Last night I won my first WSOPE bracelet and pocketed a fistful of dollars...

by Phil

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Last night I won my first WSOPE bracelet and pocketed a fistful of dollars... well, pounds actually. But if you were to go to xe.com and convert 170,802 pounds into dollars you would arrive at the super fine and glorious number of 267,010 dollars!!

This couldn't have happened at a better time.  I am currently in the process of helping my mom get a house in LA, and well, even with the slight drop in real estate prices it is still takes a lot to get something in LA.  Can you say larger backyard, and maybe a guest bedroom?  Cuz I can, and it feels beyond amazing.

My guardian angel (which is a funny thing to say considering I am not really big on the idea of a god, but more of like well, a continuous and dynamic mixed level strata of different energy states that we as humans have the ability to take from or give to - covering everything down the line from the concept of relative good/evil stuff on thru to creative and destructive tendencies etc), but I diverge... Like I was saying I feel like my guardian angel has been there at some key spots in my life.

The recent accident for one.  I could have been toast that fateful day.  But instead I WALKED away with full sight, brain intact, and no spinal damage!! That was running amazingly high considering how low my expected value was as I was hurling thru space from 30 feet in the air towards that very unsoft  earth.  And the off suit 5 on the turn.  In my last hand Andrew had about 74 outs twice for a win % of nearly 185%.  But I binked the off suit 5d.  So sick.

Maybe Peter (my angel) took a minute out of his day and willed that one for me.  If so, thanks mate!

It was my girl's b-day yesterday and that made the win that much more sweet.  Oh, and it is also nice that Antonio won't be ribbing me anymore  about not having a bracelet while my girl has one.

All this recent winning (Partouche/15th for 52,000 Euros/10 days ago.......... English Poker Open/min cash/5 days ago.........and now this) we at UnabomberPoker are giving some of it away.  Not a crazy boatload amount, but still a decently healthy 1,000 dollars.  Which is nice considering there will be no entry fee if you want to try and get it.  Check out the promotions page to find out more.

Anyway, gotta hop.  Day 2 of the 5k plo is starting soon and I don't want to miss any hands

Racquet Ball for 6 hours - Straight Up - No lie!!

by Phil

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I love racquet ball.  I am not that good at racquet ball.  But I have been getting better.

Last night I texted @uberpasha (this little brother to @magicAntonio101) (Antonio Esfandiari) to see if he wanted to play.

I used to be able to beat Pasha but as of late he has been schooling me.  So we start and after 2 games he quits.  (He beat me both times.) 
He mumbled something about how he had a big day the next day and he was calling it a night.  But luck was once again on my side. 

His buddy Beau (Beau Evans) was with him and wanted to play.  Wheeee!

We played and played.  After beating him 4 games I declared that I would play him til noo the next day, or 20 games in total, and that I would win
each game.  After beating him 4 more times I realized that he was determined to have me eat my words.  I stepped it up.  By the 10th game we
were both very tired but neither of us were quitting.

Who is this guy?  Where is he finding all this enduro power?  Beau is about 23 years old and in great shape, but I was never more determined to
not stop.  The 115 hr poker session was some great enduro training, but I was really starting to feel fatigued.  But in the end, I figured (correctly)
that if I could play cards for nearly 5 days, then I could play r-ball for 5 or 6 hours.

And that is what I did.

My longest session of racquet ball I ever played.  (And obv his too.)  16 games in total.  Two with Pasha and 14 with Beau.  So sick.  It took about 6 hours. 

I went undefeated against Beau.  (With two of my wins were shut outs.)

It felt good.  Enduro stuff is fun.  Racquetball is fun.

Why did I play so long?  One reason was this.  Beau is soon going to get good at the game, and the days of being able to full out school him will be
coming to a close.  And sometimes you just have to get the wins when you can.  (Makes me wish I had played more cards during the boom days of 2005, and 2006.) (Ho hum.)

Anyway.  Thought you might like that story.

Come to think of it, this was the longest enduro athletic activity I have ever done.  It even took longer than the marathon I once ran back in the day.

Life marches on. 

$1,500 - A bargain! I get to know Andrew Robl's net worth for life!!!!

by Phil

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Well, the Series is over, the Bellagio poker room is pretty much a ghost town, and later today I will be driving back to LA.
It was a most interesting time.

A lot of interesting stuff, but this one comes to mind.

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At the Bellagio about a week or so ago we were playing a little 100 200 plo and I noticed that Andrew Robl was crushing the game. 
That got me curious how his series went and that got me to thinking about what his net worth might be.  So I breached the topic with him.
I suggested the following.  That he should give me a number where, if I paid, he would tell me his net worth once a year for the rest of his life. 
I told him that I would ask towards the end of each WSOP.  (And also that I would never tell a soul any of his numbers for as long as I lived.)

He said for $1,500 he would do it.

I was amazed that I had asked.  I am not even sure why I did.  But after it came out of me I was quite pleased.  This seemed like a truly brilliant
idea on my part.  Then as I found the moment again I realized that his offer of 1,500 seemed like the bargain of the century.  Wow.

I thought it over for about 2 or 3 seconds and then I realized that if I didn't lock this up at this bargain price with an instant hit, then he might retract
all offers and then this wierd and glorious moment would pass.  Oh no, I thought.  We will have none of that and then on the 4th second I tossed him the $1,500.

So that was that.  Til the day I die I will always know what Andrew Robl's net worth is.  And that makes me happy.  I like Andrew, I like his laugh, and now
I will have something odd to bond over as we grow into old men.  Sometimes, things end up just perfect.  And this is one of those times.

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Gytis from Lithuania!!! He joined in the sessions madness!

by Phil

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This is Gytis Bernatavicius on the right.  He was the fellow from Lithuania that won the freeroll event we had on UnabomberPoker.Com.  We flew him out to Vegas, hooked him up with a room, and here in this picture he is playing with me at hour 49 or so.  My buddy Bill took 90% of him (I would have but I did not want a conflict of interest arising at the table) and he played well.  If I recall he sat in the game, with 800 (80 was his) and played for about half an hour.  (Note the play over box next to him, that was my buddy Bill's stack.) 

Gytis happened to swing by at the perfect time.  Bill was going to dinner, the play over box idea hit us, and the timing could not have been better.  The action was frenetic at the time, lots of sickness at the table was happening.  Had Gytis got anything of a hand he was sure to get action.  However, the card gods gave him rubbish and nothing developed.  In the end he lost 100 or so dollars.  Nonetheless it was great meeting him and I was happy he got a chance to play during the record session.  

Anyway Gytis.... We will see you on your next visit to vegas (or my next visit to Lithuania!)

Cheers mate!

Phil