balugabay.com

URGENT DISCLAIMER:  THERE HAS BEEN AN IMPOSTOR TRYING TO PRETEND TO BE ME VIA BACK-CHANNELS ON 2P2, SKYPE, AND DC.  DO NOT TRUST INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM: 2P2 USER QOFCARDS, SKYPE USER ANDREWSEIDMANN, OR MSN USERS ANDREW.SEIDMAN@BALUGAPOKER.COM OR SUPPORT@TWOPLUSTWO.COM .  THESE ARE NOT RELATED TO ME IN ANY WAY.  PLEASE, IF YOU EVER HAVE ANY DOUBTS, PLEASE MESSAGE ME AT BALUGAWHALE ON 2P2, OR WRITE A COMMENT HERE IN THE BLOG.  THANK YOU.

Hey guys,

First:  yes, yes I know, I haven’t blogged in forever.  Yet, here I am, ready to bring it back.

To start with, lets wrap up 2009 in two ways– poker and non-poker.

Non-poker first:

I graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies

Spent time in the Grand Caymans and Jamaica

Hit up the South of France (also crushed at the Casino Royale)

Went to Las Vegas... again

Surfed/Scuba'd/Partied in Australia

And lived and traveled in Argentina

So, all in all, it was a pretty awesome year.  I released a book about poker, for which I’ve received a lot of kind words from people who’ve enjoyed it.  I made several video series that received positive reviews.  I got a college degree.  I saw the world.  Not too shabby.

Pokerwise, the year was less than awesome.  After crushing pretty much end to end in 2008, I started off with a +75k month in January.  I had a dream of my million flash before my eyes.  Then, the bad news bears started.  I was playing mostly 25/50 deep for my first session in February, and lost 20k.  So, I stopped for a week or two, then my second session I did the same, and lost another 20k.  So I played twice in February at -40k.  Then, I did more-or-less the same in March, another -40k.  I kept playing less and less hands, generally at the highest stakes running for 6max games (though I did play some epic HU matches as well), and kept losing more and more.  I can remember peak moments throughout the year:  I got AQo in for 13k on a KJTr board against AQo and AQs 3-way, and saw the suited guy run down the flush.  I played RunItTrim HU 25/50 and got AA aipf against KK for 13k and lost, etc.  I never really got into any kind of winning rhythm.  To make matters worse, I had just paid off about 80k in college loans and still had another 50k to go.  College is expensive.  So, around October, I fully stopped playing, took most of my money offline , and decided to focus on living my life a little bit before I grind.  Once I get a place, stop traveling every two months, and settle into a routine, I will be back playing poker in force.  Until then, I’m just going to play it one step at a time.

I’ve received a lot of questions lately about whether or not I’m still a winning player.  I’m 100% confident that I am.  I also don’t believe that losing money at very high stakes to incredible players is something to feel ashamed about.   I have read the “well” posts of many players and listened to conversations in IRC and 2p2 and DC over the past few years, and many great players have gotten crushed for a long time.  Whether it was CTS 100k hand breakeven stretch, Skier or MagicNinja’s (this might be KingDan, but I think it’s magicninja) yearlong downswings, or Viffer’s repeated trips to busto in his youth, as always in life, what happens isn’t important– how we respond to what happens is what defines our character and our chance of success.

So, I’m going to be fine.

I opened a company, balugapoker.com, in the Spring of 2009, planning to offer cheaper coaching services like classes and seminars.  The idea remains a good one.  The infrastructure exists to make it worse.  I’m in talks w/ a web designer.  I have ideas, haha.  balugapoker.com is a caterpillar and it will become a butterfly once the pieces are in place.

Lastly, I will be headed with the DC crew of EPs + me and flawless (a group that I’m ridiculously honored to be a part of) to Australia for the Aussie Millions!  So I will be blogging about how I’m doing in tourneys and cash games there, as well as everything else I expect to beat my opposition in– basketball, roshambo, drinking (prob not haha), etc.  Word!

In 2010 I have a few more trips planned (to China in March, Sweden in June, Peru in September, and possibly Jordan at some point in there too).  Plus I’m planning on getting my first legitimate place (either in San Fran, Portland, Seattle, NYC, or Buenos Aires).  So should be a lot of excitement there.  Poker goals will begin with winning money (ha ha), but more importantly, improving as a player, regaining some confidence, and investigating some elements of theory that have as of yet eluded me.  A large but manageable task.

Hope everyone had a great Xmas, will have a great New Years (I’ll be in San Francisco, let me know if you’re there and want to hang! I’ll be at the Westin St. Francis Alist party).  On New Years Day I’ll be watching my Ducks pummel the Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl, then flying to New York, so if you’re there then let’s hang out too!

Happy New Year and a prosperous 2010,

Andrew