Fast Forward to WSOP

It seems I have gone astray. I lost myself somewhere between Rome and the inhospitable desert basin of Las Vegas. Allow me to fill you in.

Europe is too far removed from here and now for me to even attempt to describe, hopefully I'll find some time in the future to compile my recollections. I will tell you that, from above, the Alps are like craggy islands amid a cloudy sea.

Only know that there were long rides on rails and wings stretched out like smooth taffy in the fabric of time. Then all of a sudden I fell off that last tongue of transit, a short hop Chicago to Atlanta, and everything came back into focus. Almost as if Europe had been an extended daydream. Things definitely get strange in a foreign country, alone.

A week of down time with the parents then I started West. I slept on a couch in New Orleans during the WSOP circuit event, playing mostly cash games and launching into a serious downswing. I managed to dig myself out somewhat by the main event.

Ryan, James, and I left NOLA one evening late in May. We drove through the night and day didn't stop until we reached California, to stay a week in Commerce. The 5/10 NL action kept up 24 hrs a day and I made a good bit of cash until I lost a preflop all in with AQs to T4s. I've been running poorly ever since. But I did catch a front row seat to witness Bill Chen pick up a chick at the casino pub, so it's not all bad news.

Now in Vegas, I've been grinding my ass off day in and out. Ryan and I have a running bet that we each have to play 8 hours a day or pay the other $100. It's a small sweat but keeps me motivated at a time when I can't ever remember running worse. I've lost with AA, KK, QQ, and AKs all in preflop more than I have in the last 12 months. In response, I've dropped down in limits and have been putting in the hours.

I've got some money on the line for World Cup and the US Open (Christ Phil, get it together!). I'm sweating all my soccer matches on this extremely large, though remarkably crappy TV at my new place. By the way I'm living with about 15 other people in an 8 bedroom mansion, and it's way way too packed. We've got pool and ping pong tables, hot tub, pool, personal chef and all the more mundane amenities. But despite how clean and open the house comes across at a glance, there's a cheap tacky veneer slapped over all of it. My room flooded yesterday. I lucked out to only have a heap of wet clothes to bitch about.

Everything is hectic and hot here in Vegas. The women are more cutthroat than I am, and it's impossible to find a quiet moment to write. I'll update more once my cash game results start turning around.

-BT