Black eyed in Vienna

On Sunday I went up for a header at my soccer game and ended up going head to head vs my opponent. His head immediately split open and my eye started to swell up pretty bad. I still finished the game though (and sent him to the hospital) but we lost 4-3 anyway. %%E$#&#TILT

My right eye was half shut throughout most of Monday when I flew to Vienna but I began to deal with people staring at it. I suppose most thought I said the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time but I certainly didn't feel like explaining the situation to everyone so I just went with it.

Vienna is sweet as always. I remember Michael Keiner recommending the Vienna Sporthotel a couple years ago but every time I wanted to book it it was sold out. Finally I booked early enough this time so I got a room for the 6 days I'm here. The hotel itself isn't all that sweet but it has 10 tennis courts which is just awesome. We played doubles last night for $100/game and Seb Bauer and I obv won both sets. Ship it.

Then I had my promised squash rematch today vs Sebbau with him getting a 6 point advantage per game. I beat him in straight sets 10-8, 10-8 and 10-8. That was good another 1k, but he won 3k last night in flips against me so he really can't complain.

The 3k euro Main Event had a really sick structure, 20k starting stack with 25/50 blinds and 90min levels. Hats off to Thomas Kremser for (once again) organizing an awesome tournament. 400bb to start is a real dream and allows for a ton of play. I built up to 30k, then dropped down to 12k, then grinded back to 40k to end Day 1. Yesterday was Day 2 and right off the bat I had 50k, but then lost AA vs JJ preflop so I dropped back down to 40k. My stack stayed around there for most of the day until I was forced to move tables.

With blinds of 500-1k I had around 43bb and raised my first hand with 33 at the new table, only to get jammed on by the button, some Greek guy who had bragged about winning 2.8 million in blackjack over the years. I folded that hand then two hands later openraised again, where he again jammed on me. He had around 35bb so I folded my AJs. The whole table started laughing saying he had been doing that all day. One orbit later a guy from MP raises to 2500 and I flatcall with QQ from the cutoff, anticipating a shove from my Greek friend on the button. Indeed, he sticks in his 35k, the original raiser folds and I snapcall with my queens. He tables K8o and the board runs out JT379 giving him a straight which he claims he didn't even see.

I was left with 7k and stuck those in two hands later with TT and the BB called with A7. He flopped an ace and I was eliminated, but I was pretty happy with my play so I left the casino in a good mood. The Greek guy kept apologizing and saying that usually he is the one getting his QQ cracked and then saying "Fuck you!" to the guy who sucked him out. I told him that I am not that kind of person and take things a little more lightly, which seemed to surprise him. Anyway, I'll probably go to the casino later on tonight and see if some 10/20 is running. Holla!

Basketball and other things

Since my return from Dortmund I have been vegging out playing the occasional online session. I am really psyched that March Madness is starting tomorrow, this year I am surely gonna ship the HSNL $1k bracket pool as opposed to last year where I finished 2nd :( My "surprise" teams this year will be Syracuse and Kansas so it's crucial for both of them to have a deep run if I want to win my bracket.

Like I mentioned previously, my sister and her fiancee are coming to visit for three days starting tomorrow. I've also invited over some other people for some basketball marathons so I'm sure we're gonna have a packed house this next week. I leave for Vienna on Monday and am planning on playing the main event and most likely the 2nd chance tourney as well as some cash games if possible. There are gonna be a ton of so-called young guns there so that should be fun to see everyone again and hopefully crush in the private games.

Oh and before I forget, regarding the exciting announcement: I'm glad I didn't announce it because it ended up falling apart at the last minute. I was going to start as a coach/video instructor for the new training site Cardcoaches but I decided that doing videos is just not my thing. I have no problem speaking German but being forced to keep talking for 45mins in German explaining my thought processes is pretty difficult because I think in English (if that makes sense) so I end up translating my thoughts in a German/English mix that most people find funny. I actually get comments all the time how weird it sounds when I'm talking to my closest friends because we continuously bounce back and forth from English to German depending on which word fits better. Anyway, the site is set to launch pretty soon so check it out! Markus Golser and Johannes Strassmann will be the lead instructors so there will be plenty to learn!

EPT Dortmund

I lasted 5 levels in the main event before busting with AK vs TT where I 3bet on the button and called my opponent's 4bet shove from MP. It happens, whatever. Winning coinflips is necessary if you want to win a big tournament and I'd rather lose my first one and be done with it than win the first few and bust on the last one near the bubble.

Today I woke up pretty hungover after a night of drinking last night but I overcame it and still was able to absolutely crush sebbau in squash. I won every single set and kinda felt bad about it because he had no chance so I'm going to offer him pretty huge odds next time we play. I was also pretty sure he was going to win his weight loss bet so I bought myself out of the bet for 3k (the original bet was for 4k) so that saved me a little money as well.

Dortmund is alright but I think I'm gonna head back home tomorrow and spend the weekend in Berlin. I suppose if one of my good friends makes the final table I'll come back to rail it but if not then I'll be in Berlin until the 23rd of March. My sister and her fiancee are coming to visit on the 19th so that should be fun to play entertainer for a few days as well. That's it for now, peace!

bring it on

It's so easy just to not update my blog. If only it updated itself I would literally have no practice in building sentences or forming paragraghs. The internet generation of today gets by with typing away words like lol, obv and wtf. I know some schools give each of their students a laptop, I wonder how long it's gonna take before handwriting becomes history. The last time I actually had to use my handwriting was to fill out a registration form and my hand started hurting after about 10 words, it's pathetic.

This afternoon I'll take the train down to Dortmund and then on Tuesday I'll be playing Day 1a of the main event. I saw on their schedule that there are several side events as well, but I think I'll just come right home if and when I bust. The squash match with sebbau was postponed until Wednesday during Day 1b, I am still pretty sure I can take him. I've played twice this last week and am starting to find my old form, what a great game.

On the pokerfront things have been so/so. I honestly haven't been in the mood to play much lately so when I've played it's kinda been forced and my play has certainly suffered because of it. These couple days off in Dortmund should be good as far as rejuvenating my motivation level, we'll see. The train leaves at 2pm, I bought Gang Leader for a Day for the ride over and then tomorrow it's teaching time!

Rambling

Another month has come and gone believe it or not. I am always fascinated by how quickly time flies by. My life and in particular my travels all seem to blend together as one large memory as opposed to several smaller memories. Perhaps because poker is the common denominator? I think this is a real shame and I am going to make an effort to begin appreciating things like trips a whole lot more.

I recently was bored on facebook and saw an application from TripAdvisor that pegs all the places you have been in the world. I played around with it a little bit and although I haven't plugged in all the places yet, my map is very very North America/Europe dominant. South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia) really interests me but I haven't made it there yet for some reason. Colombia is probably not very safe so I'll probably stick to Brazil and Argentina for my first trip. I have no time frame yet but sometime in the fall would be optimal. Africa is probably going to have to wait a while. I've heard great things about safaris and such there, but for now South America is a priority. Anyway, enough rambling.

My Aeron chair arrived this week but they sent the wrong size :( They sent a size B but I clearly need a size C due to my height. Apparently they are gonna get the right chair sent asap. I know it is minor but these small "stress" situations really upset me. However, what REALLY upset me was the fact that my computer decided to call it quits that same morning. My graphics card stopped working and my internet connection followed suit simultaneously. It was a blessing in disguise though, because I bought a new computer a few months ago and now was finally forced to set it up. My old one was getting slow anyway, so it won't be missed.

This week's plan is to put in some hours online as I haven't played at all these past two days. I also need to get in some squash training so I can do some sebbau teaching in Dortmund next Monday. So far I've only played once but I'm hoping to sneak in two more sessions before our match. Surprisingly I was a lot less sore afterwards than I thought I would be. For all you poker players reading this who don't play any sports or work out: START DOING IT. Living a balanced life is sooooo fundamentally important and I promise it will have a positive effect on your poker results, not to mention your life span.