Catching Up

Hello readers! Long time, no blog. I thought after a 3 year, 1 month hiatus, it was time to fill you in on how life has been going. This will probably have to be spread out across a number of posts, but you got to start somewhere so here goes.

For starters, I'm a dad now. For those of you who know me personally, this will not come as much of a shock to you. For those of you that don't, or haven't seen or talked to me in a long time, SURPRISE! She just turned 2 years old on July 8th, and her name is Julia (Juli for short). She is the center of my universe and makes me laugh on a daily basis. Needless to say, I am all caught up on my Sesame Street, Thomas the Train, Sid the Science Kid, and Wild Kratts episodes. Thankfully, she isn't too fond of Barney the purple dinosaur. Phew! There is so much to write about regarding Juli, but I will save that for future posts. Anyway, back to business.

I went back to school in January of 2014 and completed my bachelor's degree in Business Management from Westfield State University this past May. It was a tough grind for those 2 1/2 years (baby, new house, 2 jobs, one of them new), but I got through it, and did it entirely online. Not to make excuses, but school was a big reason why I have been failing at my blogging duties these past few years. I have plans to begin my MBA at MCLA in September of next year, and just recently was promoted to a back office position at the bank I've been working at since June of 2014. Given the sensitivity of the information I am privy to, I won't be discussing my job very much, if at all.

As I touched upon in the above paragraph, Jac and I bought a house in Richmond, MA back in November of 2014. It's pretty cool being a homeowner, and I don't miss apartment life at all. It's very private, down the road from my mom, and a 5 minute walk to the beach and boat launch. We kayak as much as we can, and Juli absolutely loves going down to the small private beach to play in the water. We are loving the pond life.

I haven't been keeping up too much on what's been going on in the sports world. We don't have real cable so ESPN basically doesn't exist in my world. Plus, SportsCenter has been reduced to filling viewers in on what athletes and coaches are tweeting about, and is more entertainment news than it is actual sports news. Like, I really don't care what Kevin Durant had for breakfast this morning, or how Dwyane Wade likes to spend the off-season. I want numbers, and stats, and highlights! That's sports! Save all the other crap for the morning talk shows and senseless radio banter. My fantasy baseball teams are holding on by a thread this year, mostly because I am not up to date on who's hot and who's not, but I shouldn't complain. In one of my leagues, I've won the championship 4 of the past 5 years. Too bad that one isn't for money. Oh well, bragging rights still count for something don't they? At least football is right around the corner, and that I can actually watch on TV. Plus, I'm in a pick 'em league where you can actually win some real money. I came close the past two seasons, but I kept getting screwed right at the end. This is the year I break through so watch out! By the way, congrats to the city of Cleveland! You finally get to hang your hats on LeBron's golden coat rack! Maybe the Indians will follow suit, and the Browns...ok let's not get carried away. Guess this means the Cubs will win the World Series this year if current trends are any indication.

And now, on to poker. Ah, poker. Feels like just yesterday that the government pulled the plug on all of us online players because we were getting royally screwed over by the greedy, high-up executives that were using stacks of $100 bills as kindling to fuel the fires in their giant fireplaces. It only took three years, but I did get my money back from Full Tilt, or the government, or whoever was getting interest on it. The WSOP just wrapped up for the summer, and as usual, the November 9 is full of names I have never even heard of. There were a few highlights to mention however. We should start with what I consider to be this year's most impressive accomplishment which was Brian Rast's second Poker Player's Championship victory. The 34-year old poker pro put up the $50,000 buy-in, and bested a field of 90 of the world's best players to take down $1,296,097. This is especially impressive given the fact that when he finally got heads-up with Justin Bonomo, he was facing a 4-1 chip disadvantage.

Another one of the summer's big stories involved well-known poker pro Jason Mercier. Mercier began his incredible run with a win in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Championship earning his 4th bracelet. Just an hour later, he entered the $10,000 Razz Championship where he finished in 2nd place. As if that wasn't enough, his next event, the $10,000 HORSE Championship, was another win, and Mercier's 3rd consecutive final table, and 5th WSOP bracelet. In all, Mercier cashed 10 times at this year's World Series, and now finds himself in a rather exclusive group of poker players with 5 or more bracelets. Oh yeah, and he also proposed to his girlfriend Natasha Barbour immediately following her 3rd place finish in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold-Em event. Hell of a summer for Jason!

Other highlights of this year's WSOP include kindergarten teacher Lisa Meredith's 3rd place finish in the $1,500 Millionairre Maker. She took down $500,000 for her effort, and it was her first ever WSOP event! Nicely done!

Benny Glaser also made news after he became the player ever to win bracelets in back-to-back Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better events in the same WSOP. He now has 3 career WSOP bracelets.

So what about me, you ask? Have I been grinding out small scores in nearby home games and local charity tournaments, or travelling back and forth to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun playing various tourneys and cash games? Have I been crushing poorly playing amateurs and taking their lunch money while they go out to the parking lot to cry in their cars and try to explain to their significant others why they came home broke? Am I preparing to head west for the bright lights of Las Vegas with $30,000 in my pocket like Matt Damon at the end of the movie Rounders? Sadly, no. No personal poker highlights to speak of these days. No bankroll, no big games, and no time. Hopefully all that will change in the near future, and you will all be the first to know when it does. Until then...