Makeup

Makeup is one of my least favorite things in the world. This opinion is held by most staked poker players, especially backed MTT poker players. The day I got out of makeup was absolutely amazing. I never thought the day would come, being stuck 6 figures and nothing going well, but last week that's exactly what happened. I won the $11+R on Stars for ~$15K to cap off my amazing heater and finally get out of makeup. The funny thing is, it didn't come all at once or with a big score like I thought it would. I grinded harder than I ever have before, and only played very good value tournaments. I no longer feel the need to play tournaments I don't have a significant edge in. This means no more $1K's, no more tough $100r's/$200r's etc. I realized how large of a mistake it was trying to make a living playing MTTs staked and playing tournaments like those. Makeup builds fast and it's pretty hard to get out of a large hole. I never want to be in such a hole again which is why I'm taking the correct steps to prevent this.

A couple months ago Ricky came down to MI to hang out for a few days. He basically flew in to play the $50R homegame that was being ran, and to chill with yours truly. I doubt it was anything like he expected, as he ended up getting wasted off of various alcohol/drugs the second night he was there with a kid he didn't know at all before the trip. Nothing too noteworthy happened beside that. Ricky, Lance (LMONKEYH) and I did a ton of gambling on ridiculous stuff. I think I was stuck over 5K at one point to Ricky playing a combination of blackjack, throwing a ball in to a garbage can, and ping pong. Pretty standard I'd say. I think I only ended up losing a couple thousand but it didn't go too well for me.

I'm still staked by Jake 'psutennis11' Toole and things are going quite well. I've made him a significant amount of money in a short period of time and he couldn't be happier. He's a great backer and I've never had a problem with him at all. He's also a very good MTT player and is always willing to discuss strategy which helps my game substantially to say the least. I went out to State College, PA for the weekend to hang out with him, theczar19, Avril Sharapova, and a bunch of others. It was pretty fun beside the fact that I didn't bring my 30" monitor, and had to grind in a small space as there were so many people playing there. We didn't get out much as the weather wasn't too great and I only came in for a couple days in order to play FTOPS.

I booked my flight to CT for Friday morning. It's currently Wednesday night and I decided it'd be a great idea to not tell anyone beside for my brother that I'm going on a trip out of state for a couple weeks. The plan is to fly to CT Friday, and drive to Hilton Head, SC on Tuesday morning. I'm going to drive with Ricky down to SC where we'll be staying for a week or so. Geoff 'Geoffras22' Rasmussen has a house to himself down there so it should be a lot of fun. The weather is beautiful down there compared to MI so I'm definitely looking forward to it. Hopefully we'll actually leave the house and do some sight seeing or other fun activities instead of sitting around all day. Ricky is usually up for whatever though, so that will encourage Geoff (I hope!) to tag along with us.

Pretty exciting last month or two in my life. I no longer attend Annapolis High School, and am taking online classes to finish up my diploma. The diploma is no different and it's not a GED or anything like that. I had to pay tuition out of pocket for the classes but I'd say it's been 100% worth it so far. I really despised waking up every morning to go school 5 days a week when it's unlikely I'll go to college. This decision has drastically improved my life and I don't regret it in the least bit. I get more sleep, eat better, feel better, and can travel whenever I want. I see my friends less, but that's probably the only negative so far. I've had a ton of fun and don't plan on going back to the way I was living. I got off of a plane yesterday and am getting on another Friday just because I felt like it. Pretty exciting life for a 16 year old if you ask me.

I turn 17 in a month, and it's only a month and a year until I can start playing live poker! I really can't wait and have looked forward to being able to play live tournaments/cash for years. I really love playing live poker in my limited experience, and think it fits my style of play quite well. Deeper stacks are a huge benefit against tournament players who often are not very strong postflop players. The first EPT I'll play will most likely be EPT San Remo 2011 in early April. It's venue is very attractive (Italy) and the main event is quite large and draws a lot of terrible players and a huge prize pool. Hopefully I can bink the first EPT I play!

-Brandon