RussellCarson

So I'm back to school this semester taking a few courses and playing soccer. We had our first games last week. Started off with a win at home and then tied our game the following day on the road to Mount Alison (which was the school I use to play for,) so that was a little annoying. And on top of that, I've had several different little injuries which has made for a frustrating start. I won't be playing this weekend due to a quad pull, but the bright side of that is I get to put a full Sunday in, and I haven't been able to do that for quite awhile. I'm finishing up a session right now, it's been a long day, but managed to ship the 129 KO at tilt for 11k, which is nice because it's been an expensive day. Amazing how much you can spend online these days, I'll be up a few k, but won't be much more than that in-less I can make something happen in one of these last ones. WCOOP thus far hasn't been too great, haven't played too many tournies, and don't think I even have a cash under me yet. Hopefully that changes this Sunday, because it is the Sunday of Sundays, and I'm already excited about it. ANyway, hopefully will be able to have a sweet blog to write on Monday, gl to everyone this weekend,

R

Just wrapped up a Friday night session, and it ended up being quite successful in the end, but the start of it was pretty rough. I made the final 2 tables in 4 tournaments tonight, took 2 exact bubbles and bricked the other 2 as well, it was quite frustrating. But managed to stay focused and ended up shipping a 10k WCOOP Seat and made a bunch of tournament buy-ins back in cash games which was nice. I really haven't been able to grind much lately, training camp started for the UNB (University of New Brunswick) soccer team and that has been taking all of my time. I'm quite excited for the season, our team is looking pretty good and we have a real solid chance at making nationals. My weekend grinding sessions aren't going to exist for the next 2 months, but I will be able to get the weekday evening sessions in, which I was relieved to know. I'm also able to play the 5k Wcoop Main Event as our game is in town that Sunday and will be able to race home to register in time. Convenient that we weren't on the road that weekend . . . what else is going on . . . . had a solid August, or at least the beginning when i was getting time in. My Mom and Sister were out from British Columbia (Mom) and Spain (Sister) and was able to show them around the Maritimes and Northern Maine, which turned out to be a nice little Vacation for all of us. Now it's time to pick courses for school, no clue what I'm going to take but will be sorting that out tomorrow . . . time for bed, quite tired,

till next time,

R

Sitting here at 4am grinding my last tournament of the night, the 50r at FTP and I'm stuck about 2.5k on the day, be nice to double up a couple times and make the FT . . . hate being stuck . . . I logged in about 40 hours over the last 3 days, longest weekend I've put in ever maybe. It was a great grind actually enjoyed it and felt productive. Friday I made 5 Final Tables, the highlight being taking down the 30r on FTP for just shy of 8k, and then Saturday the highlight was taking down the 10r (not completely true, I did chop this and we played for 2k which I manged to take as well) for 10k. I use to crush the 10r, definitely putting it back into the mix once again. So the last couple weeks have gone well considering I haven't had a "major" score just lots of decent ones. 2 Wednesday's ago I managed to ship 3 tournaments in one day, 30r PLO at FT, Cake $100 Freeze, and the UB 50r, second time I've done that. Again all the scores were between 4-6k, but makes for a solid day.

Anyway looking forward to taking most of tomorrow off, will be playing the 1k FTOPS event and would be awesome to make a run in that, it's definitely time for me to pick it up in the majors again, anyway I"m finishing this tournament and catching some z's,

till next time,

R

The summer is flying by, after Vegas I headed up to Powell River (where I grew up) just outside of Vancouver. It was time for some R&R, and I definitely got that. Did a pile of swimming, golfing, and BBQ'ing with friends and family. I always love the west coast, and in the summer it's on fire, we didn't have a bad day out there at all. I don't spend enough time out there anymore, and I'm definitely hoping to pick up a second property out there in the near future . . . . so in order to do that it's back to the grind. I feel like I haven't worked that hard in the last few months, and hoping to change that. Going to try and put in at least 5 of 7 evening shifts a week, and maybe a couple day shifts on top of that to get my volume back up to where it should be. Yesterday was a profitable day, it's been awhile since I've had a decent Sunday score, and I managed to take 4th in the Cake 250k guaranteed, for just shy of 18k. I made a few runs in other tournaments, the most disappointing ones being in the late 100r at stars, took 24th when A's got cracked, and I was literally the bubble boy in the 5k Wcoop ME Satty . . . . ugh annoying. Oh well, at least it was a profitable day, and that's kind of nice for a Sunday.

Anyway, it's time to hit the golf course, but I hope to be talking about my online scores next time I make a blog as I'm planning for a few solid ones in the next couple weeks,

R

Wow, did June ever flyby! I can't believe I'm sitting here and it's July 2nd already. I am excited for the Main Event, It'll be nice to play a tournament that is actually deep-stacked and has long levels (2 hours) compared to the normal 1hr levels. I'm at home in Fredericton right now, been here for the past week just hanging out with my wife and relaxing before the ME. I was already out in Vegas and I played only 5 preliminary events, and managed to have 2 cashes. The highlight was making a run in the 2.5k 6 max where I took 37th. Earlier when there were about 55 players left I had Lindgren all in with A's to his K's, obv cooler, but he had to bink a K on me when the turn card fell. That was for 100 bb's at the time, and I was still healthy afterwards but I never was able to get anything going. Ended up missing a Flush Draw to exit the tournament, oh well, hopefully all the love is in the last one!!

Half the reason I only played 5 events is because I was out golfing with my roomates most days, I was really enjoying being outside and hanging out with buddies in some sweet weather. Summer hadn't hit at home yet, and the typical Vegas heat was holding off, so it was quite nice. I imagine when I get back tomorrow though I'll get to feel the normal Vegas temperatures. I get in tomorrow in the morning and planning to hit up 18 holes of golf, then Saturday 3 of the house mates and I are going skydiving, can't wait for that. We have to all go with an instructor since it's our first time and we don't have enough time to take the course, but regardless it'll be awesome. I'm quite excited for it, and surprised it took 26 years for me to finally do it. Better late than never. Then Sunday it'll be an all day fest online, hopefully ship a major and warm up for the Main Event that awaits me on Monday. Anyway, I'm taking off here, but will shoot an update after Day 1 and will try to get to this blog thing a little more!

R

Just booked my flight today for vegas. I'm not getting in until next tuesday, missing the 1k and the first 1500, but will be in time for the 1500 NL 6 max. That'll be a great event to kick off my WSOP, so hopefully we can do some damage starting in that one. I'm planning to stay out for 2 weeks and play all the NL tournaments that are in that time period. Then I'll be heading back home for a couple weeks before I head back down for the ME and maybe another prelim or 2. Small chance I'll stay out there the whole time, it's just a matter of how much I actually want to play, if last month in Europe is any kind of indicator then I'll be surprised if I last 2 weeks.

I've been back grinding hard on the online scene. Last 3 sessions have been rotten, but the 2 weeks before that treated me well. Some highlights were a 2nd in the daily tilt 100r, chopped the UB 1k, and managed to take 3rd there again a week later. That tournament has great structure, I'm always shocked how many players don't take advantage of it. Feels good to be back in the grind again, even out in Vegas I'm planning to grind a fair amount online. If I bust out early from the NL daily event then It'll be back to the pad to play a few of the daily tournaments. It'll make for a nice change to have some buddies to grind with too, beats playing by yourself in your basement.

Anyway, off to soccer training here, but hopefully will have a WSOP bracelet to write about within the next 2 weeks!

R

Well to put it bluntly April was a nightmare. Had big expectations in April looking for that first solid live score and never really came close. Between myself and the other guys that I had action with we could only muster up 1 score in about 15 attempts, maybe even a few more. At least the one score paid for the trip expenses wise, but man it was pretty disappointing. I kind of went deep into day 2 at San Remo, finished 180ish and ran my huge 11 BB stack blind on blind into AA when I was holding Qs, just kind of summed up the trip. Monte Carlo was the same BS, last level of day 1 get in with 2 pair to a guys over pair on the turn, only to get counterfeited on the river for a solid stack. As soon as I busto'd that I was on a mission to get home as fast as I could, I had no desire to be in Europe any longer. I was missing my wife Sarah, and was just looking forward to getting home and getting back on with the online grind. May is "make money month", as I've been slacking lately and haven't been putting in much time, or when I do haven't been performing. I'm normally really good about getting time in and performing every month, so it's time to get back to the basics.

On a side note, Europe was a lot of fun hanging out with the guys I was traveling with (therookieqq9, celticFC, improved, bcforrest, scosset and thenorfman) and being able to pop in on my sister and her boyfriend in Madrid. I rarely get to see her these days and it's always a good time when we catch up and get to have a few beer together. Also haven't seen some of these guys in awhile, we all crashed last year in the same house in vegas, so it was good to catch up with them and was a nice reminder of the good times that lay ahead in vegas this summer. I haven't decided exactly how long I'll be out for the WSOP this summer. I'm about 90% sure I'm going back to school this year in September to play soccer, UNB (University of New Brunswick) soccer team has a good shot to make a run at nationals and I want to be on board for that. I still have a couple more years of eligibility and have always thought about going back to play with a better team, and this is the only chance I'll have left for that, as they are going to be shite after this year when they lose all their senior players. So it's this year or never, as I'm not getting any younger. So might not be out for the WSOP the entire time as I'll be training with the summer league they have going here. I mean, Europe also reminded me how much I hate sitting at a table all day to bust 2 days in and not get anywhere. I just really don't enjoy it, and think the quality of life on the road is horrible. I'm definitely going to be playing a fair amount of live poker in my life, but I never want to follow the circuit around, not my idea of a good time.

So far since I've been home I've grinded my face off online. I've found a couple scores this last week, 1st in a 100r at stars (small one), 5th in the 100r turbo at tilt, and just a ton of runs everywhere. It's crazy how many top 25s I'm getting and not having a ton of love late, but that's how it goes. . . . happy to be back at it, and hoping to have some good news to report here by the end of the weekend. I'm off for a wedding and won't be able to play the 2.6k event in the FTOPS Saturday(annoying since I love that they finally went back to this, much softer field and probably a larger prize pool). But I will be home for the main event and other evening games on Sundays, so lets run good for another week please!

Take it easy all,

Russ

Back to the blogging scene, been awhile since I've made my last blog and happy to be back at it. Somehow I feel more organized when I get little tasks such as this done . . . anyway just got back from a trip to Central America, Sarah(my wife) and I went to visit a friend in El Salvador, and before we came home we stopped in Costa Rica to see a fellow poker buddy, Felipe (improved), for a few nights. Costa Rica was the more glamorous side of the trip as it was relaxing beside the pool and gorging ourselves in food served to us by the made. Then on to an afternoon snorkel followed by a soccer game where the Canadian (being me) had to show them how to play. I loved my time in Costa Rica, but El Salvador made the trip . . . .

Hannah, our friend we went to see, works as a Canadian Volunteer in El Salvador and her work involves community development; pretty much empowering local people to organize and lobby the government for things such as clean water. Anyway, she makes a whopping $600 a month, which is about the same amount doctors make down there, I just couldn't get that, and still don't. Anyway, Hannah is a real cool cat and she showed us around tiny El Salvador. The highlights were climbing a Mountain Rock which had an unreal panoramic view; went on a hike to see a waterfall (although being dry season the waterfall wasn't that big!); and helping out in the National Election. With the election we were International volunteers, you had to stand around and observe people going to the polls and just look out for any shadiness that might be occurring. I'll confess, I didn't do much of this, but nonetheless the little time I did spend there it was quite neat to see as there were so many people involved in the process. The last night before we took off to Costa Rica, we went in to the major center in El Salvador, San Salvador, imagine that for a name. It was a Sunday night, and I was on the search for a good internet connection which landed us at the Hilton. So I gamed away to no success, and into the evening when the election results were announced the Liberal Party was elected. It was historical news for them to be elected, as it's the first time they had taken office since they formed as a party. Hannah's husband, was ecstatic with the news, as he was a huge supporter and has his own political radio show. That night there were huge celebrations at the People's Square and we didn't get back in the door until the early hours of the morning. The cab driver driving us back was clearly intoxicated and took us to the wrong side of the city before remembering the way back to the hotel. Finally we were able to get some shuteye, and we did just that. In the morning we headed downstairs for a buffet breakfast, and when we get seated, 2 tables to our right the newly elected President is sitting there with his cronies mowing down on some re-fried beans like the rest of us, who would have that thought he eats re-fried beans too!!! Elmer was quite excited, he still had his party shirt on from the night before with a HUGE picture of the President himself on it. We all congratulated him and Elmer ended up getting a picture, and he treasured that moment, it was pretty cool to see and a great way for us to finish off our El Salvador trip . . .

Lately it's been back to the grind and with scoop coming up, Irish Open, and the last 2 EPT events of the year I'm expecting big things, the next blogs will hopefully be talking about which tournaments I have shipped, take care all,

R

PS: A few pictures for you below

 

Sarah and I

 

Prez and Elmer

 

Felipe about to have breakfast