Testing this out, I might start posting some blogs again when I have some time and am bored. I'm making it public now too, and I'll leave all the old posts up. It's funny looking back at how ignorant I was, I mean I think I was intelligent for my age and all but just a bit too cocky and thought I knew way more than I did. I still don't know anything, but at least now I'm trying to be a bit more careful. I think realizing you don't know nearly as much as you think you do is a good thing though. It brings you back down to Earth. Anyway, I probably won't make a long update post. If you know me you probably know where I'm at right now in my life and that's all that matters. I'll use this to update the future instead of dwelling on the past.
I look forward to using this as an outlet again and being honest with everyone, or as honest as I can be!
-Brandon
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Friday, November 30, 2012
Honestly...
Now Playing: Drake - A Little Bit (So Far Gone)
Hey everyone, I haven't written a blog in quite a while. A lot of things have changed in my life since my last entry. Some for the better, some for worse. I have always been one to embrace hardship and try to persevere. I have gone through a lot of awful things in my life and this has caused me to have pretty thick skin. With that being said, I also feel very weak at times. Almost helpless. I don't like being in a spot where I cannot completely control my future. I have always wanted as much freedom as possible.
Anyway, I'm still living in Vancouver and I really enjoy the city. It's been extremely cold and rainy, but beside that I really love it here. I met a great girl around May of this year when I first moved to Canada. We dated for a few months before ending our relationship. I was heart broken, but in hindsight we simply weren't ready for a relationship yet. I thought I was, but I really wasn't. We started hanging out as friends again and I slowly fell back in love with her. I've never been in love before so it's a really weird feeling, a really great weird feeling. We're dating again as of a month ago, but it feels like I've known her for years. I never thought I'd say this so young, but I can definitely see us spending the rest of our lives together. Crazy, right?! With how unstable my life has been it's nice to have some things that are normal. She brings that stability in to my life. She's pretty much perfect to me in every single way. Gorgeous, intelligent, ambitious, etc. She works hard at what she does and it's extremely refreshing to meet a girl like that.
I did date a few other girls in between May and when I got back together with my current girlfriend, and playing the field was fun I can't lie. I am extremely happy right now though in that regard. I hope things continue to be great in our relationship. I ended up really hurting a great girl in the process of dating again, and I still feel horrible about it. I had some feelings for her, but my heart has always been with my current girlfriend even when we briefly split. I think that girl hates me now, and thinks i'm someone who cheats or whatever. This is really hard for me to deal with, but I hope she moves on and has a great and happy life. I never meant any harm. There's a very small chance she's reading this (the ex) and if you are, I apologize. Nothing I ever told you was a lie and I wish we could be friends still, but I understand you needing to move on in life. Best of luck and I hope you find an even better guy than me!
Enough with the sappy relationship stuff. I never write about things that are extremely personal to me, but this is going to change. I finally feel comfortable enough to really let everything out. I don't care who judges me and I genuinely try to be a good person, help people, and have loving relationships. Every person I lie to or hurt kills me inside, and I was essentially living a lie for the last couple of years. I've never stated this publicly (beside being VERY vague) but I've been a drug addict for quite some time.
I started abusing prescription pain pills (vicodin, oxycodone, etc.) about three years ago. I thought they were a miracle drug. I mean one pill took way my anxiety, made me more confident and happy, and balanced my mood. It was too good to be true and I wish I knew it. I was much too young, and these drugs are INCREDIBLY addictive. I've never considered myself to have an addictive personality. I was always able to control myself with my drug use until I got in to the opiates. I was taking them for three years straight…and I pretty much never missed a day.
I'm currently a little over one week sober and it feels incredible. I feel like a new person. My head is finally actually clear. I was essentially living in a drugged out haze for so long that I forgot how to actually feel emotions. Being sober is a high in itself, and I have no desire or cravings what so ever for the drugs. This is odd to me, as most addicts who quit still crave the drug for years after they quit. I guess I just hit such a low in my life due to drug use that I cannot even fathom going back to that lifestyle. Detoxing from those drugs was the most difficult thing I've done in my life. I'm SO happy I did it though, and I'm happy I have so much support and so many people that truly love and care for me. I literally had to do a drug just to feel normal in the morning. If I didn't have an oxycontin, I couldn't function that day. That is not a lifestyle I recommend.
I still do have anxiety. Emotional pain can be and is worse for me than any physical pain for the most part. I've been plagued with anxiety for many years, but I'm finally learning to just be happy. I hope one day I stop having panic attacks completely, but until that day comes I just learn how to cope with it. I don't like my mind clouded with drugs, though if I do have a bad panic attack I have some medication to take. I try to avoid it as much as possible, but it is nice to have that sense of a safety net.
So basically everything is going well in my life except for the poker/financial side. As I had such a massive drug habit, I blew through six figures easily over the last year or two especially. I betrayed a lot of very good people, and tarnished my reputation in the process. I want to take this time to sincerely apologize to everyone I lied to and hurt during my drug addiction. I know I'll never touch another pain pill again, and will be working on mending relationships for a while. I look forward to a very bright future.
For the next month I'm basically in full grind mode. I'm playing at least 50 hour weeks, 5-6 days a week. All I do is play poker and hang out with my amazing girlfriend. This is definitely the lowest point I've been at financially, but the highest point I've been at in terms of happiness and health. I have no doubt in my mind that in a few months time i'll be right back on my feet. I feel like I'm playing better than ever, and playing more than ever. This is usually a winning combination. Hopefully FTOPS is good for me!
So that's pretty much everything that's going on in my life right now. I am still working on getting dual citizenship for Canada/USA, but it's difficult. I plan to go home and visit family as soon as I do get citizenship, but until then it's full on grind mode. Wish me luck.
Thanks for reading everyone. I'm going to start blogging more regularly about my personal and poker life. I have a passion for writing, as well as a need to get all of my thoughts and emotions on paper.
-Brandon
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Change
So many things have changed since my last blog. It seems every time I update, my life is in a completely different direction. I kind of enjoy the craziness in a masochistic kind of way, but it definitely takes its toll on me. My stress levels were at an all time high about a year ago, but now are much lower and I'm feeling really good about life. My life has settled down a lot and I feel like I'm getting in to a groove.
In early May I decided to move to British Columbia, Canada to continue playing online poker. I missed it a lot, and I've always wanted to see Vancouver. I'm so happy I made the move. Vancouver is the nicest city I've ever been to, and I can't wait to move in to my new condo downtown in a few weeks. I'm currently living in Surrey, which is a suburb of Vancouver. It has some advantages, like cost of living, but I would strongly prefer paying more and living in a gorgeous location. I already have a condo picked out, and I'm going to sign my three month lease soon. At least before I leave for Florida on the 19th.
I'm flying in to Ft. Lauderdale and staying in my friend/backer's condo which is awesome. It's a gorgeous condo in a beautiful location, within 15-30 minutes of every casino that runs big games. The Florida State Poker Championship is going on, so I'm mainly going down there for that. I plan to play a ton of cash games, as the games are always very juicy down in southern Florida. Now with a lucrative backing deal, I'm able to play the biggest games there. Prior to being backed I just played the 10/25, which was always very soft...but I really wanted to take some shots at the bigger games. There were very wealthy recreational players in them very often, but in order to play I would've had to sell the majority of my action. The three tournaments I plan to play are the $1500 bounty event, $2K 6max, and the $5K main event which is a re-entry. I'm really excited, and think my live game is very strong. I'm also extremely hungry to win a big live tournament. The $5K would be perfect. I can't wait.
On the more personal side of things, I saw a doctor while I was in Michigan visiting friends and family. I of course have had some extremely high stress and anxiety levels given my family and personal history, causing some medical problems. I talked to a doctor, and he helped me out a lot. He gave me some things to read, some new information, and a prescription for extra strength Prilosec for my acid reflux. I'm really hoping I don't have to have surgery in order to fix my esophagus. I'm not a huge fan of hospitals to say the least. So anyway, my anxiety levels are at an all time low, and my acid reflux is at least being maintained right now. It's definitely not fixed, so I need to figure that out. It really is a pain in every day life and alters my eating and sleeping habits drastically.
I also met a girl here in Vancouver. We've gone on two dates so far, and I've known her for about two or three weeks now. I'd say it's going well for how little time we've known each other. The little time we have spent together has been a lot of a lot of fun, and I feel like there's at least a chance it lasts for a long time. You never know though, so only time will tell. If it doesn't work out, it just wasn't meant to be. I feel like it takes a lot to hurt me, even though I'm certainly still a fragile person.
So I will give a little poker update as well. As I said before, I'm now backed by a well known high stakes cash game player. It's a very good deal, and it allows me to play in all of the huge games I believe I am clearly +EV in. So far, the cash games have not gone my way at all. I'm getting absolutely destroyed, but it's only been a couple of weeks so while it's off-putting, I will not be deterred and I will continue to grind it out. I still feel really good about my poker game, and am excited for the future. I actually had my biggest ever online MTT score, winning the Sunday Warmup after a 3 handed chop. I got a great deal and received just shy of first place with my win. It's funny though, even with that big score, I am still down around $100K on the month. At least I'm backed...I guess.
Anyway, things seem to be going well right now. I am optimistic and excited for the future both poker wise, and for my personal life. I wasn't even interested in dating at all for about a year. I was just travelling so much, and too worried about my health and other issues in my life. Now that I have most things under control, I can finally have some fun. Maybe I can even meet a girl I truly love, but as many of you know that takes a very long time. So while I'm optimistic, I am also realistic and will take any relationship I get in to very slowly. I also am going to start working out a lot more once I move in to my new condo, as I'll have access to a 24 hour fitness center, pool, sauna, hot tub etc. I also plan on possibly getting in to a casual basketball league. I have a lot of things I'd like to do outside of poker, especially things to get healthier and have less stress, and more fun.
Thanks for reading.
-Brandon
In early May I decided to move to British Columbia, Canada to continue playing online poker. I missed it a lot, and I've always wanted to see Vancouver. I'm so happy I made the move. Vancouver is the nicest city I've ever been to, and I can't wait to move in to my new condo downtown in a few weeks. I'm currently living in Surrey, which is a suburb of Vancouver. It has some advantages, like cost of living, but I would strongly prefer paying more and living in a gorgeous location. I already have a condo picked out, and I'm going to sign my three month lease soon. At least before I leave for Florida on the 19th.
I'm flying in to Ft. Lauderdale and staying in my friend/backer's condo which is awesome. It's a gorgeous condo in a beautiful location, within 15-30 minutes of every casino that runs big games. The Florida State Poker Championship is going on, so I'm mainly going down there for that. I plan to play a ton of cash games, as the games are always very juicy down in southern Florida. Now with a lucrative backing deal, I'm able to play the biggest games there. Prior to being backed I just played the 10/25, which was always very soft...but I really wanted to take some shots at the bigger games. There were very wealthy recreational players in them very often, but in order to play I would've had to sell the majority of my action. The three tournaments I plan to play are the $1500 bounty event, $2K 6max, and the $5K main event which is a re-entry. I'm really excited, and think my live game is very strong. I'm also extremely hungry to win a big live tournament. The $5K would be perfect. I can't wait.
On the more personal side of things, I saw a doctor while I was in Michigan visiting friends and family. I of course have had some extremely high stress and anxiety levels given my family and personal history, causing some medical problems. I talked to a doctor, and he helped me out a lot. He gave me some things to read, some new information, and a prescription for extra strength Prilosec for my acid reflux. I'm really hoping I don't have to have surgery in order to fix my esophagus. I'm not a huge fan of hospitals to say the least. So anyway, my anxiety levels are at an all time low, and my acid reflux is at least being maintained right now. It's definitely not fixed, so I need to figure that out. It really is a pain in every day life and alters my eating and sleeping habits drastically.
I also met a girl here in Vancouver. We've gone on two dates so far, and I've known her for about two or three weeks now. I'd say it's going well for how little time we've known each other. The little time we have spent together has been a lot of a lot of fun, and I feel like there's at least a chance it lasts for a long time. You never know though, so only time will tell. If it doesn't work out, it just wasn't meant to be. I feel like it takes a lot to hurt me, even though I'm certainly still a fragile person.
So I will give a little poker update as well. As I said before, I'm now backed by a well known high stakes cash game player. It's a very good deal, and it allows me to play in all of the huge games I believe I am clearly +EV in. So far, the cash games have not gone my way at all. I'm getting absolutely destroyed, but it's only been a couple of weeks so while it's off-putting, I will not be deterred and I will continue to grind it out. I still feel really good about my poker game, and am excited for the future. I actually had my biggest ever online MTT score, winning the Sunday Warmup after a 3 handed chop. I got a great deal and received just shy of first place with my win. It's funny though, even with that big score, I am still down around $100K on the month. At least I'm backed...I guess.
Anyway, things seem to be going well right now. I am optimistic and excited for the future both poker wise, and for my personal life. I wasn't even interested in dating at all for about a year. I was just travelling so much, and too worried about my health and other issues in my life. Now that I have most things under control, I can finally have some fun. Maybe I can even meet a girl I truly love, but as many of you know that takes a very long time. So while I'm optimistic, I am also realistic and will take any relationship I get in to very slowly. I also am going to start working out a lot more once I move in to my new condo, as I'll have access to a 24 hour fitness center, pool, sauna, hot tub etc. I also plan on possibly getting in to a casual basketball league. I have a lot of things I'd like to do outside of poker, especially things to get healthier and have less stress, and more fun.
Thanks for reading.
-Brandon
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Life Is Good!
As I said in my last blog update, I moved to California with my best friend and his mother. It's been about 6 months of living there now and it was probably the best decision I've made in my entire life. Even though soon I'll be moving out to my own place, as well as traveling the world to play poker both live and online, I'll always consider it home. Kazu and Jean (my friend and his loving mother, who basically took me in as her own) are the two best people anyone could have in their lives. I truly consider them as family and love them with all of my heart. They've gotten me through hard times, supported me mentally, and just have improved my life greatly in a fairly short time span. I've never really had a support group in my life and it definitely took a toll on me. Now that I have one, I have basically just slowed down. I don't do as many things on a whim anymore, (I still do sometimes, because it's part of who I am, and it's just downright fun!) and I am able to really take things in to consideration before I jump right in.
Since I moved from Michigan/Mexico to SoCal, I've become more mentally stable, I kicked a lot of bad habits, and I'm so much healthier both mentally and physically. I've always had way more responsibilities than the vast majority of people my age, but now I feel like I'm ready for these responsibilities and they don't cause me as much stress and anxiety. The key thing I've learned is just to SLOW DOWN!
On the poker side of things I've been doing very well. I feel great about my poker ability right now, better than I ever have for sure. I truly believe I'm one of the strongest NLHE HU players there is right now at my respective stakes (10-20 and lower). I strive to be the absolute best in the world, and honestly believe one day I can be considered as such. My MTT game has also improved, but I'm nowhere as good as I need to be mostly due to patience. My live MTT game is extremely strong, as I seem to thrive in deep stack tournaments and I am able to focus so much more while playing live. Online MTTs I've always had a problem with. I seem to punt off stacks more unless it's a larger buy-in, more deepstacked event. I've gotten better with this, but the "over it factor" is still there once in a while. I still believe I'm +EV in almost any online tournament field, but I definitely can and will improve in the future.
I've been traveling a lot lately after a fairly long hiatus from poker. I was basically just getting my life back together, and feel good enough mentally and physically to get back on the grind. I've been doing extremely well in cash games (mostly HU, some 6-max) and also chopped a prelim in Florida for $45,000. It was a nice confidence boost to get another decent score in the live tournament arena. I feel like I've fixed an incredible amount of leaks I use to have when I first started playing live. It's been a huge learning curve, way more of one than I thought there would be. I think many online players think it's pretty much the same game, and it isn't. A lot of decent online grinders are absolutely horrific live and are certainly -EV in even fairly soft fields. Just in my short amount of time playing big live MTTs, I've seen a lot of fairly good online players punt off stacks in spots that are just horrible. Not that I'm immune to this or anything, I've done my fair share of punting as well, but I'd like to think that's mostly in the past.
I'm moving to Vancouver right for the start of SCOOP (Spring Championship of Online Poker) on Stars. I will be there for at least 4 months, and probably closer to 6. After that I don't have any real plans. It depends on the state of online poker in the USA, which is improving every day. If this Stars deal goes through to buy Full Tilt, it will be a great day in online poker and surely regulation will be in place within the next year or two. After my six months are up in Canada (you can only spend six out of 12 months in Canada as a tourist) I will consider moving to Europe. I really am in grind mode right now and am loving the game.
Until next time,
-Brandon
Since I moved from Michigan/Mexico to SoCal, I've become more mentally stable, I kicked a lot of bad habits, and I'm so much healthier both mentally and physically. I've always had way more responsibilities than the vast majority of people my age, but now I feel like I'm ready for these responsibilities and they don't cause me as much stress and anxiety. The key thing I've learned is just to SLOW DOWN!
On the poker side of things I've been doing very well. I feel great about my poker ability right now, better than I ever have for sure. I truly believe I'm one of the strongest NLHE HU players there is right now at my respective stakes (10-20 and lower). I strive to be the absolute best in the world, and honestly believe one day I can be considered as such. My MTT game has also improved, but I'm nowhere as good as I need to be mostly due to patience. My live MTT game is extremely strong, as I seem to thrive in deep stack tournaments and I am able to focus so much more while playing live. Online MTTs I've always had a problem with. I seem to punt off stacks more unless it's a larger buy-in, more deepstacked event. I've gotten better with this, but the "over it factor" is still there once in a while. I still believe I'm +EV in almost any online tournament field, but I definitely can and will improve in the future.
I've been traveling a lot lately after a fairly long hiatus from poker. I was basically just getting my life back together, and feel good enough mentally and physically to get back on the grind. I've been doing extremely well in cash games (mostly HU, some 6-max) and also chopped a prelim in Florida for $45,000. It was a nice confidence boost to get another decent score in the live tournament arena. I feel like I've fixed an incredible amount of leaks I use to have when I first started playing live. It's been a huge learning curve, way more of one than I thought there would be. I think many online players think it's pretty much the same game, and it isn't. A lot of decent online grinders are absolutely horrific live and are certainly -EV in even fairly soft fields. Just in my short amount of time playing big live MTTs, I've seen a lot of fairly good online players punt off stacks in spots that are just horrible. Not that I'm immune to this or anything, I've done my fair share of punting as well, but I'd like to think that's mostly in the past.
I'm moving to Vancouver right for the start of SCOOP (Spring Championship of Online Poker) on Stars. I will be there for at least 4 months, and probably closer to 6. After that I don't have any real plans. It depends on the state of online poker in the USA, which is improving every day. If this Stars deal goes through to buy Full Tilt, it will be a great day in online poker and surely regulation will be in place within the next year or two. After my six months are up in Canada (you can only spend six out of 12 months in Canada as a tourist) I will consider moving to Europe. I really am in grind mode right now and am loving the game.
Until next time,
-Brandon
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Prague, California, and Michigan
I chose Prague as my first ever trip to Europe. I've heard nothing but amazing things about this tourist city located in the Czech Republic. Most people speak some English here, everyone is very friendly, and the culture and history are absolutely remarkable. There's also one of the biggest tournament series of the year here, so that definitely helped my decision!
So far it's been a fairly uneventful trip poker wise. I've won some money in cash games, but have done very poorly in all of the tournaments I've played. This really doesn't upset me though, as I've still gotten to see quite a bit of Prague both during the day and at night. It truly is a gorgeous city and has some of the most amazing architecture I've seen in my entire life. I got to see the Prague Castle, which is the biggest castle in the entire world. Quite the monument to say the least.
My friend and I got dropped off at the castle and decided to basically wing it and figure out where to go from there. This turned out pretty well as we got to see some of the most breathtaking things I've ever seen. I have an entire album on Facebook with all of the photos from the trip. I hope to add more as I still have a day or two in Prague.
One day I wouldn't mind living somewhere in Europe. Everything just seems to make more sense here. I'd have to get over the cold environment, but lately the United States doesn't seem like the absolute greatest country to live in. Regardless of my living situation I will certainly be traveling to Europe again in the near future. Australia in January is a strong possibility as well.
I've been officially living in California for about two months now and I like it a lot. I feel like I really have a family there and I'm definitely happier than I've ever been. The only thing I really miss about Michigan are my friends and family. It's also very hard to meet girls in a place where you know nobody, but I guess everything takes time. I cannot imagine really moving back to MI for a long period of time. It's just a miserable state with a horrible economy. The weather isn't so great either.
So far it's been a fairly uneventful trip poker wise. I've won some money in cash games, but have done very poorly in all of the tournaments I've played. This really doesn't upset me though, as I've still gotten to see quite a bit of Prague both during the day and at night. It truly is a gorgeous city and has some of the most amazing architecture I've seen in my entire life. I got to see the Prague Castle, which is the biggest castle in the entire world. Quite the monument to say the least.
My friend and I got dropped off at the castle and decided to basically wing it and figure out where to go from there. This turned out pretty well as we got to see some of the most breathtaking things I've ever seen. I have an entire album on Facebook with all of the photos from the trip. I hope to add more as I still have a day or two in Prague.
One day I wouldn't mind living somewhere in Europe. Everything just seems to make more sense here. I'd have to get over the cold environment, but lately the United States doesn't seem like the absolute greatest country to live in. Regardless of my living situation I will certainly be traveling to Europe again in the near future. Australia in January is a strong possibility as well.
I've been officially living in California for about two months now and I like it a lot. I feel like I really have a family there and I'm definitely happier than I've ever been. The only thing I really miss about Michigan are my friends and family. It's also very hard to meet girls in a place where you know nobody, but I guess everything takes time. I cannot imagine really moving back to MI for a long period of time. It's just a miserable state with a horrible economy. The weather isn't so great either.
Procrastination
"Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task."
This is one of the most appropriate quotes for my life right now. I feel as though I have so much to accomplish that I haven't even started on yet. As a lot of you may know, I had the biggest score of my life netting me around $60,000 in profit a few weeks ago. This has given me the financial freedom (coupled with my previous meager networth) to do pretty much whatever I'd like to do within reason. This means travel the world, pursue any interests I'd like, and just feel financially stable. I'd also like to add that two friends and I have created a poker training site that I own a pretty large % of. I will also be the lead instructor there and produce videos, be in charge of advertising etc. I'll release the name of the site once everything is on paper. This will be great for a side project, and to add some passive income.
One of the big things I've been putting off in life is higher education My problem is motivating myself to pursue college and figure out what I really want to do with my life. Poker to me is fairly fulfilling, even though in general it is a pretty shallow game, It allows me to use all of my brain power to compete in a so ever changing environment. I've also proven I can indeed play this game for a living for a very long time. Poker is at its absolute lowest point right now and I'm still doing very well for myself. When poker gets regulated in the United States I am very confident in the fact I can beat the games for an extremely comfortable living, doing something I enjoy doing.
I still would like to achieve goals beyond that though, but I have such conflicting interests and keep "putting off" school to do things like travel. I absolutely love traveling and it's one of my passions in life. I've always dreamed of traveling to Europe, Australia, Asia, etc. I now have the ability to do these things, while still making money doing so. Some of the most beautiful cities in the world have amazing tournament stops so I can kill two birds with one stone.
With all of that being said, I really have a lot of things to figure out in my life the next few months. I need to figure out if I'm going to move to Vancouver or Europe to continue playing poker, go to college, or do both. I'd also like to become more healthy which I'm definitely on track to doing.
In my next blog I'll post about how my Prague trip went, living in California, and some other fun things I've done in the last month or so.
-Brandon
This is one of the most appropriate quotes for my life right now. I feel as though I have so much to accomplish that I haven't even started on yet. As a lot of you may know, I had the biggest score of my life netting me around $60,000 in profit a few weeks ago. This has given me the financial freedom (coupled with my previous meager networth) to do pretty much whatever I'd like to do within reason. This means travel the world, pursue any interests I'd like, and just feel financially stable. I'd also like to add that two friends and I have created a poker training site that I own a pretty large % of. I will also be the lead instructor there and produce videos, be in charge of advertising etc. I'll release the name of the site once everything is on paper. This will be great for a side project, and to add some passive income.
One of the big things I've been putting off in life is higher education My problem is motivating myself to pursue college and figure out what I really want to do with my life. Poker to me is fairly fulfilling, even though in general it is a pretty shallow game, It allows me to use all of my brain power to compete in a so ever changing environment. I've also proven I can indeed play this game for a living for a very long time. Poker is at its absolute lowest point right now and I'm still doing very well for myself. When poker gets regulated in the United States I am very confident in the fact I can beat the games for an extremely comfortable living, doing something I enjoy doing.
I still would like to achieve goals beyond that though, but I have such conflicting interests and keep "putting off" school to do things like travel. I absolutely love traveling and it's one of my passions in life. I've always dreamed of traveling to Europe, Australia, Asia, etc. I now have the ability to do these things, while still making money doing so. Some of the most beautiful cities in the world have amazing tournament stops so I can kill two birds with one stone.
With all of that being said, I really have a lot of things to figure out in my life the next few months. I need to figure out if I'm going to move to Vancouver or Europe to continue playing poker, go to college, or do both. I'd also like to become more healthy which I'm definitely on track to doing.
In my next blog I'll post about how my Prague trip went, living in California, and some other fun things I've done in the last month or so.
-Brandon
Friday, November 4, 2011
Cali
I've been in Temecula, CA for a little over two weeks now. I'm settled in and have gotten back in touch with a lot of friends and family I hadn't talked to in a month or two. Cabo was pretty isolating as I wasn't really able to use my cell phone, and Facebook chat really isn't the same. I'm glad I reconnected with everyone and I'm excited to see everyone in a couple of weeks. I'll be in Michigan from the 17th of November until December 1st. I'm going to play the HPT $1650 on the 19th, then Thanksgiving with family. The day after Thanksgiving I have tickets with a few of my friends for the Kanye West/Jay-Z concert. I haven't been this excited to go back to that awful glove shaped state in a long time.
I've made the decision to stay in Temecula indefinitely. I love it here so much and I don't think I've been this happy in years. I feel no burden and have people I love around me. Again I'm really happy with my decision to leave Cabo and look forward to a healthy and prosperous future. I'm going to obtain residency in CA, and attend school here next Fall.
Thanks for the support and for reading. I plan to update this more frequently.
-Brandon
I've made the decision to stay in Temecula indefinitely. I love it here so much and I don't think I've been this happy in years. I feel no burden and have people I love around me. Again I'm really happy with my decision to leave Cabo and look forward to a healthy and prosperous future. I'm going to obtain residency in CA, and attend school here next Fall.
Thanks for the support and for reading. I plan to update this more frequently.
-Brandon
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Farewell...for now
This is going to be a pretty big surprise for a lot of people, but I've decided poker as a living may not be for me anymore. I moved to Cabo about two months ago and have done pretty well here. I didn't really have any losing weeks and I had a lot of fun. With all that being said, for the first time in my life I just simply do not enjoy grinding poker. I've really only felt this way when I was on huge downswings. Feeling this way for weeks while having the time of my life and crushing poker is certainly a sign.
Moving to Cabo has given me a lot of time to think about things. I kind of moved here on a whim as I didn't see myself going to college for a year or two. I still loved the game and believed I could beat HU and 6-max for 6 figures a year pretty easily on Stars and Party. I still believe this is true, but I'm no longer happy doing this. I'm going to look for something else I'm passionate about and have fun doing as a career.
While I can see myself playing a lot of poker if/when the US legalizes it, I think moving out of the country for a long period of time is not the best choice for my life. By being down here I'm pretty much putting my life on pause. I'm moving to California (Temecula) with my best friend and his family. I've been close to his family for a pretty long time and believe it's the best move to make. I'm going to live there for a month, then probably head back home to Michigan for Thanksgiving. After that I'm going to start figuring out going to college as well as many other things I've kind of blown off for a long time.
I do not regret moving down to Cabo San Lucas in the least bit, even though I'm leaving my condo with almost a month remaining. I've had an absolutely amazing experience living here. It was a shock to me at first as I've never lived in another country for any relatively long amount of time. You still see things here that you'd never see in the US almost every day, but it's very safe here and the people are quite friendly. I learned a ton about myself from being down here for a while and met a lot of cool people. I also made a bit of money so that's always nice as well.
I've really never had a "normal" family and have been very independent since I was 13 or 14. I consider my friend family and have visited Temecula a couple of times and loved it every time. It just feels normal to sit down and eat dinner with your family, have emotional support, etc.
It's been a lot of fun and I appreciate everyone for their support and input. It really has helped me on my way to becoming a better person. I had a great run and hopefully you'll see me back online in a year or two playing here and there. I expect to be in college by the absolute latest Fall 2012.
Moving to Cabo has given me a lot of time to think about things. I kind of moved here on a whim as I didn't see myself going to college for a year or two. I still loved the game and believed I could beat HU and 6-max for 6 figures a year pretty easily on Stars and Party. I still believe this is true, but I'm no longer happy doing this. I'm going to look for something else I'm passionate about and have fun doing as a career.
While I can see myself playing a lot of poker if/when the US legalizes it, I think moving out of the country for a long period of time is not the best choice for my life. By being down here I'm pretty much putting my life on pause. I'm moving to California (Temecula) with my best friend and his family. I've been close to his family for a pretty long time and believe it's the best move to make. I'm going to live there for a month, then probably head back home to Michigan for Thanksgiving. After that I'm going to start figuring out going to college as well as many other things I've kind of blown off for a long time.
I do not regret moving down to Cabo San Lucas in the least bit, even though I'm leaving my condo with almost a month remaining. I've had an absolutely amazing experience living here. It was a shock to me at first as I've never lived in another country for any relatively long amount of time. You still see things here that you'd never see in the US almost every day, but it's very safe here and the people are quite friendly. I learned a ton about myself from being down here for a while and met a lot of cool people. I also made a bit of money so that's always nice as well.
I've really never had a "normal" family and have been very independent since I was 13 or 14. I consider my friend family and have visited Temecula a couple of times and loved it every time. It just feels normal to sit down and eat dinner with your family, have emotional support, etc.
It's been a lot of fun and I appreciate everyone for their support and input. It really has helped me on my way to becoming a better person. I had a great run and hopefully you'll see me back online in a year or two playing here and there. I expect to be in college by the absolute latest Fall 2012.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Update on other things
As for the rest of my life, everything is pretty much sorted out. My grandma is working diligently to try and keep my house, but it's pretty likely it's going to get foreclosed on at this point. I feel horrible, but I knew it was coming so it's not really that big of a deal. I know when I go back to the states I have so many friends and family members I would have a place to stay no matter what.
My Grandma was an emotional wreck after the death of my father, but she seems to be alright now. I really feel horrible for her as she was the one working with him on his health constantly. She would literally be over my house 5 days a week 12 hours a day just sitting by his bed, talking to him, cheering him up, and making sure he felt comfortable and wasn't drinking or in pain.
As for my future? I'm not really sure. It's hard to look years in advance and I've learned that very quickly. I'm just trusting my instincts and doing whatever I feel is best for my life. I make sure to talk to a lot of people I trust and soak in their opinions, but overall it's about what I want to do with my life. I strongly believe I will still go to college, but now is not the time for me. I just went through an absolutely devastating period of time and I'm simply not prepared for it.
Moving to Cabo was a great idea and has been a lot of fun. I've already met a ton of cool people here, and our realtor (Greg) has been the most helpful person in the world. His assistant Vianey has been very helpful as well. They've shown us around town, driven us wherever, and have done us countless favors. If anyone reads this and wants the best realtor in Mexico you can send me an IM, facebook message, email, whatever and I'll give you his info. He really is not only our realtor but a friend as well.
I still have a very strong passion for poker and it's never died out. I can truly see myself playing poker professionally for the next 5-10 years and still loving the game. The moment it's 100% about the money is the day I quit playing for a living. It's not only a job, but a hobby as well and it's the most mind engaging thing I've ever done. It's provided me opportunities that I certainly would not have had without it, and has gotten me through some rough times in my head. Just being able to load up some tables online, or go to a live poker game to get my mind off things just makes me feel great. It really is one of the best games ever and I'm blessed to be able to make a good living doing what I love.
I've gotten a lot of pressure from a few family members to go to college right away, but I'm just going to listen to my heart and do what makes me the happiest.
Sorry for the long winded posts as usual. Thanks for reading everybody...
-Brandon
My Grandma was an emotional wreck after the death of my father, but she seems to be alright now. I really feel horrible for her as she was the one working with him on his health constantly. She would literally be over my house 5 days a week 12 hours a day just sitting by his bed, talking to him, cheering him up, and making sure he felt comfortable and wasn't drinking or in pain.
As for my future? I'm not really sure. It's hard to look years in advance and I've learned that very quickly. I'm just trusting my instincts and doing whatever I feel is best for my life. I make sure to talk to a lot of people I trust and soak in their opinions, but overall it's about what I want to do with my life. I strongly believe I will still go to college, but now is not the time for me. I just went through an absolutely devastating period of time and I'm simply not prepared for it.
Moving to Cabo was a great idea and has been a lot of fun. I've already met a ton of cool people here, and our realtor (Greg) has been the most helpful person in the world. His assistant Vianey has been very helpful as well. They've shown us around town, driven us wherever, and have done us countless favors. If anyone reads this and wants the best realtor in Mexico you can send me an IM, facebook message, email, whatever and I'll give you his info. He really is not only our realtor but a friend as well.
I still have a very strong passion for poker and it's never died out. I can truly see myself playing poker professionally for the next 5-10 years and still loving the game. The moment it's 100% about the money is the day I quit playing for a living. It's not only a job, but a hobby as well and it's the most mind engaging thing I've ever done. It's provided me opportunities that I certainly would not have had without it, and has gotten me through some rough times in my head. Just being able to load up some tables online, or go to a live poker game to get my mind off things just makes me feel great. It really is one of the best games ever and I'm blessed to be able to make a good living doing what I love.
I've gotten a lot of pressure from a few family members to go to college right away, but I'm just going to listen to my heart and do what makes me the happiest.
Sorry for the long winded posts as usual. Thanks for reading everybody...
-Brandon
The Move
So I moved down to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with a couple friends of mine. So far it's been absolutely amazing and I plan to stay here for at least another 3 or 4 months. I'll visit home a couple times in between then, but living here was the best move I've ever made. I feel stress free, anxiety free, and I'm just enjoying my life in general. I'm doing pretty well in cash games too so I feel like I have my groove back. I haven't done too much partying down here, as I consider it a business trip, but we did go out the other night and it was one of the best days/nights of my life.
I'm not sure how long I want to stay here. My lease is up in a little over 1 month, and as much as I love it here I miss the US a lot. It's hard to meet anyone new here and I've just mostly been staying in my condo playing poker. I do love playing, but I find when I play too much I am depressed regardless of how well I am doing.
I'm not sure how long I want to stay here. My lease is up in a little over 1 month, and as much as I love it here I miss the US a lot. It's hard to meet anyone new here and I've just mostly been staying in my condo playing poker. I do love playing, but I find when I play too much I am depressed regardless of how well I am doing.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Dealing with losses and moving on in life
I've grown accustom to dealing with losses over the years. Such is life. As many of you already know, my father passed away a few days ago and it's been pretty devastating. I've gotten an overwhelming amount of support from family and friends, though, and I really didn't realize how amazing they are. I love all of you and couldn't make it without all this support. Thanks so much to everyone for the well wishes. I think I'll pull through and move on with my life successfully. I'm weighing my options right now and I really have no idea what I'm going to do. It's a strong possibility I end up moving with my best friend in the world Kazu to his mother's huge house in Temecula, CA for at least a few months. His mom is the absolute nicest and most genuine person I've ever met in my entire life. His sister is also an amazing person and they are just, well...normal. Normality is something I haven't really experienced much of in my life. I'm really ready to move on and just be a normal person again. I think living in a nice household would be an amazing change for me. Eating dinner around a table with family is something I haven't done in years on a regular basis and it just feels so right.
I can even enroll in community college out there while still playing poker both live and online. I'm going to make some pretty huge life decisions coming up in the next month or so and I'm pretty excited. Hopefully everything turns out well for me. I think I'm due for some life run good soon! The funeral is tomorrow and I haven't slept very much in the past week or so. I've spent a lot of time getting closer to my family and I'm really glad I have. I have such an amazing family and they've been nothing but there for me every step of the way. Thanks again everyone and I'll make sure I keep you all posted on my progress.
-Brandon
I can even enroll in community college out there while still playing poker both live and online. I'm going to make some pretty huge life decisions coming up in the next month or so and I'm pretty excited. Hopefully everything turns out well for me. I think I'm due for some life run good soon! The funeral is tomorrow and I haven't slept very much in the past week or so. I've spent a lot of time getting closer to my family and I'm really glad I have. I have such an amazing family and they've been nothing but there for me every step of the way. Thanks again everyone and I'll make sure I keep you all posted on my progress.
-Brandon
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Making Progress
The above picture can be clicked on to see the whole image. My setup is finally complete! Apple 30", 17" Macbook Pro, Logitech DiNovo wireless keyboard, Logitech Revolution mouse, Herman Miller Aeron chair, and a Bose sound system with a subwoofer.
I've been doing really well live since I started the stake. Definitely a mixture of Galen Hall rungood money and me playing extremely well in very soft games. I feel like my live game is extremely strong right now, maybe even stronger than my online game. I've built the patience and skills that are mandatory to be a very successful live player. I see a lot of online players making a lot of huge mistakes just because they don't realize how different the game is. Patience is key and one tabling full ring is pretty tough for most online players to adjust to.
I messed up my knee really bad playing basketball and I was out of commission for a week or so. I played live almost every day and was hobbling around on crutches. Not very fun! I'm feeling really healthy now, though, and I've gotten back in to the groove of things. I've been exercising again the last couple days and trying to eat as healthy as possible.
My friend Craig Bergeron came over two days ago after he got back home from Las Vegas. We did a bunch of gambling and ended up playing some HORSE and free throw shooting contests for money. I ended up winning $300, and he gave me his brand new Apple 30" monitor as I hooked him up with a favor in Las Vegas. He bought it about a year ago and never even opened it out of the box. Typical Craig. I'll tell some more stories about him in later blog posts when I have the time. He's one of my best friends and just a really epic person.
I just got done packing for Florida. I'm going from the 20th until the 1st of August. The Florida State Poker Championship is going on down there at the Isle Casino in Pompano. I'm landing in Ft. Lauderdale and staying at the Sheraton in a really nice suite with some of my good friends from Michigan. I plan to play the $1600 with $500 bounties, the $2200 6-max, and the $5300 Main Event. I'll be there for 10 or 11 days and I'm only playing 3 tournaments, so I plan to play a very large volume of cash games. According to some of my friends who are already down there, multiple tables of 5-10 uncapped have been running every single day. There have also been at least one 10/25 uncapped game going also which is apparently very soft as well. I'm salivating just thinking about it!
I'm pretty much putting real life on hold for the next two weeks. If I do well in Florida it will pretty much be 100% that I'll be moving. I'm unsure of where to, but I'm leaning toward just getting an apartment or renting a condo in a really nice area of Michigan. There's also a slim chance I move down to FL just because of the live action. Plenty of my friends have made the move and they love it.
Thanks for reading!
-Brandon
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
A Dollar And A Dream
Got a live backing deal from Galen Hall, and off we go! I'm a live pro starting now. I'll keep the blog updated with new developments.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Live Pro?
I'm seeking live backing. I already have a flight booked to FL for two weeks, and am considering moving there and taking some college courses. I'd move close to Ft. Lauderdale which has the best cash game action in the US. I'm mostly looking to play 2-5, 5-10 and some 10-25. I'm very experienced in live and have played an absurd amount of live cash. I feel extremely comfortable in the live setting. Here's the thread I put up:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/135/staking/seeking-live-backer-1048606/
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/135/staking/seeking-live-backer-1048606/
Thursday, June 16, 2011
I guess it's the life of a legal age degenerate now...
I'm going to start updating this blog again. I started it when I was 16 years old and only had 10 or so followers that I trusted. I mostly used it as a journal or something to vent and tell my story, as I really could not publicly without ramifications. I love having some kind of outlet to get my thoughts out, and I've never been the personal type. I also don't mind the attention, even though I don't deserve as much as I get. I'm far from a celebrity, but sometimes it feels like I am. A lot of my friends think I'm some rich superhero when really I'm far from it. People come up to me at poker games and say are you CompleteDonk, or a random friend's parent will find my screen name out and see my PokerDB and think I'm crazy rich, as it just shows cashes and not profit. I'm actually down according to real stat sites online, lol. In reality I'm up only around 100, maybe 150k.
Everything in my life is pretty good right now. I'm far from my peak in terms of wealth, but I'm happier than ever. I've been working on fixing everything I screwed up when I randomly decided to leave my high school for online and barely told anybody. I've built back all of my old really good friends, and have met some new awesome ones as well. It feels nostalgic almost. I feel like I'm being able to experience everything I missed socially by making the move I did. I had a girlfriend for a few weeks and decided to break up with her. It was probably pretty cold by me, but she was really in love with me and I'm not looking for anything long term. I'm way too young and teenage girls are much too hot, heh. I've been working out a bit and playing a ton of basketball/running. I'm way too skinny and out of shape and I'm quickly fixing that as well.
I'm pretty much convinced I'll be going to college by the latest next fall. I will graduate from high school in a couple weeks and finally will have that ever so elusive diploma, lol. I cannot go this fall as I'm graduating a bit late due to laziness, apathy, and some depression mixed in. I've gotten out of that funk I was in. I think Black Friday was actually an extremely good thing for my life longterm. I feel healthier, happier, and even though I'm poorer, I've realized money isn't everything!
Hopefully this post doesn't come off too braggadocios. Most of my posts (especially previous posts in this blog) are more dark. I'm just telling the truth about what's going on in my life, and hope it's interesting enough for at least a few people to read and enjoy.
Until next time..
Everything in my life is pretty good right now. I'm far from my peak in terms of wealth, but I'm happier than ever. I've been working on fixing everything I screwed up when I randomly decided to leave my high school for online and barely told anybody. I've built back all of my old really good friends, and have met some new awesome ones as well. It feels nostalgic almost. I feel like I'm being able to experience everything I missed socially by making the move I did. I had a girlfriend for a few weeks and decided to break up with her. It was probably pretty cold by me, but she was really in love with me and I'm not looking for anything long term. I'm way too young and teenage girls are much too hot, heh. I've been working out a bit and playing a ton of basketball/running. I'm way too skinny and out of shape and I'm quickly fixing that as well.
I'm pretty much convinced I'll be going to college by the latest next fall. I will graduate from high school in a couple weeks and finally will have that ever so elusive diploma, lol. I cannot go this fall as I'm graduating a bit late due to laziness, apathy, and some depression mixed in. I've gotten out of that funk I was in. I think Black Friday was actually an extremely good thing for my life longterm. I feel healthier, happier, and even though I'm poorer, I've realized money isn't everything!
Hopefully this post doesn't come off too braggadocios. Most of my posts (especially previous posts in this blog) are more dark. I'm just telling the truth about what's going on in my life, and hope it's interesting enough for at least a few people to read and enjoy.
Until next time..
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
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
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
Friday, December 25, 2009
Update
It's been a while since I've last updated my blog. No real reason, just have been lazy and forgetful. A lot of things have changed in my life since my last update. I'm actually on a flight back home right now. I was visiting my good friend Kazu (TakeItBack online) for about a week. I've known Kazu for at least three years, and he's definitely one of my better friends. I stayed with him, his sister and his mother in Temecula, CA. It was a much needed vacation as thins have been a bit stressful on the home front. My dad isn't doing too well, and that was starting to get to me so I really needed to get away.
California was a ton of fun and super relaxing. As expected we didn't do all that much sight seeing or anything, but that didn't ruin the trip at all. Kazu's mom Jean is probably the nicest person I've ever met. She also happens to be an amazing cook/baker, so having home cooked meals for once was nice as well. Ben Wu (tylor_dii online) came to visit for a couple days as well. He only lives about 1.5 hours away so it was pretty convenient. I'd only talked to Ben a few times before the trip, but he was really cool. He gave me action on pretty much any degen type bet I wanted as well. The second or third night I was there we went to a park about 15 minutes away from Kazu's house. Playing basketball probably wasn't a good idea as I was feeling pretty sick to my stomach, but I did it anyway. We played up to 11 the first game, 2-on-2. I threw up when it was 8-9, took a five minute break and ended up coming back and hitting the game winning three. That was pretty awesome. I really need to start getting back in to shape and playing more sports. Poker is probably the worst thing for your body as you're constantly sitting at your computer and not really exerting yourself physically as much as you want to. It leads to pretty unhealthy lifestyles and I have to admit that I fell in to that for a short period of time. I've been trying really hard to get out of it lately though and have been doing pretty well.
The last full day before I came home we went to Del Mar beach which was absolutely amazing. The weather was perfect. I hadn't seen the ocean since I was around 7 years old in Florida, so that was high up on my list of things to do in California when I arrived. It was worth the hour drive each way to get to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful. I can't even describe how the ocean looked with words. It was absolutely stunning and the beach was perfect. We played catch on the beach for about 30 minutes which was a lot of fun. Afterward we picked up pizza from a small pizza shop right by the beach. I wasn't expecting much, but it was easily the best pizza I've ever had. It seems like everything surrounding the beach is just so much better. Maybe my eyes fooled my taste buds but it was great either way.
Poker hasn't been too bad either in general. I've been studying the game more than I usually do, and reviewing hand histories etc. I'm really striving to become much better than I am currently. I realized that the way to improve wasn't just to wake up and grind MTTs all day. Reviewing HHs, talking to friends about them, and just thinking about the game in general has helped me so much. I was in sort of a funk and not improving at all before the light bulb went off in my head. I was starting to hate the game as well, which I feared because of how much I loved it for the last 3-4 years. Luckily I was given advice from very smart and successful players which helped me more than I can describe. Thanks to those who have helped me in the past, and recently.
I'm backed by my good friend Jake Toole now for MTTs. The mement_mori deal really could not have gone worse. I don't think I was playing particularly bad, but I surely wasn't improving during those months either, or at least it didn't seem like it. After a few months I was in ~$150K of makeup and getting out seemed hopeless. I then received a PM from mement saying to send all my money back in my accounts as he was going to try to sell my makeup. He wasn't doing too well financially, and the ~$100K he lost staking me didn't help at all. I don't really have anything against Mickey though, he really was a good backer and a nice guy during our interactions. Lately he hasn't been as friendly to me, but it's understandable. It went as badly as it could've for him, and what happened after wasn't too great either.
Not many people nowadays are in the market for buying makeup. It's a very costly proposition even though it's very +EV in some cases. You may have to invest $50K in a new horse before he ever plays a hand for you. Dipthrong and PokerJamers have a huge stable of horses, and Dip has done very well in the staking business. He contacted mement about buying my makeup for a small fraction of what it was at. Before our first conversation, I didn't really know Dip at all. His reputation wasn't the best, but I knew he was at least trustworthy and wouldn't do anything "scummy" during our staking arrangement if it went through. I went in to a chartroom to negotiate terms with Jamie and Mark (jamers/dip) and things really could not have gone worse. I was treated pretty terrible during negotiations for really no reason at all. Dip seems to have a superiority complex that he can't get over, and I was talked down to etc. When I'm entering an arrangement where there's so much money, time, and effort on the line, I definitely am not interested in dealing with someone like that. I basically told them that I'd never play a hand of poker for them in my life. This obviously upset Dip, and mement wasn't the happiest either because if the deal went through, he would've gained much needed capital.
I was trying to talk to everyone I knew to get the makeup sold. Unfortunately, I really couldn't get in contact with anyone who wanted to invest a very large sum of money. I eventually talked to my friend Jake Toole (psutennis) and we struck up a deal with mement. Jake paid $20K, I paid $10K out of pocket, and I would start with $40K in makeup for Jake. This deal was obviously massive for me and I was extremely fortunate that it went through. Our deal started around 1.5-2 months ago and it's been going pretty well. Jake is very reasonable and a good friend as well. All transactions seem to be going very smooth.
A couple days after Jake signed me, Dip decided to make a thread on PocketFives outing me as underage. He did this purely because he had a grudge against me for what happened. Threads started on multiple other forums as well, including 2+2 in MTTc. I expected to be under a lot of heat from the sites, but really nothing happened at all. I was never contacted by any poker site, seemingly because I already have IDs on file on every major site, and have had to respond to underage allegations before as well. All of that is in progress of blowing over, but I doubt anyone will completely forget about it.
Right now I'm still playing for Jake and plan to for the foreseeable future. I've pretty much broken even over the last two months, but I'm at a point now where I feel it's a matter of time before I'm out of makeup again. I got 3rd in the $109FO on Sunday for ~$18k, and had a few deep runs last night to no avail. If I win a few flips things are a lot different, but "that's poker" even though I hate that saying more than any I've heard. Hopefully I'll be extremely successful in the future, and my next blog post has a happier tone to it.
My good friend Ricky (RonaldKosh) is flying in from CT on the 26th for a few days which should be a lot of fun. There's a homegame tournament that day he's going to be playing with us. I'll hopefully remember to update after he leaves. Thanks for reading.
-Brandon
California was a ton of fun and super relaxing. As expected we didn't do all that much sight seeing or anything, but that didn't ruin the trip at all. Kazu's mom Jean is probably the nicest person I've ever met. She also happens to be an amazing cook/baker, so having home cooked meals for once was nice as well. Ben Wu (tylor_dii online) came to visit for a couple days as well. He only lives about 1.5 hours away so it was pretty convenient. I'd only talked to Ben a few times before the trip, but he was really cool. He gave me action on pretty much any degen type bet I wanted as well. The second or third night I was there we went to a park about 15 minutes away from Kazu's house. Playing basketball probably wasn't a good idea as I was feeling pretty sick to my stomach, but I did it anyway. We played up to 11 the first game, 2-on-2. I threw up when it was 8-9, took a five minute break and ended up coming back and hitting the game winning three. That was pretty awesome. I really need to start getting back in to shape and playing more sports. Poker is probably the worst thing for your body as you're constantly sitting at your computer and not really exerting yourself physically as much as you want to. It leads to pretty unhealthy lifestyles and I have to admit that I fell in to that for a short period of time. I've been trying really hard to get out of it lately though and have been doing pretty well.
The last full day before I came home we went to Del Mar beach which was absolutely amazing. The weather was perfect. I hadn't seen the ocean since I was around 7 years old in Florida, so that was high up on my list of things to do in California when I arrived. It was worth the hour drive each way to get to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful. I can't even describe how the ocean looked with words. It was absolutely stunning and the beach was perfect. We played catch on the beach for about 30 minutes which was a lot of fun. Afterward we picked up pizza from a small pizza shop right by the beach. I wasn't expecting much, but it was easily the best pizza I've ever had. It seems like everything surrounding the beach is just so much better. Maybe my eyes fooled my taste buds but it was great either way.
Poker hasn't been too bad either in general. I've been studying the game more than I usually do, and reviewing hand histories etc. I'm really striving to become much better than I am currently. I realized that the way to improve wasn't just to wake up and grind MTTs all day. Reviewing HHs, talking to friends about them, and just thinking about the game in general has helped me so much. I was in sort of a funk and not improving at all before the light bulb went off in my head. I was starting to hate the game as well, which I feared because of how much I loved it for the last 3-4 years. Luckily I was given advice from very smart and successful players which helped me more than I can describe. Thanks to those who have helped me in the past, and recently.
I'm backed by my good friend Jake Toole now for MTTs. The mement_mori deal really could not have gone worse. I don't think I was playing particularly bad, but I surely wasn't improving during those months either, or at least it didn't seem like it. After a few months I was in ~$150K of makeup and getting out seemed hopeless. I then received a PM from mement saying to send all my money back in my accounts as he was going to try to sell my makeup. He wasn't doing too well financially, and the ~$100K he lost staking me didn't help at all. I don't really have anything against Mickey though, he really was a good backer and a nice guy during our interactions. Lately he hasn't been as friendly to me, but it's understandable. It went as badly as it could've for him, and what happened after wasn't too great either.
Not many people nowadays are in the market for buying makeup. It's a very costly proposition even though it's very +EV in some cases. You may have to invest $50K in a new horse before he ever plays a hand for you. Dipthrong and PokerJamers have a huge stable of horses, and Dip has done very well in the staking business. He contacted mement about buying my makeup for a small fraction of what it was at. Before our first conversation, I didn't really know Dip at all. His reputation wasn't the best, but I knew he was at least trustworthy and wouldn't do anything "scummy" during our staking arrangement if it went through. I went in to a chartroom to negotiate terms with Jamie and Mark (jamers/dip) and things really could not have gone worse. I was treated pretty terrible during negotiations for really no reason at all. Dip seems to have a superiority complex that he can't get over, and I was talked down to etc. When I'm entering an arrangement where there's so much money, time, and effort on the line, I definitely am not interested in dealing with someone like that. I basically told them that I'd never play a hand of poker for them in my life. This obviously upset Dip, and mement wasn't the happiest either because if the deal went through, he would've gained much needed capital.
I was trying to talk to everyone I knew to get the makeup sold. Unfortunately, I really couldn't get in contact with anyone who wanted to invest a very large sum of money. I eventually talked to my friend Jake Toole (psutennis) and we struck up a deal with mement. Jake paid $20K, I paid $10K out of pocket, and I would start with $40K in makeup for Jake. This deal was obviously massive for me and I was extremely fortunate that it went through. Our deal started around 1.5-2 months ago and it's been going pretty well. Jake is very reasonable and a good friend as well. All transactions seem to be going very smooth.
A couple days after Jake signed me, Dip decided to make a thread on PocketFives outing me as underage. He did this purely because he had a grudge against me for what happened. Threads started on multiple other forums as well, including 2+2 in MTTc. I expected to be under a lot of heat from the sites, but really nothing happened at all. I was never contacted by any poker site, seemingly because I already have IDs on file on every major site, and have had to respond to underage allegations before as well. All of that is in progress of blowing over, but I doubt anyone will completely forget about it.
Right now I'm still playing for Jake and plan to for the foreseeable future. I've pretty much broken even over the last two months, but I'm at a point now where I feel it's a matter of time before I'm out of makeup again. I got 3rd in the $109FO on Sunday for ~$18k, and had a few deep runs last night to no avail. If I win a few flips things are a lot different, but "that's poker" even though I hate that saying more than any I've heard. Hopefully I'll be extremely successful in the future, and my next blog post has a happier tone to it.
My good friend Ricky (RonaldKosh) is flying in from CT on the 26th for a few days which should be a lot of fun. There's a homegame tournament that day he's going to be playing with us. I'll hopefully remember to update after he leaves. Thanks for reading.
-Brandon
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Mement Mori!!!!!!
Hey guys, again it's been a while since I've updated the blog. Nothing really too interesting has happened and it's just slipped my mind lately. I'm not doing too well poker wise since my last blog. I totally bricked FTOPS again which is fairly depressing. I'm also having a pretty terrible month all together in cash and MTTs. I'm not too worried though. I'm playing fairly well at least.
I've started to coach which is pretty cool. I'm a verified coach on 2+2 and have had a ton of interest for students. I've been really lazy about it but I've made a few videos for students and have done some group sweats which were pretty interesting. Coaching is going well for the most part. I received a PM from someone from a small training site. Hopefully I'll be making videos for them soon. It should be fun at the very least, and it'll be free advertising for my coaching business.
I was in Connecticut/New York for a couple weeks. It was pretty fun overall. I expected a little bit more but it was alright. It's nice to get away from home sometimes. I went to see a Yankees game while I was there which was spectacular. The new stadium is amazing and really well ran. The Yankees won in the bottom of the 12th or 13th with a walk-off double. It was a super exciting game and definitely the highlight of the trip.
On a lighter note, I've switched backers yet again. This one not for the same reasons as the last. Matt G was a pretty good backer overall, but I really didn't feel the friendly element with him as I did with other backers in the past. Also he was somewhat misinformed in some aspects of the tournament world. He thought some tournaments were tough when they clearly weren't etc. I received an offer from mement_mori (youcanhaveitall on 2+2) which was much better. I'd be playing pretty much every online tournament I could possibly imagine playing. This means I'd be playing the $2500 FTOPS, $5K WCOOP, weekly $1k's, $100r's, the works. He's also a really cool guy and we get along really well. I really think it's important to be friends with your backer at least in my opinion. It helps things operate more smoothly as a whole.
School is starting soon which I have mixed feelings about. Usually I'm pretty upset and want summer to last forever, but part of me wants to go back to school. I kind of want a regular thing again where I'm waking up in the morning. Seeing all my friends is fun, and some aspects of school are fairly fun as well. I have a feeling it's going to be a good year. Junior year FTW!
Thanks for reading,
-Brandon
I've started to coach which is pretty cool. I'm a verified coach on 2+2 and have had a ton of interest for students. I've been really lazy about it but I've made a few videos for students and have done some group sweats which were pretty interesting. Coaching is going well for the most part. I received a PM from someone from a small training site. Hopefully I'll be making videos for them soon. It should be fun at the very least, and it'll be free advertising for my coaching business.
I was in Connecticut/New York for a couple weeks. It was pretty fun overall. I expected a little bit more but it was alright. It's nice to get away from home sometimes. I went to see a Yankees game while I was there which was spectacular. The new stadium is amazing and really well ran. The Yankees won in the bottom of the 12th or 13th with a walk-off double. It was a super exciting game and definitely the highlight of the trip.
On a lighter note, I've switched backers yet again. This one not for the same reasons as the last. Matt G was a pretty good backer overall, but I really didn't feel the friendly element with him as I did with other backers in the past. Also he was somewhat misinformed in some aspects of the tournament world. He thought some tournaments were tough when they clearly weren't etc. I received an offer from mement_mori (youcanhaveitall on 2+2) which was much better. I'd be playing pretty much every online tournament I could possibly imagine playing. This means I'd be playing the $2500 FTOPS, $5K WCOOP, weekly $1k's, $100r's, the works. He's also a really cool guy and we get along really well. I really think it's important to be friends with your backer at least in my opinion. It helps things operate more smoothly as a whole.
School is starting soon which I have mixed feelings about. Usually I'm pretty upset and want summer to last forever, but part of me wants to go back to school. I kind of want a regular thing again where I'm waking up in the morning. Seeing all my friends is fun, and some aspects of school are fairly fun as well. I have a feeling it's going to be a good year. Junior year FTW!
Thanks for reading,
-Brandon
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Home Sweet Home
I haven't updated this blog in almost a month. I've been in Vegas for pretty much the whole month. I was there for about 3.5 weeks and it was tons of fun. I stayed with JP OSU, rsxpunk, Benza13, PageUpV,GeoffRas22 klink10k, tt_fold and Underoath57. It was really awesome. Flying by myself was a little different I suppose. Nothing too noteworthy happened on the trip. I'll talk about a few interesting things that happened.
One night Bond18 posted about a party he was having at his house. It was a BBQ pool side party type thing and there were a ridiculous amount of MTT players there. Bond seemed really chill and so did most everyone else. I got super fucked up to the point it was pretty tough to walk. At that point tt_fold decided to bet me at 5:1 on $100 that I couldn't do 3 Tequila shots in two minutes. I was quite hesitant at first but figured fuck it I'd try it. Obviously not a good idea. Tequila is probably the worst tasting thing ever.
Part of the bet was that I couldn't chase for like 30 minutes, and couldn't puke for an hour. Also there were no shot glasses which makes doing a shot way more difficult. I was also way too fucked up to properly do a shot. I pretty much just drank them and had a mouthful of Tequila. Imagine me with my cheeks puffed out filled with the nastiest shit ever created. So nasty. Somehow I managed to actually do the shots and hold them down. I seriously have no idea how. I still cringe when I hear the word Tequila. Ship the $500!
Vegas was super degen as expected. There was some form of gambling pretty much every single night. At one point I was stuck like $5K from mostly Acey Deucey (In-Between). I lost a massive Acey Deucey pot where I had K2 and potted it for $1800. Obviously I bink an A and gg $1800. I was stuck a fair bit in random other stuff as well. Luckily I luckboxed the homegames we had, and won a lot back flipping one of the last nights there. I think I ended up down like $1100 for the entire trip which is really trivial considering I was there for almost a month.
Other than that nothing too exciting happened. I got to meet some pretty cool people down there. Everyone in my house was pretty chill and I didn't have any problems with anybody. PageUp was a fairly big life-nit but that didn't really stop us from having a bunch of fun. I got to meet ActionJeff, JCarver, SuperflousMan, MattG, mlagoo, and a few others. Gobbo and I played a homegame over that house and it was pretty fun. I talked to JCarver a ton and he seemed ridiculously smart and cool. I played HU with him for a while and we talked for a couple hours. ActionJeff is a pretty weird dude by the way.
The rest of the trip is sort of a haze. I ate a lot of really good food and just chilled and played poker for the most part. Summer has been solid so far. Basically I've just been playing poker and hanging out. Nothing really productive as expected. Not looking forward to going back to school at all. At least there's a lot of Summer left.
Poker has been really so-so. I haven't won anything since the $150R and I'm back in decent makeup but it's not really a huge deal. I've been grinding really hard and playing better than I have in a while. I feel pretty good about the future. I've also started coaching which so far has been fun. I basically started coaching for a new challenge. I also believe it will help me improve as a poker player. Thinking about the game and having to rationalize every play I make definitely will help me get a lot better. I did a coaching session tonight and it went very well. Everyone that was involved seemed to love it and learn a lot. It went a lot better than expected actually. Hopefully I can have some good students for the future as a long term type thing. I eventually want to be able to back/coach people as a decent chunk of side income.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/101/coaching-advice/completedonk-offering-low-midstakes-mtt-coaching-528627/
Good night!
-Brandon
One night Bond18 posted about a party he was having at his house. It was a BBQ pool side party type thing and there were a ridiculous amount of MTT players there. Bond seemed really chill and so did most everyone else. I got super fucked up to the point it was pretty tough to walk. At that point tt_fold decided to bet me at 5:1 on $100 that I couldn't do 3 Tequila shots in two minutes. I was quite hesitant at first but figured fuck it I'd try it. Obviously not a good idea. Tequila is probably the worst tasting thing ever.
Part of the bet was that I couldn't chase for like 30 minutes, and couldn't puke for an hour. Also there were no shot glasses which makes doing a shot way more difficult. I was also way too fucked up to properly do a shot. I pretty much just drank them and had a mouthful of Tequila. Imagine me with my cheeks puffed out filled with the nastiest shit ever created. So nasty. Somehow I managed to actually do the shots and hold them down. I seriously have no idea how. I still cringe when I hear the word Tequila. Ship the $500!
Vegas was super degen as expected. There was some form of gambling pretty much every single night. At one point I was stuck like $5K from mostly Acey Deucey (In-Between). I lost a massive Acey Deucey pot where I had K2 and potted it for $1800. Obviously I bink an A and gg $1800. I was stuck a fair bit in random other stuff as well. Luckily I luckboxed the homegames we had, and won a lot back flipping one of the last nights there. I think I ended up down like $1100 for the entire trip which is really trivial considering I was there for almost a month.
Other than that nothing too exciting happened. I got to meet some pretty cool people down there. Everyone in my house was pretty chill and I didn't have any problems with anybody. PageUp was a fairly big life-nit but that didn't really stop us from having a bunch of fun. I got to meet ActionJeff, JCarver, SuperflousMan, MattG, mlagoo, and a few others. Gobbo and I played a homegame over that house and it was pretty fun. I talked to JCarver a ton and he seemed ridiculously smart and cool. I played HU with him for a while and we talked for a couple hours. ActionJeff is a pretty weird dude by the way.
The rest of the trip is sort of a haze. I ate a lot of really good food and just chilled and played poker for the most part. Summer has been solid so far. Basically I've just been playing poker and hanging out. Nothing really productive as expected. Not looking forward to going back to school at all. At least there's a lot of Summer left.
Poker has been really so-so. I haven't won anything since the $150R and I'm back in decent makeup but it's not really a huge deal. I've been grinding really hard and playing better than I have in a while. I feel pretty good about the future. I've also started coaching which so far has been fun. I basically started coaching for a new challenge. I also believe it will help me improve as a poker player. Thinking about the game and having to rationalize every play I make definitely will help me get a lot better. I did a coaching session tonight and it went very well. Everyone that was involved seemed to love it and learn a lot. It went a lot better than expected actually. Hopefully I can have some good students for the future as a long term type thing. I eventually want to be able to back/coach people as a decent chunk of side income.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/101/coaching-advice/completedonk-offering-low-midstakes-mtt-coaching-528627/
Good night!
-Brandon
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Loving Life
Finally a happy blog post. At 1:30AM on Sunday, June 7th, I was smiling uncontrollably. I finally did it. I broke my 6 month downswing, and finally won a big tournament. I won the $150R for a little over $61K, basically clearing my makeup for Matt. It felt absolutely amazing. I don't think I've even been happier in poker. The funny thing is, I didn't really profit off of it. It still felt really amazing and I'm much more upbeat now. I have a feeling the next couple months are going to be great.
I have a pretty booked schedule for the upcoming week. Somehow I managed to get 12 hours of community service from school for pulling a cell phone out of my pocket to check the time. It's my second offense of getting my phone taken away, so it's an automatic 3-day suspension. Since it's finals, they can't suspend me so I do community service instead. I'd honestly rather be suspended but whatever. Today I had finals from 8-11, then made up my Gym final that I missed, and did 1 hour of community service. I have to do 11 more hours, which means doing 4 tomorrow and 7 on Friday. Friday is going to suck, but at least it's the last time I have to set foot in that god awful school for another three months.
Back on the positive side of things, I'm leaving for Vegas on Monday. It should be amazingly fun and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm staying with my friend Wesley (w33ktight) and a few others in a beautiful house. I know tons of people that are going to be there, and I'm a sucker for a really good steak which happen to be abundant in Vegas. Getting away from the house/everyday stresses of life will be cool too. Should be really relaxing and fun.
Finals are coming to a close on Thursday as well. Everything seems to be coming together just in time for Summer which is the best time. The overall run good switch has been turned on and seems to be in full force. Everything just seems to be working out. I had two finals today, English and Biology. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing on Bio final, but managed to lucksack a 73% on it. Honestly I thought there was no way I was passing. I literally had no idea how to answer most of the questions but guessed my way to a C. Going to pull off a B in that class somehow overall. My English final was great as well. I wasn't at school for one of the stories that the Final asked about. There were 12 questions about that one story out of 100 questions. I managed to get an 86% on the final and should get an A in the class. Ship the run good!
Here's a screenshot of my win for good measure/brags:
Hopefully this keeps up and I continue to do well. I feel better than ever and I'm super motivated to make something happen this Summer. I also plan on having a ton of fun outside of poker. I definitely am going to be exercising much more, and starting to work out and play more basketball. I really love playing sports and haven't played that much since I started taking poker seriously. I definitely miss it a ton.
Thanks for reading!
-Brandon
I have a pretty booked schedule for the upcoming week. Somehow I managed to get 12 hours of community service from school for pulling a cell phone out of my pocket to check the time. It's my second offense of getting my phone taken away, so it's an automatic 3-day suspension. Since it's finals, they can't suspend me so I do community service instead. I'd honestly rather be suspended but whatever. Today I had finals from 8-11, then made up my Gym final that I missed, and did 1 hour of community service. I have to do 11 more hours, which means doing 4 tomorrow and 7 on Friday. Friday is going to suck, but at least it's the last time I have to set foot in that god awful school for another three months.
Back on the positive side of things, I'm leaving for Vegas on Monday. It should be amazingly fun and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm staying with my friend Wesley (w33ktight) and a few others in a beautiful house. I know tons of people that are going to be there, and I'm a sucker for a really good steak which happen to be abundant in Vegas. Getting away from the house/everyday stresses of life will be cool too. Should be really relaxing and fun.
Finals are coming to a close on Thursday as well. Everything seems to be coming together just in time for Summer which is the best time. The overall run good switch has been turned on and seems to be in full force. Everything just seems to be working out. I had two finals today, English and Biology. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing on Bio final, but managed to lucksack a 73% on it. Honestly I thought there was no way I was passing. I literally had no idea how to answer most of the questions but guessed my way to a C. Going to pull off a B in that class somehow overall. My English final was great as well. I wasn't at school for one of the stories that the Final asked about. There were 12 questions about that one story out of 100 questions. I managed to get an 86% on the final and should get an A in the class. Ship the run good!
Here's a screenshot of my win for good measure/brags:
Hopefully this keeps up and I continue to do well. I feel better than ever and I'm super motivated to make something happen this Summer. I also plan on having a ton of fun outside of poker. I definitely am going to be exercising much more, and starting to work out and play more basketball. I really love playing sports and haven't played that much since I started taking poker seriously. I definitely miss it a ton.
Thanks for reading!
-Brandon
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