4 years of material ready to blog

Over 4 years ago today I abandoned my poker blog due to the insane amount of work that I had to do and the fact that it was becoming harder and harder to play poker online.  In fact, after my charity poker challenge (2010) some things happened that made it insanely difficult for US players to play online poker.  Since I'm sure some of the massive group of readers that I have (sarcasm implied), don't know what happened on what us players refer affectionately as "Black Friday", let me fill you in.  On April 15, 2011, the US government cracked down on the 'illegal activities' of online poker sites, which ultimately destroyed the marketplace for US players and disrupted it for the rest of the world (because that's how we roll...MERCA!).  This caused a domino effect, a poker giant fell, the US government became a poker site broker, I waited a long time to get a heap of money offline, I stopped playing poker (sort of) and this massively successful blog died.  OK, that was more of a cliffs notes version but I'll present the whole story in a later blog.

Later blog...that bit of foreshadowing brings me to why I'm sitting in front of my keyboard today...I'm going to start  blogging again (cue cheers from 2 faithful followers who may or may not even be alive today).  I have 3 storylines bouncing around in my head of how I'm going to handle this.  The first is an alternate reality piece where I explain how poker history would have changed if key events were different.  The second is a piece I call from "22 to Tesla" which will be a challenge that I'm doing to turn $22 I have on a poker site into enough to buy a Tesla.  The third will include a review of the application of poker skills to other life situations and vice versa.  It will no doubt spiral into a place for me to do nothing but post bad beat stories and brag but those are the 3 angles I'll be discarding when that happens.  

So, that's it...my first blog in 4 years, and all I did was announce that I'm going to write blogs.  No wonder the only people that follow me can't even read English.  

It's that time of the year again bloggers

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.
Registration code: XXXXXX 903819

Last repost- Charity Challenge CRUSHED

I'm so sorry but I totally forgot to update this at the end of the year w/ all of the Holiday stuff going on. I am happy to say that I completed the Charity Poker Challenge in grand fashion. After starting w/ $27 on April 14, I finished the year with $5225 AFTER making the $2500 donation for a grand total of $7725. To do this I did add another site to play some bigger games on but I stayed within the rules of the challenge in regards to bankroll management. It was a fun and frustrating challenge. I've started over as a personal challenge and I want to turn $33 into $10K this year. I won't be updating the new poker challenge this year because I have another charity challenge in mind and I think you're going to like it.

Charity challenge update.

Repost from my Charity Challenge page...please let me know if you want more info on this.

The year is coming to an end and I'm wrapping this challenge up. With a little bit of luck, some grinding, and playing some different games, I've pushed the bankroll for this challenge up to $4050.26. What's more, I preemptively took out the goal donation amount of $2500 and donated to my favorite charity. So, technically the challenge is over but I made a goal for myself to hit 5K by years end. I'll get there for sure now. I'm moving to bigger games tomorrow and I'm hoping to crush both of them. If I do, I knock this challenge out of the park in a way I didn't even expect to do. Wish me luck tomorrow. If I do something big I'll post it then. Until then, Challenge yourself to challenge the need.

Repost from my charity challenge page: frustrations and rants.

I've been focused a bit more on my charity challenge page as of late. It's poker related so here is my last somewhat ranty post on giving to charity. I'm going to repost those here until my challenge is done and I can focus on this again. Enjoy.


I want to apologize for a bit of a delay in my last post. To be honest with you, I've lost motivation a bit since this site isn't quite having the effect that I wanted it to. Over the past month or so, I've been literally begging for people to donate to one of my favorite charities with the incentive that I'd match whatever was donated. To say the least, it is one of the most trying things I've ever done. I totally understand that times are hard and people are tight with money but I don't think people understand how happy it makes me to see them donate the smallest amount to something that means a lot to me. It really has crushed me every day that has gone by with no donations. Perhaps I'm taking it too personally but it does hurt when people don't give what equates to two coffees from Starbucks (I was asking people to donate $10).


I have found myself looking back and thinking of why I don't donate to things or have not donated in the past and some of the excuses that come up are:

* I don't have the money to help- Although this is a very valid excuse, it doesn't take a lot to make a big difference in peoples lives. There is never an amount that's too little. Believe me after asking people to donate, every dollar literally made me smile.
* I don't care about the charity- Extremely valid and I would NEVER donate to something I didn't believe in, EVER.
* Someone else will donate if I don't- This is very very untrue. I have heard that all charities are having a harder time this year in collecting donations that are essential for them to stay afloat. If you believe in something, it has to be YOU that does something. You can never expect anyone else to do what you think should be done while you watch.

I'm sure there are other excuses, some valid and some not, but the bottom line is that it is always easier to turn your head when you see someone in need. It's easy to think that someone else will help or think about the time that you were down and no one helped you. I challenge each of you to do something hard once a year, not for the good feeling that it give you but because it's the humane and right thing to do. If everyone does something small we can make a big difference.


OK, enough with my frustrations and on to something positive. I'm currently in Biloxi playing in a World Series circuit event (or 2). I've decided that if I make a final table I'm donating 10% to charity. So, think good thoughts and until the next post.... Challenge yourself to challenge the need.

WBCOOP is around the corner

I almost forgot, WBCOOP is just around the corner too. If you don't know about it, check it out:

WSOP Circuit events

For those of you that don't know, there have been some pretty amazing changes made to the WSOP circuit event schedule this year.  In case you haven't read they have instantiated a points system, a national championship that will only include 100 players and have a million dollar prize pool (when else will you get that chance), televised regional championships, and (drumroll please) STANDARDIZED STRUCTURES!!  Yes, they have totally revamped things and this is leading me to play a full series when it comes to Biloxi.  Well, I'll be playing as much of a series as I can missing the first couple of days of play.  My question to you is, has anyone played in any events this year and how do they compare to the past years?  Feel free to post here any experiences or message me directly.

Next blog I'll update my charity challenge  status and fill you in on exactly the events I'll be playing. Until then.. Good luck in everything that you attempt.