Editor's Note: Matt "ADZ124" Marafioti will be blogging about being a 22-year-old poker millionaire right here on PokerListings.com. Read his first post below and check back for regular updates.

If you told me that on my 22nd birthday I would wake up at the Doubletree in L.A. with none of the $40,000 cash I arrived with yesterday, and a needling feeling of regret as I ask myself a few very important questions, I wouldn't believe it.

The first question is why the **** did I spend $1,500 on a limo when I had a $200 flight booked from Nevada to Long Beach. I guess I really hate flying.

I smoked a joint with Bryn Kenney right before leaving the Tower Suites at Encore, where we have the entire floor of the hotel, and at this point I had still planned to get on the plane.

All of a sudden, I guess some of the paranoia began to kick in (Al Qaeda, runway crash, etc). OK, maybe I have a small fear of flying, which sucks as a poker player with all the travelling.

Lack of sleep was definitely one of the key factors that contributed to my bad playing yesterday. I've cashed in five of my last six tourneys now, after donking off the somewhat prestigious LAPC main event.

I played like total shit yesterday. At the 25/50 level I lost a 20k starting stack. Most on a squeeze play with T♣ 2♣ when I flopped a flush draw out of position in a multi-way pot. I lead for 3/4 pot and called Robert Mizrachi's all in on a K-6-7 two-club board.

When I did not improve, he doubled with 6♥ 7♥ and left me with the 5,000 chips I ended up losing with kings to aces.

It annoys me when I play a tournament so poorly that I felt like I had great potential to do well in. This was one of those tourneys. And to make matters worse, I immediately went downstairs, still going on almost zero sleep, and began playing cash games.

I played from about 1 p.m. yesterday until about 4 a.m. on my birthday, taking a net loss of $18,000, so stuck $28,000 on the day.

My roommate Will Molson just got up to go and play the tournament, wearing a green shirt saying "That's Dope" across the chest, hahah.

The thing I like about having a roommate who is also sick at poker on these trips is that I tend to compete with them and try to outdo whatever money they make on the trip. It allows for some healthy competition.

I will blog more later. For now I am going to enjoy my birthday, go to my house in L.A. tonight, and a beautiful dinner at either of my favorites - STK Steakhouse or Katsuya.

As tilted as I am for losing 28k yesterday in a very wasteful manner, I guess on this day, I also realize how lucky I am to have a great family, so many good friends and a success-filled poker career that allows me to experience things at a young age some people may never get to experience in their whole lives.

Anyways guys, this is my first post, but definitely not my last and they will get better.

- Matt Marafioti