Roddy

The Tale of the Three Brothers

2011-01-27T17:50:00.000-08:00

OK.. so it's been a long time since I updated this thing, and things haven't been going great, so let's jump right into it.

Last time I posted was mid-December, so i'll catch up on what i've been doing, then end with the weight loss thing. So I spent Christmas at the orphanage, with Dan and all the kids. Just like last year, it was probably the greatest day of the year. I went down early on Christmas Eve, then made 2 separate trips back and forth to bring down more presents for the kids. I hung out with kids for a little while, then it was time to start setting up. Dan and I spent all night deciding who was going to get what, making sure everyone had enough stuff (even amounts) and had things that they were going to enjoy. We set up the chapel for christmas morning, did stockings, hung signs, etc.. The next morning, we made sure everything was all set, and then we let the kids in. The rest of the day was spent putting batteries in things, teaching the kids how to use certain toys (devil sticks, anyone?) and having a blast with the kids. I spoke to my family back home via videochat, and then missed my ride home. I ended up staying the night again, and dan, some of the older kids, and i watched Karate Kid (the new one) in the chapel, then went to bed. I left the next morning for my last week of work at Uno's.

As far as Uno's goes, I no longer am employed there.. no one is, for that matter. The restaurant closed down January 3, so i've been out of work since then. It really came at a bad time as I had finally bought a car (1997 Nissan Altima, not great, but whatever..) had booked a flight home (for the day after the restaurant closed) and didn't have much money saved to begin with. The past few weeks have been spent looking for jobs, and waiting on unemployment checks (and W2 forms, so that I can hopefully get my refund soon and have some cash again..)

Like I stated above, a couple days after the restaurant closed (took the redeye the night after we closed) I went home to visit the family. Dan and I were so busy over the Christmas holiday that there was no way we were going to make it home.. so we went back first week of January. Dan went a couple days before me, and told them I wasn't going to be able to make it. I surprised them two days later and we had an awesome time. Saw a lot of people! Spent a night in Allston with Katie, Emily, Allie and Stephen (as well as dan and matt) a night with my aunt, uncle, grandmother, cousin Jenna and her fiancee Brian, a night in Lowell with Mario, merrill, Zach and a bunch of others, a day with my other grandmother and grandfather, and a day in cambridge with my grandfather (and my two brothers) and a night in Brookline with Sarina and Gallivan.. Not to mention plenty of time with my niece (Cassidy) and nephews (Matthew and Zach..) it was just an all around great time and I can't wait to go back. There are still so many people I DIDN'T get to see, and a bunch of people I would have liked to have spent more time with!

So when I got back to San Diego.. the plan was for Matt to come out the following day! He didn't know that I was coming home, and he wanted to see me, and visit SD again.. so he came out again. It was great having him here. Dan, Matt and I had a really good time when we were all together (a dinner out, a breakfast, and a few days together in Mexico..) It's weird having the 3 of us together. I miss having my family so close at all times. So while the three brothers didn't spend a HUGE amount of time together, Matt and I did. This was one of the first times in recent memory that I can remember matt and i going so long without a big fight. We had a really good time together.. we played basketball, football, had some good meals, watched an awful Patriots game, and watched a lot of the Office.. haha. He was here for a week, then headed back to Massachusetts, and i went back to the job search, which, as i said, is what i've been up to the last few weeks.

So, as for the whole weight loss thing, I obviously have moved back a bit. With the business of the restaurant over the holidays, my trip home, and then having matt out here, i didn't go to the gym nearly as much as I would have liked to. The job hunting as taken up some of the time i'd like to be at the gym as well. I have been back to basketball and working out the past week, but unfortunately I did some damage to my number. Since I didn't work out, nearly at all, for the weeks between my last blog.. i'm just gonna call this week 7, and continue on from here.

Week 7: 218lbs

(not awful, but up 5 pounds from where i was last time i really weighed in.. so we'll see how i do from here.)
-Roddy

Careers Advice

2010-12-14T22:12:00.000-08:00

OK, as we get into the last couple weeks of the year, some exciting stuff has happened, and interesting stuff will be happening as we move into 2011 (wow, 2011.)

So let's start it off with what has happened. It's been 2 weeks since i blogged, and I don't even remember why i didn't last week (probably because i updated at the end of previous, and thought it would have been repetitive to do it again at the beginning of the following week.) Last week i just worked mostly, made some decent money, and got some interesting news that will affect my future, but we'll go into that later. The end of the week was the fun stuff. Saturday was a big day at the orphanage. It was the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. A very religious day in Mexico.. Basically, it's a day celebrating one of the apparitions of the virgin Mary, to Juan Diego, back a long time ago. So at the orfa, we had a mass, complete with Brother Fernando doing his customary one man performance, re-enacting the story of Juan Diego and Mary, and dances from the kids, etc. After that was the meal, which was very good, as always, and then presents for the kids, and an open house for the people who came (benefactors, people from the kids school, etc.) It was a pretty awesome day overall, and it wasn't over. So we hung out with the kids, and had a blast as always, then headed back north. At the border we saw a couple get their car searched by a few border patrol officers, and a drug-sniffing dog. That scene ended with the couple being taken away in handcuffs, so that was cool.. When we crossed, and got back home Tom, one of the AV's asked what I had planned for my birthday (the following day) and when i said that i was working all night the following night, he decided we were hanging out that night..

So i went over there a little later, we drank some beers, along with Ali and Allison, and watched a couple movies and talked for a bit. As it was getting later, we (Tom and I) decided to head out downtown. We were gonna meet a friend of his at sidebar, but decided it would be better to meet some other friends over at Maloney's instead. We grab some drinks and find the girls (JVC's and one of their friends).. we spend the rest of the night drinking and shooting the shit with the girls, then decide, after the bar closes, to head back to the Volunteer house. We have a drink or two and decide to put on a movie, next thing i know i'm awoken at 7am by Tom telling me that our ride is there. Definitely a good birthday (day before) all around, and nothing was really exciting on the actual day of my birthday, except that the Pats rolled, and it was in the 80's.

Another thing that happened this past week, was rumors starting to fly around that in the next 2 to 3 weeks, our restaurant will be closing down. Honestly, we've kinda felt like this was going to happen for a while, but that doesn't make it suck any less now that it seems almost inevitable. I was starting to not hate it there, to be honest. I was getting good shifts, good sections, and this month the restaurant has really picked up, and i've been making decent cash. It sucks because now i'm gonna have to go somewhere where i will once again be the new guy, and be making shit money. Considering maybe a career change? who knows. I have an application in at Harrah's for a restaurant manager position, but i'm not really confident about that.. we'll see. So if anyone who reads this (that's right, both of you) have any advice on what i can do with my career, i'm all ears.

As for the weight loss thing. I haven't been doing TOO great with eating healthy (had a couple burritos over the past couple weeks, french fries, soda a few times) but i've been doing well with going to the gym, have made some progress on eating, and right now i'm feeling, and hopefully looking better than before (even though the numbers aren't as low as i would like, yet.)

Week 6: 213 lbs

P.S- skipped the weigh in on week 5. Down 12 pounds in 6 weeks. 2 pounds a week is steady, but i'd have liked to have been down more at this point. Still, 213 isn't bad, 24 pounds from my original goal.. so at this rate, i'd be looking at another 3 months or so until i hit that 189 mark. If I can fix my eating habits a bit more, I can do it quicker, and be even lower than 189 by March. Ok, this was long.. Peace
-Roddy

An excess of Phlegm..

2010-12-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to have to be pretty creative to keep with my motif for the names of my blogs, we'll see how much longer I can keep it up. OK, so I didn't update last week, at the time when I should have updated I was still 221, so there was my week 3 score.

So I have a lot to talk on in this post, so i'll try to sum things up quickly. So the week following my last blog, I was sick almost the entire time. I got sick Tuesday Night, and didn't feel well again until like Sunday. I was starting to feel better on Saturday, but then I met Johnny, Tom, and a friend of theirs out for drinks and ended up walking 20 blocks in the rain, needless to say, I didn't feel great the following day. I was essentially coughing and sneezing from Tuesday until about Monday night the following week (hello title of my blog..) so I didn't go to the gym much that week, however, my snacking was kept down by the fact that I had no appetite. The week after was Thanksgiving week, which entailed two Thanksgiving dinners (a pre-Thanksgiving one with the Augustinians, and then the real one with the volunteers, Dan, and some others. The week was also filled with drinking with friends, and only a couple gym sessions..

Thanksgiving, like last year, was one of the best holidays of the year (Christmas might have passed it last year, spending it at the orfa, but still, it was great.) I definitely missed my family, and I missed last years AV's, with whom i spent my first BIG holiday away from home last year, but overall it was a great day. Dan and I went shopping, made two buffalo chicken dips (which we had never made before, and they came out really well..) and then headed over to the AV's house, where a teacher from one of the schools (Brendan) and one of the AV's brothers (Chris) were already there. After a little catching up, we had our own football game. It was a very hard fought game, and unlike last year, I didn't dominate this game. I played decently on offense (quarterback, made some really good throws, as well as some shitty ones.. and caught a couple touchdowns) but I got torched on defense. After getting beat on the first drive, i switched to sorta just playing safety as we weren't going to rush the passer, that didn't work out well, as I still got outjumped and outran for a few TD's and my winstreak ended at only 1 year (although, my brothers record in AV Thanksgiving football games now stands at 3-0.. weird.) After football it was back to the house for food. We drank, ate a very good Thanksgiving dinner, drank, ate some awesome desserts, drank, and played some pretty fun games (Fishbowl, which the guys dominated) and some game called "what is yours called" that Kathleen explained. After that it was drinking and talking about random things, from discussing my hate for Kesha, to religion and philosophy and a lot in between. It was really an awesome day, and I thank the AV's for inviting us, I really had a blast!

So now that Thanksgiving is over, I can concentrate on two things.. making money in a very busy season at work, and my getting back into shape. I worked all weekend (except Saturday, when I went to Mexico) and got back to the gym this week. As I didn't work out much the previous week, and ate and drank a whole lot.. I decided to make my weigh in Tuesday instead of Monday. I went to the gym monday, played basketball tuesday, and went to the gym today, Wednesday.. I also made good decisions the past couple days on food and what not.. so while I haven't made great progress with my numbers so far, I feel good about it moving forward. So as of my Tuesday weigh in..

Week 4: 218lbs

The midnight deul..

2010-11-16T23:29:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's been a week since I started my 40 pound challenge, and i'm doing ok.. but i'll get back to that later. Quick update on life..

So nothing all too excited has happened since the last time I posted, but I got a couple things that I can talk about. So a couple of weeks ago, my nephew chose me to help him with a project that he was doing in school. It's based off of the book Flat Stanley about a kid who gets flattened and then goes around the world having adventures.. So my nephew, and all of the kids in his class, made their own flat counterparts and sent them somewhere to go on an adventure for a week. So, I was very proud to find out, my nephew chose me to show "Flat Matt" an adventure. The two of us definitely went on some adventures.. We went to Mexico twice, one time just to volunteer at the orphanage, playing games, helping with homework, taking care of sick babies (mi Angelica, pobrecita) and, of course, learning some spanish.. the second time, we took the children at the orfa to go horseback riding in Rosarito! It was an awesome time! We also went to the beach, went sightseeing in downtown san diego, played basketball, and, on our last night together.. we went to an awards ceremony celebrating non profit organizations, workers, and volunteers from all over the country! We walked the red carpet, schmoozed with some amazing people, fighting for great causes, and just had an amazing time. The night was very inspiring, the message being that it's very important to give back. That there is a lot of things wrong in this world, between poverty, hunger, disease, genocide, etc.. however, there is also a lot of beauty, and love in the world. A guy from Australia who got drunk and had an idea about growing mustaches for a month with his friends is going to donate about $65million to prostate cancer research this year, a cancer survivor was able to walk 10 miles, literally in her late sisters shoes, in support of breast cancer awareness, and so on and so forth. It confirmed in me something that I already knew, that it is incredibly important, and fulfilling to help other people, and through that, they help you just as much.. not only through my work at the orphanage in Mexico, but through my nephews project. By taking Flat Matt to all these events, and trying to show him (and my nephew back in Massachusetts) how I live my life, and try to live it with purpose, it taught me that I have it pretty great. I live in a great area, have awesome family, some good friends, am learning a second language, travel to another country 2, sometimes 3 times a week, and spend a lot of my free time with about 50 amazing children who are helping to shape my life, as much, if not more, than I am helping to shape theirs..

OK, now that i'm done being all mushy and whatnot (I did this same thing at the end of the journal that I kept for the project) let's move on to the reason why I've started blogging again. So, as can be expected, my first week was filled with wins and losses in the weight loss struggle. I started the week off well, with 3 days at the gym in a row, and good dinners.. but slacked off once Thursday came and I was busy at work. I didn't go Thursday, went Friday, no Saturday, and no Sunday. The other part of my problem, has been my constant battle with midnight snacks (hence the name of the blog.) I always tell myself to eat well, and to have complete meals, etc.. however, when i'm sitting down late at night, watching tv (on the computer) and have nothing else to do.. my will power caves and I snack incessantly. Since I can't hope to break this habit over night, i'm trying to combat it by buying better snacks. Granola bars, saltine crackers, pretzels on occasion, as opposed to potato chips.. if i have to have cheez-its, i rock the 40% reduced fat which are still good.. and lots of apples and carrots.. Also, no more soda. Oh well.. on to the weigh in

Week 2- 221 lbs

The invitation..

2010-11-09T21:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, so once again I'm going to try to revive my blog. Once again, it's going to be about things in my life, and not poker, but whatever..I'm just gonna start here with the random stuff, but will devote more time to it in the future, obviously. I've been going to Mexico 2-3 times a week, and it is still the biggest thing in my life. My spanish is getting pretty good, to the point where i'm on the verge of starting to answer something other than "not really" when people ask me if i speak spanish.. Other than that, i'm working a job that I don't like, and am essentially living in the apartment by myself, because Dan is in Mexico 5-6 nights a week (and 7 days a week.)

So the number one thing right now is that I'm rededicating myself to the gym, and to getting back in shape. At the beginning of this year, I was working hard at it and got myself pretty close to my goal.. (I think I bottomed out at like 208 pounds, down from 250 from when i moved to Cali, and over 270 from my highest point in 2009.) I weighed in at the gym yesterday at 225, and my goal is now to make it back to my senior year wrestling weight (189.) It seems like a solid goal, and i hope to make it. I usually don't care about the numbers.. i just want to feel good, but i feel like this is an easier way to keep myself at it. If I just say that I want to go until I feel good, I can cop out at any time.. this gives me a solid goal, and if I don't stop until I get there, I know I will be feeling pretty damn good. And this is where the name of the blog comes in.. other than fitting with a motif i've been working with lately, it works because I, like always, need a little help. I'm inviting everyone to bitch at me, and whatever (via facebook, text, or in person, for those reading this on the West Coast.. which is really no one..) to get me to go to the gym, and stop eating shit food. A lot less Cali burritos, french fries, and no more soda.. (except every once in a while?).. but yea.. ¡ayudenme!

So:
Week 1- 225lbs

The first task,,

2010-04-18T00:34:00.001-07:00

OK, so it's been a really long time since I blogged, let's see if I can put up some sort of an update. So I guess a lot has happened since i've last blogged, don't know where to begin. Guess I'll start with my Vegas trip, but will shorten it a bit.

Vegas- So I went to Vegas for the first time at the end of March. I went with most of the AV ladies (Emily, Allison, and Kupski) and Ali's friend Mary. It was different than I thought my first Vegas trip would be, as I was with 4 girls, but it was still an awesome time. We rented a car and drove up to Vegas, leaving at like 4 o'clock on Friday and getting there sometime close to midnight. Got to the room, got changed and headed down to start drinking. Ali and Mary got a 100oz Margarita, which I ended up finishing, along with quite a few other drinks. Not much gambling happened until after the girls went to bed around 2:30 in the morning (i taught Emily and Kupski how to play craps, but that was it.) After they left, I headed down for some more craps and my first go at the poker table. All in all I got the shit kicked out of me and it hampered my gambling for the rest of the trip. I stayed up playing (and drinking.. not smart) until about 11am and then caught some sleep. My plan was to wake up a few hours later and head to the sports book for some hair of the dog and to place a bet on West Virginia against Kentucky, and St. Pierre against whoever he was fighting.. I was late for the WV bet (they won) and forgot about the UFC bet. I headed back to the poker table and promptly got beaten over and over again. Having lost twice as much as I planned to spend on the entire trip withing 16 hours, I swore off gambling for the rest of the trip and decided to simply drink, which is what I did for the remainder of the trip. This is already too long, and I haven't even touched on just hanging out with the girls having a good time in Vegas, the awesome ride home (which took WAAAAY too long, but thankfully involved a stop at Peggy Sue's diner somewhere in the ~middle of nowhere..) But yea, Vegas was a blast and it renewed my love of poker, and specifically, live poker.. Bringing me to the name of this blog..

So I have sort of a motif going with my blog names (see if you can eventually figure it out, this is the third in the series.. haha) and this one is talking about how I want to get something rolling again with poker. Obviously not going to take it as seriously as I have in the past, but in my last couple blogs i've said I was kind of giving up, and this one is refuting that. The first task, is to somehow get to Vegas for this summer. Whether it's somehow saving up enough for a $1000 or $1500 event, or winning a seat in the ME (neither are too likely, but i'm gonna really try!) it is what I am aiming for here. Just to get into the swing of things, it's been so long since I played on the World Poker Tour and played in a few WSOP Circuit Events, and I really miss that feeling that I had at that point.. It was the best I've ever felt while doing something that I considered work.

As for everything else going on.. it's the same as it has been. It's weird that so much has happened yet so little has changed. Still working at Uno's in Fashion Valley, and not digging it (although money is starting to get slightly better, which is good as I already said I spent over twice as much in Vegas as I should have..) Still learning Spanish and doing pretty well. I was christened an honorary Mexican at work last week because of how my spanish has improved.. i will henceforth be known there by a few of them as "Miguelito" (even though I told them that I'm way too big to be called anything with -ito on the end of it..) To that point, I've been hitting the gym a lot (not as much recently, but still a decent amount) and between my workouts, and playing basketball a lot, i'm continuing to drop weight. I still can't get over the hump to where I'd consider myself in good shape, that is to say not "overweight" but i'm on my way.. and if I can keep myself going, i'm hopeful i'll get to where I want to be. The last update is the obvious one..

I'm still obsessed with going to the orphanage with Dan whenever I can. It's literally what I look forward to more than anything else. I stayed over for Easter and then wasn't able to again until the following Thursday, and when I returned a bunch of them came up and hugged me and yelled at me for taking so long to come back. Now usually i'll get a hug and a lot of attention from one or two when i get there.. but I think 7 or 8 of them came up to me.. all because i wasn't there for a week and a half. It's really great how close i've become with all of them (yes, all of them, not just Nayeli.. haha) and how they've become such a huge part of my life. Well I'll leave it there for now.. I could talk about the orphanage for hours (in fact, I do.. all the time..! haha) and I don't want to bore those of you who made it this far further with my rambling (continued rambling that is..) Oh well.. I'll say that i'll update again soon, but I can't promise that.. Peace!
-Roddy

The Beginning

2010-02-02T23:21:00.000-08:00

So I can't say how long this one will be, but figured I'd give an update. So I've been giving it a lot of thought, talked with Dan, with my mom, mentioned it to my friends, both out here and at home.. and I am strongly considering going back to school. I think it's really something that I'm finally ready to take seriously. Poker was my dream for so long, and while I've had some great success, I'm not at the point right now where I can depend on it. My plan, if i go through with it, will probably be to enroll at either San Diego City College, or Mesa College and then eventually transfer into one of the local schools here (although it's also possible to transfer back home.. I don't know at this point, that's too far away.) I will probably study English, take Spanish classes obviously, and i'm still considering minoring in something like philosophy. My thought is that I will take the necessary steps to become a teacher. Through all of my career changes, that is one thing I've always thought I'd be really good at, and would really enjoy doing every day. Right now I hate my job, and poker wasn't what i thought it would be (and i just couldn't build my roll up..) so in order to be happy, I will take the plunge, go through the years I should have gone through long ago, and finally start taking control of my future (who knows, maybe it will help in other areas as well.)

Quick update on the other stuff.. Still going to the gym a lot. I actually really enjoy it, and look forward to going, which is something I've never been able to say.. so that's awesome. The eating is still the most difficult. I just love foods that aren't good for me, haha. I've cut way down, and am continuing to lose weight.. but slowly. If I could conquer my eating habits, I'd be on a really awesome path.

Studying Spanish has slowed down a little bit, but I'm also really starting to understand more, so I should really keep working at it. I still go to the orfa a whole lot, so that helps.. love it there, I never want to leave when i'm there.

California.. new update, but I've been wondering lately whether or not i'm gonna move back home. I mean I miss everyone at home so much, but there is so much I need to do out here, and I've finally started to make some really positive strides in my life. Like I said, there are certain things that I need to do out here.. one of them being helping at the orphanage. I thought I understood it when Dan said he couldn't leave.. but you really can't know until you've experienced it first hand. It transforms you.. I can't explain it, but it's an unbelievably strong feeling.

Other.. Yea, not much else to report.. but with each positive step I take, I'm opening more doors, and getting closer to taking other positive steps.. which is evidenced by the fact that I've started working on myself, and am close to deciding to go back to school.. There are other things I want to achieve, and I'll get to them when I can.. Alright, another long post done.. Peace
-Roddy

The flaw in the plan..

2010-01-24T12:40:00.000-08:00

OK, so I have been doing really well lately. Going to the gym a lot, eating much better, learning spanish.. it's been great. BUUUT, this weekend was a huge setback in the weight loss department. It was worth it, but still frustrating in hindsight.

So Matt came for a surprise visit this week. Him and Dan had planned it a while ago and didn't tell me, so all of a sudden Matt walks into the apartment and I was like "what the hell?" So that was fun. It was a shitty weak, weatherwise, so the only San Diego things we could show him were food things, haha. We had In N Out, California burritos, burgers at Hodad's in OB, churro's at the border in Mexico, and went out to the Outback.. The other thing that made it difficult was we didn't go to the gym except for a quick trip his first day here. So i've been eating crap food, and not exercising, not a great combination.

Other than the obvious setbacks in that department, things have been going pretty great for me. Matt and I fell back into our old patterns, and we bickered a lot.. but that's just what we do, so that was alright. We went to the orfa a bunch, which is basically my favorite thing to do at this point. On one day we went to the Trompo museum in Mexico with ALL the kids in the orphanage, so that was great. Seeing them get all excited for the science exhibit things, and playing with bubbles, and jumping on the walking piano thing.. it was really awesome.

Also, we hung out with the AV's a bit, which is always fun. The first night we just hung out and talked, which was cool, but last night.. we wanted to do something else, and since matt isn't 21, our ideas were limited. We got Fro-yo, then were gonna go bowling, which apparently is very popular around here, as it was an hour and a half wait.. so we said scratch that and went elsewhere. We wound up playing mini-golf, which was awesome because it made me feel like a little kid. So there were 8 of us (7 playing ::shakes head at Allison::) all in our 20's playing mini-golf at 10pm on a Saturday night.. haha (P.S- I won.) After that we went back to the AV's house and played Kings and Asshole, which was obviously a good time as well. So that brings us to now. It's Sunday, I'm bored, and I don't feel good enough to put in a workout. Overall this was a pretty awesome week, but I have a lot to do to get back on track. As for the other things i've alluded to and talked about in previous blogs that I left out of this one.. we'll cover those at another time.
-Roddy

HEY 2010!

2010-01-12T23:03:00.000-08:00

So it's a New Year.. and I'm gonna make it a very good one! So i'll just update quickly

Poker- So I said last time that I cashed out most of my winnings and left only a little bit to mess around with.. well I turned that into a grand, and am now trying to take poker pretty seriously. I bought HEM, and created a Rakebrain account for rakeback, so I can datamine and also make a little extra money. I want to try and build something up, and do it slowly and intelligently like I haven't ever done before.. i've always been a go big or go home type guy. I also moved to Absolute Poker as well as I've been told it has softer games.. and I've switched to 6-max tables as it suits my style better.. I'm playing .25-.50NL to start, and gonna practice good bankroll management. Wish me luck

Getting healthy- My brother and I joined a gym, along with 6 of our friends out here.. so hopefully that will motivate me to finally move in the right direction. I'm starting to eat better, like i said before.. so my weakness has always been in the exercise. My membership allows me to work out at 14 different gyms in San Diego County, so I have so many options.. classes, pools, equipment, classes, basketball, racquetball, etc.. I finally feel like this time I will go through with it.. I'm giving myself like 5 months to get back in shape.. once again, wish me luck

Spanish- Estoy aprendiendo Español con me hermano. He estado estudiando para los ùltimos dos meses. Ahora yo hablo solo poquito, pero yo se que pronto voy a mejorar. (I think i just said "I am learning spanish with my brother. I have been studying for the last two months. Now I only speak a little, but i know that soon I will improve." I just learned how to make -ing verbs.. so i'm showing it off.. haha. I'm working pretty hard at spanish, and it's getting much better.. but I still can't really make out what people are saying.. but when things are written down for me, or i take the time to go over the whole sentence, I can make a lot out.. I also can say a lot more now than I could before. I'm still in the early stages, but before long, I'll be speaking Spanish.

SO, at this point, I have very few complaints. Money situation isn't awful, I have good direction, and I'm happy about the changes i'm making in my life. Now all I have to do is stick with these things, and I'll be in good shape moving forward. OK, this was long enough.. I'll update again soon.. Peace
-Roddy

Quick update

2009-12-23T23:04:00.000-08:00

OK, so I bitch at other people for not updating their blogs, and here I go 3 weeks without updating after saying i'm gonna change my life considerably! Well, I won't go into too much detail, but I've been pretty good with my changes. I'm eating better.. still not great, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day (awful cliché, smack me for that one if you see me around, thanks.) So yea, the eating has definitely been better, but the last few weeks have been relatively stressful at the orphanage, so dan's been keeping some crazy hours, so we haven't been cooking much, so eating out has become a necessity.. when the season is over, and things calm down, it will be much easier.

One thing that hasn't been going well is the working out. I still do my pushups and sit ups and what not, but I am not a runner, never have been, doubt if i ever will be. I mean shit, I weigh a lot, my back is all sorts of messed up, and all the impact can't be good for my knees.. add in the fact that i haven't bought new shoes in about 4 years, and I live in a community where no matter where you go you're running up crazily steep hills, it makes it tough. I need to find something else to do for cardio, but don't know yet.

As for the other things i posted about, I have seriously cut back on the drinking.. I went from my Thanksgiving until Mid-December without drinking at all, then got back into it, but am gonna start watching myself more.. not being an idiot like i've been in the past. I mean I went to the bar with some friends and had a few, and drank a bit at dinner and while hanging out watching a movie and shit, but i think that'll be fine haha.

The whole life direction thing.. well i've gotten back into poker a bit, which I can update about. My buddy (love you, gallivan! haha) staked me for a couple hundred bucks after making a big score online, and I promptly turned that $200 into $3,000 (in like a day and a half.. not bad, eh?) Unfortunately, most of it had to be withdrawn for real life things, like bills and groceries.. but I still got a couple hundred online to play with and just have fun. Not saying i'm gonna make some run or anything, but at least i'm enjoying myself doing this. Another thing that is making me feel like i have something going on is my learning spanish. I've been slowly trying to learn a new language for the past few months (basically since moving out here) and i'm finally starting to make a little progress. Dan is helping me, and going to the orfa all the time really helps as well..

..which brings me to the orfa! I love it down there so much. I go down there on most of my off days from work, and the kids are so amazing. I love them all so much! I see why Dan couldn't leave them after his experiences there. If Dan is all of their father, then that makes me the cool uncle (the cool uncle who doesn't speak the same language as they do.. but a cool uncle nonetheless..) which is good, because that's one of the things i miss the most about not living at home anymore. Not being able to see my beautiful Niece and Nephews every day! The orphanage, while not my life works, like it is my brothers, has really become a part of my life, and gives me something to look forward to.

As for the final thought, there are some other life things that i've been considering recently, and while I don't know in which direction I want to go, i'm starting to see things more clearly, and will pursue the things that I think will make me happy at this point in my life. Hopefully the first couple months of 2010 (wow.. 2010!) will see some of these things acted upon.

Wow.. that wasn't short at all.. Again, I don't know how many people, if any, even read this.. but it felt good to update. Happy Holidays all..
-Roddy

Time to improve my life..

2009-12-01T15:04:00.001-08:00

So I know no one reads this, but I'm doing it for myself anyways, so here goes.. I have thought long and hard about my life, and how even though I moved 3,000 miles across the country, I've fallen into the same bad patterns as back home. So I need to change some things to make me feel better about the person I'm becoming.

1) Eat better-This is usually very hard for me, but hopefully this time I'll be properly motivated and will succeed. No more going to McDonald's, cut down on the California Burritos, and make my snacks healthier (less chips, more apples etc.)

2) Work out-This is something I've almost always been awful at. Except for one time during football, and a couple seasons of wrestling, I've never really followed a workout regiment. I'm gonna start doing cardio (running, etc.) and continue doing things like push-ups, sit-ups, and other things to get myself back into shape. I've let myself go for far too long and now I'm gonna have a long way back, but I'm willing to do it, as I think it will make me feel much better about myself. I wanna get back down to my High School weight, but the number doesn't matter much to me.. I just wanna feel good, which I haven't for a long time

3) Cut down on the drinking- Not that I drink very often, but when I do, I don't really have an off switch. A recent experience scared me, and also made me realize that when I get too intoxicated I don't like the person that I am. I don't like not having control over what I say to people or how I act. This will also help with points 1 and 2.

4) Figure out what I want in life- Now this one is very vague and general, but is also the most important. I've sort of been drifting through life with no direction since I graduated high school. I need to find what I'm passionate about and chase it. Whether it be a job, or a type of life, or anything like that. I don't want to go through life without passion.

So while I don't know if anyone will read this, here it is. These are the things that I now want to accomplish this year. I feel good about getting them down, because maybe it will help drive me to work for all of these things. I feel as though I can do anything, so now I just have to put my mind to it and work my ass off to give myself the kind of life that I deserve.

-Roddy

Being sick sucks..

2009-10-05T17:15:00.001-07:00

So I've been sick for the last 8 days.. and it sucks pretty bad. I've only worked a few of the days, so the rest of them I should have been out enjoying the weather and what not, but I was in my apartment watching bad tv shows and feeling like shit. I'm finally getting over it, I think, so that's good. Now that i'm getting over it, my shifts have been cut down, so I need to start looking for another job again.. SWEET, haha.

Well yea, not too much excitement in my life since the last update.. I went to an Oktoberfest party and got schooled at beer pong, which is weird. I'm not used to losing at that game, and my "team" went 1-2, which was really awful. Other than that, just updating this for the sake of updating.. Being bored sucks. Hopefully some news-worthy shit happens to me soon.. other than not making enough money to pay my bills...
-Roddy

I'm gonna start updating this again, because I'm bored

2009-09-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

The title says it all. I don't even think anyone reads this, but as I get bored easily, and get mad at other people for not updating their blogs, I figure it will kill some time. So for those of you who don't know, I moved from Boston to San Diego 2 months ago. I did it so that I could have a fresh start, yet I find myself in basically the same situation as at home. I spend a lot of time on the computer and watching videos and shit (we don't have tv in the new apartment.) One good thing is that I'm reading a lot more. I'm on my 12th book since coming out here (exactly 2 months ago) so that's pretty cool. I'm working at Uno's in Fashion Valley, so the job situation is no better than it was back home, in fact, it's a little worse as it's not busy at all, and i'm not on the bar like I was in Mass.

As for the living situation, that's pretty sweet. I got my own apartment with my older brother, and that's pretty cool. We have a 2b/2ba a few blocks from downtown, so it's pretty cool. The weather is unreal, and the area is beautiful. Once I start making some more money, things will definitely start looking up. As for the poker, which this blog was started for.. well i've taken a break from that, but have not given up hope in that arena. I need to get some money behind me before I can make a run at that again, and hopefully pretty soon that will come to fruition. As for now, I'm just working and trying to figure out what the next step is. I know that i'm gonna need to get a car, and that's gonna be expensive, so I got that hanging over my head. I'm staying positive, and just living in the moment right now, so as it is, i'm just happy to be having fun at 22 years old. I'll update this more often, more for myself than for anything else. Peace
-Roddy

I'm back?

2009-01-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

It's been a very long time since I posted on this thing, but since I've started playing more lately, I figured I'd update this thing. Especially since I'm bored. I have been going to Foxwoods a bit more since the new year started. I'm leaving for the casino in a couple minutes which will be my 3rd trip of the week. After an unsuccessful first trip, I cashed in a MTT and won 4.5 buy ins at 1/2. I need to make some cash to go to the Borgata Winter Open next week. There's a sick Deep Stack tourney I want to play, but I'd like to be on my game for it. I'll update this more later, right now I'm gonna head up to the Woods. Peace
-Roddy

Update

2008-05-30T13:09:00.000-07:00

So i haven't updated this stupid thing in forever. Basically because I've been playing and running like shit lately. I went to Caesars for the WSOP Circuit a couple months ago and have never run worse in my life. I cashed in one tournament for barely my money back and every other tourney I played I got bad beat out of (no exceptions.) The cash games didn't treat me much better, and I don't want to go into details because it's depressing and it's over now. I went to TurningStone a couple weeks ago and did alright, but again, running back near the end of tournaments prohibited me from making any good scores. I cashed in a bounty tourney but only knocked out 2 players, and lost a huge race with 2 tables left that crippled me, and I couldn't recover. Then I got it all in against the chip leader in a different tournament with 12 players left, my AQ v. his AJ. If I won I would have been top 3 with 12 left, instead he spiked and I hit the rail with only $1000 in winnings... winner got 23k. I ended that trip basically even (i think with the room, gas, food, gambling combined I lost about $250) but the AC trip earlier seriously hurt my bankroll.

This brings us to now. I haven't had the scratch for much big playing lately so i've been a bum. I intend to go to Foxwoods a lot more this summer for the daily tourneys, and I also have a job dealing poker at the dog track in Seabrook NH. That will be fun, and will definitely help to supplement my income. Should be a good summer, and hopefully I make a couple scores this summer and can continue to play more moving forward.

-Roddy

Off to Atlantic City

2008-03-04T20:59:00.000-08:00

I'm leaving in a couple hours for Atlantic City for the WSOP Circuit events at Caesars Palace. Will be staying from March 5-15 and playing in most of the events, hopefully winning my way into the Main Event. I probably won't be able to blog while I'm down there, but I should have some good stories when I get back, and hopefully I'll be able to take the next step towards my overall goal after this trip. So yea, I'll be back in ~2 weeks.
-Roddy

Update

2008-02-18T22:45:00.001-08:00

Just updating because I haven't posted in a while and I'm bored. There hasn't been much to talk about. I've been getting my ass kicked recently. So bad it's sick. I try not to buy into that I run worse than anyone else, and I know it's just variance, blah blah blah.. but lately it's been so ridiculously bad it's starting to get to me. Every tournament I either get coolered, or sucked out on early, or I lose a huge race in the middle of the tourney. It's really starting to grind on me because it's been like 20 tourneys without a cash, and I basically never get it in worse than 50-50. I'm just kinda venting because it's pissing me off, and since no one really reads this anyway. Whatever..
-Roddy

Another Final table

2008-02-12T00:31:00.000-08:00

No HH's for this one, but I just came in second in the $25+2 bounty tourney. Cashed for a little over 900 and another 12 bounties ($5 a piece.) With another cash mixed in on the day it runs the 24 hour total up just over $1500. Not a bad return to online poker if ya ask me. It shoulda been a win too! With almost even stacks we got all in pf my QQ v. his A6. Turn was an A and it was over.. Made me a bit mad, but I can't complain. Good little streak I got going here.
-Roddy

Oh yea.

2008-02-10T23:06:00.001-08:00

I forgot to convert the hands before I posted them.. from here on out I'll do that. So better than reading the hands like that i'll link them

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2082187
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2082191
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2082171

Online poker

2008-02-10T22:47:00.000-08:00

Well because of my recent goals to take poker more seriously, I redoposited money online. I put some on UB and will be putting some on Poker Stars shortly to play a bigger amount of MTTs, as those are my specialty. After a couple bad days, I finally put one in the "win" column. I didn't take first, although I should have. I was ~shortstacked near the bubble, then when we cashed I went crazy and won a bunch of hands.
RockThrobson is at seat 0 with 5625.
RoddyAA2 is at seat 1 with 12830.
Egghead61 is at seat 2 with 3690.
little punish is at seat 3 with 12195.
Alhambra is at seat 4 with 17665.
mleban is at seat 5 with 4115.
addi is at seat 6 with 36815.
2006champ is at seat 7 with 12960.
still-alive is at seat 8 with 23710.
BumboKlaat is at seat 9 with 27760.
The button is at seat
Egghead61 posts the small blind of 400.
little punish posts the big blind of 800.

RockThrobson: -- --
RoddyAA2: Ad Ac
Egghead61: -- --
little punish: -- --
Alhambra: -- --
mleban: -- --
addi: -- --
2006champ: -- --
still-alive: -- --
BumboKlaat: -- --

Pre-flop:

Alhambra folds. mleban goes all-in for 4015. addi
folds. 2006champ folds. still-alive folds.
BumboKlaat folds. RockThrobson folds. RoddyAA2 goes
all-in for 12730. Egghead61 folds. little punish
goes all-in for 12095. RoddyAA2 is returned 635
(uncalled).

Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:

RoddyAA2 shows Ad Ac.
little punish shows Qs Qd.
mleban shows Jd As.

Flop (board: 3d Kh 2h):

Turn (board: 3d Kh 2h Ah) :

River (board: 3d Kh 2h Ah 9d):

Showdown:

RoddyAA2 has Ad Ac Kh Ah 9d: three aces.
little punish has Qs Qd Kh Ah 9d: a pair of queens.
mleban has Jd As Kh Ah 9d: a pair of aces.

Hand #50673800-174 Summary:

RoddyAA2 wins the main pot 13445 with three aces.
RoddyAA2 wins the side pot 16160 with three aces.

Then shortly after..

RIP_2PAC_BIG is at seat 0 with 23300 (sitting out).
RoddyAA2 is at seat 1 with 69660.
Firestorm44 is at seat 2 with 69600.
MObermeier is at seat 5 with 81075.
JJRUFFNECK11 is at seat 6 with 22350.
billusa is at seat 7 with 65880.
BumboKlaat is at seat 9 with 78525.
The button is at seat 1.

MObermeier posts the small blind of 1500.
JJRUFFNECK11 posts the big blind of 3000.

RoddyAA2: Ts Td
Firestorm44: -- --
MObermeier: -- --
JJRUFFNECK11: -- --
billusa: -- --
BumboKlaat: -- --

Pre-flop:

billusa folds. BumboKlaat folds. RoddyAA2 raises to
9000. Firestorm44 folds. MObermeier calls.
JJRUFFNECK11 folds.

Flop (board: 3s 4d 5d):

MObermeier goes all-in for 71775. RoddyAA2 goes
all-in for 60360. MObermeier is returned 11415
(uncalled).

Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:

RoddyAA2 shows Ts Td.
MObermeier shows 5h Ah.

Turn (board: 3s 4d 5d Jc):

River (board: 3s 4d 5d Jc Qs):

Showdown:

RoddyAA2 has Ts Td 5d Jc Qs: a pair of tens.
MObermeier has 5h Ah 5d Jc Qs: a pair of fives.

Hand #50673800-267 Summary:

RoddyAA2 wins 143520 with a pair of tens.

Then at the FT I actually thought I lost this hand until the chips went towards me and I rechecked the board.

moonshiner314 is at seat 1 with 179240.
BumboKlaat is at seat 2 with 96980.
hardtomemoriz is at seat 3 with 209260.
UB_QUEEN99 is at seat 4 with 45260.
RoddyAA2 is at seat 6 with 83820.
aiight try me is at seat 7 with 141440.
The button is at seat 1.

hardtomemoriz posts the small blind of 2500.
UB_QUEEN99 posts the big blind of 5000.

moonshiner314: -- --
BumboKlaat: -- --
hardtomemoriz: -- --
UB_QUEEN99: -- --
RoddyAA2: Jd Js
aiight try me: -- --

Pre-flop:

RoddyAA2 raises to 15000. aiight try me folds.
moonshiner314 folds. BumboKlaat calls.
hardtomemoriz folds. UB_QUEEN99 goes all-in for
44760. RoddyAA2 goes all-in for 83320. BumboKlaat
folds. RoddyAA2 is returned 38560 (uncalled).

Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:

UB_QUEEN99 shows Td Ts.
RoddyAA2 shows Jd Js.

Flop (board: 8s Tc 2s):

Turn (board: 8s Tc 2s As):

River (board: 8s Tc 2s As 9s):

Showdown:

UB_QUEEN99 has Ts 8s 2s As 9s: flush, ace high.
RoddyAA2 has Js 8s 2s As 9s: flush, ace high.

Hand #50673801-58 Summary:

RoddyAA2 wins 110020 with flush, ace high.

I went out shortly after when I got it all in with 33 v. AT on a 456 board. Turn was a 10 and the tourney ended on the next hand. It was an $11+1 bounty tourney, and I collected quite a few bounties as well as my cash prize. Not a huge overall score taking down about 14.5 bounties and cashing for $516.. but overall a nice return to online poker. Let's hope I can keep it going.
-Roddy

WPT Borgata Main Event...

2008-02-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

This is gonna be loooong!

So I just recently got back from a 2 week trip to Atlantic City for the WPT at Borgata. I wasn't planning on playing the main event, just the prelims, but after getting the shit kicked out of me in the prelims ($1080, $1600, $2650) and winning my seat into the ME through satellites (got in for $240.) I really was looking forward to playing my first major. I woke up on Sunday morning and hurried over to the Borgata. When I walked in, I quickly said hi to a +1 member who is a Cardplayer tournament reporter, then went to find my seat. Wouldn't you know that the only person sitting at the table at the time was Raj Patel, WPT Foxwoods winner. I sit down (sign the WPT release form) and make conversation, and pretty soon the rest of the field has filtered in and the cards are almost ready to go in the air. I don't immediately recognize anyone else at my table until right before the first card is peeled off, when Kido Pham sits down two to my right, and a guy two to his right looks relatively familiar as well, but I don't know why.

We start the tournament with 3 empty seats at the table, but it's underway. The first 2 levels weren't too exciting, I abused the older gentleman sitting to my right because he wasn't a particularly strong player. Raj is being quiet, so is Kido, and the guy in the 3 seat is pushing most of the action, he's clearly a strong player but I still don't know why he looks familiar. On the last hand of the second level a big hand happens when I river two pair (KJspades on a JT7 4 K board) and seat 2 bets big on the river, I call and he shows AQ for the nuts. I leave for the break, and still have plenty of chips (over 40k, we started with 30.) When we get back from break is when the exciting stuff starts to happen. The empty seats are all filled now, Seat 8 (i'm in 7, Raj in 9) is a guy Champie Douglas who had a big cash at Bellagio recently, seat 10 is Shankhar Pillai who is a bracelet winner, and seat 1 is some obnoxiously slow acting guy who thinks he's on tv every hand.

Champie and I bullshit about the Celtics for a while and then a huge hand comes up. I'm in the BB with 55 and it limps to me (Raj open limped and a couple others followed.) Flop is 593 with 2 clubs. The SB folded pf so i'm first to act and I fire out a bet of about 600, Raj calls, seat 2 re-raised to about 2400, i reraise to 7k and Raj RE-re-raises to 16k, seat 2 folds and I call. Turn is a 7 and I check, Raj bets 14k and i push for my last ~10 on top he bemoans his fate and calls, sheepishly flips over QQ and I win a huge pot worth over 80k! I win another big hand off of Raj and another player (seat 4) and then Raj gets knocked out. A woman from PokerPages comes by and asks what happened to Raj, takes my picture, and tells me I'm chip leader of the tournament.. Chip leader of a tournament with an almost $5M prize pool.

Not much happens for a while, I beat up on the other stacks with some reraises and i'm near 100k when Phil Ivey is moved into Raj's empty seat. This seemed like it would be more interesting than it was. He didn't care about the tournament as much as the basketball games and went out shortly after he was moved in. It's then that i realized who the 3 seat was. It was Johnny Bax (Cliff Josephy.) Moving on, soon I get in a big pot with Champie, he has ~15k left and I raise it up under the gun with KK. He re-raises and I put him all in, he calls and flips AA. I flop a K and am now up to about 120k. After this I go into hibernation. Right before dinner Shankhar and Johnny Bax get in a huge hand where the nut flush loses to a rivered fullhouse and Shankhar hits the rail. When we come back from dinner Steve Billirakis (youngest WSOP bracelet winner) is in Shankhar's seat. He takes a lot of chips from me when I bluff the wrong card. Thankfully, then our table breaks, and shortly after, Day 1 is over.. I'm in 21st place of over 300 remaining, sitting on 100,250.

Day 2 starts, I check where my table is, go and unbag my chips and immediately see some pro's at my table. I'm in the 4 seat, Isabelle Mercier is in the 1, Bill Gazes is in the 8, and Beth Shak is in the 10. Day 2 is an up and down day with not a lot of great hands to post up. Mostly it's me talking with Isabelle all day, in between playing a few hands. I dropped down to under 70k at one point, then made a score on the guy in the 2 seat (seat 3 busted and we went down to 9 handed.) He raised in MP and I had AKhearts and re-raised. He warned me to be careful and called. The flop came A34 one heart, he checked dark, I bet about 5k he insta-called. Turn was the 8hearts he checked, i bet 10k, again, he instantly called. He checked dark and the river was a 10 and i checked behind. He had AQ and I scooped a big pot (but was pissed i missed value on the river.. his quick check calls scared me a bit.. we'll come back to that soon.)

Again nothing really exciting happened, Beth and Bill both got knocked out and their seats were filled with much more chips than they had while sitting there. Again it's basically me, the 3 seat and Isabelle just talking and not doing much when me and 3 tangle again. He was playing every hand and he limped in EP so i raised him with KJ trying to take the hand. He called and the flop comes JJQ. He checks and I bet so he won't think I have the J. He calls. Turn is 4clubs and he checks and instantly calls my bet. River is another club and he checks again. Mad at myself for the last hand I played with him I fire another shell on the river.. he talks for half a minute about me flopping a full house, then calls with T9clubs. I'm hurting again. I'm short for about an hour until I bluff a big stack with 66 on a high card board and get back near 100k. After dinner I get moved to a different table right next to a big stack who raises a lot. Right before the last break of the night (the hand before) i play another huge pot. UTG (guy with chips) raises it up, MP re-raises and Im in the BB with KK. I shove, UTG thinks, then mucks, reraiser thinks for about 3 minutes into the break and calls with AK. I hold and now have over 200k.

After the break I pick up a lot more chips on random wins and am up to 275k when on back to back hands I lose big races with AK, both times against QQ. If i win either one I am top 5 in the tourney going into day 3. Instead, i'm in thirty something place with 175,000.

Day 3-Money day. Table 4, seat 4. That's my seat for the most important poker day of my life. Table 4 seat 1-Johnny Bax, Table 4 seat 2-John Hennigan, Table 4 seat 3 Scott Blackman (doubled him up AK v. QQ in a 160k pot the night before) Table 4 seat 5-Noah Schwarts, Table 4-seat 7-Al Krux.

First hand of the day is huge. I raise to 8k in MP with AQhearts and Al Krux calls me from the CO seat. Flop is T62 2 hearts. I bet 8k and Al calls. Turn is Tclubs, I check call Al's 15k bet. River is 9hearts and i bet 17k, Al raises to 40 I think and call. He shows 99 for a sick cooler, and takes half of my stack on the first hand. I barely play anything for the next few hours, but just watch Hennigan put on a clinic. I reraise once with AA and get no callers. I'm getting short, just under 10x the BB with about 15 to go until the money. I know I can't fold to the cash, nor do I want too.. so I open shove the button with J8diamonds and get instantly called by the big blind who has AK. It's ok.. just hit a pair and I'm in good shape right.. Door card is the ugly Aclubs and i think i'm out the door. But the next two cards on the flop are both Jacks and I survive! After that I go back to barely playing until I start getting blinded down again. Hennigan raises in EP with 57 left (54 pay) and I shove with 88. He doesn't want to call but does and my 8s beat his AJspades.

Couple hands later is a pretty weird. I raise in EP with AJhearts and Nam Le (moved into the 1 seat when Johnny Bax busted) and John Hennigan call in the blinds. Flop is K79 two hearts. Nam bets, John folds I call with my flush draw. Turn is a blank and it goes check check. Then the river.. the Ace of hearts.... Now I was sure I had AJ hearts so this card scares the shit out of me. Nam checks and I immediately look down and see that I actually had AdJh! I check behind and flip my A. Nam looks at me like i'm retarded and I start explaining what happened then just laugh and rake a huge pot. We're now down to 55 and playing hand for hand when I give back a lot of chips. Hennigan was kicking our asses during bubble play, raising 7 of 10 hands, when I get AQspades in the SB and he raises from the CO. He raised to 18k and I repop to 35. He calls and the flop comes 39T. I bet 40k and he immediately shoves. I "think" about it and muck. He says he had a set, and I'm just pissed I threw away 75k to the strongest player at the table. A couple other small hands happen, I win a couple blinds as we wait for the bubble to burst. It finally does and we're all in the money.

When we come back from break they move a new player to the table who's sitting on over 700k! He raises 4 of the first 5 hands at the table. The 5th of which he was UTG. Blackman calls in MP and I have AJspades. Everything is telling me to push and take it down there, but i flat call the 24k and see a flop of A95 2 spades. Checks to me, i bet 35k, OR folds, Blackman calls. Turn is another 9, Blackman checks, I push all in and he insta-calls with 55 for the boat. I don't fill on the river and Blackman (who I had all in the day before) wins a huge pot that propels him to the final table, and a $98,154 payday, and I hafta go and collect my measely $14,754 for 53rd place. All in all it was a great experience and a whole lot of fun. It will hopefully propel me into poker as my full time job, as I am gonna start taking the game much more seriously now and do whatever I can to make myself the best player I can be.

Well yea.. if you're still reading this at this point, congrats. I rambled and told a lot of stories.. but it was the best experience of my life.
-Roddy

New Blog

2008-02-02T00:45:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, I decided to start blogging. I've been bored a lot lately with nothing to do, and I am starting to take poker more seriously, so a blog seemed like a pretty good idea. This first blog will basically just be an intro into me, even though basically no one will read it yet. My names Michael Roderick and I just turned 21 in December. I've been playing poker since I was 16 or 17, and started going to the casino shortly after turning 18. I made some decent online scores around then, but didn't start producing live until after my 21st birthday.

Mid-December was my first trip to Foxwoods, I came in second in the $100 daily tourney for $1500 to get me off to a good start (I should have won, had the guy all in drawing to 2 outs and he rivered me.) In January I made my first 5 figure cash when I chip-chopped the main event of the Turningstone Winter Open (1k buy in, bought in direct) for just under $11,000. After that I was elated, and a bunch of TS friends talked me into going to the Borgata for the WPT prelim events. I went down to Atlantic City for the first time and stayed for 2 weeks. I got my ass handed to me in the prelims (AA < AJ in the $1060 event, all in pf, board 8T4 7 9; KK<22 when the board reads AT6 2 T and the guy next to me mucked K2.) But then I satellited into the Main Event (10k event) for only $240 and turned the buy in into $14,754 in my first major event. My next blog will be about my experiences in the 10k event. But for now I'll end this by just saying that I will hopefully be taking the next step with poker, and that I'm really excited about how my life is turning out. I'm young, have my whole life in front of me, and i'm finally starting to excel in what I want to do. Life is good.
-Roddy