I'm Home  [08.11.2005]
I'm sorry for not updating the blog at all while I was in Europe, but my computer time was very limited.

I played 4 10k events on the trip. The first was a �10,000 buying (about $12,500) at WPT Paris. The second was the Victor Chandler Cup at a television studio in London. The buyin was �5,000 ($9,000), and the tournament was shootout style. Then I played the London Open which was a $10,000 buyin. This tournament had $2,000,000 guaranteed and only about 140 players, so it had a sick overlay. Finally, I played another �5,000 ($9,000) at the Vic.

All four of the tournaments started off well, but unfortunately, I didn�t cash in a single one. I�m a bit disappointed to say the least. The theme of the four tournaments seemed to be that I kept running into monster hands. I had to fold pocket queens three times before the flop during this trip. That�s something I�ve never had to do before in a live tournament. Jacks were also an �unlucky� hand for me, as I had to fold them several times on ragged flops. Overall, I�m happy with the way I played, or more specifically, the reads I was making. I felt like all the reads I made were spot on, but unfortunately, when you put your opponent on a monster hand, there really is no way to outplay them. You don�t have the best hand, and they�re not going to fold theirs. Oh well, that�s poker.

I did try a more loose aggressive style this trip, and that may have had a little to do with my lack of success, but I think I picked my spots really well. I was a little inspired after watching my friend Ed Moncada (Ebolivia) play next to me at the Vic. Our table was full of regulars at the Vic (Note that there are far more degenerate gamblers at the Vic who spend all of their free time at a casino, but still aren�t good enough to find an edge in any game) much harder to read. Internet amateurs, for example, are fairly easy to read as there is generally a logical reason for any of their plays, and they give off tells. With some of the locals, they couldn�t tell you the difference between a value bet and a bluff, and that made it much harder to figure out what they were thinking. They basically weren�t thinking players. Coupled with the fact that they spend 87 hours per week in the card room, they weren�t emitting much information.

Despite this, Ed was making a ton of amazing reads with minimal information. To be honest, I had played with Ed a lot online, and he has never seemed like the best player. He�s a solid winning mid stakes player I guess, but nothing better than that. When I played with him at the Vic, he played like a world class player. He really made me realize that even though I have more live tournament experience than the vast majority of the fields I�ve been playing in, I still need a lot more to get where I want to be. Ed ended up finishing 3rd in the event, which worked out nice for me since he was foolish enough to trade 5% with me. Although, his 3rd place finish was a little disappointing when he got all his chips in with JJ vs A6o and lost. There were about 1.3 million chips in play, but that pot was for over 800,000 chips. For those of you that have never heard of Ed, here is his resume: http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=17324 . After his bracelet win, he plans to play as many major tournaments as possible, so you can expect to see lots of big finishes from him in the near future. Keep an eye out.

Now, I could go into detail about all of the poker players I hung out with in Europe, or the nightlife that I saw, but to be honest, I�m really just sick of all the traveling I�ve been doing. It�s great to be home in LA. I�m probably going to skip EPT Barcelona in early September, so my next event will most likely be WPT Aruba (Sept 26 � Oct 2). Until then, I�ll just be playing online poker, and maybe a little bit of $10/$20 NL at the Commerce. If you ever see me there, make sure to never mention anything concerning age while you�re around me =)

The WPT is in Town, and I Made a Day Two Already!
August 9th, 2007

WSOP Wrapup and Bellagio Cup start
July 11th, 2007

WSOP #8 - 1k Rebuy and Ante Up for Africa
July 5th, 2007

WSOP #7 - Nobody Calls Earl a Chicken
July 2nd, 2007

WSOP #6 - 1.5k NL and the Robert Williamson Angle Shot
June 30th, 2007

WSOP #5 - 50k HORSE, and LOL Hellmuthaments #2
June 29th, 2007

WSOP #4 - Day 3 of the 50k Horse!
June 25th, 2007

WSOP #3 - Minor Cold Streak, 1.5k NL Commentary and 50k Horse
June 22nd, 2007

WSOP Update #2 - 2k NL Final Table
June 13th, 2007

WSOP Update #1 - Smokey Wins!
June 12th, 2007

It Has Begun!
May 31st, 2007

Once
May 26th, 2007

HORSE!
April 30th, 2007

Bellagio 25k Main Event
April 29th, 2007

Bellagio Update
April 11th, 2007

Brand New x3
April 4th, 2007

PoY, Reality TV Show, and Jennifer Tilly
March 30th, 2007

San Jose and some Interesting Hands
March 11th, 2007

Wynn 10k
March 8th, 2007

Alan Sass wins a tourney, and the cover of Bluff Magazine!
March 4th, 2007

Overdue Update
February 23rd, 2007

Two more huge finishes (Including a win finally)!!!
January 11th, 2007

I Am Justin Bonomo. Hear Me Roar!
December 22nd, 2006

The Dreaded TV Bubble
December 21st, 2006

Such Zees
December 17th, 2006

8th in Chips After Day 1a in the Main Event
December 15th, 2006

Doing Well Again!
December 10th, 2006

Back to Back Final Tables!
December 8th, 2006

Day 2!
December 6th, 2006

lol.
December 2nd, 2006

Slackage, SENS, and Elections
November 11th, 2006

Festa Al Lago at the Bellagio
October 12th, 2006

Aruba: non-poker stuff
October 11th, 2006

Aruba Tournament Report
October 10th, 2006

Summary of the Legislation against Unlawful Internet Gambling
October 4th, 2006

Aruba and the Methuselah Foundation
September 24th, 2006

Poker, Ebooks, and Obadiahs
September 15th, 2006

My Weekend
September 10th, 2006

My Favorite 2+2 Post of All Time
September 4th, 2006

Look! It's a blog!!!!!!!!!11!!1!1!!one!!1!
September 3rd, 2006

Overdue Update
July 13th, 2006

Random Public Service Announcement
June 16th, 2006

Brutal Downswing, Beautiful Recovery
February 23rd, 2006

The Quest Begins
February 20th, 2006

Day 1 Complete
February 20th, 2006

New Article
February 19th, 2006

Another Quick Update
February 16th, 2006

Stuff
February 7th, 2006

Random Update
January 27th, 2006

Exposing the Scammer and a Rant About Emails
January 18th, 2006

Dissecting a Hand #1
January 17th, 2006

WPT Update #2
January 12th, 2006

WPT Update #1
January 6th, 2006

Holiday Stuff
December 29th, 2005

The TLB Record and a Million Dollar Beating
December 22nd, 2005

N82 Guest Writes a Blog
December 19th, 2005

Vegas Baby!
December 15th, 2005

The Race is On!
December 14th, 2005

$137,000 and Rakeback Info!
December 11th, 2005

MySpace!
December 9th, 2005

October + November Results
December 5th, 2005

Live Long Enough to Live Forever
November 30th, 2005

Thanksgiving
November 23rd, 2005

Back to the Old Routine
November 15th, 2005

An Update! (Finally)
November 5th, 2005

The Boys Are Back in Town
October 27th, 2005

A HUGE Score!
October 22nd, 2005

Sundays...
October 16th, 2005

Another Tournament Win
October 10th, 2005

The Day the World Ended
October 8th, 2005

Aruba Trip Report
October 7th, 2005

Ding! (from Aruba)
September 26th, 2005

A Quick $20k!
September 21st, 2005

WCOOP Main Event - Jordan Berkowitz Wins
September 18th, 2005

Photo Gallery Update and 5k SNG Stats
September 15th, 2005

WCOOP, Bellagio, UB, and Some Screen Names
September 11th, 2005

WCOOP Update
September 9th, 2005

A MEGA Update
September 7th, 2005

Vegas Baby!
September 6th, 2005

Back to Work
September 4th, 2005

Victory!
August 29th, 2005

Paaaaiiiiiinn
August 26th, 2005

Veronica O, The Aristocrats, and Ian
August 25th, 2005

The Grind
August 23rd, 2005

A Terrible Day
August 19th, 2005

I'm Home
August 11th, 2005

Update from Amsterdam
July 30th, 2005

Quick Update
July 17th, 2005

An Absolutely Amazing Day
July 12th, 2005

The Quest is Complete!
July 11th, 2005

Back from Mexico
July 6th, 2005

Going to Mexico
June 27th, 2005

Quest Results After the Halfway Mark
June 26th, 2005

Party Poker Million Dollar Guarenteed
June 25th, 2005

Back from Vegas
June 23rd, 2005

Las Vegas
June 21st, 2005

I Bought a Car
June 18th, 2005

A Quest Update
June 15th, 2005

A New Quest
June 13th, 2005

Magic Players Are Taking the Poker World by Storm
June 10th, 2005

10/20 NL and SNGs
June 6th, 2005

Sneak Peak
June 2nd, 2005

Life in LA
May 31st, 2005

Stuff
May 19th, 2005

Another Final Table Report
May 16th, 2005

LA
May 15th, 2005

30 hours til LA
May 8th, 2005

Super Tuesday Tournament Report
May 4th, 2005

Taking it to the Next Level
May 2nd, 2005

A Not So Super Monday
April 26th, 2005

LA here I come!
April 26th, 2005

Turning Stone Conclusion
April 25th, 2005

Turning Stone Update 2
April 22nd, 2005

Turning Stone Update 1
April 21st, 2005

EPT Deauville on TV
April 19th, 2005

Drunken Home Game
April 16th, 2005

Catching Up
April 15th, 2005

Monte Carlo EPT Part I.
March 15th, 2005

WOW - Vienna Tournament Recap
March 11th, 2005

Sleepless in Vienna
March 10th, 2005

Going to Vienna
March 9th, 2005