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Bittersweet Goodbye

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:42:38 +0100

I want to start off by apologizing to my readers for the big gap since my last post.

As you all know I love to post and share with everyone what is going on. There has been some behind-the-scenes stuff going on that has prevented that.

The last couple of months have been action packed though, that's for sure. Coming off of the win to start the year at Borgata, I cashed in the main event out there as well.

I may be more proud of what happened in that tournament than any other to date. I built a great stack over the course of Day 1, sharing the felt with Frank Vizza for the entire day.

We both ran our stacks up pretty nicely, and maybe it was coincidence or maybe it was just one of those things that I think all poker players need to do a bit more of.

We pretty much avoided each other all day, realizing that this is going to be a four-day tournament and there are eight better spots to pick at the table than battle it out with in my mind the best player at the table in Frank.

It's hard as a poker player to sometimes swallow your pride and just stay away from certain players. Not in fear of being outplayed, just simply realizing it doesn't make any sense to go at it with this person at this particular time.

The more tournaments I play, however, the more I see two GREAT players clash in the early stages of a big tournament, and someone will always lose that battle and find themselves on the rail earlier than they anticipated.

Anyway, on to Day 2, where things were smooth sailing for basically the entire day. UNTIL the dreaded extra level was added to thin the field a bit more going into Day 3.

The structure for this tournament was so super-sick that at the end of Day 2 we weren't even really close to the money. That is what 50k in chips and every single level of play included in the structure not missing a beat can do for a tournament, REALLY let you play for 3 days.

I took a couple of brutal beats in the last hour of play and was completely crippled, getting knocked down to around 30k when I was floating over the 200k mark for most of the day.

I was ready to just send in the chips with 20 mins to go in the level but I decided it would be best for me to get through the day, regroup and come back fighting the next day. I folded a couple K-J type hands and weak aces and avoided elimination.

Going into Day 3 I was 169 out of 172 and my friend Al Riccobono was 171 out of 172. Long story short, we both cashed and I got it in good for a 600k pot with 80 to go and lost to a runner-runner straight.

After Borgata, I bricked some Venetian events, went out to L.A. and cashed the first $1k tourney I played. With three tables to go and a really long bubble, I began to feel sick.

I got food poisoning and still managed to hang on long enough to cash while excusing myself from the table every so often to, uh, well you get the point. It was ugly.

Getting sick really threw me for a loop, and I was excited to get home and rest up. Most recently I final-tabled the WSOP Circuit main event at Caesars in Atlantic City.

I took seventh along with accolades from many people that I have a great deal of respect for in this game. I am solidifying my place in the poker world and showing that I belong, and I am doing it in every way possible.

I had no chips in this tournament from about Level 3 on. To see people who had huge stacks just continue to drop, and for myself to continue to pick the right spots to move my few chips around and stay alive, felt great.

I put myself in a position to win the tournament, which is all you could really ask for. I lost a race with JJ for an above-average stack with seven to go, and I'm convinced especially by the way things played out at the final table that if my jacks hold there I win the tournament.

I am hungrier than ever to get out there and play, and I only see good things ahead.

I want to thank PokerListings.com for giving me a chance to share my past six months with all of you, and I appreciate all of the e-mails. I encourage you guys to keep them coming at JYoungpoker@hotmail.com.

I will be continuing my blog over at PokerPages.com and I hope that you will continue to follow me on my journey there. Thanks again for everything.

-JY

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Fast-Forwarding Through the Hard Times to Get to the Good Times

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:53:28 +0100

I'm not going to go into any great detail about how bad things had turned all through December, from New Orleans to AC.

I played great, but just kept coming up short, extending my non-cash streak to almost 20+ tournaments - which is a lot for me. A lot for anyone.

I had a great New Year's with a lot of great people, which was immediately followed up with some serious personal life issues outside of poker that were not even close to fun. These are the ups and downs of life that everyone figures out how to deal with in their own way.

I started playing a lot more live cash games lately and that proved to be profitable for a change of pace from dumping money on traveling and tournaments for the past 3-4 months.

The best part about the cash games is that I get to eat better than I do in any hotel anywhere, thanks to Tommy Mauro over at Fatty's.

Tommy is a good poker player in his own right but an even better guy, who makes a kick-ass chicken roll! Anyways ... the cash games had been going well, and it seems like whenever I'm faced with challenges in life I always step up to the plate.

That brings us to the Borgata, where I am writing from right now. Somehow, someway, when things in life are uncertain and people start doubting me and my back seems to be up against the wall, I fight right the f**k through it! I will never give up and I will never back down from a challenge.

The first tournament I decided to play of 2009 was a $400 buy-in, the first event of the three weeks I will be at Borgata. Many people didn't like the idea of a deep-stack tourney with such a small buy-in and so many players.

I felt like I was playing well and being that some people had their doubts for whatever the reason may be ... I still find myself playing on my own money, which to be honest is getting dangerously close to where I am uncomfortable.

I've been going back and forth with the idea of a backer, and I know a lot of players with far less accomplishments than myself that seem to have the money secured for them to play whatever they want whenever they want, and I guess that has been what I've been looking for, and have not yet found.

Long story short ... after three days of total domination, your 2008 World Series of Poker bracelet winner shipped his first tournament of 2009 for $102k!!!

Like I've said all along, I am not going anywhere - Jason Young will be around for a long time to come, and for the math guys out there, what exactly is the ROI for putting up $400 to win $51,000?

There were at least half a dozen people with an opportunity to put me into the Borgata series of tourneys, and when it came down to it, I went to the bank and grabbed $10k with the plan of buying myself into everything.

Man, what a nice start to a relationship that could have been huh? I got so pissed I had to ship the whole thing!

Details of the win are coming in the next blog with hand reviews, some sick reads, huge calls, even bigger lay-downs and a start-to-finish analysis of how to navigate a field of 1,600 players from start to finish and win the tournament.

I played a lot with Trevor "TreMoney" Savage, who has a real bright poker future ahead of him, and I want to give a quick shout to my new buddy Matt R. Thanks for reading - stay focused and good things will come!

I've signed on with PPI (pokerplayersinternational.com), who is just pwning the whole poker world right now, and I want to give a special thank you to Curtis and Company for doing things the right way and for the sick watch!

Randy Kasper, Gene Castro and Eric Siegel are really doing things the right way over there. The celebration was great as Al, Micah, Dave, Val, Will and a whole crew of others came out to celebrate the win with me.

2009 is off to a great start and I only expect bigger and better things to come. I fully expect to have bigger results in my first full-time year of playing poker professionally than I did last year. Any questions and comments are always welcome @ JYoungpoker@hotmail.com

Let's go!

Editor's Note: Jason Young came out of nowhere to win a bracelet at the 2008 World Series of Poker and has taken his newfound bankroll and hit the pro circuit in hopes of building poker into a full-time career.

He'll be posting on his progress in an exclusive series of blogs for PokerListings.com over the next few months.

Visit PokerListings.com

Full Life Tilt Volume 1: New Orleans

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:42:15 +0100

As we left off, I was going to Tennessee to see my boy Rock make his cage-fighting debut. I took my brother with me and after a morning of mishaps we literally got on the plane 30 seconds before it started pulling away from the gate.

I'm never driving to the airport at 5 a.m. again. There are way too many variables at play. For all of the ridiculous things I spend money on, I'm going to stick with the car service.

Tennessee was way different than I thought it was going to be, and Rock won his fight by a rear naked choke in 55 seconds. I was a little disappointed he beat him so fast - I mean, I flew to Tennessee for THAT?!

It was his first fight and it was against a kid that had been fighting for years and he completely pwned him. I was all fired up climbing the cage, lost my voice; it was cool. I'm fairly certain he will be on the Ultimate Fighter within two years.

The next day we went to Gatlinburg. It's like one of the top 5 tourist spots in the country and I had never heard of it. We gambled on everything from go-karts to mini-golf, darts, there were some interesting bets and some people wound up dressed as girls by the end of the night. Good times.

My birthday was enjoyable ... dinner with Jena and the fam, followed by my first paintball experience. It was awesome, and surprisingly painful. There were 10 of us so it was a 5-5 deathmatch. We had the whole place rented for a couple hours. It was tiring too so nobody was really in the mood for drinking afterwards.

Night before Thanksgiving was like a high-school reunion which was a little weird, but all in all it was a good time. I was more than happy to share the same story over and over and over again all night.

I've always thought it's weird when people say they're sick of being asked the same question over and over or talking about something great that happened to them. Feel free to come up to me in five years and ask anything you would like about winning the bracelet - it'll be OK by me, I promise.

Ooooh yeah, the poker ... Well, I got into New Orleans I guess Thursday morning. The first two tournaments were nothing spectacular. Although I am starting to see a new trend, it was weird the first few months after my summer success - everyone was so nice and pleasant and genuinely happy for me.

I don't know if it's the reruns airing too much on ESPN or what, but I have run into some vicious mostly middle-aged to older men the last month or so. I think I was in New Orleans for about an hour and a half before the first gentleman called me a bracelet-winning turkey from the North. ?! WTF does that even mean?

Now back in my early 20s I guess you could say I had quite the temper, which I have worked hard on over the years to improve. I mean you grow up and you just figure out how to act and well, in my case you become a better person.

I have certainly been tested though lately; mix it in with the lack of run-good sauce and well ... It's starting to get on my nerves a bit.

More on the southerners' hate for me in a minute - ha. Saturday was the $1k and I took off the second level which was a good idea for me anyways to play in the Run-Good Challenge. I think I finished last obviously but it was a pleasant distraction sitting on the floor outside the poker room playing with a slightly more classy group of people than what I had found in New Orleans to that point. SLIGHTLY!

It settled me down actually, and when I went back I started going to work. It certainly was not easy either, as I wasn't actually getting any hands to play but some situational three-betting and making the best out of nothing was all I could do to build a stack, because it was crystal-clear the cards just weren't coming.

I was slightly above average at the dinner break with about 35-40 to go. Eighteen spots were getting paid so I was hopeful of breaking out of my slump with a cash to say the least. I won my biggest hand of the tournament when the button raised in the $500/$1,000 ($200 ante) level to $2,500, the small blind called and I looked down at the 2 7.

$1,500 more into the $7,800 that was already in there? Sure; why not ...

Flop fell 8x-8x-2x; the small blind checked and with $9,300 in the pot and $29k in my stack I mulled it over for a second and figured yeah sure why not, I'm all-in ... The button snap-called me and I figured oh s**t he really had a hand; I'm done ...

Well, he rolled over the A-K off for no pair and no draw, uhhh? thanks?

Anyways, the two held and I received a lecture for about 12 minutes about how terrible I play ha-ha. I mean it was a good call I guess pal, I don't know what to say here. We got down to 23 players; I have TT on the button, good for my first pair in six hours. I have $80k behind; blinds are up to $2k/$4k with a $500 ante.

I make it $13k from the button, the big blind ships it for $29k total. He has A-K; the flop was good enough for him to double.

Didn't play a hand for one orbit; got my last $38k in with 7-7 versus A-J. A jack on the flop sealed the deal on a 22nd-place finish I believe. Whatever it was, it wasn't in the money.

The main event was the only tournament with a good structure and I felt like I was playing well, so I was optimistic heading in. The odd thing about constantly playing poker is that certain seating arrangements will inevitably arise over time.

I had dinner with Rock, Phil Sparta, Clint Schaefer, Mclean Karr, Dave Fox and Mike Leah, who as a group plus a few more guys from the northeast I truly believe will be some of the biggest names in poker over the next few years ... But that will be for another blog ...

Anyways after dinner with five tables to go I was in the seven seat with Phil in the eight, Mclean in the nine and Mike in the three.

I have had a lot of conversations about playing with people you know, people you like etc. and for the most part everyone says the same thing: that this is a business and you need to do what you need to do. But I just don't think I'm there yet ...

It's not always bad, as I always want to play better when I know people around me, but I haven't found a way to pull the trigger and three-bet one of them all-in with J-9 off.

Mclean and Mike both got knocked out, and Phil and I were somehow short-stacked so we figured the best way to handle this was to start taking shots and pounding beers. It helped!

Stacks were climbing as we approached 36 players to go and I was finally enjoying myself when I shoved with my lucky hand A-J suited against a player who had proven to be opening real light. He called with sixes and we were off to the races for a $50k pot as the night was winding down.

A beautiful black ace was right in the door and it was followed by an ugly six right behind it. Even the ace on the turn brought a little help, but I couldn't fill up on the river, and yet another 13.5 hour day was down the tubes with nothing to show for it. Phil took fifth and if it wasn't for a couple of horrendous beats he would have won it.

Random side note: Oscar De La Hoya is completely washed up; he got his ass kicked so bad I'd be surprised to ever see him fight again ... It was a shame too because the fight was Saturday night and everyone was really fired up for it, especially because nobody had to play on Sunday, and it was another huge disappointment. Even more of a reason why UFC has pulled so far ahead of boxing.

I'm still up in the air about how I feel about New Orleans. I almost forgot, there was a famous chef at our table during the main, and I was trying to be friendly but he didn't like me either, which had everyone at the table LOL because he was ridiculous. Paul Padiuex or something like that; whatever, he was one of those guys that feels like you should sit in complete silence at a poker game and hear nothing but the chips riffling. OK buddy.

I feel like I left out a lot but it'll come back to me when Tilt continues from New Orleans directly to Atlantic City.

-- JY

JYoungPoker@hotmail.com

He'll be posting on his progress in an exclusive series of blogs for PokerListings.com over the next few months.

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Slow-Rolled ... plus Bloggers Gone Wild

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:15:18 +0100

There isn't too much going on right now in terms of poker, nothing worth writing about that is. But it seems I've developed some loyal readers, which I'm extremely grateful for.

This is actually a nice little break, and I think I needed it to rest up for a strong end of 2008. One of the more important things I've learned is that when things aren't running so well don't force it, so I'm not.

I'm going to try and improve my online game a bit, but not much as I'm not a huge fan. I would like to win a seat to the PCA (PokerStars Caribbean Adventure) though because I hear that trip is awesome!

I'm flying to Tennessee on Thursday to watch my boy Rock cage-fight UFC style which should be pretty cool ... He better win!

After that it's on for the PokerListings Run-Good Challenge. The first round is Sunday the 23rd and from what I've heard it's like Bloggers Gone Wild, which should be a good time.

My birthday is Tuesday the 25th and I'll be happy to see my family for Thanksgiving.

I'm trying to figure out my living situation as in where to live?? I have some money set aside for a down payment on a condo or townhouse whatever; just trying to figure out if it is going to be close to home in N.Y. or out in Vegas.

It's a pretty big decision I think and I honestly have no idea what I want to do. After traveling the world, taking care of my family and running cold for a few months, it looks like I will have to consider some of the backing options that have been thrown my way.

I want to get a place and have a little breathing room for at least a year or so or I would never forgive myself ha!

So anyways, after the fight, and the birthday shenanigans which I'm sure will be plentiful, I'm pretty sure I will be fired up to play some live poker.

It looks like I'm heading for Bellagio first week in December to play some prelims and satellites. After that I will catch the tail end of the WSOP stop at Harrah's in Atlantic City.

Hopefully I'll get in another 10 tournaments before the year is over and I expect to end the year with a bang!

As always feel free to send any questions or comments to JYoungPoker@hotmail.com.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

-- JY

More blogs from 2008 WSOP bracelet winner Jason Young:

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Beast of a Table at Worst Place in the World

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:35:22 +0100

As we left off, I was contemplating going back to the worst place in the world (Foxwoods) to play a satellite to get into the $10k main event of WPT Foxwoods.

I really felt like playing, and quickly found out some people wanted a piece of me, so I put up half and had a couple partners. DONE.

Went back Tuesday night, signed up to play Day 1a, felt good. I showed up two minutes before we were supposed to start playing, and I was the first person at the table. I was followed by Jonathan Little, Allen Bari, stevesbets and Jason Potter.

In a room where I literally don't recognize more than 20 people this is the s**t-show of a draw I get Day 1. I welcome the challenge, and I soon find out there are two other beasts at our table; I just don't catch their names.

I usually like to ease my way into things and I really do like the small-ball approach in nicely structured tournaments. After nothing but laughter from everyone that walks by our table, the cards are in the air.

Everyone comes out swinging - there aren't going to be any small pots played at this table. I lose $10k of my $30k stack about 15 minutes in when I raise with QQ and stevesbets calls behind. He is one of the most aggressive players I've seen yet, so his range is wide open on this hand.

Flop 9-4-3 rainbow ... I lead for $700; he raises to $1,900; I call. Turn 7. I check; he bets $2,500; I call, and the river pairs the three.

I check; he fires $6k. I snap-call and he rolls over 9-9. F*CK me!

About nine hands later Allen Bari opens for $350, JL calls and I have AA on the button, where I make it $1,450 to go. They both call. I put Allen on a big hand that he's trying to trap with because I think for a second he thought about repopping.

Flop J-5-6 rainbow; both players check to me. I fire $2,450, Allen raises to $6,450 and I insta-ship, putting him on QQ or even KK. I'm dead wrong: he calls and turns over 5 6.

All of a sudden I'm all-in and way behind in the first half hour of the tournament - WTF? Help comes quick as a jack falls on the turn and I suck out to save my ass! I actually end the first level with $46k and am thrilled to be out to an early lead on the table.

My phone is going crazy with texts telling me to slow down, as all of my buddies at work need to get a full-day sweat in with the live updates online.

I try to put the brakes on, but soon find myself in another sticky situation which leads to some interesting debate among many at the table after the hand. JP raises early position; I have A K on the cut-off and I reraise to $1,350. The BB flat-calls and JP calls as well.

Flop K 3 7 ... it checks around to me. I bet $1,800. I'm surprised when the BB calls and almost stunned when JP pops it to $5,800. I had about $46k when the hand started and he had $38k.

I take a moment to think about how I want to play this and I clearly have three options. I'm never folding this hand right here, so I quickly eliminate that. I'm uncomfortable reraising at this point, so I flat the $4k raise to see what develops on the turn.

4 is a pretty big brick, so I'm curious where he'll go from here, and I'm pretty sure I've already made up my mind what I'm going to do.

JP bets out $7,500 and before he releases his last chip I'm already all-in. He literally tanks for somewhere between 6-8 minutes.

I make this play here for three reasons: 1) There's actually a chance I have the best hand right here with the nut redraw if he calls and I don't have the best hand. 2) I think it's almost impossible for him to call with any of the hands that beat me here. I don't think he can call with a small set or a baby flush with almost $22k behind. 3) I like to show people that I'm not afraid to put all of the chips in the middle if I think I have the best of it, and see them squirm in their chairs.

He calls with 6 9 and the K on the river is no help to my hand; I'm crippled. I end Level 2 with $1,700 chips, and begin to say my goodbyes.

Long story short, I turn $1,700 into $27,000 over the next two levels, and when I'm moved to a table with David Pham and Vinny Pahuja for the last level of the day, I'm poised to get back into contention for Day 2. Nothing happens the last level, and I end the day with $18k.

Day 2 is short, and that's a shame because I would have enjoyed playing with a couple friends of mine, Al and Will. Plus it's my first time sitting with Daniel Negreanu, and I'm looking forward to playing with one of the best in the game.

One of the Day 1b chip leaders who took a beating at the end of the day is sitting to my right, and he's looking to get his chips in pretty quick. I chip up a bit to like $21k right away and that's when my man to the right moves in for $18k and I move in right behind with 9-9.

He turns over A-Q and all of a sudden I'm in a flip to get over $40k and have a little room to maneuver. It isn't meant to be, as a queen comes right in the door.

Oddly enough, I have like $1,100 chips left and manage to double a couple times again, but it comes to an end with my A-T vs. A-J, and that's that.

* * * * * * * * * * *

I know a lot of people complain about Foxwoods, but seriously I will never go back there. The people that run the hotel have no idea what they are doing: I had to change rooms three times while I was there because my room rate would jump from $160 to $480 if I stayed in the tower I was in.

Meanwhile the hotel was probably at half capacity and it just doesn't make any sense to have you move to a different tower. Whatever. I just didn't really like anything about being up there compared to AC or Vegas, except for Al Dente, which was a pretty good restaurant.

Things have not been running great for the last couple months and I've been a bit down as of late, but I'm able to quickly bring myself back to the reality of what my life has become, and rebound that way.

I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing right now, and my worst day of playing poker is better than my best day of being stuck in an office all day. I'm living a dream right now, and I am so happy that I have been given the opportunity to experience all I have, and all that lies ahead ...

Thank you to everyone that comes up and says what up when they see me; it's a feeling that I do not know if I'll ever get used to. Sitting at a table and having someone come up and say congratulations or that they read my blog really is great, and I welcome it.

Feel free to send any questions or comments to JYoungPoker@hotmail.com and hopefully I'll have some good results to report back soon!

-- Jason Young

He'll be posting on his progress in an exclusive series of blogs for PokerListings.com over the next few months.

More blogs from Jason Young:

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Phelps, Foxwoods and Hustled by an Old Lady

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:13:19 +0100

Flew out to Vegas for some Caesars prelims and Bellagio satellites, which I didn't play for some reason. This was the first time all year I went somewhere and played in a series of tournaments and didn't cash one time.

I had a great time in Vegas but the results were just not there. Hung with Cliff and Rock for a few nights before moving over to MGM Signature, which was really nice.

I was really disappointed with the tournaments because I really felt like I was playing well; I just ran into a couple coolers and couldn't turn things around.

The two losses that I really could have done without were flopping the nuts when I raised in late position with 6-7 suited and the flop came 3-4-5.

The big blind led out; I overpopped, he shoved, I laughed while calling, and when the board paired on the turn and he hit one of his four outs with his two pair to beat me, I thought that at least I'd got the worst beat of the trip out of the way.

That wasn't the case, as I went deep in two other tournies. I made a bad read in the $2k that basically crippled me and I couldn't do anything but grind the short stack for a while before bowing out just shy of the money.

The bad beat was in the $1k, I believe when we were down to four tables. I was playing really well and reraised with aces from the cut-off. The under-the-gun raiser called. Flop fell Q-T-4 rainbow, which was really not that bad of a flop for me.

He checked and I bet out about three-quarters of the pot, which meant I had about 60% of my chips in the pot. In other words I was committed, so when my opponent shoved, I shook my head in disgust as I pushed the rest of my chips into the middle and said that a set was good but I had too many chips in to lay it down now.

I was surprised by his response when he said he didn't think I was that strong and he was just trying to push me off a hand. He rolled over the A-K off and I knew I was doomed.

When another four came on the turn I actually started thinking about how many chips I was about to be stacking and how I could really make a run at this thing. When the J fell on the river I knew it was not meant to be.

I hung with Michael Phelps a little bit, and we actually sat at the same table for a while in one of the tournaments. I was shocked by what kind of person he was. Completely normal.

There were some people out there that were saying he was cocky and this and that, and that he had a bad attitude, and that couldn't be further from the truth.

For a kid that has had so much happen to him over the past year, he could not have been more accommodating to the nonstop flow of people that would come up to him. He never said no to a picture, and he actually knows how to play poker pretty well.

He is really a good kid, and I wish nothing but the best for him.

There were a few good nights out, a few great dinners, somehow I ended up buying most of them! ha. I chilled with Matt V. a lot, he is another good kid and we had a pretty good time together.

Will the Thrill is on fire; he just took down the Caesars Heads-Up Championship, and if I had to bet on it I'd say he is due to pop a major tournament or a bracelet by the end of next year.

I have some funny pics from being out - once I figure out how to put them up they are going up. (Rock passed out at the table, Will being Will making everyone laugh, Matt doing some big pimpin'; it was a blast).

I pwned Devo in bar bowling and was immediately repwned in rock/paper/scissors. When Jena lost a best-of-seven to Shelly for the bill I really knew things weren't going my way! Capo's was definitely worth it though; the food kicked ass!

On to Foxwoods ... ugh. Foxwoods is about a two-hour ride from my house, and I've only been there about three times in my life. Simply, I hate it there.

Nothing changed after this trip. The tournaments there may be run as poorly as I've ever seen in any cardroom anywhere! Depending on the floor person or the dealer, the rules can change up to three times per tournament, which is just not right.

They start at 10 a.m., which was difficult since I was just getting back from Vegas. Nobody seemed to like that though. I crashed with Al R. (aka Wounded Bear), who is going to do big things on the circuit over the next year.

My first tournament was a $600 on Tuesday, and for $600 I learned a lot of valuable lessons.

1) It is normal at Foxwoods to raise in the $25/$50 level to $700, and more importantly than that, you will probably get two calls.

I have played the majority of my poker in Atlantic City over the past few years and I have grown accustomed to how the play is there. Now that I've been to Vegas a bunch I've learned that it's different out there.

Foxwoods is just a whole new world of poker, and I was warned that I would encounter some of the worst poker I had ever seen. I can't really disagree.

Anyway I was down to $1,500 from my starting stack of $5k early in Level 2. I try not to just get the rest of my chips in to get them in and to never give up, but it is hard sometimes.

I told myself that this was going to be a big test to see if I've grown at all.

2) Well I have - I grinded a stack between $1,500/$2,500 for almost four hours. I got the last of my $1,100 in on the last hand of Level 5 and doubled, so I came back from the break with $2,400. By the end of Level 6 I was sitting on $32k!

I was thrilled, and although the accolades from the people at the table that made it through with me were great, I did this for me, to show myself it's never over and I can always come back.

Seventy people got paid in this tournament and we were approaching 100 to go. I know a lot of people think they play perfect or strive to play perfect; well I know I am not even close to perfect. I don't think anyone can play a perfect tournament, but you do your best to minimize mistakes.

Well I made a really bad play, and stacked off with K 7 after I had been playing great, and this was all my fault. At $400/$800 I raised for some reason in early position to $1,950. The big blind reraised to $4,800 and the hand should have been over.

At the time it made sense to call, as there were a variety of flops or situations that I was looking for where I was going to try and steal the pot on the flop, being in position. It made sense at the time, but I do need to work on analyzing the entire situation a little better.

To be clear ... I was not trying to make a hand. My reads have been pretty good lately so I was going to go with it. The K-4-5 two diamonds was not exactly what I was looking for on the flop, and when the blind led out for $5k, I read his bet completely wrong.

It looked to me like a defensive bet that he was making with TT, JJ, QQ, A-Qd. Long story short, I shoved, trying to take down the nice pot there; he had A-K, GG me.

I sat right next to my friend Joe Cutler in the Limit event and we were having some fun betting on every flop, had some surrounding tables laughing, drinking beers at 12:05. It was a fun table, but that eventually came to an end.

Then there was Thursday ... potentially my last day at Foxwoods forever. It all started with a 15-man last-shorter bet. 10 a.m. tourneys require breakfast, and the first person out had to go and take orders, get their car out of valet and drive 15 minutes down the road to Dunkin Donuts.

Not only did I lose with TT to J-9, to be the first person out, but J-9 was in the bet, so I had to take his breakfast order after he knocked me out! I was a pretty good sport about everything even though I was not happy.

I took a quick lap around the casino after I got knocked out before I left, when I was approached by a sweet nice little old lady that must have been 75 years old. She wanted to know if I could do her a favor and buy $50 worth of match plays for $20. Sure, why not?

I look at them while I'm going back to take everyone's breakfast order, they expired the day before, LMAO. So I was robbed by a little old lady. That was special.

Stout and a few others were loving the rant I had going telling everyone of my misfortune. It was all in good fun though.

After I got back with breakfast there were like nine of the people in the bet on the rail, which was weird. We knew something good was about to possibly go down because well there is nothing to do at Foxwoods except go to the bar and drink, so a few of us hit the bar, and I lost the first round of credit card roulette.

What a bad day. I was too drunk and tired to drive home that night, so I waited until the morning and got out of there as fast as I could for some Halloween festivities over the weekend. I was a vampire.

I really feel like playing, so there is a good chance I'm going to shoot down to the worst place in the world and play a satellite to get into the main event on Tuesday. We'll see what happens ...

-- Jason Young

He'll be posting on his progress in an exclusive series of blogs for PokerListings.com over the next few months.

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Respect, Aruba and Thoughts on Hellmuth

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:53:21 +0100

First off ... There have been a lot of people that have been great for different reasons over the past few months.

Being that I am completely new to all of this, I am thankful and grateful for everyone that has gone out of their way to talk poker, finances, bankroll management, life and all of the intricate details of the ins and outs of what it is like to play the poker circuit.

I've enjoyed myself more away from the tables in Vegas, L.A., A.C. and Aruba going out to dinner, having drinks, whatever - just getting to know some of you, and I truly appreciate all of the advice and support you have all given me.

Al R., Will, Al C., Tony Terminator, Cutler, A.P., Brady, Fox, Vinny, Kenna, Stout, Joey B., Jerry Cali, Perry, Matt V., N.C., Mike K., Barry L., Mike S., Micah, Devo, Larry Tennessee, Cliff and of course my three confidants Bizz, Acap and Rock, seriously thank you!

OK, that's out of the way ... Went to Aruba for UltimateBet's Aruba Poker Classic. Aruba was amazing, the hotel was great, the people were great, the food was excellent, the ocean was amazing, the results for me were terrible.

Congratulations though to Matt Brady on the win, Allie Prescott on a well-deserved final table and Al Riccobono on yet another cash in a major poker tournament.

My main event ended with about a half hour to go in Day 1. The structure of the tournament was great; we started with $15,000 in chips and 90-minute levels, and I had a good table draw for the way I like to play.

Well, after the very first hand of the tournament, I never had the $15k starting stack again for the entire day. I was down to $2,700 in the middle of the second level before I really slapped myself in the face and settled in and focused.

I grinded my stack up to $13k by the dinner break, which really wasn't that bad. Sitting on $8,900 with a half hour to go in the day, with the average stack hovering around $20k and the blinds at $200/$400, I wasn't worried at all.

I was planning on getting a hand that I could double up with before the end of the day, knowing my table would just assume I was trying to make a move to get chips or throw in the towel - but that's just simply never the case with me.

UTG raises to $1,400, folds to my button where I look down and find all you could ever hope for: AA. I waste no time and ship my $8,900 into the pot, at which point the original raiser took about four seconds before calling half of his stack with pocket eights.

$19k pot at the end of the day to get back to average going into Day 2; this is great. Oh - the small blind gave me the perennial kiss of death when he declared that I was in good shape because he folded an 8.

Flop J-T-5, "the dealer can't ship me the pot fast enough" ... turn Q, "he's not gonna dare put a 9 on the board is he?", river - 9.

I stared at the board for about 25 seconds because well, I can't get used to losing $5k no matter how much money I ever have - especially when I'm a 95% favorite to win the hand.

Wished the table the best of luck quicker than I usually do because I felt the need to literally run up to the room, grab a fresh bottle of Jager and a few cans of Red Bull and just start going to town.

So yes, I was "that guy" walking around the resort with a bottle of Jager, Red Bull and a box of Ritz crackers.

I won't bore you with the details of the $2k debacle. With 24 left I moved in from the button with K-4 and the big blind felt like he was priced in with 3-4. The board looked a little something like this: 6-8-9-5-2.

Other than two horrendous beats I had a great time in Aruba with Jena; we really spent a lot of time with a lot of good people and we had a blast. Aruba was definitely one of the nicest if not the nicest place I've ever been and I already can't wait to go back.

Moving on ... I read a lot of blogs, a lot of poker news, and I'm usually on all of the major sites reading about well-known players, not so well-known players; I just can't get enough really ... it helps to see where other people's heads are at.

While I was in Aruba, at UltimateBet's Aruba Classic, I couldn't help but notice someone was missing. Sure enough, Phil Hellmuth wrote a blog that explained his wife was in their penthouse suite in Aruba by herself while he decided to stay behind and play in another World Series of Poker Europe event.

He's so concerned with bracelets that he left his wife in Aruba alone and failed to show up to HIS OWN SPONSOR'S biggest tournament of the year. Believe it or not a lot of people actually made the trip to Aruba just to see this guy and what does he do? He shows up five days late. Five!

You claim to be some poker god but you should be ashamed of yourself and publicly apologize for your enormous mistake. It would make you a lot more likable to actually see you admit that you did something wrong.

To make things worse when he actually did show up, he got on the microphone and could not have been more annoying when the main event was under 100 players and the $2k was down to six tables.

If someone would have been walking around the room screaming into the microphone, giving play-by-play while hands were going on and basically shouting his every thought into a microphone for over 20 minutes while he was playing. he would have lost his mind.

For a guy that walks around like he is God's gift to all of us, I am simply not impressed. Hellmuth you really dropped the ball, you embarrassed yourself and your company. I'm just trying to tell it like it is ...

*A little side-note ... The poker community is a small one, and it's becoming clear that a lot of people are friends with a lot of people on tour. For the most part you see the same people EVERYWHERE you go!

I've had ample time to revise this, and I chose not to. I'm not attacking Phil Hellmuth; I'm simply saying what I feel needs to be said. I respect his poker accomplishments, but I don't respect a lot of his actions.

I don't know him on a personal level like many people that have been on tour for a lot longer than I do. My only interaction with him ever was at the WSOP, after E-DOG won his bracelet and they were celebrating with a group of friends.

They came into Lucky Strike where I was with a few of my friends (pre-bracelet). We challenged them to a game, $1k a man (I bowl about a 140 if I'm lucky) - it was more for the story than anything else.

He declined, and that was that. I do think it is disgusting how he treats other players at the table, and I'm not quite sure why Scotty Nguyen took so much heat and everyone is afraid to say when Hellmuth does something wrong.

Like I originally said, I'm just trying to tell it like it is.

-- Jason Young

He'll be posting on his progress in an exclusive series of blogs for PokerListings.com over the next few months.

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Lesson Learned

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:44:13 +0100

There has been so much going on in my head that it helps to get it all down on paper so to speak. After the bracelet win, I made a pretty good run in the Main Event.

I was knocked out 444th out of 6,700 people or something ridiculous like that.

In all, I had been in Vegas for over a month, hanging out with Ray Romano, meeting Norman Chad, and being introduced to a whole new world that I was not used to.

I took my brother, who had just graduated from Oneonta State University, to Florida and California. We stayed in Cali with my best friend Bart, who just moved out there to become a lawyer. It was our first time in California and it is so much different than the East Coast, and New York in particular.

There was some poker ... two tournaments at Legends; cashed in one, met some cool people, rented a boat and went out on the ocean for a day. All in all California was great and I could definitely see myself landing there for an extended period of time at some point in my life.

One day after coming home from California, I was off to London to meet my girlfriend Jena who had just completed a three-week class at Cambridge University. We were going to trek through Europe by train and see all the sites and do things we had always dreamed of doing

London, Amsterdam, Munich, Venice, Florence, Rome and Paris in three weeks.

To be honest it sounds a lot more glamorous and romantic than it actually is. I had always assumed I was more of a drinks-on-a-beach kind of guy, but this definitely confirmed it.

It was so stressful running to catch trains and dealing with the language barrier, not to mention the weak dollar. I was happy to head home when it was all over, and happy that I experienced so many things, but I probably wouldn't go back anytime soon.

There was no gambling at all in Europe and I was hungry to get back in action as soon as I got back. Luckily for me the Borgata Poker Open was right around the corner, and I didn't have to wait long before I was heading to AC with my dad and my boy Scottie K.

Met up with Rock as soon as we got there and we couldn't even wait for the tournament on Wednesday; we had to go to Tropicana and play in some $100 Tuesday night tournament. Carmine's for dinner; it was a great start to the trip.

It took me until my third tournament of the series, the $1,500 buy-in, before I made a dinner break. I made Day 2 in that tournament and cashed in 40th place, which was amazing considering I played four hands the last five hours of Day 1.

One of which was on the exact bubble - where I refuse to slow down. I raised from middle position with A-7 of spades (I had about $140,000 in chips which was probably top 10 at the time); blinds were $3/$6k with $1k antes.

So anyway, back to the hand - I make it $18k to go, button calls with about $70k behind and the big blind calls as well.

Flop comes down A-3x-9, and I bet out $36k, at which point the button tanks before eventually moving all-in and I reluctantly have to call, saying nice hand as I throw in the $34k, figuring he must have my kicker crushed.

The button rolled over K Q! I was shocked. Sure enough, the river was the seven of hearts and I lost a $200k+ pot which would have given me a big chip lead going into Day 2.

Instead I was extremely short-stacked as we only played one more hand that day. An uneventful exit the next day but I was on the board with a cash.

I felt like I was playing really well at this point, I took a stab at a Seven-Card Stud tournament on Monday and went pretty deep for my first Stud tournament ever. I think 16 people got paid and I busted out about 23rd or so, which was OK; it was actually very relaxing.

I was pumped for the $2,500 that was coming up because I was really feeling pretty good about my game.

Well, the Borgata bloggers tagged us the table of death, and I was thrilled when I sat down to see Kathy Liebert and Ylon Schwartz to my left and Action Bob and Jared Hamby to my right ... we were in for a poker game.

I played better in the $2,500 than in the tournament I won at the World Series or in the Main Event.

Long story short, I'll fast-forward to three players from the bubble, where I played A-K suited way too fast in my opinion even though given the circumstances, almost everyone I spoke to about the hand said I did everything right. You be the judge ...

Average stack $110k; I'm in the big blind for $4k with about $70k behind, smooth sailing into the money if that was the path I chose to take.

The problem was, there was an older gentleman that had sat at our table about a half hour before this hand happened with about $300k in chips and played half the hands, open-raising with A-5 off, J-9, Q-7 ... you get the idea.

He raised my blind to $12k, I looked down at A-K suited and I feel like I really didn't analyze the whole situation. I insta-shipped my whole stack in, only thinking how nice it will be when he calls with his A-T or K-Q.

What I failed to realize was he would definitely call me with 5-5 and then we would be racing to stay in the tournament, which I hate to do.

Well, it took him about one-tenth of a second to call with his KK, and that was it for me. One mistake and 13 hours of poker is all for naught. Lesson learned.

This Atlantic City trip didn't yield the results I was looking for, but I met a lot of cool people and got to know some people a little better that I have a feeling I'm going to be seeing a lot of on the circuit.

-- Jason Young

Editor's Note: Jason Young came out of nowhere to win a bracelet at the 2008 World Series of Poker and has taken his newfound bankroll and hit the road, following the pro circuit in hopes of building poker into a full-time career.

He'll be posting on his progress in an exclusive series of blogs for PokerListings.com over the next few months.

More blogs from Jason Young:

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Life-Changing Year Part 2

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:55:47 +0100

Back at home from that Atlantic City trip I began to look for a job again, because I had nothing going on.

After one of the strangest series of events ever, including a Memorial Day weekend bender, somehow the flames were rekindled for the umpteenth time in what was going on a four-year relationship - but we both agreed taking things slow was the way to go. Time to get my life in order!

I was offered a job selling refrigeration equipment to restaurants and I couldn't have been happier. I was going to be making my former salary of $35,000 a year with bonuses! WOO-HOO!

I was set to begin work in two weeks, June 16 to be exact. Tuesday June 3 I get a call from Rock; he's in Vegas, says to get my ass out there. I decline, stating that I have no money to gamble with right now. He doesn't let up ...

I tell him wait until there are some cheaper tournaments in AC and we'll meet up and play. He tells me "You can't win a bracelet in Atlantic City."

Now, after four years of grinding on and off and not being able to win a random $10k tournament at the Tropicana on a Tuesday night - although coming close - I think to myself "This kid is crazy!"

After telling my dad this kid is out there and he is telling me to come meet him and play a few tourneys, much to my surprise my dad's advice was "Borrow another $20k from the loan and go play."

Anyone ever hear of all signs pointing in one direction? Well, by the end of the night I had my flight and hotel room booked, and 24 hours later I was in Vegas.

Deep breath ... OK I'm booked at the Rio from the 3rd to the 13th, so I have 10 days to make something happen.

The first few days there couldn't have gone any worse. Rock was still staying with his dad; I was alone, losing money, and made no great showing in any of the first three tournaments I played.

Saturday night we had VIP passes to Allen Iverson's birthday party at Red Rock. Later that night after about 10 Grey Goose-and-tonics and buying the millionaire birthday boy himself a shot of Patrón, I became furious with myself.

I told Rock I was leaving; don't come back to the room, don't even come back tomorrow - I need to be alone and get my head straight, this is not why I came to Vegas - to party.

Back to the hotel at 3:30 a.m.; Jena's phone had been off for the entire night anyway, I'm sure we had not been getting along for the past few days and this was serious gut-check time. I already began psyching myself up for the day I had planned on Sunday.

Sunday morning I wake up at 10 or so, order room service that shows up at 12, perfect. I am not leaving the room all day, I decide.

Rock calls, and asks if I'm all right and if I want to go do something with the group of people we were with the night before. I decline.

I am harder on myself than anyone will ever be on me, so I mentally and emotionally tear into myself for a solid 6-7 hours, trying to refocus and reprogram myself for what was going to be two, maybe three tournaments tops in the week ahead before going home on Friday.

Seven p.m. Rock is outside of the hotel, says I need to get out for a little. I accept the dinner invitation with him and his friend; we roll over to Planet Hollywood, find a cool Italian place, have a decent meal, no booze for me.

Next door to the restaurant was sort of a fortune-telling machine - insert a dollar, insert your hand, out comes a fortune. At this point I'm willing to accept all the help I can get.

The fortune eerily predicted what was to come and it confirmed some things that I had already known, but it was nice to see it in writing, even if it was from a $1 palm-reading machine.

"Where to next?" asks Rock. Back to the hotel for me - I need to focus on tomorrow, there is a $1,500 shootout and I'm playing it.

I go back to the room and speak to Jena for a solid two hours. Something was different - we weren't at each other's throats, we laughed about some things, we both genuinely enjoyed talking to one another ... it was like when we first met - we could sit on the phone for hours at a time talking about nothing.

Over the course of this conversation I felt as if my entire universe was realigned. Things were going to be okay, and a calm came over me. By the time we got off the phone I made a bold statement. I told Jena that I was going to win the tournament I was playing the next day.

I had never made such a ridiculous statement before, and she had been around for a while and joked with me that I sucked at poker because she, along with everyone else I knew, was pretty tired of waiting idly by for the big score.

She didn't balk at my statement, not even for a second; she told me if I won the tournament it meant we were supposed to get married. (Scary, I know.)

I was so confident after getting off the phone that I made three phone calls. I called my dad, my best friend Bart, and Rock and told them all I was going to win the tournament the next day.

In bed at 11, I ordered The Bucket List on PPV and after that, felt great. Slept through the night for the first time since I had been in Vegas.

Monday, June 9 - I was up at 10 a.m. and Rock was just getting to the hotel. He opened up the blinds as he did every morning and we looked out at all Vegas has to offer, with the mountains in the backdrop.

I told him, man it's gonna be crazy when we are standing here two days from now and I have a bracelet. I decided I wasn't going to eat anything at all; I was just going to drink water all day. I walked downstairs, registered for the tournament and before long, the cards were in the air.

Five hours later I had won my first table and was thrilled that I had my first World Series of Poker cash under my belt in my first year there. I was even for the trip at that point.

Back up to the room. I was on a long break as we had to wait for all of the tables to finish play. Two episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond later I realized, if I win my next table I'm going to be at a World Series of Poker final table.

I still felt as if I was going to win the tournament so I figured I was in for a long night.

French onion soup and half of a chicken caesar wrap held me over until 6:30 a.m. when I came back from a 5-1 deficit and a marathon four-hour heads-up match to earn my seat at the final table.

By now it was morning in N.Y. and the news was spreading fast as my close friends stayed up all night and watched every update until the very end.

The feeling at this point is something that is hard to describe, but it goes a little something like this ... holy sh!t - I'm going to be playing for $335,000 and a bracelet in seven hours, WTF do I do?!?!

I woke up everyone I knew at this point to share my excitement and was met with a very united response. Go to sleep idiot! Easier said than done.

I restructured the prize payouts in hopes of striking a deal that would guarantee everyone at the final table $50,000 instead of $7,500 for 10th, $9,000 for ninth, etc. - pretty weak for all that work until you got to fifth, which paid $40,000, and up significantly from there.

I finally fell asleep at 8 a.m. and was wide awake at 9 a.m. You're out of your mind if you think I was going to be able to sleep. I went down to the tournament area early trying to really take in the whole situation for what it was: unreal.

The first seven players at the final table had agreed to this new payout structure but a snag in the road came at eight, and when nine straight up declined, we were playing moments later, everyone with $1 million in chips in front of them.

I instantly put my game face on.

After years of losing races, seeing my opponent hit miracles time and time again, it was my turn with nine people to go. In a blind-vs.-blind situation I decided to play my A-J real aggressively and I ran into an A-K in the big blind.

I moved all-in and after the longest seven minutes of my life he whispered "I call."

The cards were turned over and even in that moment no panic set in as somehow I knew it was going to be OK.

9-9-2 on the flop brought a glimmer of hope, and when a jack fell on the turn I let out a scream that had been bottled up inside of me for so long it was as if every unlucky thing I had ever had happen to me while gambling was just paid back.

When another jack fell on the river, it was all high fives with my newfound fans, and I was the chip leader and I never looked back.

Even a premature celebration and almost the biggest comeback in the history of the World Series of Poker did not stop me from standing up at 3:30 a.m. with that coveted bracelet and a win worth $335,000 - OH MY GOD!!!!

He'll be posting on his progress in an exclusive series of blogs for PokerListings.com over the next few months. Check back this week for two follow-up blogs from his first few events on the circuit.

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Life-Changing Year Part 1

info@www.Pokerlistings.com — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:52:54 +0100

Well here it goes ... So much to say I'm not really sure where to begin. This past six months has been the biggest roller-coaster of my life.

It's been full of run-ins with the past, glimpses of the future, and enough twists in the present to make me feel like I'm literally living out a movie.

To be blunt, I wasn't too sure what life had to offer me for quite some time, as it seemed nothing was going right and I could not catch a break. I left my job after six dedicated years because I felt I had hit a wall and there was no future for me where I was.

Everyone questioned this move for the most part and this led to some trying times with basically all of my family, friends and of course my girlfriend of 3.5 years.

As I sat around accomplishing nothing, waking up for The Price Is Right becoming the highlight of my day and seemingly the entire world as I knew it crumbling around me, I thought "Uh-oh! maybe I made a bad decision?"

My mom's disappointment was clear as day, my girlfriend's disdain for me was growing rapidly and with everyone's utter disgust with my lack of production or sense of urgency looming large over my everyday life ... I had reached a crossroads.

I always believed I was destined for big things - somehow, some way things were going to work out for me. My dad was at times the only one who actually believed this to be true, and fully supported my "time off" to gather my thoughts and figure out a greater plan.

For me, $35,000 a year with benefits is just living life waiting to die. Certainly not even close to the lofty goals and expectations I had set for myself. I never back down from what I believe no matter how unpopular my choices may be and never fear the consequences.

Basically I'm a stubborn f*** and I trust myself more than I trust you when it comes to what's best for me.

Poker and gambling have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I lost more money betting on sports when I was 18-21 than most people earn in 10 years. Clearly I needed to find a new vice ... Helloooo, Texas Hold'em.

It started off as a hobby for my dad and me, something we could do together other than going to a baseball game. We quickly learned that our new hobby could be very profitable, as we both experienced some early success.

Fast-forward through four years of torture, dozens of bubbles, bad beats and miserable rides home from Atlantic City in the middle of the night to make it to work in the morning, and you had two miserable poker souls - sick of retelling bad beat after bad beat story and wondering if there was really any hope in this stupid game that had seemingly kicked our asses.

I left my job in September and after going on a few interviews I still wasn't ready to take a job to kill time, as everyone so eloquently put it. It's not in my nature to waste time and if something doesn't make sense to me, it's hard to put any substantial effort or time into it.

I spent a couple months trying to come up with a plan to buy an existing business. A lot of red tape, forms, banks, loan apps, BS, more forms, more BS, more waiting, more aggravation, no time for poker, no money for poker, no money period.

I had promised myself once I got out of a six-figure debt at the ripe old age of 21 that I would never again be in the negative, and from working and being creative throwing some parties at local bars I built up a respectable bankroll of about $50,000 over the years.

Well, the extra cash had stopped coming in years ago and I was accustomed to living a certain lifestyle: I like to go out to dinner, the nicer the restaurant the better; I like expensive bottles of wine; I love going away on vacation ... Long story short, none of these things changed, even after I quit my job.

Sure enough, come March I was broke. Actually about $40k in the hole from credit cards and whatnot. How did this happen?! and what do I do next? Move to Florida? Sure, why not ...

My relationship for all intents and purposes was over. I took some of the money from the loans I secured for the business venture that didn't go through and paid off all of my bills, had a goodbye party, and was looking forward to a fresh start in the Sunshine State.

Well ... being that I wear T-shirts in the winter in New York, a permanent move to Florida just was not in the cards, so to speak. The most productive thing that happened while being down there though was that I found that hunger to play poker again.

I played every day (OK OK I was only there for 2 weeks ha) but nevertheless whatever money I had left it seemed as if I was going to give it one last hoorah playing poker.

Easier said than done. I came back to N.Y. on fumes. I was single; for one reason or another my once-overcrowded stable of friends had seemed to diminish, and I was 2.5 hours away from a cardroom. Moving to Atlantic City with my last $15k to my name didn't seem logical, so back into my rut I went.

I had made a trip to AC with my dad toward the middle of May to play in a $2,000 buy-in tournament. Another disappointment.

While my dad and I were drinking away our sorrows in a measly $200 second-chance tournament after we had both been eliminated, we found a drinking buddy at the table - Rock from Tennessee.

We met him and his father in line while we were signing up for the $2k, and we all got to talking. I didn't last very long in the tournament, gave Rock my number and told him I was down to get some drinks if he got knocked out.

We spoke for a few hours that night as the shots and beers were flowing. I later learned he was doing what I had only dreamed of, running around the country playing poker for a living.

Sweet. That was the first time the idea of meeting in Vegas for the World Series came up. I laughed it off.

He'll be posting on his progress in an exclusive series of blogs for PokerListings.com over the next few months, beginning today and tomorrow with the amazing story of his bracelet win.

Check out Part 2 here.

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