Hey everyone! Glad to see some people actually still check my blog even though I haven't updated in it a long time. It's been about a month since my last entry. This blog will probably be real long and might include some ramblings. I will organize it so you can skip over parts you are not interested in lol.

LIFE:
Since I've been back from Vegas I've played SOME poker at the casinos and online. I haven't played too much in either but I'm starting to get back into the grind. I spent a couple weeks resting and relaxing from the WSOP, then was busy for another week or so. I took a one day trip out to LA for a meeting and have been bouncing around Florida as well. I've spent a lot of time with friends and family. It just feels like I have a lot going on around me at the moment, but I need to manage my time better too. I have to get a couple things sorted out before the WCOOP comes. I probably feel busier than I actually am, I just have to get some things accomplished that I've been putting off, that's all.

I played in a basketball tournament a couple weeks ago with a bunch of my buddies who play professionally. Stu (thedonator) and I put the team in the tournament. We had a couple tough games. We smacked the team who ended up winning it by 20 in the first game, then we lost a tough game on a buzzer beater that we shouldn't have lost. One of our best players hurt himself and a couple other guys couldn't make it to the next games. It was a disaster considering we should have won the tournament altogether and pocketed some money, but it was a good time regardless. There were a lot of professional players in the tournament. It was a tough tournament but we had a good team and would have done better had a couple things gone our way.

Other than that things have been pretty normal. Working out, hanging out, doing miscellaneous things.

POKER:
Like I said briefly above, I have been playing poker here and there. When I first got back to South Florida I played poker for like 5 days straight in the casinos. I played a couple tournaments and then a couple cash games sessions. I'm glad we finally have cash games here! It's awesome but I only played a total of three times. The games aren't as good as they could be, but it is still nice of having the option to play somewhere. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to play online/casino/etc.

I played a few FTOPS events last week and have come close to winning the 100r turbo on FTP the last 2/3 times I played it. I got 8th and 11th. I guess that really isn't close to winning, but close enough to mention! I was 1/8 at the final table and donked my way to an 8th place finish. I made a couple questionable plays that I wish I could take back. I'm not completely back into grind mode though but I probably will be once the WCOOP rolls around.

WSOP Day 1B:
So I've been meaning to talk about the WSOP for a while now. I don't remember all of my big hands but I remember most of them. I actually received some coverage from Day 1B in two pots I played against Phil Laak. I'm not sure if this will lead to more coverage from ESPN but it was cool finally making some TV time. People always ask me "Will you be on TV?" and I always respond with if I make a big final table or something. It's pretty neat. I don't really look at it like a big deal but I guess it is bigger than I realize. Either way it was cool to watch and maybe I will get more coverage down the road in the tournament.



At about 2:00 minutes in I win a small pot off Laak and then at 14:00 minutes was a big pot where I cooler Phil with top set vs bottom two. That hand is kind of interesting because I had picked up something on Phil and knew he was real strong on the flop, but there was a cannon behind us so I decided to flat.. It worked out when we got the money in on the turn but there was more to the hand than just a heads up pot with top set vs bottom two. I think it was 4-5 ways on the flop.

One of the craziest hands I played in all of the main event was on Day 1. What I'm about to type is going to sound absurd to some, but here it goes. At 100/200 no ante, a tight player opened from the hijack to 750. The button who was an aggressive player called and I called with KQo in the big blind. The flop came JJTcc and we checked to the button. He bet 1100 and I raised to 2900. The tight player folded and now the button reraised me to 4k. This wasn't a legitimate raise. His min raise should have been to 4700. The dealer didn't realize, and neither did I, because at the time the dealer had pulled in the bets and just my 1800 was out there, so it looked like it was a legit raise. I didn't realize that this happened until I told someone the hand later that night. So now it is 4k to me (and I didn't realize this wasn't correct.) and I put in a fourth bet on the flop and make it 6700. He calls instantly. The turn is the 6h and I bet 7k with 12k behind. He calls once more. The river is the Qh. The board is JTTcc6hQh and I check to him. He puts me all in and I call. He says "Do you have a jack?" I told him he has to show his hand. He says "Two pair!" while I wait for him to show me his cards. He finally turns over 99 and I scoop the pot to double up to 58k early in the day.

There was a lot more than meets the eye to this hand. I didn't play it the best way I could have but I had history (similar hand where I folded flop to 3rd bet) with this specific player and knew what he was capable of. I hadn't been out of line or played any big pots previous to this one, but I guess he thought I had some spazz in me. I probably gave him a little too much credit in the way he looked at poker. He was definitely trying to run over the table and in my opinion he thought he was the best one there. His banter at the end of the hand asking me if I have a jack leads me to believe he wasn't as good as I thought he was. Either way he said he thought I had nothing and I'm not sure why he bet the river if that was the case.

I didn't enjoy calling all in a couple hours into the Main Event, and I know this spot was probably stupid to take, but I was fairly certain of his holdings and how he would play certain hands up to this point. He had played a lot of pots and I felt in touch with his style. That's the reason I ended up playing this hand like I did. I don't suggest it to others though lol. It was not the best hand of poker ever played. It might be one of the worst hands ever played in the WSOP Main Event haha.

I'll talk more about the Main Event in the next blog. I have some other interesting hands to talk about. I have to get some sleep. It feels good to be blogging again! Goodnight.

Aftermath is a very powerful word, but I'll let it stand. It's been over a week since I busted the WSOP Main Event. I am very pleased with my performance throughout the whole summer. I still wish I was a part of the November Nine though. Now I'm back in Florida relaxing. I've just been working out and hanging out. I haven't really touched poker, although I'm always thinking about it... even in my sleep.

I had a dream I was still in the Main Event last night. There were still 60-70 players remaining. I had a nice stack and I could feel I was on the verge of closing in on the final table. I woke up and I was thinking to myself "Okay Tristan... You're heading into Day 7 of the ME. Let's take a shower and get ready to play some poker today." I thought about it for another second while I laid in bed... I must be crazy. They already had the November 9! I had to convince myself I was already eliminated from the tournament. I haven't been dwelling on busting from the main event but maybe my subconscious has.

Life back in Florida isn't so bad. I've seen rain a few times in the past week. I enjoy it when it rains sometimes. Some people hate when it rains too much, but being in Vegas for two months with no rain, I'm glad I got to see some again. I caught up on Season 7 of Entourage. It is the only TV series I have actually followed. The other shows like 24, Lost, etc. I never got into because I didn't want to have to wait to watch the end. A couple summers ago I watched the first 3-4 seasons of Entourage and was hooked.

I'll get back into playing poker in a couple days. There is a $2k tournament in South Florida I will be playing soon. I also am looking forward to jumping in the cash games and seeing how they are now that poker is legalized in Florida. It hasn't really hit me yet. Once I get to see everything in motion I'm sure I will be amazed at the progress Florida has made on the poker end. I am also planning on writing a WSOP Main Event summary where I will talk about some hands I played, and most likely a summer trip report, where I write about my summer in Vegas/WSOP. We'll see. I will definitely do the former if not both. Goodnight. Expect that new blog shortly.

Edit: I guess this blog didn't have many thoughts in it lol. Wait for my next one!

Thanks everyone for the support. It really means a lot. I battled hard today and things didn't end up going my way. I won the first pot of the day and got up to 1.5m and slowly lost it back. I couldn't get anything going. About 4 hours in at 15k/30k/4k ante I was knocked out when I had about 750k in chips. I'm happy with how I played and have no regrets. I felt like I had a good feel for everything as well as the players. I was super comfortable and not nervous at all. It just wasn't my tournament. I busted about 30-40 minutes before the dinner break in 113th place for $57,102.

Overall I had a great World Series of Poker. I had a couple deep runs (including a final table bubble in the double shootout), cashes, and bubbles. I felt like I played really well the whole summer and I look forward to playing more live poker tournaments. I believe my game has elevated to another level and I like challenging myself with that belief. Things can only get better from this point on. I doubt I will have to wait for the next WSOP to have another big sweat. The Main Event is one of the few poker tournaments in the world that can really change your life. I'm disappointed I didn't do better, but I am proud of myself for doing my best. Everything I did had a reason. Every fold, every call, every raise; I knew what I was doing. I stayed level headed the whole time and never got excited or dejected. My mentality has definitely changed this summer and it will only make me a better player and a better person.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. I am heading back to Florida tomorrow. I have been in Vegas for almost two months! It has gone by very fast. I look forward to playing poker in Florida now. I also want to continue to play high-level, live tournament poker. Maybe I will play my first WPT this year. Only time will tell. I'm going to get some rest and relax for a couple days. Right now I feel strange. I'm lightheaded and it feels like my ears need to pop. Definitely a weird feeling lol. I hope I'm alright and a little sleep cures my problem. I'll be fine.

Maybe I will talk about some big hands I played during the Main Event. There were definitely a lot of crazy pots that went down, including one hand from Day 1 which was just absolutely insane. We'll see how I feel, if I want to talk about some hands and give out some of that information. I will probably write a trip summary or something as well when I get some time.

Once again I just want to say I appreciate everyone who showed support and cheered me on. I know there's a lot of you. Thank you. I'm glad you guys could share the experience with me and I hope you enjoyed the ride. Two deep runs in the Main Event in 5 years isn't so bad. Hopefully I get a couple more chances in the near future. Thanks again. Goodnight.

Another day in the bag, along with 1.23m in chips (Yes -- 1.23 MILLION chips. Enough of the K's.) The average chip stack is 1.07m. There are roughly 200 players left. Today was just a steady grind. I started with 767k and chipped up slowly throughout the day. Interestingly enough, I didn't play a pot over 300k today. That tidbit of information is mind blowing to me. We played 3k/6k, 4k/8k, 5k/10k, 6k/12k, and 8k/16k and I didn't get in one pot over 300k. Not to say that I wouldn't have.. it just didn't happen. It was a slow paced day for me and I'm fine with that. I was up to about 1.4m on my peak but blinded down some. There is an hour left at 8k/16k/2k ante and then I think we go to 10k/20k. The pots should be getting pretty big from here on out. I heard we play down to 63 players tomorrow. I believe I am 65th in chips out of the final 205.

I'm not sure what else there is to say. I have three more days to go. That's all. Three days. Three days until the November 9 is set. Hopefully I am fortunate enough to be one of those final 9. I will continue to do my best and see where it takes me. Thank you everyone for the support. I appreciate it a lot. Three more days.

Here's me decked out in some DeepStacks/FTP patches for TV. I hate hats lol. I never wear them and didn't want to have it on backwards at the time... oh well lol.

Another day in the books. I am sitting on 767k in chips. The average is 380k. There are 574 players left and we are in the money. I am guaranteed 21k I think. I haven't looked, I don't care. I started off with a nice stack today, lost a couple decent sized pots, and moved to a new table. The new table had Cole South (CTS) who is an amazing cash game poker player. He was two seats to my left. It also had a couple other good players. I was settled into this table all day.

My stack went down from around 150k to 360k then I lost a massive pot where I folded top two pair on the river. The pot was about 300k and I went from 360k to 220k after it. I asked the floorman who was watching the hand "If I expose my hand is my hand dead?" We were heads up, I bet the river, the player moved all in, and action was on me to fold or call. The floorman answered "No." So I turned over my two pair. I ended up folding and the floorman then came up to me and told me I was receiving a one round penalty for showing my hand. I was completely baffled. Why didn't he tell me that was the consequence of showing my hand when I asked? I tried to ask for other opinions but all the WSOP staff said I had a penalty. Fair enough. I know the rule, but at the time I wasn't really thinking about it and was more focused on the hand and trying to get more information. I brain-farted and forgot that that was the rule lol. It's basically my fault, but I thought since the floorman was there he would tell me the rule. I was wrong. He claimed I flipped my hand over too quickly before he could say anything else... which is not true. Oh well.

So after that hand, I served my penalty (we were about 40-50 out of the money on the bubble) and went back to the table. We eventually made the money and I grinded the 150k shortstack until the 3k/6k level. I then doubled up twice to 650k and chipped up a little more to end the night where I'm at with 767k. There is an hour left at 3k/6k/1k ante and after that we will play 4k/8k/1ka. We will be playing another 8 hours of poker tomorrow and I imagine we will get down to the top 150 or so. We will see.

That's about all there is to say. Today went by pretty fast. I chatted it up with Cole for a while and another player named Tommy. Both are high stakes cash game players; nice guys and good professionals. It's going to be tough since we are now in the money I can't listen to my iPod anymore to keep my sanity. I will probably listen on break when I can. I really hate that rule. Is someone really going to tell me how to play my hand through my iPod? I know, I know. People can cheat... but it would just be so ridiculously hard to unless you were at a final table/featured table where the hole card cameras were. It's a pretty pointless rule. Anyone who isn't paying attention can miss the action. It doesn't matter if they are listening to music or not. Enough of that rant lol. I'm about to get some sleep and hopefully survive another day. Goodnight.