If there were somehow an option where I could clone myself for a couple of weeks, I would certainly be paying pretty much whatever it took to do that. I basically have 5 different things that I really wanted to do and 3 of them are at the same time. Right now I am on Chicago on a layover waiting to fly into Charlotte so I can be a part of Matt Bolt’s (Mbolt1) wedding. I am really pumped for that on it’s own merit, but it probably could not possibly come at a worst time with my Oregon Ducks playing Stanford on Saturday at Autzen stadium. ESPN’s Game Day is coming and well, I should just stop writing because I pretty much want to throw up (like literally throw up uncontrollably for hours) just thinking about missing that game. I never miss a Ducks home game, and even attend about half of the road games every year. So wow, it is going to be tough to miss it.

To complicate matters I am a huge golf fan and the Ryder Cup is this weekend as well. Missing that has been something that I have barely even thought about relative to missing the Ducks game, but to me anyway, it is pretty much like being a huge soccer game and having to miss the World Cup. No fun there. I also catch a cold about 75% of the time I get on a plane historically, so I may be signing up for a cold as well to rub insult into injury. Anyway, enough of that. On the bright note, I am incredibly pumped to see Bolt and his bride tie the not. I am definitely a big fan of theirs and even though it is going to be tough missing out on some things to be there, I couldn’t be more excited or happy to get to not only see them tie the knot, but also get to see a bunch of other poker buddies like Forcewithme, Beach Justice and well, there is no clever way to say his name other than to just call him Jared Tendler. We are all playing golf tomorrow which is going to be quite a group!! I was too lazy to bring my golf clubs on the flight, so I will have to borrow someone’s clubs and likely shoot about 80 with them haha. I never play worth a darn with other clubs, but I weighed that against the pain of bringing them on the trip and the likelihood they get lost or delayed and decided to just leave them behind.

Next weekend is my daughter Lennon’s first birthday!!! As some of you may know, Lennon is a name we picked out for her 6 months before she was born in honor of John Lennon. On the day she was born, Oct 9th, I got a text from a friend saying, “OMG I can’t believe your daughter was born on John Lennon’s birthday!!” I had no idea it was his birthday. Lennon was due on Nov 2nd, so her coming on Oct 9th was quite a surprise. So later that day I did some research and discovered that John Lennon was born at 6:24PM in London. I then asked the nurse what time she was born and she said 10:24AM here is Portland, Oregon. 10:24 AM in Portland is 6:24 PM in England, so lo and behold they were born at the EXACT SAME TIME!! Crazy stuff.

So the weekend of her birthday also coincides with a trip to Bandon Dunes I was invited to go on with some PGA tour players, including one who shot a 59 this year on tour. Definitely a tough break to have to miss that, but they are playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday and Lennon’s birthday is on Saturday, so there is just no way to enjoy the trip without having to miss her birthday, and as much as I would love the Bandon trip and as much as I know she doesn’t even know it’s her birthday, I don’t want to start off her life not being there for her. One of my main goals in life was to raise a family the right way after being frustrated with the way I was brought up, so I don’t want to start off right away as a flaky Dad.

Poker in September went reasonably well. I’m done playing for the month and ended up winning about $40,000 on the month. I will certainly take it because I didn’t play too many days of poker. I spent a lot of time on vacation, and being sick with an infection as well as working really hard on my book as we reach the home stretch. So to scratch out $40,000 playing part time was definitely nice. I also spent a lot of time working on my game which I think will serve me quite well as I am really going to be grinding a lot more hands than I have in awhile in November and December as I close in on SuperNova Elite. I am way behind right now with about 640,000 VPP’s. but I planned on having a busy end to the year and have cleared out my schedule mostly in Novemeber and December so I can take care of business at the tables.

Well, Go Ducks, Go Lennon and I hope everyone crushes it at the tables!

Well, I can’t believe what just happened again today in the political football game (with real lives) being played once again by our politicians. Our senators stood on the floor of congress and essentially told a large group of people fighting each and every day to protect our lives that they will not fight for them. I would say I am speechless at how something like this could happen, but nothing surprises me anymore and I am after all, writing this blog.

Maybe I am unusual in this regard, maybe I’m not. But I view what anyone who defends our country as someone I respect more than anyone else. I am more impressed with what they do than what a guy like Michael Jordan did. To me, there is nothing in this world that compares to what a military man or woman does. They have all my respect. If I called the shots, those in the military would have a unparalleled pension, the best health care in the world and be made to feel like what they accomplished is greater than just about anything. Honestly, it’s sad that someone like me gets accolades for doing things like sitting in front of a computer screen and raising fish. The folks in the military, those are the people that should be looked up to. I may take some winnings here and there and donate it to those less fortunate, but big whoop. The people in the military lay their LIVES on the line to help others.

They see things that most people only see in the movies. They have to live the rest of their lives having had that experience and many, if not most, deal with that difficult time period in their lives on a daily basis, if they are lucky enough to make it back home. Most have severe mental hurdles to overcome. Many have physical problems from the time they spent at war. Yet they still fight on each and every day while so many of us get to enjoy our lives here in the United States relatively safe and sound. And back home what are we doing to these people? Well, we send them into war over a bunch of lies (and for those of you that disagree, cmon, get with it, it’s 2010, it is a FACT that we lied are way into war in Iraq). We give them worse health care coverage than most industrialized nations would give a homeless person. We give them inadequate at best mental health care that is essential for them to recover from the mental trauma they have endured. And then if that’s not bad enough, today we told them that they are essentially something less than a human being.

How does this happen? How can someone like John Mccain, a self proclaimed ware hero and someone who tried to parlay his own fake patriotism into gaining control of the most powerful position in the world, tell people that because of what they do in the bedroom that they are less than someone who does something a little different (and often times similar!!) in their bedroom?

Who gives a shit? I mean honestly it’s one thing if you are bothered by what a gay person might do. It’s America, so yes you are entitled to your own opinion. But for God’s sake, how do you actually legislate in such a way where your own personal morality detracts from the dignity of another person?

I would like to ask all of the folks out there who actually do side with all the neo cons (the same folks who have tried to tout their own fake patriotism to win political points) in the Senate in today’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell vote one simple question. In a way, we are going back to when we were all 5 years old and our parents were teaching us the concept of “do unto others” and the concept of “You know what you did to little Johnny today? How would that make you feel if someone did that to you?” And my question is this. Please, take 1 minute of your time and bear with me here. Close your eyes an imagine what it must be like fighting a war in the middle east. Imagine being away from everyone you love. Imagine not knowing if you would see tomorrow. Imagine all of the luxuries you enjoy are taken away from you. Imagine all of the things you would see over there and all of the fucked up emotional shit you would deal with each and every day. Imagine watching your friends in your platoon get blown away. Watching them take their last breath. Imagine what you would give to be home with your family, enjoying Christmas or a nice night out with your significant other. Imagine what you would give for even a day of that?

Now imagine that in order to deal with all of this, you have a great sense of pride that you develop for what it is you are doing. You may not have a lot going for you at the moment in terms of what a civilian might think of, but what you have is a sense of pride that is unmatched for what you do on a daily basis. You know that what you are doing is for your country and if something does happen to you, you will die with dignity. And then you find out that the entity that you are protecting, the guts you have spilled, both literally and figuratively, are all for an entity that views you as something beneath a human being. They are sending a very loud and very clear message, that you are to be tolerated, but nothing more. And if they have it their way, you will never be truly dignified as a human being the way they define a human being.

How might this make you feel? How would you feel if you were them? How would you feel that because you were born attracted to the same sex (again, if you don’t think so, get with it, it’s 2010, it’s a FACT you are most likely born gay) as opposed to the opposite sex, that you are, in the eyes of the country you fight for each every day, something less than all the rest of your peers? Now please try and think about this and tell me how you could possibly vote the way you did? How?

The poker strategy book is going great so far. Paul Hoppe and I are really making some great progress and we have really had a lot of fun writing this book so far. Paul is a great guy with a great attitude, and I feel very fortunate to have such a great writing partner and great poker mind to collaborate with.

Essentially the book is going to break down into 3 major sections. I will put the final outline of the book up for everyone to see before it goes to print, but for now we are going to leave it a little more vague as we will be doing some adding and subtracting before the book goes to print. Section 1 is essentially 50 chapters on what I have found to be the biggest misconceptions and/or biggest mistakes poker players make at the poker tables. Each mistake or misconception will be its’ own chapter much like in Treat Your Poker Like A Business, which was essentially a collection of the 50 most important things you can do to monetize your poker game, along with several chapters of poker strategy.

Section 2 is going to be an undetermined number of “Hands With Leatherass.” In this chapter, I will take you through some critical hands I have played and analyze them in such a way that you can get inside why I did what I did and relate that back to how it can help you at the tables. This type of learning tends to be hugely popular and because of that, we felt it was a good idea to include such a section in our book. Section 3 will be a quiz that will be 50 questions long, with 1 question each that correlates with the 50 chapters in the book. So for example, quiz question #14 will be a question that will correspond to chapter #14 in the book. So if you nail all the questions, then you likely have very little reason to go back and read the book. But if you miss questions 12, 17 and 27, then you can go back to those chapters and review them to make sure you are solid with what we have taught and then you can be ready to kick ass and take names at the tables!!!

The reason I am telling you all about this is that I need your help. We would like to hear from the people we are writing this book for what they would like to see talked about in the book. Is there a mistake you feel you are making that you want to be addressed in the book? Is there some piece of advice that you hear on TV or from friends at the tables that you are skeptical about? Please let us know. Remember, the concept of the book is to address the 50 biggest mistakes and/or misconceptions people have about poker. So any questions along those lines would be great.

The reason I like to write books that deal with things like the 50 biggest mistakes and or misconceptions is because it gets straight to the point and fixes the leaks in your game that you are possibly making. While dense strategy books filled with elaborate equations and philosophies have their place, I feel it is much more effective to have straight to the point, winning advice, that you can translate into cash in your pocket immediately. You won’t have to sift through a manual to find any gems here. This book won’t be filled with a bunch of fluff. Our aim with every sentence will be to carry your game forward, much like a running back, into the end zone and towards a pile of cash. But before we submit the final draft to go to print, we want to hear from you first. What do you want to read about? What questions have been bugging you forever? Are you tired of not knowing what to do when you are out of position in a raised flop against an aggressive player and you have 88 on a T52 flop and your opponent bets the flop and the turn? These problems are not easy to solve, and our mission is to answer all of these tough, burning questions that most poker players have.

Please reach out to me in any way you can. Thank you so much.

Here are the ways of letting me know what you want to see in our book:

Email: info@dustyschmidt.net
Facebook message: Facebook
Card Player: simply post below in the comments section under your Card Player screen name
Dragthebar : There is a thread in the NL holdem General and theory section titled, “I need your help.”

This week has been nuts. I have had a cold all week and granted, I haven’t moved from my couch in a week other than to go to the gym to shoot some baskets this morning, but still I feel like I haven’t stopped working. I have hosted 3 final tables of WCOOP events on Poker Stars. I have played 2 final tables myself in tournaments as well as played 20,000 hands of cash games. I have done quite a bit of work on my new strategy book and oddly enough my media/publishing business, Imagine Media, experienced some serious mainstream publicity this week.

I noticed some people in various poker forums who thought it was pretty “interesting” that Imagine Media is involved with the Bachelor Pad winner’s latest book. There were some, let’s use the word “clever” remarks made online, but anyway, yeah, my company is in fact involved with these projects. We recently published two books written by two of the biggest reality TV stars going right now. Jesse Kovacs, or “Kovacs” as he is known on the Bachelor Pad, wrote The Young and the Thirsty: 25 California Wines for the New School Drinker which we were happy to publish. Then last night we released our latest creation with Bachelor Pad winner David Good. David became well known for his many references on a past season of the Bacehlorette to the “Man Code.” He would say, “You can’t do that. That breaks the Man Code dude.” So naturally David wrote a really fun and interesting book called Man Code: A Woman’s Guide To Cracking The Tough Guy. His book created quite a buzz in the gossip community getting written up in People Magazine among many other gossip related websites and magazines! It was pretty cool to see a book that is under our Imagine Media umbrella receive such intense interest. Anyway, exciting stuff for our young company. We started with just my one book and now we have 4 with 2 more scheduled to be released before year end. I guess for the guy who has one of the largest private collections of golf books and once won a book reading contest in 3rd grade, owning a publishing company is a natural fit for me anyway. I can’t wait when some day we maybe have a few hundred titles. Then I can have a room in my house dedicated to all of the books we’ve published. That would be awesome!! It’s fun to dream anyway.

Today is an off day for me from the WCOOP. I have been grinding like crazy at both cash and tournaments, and like I wrote yesterday, it has resulted in a tidy $20,000 profit, so it’s nice to be rewarded for my efforts, especially when I haven’t been feeling well. Had I played all week while sick (although I have gotten some great rest when not playing) and lost, man that would’ve been tough.

For all the golfers out there, how much does it suck that Tiger is playing so poorly? It is almost strange to watch huh? It’s like I actually am surprised when he plays well now, not when he plays poorly, like I used to be. I think he is actually going to come back better than ever though. Even though he got great results with Hank Haney, I think it was in spite of, not because of, him. Hank is an awful golf coach in my opinion. I have very little respect for his philosophy and think if Tiger had just gone to a guy like Sean Foley right off the bat he would’ve been much better off. In fact, I think he’d have 20 majors right now if he had seen Foley first and passed on Haney. Foley has an understanding of the swing that few on earth have. He is the only one who can quite literally prove why his theory works from a physics standpoint. Once Tiger finally gets a chance to fully understand what Foley is teaching and gets time to make the changes and feel comfortable with them, barring injuries and/or additional personal life issues, I see him having a grand slam year before he’s through. With Foley’s techniques, Tiger will be unbeatable in my opinion.

Well, gotta run. Gonna go play with my daughter for a little before I’m back to work.

This past week I have been playing mostly tournaments which is something I haven’t done in a long time. Given that I have been working here and there on my tournament game all year and the World championship of Online Poker is running virtually all of September, I thought well I might as well try and win me a bracelet.

So far the WCOOP has gone very so so. For tournaments this week it has gone fine with me winning about $19,000 on the week. About $10,000 in tourneys and the other $9,000 at the cash game tables. I have been a small loser in the WCOOP tournaments, but had a couple of final tables in non WCOOP events on Poker Stars so overall if has been pretty good. I am really enjoying trying to learn MTT’s. Even though I am not a big fan of them normally, it is hard to pass up the incredible structures Poker Stars has in their WCOOP events. Today I placed 126th in the 4 max event and towards the end I had 20 blinds in my stack and was 80 blinds below the average! How sick is that? The average person with 126 left had what amounts to a full buy in in the cash games that I usually play. Very awesome. Great work Poker Stars!

I am starting to feel a little bit better now. I have had a cold since Wednesday and am starting to get over it now. That’s great timing because I am playing golf with some folks for a charity event on Wednesday and on Thursday I will be a keynote speaker for a company’s annual retreat. Apparently there are a lot of poker players at this particular business and my aim is to speak in front of them and relate business techniques to poker, much like I did in my book, Treat Your Poker Like A Business. It’s pretty cool to see how well my book has caught on not only in poker, but in business as well. When I was writing it, I could have never foreseen it taking off the way it did. It was kind of one of those things where I thought I had something decent to share with the world, but surely didn’t expect what has transpired overall with the book. It’s quite an honor, that’s for sure.

Now this is obviously a shameless plug, but I am going to do it because I think most will be happy to hear about this. Anyway, here goes. Poker Stars just began carrying my book once again after selling out so quickly last time. If you go into the lobby and click on VIP store and then onto books, you will find my book, Treat Your Poker Like A Business, on sale for only 1,900 FPP’s which is a pretty nominal point cost. So there it is, a shameless plug, but I heave heard so many people ask for the book to be in the Poker Stars store that I am sure many of you will be glad to know that you don’t have to spend $40 to get it anymore, but rather just 1,900 FPP’s.

Today I had a great time giving my dog a full sized hamburger for his birthday. He turned 5 today. I laid the burger on the ground in its entirety and my dog just looked up at me and sniffed. He looked up at me again and kind of sniffed around it and gave it a few licks before looking back up at me. He then kind of walked around it for about 2-3 minutes and kept looking at me. I think if he could talk he was trying to say, “WTF is going on here. This has to be a trick of some kind.” It was almost like the dog version of someone being told they won the lottery while they were just lounging around at the house. You would probably need to tell them a few times before they actually believed it. Anyway, my dog finally took a few nibbles to make sure I wasn’t going to get mad at him and then once he realized it was OK it took him all of about 4 seconds to finish his burger lol. I guess giving that to him on his birthday was as much for me as it was for him, I really enjoyed watching him eat that.

I have been fighting a cold the last 2 days which has really sucked. I get colds fairly infrequently these days (maybe 1-2 times a year), but man when I do get them, they are really bad colds. Luckily I don’t have anywhere to be for a week and the World Championship of Online Poker on Poker Stars is running, so I can just be a sick bum laying around all day playing for a bracelet!!! Not a bad gig. So far the series itself has been fairly quiet for me, but I have been playing a ton of tournaments the last 2 days on Poker Stars, most of which are non bracelet events. I did make two final tables this week coming in third for $14,000 and 6th for $1,000 in a small field $55 tournament. I am starting to get the hang of tournaments, but I have a very long way being primarily a cash game pro. I have a lot to learn which actually kinda excites me. Not that I don’t have things to learn as a cash pro, but I’m definitely much closer to the ceiling in cash games than I am in tournaments.

One thing that is nice about playing in the online version of the World Series of Poker is that you can’t be victim of a dumb ruling like you can in the World Series of Poker in Vegas. Being sick and having more time to bum around, I have been reading some of the Cardplayer blogs and noticed this whole Prahlad Friedman controversy. I guess if I’m going to weigh in on that one, I don’t think you can really fault Prahlad. I have been in a similar position at the World Series and things happen so fast and a bunch of men in suits who approach the table make such quick and authoritative decisions that it feels almost pointless getting involved. I think Prahlad realized that and just let those guys do their thing. Obviously anyone with a brain knows he called and knows he should have been out of the tournament, but no matter if Prahlad begged them to eliminate him from the event, the ruling wasn’t going to change.

You see, that is just the problem with the World Series of Poker. It is run (not all of the staff, but unfortunately most of the higher ups) by people who lack basic common sense. I have been to the World Series numerous times, but this past summer was the first time I played most of the Series. I had heard of some of the horror stories of bad rulings, but I needed to see it for myself. And what I walked away with kinda blew my mind. I guess when you see these confident men in suits running one of the biggest events in the world, you just expect that things will be done right. But as I played the series, I realized that the main reason they must wear suits is to over compensate for their lack of basic common sense that most 4th graders have. Let me give you the run down of a few experiences I had or observed while I was there:

1. The Prahlad incident. Seriously? Why on earth would you ever make the ruling that a clock ends at one? Has a clock ever ended at one for any situation in any sport (or pseudo sport like poker) ever? Is it possible that the floor person just wanted to make history in the same way Jim Joyce did (the ump that blew the perfect game call). I mean this HAS to go down as one of the dumbest things ever caught on national television. Amiright? Who could argue that? The entire table knew he called. Prahlad knew he called. And the best argument is one that Daniel pointed out. In poker the clock has no relevance to the game like it does in football or basketball where the clock is everything. What a tournament director with common sense would prioritize is not the clock in the most absolute terms (even though he ended the clock at one which is even more insane) but rather the player’s intent. Prahlad’s intent was to call. So if it’s close at all with respect to the clock, since the clock has basically no relevance in poker the way it does some other sports, you just rule intent and Prahlad’s intent was to call. And anyone with any common sense agrees with this. I don’t think I am going out on a limb in saying that. Sure, maybe the floor person can make mistakes or maybe he got nervous due to the magnitude of the situation. Fine, that stuff happens, but don’t rule so authoritatively then!! Bring on other floor persons and put your collective heads together. The floor person didn’t do that. He ruled like a child who was on the playground who wanted his ball back at all costs. He wanted his stupid ruling to stand at all costs and he wasn’t going to even listen to reason.

2. The infamous “going broke to someone not in the tournament hand.” My friend John Mcclain (who I was backing for the series) neraly went broke to a guy who wasn’t even registered in the tournament. For those who are just reading about this for the first time, my friend John lost a bunch of chips in a $1,500 WSOP event to a guy who registered for some poker tournament in the Rio poker room which is in the casino, and somehow ended up in the convention center at the Rio and sat down at a World Series of Poker event!! He somehow was able to sit down and receive chips from the dealer despite not having the credentials to do so. Then when my friend John nearly went bust to him shortly before they finally caught the error, the floor ruled that John lost his chips “in good faith” to the man NOT in the tournament lol. I told John to tell the floor that he entered the World Series of Poker “in good faith” that he was going to play only against other people who also were playing in the World Series of Poker! After going back and forth for a few days with the head guys of the World Series of Poker, they made a final ruling that John was entitled to nothing! We were asking for a free entry into a similar event since John’s event was essentially ruined by their oversight and poor ruling during the playing of the event, but they told him to pound sand. Again, basic common sense says that no where in any sport can you lost the game to someone not in the event. Can you strike out to a pitcher who came out of the stands? Can you get tackled before the end zone by the mascot? Can your free throw get blocked by a guy running across the floor? I just don’t understand how anyone with any common sense can make a ruling like this.

3. This is small, but was my lone personal experience this year. It does illustrate how the floor people lack common sense though. I was in day 1 of the main event and I was in a pot where I flopped a strong draw of some kind. I wasn’t sure where the action was at in the hand, but I sensed it might be my turn. I looked at the guy to the right of me who had cards in his hand if he had checked. He said “yes, I checked.” The dealer then skipped my turn and the guy to the left of me checked. I then shouted out “Whoa, what are you doing? I never even acted.” The dealer called the floor and the entire table told the floor that I hadn’t acted yet. The floor person asked the dealer what happened and the dealer said, “I thought he said ‘check’ but it turns out he was asking the guy next to him if he had ‘checked’.” The floor then ruled that I had checked! I told the floor guy, “Are you kidding me? The entire table agreed that I didn’t check. Who are you protecting here? I asked if the guy to the right of me checked, I never checked.” The floor person just started walking away and said “Dealer you can carry on dealing.” Now it turns out I ended up winning the pot anyway, so it worked out just fine, but again, why aren’t they using common sense? If everyone says I hadn’t acted yet, then why would you rule against the entire table? What sense does that make. The idea is to get the intent of the players’ actions to most closely reflect your ruling at all times. Sure there may be times where your hands are tied as a floor person and you may have to rule against intent. But for the most part, you just want to get the intent right. And especially don’t rule against intent when the entire table is unanimously in favor of something.

To me, the World Series of Poker would be well served to fire who ever is in charge and bring on Mad Marty Wilson. I played in the Party Poker Big game in London this year and Mad Marty was the director. Marty and I talked about his style of directing tournaments and he said that first and foremost he wants the intent of the player’s actions to stand when at all possible. Marty is HUGE on intent. There were times when he ruled that a person had made a certain bet or check when technically the rules said Marty he should have done otherwise. But Marty would ask the player and everyone else at the table what they thought the player’s intent was and if it was obvious that the player meant to bet $5,000 for example, then he would rule that the player bet $5,000. He wasn’t going to let some stupid technicality get in the way of the spirit of the game and the players’ actions. Marty is a man who has a lot of common sense.

I guess what inspired this blog is not only all of the dumb ass things the WSOP is doing, but also so much of what has gone on in golf and all of their insane rulings lately (I won’t list them because if you are a golfer then you know what I’m talking about and if you aren’t then I’m sure you don’t care anyway). It just pisses me off when people make such powerful rulings on important things just because “a rule is a rule” or whatever stupid logic they use. I just wish more people had the balls as well as the decency (yes, sometimes both are required depending on the magnitude of the situation) to just try and do the right thing based on common sense. Why do people who enforce rules have such an ego about it? Why do they take it so personally? It’s almost like they thrive on these situations where they get to say “a rule is a rule” or “I’m the tournament director here buddy and what I say goes.” It’s like dude, you are not that cool. No one cares. Just use common sense so the rest of us can get what we deserve out of these competitions.

Today I woke up incredibly excited to play poker after taking a bunch of time away from poker the past couple of weeks. The reason for the excitement is because the Poker Stars World Championships of online poker begins today. Now granted, I am not primarily a tournament player, but just as I was excited to go to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas this summer, I am equally as excited to play the World Series of poker online equivalent. Heck, I am a mostly an online poker player anyway, so this naturally suits me more anyway, and either way you are competing for a world championship.

I played in the WCOOP today and unfortunately it didn’t go very well for me. I did all I could getting all of the money in with AA on the flop against a flush draw, but the flush card came in for my opponent on the turn and the tournament was over for me. But that’s OK because the series goes on for over 3 weeks and today was just the first day. Sure, I would have liked a good start to the series, but there is a long way to go and many events ahead of us. I have a few speaking engagements to attend right in the middle of the series, but other than those 2 days my next 3 weeks are going to be filled with playing the world championship events at Poker Stars as well as hosting the final tables at many of the events. I hosted the Sunday Million a couple of weeks ago and apparently I did a good enough job to not get fired and so they asked me to host a few of the final tables. I am honored to do have the opportunity to host a final table of a world championship event and I am grateful that Poker Stars has chosen me for that role.

The past 2 weeks I have only played 3 days of poker. Luckily it went pretty well with me pocketing about $6,000 over those 3 days which probably covered all of the fun I had over the past 2 weeks. The past 2 weeks has been filled with some great times. I played golf at my old club and with many old friends. I also got to visit a couple of friends who were in town. After coming back from California, my wife and I went to an amazing new hotel in the Willamette Valley wine area here in Oregon for our 4th anniversary. This place was called The Allison and it was just flat our awesome. For anyone who is looking to taste some great wine in a less stuffy environment than a place like Napa, I would HIGHLY recommend taking your spouse to The Allison. The service and quality of everything at the hotel was on par with some of the best places in the world. In fact, over the past 3 years I have stayed at a number of places widely regarded as some of the best in the world and they didn’t have anything on The Allison in my opinion. In fact the spa was up there with just about anything. It was so relaxing and had so many amenities along with some fantastic masseuses that you could just feel your blood pressure dropping as soon as you walked in there.

We booked a driver through the hotel and went around to a half a dozen different wineries one of the afternoons we were there. It was really awesome to go around to all of the great wineries and taste so much great wine. I made sure to get at least a bottle from every winery mostly because it would’ve been hard not to walk out with at least one, they were all so good. Our favorite bottle we found was a 2006 Archery Summit Red Hills Estate. It scored a 95 and was named wine of the year in Oregon for 2006. We bought it to commemorate our anniversary year and the wine makes assured us that it would be near it’s best on our 10th anniversary in 2016. So we are going to put that one away and crack it open in 2016. Our favorite winery overall was a winery called Natalie’s Estate. The wine was great, but really what we enjoyed so much was the people who owned the winery. It is a smallish winery that certainly isn’t cranking out 100,000 cases of wine every year like some of the bigger wineries, but the man who owned the winery was so kind to us he just made the experience awesome. He was such a nice guy and you could tell he was there not to make a buck, but really for the wine. I’m sure everyone starts out that way, but I’m sure many are tempted to lose sight of what got them into the business and tends to get caught up in the financial side of things. But this guy was all about the wine and I don’t think he has ever lost sight of why he does what he does. Anyway, they are a private winery so you can’t just walk in and expect a few pours, but if you call up they generally will take you right in with no problems. I would definitely put that winery on your list if you ever make it out that way.

Yesterday was what I call the “most, wonderful time, of the year.” Yeah, my buddy and I tend to sing Christmas songs on the first day of Oregon football because, well, screw actual Christmas, for grown up Duck fans, there is nothing that beats the first game of the year. When you wake up, it is like waking up on Christmas morning. I woke up and all I could think about was getting inside that stadium and seeing all of our Ducks on that field ready to start a new season where there are sure to be many ups and downs ahead. The season never disappoints me. There are always so many great thrills and tragic heartbreaks. It’s simply an amazing team to follow.

Well, I better wrap up this blog. My daughter is downstairs with my wife and she is getting VERY close to taking her first steps. And no offense to you all, but I’m not going to take a chance on missing her first step to write a blog haha.