July, August, and Most of September

Ok. So I haven't blogged in about 2.5 months. I'm sorry about this to anyone who actually reads this blog. So lets wrap up Vegas.

Vegas had a ton of ups and downs. Unfortunately, there were more downs then ups and I ended Vegas on a big down. I did nothing in any of tournaments that I entered which is very frustrating, but after reading other people's blogs about tournaments, I realize that going 0 for 8 in tournaments is not a big deal at all. In fact, I could have been playing 100% optimally and gone 0 for 8. I do not think I was playing optimally and I took a long look at my play during live tournaments over the summer. I definitely found a couple leaks in my game, which I will plug up once I start playing tournaments again (I probably won't play tournaments this semester because of the long continuous hours that are involved with doing well).

Along with taking a couple shots at bigger tournaments during the summer, I also took shots at bigger cash games during the summer. I played the 50-100 Stud 8 game at the Rio and I played the 75-150 Omaha 8 game online. I played with big name pros during my shots (Joe Haschem, Marcel Luske, Cindy Violet) but didn't tangle with them that much. I got scooped a couple times early while playing stud 8, where I had the low and high locked up and my opponent hit a miracle card to take both away from me. That got me into a whole early and played about even for the next 7 hours which is very depressing. The same thing happened with playing the Omaha 8 game. I couldn't win a hand to save my life early on and played even for about 1.5 hours and then went cold for the next hour. When taking shots at games, it is very detrimental to one's confidence when you get stuck early.

Anyways that was Vegas and poker for the summer. The month of July I just kinda took off. I spent some time with the family and friends that I hadn't seen very much because I was in Vegas for the summer, which was very relaxing. I also dipped back into playing World of Warcraft because I was so burnt out of poker. Playing WoW is fine during the summer or down time, but playing it during the school year is definitely a bad thing. I had played it most of July, all of August and a little bit this month. I'm starting to tone it down a bit and am probably going to stop playing it completely when the expansion comes out.

Football: I was a little worried at the end of last school year about how my shoulder was going to hold up during the season cause my progression was very slow (I had surgery on my laborem December 27 '08). I went to Cal rehab in Huntington Beach, which helped get me started in the right direction and then I went to the Keith Kleven Institute in Vegas for my shoulder. Keith and his staff was absolutely amazing and my strength and ROM (range of motion) increased phenomenally.

Football camp this year was a little bit tougher this year because I came in not in the best of shape. Due to my shoulder and trying to grind in Vegas, I was not very good at keeping up with my workouts. Although I was a little out of shape, I performed on par during camp. Even though I am not starting at the moment, I am getting ample time during the games (I rotate every series with another ILB).

After winning our first game, we have lost our last 2 games by a combined 14 points. Our first loss, our Offense played well but had way too many turnovers along with us making some mental mistakes. Our 2nd loss, our defense played very well as we were put in tough position after position and kept holding up, but by the end of the game they made a couple more plays than us and that won them the game.

Current Poker: I have decided that instead of playing NL hold'em, that I am going to play limit Omaha 8. I think my edge in O8 is bigger than NL and that the swings are less intense, which is better for my nerves. I am trying to grind up to 5-10 and 15-30 by the end of october. I am currently at 2-4 and 3-6. I will try and post about 2-3 times a week. One about poker, one about football and one about life.

Peace,
Danny