A well needed break, 2 strong weeks in vegas, and some new years bets

so i told dustin id write up a blog for him like a month ago, but im generally pretty lazy about this kind of thing, so here we go

the last time i wrote a blog for someone i lost a smoking bet with gary wise, i missed 13 days of blogging and ended up having to pay him 6500, now a new smoking bet arises, and as does a new blog

first a warning to any life nits reading who are going to complain about my lack of capitalization and punctuation, its not going to happen, so like find a better use of your time, go meet a girl or something

i was originally planning on using the same dramatic writing style that dustin uses, saying something like, "two former mortal enemies joining forces to conquer the new world of poker" but thats not really my style, so im just gonna say whats on my mind, just got back to vegas, had the whole drive over here to think about stuff to say

just as dustin, ive had it all, been on top of the world and lost everything, made every mistake that you can make in this business, and now its time to rebuild, dont need to get into details of the past, everyone knows most of it anyway, this blog is about the future, but ill start by giving a little background on whats been going on with me lately

so yeah, had a horrible world series, was out of my mind the whole summer over something stupid, whatever, it happens its in the past, can only learn and grow from it, no need to talk any more about it than that, got back to la, mind still wasnt right, and things werent going well, had a bunch of drama with some people, ended up getting barred from commerce for life over something really just stupid and ridiculous instigated by people trying to get to me and succeeding, it lasted about 3 weeks

during my time off, i was really able to clear my head, taking the longest break ive had in a while from poker and actually enjoying my life, spent a lot of time in hollywood, poker was for once the last thing on my mind, came back in thinking more clearly than ever, and realizing how shitty that place and how miserable and hateful the people in it really are, also won the mulligan while i was gone, just being away from all the drama and fake people in the commerce for a little while had me playing great

got back in and right away started winning, playing short sessions, and ready to get the hell out of there any chance i could, but paying debts with everything i could chop out, the kid who was backing me at the time got burried and left town, leaving me in a shitty spot

came out to vegas broke, but happy, rent was paid, was ready to just have some fun, try to win the 15k, not really worry about trying to get into action or frenzy running up money online, the day before the 15k, wasnt planning on playing sunday tourneys, was planning on actually enjoying my time in vegas, not grinding small tourneys online, but sheets was like if you want to play the 15k, ur gonna play online, ok, so i played and won the mil, that works, guess there is actually a lot of value on sundays, as tedious and worthless as they can seem

didint quite get me out of makeup, but got to keep something i consider fair, paid off some debts, and got a little bankroll to play 1/2 at bellagio, in the two weeks i spent here, i absolutely murdered the game, continued to pay off debts as i win, not really leaving myself with much, thats probably a mistake noone asked me for anything, but i wanted to try and pay everyone a little something, and im playing good right now and people know that, so not really a huge deal if i go broke i got a few people lined up to put the kid in action

went back to la, went to san diego for christamas, and decided to just come back out here, stay away from the commerce, venture away from the place i once called home, the place i lived at for a year and a half lost my mind and fired off two million, being barred for 3 weeks is really the best thing to ever happen to me, for the first time in like 2 years im playing on my own money now, still got a long way to go, but im feeling great and good things are happening

time to keep grinding the game at bellagio and try to build up a little bankroll for the lapc, right now i dont really need to be around anything bigger than 1/2, and if you are going to play 1/2 the game at bellagio is so much easier than the game at the commerce, plus theres just so much drama in that place, i think im better off here for the moment, im thinking clearly, playing great poker, and just cant seem to lose in the game here, so yeah, chill in vegas for a week or so try to build a little bankroll, go to bahamas, come back and bust everyone in the lapc, thats the plan

its actually kind of sad to see the state of the games right now, i wonder if were still going to have 5/10s and 1k/2ks this lapc or if its going to be more 2/4s and 3/6s, what has happened to los angeles limit holdem when 300/600 has become a "big" non-standard game, i mean for the state of my bankroll its probably best for there not to be any lavender chip games around to temp me, but still its like everyone is hurt right now, guess thats what happens when all the regulars fire off their bankrolls in bacarat and all the fish go broke, we actually got a 3/6 going at bellagio last week, leave it up to me and lee salem, both playing br on table, to get the first 3/6 holdem game bellagio has spread in like 2 years going lol

anyway, so yeah thats where im at now, on to plans for the future, first ive made a 3 part bet with joe cassidy, starting january first, in the month of january, i get 21 packs of cigs, 18 in february, 15 in march, and keep going down by 3 until i reach zero in the month of august and win the bet, i also have to work out for a minimum of 3 hours each week for the 8 month period, with a total of 3 weeks off, and no loaning or staking, but i can take pieces of people at face value in cash games or less than face value in tourneys

these are major life changes that will be good for me in the new year, people who know me know i smoke more than anyone, and live a very unhealthy lifestyle, like really the only people i know that smoke more than me are chen and crazy larry, it might sound like an easy bet to win, but its going to take some determination, especially over the long term, right now im focused, feeling as good as ive felt in a while, making a lot of progress and playing great poker, there is still a long way to go, but trying to be healthy is the best way to make sure this mentality i have at the moment continues

ive been off of it while in vegas because its just not really convenient, but my friend has got me starting to make raw superfood smoothies, that really give me so much energy and motivation, spent like 500 on ingredients, the first day that i made one, i cleaned up my house, worked out, just felt great, i plan to make one every morning in the lapc come in focused and sharp and get back to murdering the commerce again, not let anyone or anything get to me or get in the way of me playing my best game all of the time, once ive built a small bankroll to play bigger games there, the commerce wont be ready for me when the lapc starts, i plan to put my full concentration into every move i make, every bet, every read, a focused mark is a dangerous mark, my mind is right, it wont be much longer now, ive been broke for too long, im ready to get out in the lapc

anyway, took me like a month and a half to finally get motivated to take the time to write something here, maybe you will here more from me soon, for now time to go downstairs and grind

-mark