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Ballinggggggggggggg Antonio Style

12*10*08

I sat at my computer with the intention of putting in a session and realized that I hadnít written a blog in a while and thought that now would be a good time to oblige my fans and let them know whatís going on in my life.

My roommates from college came into town this weekend and I got them a room at Treasure Island. The first night they got in, we got some dinner and went to Tao to celebrate Antonio Esfandiari’s 30th birthday. Antonioís tables were packed to the brim with good looking girlís and a whoís who of the high stakes-poker world. Recently, me and Antonio have became friends, and I have to say he sure knows how to live. Not only does he go out and party his ass off every night with the best looking girls and gamblers but he has turned it into a way of lifeÖ and a living!† Hell, he probably makes more money partying than I do playing poker. Anyways, Iím pretty sure my friends were blown away by the quality of the women, the degenerate gambling taking place and the sheer madness of high end bottle after bottle of champagne being served. After seeing how Antonio rolls, Iím sure they will never view a night out in quite the same light.

The next night we went to my friend Craigís house to watch the De La Hoya fight. I donít know too much about boxing but felt like I needed to place a wager in order for it to hold my attention. My initial feeling was that De La Hoya was going to crush but when Craig told me that the line was -175, I wanted to take the underdog. I found a couple of takers for my action just before the fight started. Right from the onset it was pretty clear that I wasnít going to lose this bet. Pacquiao came out fairly strong in the first three or four rounds. The commentators scored the first five rounds for him but it was the 5th through 8th rounds where Pacquiao really impressed me. His punches were so quick and consistently connected with Oscarís melon. He landed a number of combinations that rocked Oscar. For the last two rounds of the fight, I donít think Oscar threw a single punch. When the bell sounded for the start of the 9th round, Oscarís corner decided that heíd taken enough punishment and threw in the towel.

After the fight I needed some more action and decided to roll the bones against Peter ëApathyí Jetten. We decided to bet a C note per game and the winner would be decided by a toss of two die with the higher roll scooping the purse. For our first game I rolled a disgusting 4 ball. I was a significant underdog when Peter tossed his die. A 4!!! The best possible scenario had occurred because we would now be doubling the purse for another roll. I decided to end this competition by rolling a 10 which trounced Peterís 6. I scooped the purse, reloaded my cocktail and agreed for one more round. Again, $100 was the wager and I gave a quick toss. 7ÖI can live with it. Peter gave a gay laugh and rolled his die, guaranteeing victory. Sure enough, craps, 7, shooter out. Double it up. Round two was the same song, second verse. Peterís toss yielded a 5 while the other die kept rolling. I figured I was in trouble until the Uno showed its face. My toss was chopsticks, thirty three. Disgusting. The third round would now be for a $400 prize, more than a weekís worth of untaxed wages for a minimum wage employee. After posting a paltry 6, Peter again gave his die a gay shake. During the gay shake, one of the die fell out of his gay hand and landed on four. After consulting an impartial judge, it was deemed that the 4 counted and I now became a 66% dog to lose. Sure enough, Peter rose to the occasion like a phoenix from the ashes and rolls the 4 for the square pair and cementing his victory. Absolutely disgusting.

As for poker, Iíve been playing a marginal amount online and live. I was on the waiting list for the action at Rail/Gus Heaven these past couple days but the games broke before I could take my crack. Some extremely big games have also been starting to run around Vegas, which I have been running ok in.

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Running bad in poker ñ Life is Grand

11*18*08

Over the past four days Iíve had the biggest poker downswing of my career, losing over $300,000 while playing in big live games.Normally, a loss of this magnitude would send me into a tailspin and cause a week of depression.After a day of wallowing in my own self-pity, I woke up and drank a beer for breakfast and snapped out of my funk.

The loss was mainly due to running bad.I was playing in games where I was certainly a favorite.The bulk of the time the game was shorthanded which is one of my strengths as a poker player.The game was a 200/400NL game with a $600 ante on the button, with many pots being straddled and a minimum buy-in of $100,000.This game plays bigger than any game played online, including the 500/1000NL games.Although my loss was big, it is not unexpected for a winning player in a game of this size.

I believe my hourly rate in these big live games is significantly higher than multitabling high-stakes NL games online but the variance is significantly higher.Iím not sure if the higher hourly rate is worth the devastating psychological impact that a big loss can cause.Plus, after playing $200,000 pots it is hard to go back to grinding 10/20NL where a big pot is $4,000.

In a vacuum, playing smaller would make me a happier person, since my bankroll would grow steadily and Iíd feel like I was making a small amount of progress everyday.The problem is that I no longer feel ëin the zoneí when I play small NL games as I have in the past.I need the tough competition and huge pots found at high stakes to stay completely in the moment.With that said, I probably wonít be playing above 100/200NL for a while becauseÖwell Iím not rich enough anymore J.

In order to keep on learning and push myself, Iím going to start playing other forms of poker to stimulate my mind.Hopefully, Iíll start blogging every day.I find that writing my thoughts can be therapeutic and relaxing.

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Day 5

10*25*08

Heading into Day 5 with 12 people left. My current chip stack is 1,087,000. I did an interview last night after the end of Day 4, so check it out at http://www.pokerroad.com/pokerroad_radio/10-24-08/.

You can keep updated at worldpokertour.com <http://worldpokertour.com>

-Andrew-

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