WSOP Main Event Qualifier

Yes, it's me. I won a $30 Pokerstars satellite tournament and beat out 172 other players to win a $10,000 entry fee to the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas starting on July 28th, 2006.

On www.pokerstars.com I am Fireball36.






Here is the winning tournament final standing.

It hasn't sunk in yet and I don't think it will until I get to Vegas and see all the other players. I told my brother and he said: "It's hard to believe, but then it's you, so I can believe it."

here is what happened... if you want to play in the World Series of Poker Main Event, it's a $10,000 entry fee. So some people pay it directly. the big increase is from people like me. Last year they had about 5700 players, about 10% cashed and the first one to lose on final table got $1,000,000 and the big winner got $7.5 Million. The online poker sites, like the one I play have satellite tournaments daily several months before the WSOP event and so do card rooms and casinos. I played in a few earlier and didn't make it, but this time I played in a game that had 1 guaranteed entry - $10,000 entry fee, $1000 spending money & a free hotel room in Vegas for 9 days. it took 4 hours & 53 minutes to get to the final hand and I won beating 172 people. In Vegas it will be 12 hours a day for many days, so I've got to get into mental & physical shape.

No Limit Texas Hold Em Poker takes a massive amount of patience, knowlege, observation, acting skill, & luck. Hopefully I will have enough of all that and a bag of chips, poker chips that is.

If I meet Phil Hellmuth in person, I will say: Click Here

I have confidence that I'm as good or better than 90% of the players, so I just need 10% luck.

Here is some details on the satellite tournament I won:

1. There were 173 players competing for 1 WSOP Main Event entry
2. 2nd - 4th place was $650 and 5th place was $72
3. It was a $30 game with re-buys & add-ons and $3 house fee
4. After 1 hour, I was 14th out of 106 players with 11,005 chips
5. After 2 hours, I was 5th out of 39 players with 30,040 chips
6. After 3 hours, I was 8th out of 8 players with 34, 387 chips
7. After 4 hours, I was 3rd out of 3 with 189,000 chips
8. For most of the fourth hour, I was low chips
9. I knocked out Windough with 11 hands to go. She went all in for 86,692 chips with a K-3 offsuit and I had pocket Q's. I won with Q's & 10's to his 10's.
10. I had about twice as many chips as Bluewave
11. I had 5-2 of diamonds and got check raised on the turn to 36,000 chips on a flop of 7h Qc Td and a turn card of 8d, but then I got 9d on the river which gave me a flush and also put a straight on the board. I don't think he thought I had a flush, but he was afraid I had a K and he probably already had a straight with a 9. I bet 96,000 and Bluewave folded, but he was crippled.
12. I had Bluewave 3-1 in chips
13. Bluewave went all in with 9h Kd, I had 6h 6d and called his 170679 chips and the board ended up as Td 2d 7h Qs 6s, so I won with trip 6's.
14. Game over, Man.

374 hands played and saw flop:

- 30 times out of 74 while in small blind (40%)
- 37 times out of 74 while in big blind (50%)
- 50 times out of 226 in other positions (22%)
- a total of 117 times out of 374 (31%)

Pots won at showdown - 23 out of 31 (74%)
Pots won without showdown - 57

For those who don't know much about Texas Hold Em Poker, click here.

Making the Creative Leap of Faith, Should I take the easy route?

I wrote this poem a long time ago...

Choice

As dawn makes its way through the trees,
I see a bridge astride a creek.
Steam floats lazily from dead stumps,
I stand, though my legs are weak.

A road goes to the bridge,
But none comes out.
An easy path crosses mine,
It's not the only route.

So on this day before the rest,
I have a choice that's very old.
The certain way that leads nowhere,
Or the one that's adventuresome and bold.

I have to figure out if I can make the leap from an easy job that pays really well into something that I will enjoy so much more and still keep up the income. it's really scary and always much easier to keep the status quo. I'm setting a deadline for myself of my birthday in October 2007. That will be about 1 year after the Inspirational Speaker class, so I should know by then if it's a viable option.

During this five day program you will:
Learn to design and deliver an inspiring message.
Create your own authentic and confident “Presence & Persona.”
Develop a new relationship with your voice and essential skills to step into your power and build rapport.
Practice using stories, spontaneity and humor.
See how to market yourself to get booked.
Learn about producing and selling Back of the Room (BOR) products – a huge income potential.
Hear secrets, shortcuts and the mistakes to avoid, saving yourself money and cutting years off your leaning curve

Even if you just want to be a better speaker, you should register for the class. Click here for the link.

I'm also going to visit one of Marcia's seminar speakers - Renée Stephens and take her Say Goodbye to Food Compulsion session (Mind For Body). My plan is to be someone completely new by October 2007, so much so that some people won't recognize me. I've gone through big transitions before and sometimes it's just better to do a whole bunch at once. I'm in a non-creative rut that I need to break out of.

I'm going to relax down in Monterey for a couple of days at the end of the week... then go back to my dull work world during the day and stay creative at night and on weekends...

Poem - Don’t Give Up

I'm not sure what year I wrote this, but I wrote it for my cousin Kathy...

Don’t Give Up

Don’t give up
Buttercup
Don’t you frown
Or turn upside down

Don’t fulminate
Just dominate
Remember Geronimo
High five an Eskimo

Shampoo the tattoo
On the kangaroo at the zoo
Anything that you can think
From grandiose to rinky-dink

Do them all from A-Z
But just don’t sit on a killer bee
Just get well, I declare
We all love you, so hang in there