Friday, October 2, 2009 - Bryan Devonshire
It’s been a crazy week. Mostly on the stressful side, but lots of excitement to say the least.
I left Santa Fe, NM Thursday morning last week, hauled ass 600 miles back to Las Vegas, and saw my honey for the first time since Legends at the end of August. I then began moving in on Friday, got a good amount moved, enough to start getting my office set up, and got a good night’s sleep to prepare for Saturday.
My brother Jared and I drove down to my Mom’s house in San Dimas, CA, just outside of LA, for our 10 year high school reunion. We got there, checked in, hugged some old friends, and then headed straight to the bar for two shots of jack and two beers. We soon realized that we would see pretty much everybody that we would want to see if we just stood around near the bar. Some things never change I guess.
Shortly after dinner, when they opened it up to the people that didn’t rsvp in time but wanted to come hang out for the real fun, Jared smacked me on the chest and pointed at a dude. I looked at him, he looked familiar, and didn’t believe his name tag. It said Anthony Casturita. He looked like Anthony. But the problem was that Anthony died in a car accident several years ago after a tour in Iraq. Like, no joke, on the way to the reunion Jared and I drove past Anthony’s old apartment, gave a kiss and a peace sign basically saying RIP homie, wish we could see you tonight. We got our wish.
Through some sort of grapevine confusion, and Eric Casturita (Anthony’s cousin) dying in the fashion we thought Anthony died, most of us thought it was Anthony. My mother told me first. After shaking off some shock (and tears in the restroom), I said, “Dude, I thought you were dead.” He laughed in his typical fashion, “You’re like the 8th person that’s said that to me already.” I called my mother, she lost it, and we had an amazing time the rest of the night, one of our lifelong best friends being raised from the dead as far as my emotions were concerned.
The next day Anthony came over, visited with my Mom for a bit, then the three of us headed to the usual pizza spot and met everybody else that wanted to show up for pizza. I was planning on drinking water but the sick resurrected bastard ordered a pitcher of Newcastle. I couldn’t say no. So much for getting back to Vegas quickly. We spent a few hours there, laughing and remembering the old times, and eventually headed back home.
I was bushed, took it easy Sunday night, and then hit the moving hard Monday. My house has seen better days. I’ve basically kissed the deposit goodbye. One old roomie, Danny the Degenerate F%*# up and bailed while I was on the road, leaving a helluva mess behind. Nobody’s made any effort to clean things up and I ain’t gonna pay the people to do it, nor do I have the time to do it myself. Oh well. I got all of my stuff moved out Mon-Wed, but still at the house is an early 80’s Toyota pickup that I fronted the cash for Danny to buy, his parents were going to pay for it, they sent the check, he never gave me the money, and now it has a flat tire and a dead battery. There’s also a broken down boat (the Piece of Ship), a running dirt bike, 4 not running jet skis, a broken air hockey table, a crappy foosball table, all of another roomies stuff, and a bunch of garbage. Sigh.
I’ve gotta do my best to take care of all of that before Aruba. Shelley and I fly out of Vegas early Saturday morning, so you betcha that we’re going to be ready to be in the full relax (aka drink) mode. See y’all on the beach!
Peace and good luck,
Devo
Tags: Aruba, las vegas
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Sunday, September 27, 2009 - Billy Kopp
Well, the golf has been put on hold a few times due to some rainy days here in the bluegrass state. However, there are a lot of other things going on right now. It was a crazy and exciting weekend as it will be my last here in Kentucky for some time. First I would like to mention my good friend and fellow poker player Doug who was not able to take part in the festivities due to having heart surgery sometime this week. It’s never the same when one of the biggest partiers I know is stuck in a hospital, and we all have to worry about his health. We got word Friday night that things are looking up and can’t wait until he can get back on his feet.
This weekend was a big one in Lexington due to the football game. Kentucky played Louisville which is only about 80 miles from here. This is always a huge and exciting game because many of us at Kentucky have friends from high school who went or go to Louisville. Everyone we know from there came up for the game and was a blast. My friend James from Boston even came down to get a glimpse of what it’s all about here. This is always a huge rivalry in football and basketball. Kentucky was the favorite by almost 14 points and barely sneaked out a victory. We had way too many turnovers but somehow managed to win. This is crucial because the apartment that I rented before I decided to move is on the biggest party street near campus. It’s so wild that I usually watch the game on TV and party with lots of people around here. That may also be due to the fact that in the SEC you can’t purchase alcohol at collegiate sporting events, but that’s debatable! Also, the partying and bar scene is never the same after a loss, so I was glad we managed to get a win my last weekend here.
I am officially leaving on Thursday to live with my friend in Las Vegas until I close on my house there. I have been rushing to get lots of things finished up here in Kentucky before the big move. I’m actually going to the post office right now. I realized that I have lost my passport, great timing About 12 days from now I will be in glorious Aruba taking part in the best poker tournament of the year. I’m going to cut this a big short so I can get some other errands finished as well. I hope all of you are running satellites or steps so that you can win a seat to the Aruba Classic. I would love to meet all of you out there in October. Best of luck!
Billy Kopp
Tags: Aruba, aruba classic, basketball, Football, Golf, Kentucky, las vegas, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, Satellites, STEPS
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Saturday, September 5, 2009 - Brandon Cantu
I touched on my recent online play in my previous blog. The last week, I was able to fit in some play online at UltimateBet.com. However, I spent the majority of my week by going back home and catching up with old friends. This week marks my 10 Year high school class reunion. It is also the weekend of my annual high school 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Although I do make it a point to go back home and hangout with my good friends who still live there, this week will be filled with many old friends who have moved to other states, other countries and rarely get a chance to hangout and go out with.
Monday: I headed from Las Vegas to Oregon, catching a flight and anxious to get back and see everyone. I will be staying with my good friend, Tony Eggertson throughout the week. Tony and I have been friends forever and we stay at each other’s place whenever we come in and out of town.
Tuesday: I got up decently early and went shopping most of the day, had lunch as Tony and I met up with our friend, Jake. At around 7:00 pm, we all headed out to dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. After dining and chatting about who was going to be coming to town over some drinks, we headed to a local home game and played some friendly poker. 5 AM came fast, us guys headed to a breakfast spot and then headed home.
Wednesday: With the previous last night/early morning, we ended up sleeping till about 2 PM. I wanted to make sure I spent some quality time with my grandparents, so I headed over to meet with my Grandpa and met him at his local hangout, Jolly’s. My Grandfather introduced me to cards and instilled a bit of gamble in me at an early age. I have discussed this in past interviews and/or articles – Grandpa introduced poker to me and we continue to play games and gamble a little bit when we get together. At Jolly’s, I proceeded to drop about a $500.00 dollar loss in pull-tabs. I just could not hit anything. Grandpa couldn’t either. It was fun though spending time with him. After, I went back to Tony’s and played online for a while on UltimateBet.com. Later that evening, we headed over to Chevy’s for a light dinner and some margaritas. Since the guys and I had a pretty late night the previous day, we decided to get back early, stay in, hit the couch, watch Braveheart and sip on a few drinks.
Thursday: We woke up and relaxed throughout the day. We got the social bug around late afternoon and we decided we needed to head out. Tony and I met up with some friends from High School at a restaurant called Oba’s, which is one of the better restaurants in Portland. We ordered their staple entree – Prime Rib. After a solid dinner, we moved along to a bar/lounge called Departure. It was a perfect night and elected to go outside and drink, relax and tell stories about the old days. We were starting to get text messages about more and more people starting to get into town for the reunion.
Friday: One of the biggest days of the year for me and one of the best as well – the annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament. My team consisted of my friends Sean, Kevin and myself. I felt we had one of the best chances to win this tournament. 6 teams, 18 total players. Last year, and as we continue to get older and older, we had some injuries (broken arm in one instance) and I hoped our team would withstand all adversity, go without the need of a substitute or be forced to play shorthanded. Format is to play to 30 points each game with 6 total games to the finals. Due to some weather issues, we were forced to consider some potential changes but everything worked out fine. After battling through the field, my team came away with the championship and the trophy. This next year, I will be able to let everyone know who the champion is and rub it in their faces. I love this tournament! Looking back over the tournament field, it is truly amazing to see everyone who was able to make it. We had friends fly in from New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Virginia, Wyoming to name a few states as well as from as far as Columbia and Taiwan. Great group of friends, so nice to see them. That night we hit the town hard with all the boys. We made the rounds throughout the bars and ended up at one of the larger clubs. The night couldn’t be finished without crushing some Taco Bell at 4 am.
Saturday: I tried to sleep in as late as I possibly could as today is the official 10 Year High School Reunion. Before everyone met up over at Tony’s to have a drink or two and wait for our entire group, I moved in slow-motion, recovery mode. Once we had our collective group of Tony, Jake, Will, Dave and the rest, we headed over to Edgefield where our reunion was taking place at a resort (old workers camp reconstructed into a resort) – hotel, conference rooms, bars, restaurants, etc. Seeing everyone from high school is an experience, which I am sure many can relate to. It was a great time and after getting all the guys to fly in from around the world for the basketball tournament and then this, I knew the night could get out of hand. I was having an amazing week. Typical of our group of guys, we had decided to throw an after party at the resort. We rented out an entire floor with about 10 rooms, bought beer, wine, liquor, had some food brought it and partied until the early morning.
Sunday: On very little sleep, some of the guys and I met up for breakfast. It would be some time before I see a few of them again, so we chatted about the week and nights and replayed the stories and laughed and laughed. After some goodbyes, the remaining headed back over to Tony’s, where we watched some movies and just had a lazy day.
Looking back over the last week and taking in the events, I can say it was an amazing week. I am fortunate to have a great group of friends, some of which I get to see quite frequently. Others, not so much. Therefore, continuing the tradition of our 3-on-3 tournament is a great event for us. The reunion was interesting, of course, but it was essentially a continuation of the basketball tournament and the party continued to go day and night. Also, I was able to fit in a few playing sessions online on UltimateBet.com, jump into a home game for fun and try to get some work in between all the dinners, drinks and catching up with old friends. I am now back in Vegas gearing up for a few weeks on the road. I have London, Amsterdam, UltimateBet’s Aruba tournament all coming up in September and October.
Good luck to everyone who is playing on the road. I hope to see you in Aruba. Travel safe.
Brandon Cantu
Tags: Amsterdam, Aruba, las vegas, London, New York, Online Poker, Play Poker, San Francisco, Seattle, Ultimabet, Virginia, Wyoming
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009 - Billy Kopp
As the newest Ultimate Bet team pro, I’m excited to share my first blog with all of you. For those of you who don’t know, my name is Billy Kopp and I reside in Erlanger, Kentucky. I am twenty three years old and have been playing online poker for the past five years. I got my start into poker by playing small home games with friends. While going to college at the University of Kentucky, I began to play primarily online. I had success and was able to meet other successful players online who helped me to advance my game.
This summer I made a transition into playing more live events. I had a second place finish in the 5k New Orleans WSOP Circuit event for a nice six figure score. After that I proceeded to play in several WSOP events. I was fortunate enough to get 8th in the 5k no limit event and then 11th in the 10k pot limit event. Finally, I finished in the summer out with a 12th place finish in the main event for a little under $900,000. I can proudly say that Ultimate Bet was by far the best site for me to represent. Due to the help of my agency, Suited Connections, I was able to land a long-term deal with the site. I have played on UB for years and have had success in the biggest multi table tournaments they have to offer including a win in their Sunday major. To date, I have never given substantial time to playing cash games. Now, I will be playing cash games along with multi-table tournaments on Ultimate Bet under the name “billy_kopp”.
Lots of people have been asking me what my next live event will be. I am currently in the process of moving to Las Vegas, so the next event for me will probably be the $5,000 main event in Biloxi, Mississippi at the Beau Rivage in September, followed by the Ultimate Bet Aruba Poker Classic in October. Once everything is settled in Vegas I will be playing more live events. On a side note, I want to wish my friend and fellow colleague Adam “Roothlus” Levy good luck in the Legends of Poker tournament going on at the Bicycle Casino right now. Hopefully he can bring home another win for the UB team.
I can’t wait to meet the other team pros in Aruba. I have never played in the Aruba Classic and wish everyone who plays the best of luck. For all of you reading this, I hope to get to play with all of you on the site at some point soon!
Until next time,
Billy Kopp
Tags: Adam "Roothlus" Levy, Aruba, aruba classic, Billy Kopp, las vegas, Legends of Poker, Online Poker, ub, UB Team, Ultimate Bet, WSOP
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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - Roothlus
Hey guys. It’s been a wee bit since I last blogged. Not going to lie, I’ve been a blogging hiatus. The WSOP kind of totally consumed me but don’t fret my blogettes, I’m back! This year’s WSOP was definitely one I’d like to forget. I played 21 events with only 2 cashes for a whopping total of $10k. I will say this though, I definitely ran bad but I wasn’t too happy with my play this year. I had a great year last year with 6 cashes in 17 events so the fact that I didn’t have a great WSOP wasn’t a huge surprise to me. I do think I learned a bit and improved my game throughout it, which is all you can do when trying to get through a rough patch like this.
I saw the Main Event as a last chance to salvage a subpar year but that didn’t go well either. Although, I definitely played excellent throughout the tournament my bustout hand was not my finest moment. I didn’t make a mistake in the hand but I accidentally angleshot and accidentally slowrolled a guy in the same hand. I stress that it was completely unintentional and I would never do that to anyone period. I decided to setmine with 66 against a tight good player and the flop came A96 rainbow. The raiser bet 6800 and when I went to call an extra 5k chip stuck to my fingers and I made it 11800. I was forced to make it 13600. I didn’t mean to do it but it accidentally worked out. So I go back to listening my music and I expect him to take a while. About five minutes go by and I look at him and it looks like he’s in the tank and he never motioned like he was shoving or anything. I look at the dealer and he gives me a blank stare. Two more minutes go by and the dealer motions to me that it’s on me. Apparently he went all in within 30 seconds of my minraise but I never noticed it and everyone thought I was in deep thought. I say to the guy, “I’m so sorry, I call” and flip over my set of sixes. The guy says “It’s cool man” and flips over a set of Aces. LOL. Funny how it worked out. Definitely one of the more interesting hands I’ve ever played.
I took it easy the end of July and wanted nothing to do with poker. At the very end of July I moved to Los Angeles finally. I’m rooming with another poker player, Amak316, and a good friend of mine. I’m ecstatic for the move and I know that I will really enjoy it. We decided to go to San Diego for a few days and I’m not sure which city is better but man is it a close decision. I’ve even been a decent sleep schedule compared to my Las Vegas schedule. On a good day I’d be waking up at 12PM in Las Vegas. That’s me sleeping in LA. And yes, I know 12PM is still super late but I’m a poker player, whaddya want from me?
Last Sunday I played had a pretty good win of $38k when I won the 50 rebuy. I’m not joking the person I played heads up could’ve been in a freeroll and been a losing player hah. Even though I really didn’t have to put too much effort into heads up, a win is a win! And there’s no better feeling than winning a tournament. I’m playing the Bike WPT next week and hopefully I’ll carry my online success over to that. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed. I’m definitely due to make a big live run before the end of the year. So wish me luck! Next time I talk to you I’ll have a WPT win under my belt 
. Peace guys.
–Adam “Roothlus” Levy
P.S. Look for upcoming training videos of me at DeepstackUniversity.com
Tags: Adam "Roothlus" Levy, las vegas, Main Event, Poker Poker Poker, WPT, WSOP
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Saturday, August 15, 2009 - Brandon Cantu
After the World Series of Poker, Las Vegas seems to get back to normal, at least what is considered to be normal for those of us who live here. The hype of the tournament subsides and most people leave town to get away. Before I even begin to make some moves, I need some R &R.
My friend Dave from my home town came to town. He lives and works in Charlottesville, VA. With some extra time on my hands after the tournament and a friend in town, I found reasons to get bottle service at one of my favorite clubs in town, XS. My neighbor and good friend, Jeff Madsen came along to join us. This club with its ambiance and cabanas were perfect place to unwind with some good friends. I must say, I have never met a night at XS I didn’t like.
After enjoying the table and friends for a bit at XS, I decided to make my way over to the pool area of XS where tables of black jack are set up. I played for about an hour and turned $1200 to $6000. I seem to do well on XS nights for whatever reason.
In my downtime I also went saw a movie, Bruno. Sacha Baren Cohen is hilarious in this movie and I must say is a great follow up to one of his other movies I enjoyed, Borat. Bruno became an instant classic in my book. I liked it almost as much as The Hangover, which may be one of the best comedies of all-time.
Three of my favorite things to do here in my free time here in Las Vegas are watching Howard Stern on Demand, smoking Hookah, and hanging out at my pool. My time since WSOP has significantly consisted of those three things:
The Howard Stern show on demand is by far my favorite show. I watch it religiously on demand. His antics and regulars make any day a good one. I need to find a reason to get a request to appear on that show. Maybe, I should start a scandal??? Just playing. Recently, regular Howard guest, Blue Iris passed away of a heart attack. Very sad.
If I’m not at home or playing poker, most likely the next spot to check for me is Paymon’s hookah spot. It’s a local favorite and a place I sometimes tend to consider a 2nd home. There is something so relaxing about sitting on Persian couches, eating hummus and smoking the hookah flavor of the month. Often times this is the starting point before heading out for the night. Great place. Good times.
What is summer in Las Vegas without being poolside? Last year I order these oversized chaise beds for hanging out by my pool. It makes my pool feel like a casino resort cabana in my backyard. Having friends over, good food, gin and beers poolside are all signs life is good.
From the clubs and gambling to hookah and hanging out by my pool. My unwinding time after the tournament has proved to be amazing. I love living in Las Vegas.
Brandon Cantu
Tags: Brandon Cantu, las vegas, Poker Poker Poker, WSOP, XS
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Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - Matt Graham
Hey guys, this is actually my first blog ever so I am a bit of a noob, but I will try my best. My life has been pretty uneventful since the world series so I will mostly talk about plans I have in the next couple of months.
The one exciting thing that has been going on lately is my search for a new house in Las Vegas. I moved out here last year just before the world series started. I was in a hurry to get in a place before the events started so I rushed my decision and wasn’t picky enough. I made two big mistakes in my selection. The first was no island in the kitchen. The second and biggest mistake was not getting a home with a pool. It is just way too hot here not to have a pool. I think about how bad it sucks basically everyday and have begun to loathe the house I have now. Anyways I am looking to build a new home so that is pretty exciting.
My days of sitting around the house I have enjoyed the past month are about to come to an end. I am going to be out of town a ton in the next two months. I am heading home to new orleans to visit family on wednesday and will be staying until monday. I will get home, have to do some laundry and then pack right back up to head to Cabo in Mexico on Friday. My girlfriend will be there for an entire week. I cant wait to soak up some sun and get the tan back that I lost sitting in the Rio all summer. I realy wish the WSOP was in the winter. I know it is impractical and will never happen but I can dream! I get back on Friday around 4PM Vegas time and have to hop on a plane at 7 to go to Chicago for my first session as WSOP Academy instructor. I don’t have any teaching experience, but I think I will catch on quick and will definitely have a ton of poker knowledge to contribute to the camp.
Last but not least, I will be heading to Aruba after that. I cannot wait to get there. It has always been my favorite place to travel for poker. I imagine it will be even more of a blast as my first trip there as a sponsored UB pro. I trust Poker Ho and the guys to get me into plenty of trouble. Jump in those satellites everyone and come on the trip with us. You won’t be disappointed!
Tags: Aruba, las vegas, Matt Graham, Mexico, P0ker H0, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, ub, WSOP
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - P0ker H0
From my first days of playing poker, I loved the game! My love for poker was so intense it was the first thing I thought about in the morning and the last thing on my mind before falling asleep. I even dreamed of winning big tournaments! In my early days of poker, I got really lucky and won my very first live tournament I ever played at the Four Queens in Las Vegas for about 20K, and the flame has been burning ever since. Then about ten years ago, when the online boom hit, it really gave me the chance to take my game to the next level and play full time. It wasn’t easy, though. I remember stealing the quarters out of my pinball machines and pool tables at my bar to get money to make deposits to my account just so I could keep playing.
As my luck turned into skill and I became a lot better, I started winning satellites to go play in WPT and WSOP events. I’ve had many opportunities to experience playing in live events in such places as France, the Bahamas, Canada, Mexico, South and Central America, all across the United States, and of course the best of them all, Aruba!
I started living the dream of playing poker and it took me a while, but I realized my love of playing poker wasn’t as strong as my love of being a poker player. I found myself caught up in all the glamour and excitement of being a professional poker player…… the parties, meeting celebrities, visiting exotic locations, the money and notoriety of it all.
I think it’s very important for all poker players to stay focused on the game and not the stuff that comes with it. The game is hard enough as it is without all the distractions. Stay focused and never stop loving the game. That’s my goal from here on out……Good luck at the tables!
H0
Tags: Aruba, Four Queens, las vegas, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, WPT, WSOP
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Monday, July 20, 2009 - P0ker H0
Coming home and getting back to the grind after spending five weeks in Las Vegas isn’t as easy as it sounds. With the Ante Up for Africa and the UB parties, poker every day, and the whole Las Vegas experience, coming back to little hometown Madison, Wisconsin, is like getting back to Earth after walking on the moon for the first time!
I started the grind last Wednesday night and found that the Wednesday schedule is the best by far. The UB 1K, the UB 200/80K guarantee, the $100 Aruba Rebuy, and the 20K Deepstack all start within a couple of hours of each other. And UB runs satellites into all of them, all day long. I made the final table of the 20K guarantee, taking 4th for around $1900. In the 80K, I got heads up and used the UB deal maker feature, which I really like, and the other player and I chopped for about $17K each. It was a really great way to get back to the grind.
What I’m really excited about now is Aruba! Aruba! Aruba! Every poker player should be looking forward to it, too! It’s the one poker trip that is on my mind year-round. This year will be #8 or 9, too many to remember. But what I do remember is all the people that I’ve met there. All the UB pros, all the online people I play with on a daily basis, and the wonderful people from behind the scenes at UltimateBet that grind it out every day from the UB offices down in Costa Rica and up in Canada that make it possible for us to play, work, and live the dream of online poker. Besides the friends I have made, there are the great times in Aruba too, such as golfing with Phil, the deep-sea fishing, the UB welcome and closing parties, helping PokerJo find her shoes, the endless beaches and romantic sunsets (Okay, I threw that in there for my wife!), the booze cruises, the infamous party at Phil’s rooftop suite, and the fact that I’ve choked 2 final tables…. all bring back great memories.
UltimateBet is giving us lots of opportunities to play to win a seat at the 2009 Aruba Classic. My favorite way is the Steps. These are like eating potato chips. I play them by the handful! You can catch me playing Steps 1-10 at any time of the day. Playing tight and right is very important in these. The $100 Rebuy on Wednesdays is another great way to win. I love the $500 Sunday night tournament because that usually pays between 4-6 seats. I like a tournament that you don’t have to win to get the seat. Believe me, I’ve won a few of them this way! Now, let me give you the cherry on the Aruba tourney sundae! Come to Aruba for free or as little as $5. Listen to my radio show Sunday nights, 9PM EST, “The Ultimate Poker Show”, on Roundersradio.com. We are running two tournaments every Sunday night: a free roll with $50 added by UB and the winner gets to advance to a tournament where we are giving away a free Aruba package, and a $5 tournament with a $100 added and all nine players that make the final table will also be added into the Aruba package giveaway at the end of 10 weeks. If you can’t listen Sunday nights, and you want more “Poker H0″, you can listen to me and Wiscomurray on our local radio talk show, “Man Up with Mark and Mike”, where you can get the passwords for these tournaments and listen to us talk trash and poker every Saturday afternoon at 3 PM EST, http://manupwithmarkandmike.com/ .
Good luck at the tables! Hope to see you in Aruba…..H0
Tags: Ante Up For Africa, Aruba, aruba classic, Canada, Costa Rica, las vegas, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, PokerJo, The Ultimate Poker Show, ub
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Friday, July 10, 2009 - P0ker J0
Well Hello to all!!
I did it – I actually did it! I survived Vegas – barely! What a whirlwind of a visit. One week seemed to fly by in an instant and then in another way lasted a lifetime! I’m so very proud of all my pros – they really kicked some ass in Vegas. It is so refreshing to see so many members just so enthusiastic and supportive of the brand. I’m really lucky to be part of such a great team!
So the UB party on Monday was a blast!! Seeing Phil up on a trapeze WITH a microphone alarmed me a little. But in true Hellmuth fashion, he pulled it off beautifully – and even with some grace!! (don’t tell him I said that). The entertainment was wonderful and everyone seemed to have a great time! Thanks to Miss C and her team for doing such a great job!
I met so many of our players this year – and bumped into so many players I’ve known for years. They are really like my family now. The roman theme was a big success and I saw many a player sporting the big X on their back while wearing the new UB t-shirts.
Ok – speaking of roman theme…..did you all see Phil’s big arrival?? Oh my – picture my face on Sunday morning as I walk into Phil’s suite to help get him dressed! (I think I need a raise for some of these jobs!) 
Anyway – all of a sudden he is not only wearing the Caesar outfit – he IS Caesar. It was like his brain was taken over by Caesar! He became him! It was truly hilarious walking through Caesars Palace dressed that way. Some people didn’t even blink an eye – which also shows the insanity of Vegas life!! Anyway we get to the Rio (and could it be ANY hotter??) and there are women, women and more women. They are body painted, they are dressed like warriors and they are HOT (and when I say hot – I don’t mean hot in the same temperature way I was hot!!) It was a grand entrance with drummers and trumpets and lots of hoopla! What a great day!!
So after a long 12 hour delay in my flight home – I am here. Back to it! Working away on catching up and getting ready for the next big event – Aruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuba!! I will say that I’m looking forward to this weekend. My family and I are going camping. Yes – P0ker J0 camping is NOT a pretty sight but ya gotta do what the kids want sometimes. All I can say is thank goodness for a good book, a campfire, a bit of Bon Jovi playing in the background and most importantly – the merlot!!
On a final note – I would like to express my sincere condolences to P0ker H0 and his family who recently lost a loved one. P0ker H0’s loved brother Al passed away last week. I know first hand how close this family is and I can only imagine the heartbreak they are going through. Please join me in sending your condolences to the Kroon family!
Poker Jo out until next week.
Tags: las vegas, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth
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