Haven't written in 5 weeks so a lot has happened that I should mention.
First, I went to Bonnaroo for a few days with Jeremy and Adam. It's a music festival and we drove all the way down to Tennessee, 14 hours each way. I wasn't going purely for the music but also the experience of just being there and living through it. It was a cool time, unlike anything i had ever known before. Everyday would be filled with concerts and performances and the days would just go by. Never a dull moment. We slept in the tent the first night, but after waking up at 7 am in a sleeping bag with 90° weather, feeling like you're being suffocated by the heat and having to walk half a mile just so you can take a dump on top of someone else poo...Adam decided it would be best to stay at a hotel for the remainder of the trip. I didn't blame him one bit and tagged along but Jeremy was on his own for a night.
Then a week later I went to California with my parents and brother for 2 weeks. It was definitely an interesting experience since 1. i had never been to California and 2. it was the only vacation i've taken with my family since 7th grade when we went to Israel together.
We stayed in San Francisco for 5 nights with family friends but towards the end it got boring and I was ready to get going on our adventure down the coast. Afterwards we rented a car and drove to Monterey.
Ken was in Santa Cruz and drove by to pick me up with his friend Noelle. We went out that night to some bars in downtown Santa Cruz and it was awesome catching up. SC seemed like an amazing college town. As we were walking to the 2nd bar this guy was just smoking a bong in the middle of the street...so much more laid back in the west coast. We crashed at Noelle's place and the next morning Ken drove me back and we all had a nice lunch on the dock with my family and him.
Then we were off to Santa Barbara and we spent 2 nights there. 13 miles away there was a widespread fire that got out of control. Half of the sky was covered by smoke and in the distance you can actually see the glow of the flames. It looked like an enormous volcano spreading over the mountains. The view in general in California is amazing. We drove down the coast so multiple time we would be able to see the sun setting over the Pacific and the mountains protecting and isolating everything else on the other side. I think i truly fell in love with California...it's just unlike anything else in the US.
Anyways, after that we went to La Jolla which is a city next to San Diego that means "the jewel". The small town is upscale and fancy, with mercedes-benz being available as if they were toyota. Nice cars and hot girls were surrounding the atmosphere.
We spent the remainder of the time there and then went back home.
I played cards twice on the trip since there are poker rooms all over the west coast. My dad dropped me off at one card room in a bad part of San Diego. He really didn't want me to go in but i told him it would be fine and that i would call him. 1 1/2 hours later i was up 750 and he picked me up. Another time before that in San Francisco i played 2-3-5 nl and won 150. that game was way out of my bankroll wiht 200 min. and 1k max buy in. I flopped a straight with AJ and made some money that hand so i just left since i didnt want to lose my money.
Overall on the trip i made 900 playing cards.
When i got back to Livingston, Adam and I decided to hit up Atlantic City that Friday. We played for a few hours and I finished up $1025 which boosted my BR from $1600 to $2600. This win definitely added to my overall confidence.
Then this week i checked out a new club in Queens which i can't say any more about (location wise) but it's run by one of the people who used to run Straddle for a while.
The club is nice and spreads 1/2 everyday and 5/5 3 days a week. The 5/5 game seems really juicy wiht 1k min. buy in and 3k max, i think...might be 5k max after midnight. Either way i see it as a great opportunity to be able to conquer that game. i would definitely need atleast 4-5k before i could think about sitting down and just taking a shot but i am confident...maybe by the end of the summer.
Anyway i ended up losing 400, i wasn't feeling it...i'm not sure exactly why. The next night i decided to play the rebuy tourny at Bloomfield. There were about 40 entrants and i was in for $150. First place was $1800 and i came in 6th which paid 0. The structure is horrible with 15 minute rounds and by the end it just forces you to gamble so i'm never playing that again. On the other hand, it made me completely more confident in my tournament ability and i'm definitely going to persue playing more tournies just for practice sake. I'm very confident that i can finish in the money and 1st consistantly so we'll see what happens.
That left me with $2k and last night i gave my mom $1,000 because I felt like i owed her. I haven't been contributing for the last 2-3 months with minimal payments here and there so I felt obligated to give back some.
Well, this leaves me with $1k to work with but i'm not worried. I know i can go on another run as long as my confidence is with me and i don't let my emotions get the better of me.
That's all for now, more to come soon.
