Aruba Trip Report  [10.07.2005]
On Friday the 23rd, Josh Schlien (Sdouble) came over to my house. We were going to be traveling together to Aruba. Since I was home in Northern VA, my Dad wanted to have a family dinner and double it as a birthday party for me, so Josh got to see a little more than he asked for. Being that it was a Friday night and a birthday celebration, there was a little more wine served than normal, and Josh got to see a very rare side of my family. It was interesting to say the least.

I stayed up all night, and Josh did the same save for a short nap. Our flight left at 6am, and we got in to Aruba around noon. I stayed up for the $600+40 on Party and was just unreal tired by the time I busted. I ended up sleeping for 17 hours straight. That worked out perfectly since I woke up on Sunday morning. I figured I was going to be on a normal sleeping schedule for a while after that, but with me that�s rarely the case unless I�m at home.

The next day was Sunday. Josh played some live poker, but I wanted to play the Sunday tournaments. I went to Oz�s room and we played with MrSmokey1 and Bushman, all on our laptops for the tournaments. I ended up getting 39th in the Stars tourney, but that only paid a disappointing $2,500.

On Monday I donked off my stack in the live $500+40 MTT because I just couldn�t take it seriously. I�m not quite sure why. After that I played some live $25/$50 NL and made about $14,000.

The day after that I played some more $25/$50 NL. The game featured some filthy rich South Americans who would just get felted over and over and would rebuy without thinking twice every time. I didn�t play for long on Tuesday because I had the tournament the next day.

On Wednesday I played the main event and I lasted for all of about 90 minutes. I made a huge play very early on and it didn�t quite work out. I started what became a lengthy post about my play on 2+2. You can read it here: http://tinyurl.com/9u47s If you do read this, make sure you understand that this is not a common situation, and certainly is not the type of play I would encourage other players to make. In general, making plays like this early on in tournaments is a very bad idea.

I was a bit dejected after the tournament, but I played $25/$50 NL for the rest of the week. I made a few crucial mistakes since I�m not as good at cash games as I am at tournaments and ended up breaking even for the trip. That was extremely disappointing since I started off so well. To make the feeling even worse, I lost more money on my 20th birthday (September 30th) than I ever have in a single day before - $17,000.

My birthday wasn�t all bad. I was woken up around 8pm (remember how I said I was on a good sleeping schedule? � it didn�t last) by Josh who told me he was still kicking ass in the main event. A couple hours later and he had locked up a spot at the final table! That night I went to a bar at the hotel with Oz and we ran into Nick (really cool British guy), Beth, and Amy (Scott Fischman�s sisters). We did some tequila shots to celebrate, and it was really fun. At one point in the night, my friend Oz challenged Perry Friedman to a Ro Sham Bo match. For those of you that aren�t aware, Perry Friedman was the 2001 world champion. Let me clarify that I�m not joking when I say he is a world champion. There really is a World Championship of Ro Sham Bo. Oz and Perry played best of 19, and Oz got killed. After that I played a match vs Perry, but I wasn�t going to let Perry get insight my head like he did to Oz. I used credit card numbers, my Neteller number, and phone numbers to randomly decide each throw. 1,4 and 7 are rock. 2,5, and 8 are paper. 3, 6, and 9 are scissors. If it�s a zero, you go on to the next number so that every throw still has an equal probability of being thrown. After he narrowly defeated me, Perry was trash talking about how he always knew what I was going to throw. I told him my strategy and challenged him to a double or nothing (yes, there was money on the line) rematch, and he refused! I�m proud to say that a world champion refused to play me because there�s no way he could have an edge against my strategy =)

Later that night, Chris Ferguson showed up with a plastic bag full of towels and liquor and convinced us to go swimming on the beach (note that it was around 2am). People thought he was crazy at first, but since it was my birthday, and everyone was drunk, I convinced everyone to go. I have to say it was a lot of time. None of us had bathing suits, so we had to all go in our underwear, but since there were a couple of attractive girls with us, that wasn�t a bad thing. That was certainly an unexpected ending to my birthday.

By the time I walked back to my hotel room, the sun was already up. I got in a few hours of sleep before waking up to watch Josh play the WPT final table. I think that kid really impressed everyone with his play. He�s not afraid to make huge bluffs for all his chips with complete air. It worked, and sure enough, a few hours later he was heads up with Freddy Deeb playing for $1,000,000. Josh had the chip lead, and things looked over when he got 33 all-in vs. Freddy�s A4. Naturally, since it was a WPT final table, they slow rolled all the cards for the cameras. The flop blanked, and seven minutes later, the turn blanked as well. Josh was one card away from winning, and all of his fans (myself included) were pumped. Out of nowhere came a 4 on the river leaving Josh crippled instead of leaving him with a WPT win. After that, Freddy managed to finish him off a few hands later. I have to say that Josh played extremely well, and when this is gonna be on TV, a lot of heads are going to turn. This 20 year old kid probably outplayed everyone at the table. Make sure you catch WPT Aruba 2005 when it first airs on the travel channel (will probably be 3-4 months from now).

Congratulations to Josh and his $440,000 finish! I guess I should also say thank you since I had a small piece of him =)

My flight home was supposed to be the Saturday of the final table, but since Josh was still in, I had to skip my flight. We used Sunday as a day to relax on the beach before going home on Monday.

Sorry for the lack of updates, but sometimes it�s hard to find the time to write a blog when I�m out of the country. I�m back in LA now for another three weeks before I go to EPT Dublin and the Master�s Classic in Amsterdam.

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