Note: I have typed out of the dollar amounts in hopes that everyone will be able to read them no matter what browser he or she is using. I hope it works. It's 4 a.m. on Sunday morning, and I just got done with a 7 hour session at 500/1000 Omaha 8. It was a swingy session as always. I jumped out quickly to up20000 and then lost a bunch. I was all-in several times for the last few thousands of my buy-in, but I managed to double or chop to stay alive each time. I really heated up and remarkably finished the night on a very postive note at up 34194 bucks. The 24 hours I spent in Huntsville with Stephanie were great. Last night we ate at a great Mexican restaurant called Rosie's with her Dad, and today we ate at Chili's with her Mom. We also went to the mall today where I, like a typical guy, spent most of the time relaxing in the massage chairs at Brookstone. I'm home in Birmingham now and need to get some sleep before a long night of partying tomorrow. Also, John and I have agreed to the terms of the weightloss bet: The original bet shall be for 15000 dollars. The loser cannot lose more than 15000 dollars. We are meeting to weigh in on Tuesday to find out our respective weights. There are two stipulations in the bet. In the event that the player who loses the lower percentage of his body weight loses between 12 and 14.9% of his original body weight, he only has to pay the winner 10000 dollars. In the event that both of us lose 15 percent of our body weight, the loser only has to pay the winner 5000 dollars. It should be fun, and I will have very routine updates of how my progress is going. It's not going to be easy, and it's going to be especially difficult to almost entirely give up alcohol until we weigh in again on April 2nd. ---------------------------------------- I'm really tired, and I don't feel like doing this right now, but I'm going to write a long wrap up post about 2006. What a year it was! If you read this whole post, I sincerely thank you. It was just one year ago that I decided to take the semester off of school to travel to Australia to play in The Aussie Millions. The decision that I made then goes against everything that I stand for now, but it turns out that it was a life changing decision for the good. I got to see more of the world by age 21 than most people will see in their entire lives. All of the places I played poker in 2006 in chronological order: - Melbourne, Australia - Nassau, Bahamas (Twice) - Vienna, Austria - PPM V Cruise of the Caribbean - Barcelona, Spain - Lake Tahoe, Nevada - Las Vegas, Nevada (Thrice) - Verona, New York - Los Angeles, California - Atlantic City, New Jersey (Twice) - London, England - Tunica, Mississippi - Niagara, Ontario, Canada - Mashantucket, Connecticut I honestly couldn't be happier with where I am with my career right now. Sure the swings can be brutal, but those are short-term, and I've realized that if I can stay focused I can get out of almost any jam I find myself in. Whenever you partake in any activity or job in your life, the ultimate goal is to get to the top of that activity. I came close in mine, Professional Tournament Poker, and I hope I can get to the top and win PoY in 2007. The highs of this year were unbelievable. Below, I've listed the top 10 most memorable hands of my poker year in 2006 (chronological order): 1) Arguably the biggest mentally motivating pot I've ever won: Dragging a huge pot to eliminate my friend Laura Fink from The Aussie Millions with just a few minutes left deep in the night on day 2. The pot propelled me to 2nd overall in chips of the 250 players remaining and gave me the mental strength to play well for the rest of the tournament. At a 7 handed table, Laura Fink opened UTG for around 8000. I reraised out of the BB to 23000 with AK, and she moved in for 50000ish. I called, and she showed JJ. The board came QQxTK, and I sat motionless at the TV table, not realizing that this could've been the biggest pot of the year for me. 2) My QQ holding up against David "Gary_Player" Winters' AJ all-in preflop for a pretty big pot in a button/blind situation for a pretty big pot just outside of the money at the Canadian Poker Championship in the Bahamas. The board came QTxxx, and I put myself in good position to eventually make my second final table in my second live tournament. 3) Tripling up in Vienna, Austria with 33 AIPF on a board of 3xxxx against both Micky Wernick and Swedish sensation, Olle Sundin. The pot was big enough to keep me alive in a 1000 Euro tourney that I eventually final tabled and made a 6-handed deal at. 4) A pot I played against Juan Sastre Durin in the first round of the World Heads-Up Championship in Barcelona, Spain. This was one of my favorite places and tournaments of the year, and I'm going to do my best to get back there next year: Just 11 minutes into our match, I limped for 50 chips on the button with TT. Durin raised to 250, and I reraised to 850. He called and the flop came. KT5 with 2 clubs. Durin checked, and I bet 1100. He quickly raised to 4000, and I moved all-in for his 19k total. He called quickly, and I wasn't sure he didn't have the nuts. He showed KhQc. The turn made me sweat with a 6c, but the river was the 6 of spades. I won two more matches in the 128 player field before losing to the eventual champion Isaac Moyales De Vega in the round of 16. 5) Just days after my 21st Birthday, this pot came up in Lake Tahoe, Nevada in the first $1k event that I final tabled. It was a monster pot that gave me one of the biggest mountains of chips I've ever had in front of me. I went on to final table the event and finish 2nd to a gentleman named Dan Kline: An unknown limped in the cutoff, the SB completed and I checked T3o in the BB. The flop came T64 with 2 spades. We checked to the limper who bet. I checkraised, and he said "Call" almost before my chips hit the felt. The turn was a 5, and I led out. He quickly called again. The river was an offsuit 7, giving me the ass end of the straight. I checked and the player immediately moved all-in for 1.5x the pot. I tanked for a few minutes before finally calling. Something didn't just feel right about his body language, and I dragged a monster. 6) Probably the most fun pot ever. It came in the Bellagio Cup 10000 dollar event: Just moments after winning a big pot with quads 3s against Eric Froehlich, a very memorable pot came up against Men "The Master" Nguyen. With 62 players left, I opened at a full table UTG with 99. Men, in his usual deliberate fashion, tanked and then elected to call preflop. The flop came Q42 rainbow. Men checked, and I bet 3500. Men raised pretty quickly to 8500. I just felt like I could get Men off just about any hand here. I'm almost positive he doesn't have 44 or 22. We were both pretty deep, so I pondered and reraised to 28500. Men pondered for a full 10 minutes before I confidently called the clock on him. The tournament director counted him down until Men didn't act. His hand was dead. Scott Bohlman said, "Show a bluff one time." I showed Men one 9 and he went absolutely ballistic. He kept drinking his Corona as he told just about everyone in the room about the hand. He claimed to have folded AQ. 7) Also in the Bellagio Cup 10000 event: Heads up against my boy Danny Wong for the title. Danny raised to 120000 on the button, and I found AsAc in the BB. I decided to just call. The flop came K63. I checked and Danny bet 160000. I very quickly raised to 400000. Danny pondered and called. The turn was an offsuit 4. I bet 770000, and Danny moved in for 1700000. I didn't take too long, and called. Danny had 76. I needed to fade a 7, 6, or 5 to win my very first 10000 dollar event. I did that when the river came a King. I'll never, ever forget this hand. 8) With 11 players left and just a 2 spots away from the final table and more PoY points in the 1500 dollar event at Borgata. An unknown in the SB raised to 20000 and I called in the BB with T3dd. The flop came AT6 rainbow. He bet 30000 of my 190000, and I called fairly quickly. The turn was a 2. He checked, and I checked. The river was a 5. He pondered and bet 70000 of my last 160000. I pondered for several minutes before calling, and he showed QJ for Queen high. I dragged the pot and eventually finished 3rd, moving me to #2 in the Player of the Year race, where I stayed for several months. 9) A pot in the early going of the EPT London event: I raised to 600 in the cutoff with A6o The flop came AJ3. The Englishman checked, and I bet 800. He called. The turn was a King. This time he led out for 1200. I only had 2600 remaining. I eventually moved all-in and he called with JT. I held on the river, and this pot sticks with me because it was a classic case of me putting together the pieces and trusting my reads. 10) With 12 players left in the 5000 dollar event at The Five Diamond classic this month: I got all my money in against Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo with AQss against his QQ and flopped the miracle Ace to double up, survive in the tournament, finish 4th, and pick up more PoY points to finish the year in 4th place. It was probably the most memorable suckout of the year. I'm not exactly sure what my plan is for 2007. I'm considering moving to Vegas at some point, but who knows. One of the things that I love about this lifestyle is the freedom and the ability to not have to commit to anything. I could just as easily end up back in school in the Fall of 2007. I just plan on taking everything one day at a time and seeing where I end up. I am so, so, so thankful that I have a supportive family that trusts me to do what I do. I know that there are so many kids out there whose parents are against it, and I'm glad I don't have to fight that everyday. I'm also fortunate enough to have an AMAZING girlfriend, Stephanie, who understands that I have crazy hours and habits. I see so many guys in our industry who are incapable of carrying on a relationship because of what they do. They are relegated to brothels, strippers, and prostitutes for their female companionship. Finally, I'm incredibly thankful for each one of you, my "fans", who have helped make this possible. I'm honest with you because it helps me be honest with myself, and I appreciate the, literally, thousands of emails I've received from you guys since this journey has started. I, no doubt, couldn't have done it without the words of encouragement, especially through the rough times. I also almost certainly will not take many if any 2 week long trips to the poker festivals. My hourly rate in tournaments with a buy-in less than 2000 bucks make it unnecessary to arrive at the venues so many days before the main event. My time is better spent with family, my girlfriend, and playing online. Also, it's almost impossible to stay healthy when you're on the road that much, so it's something I want to cut down on. After gaining a lot of weight during this crazy ride that was 2006, I realize now that as much as it sucks after a long day or night of playing, you just have to hit the gym a couple days a week if you want to be healthy enough to do this year after year. Also, the extravagant multi-course meals will have to be trimmed down. In closing, I still want to reiterate how much I don't recommend doing this for a living. Yes, things have worked out amazingly for me. Yes, there are some kids out there making more money than their extended family combined, but that doesn't matter. The ones of us who are successful represent such a tiny, tiny, tiny percent of the guys 19-24 who try to do this for a living. One of the most common email topics I get come from kids my age who start out by saying "I cashed out this much" or "I made this much last month." That doesn't matter either. It is almost more important to manage the money you have than to worry about making more money. Also, having one, hell even 6 successful months back to back doesn't mean you're going to be able to hack it for a living. Every kid on every poker forum in the world is going to tell you he's the best and is no doubt going to play for the rest of his life. For every one who says that, I probably have 10 on my AIM list who are currently broke and asking for loans or returning to school. There is nothing wrong with these guys, and it's not like they aren't skillful players, but there are just so many traps and expenses that will suck your bankroll. It makes it almost impossible to do this for a living. I'm not even 100% sure that I'm going to be able to. Thank you again for all of you who have followed my progress this year. I have met some of the most amazing guys throughout this year who I hope to continue to have a friendship with. I can't even begin to name them as there are dozens and dozens. It has been a year that I'll never forget. The purpose of this blog is to give an insight into what it's like to play poker for a living, and I think I've done a good job of that. Since I began posting on January 5, 2006, I probably posted 320 or more of the 365 days, so it will be really nice to look back on this "journal" years down the road. If I've deterred one player from playing over his head or encouraged one more kid to not take the game so seriously than I think I've made an impact. I'm doing my best to bring as much good to a tournament circuit that has its jerks, thiefs, and beggars. Along those lines, please do not ask me for loans or staking at all in 2007. I have never staked, and if I am interested in staking than I will approach you. I also will not do any loans this year. I'm lucky enough to have collected every loan I've made, but I'm not willing to risk getting stiffed after all of the incidents I've seen on the circuit. This line of work doesn't ever really give you the feeling of giving back to the community. Hell, most of the time you're TAKING money from people. For this reason, I've decided to donate 2% of my overall 2007 tournament profits to charity. If I profit over 1 million dollars, I'll donate 5 percent. I haven't decide which charity yet. I'll likely study the organizations as the year goes along before making a decision at the end of the year. Thanks. SS

Today was a pretty interesting one. I woke up around 1:30 and joined my Mom and Carly for lunch. From there I headed to the north side of Birmingham to do a cover shoot for Alabama Rounder magazine. I watched the Bama game while we were shooting and got crushed on the bet, losing both sides for -$1100. Frustrating season for Bama at 6-7. Hopefully next year will be better. That took a few hours, and then I joined my Mom and sister once again at my Aunt's house for her birthday. Finally, Carly and I headed down to the south side to a bar called TC's. She had some friends there, and I decided to tag along. To set the scene at this bar, it is an underage mecca (sp?). I would peg the average age at 19 years 4 months. I'm not quite sure how the place doesn't get shut down, but you walk on and it you can just smell the fragrance of minors. That being said, I fully expected to see some crazy shit. There was no shortage of rap music and girls dancing on tables. The coolest part was when two fights broke out almost simultaneously. First, rumor has it that knives were pulled and we witnessed a fight between two guys that included atleast one of them swinging a pool cue. Just minutes later, an overweight female bar tender attacked a girly-girl with a series of punches and kicks. I was almost in disbelief. Then, fights broke out in the streets and the cops locked all of the patrons in the bar from the outside. I'm almost positive that is a fire hazard, but who knows. We made it out eventually and headed over to Innisfree before finally heading home. I got home and decided to degen a session of $500/$1k Omaha 8. I think it's important to take these shots every couple of months or so, or maybe I'm just justifying my drunken play. I bought in for $11.5k. The game looked very good though, and I was up $28k at my highpoint. At around 7 a.m. I started missing every draw, and I was actually all-in on the turn from behind for my last $4000 in a pot with 2378 vs AJxx on AJ7T. I spiked a 7 on the river to scoooopaloop. I rallied and ended up +$11,600ish. I'm not sure if I'm going to take another shot at the game. I am definitely a much better player at th game now, so I may spend some time there. I think my knowledge of the game is actually now more suitable for 4+ players instead of the HU and 3handed games I was playing in October. Finally, we have officially agreed on the terms of the weight loss bet. I will have the details as well as a novel-long "Wrapping Up 2006" post tomorrow that may or may not be worth reading. I'm headed to Huntsville now to hang out with Stephanie and to meet her father, who lives in Orlando, Florida and is up for the Holiday. SS

The past couple of days have been really lazy. The most eventful thing I did was go to ZooLight Safari with my girlfriend the other night. It was kind of cool. Today my Mom, sister Carly, and I played several games of Parcheesi. Parcheesi is a board game that we've played in our extended family for several years, and we're really competitive. It's a good strategy game, so if you're into that kinda stuff pick up the game. I also bet UCLA to cover 2.5ish against FSU, but that didn't work out. That drops my bowl record to 3-3. Tomorrow is going to be exciting because Bama plays Oklahoma State in Shreveport, LA for the Independence Bowl. Even though it is a crappy bowl game, it will be fun to watch Bama play. I am going to degenerate it up and bet the line and the O/U in the game tomorrow. In what has to be the lock of the bowl season so far, Bama and OSU will definitely score under 50. I'm also picking Bama +2. I genuinely think Alabama is going to win the game, so I don't think I'm only betting with my heart here. I watched the documentary No-Limit: A Search for the American Dream on the Poker Tournament Trail tonight. My dad got it for me for Xmas. I'm confused how I feel about the documentary. I like the idea behind it, and there was actually some very good commentary from the pros. I couldn't help but get extremeeeeeeeely annoyed by the commentary by Susan Genard at the tables though. When I hear that kind of whining in real life on the trail I immediately put my iPod headphones on. I laughed kind of hard though when she ranted to her poker-uneducated boyfriend when she got scooooooooopalooped with 2345 suited vs KK in Stud 8 or better. She actually seemed like she had an idea how to play the games though. I give the documentary a B overall. I'd be interested in hearing other peoples' opinions in the comments section. Also, I'm very close to working out all the details with a gentleman named John from Atlanta in the weight loss competition. I'm soooo excited about potentially getting in shape. It looks like we're going to book the bet for $15k. SS