The past week or so has been pretty relaxing. We've just been sitting around the house playing online poker tournaments. I've been playing a lot of HORSE tournaments online each day with Aussie J and we've been doing last longers. I think I am up a little bit. We've each won a couple of the tournaments, which is pretty cool. I really feel like I'm getting good at all the games and am probably a favorite to play the 50000 dollar HORSE event at next year's WSOP. Stephanie and I have also gone to the Summerlin 24 Hour Fitness 4 out of the last 5 days. It feels really good to be able to go back and break a sweat. I was crippled most of the summer, of course, and my weight has actually jumped back up to the neighborhood of 218 lbs. I expected this as I was eating total trash food, drinking a lot and not able to do anything physically. Those who are familiar with my weightloss bet may remember that I was as high as 237 lbs and as low as 198. I'm right in the middle of that, and I'd like to get back to around 200 and hang there. This has got to be the most difficult profession in the world in which to stay in shape with all the lounging around. Stephanie and I are headed back to Birmingham on Tuesday. She'll head back to hang out with her family for a week in Huntsville, and I'm going to be in Birmingham. I might try to make it down to Tuscaloosa to hang out for a night, too. If anyone is in Tuscaloosa or Birmingham and wants to get dinner or a drink call my cell. We'll get back to Vegas August 7th and then a big group of us are headed out to Los Angeles early around August 11 or 12.

Tonight, Stephanie and I have an exciting evening planned. We're first headed to Fiamma at MGM. It is supposed to be a great Italian restaurant that I've never eaten at. After dinner we're going to see Cirque du Soleil's KA which is also at MGM. This is the only Cirque show in Vegas that I haven't seen and one of the few shows at all that I haven't seen. Afterwards we might join the roomies and hit a nightclub.

Sidenote: I have sent the video of me injuring myself before the WSOP to ESPN and it will be broadcasted during the WSOP Main Event. Make sure to look out for it. It is really cool and you won't be disappointed.

SS

We're back at our house in Las Vegas about 20 hours later than we expected. We actually got lost on our house boat on Lake Mead and weren't supplied with a radio or compass in the boat. We were relegated to sleeping in a cove overnight last night, since traveling in a houseboat at night is illegal. The nine of us had a really great time complete with lots of grilling out, alcohol and swimming. We'll probably relax the rest of the night. I think tomorrow is Sunday, so I'll try to take down a tournament or two online. I've decided that I am going to reside in Vegas and continue playing poker through the 2007 calendar year, atleast. I'm still enjoying it for the most part, and I just moved all of my stuff out here in April. I'm not ready to pack up and head back East yet. There is a fun International WPT schedule that is lined up for the rest of the year, so I'll likely continue traveling the circuit even though I no longer have the bankroll of 1 million dollars that is recommended for doing so. I'll also take some time playing live NLHE and possibly LHE cash games at Bellagio when I'm here in Vegas. There isn't anything coming up before WPT Legends in Los Angeles in late August. I anticipate going home to Birmingham to visit my family and also taking a vacation with Stephanie before departing for LA in mid-August to play cash games leading up to the main event. Blog updates will be infrequent. Thanks for reading.

SS

With the end of the WSOP Main Event earlier this morning, there will be no more live poker tournaments in Vegas for a while. Yesterday we ordered the WSOP Main Event final table on Pay Per View. We propped just about everything imaginable as we didn't move from the couch for 16 hours. The final table was interesting, to say the least, to watch. I actually don't think this guy that won played as bad as everyone was flaming him for. I can't even remember his name. I lost a little bit on the props but had a running prop with Adam Geyer and long time friend JP "itsthemaster" Painter which made me turn the day into a winner, as my horses did better. Most annoying player at the FT award goes to the guy "Rain" Khan. It makes me cringe seeing the way some of these guys embarras (sp?) themselves in front of the world on TV.

Other than that, we've been lounging around like complete degenerates. I did have a monster Sunday in the online tournaments last Sunday. I probably play the sunday online tournaments once every two months, and this day I just absolutely murdered and cashed in something like 6 of 9 tournaments with two major final tables including a win, and a net of mid-five figures for myself. This helps in recovering about 25 percent of my overall poker losses in 2007, which is nice. Online MTTs are probably the only games on the internet that are beatable right now.

As I type this we are packing up to go on a 3 day/two night houseboat trip on Lake Mead. We had so much fun on The 4th of July that we decided to rent a houseboat for a few days. It will be nice to get away from poker. I am leaning towards playing poker professionally for atleast six more months, but I've still got some time to think. My phone may or may not work on the lake. I'll be back at the house in Vegas mid-day Friday. Hope life is going well for everyone.

SS