At home in Las Vegas, sticking to my poker regimen and grinding away online, I was alone but not alone. My friends Alec Torelli and Antonio Esfandiari kept texting me, trying to get me to come to Newport Beach, CA. That’s where this group of Swedish high-stakes online players have been staying. Some of us VictoryPoker guys have become friends with them, and, as it turns out, they’re leaving California and returning home to Sweden. So they decided to throw themselves a farewell USA party. Alec and Antonio kept trying to convince me to go there with them. Then the games broke up, and, spur of the moment, I booked myself onto a Southwest flight to southern Cali.

    After a quick dinner with my friend Craig Clemons, a nightclub promoter in Los Angeles, I headed over to the Swedish guys’ house. I have to say, it was more than I expected. To begin with, their house is really an eight-bedroom mansion, totally plush and fit for a movie star. Alec put together the party, and he did it in style. There was a red carpet out front, spotlights cutting through the sky, and a bouncer who didn’t want to let me in. As of late, I’ve become accustomed to bouncer trouble, but this was ridiculous. One of my best friends put together the damned party and I still couldn’t get past the door?

    In short order, though, things got sorted out and I made my way inside. Of course, it was a terrific bash, complete with catered food, two bartenders, and the standard bevy of hot looking girls. Some of them were walking around covered in nothing but body paint. For a second, I flashed back to the Playboy Mansion. Then I found out that the painted girls weren’t models (like they were at Hugh Hefner’s party). These were regular girls who happened to be really good looking. That made it even better!

    At some point that night, Antonio had to take off for a nearby club called Sutra Lounge. Apparently, he was promised all the Cristal he could drink, just for showing up. I went along with him and we hung out there for a bit, sipping on Cristal from the bottle and digging a really cool place that’s decorated with Oriental rugs and hanging lanterns. We eventually went back to the party, but, honestly, from this point on, the night becomes a bit of a blur and my narration would be slightly unreliable.

    I crashed in an upstairs bedroom and awakened to find one of the Swedish guys – who had been completely wasted and up past 6 a.m. – logged on and three-tabling 300/600-euros. What an animal! I like to think of myself as pretty robust, but even I would never play those kids of stakes after that kind of a night. The guy obviously knew what he was doing, though. By the time I left for Vegas, he managed to take down 150,000-euros or so. More power to him!

    While I flew home, Antonio and Alec drove up to L.A. Antonio got himself cast in a scene that was being shot for Entourage, which happens to be Alec’s favorite TV show. So Antonio invited him along, which is exactly the sort of thing that good friends should do for each other. Somehow, when they were on set, Alec got invited to be in the scene as well. That’s perfect for him, and I’m looking forward to watching their episode in the coming season.

     Back in Vegas – where I’ll soon be joined by my VictoryPoker colleagues Keith Gipson and Dan Fleishman, fresh from Malta – I resumed the online grind. Plus I’ve been working out regularly and prepping for the $25,000 buy-in WPT championship that starts on April 17^th at Bellagio. In the course of playing online, I managed to win $25,000 on Victory, which was really nice. But the best part is that I took $12,000 directly from Alec. That was almost better than actually winning the money. Between sessions, I’ve been reading The 4-Hour Workweek, which, despite its title. Is really about how to live an exciting life. They call it lifestyle design. Easy to implement whern you’re a professional poker player in vegas.