Well, three weeks of school are complete. I still haven't missed a class, and I'm really not minding the routine that much. My first big test is coming up this Friday though, so I'll really be tested next week for the first time since returning to classes. Not too much has been going on. Other than school this week, I spent some time playing Wii, pool and ping pong, and watching a lot of The Australian Open Tennis and Buick Open golf in HD. I also went out a couple of times. I forgot how much fun binge drinking really can be :) No, I really should probably keep it to a minimum. It can't be healthy. Stephanie was in town for the weekend, so I was happy to see her. Saturday we went to the Alabama vs. Auburn basketball game. Alabama finally shot the basketball well and booked a 97 to 77 win to record, sadly, our first SEC win of the season to improve us to 1 and 4. One disturbing thing about the team this year is how bad they are from the stripe. We're shooting just 59 percent from the free throw line, which is just embarrasing. Richard Hendrix is at like 53 percent for the season, ouch.

Poker has gone downhill just a little bit since I last posted. I made some mistakes in game selection that I hope not to make anymore. Game selection is so important and essential to being the best professional you can be in this business. I've been playing very little poker. Part of it is because UB locked my account for some unknown reason. I emailed them and of course they're slow as hell and told me it was a "routine security check" after 3 days and 10 emails. lol. The other part is that good games run so damn infrequently. I'll include a link to a sick cash game hand history that came up today.

Coooooler

I decided to take an old school line here and check/call and then checkraise the turn in this limped pot. The river was so sick. I puked when I got raised on the end, but I was getting decent numbers and only have to be shown an under fullhouse, AQ, or a bluff 3 out of 10 times or so. The call very well could be incorrect on the end, but it's hard to toss it :(

SS

Tonight, I'm doing a radio interview with my buddy Bernard Lee of 1510 The Zone based out of Boston. Bernard is a Harvard graduate and has over 1 million dollars in tournament earnings, including a 13th place finish in the 2005 WSOP Main Event. He hosts The Zone's weekly poker show. It should be a good time. For anyone interested in listening to the show, go to www.1510thezone.com. Click on "Listen Live" in the upper lefthand part of the page. You can listen live tonight from 6 to 7 EST. It will be replayed Thursday from 9 to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 10 to 11 p.m. Thanks. SS

Sigh. Out in the middle of the sixth hour. I arrived in the 8 seat to find a dream table with 6 unknowns with an average age around 45. Then like a nightmare Keith Lehr sat in the 5 and a good nosebleed stakes online player named Dustin Dirksen sat to my immediate left in the 9, fuck. Just when I thought I was going to get to raise every pot. I had a great first 2 levels running the 20000 stack up to 28000. I raised up front 20 minutes in with red Tens to 300 and the BB defended. We saw a flop of T52 with two clubs. The old guy led into me, and I settled on just calling. The turn was an offsuit 6. He led 600, and I raised to 1900. He called. The river was an offsuit Ace. He checked and I bet 3900. He called with AT. Great river for me. From there the day went to hell. I managed to win, I think, two more pots on the day over the next 3.5 hours. I bled slowly. One hand the incredibly active-Lehr open limped the button and the SB completed 200 more. I raised ATo to 1800 out of the BB. Keith called. The flop was 843. I led 2800 and Keith called. I checked out when the turn was an 8 and Keith bet 4800. I was certain and still am that Keith had an 8, and I told myself before the turn that I was leading out 5800 on any card that wasn't a 7, 8, 9 or T. Sigh. The last hand before the second break an Asian lady limped and I raised AQo behind her in EP to 1700. Keith cold called in the SB. The flop was Kxx, about as good as I could hope for without flopping a pair or a draw because it's so hard for them to hit. They checked and I bet 3400. Keith checkraised to 6800 and I folded, and Keith showed me two jacks for an incredible checkraise. He played flawlessly all day, as usual, and really goes after pots. He may be the most underrated NLHE player in the world. He ran the most wonderful, impossible 3 barrel bluff that I can recall seeing in a poker tournament since I've been playing live. Get this hand. Folded to Keith on the button at 3/600. He open limps. The Asian lady completes and and the BB checks. The flop was Q84 I think with two hearts. Checked to Keith and he bet 900. Both blinds called. The turn was the Qh. Checked to Keith again. He bets 2200. When I saw him make this bet I told myself he had to have a big flush minimum to bet this card into these 2 random unknowns. The Asian lady called and BB folded. The river was an offsuit 2 or something. She checked to Keith and he bet 8000 of her last 10000. She autofolded and Keith showed the whole table 93ss for a no hand no draw bluff. Anyway, I was down to 9000 at 3/600 and literally blinded to death until I was at 3800 at 4/800. I could not get my fucking chips in a pot because Keith opened every pot and I had no 3bet FE. I had two attempts to shove in for like 10 BB and managed to slowly squeeze out 32o and 84o both times. Over 90 minutes, I don't recall being dealt worse. It was painful to watch. For my final 3800 I got in with K3o against the BB's KTss after he took a full minute to call what should've been a snap call. The flop came AT5 all clubs and Dustin Dirksen prematurely said "Good game man." The turn was one of the wheel cards, but I missed on the end. I got the hell outta there because I hate the city of Tunica. Back in Tuscaloosa now where my Mom and I joined my sister, Heather, her boyfriend, Ben, and several others for a few drinks and the sickkkkkkkk UFC fight that was going on. Tomorrow lots of football and maybe some poker. No live poker for like 4 months now.

SS