spanish only while the hand is not in play. I told them that I speak Spanish somewhere around 15 minutes left in the day. Shelley went out with the Jolly Pirates.
Day five: Day 2. I busted in less than 30 mins. Nothing I could do. I lost some chips to Nick Binger, and he lost them all by the end of the first level. Atta kid. A bunch of us went to lunch, the drinking began, and then five of us took a cab to downtown Oranjestad. We wandered around a bit, Nick, Shelley, and I wanted to drink, Court and Melissa wanted to shop, so we split when we found the bar neighborhood. We started bar hopping, had two beers (they’re 8oz there because they get warm so fast) at the first bar, one at the second, and then at the third, Iguana Joe’s or something like that, I asked the bartender to make us three of what he’s best at. He comes up with these green things in carafes that are delicious. Awesome. Lets have another one.
It’s dark already? Man those things are big. Ok. Working on 2nd. This cigar keeps going out. Why am I talking politics with this dude? What are Nick and Shelley talking about? It seems serious. Yeah let’s go home. Honey let’s go to sleep. … ugh. What time is it? 1:30am. I’m hungry. “I want pizza.” Honey they only have hot dogs here. I’m going to go find food. Want me to bring you something back or you wanna come. “I want pizza. I’ll come.” Where’s my other sandal? There’s only one sandal in this room. “I think you walked back barefoot.” Shocker not the first time. I lost my sandals in St. Maarten. Was barefoot for 24 hours or so. So we walk from the Occidental to the Raddison, I’m barefoot, and we find my other sandal on the concrete by the pool at the Occidental. *shrug*. Sweet! Back to the room, put sandals on, go find hot dogs, she never did find pizza, sleep.
Day 6: Hungover. I’m not so bad, but Shelley’s a wreck. Hang on the beach all day. She eventually comes out around 5pm. VIP booze cruise that night, Cantu’s “most miserable experience.” Stuck on a boat in Aruba with free booze.
Day 7: Business. I meet with all the UB Pros and a bunch of the product design staff for a round table discussion. I really like where things look like they’re going. Meet with Katie my agent/manager/heroine, she goes over the details of the offer I’ve been offered, I renegotiate, go to dinner with Paul Legget and a bunch of other UB peeps, then back for party. That night was the Phil Helmuth penthouse party, and it was insane. I can’t post many of the pics, but here are a few to give you a jist of the flavor:
Day 8: Hungover, final table, beach, rum and coke, Justin Young, beach, closing party award ceremony. Throw people into the pool. Shelley was given warning to change or be thrown in. She got thrown in dress and all. The Dan Band played and were fun. Somebody shot a pic of me walking through the pool with a tray of beer. I put them on the stage for ez access.
Day 9: return. Traveling was just fine. American Airlines gets A+ Awesome. And now Shelley, Ruth, Bobo, and myself are pulling into Laughlin. So I’m going to stop writing. But not post this yet cause I gotta get pics in this thing. Peace!
Peace and good luck,
Devo
So last week I finished off on me busting out of the Main Event. This left me with a whole five days of Aruban freedom to get more sun, sand and sea than you can shake a stick at. The sea part of this started early the wednesday morning when I met with Brandon Cantu, his girlfriend Leslie and Allie Prescott for breakfast, and I proposed the idea of renting a small catamaran which according to the intrepid Binger brothers, was the best and most relaxing watersport on offer. Now I’ve been sailing a few times as a kid, and even have the holder of the world record for the longest sailing circumnavigation of the globe in my family, and this gave me an over-inflated impression that I knew how to sail. I apparently exuded this confidence to the rest of the “crew” and also to the boat rental woman, who when she asked if we knew how to sail we very proudly said yes.
So after telling us we had strictly one hour, she set us in the water and handed me the rudder and sail rope(?!). Before you could say shark, the wind grabbed us and sent us on our merry way, very much alone. Things actually started well, with Brandon going “wow, you actually can sail”, everyone relaxed as we sped along the coast at one with nature’s forces. That was until we had to turn and try and go the other way. We’d been instructed to ONLY turn into the wind, as turning away from it could be dangerous and lead to capsizing. However, turning into the wind resulted in the sail going limp and all momentum lost. Therefore we opted for the latter, and the boat nearly turned over Leslie and Brandon got whacked in the head by the sail flipping to the otherside.
Stupidly, I then let the boys take over and before we knew it we had only twenty minutes left and were about two miles out to sea. Despite this we somehow floundered back at the slowest pace anyone’s ever moved back to shore and got back just thirty minutes late. Ahem.
So you’d think that’d be the last time we ever went sailing alone. Oh no. we went again and this time managed to flip the boat over twice, the first time completely by a combination of ignorance and a huge gust of wind, and the second time because the first time was so funny that we wanted to do it again.
Moving on… so the other things I did for the rest of the trip included a horse ride through the Aruban landscape (complete with galloping on the beach) and a very bumpy ATV ride to some beautiful coastal features. In the nighttime were fantastic parties, including the legendary party in Phil Hellmuth’s rooftop suite, which had a private performance by the Dan band and more bottles of champagne than you can imagine. Oh and naked girls in the hot tub, can’t forget them! The Ultimatebet closing party was stunning as well, with the Dan band performing on a stage over the pool, more naked people and bodypainted gladiator models roaming around giving you cocktails. What a perfect end to the perfect trip!
This past Trip to Aruba was my 7th straight year, For those of you that have not been and enjoy playing poker this is true paradise. I always look forward to seeing all the many friends, and people I work with and many of the people that I play online with. I decided that this year I really want to play more of the preliminary events this year as I rarely ever play those because I am in paradise and would rather do other non poker related stuff. I know my girlfriend was flying out later in the week for the final few days and the closing partys, So I wanted to play a little more live this year than previous years. I flew in about 10pm met up with a few friends and really wanted to take it easy that night, went and paid my way into the $540 for the following day so I knew I could not get wasted that night. I did play a little sit & go with Ho, Debo, Debo’s wife Erin, Mamma Ho and Susie Q, I think I chopped 2 of them and lost the last one and ended up in a cash game. Ho was ordering drinks and before I knew it I was double fisted drinking double crown and cokes and then Debo is ordering shots, so much for taking it easy in Aruba.
After the sit & go’s Ho jumped into a cash game and let me tell you he can liven up a cash game, ever pot was raised and reraised before the flop, I think I got lucky with AJ and beat AK for about a $900 pot, I was no way folding top pair in that game and I got lucky and hit. I won a little playing the cash game, I think Ho started out losing a few thousand and ended up killing them. He played his image so well and is a master in talking other players into do what he wants them to do.
I get to bed around 6am which is ok because my tourney does not start until 2pm. When I got to my table I could not have asked for a better table, everyone was limping and at early levels I don’t like to punish the limpers til the blinds get higher or the antes kick in, I like to let them know I am totally ok with them limping. within the first 2 rounds I had already doubled my 3k starting stack with no real risk. The players at my table were calling my raises with really wide ranges. I then look up and find that Ho, Jon Green , Debo and Mike “WiscoMurray” are all out in the 1st level. I must say I was really shocked to see that. I was a little pissed at myself because I forgot to ask Ho for the usual $500 last longer bet. I am about a 20 to one favorite when I make this bet, I think I have lost it once or twice in the many years we have made this bet, I always remind him of that time he beat me and he is always ready to try his luck again. I got out of the gate pretty quick and had some chips early but as it got down to the final table I was near last in chips, Only the final table got paid there was 95 players who started, I did make one move with 7s8s when I reraised the botton when I had about 14 times the big blind and he called my reraise all in with A 10 I out flopped him and doubled up to over 30x with a shot to win this thing.
It got down to 3 players, the final 3 deserved to be the final 3 in my opinion as my other two opponents were very skilled players, One of which being Frank “gator93″. Gator has won like well over 400k online in recent months and I know he wanted the win more than the 15k first prize, Frank raised 5x on the button 3 handed, small blind folded and I look down at my all time favorite hand, 2 black aces, I know if I reraise him here I will most likely get a fold on many hands in his range, so I decided like I had a little bit of a tough decision and just called, knowing he was going to continuation bet the flop, the flop come King high and 2 rags and to my shock he check it, the turn was another club making a possible flush draw, I bet into the flop and as I was putting chips in Frank yelled he was all In, I called he had raised with KcQc and had top pair and a flush draw to my to black aces, He bricked the river and I had a monster chip lead heads up, I had close to 200k in chips and my opponent had a little over 100K and we agreed to a chip chop and ended the night. The 13k was a great start for my drinking tab in Aruba. I took the next day off as I know I would play day 1b the following day. I spent lots of the next morning doing photo shoots and video interviews for UB and would be in the UB Icon suite checking up on my friends whom played day 1a, Later that night I went out to eat at a wonderful steak house in Aruba called El Gauchos with Frank. I took it very easy that night as I take a day before a major tourney very serious.
Day 1b seemed to be very stacked with lots of pros. I hated my table I had 2 world class players at my table , Gavin Smith along with Robert Mizrachi (”The Grinders” brother) and I knew if I made any mistake I would be punished. I didn’t forget to make my $500 last longer with Ho this time and that’s always sweet. He lasted til the beginning of the 2nd level. Ho did very well in Aruba last year making the final few tables before he blew up and gave Matt Brady a monster stack which Matt used to win the million dollar first prize.
I have played alot with Gavin over the last 5 or 6 years and not much with Robert, But I can tell you this , he is no prize to have at your table, He plays super and I totally respect his game. I got lucky in the 2nd level beating Tony from The Best Damn Poker Show season 2 with my AA on and A63 board and Tony holding 66, Those are just sick and Tong is a world class guy and hating to see him have to go out that way. Level 2 I was catching lots of cards and chipping up really well and had about 35k at one point from my 15k starting stack, I did get down below 8k at one point and finished the day around 13k. Day 2 was a bit of a grind as well and I had Eric Baldwin whom is from Madison WI, Who now lives in Las Vegas on my table, but luckily he was 2 seats to my right and he was sure torcher to may of the players he got involved with. I also got the chance to play with Tiffany Michelle who is now starting in this seasons Amazing Race on CBS, I used to work with Tiffany when I did lots of Radio for Bluff radio during the WSOP a couple of years back, It’s so good to see she is doing well in the poker and entertainment world, She is really a sweet lady. I ended day 3 with about 24k in chips and knew I would need to get a good start on day 3 to have a shot at this tourney that had 475 entrys.
On Day 3 I could not of got a worse table draw or seat position, two seats to my left of Robert Mizrachi and two seats to his left was Eric Baldwin, I did chip up to over 60k at one point for every bit of about 2 hands then I was on the button with 88 and Robert ended up with 99 and I was back down to around 30k, I was later in the big blind with about 13 or 14 times the big blind and it was raised from mid position from a guy who the day before called my UTG raise with Qh8h from the big blind when I flopped top set and he flopped a gutter and a flush draw we played a big pot and I doubled when he bricked out. So I am thinking he could have a big range but I know if I push and play for a 60k pot I am at best 50%, So I took in the value of just calling and seeing if I hit the flop and if I do I will give him some rope but checking and let him try and hang himslef. The flop come ace high , I checked it, he bet, I reraised him he called with AQ and GG me.
The following day I played a 1k buyin tourney and never really got ahould of any chips, I lasted til about 8 pm then when I busted I went and played the charity event UB put on for a local business that helps kids and familys in need. While playing the 1k tourney this lady on my left raised UTG with TT and gets called by 99 in late position and the button reraised with JT she and the other guy both call, the flop comes T high, she the the guy with JT get it all in and the board comes running JJ for her to lose her chips and double him up. Now a few minutes go by and she is still steaming and she reraised the guy whom had JT earlier and he calls half off his stack the flop comes JJ9 and she bets the flop and he calls making him all in and she flips over AA and he flips over Jc9c she screams out “God, I wanna kill a baby” I was in total shock hear a lady say this , right then and there I knew I wanted to bet she has never had a child, don’t worry river comes an ace and she busted him. I have heard many times over the years when you need to get lucky players will hollar “Just one time” but never had I heard that, But if it does work, I think poker players will say anything to make themselfs a little luckier.
The following day 10 of us had a shot at a $62,000 Mercedes, I was the second player knocked out when my TT ran into Ryan “papaGEORGIO’s JJ, Poker Ho was still playing and got heads up and ending up doing really well because they agreed to a chop and I had a small % of Ho which added to my drinking fund.
My girlfriend Amy fly in around 10pm that night, I went with my driver for the past 7 years named Henry and we picked her up and headed off to Phil Hellmuths private party ontop of the raddison in his suite. We just missed the Dan Band play, but the party was killer, check out many of the videos on youtube.com
The next night was the closing party and both Eric and Robert make the final table , Eric finishing 4th and ended up leading the Card Player of the Year points leader and Robert ended up in 2nd place , winning this year was Brandon Hall from Pa winning a little over three quarters of a million for his efferts., Thats a nice way to enjoy a trip in paradise.
The Dan Band was awesome as there were in Vegas when they played for our WSOP party a couple of years back, Many people got into the pool and it was really a ton of fun. The opening part rocked as well with tons of people in the pool and lets just say some where wearing less than others thanks to Phil’s bribes. and NO I was not offended in any way.
I hope you are all planning on next years Aruba trip, they just seem to get better and better, I missed seeing a few of you and hope this next year can be the best ever!
I am off to go help teach the November Nine Final Table Academy in Las vegas on Nov 6th, 7th and 8th Featuring poker instructors Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, Bernard Lee, Mark Seif, Mark Kroon, Erica Schoenberg. Special Presentation by WSOP Commissioner, Jeffrey Pollack. Hope to see you there as well.
Usually my blogs will have some sort of narrative thread running through them. Less, bloggy, more story. This week’s entry is going to be a bit all over the place as it reflects where I am at which is all over the place. In the last month I’ve been from Los Angeles to NY to Vegas to Aruba to Japan and back to Los Angeles yesterday. Sitting on my couch I feel like someone pulled the emergency brake in a car going 100mph, spinning into a crash of jet lag and physical exhaustion. So before my brain melts out my ears for a day or two…
Aruba was a blast. What else could it be? UB throws the event of the year in my opinion. Ask anyone that was there and the smile on his or her face is all the answer you need.
This was my third Aruba trip and it was my best so far. What made it better/different? Having a much larger UB & AP pro team there for sure. There was a real sense of camaraderie amongst the pros and we were hanging out all the time. From instigating the chaos at the pool during the opening party (where Phil gave out 10K to basically skinny-dip!) to hand analysis and poker tips for the UB players to closing the casino most nights to once again making the closing party a blast, teams UB & AP were representing!!! I really felt an all for one, one for all spirit and it makes the brand that much stronger.
I also felt that having all of the UB senior mgmt there to oversee everything was important, especially to listen to the players in the focus groups. I expect you’ll see a lot of your opinions reflected on the site very soon. Seeing UB CEO Paul Leggett on a day to day basis, being a part of the event seemingly everywhere at once absorbing it all was a real treat as well. Paul’s hands on approach and attitude really made me feel a part of something strong and the excitement about the future of the brand was tangible.
Regarding poker, I finished 62nd, 17 from the money. Second year in a row I got so close to cashing. I am happy over all with how I played and I probably could’ve grinded my way past the bubble but I was playing to win it, not to just cash.
On day one I had a hand that I was stoked about. I had overheard the chip leader (who was at my table) after losing a few pots and dropping down to around 78K from over 90K say to the guy next to him that he was on a losing streak. I made a mental note and decided if I had the opportunity I was going to try and make a move on him. A few hands later I had A8 suited in the BB. Blinds were 150-300. The chip leader raised to 950 UTG and it folded to me. I popped it to 3100 and he calls. The flop comes QQ6 rainbow. I check, he checks. The turn comes a J to complete the rainbow. I bet 5100, he calls. At this point I commit to the bluff and when an 8 comes on the river I shove my final 12K. He stands up and tanks for three minutes and then he calls the clock on himself. He was really confused by my shove. He hadn’t seen me turn a hand over at all and didn’t know what to do. He asked the floor man if he could show his hand. The floor man said if he shows his hand to try and get a read he’d have to take a one round penalty. I was thinking, “go ahead and show, you’re not going to get a read off of me, I am Mt Rushmore!!” The floor man counts down the final ten seconds and he folds. Jason Gray who was on my left asked me to show the bluff. I showed the 8. Chip leader sighs and turns over pocket 10’s. Whew.
I had a lot of fun in the cash games in the casino. Especially the UB table one night where we were playing 1-2 and the first raise would come in at $35! Then my friend Enigma4U4ME would shove blind and get three callers. Basically your typical 1-2 game with an average pot of $700.
Crazy but fun.
After Aruba I was home in LA for 36 hours and then took off to play a festival with Anthrax in Japan. The show was amazing. Here’s a link to a clip from the show: http://www.twitvid.com/05F93
I’m home now for a couple of weeks and I’m looking forward to getting back on UB and playing. See you all this week at the tables.
Well it has been quite a few weeks. After a frustrating week or two of poker in London I flew from Amsterdam to Aruba on the 3rd. I knew immediately that I was in for a great week. I managed to convince my brother Nick to come out to Aruba for the first time so I had a partner in crime. Plus alot of good friends were going to be there. I really do have more and more fun every year in Aruba.
Day 1 Sun Oct 4: Nick and I rented a Catamaran sailboat (a Hobicat) and managed to capsize it only twice. It’s a bit of a pain to get them right side up in the middle of the ocean but well worth it for the fun and adventure. It was really a blast… we went sailing another 3 times during the week. We hung a few hours on the beach with some friends then headed back to the room to get ready for the opening party. Little did I know what an EPIC night we had in store. Things started off a bit tame (by which I mean a normal fun party), but about an hour or two into it people started getting rather drunk, and well… a massive epidemic of people getting thrown into the pool ensued. I must admit that myself, my brother Nick, and some other team UB pros were the main culprits behind this. We would spot someone in the crowd who we thought should be in the pool, and like savage hunters track them down and throw them in kicking and screaming (FYI they were fake screams… interesting fact: people love being thrown in pools! ). We were good though… we always gave our victim the opportunity to empty the pockets of cell phones and other stuff and give them to a friend before getting thrown in. Before long, it seemed like the entire party was in the pool. The award for toughest fighter goes to the newest UB team pro Joe Sebok… that kid is scrappy and strong… I think it took 4 of us to get him in the pool! But once he was in the pool, he came to see the wisdom of it all!
Day 2 Mon Oct 5: This was day 1A of the main event and we had the day off. A fun mostly lazy day on the beach interrupted only by going tubing. Four of us could go at a time on our own separate tubes and boat driver was on a mission to sling us around and knock us off. Quite exhilarating and fun. Dinner out in town at an awesome restaurant Madame Janette.
Day 3 Tues Oct 6: Time to play poker! We started with 15k in chips and as usual with tournaments run by Matt Savage the blind structure was very good. I finished the day with 41k I think, a bit above average. Off to bed early.
Day 4 Wed Oct 7: Nick and I woke up early to go for a swim in the ocean and then sailing before the noon day 2 restart. The winds were fairly strong and the skies ominous. We got pretty far from shore and decided that a fun way to practice sailing would be for one of us to jump out of the boat and have the other tack back to “rescue”. I was the first overboard and my brother decided to sail past me a few times just for fun before picking me up. Next it was Nick’s turn: he jumps overboard, and almost immediately the winds pick up. I am doing my best to control the small boat, which is going faster than ever. Before I even know what’s going on the front of the boat is plowing into the water and I am at 45 degrees… very close to flipping but I managed to lean back and counterbalance. I turn around and tack back towards Nick just as it starts pouring rain and lightning and thundering. It is getting a bit scary, but as an experienced seaman (this is my 2nd time sailing) I wasn’t fazed . I pick up Nick and we decide to head in… the only problem being that it is raining so hard we cannot see the shore. But a good sailor has an internal compass so we made it back safe and sound, in time to play some poker. Sadly the day didn’t go well for either of us. I built up to over 80k early on and was in strong position, but everything just fell apart and I busted in the evening… so I was stuck on a tropical island with tons of fun leisure/adventure activities and a bunch of cool people. Sigh.
Day 5 Thurs Oct 8: Horseback riding! Went with Nick, UB pro Liv Boeree, and Allie Prescott who sadly had to bail at the last minute do to illness. It was a blast, we got to gallup along the beach and mosey through the Aruban countryside. Great big group dinner.
Hung out in the pool for a while around midnight with a bunch of friends and UB pros. Went out to some clubs late night with Joe Reitman and ran into a bunch of great people. Walked home at 5am.
Day 6 Fri Oct 9: Another day of beach bumming and sailing. Good times. Then in the evening to Phil Hellmuth’s party in the penthouse suite. As usual, a great party. Lots of free flowing Dom Perignon, plus a performance by The Dan Band, who were awesome and funny. Oh yes and there was a rapping competition between Jeff Madsen and the Poker Rapper.
Day 7 Sat Oct 10: Lazy day shopping, getting lunch, then went out on the Waverunners. Had a blast once I figured out how to do 360’s. More beach bummery with the crew. Throwing around the nerf football and such. The closing party was that night, featuring another performance by The Dan Band, and another episode of debaucherous pool throwing and frolicking (see day 1).
Day 8 Sun Oct 11: Time to leave Until next year Aruba!
So now I’m back home in Vegas, playing some poker at the Bellagio and just catching up on life. Played the 10k HORSE event 2 days ago, which got only 19 players. Busted on day 2 yesterday. Probably playing the 10k PLO tomorrow… check me out on twitter for updates!
. About five years ago one of my best friends, Anthony Casturita, died in a car accident. He went to Iraq, came back, and died on the freeway. On the way to the reunion Jared and I drove by his old apartment and gave like a “rip homie.” We got there, and he showed up. Jared grabs me and drags me in front of Anthony. He’s put on about 50 pounds, I read the nametag, and am like, what? “I thought you were dead?” He laughs and says, “You’re like the 8th person that’s said that already. WTF?” Turns out his cousin, Eric Casturita, is who the victim was, and somehow it circulated through our class that it was Anthony. He was disconnected enough, living in San Pedro, married, etc, that nobody ever talked to him and we all thought he was toast. Pretty awesome news having one of your best friends effectively come back to life.
Until next year Aruba!
