The McEvoy's wedding

Ahhh... what better way to start the WSOP season than going to the wedding of a poker champ and his beautiful love! Tom McEvoy married Yolanda Stock this week at the Cornerstone Fellowship Christian Church. The ceremony was very sweet and romantic. I always like going to weddings; there’s an amazing feeling that comes from being part of such a special moment between two people. The reception had over 200 guests and obviously a lot of the who’s who of the poker world was there. There was some Mexican tradition mixed into the party which made it very unique. The bride and groom were glowing of happiness and everyone had a great time.

The celebration did not end that day... Tom hosted a poker tournament held in the Caesars Palace poker room the next afternoon called, "McEvoy's Ultimate Gamble Poker Tournament." The buy in was $230, ten poker celebrities (Tom McEvoy, Susie Isaacs, TJ Cloutier, Kathy Liebert, Mike Matasow, Chad Brown, Dennis Phillips, Barbara Enright, Barry Shulman) were "bounties" with a $1k prize on their heads and the place was packed with poker pros! It definitely was nice to see everyone in such a nice setting before the WSOP craziness! Wishing many years of happiness to the McEvoy’s!

The glass is half full.

There are times as a poker player when cards will not come your way or when you will find yourself not getting the results you are looking for. I have been there many times and it can get frustrating! Lately I have found myself a little discouraged as I was making the transition from cash games into tournament poker. You see, poker tournaments can be very rewarding, but that is if you make it to the top three. Other than that you find yourself playing all day for little or no money. It can be very hard on someone’s positive outlook at the game. It definitely was for me who is used to having a really good win rate and getting instant reward from playing cash games.

So how does a player like me stay focused and positive during these times?

Here is what works for me:
-I keep learning. There are many styles of play, so I try to learn new ones from different players. I get out of my comfort zone and try some of their tricks on occasion.
-I workout/stay active while not playing. I find myself having much more stamina and much more focus when I engage in physical activities a few times a week. Plus it is proven that people who are more active are happier.
-I eat well. Again, when I eat healthy I have more energy and I am more positive. I also have more stamina and play better.
-I try to keep a positive attitude. It sounds easy but it’s quite a task! I try to rephrase words when I say something negative. I would change, "I
can't believe I just played all day and busted just outside the final table for a small cash." To, "Wow, I am definitely getting closer. I outlasted over 5,000 players. I can feel that my time is coming soon! I am going to win!"
-I believe in myself, I do not listen to those trying to put me down, and there are lots of those! Like Roosevelt said, "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
-I take some time off every now and again and I give myself some "ME" time. I enjoy my life, family and friends. It gives more balance to my life and I usually come back stronger and ready to take over the world. I find my inner peace.
-I understand that "bad beats" are part of the game. I give some, I get some. They happen... and when they do, I put them behind me and focus on the present.
-I stay away from parties and alcohol. Partying makes me tired and alcohol is known to have a depressant effect, all of which keep me away from playing my "A" game and staying positive. I do see my friends, but rather chose a dinner to catch up over a night at the club.
-I keep short term and long term goals. I SEE myself achieving them. I think about them every day when I wake up and go to bed. I think of how to achieve them and I know that I can and will. I keep pictures that remind me of those goals. I tell myself that these goals are mine and that it's my year to get them.
-When I think things are going bad, I find 5 to 10 things in my life that I am happy about, it makes me realize that things aren't that bad and that I do have a lot to look forward too.
-I keep trying, I know my capability and I know I will get there!

It seems like a big list, but it only takes a little discipline and time to adjust to this way of doing things. I know that it makes my life a much better place. It's not being delusional... it's being persistent and positive. That's how I know I will get the results I want and find happiness in the pursuit of success.

"There is no telling how many miles you will have to run
while chasing a dream."

Throw down tournament for the Kidney foundation in Reno

I just got back from Reno, where I was invited to participate in the Jennifer Harman "Throw Down" charity tournament benefitting the National Kidney Foundation. I actually quite like Reno. Some people say negative things about it, but I like the "Old Vegas" feel it has. Plus, every time I go there I make money! The games are really soft. :-) I stayed at the Peppermill, where the event was held, and the room was really nice and comfortable with a huge Jacuzzi tub which I looked forward to jumping into at night!

The event was a huge success with about 515 players participating in a "team concept" tournament. I was on the Ultimate Bet team, but my points were also counting for the LIPS team. I played pretty well the whole time, but the structure was fast (as in most charity events). I unfortunately lost a few hands in a row and was left a little short stacked. I got moved to new tables quite often which made it hard having to adjust to new players. At my last table, I was placed to the left of David "The Maven" Chicotsky, with whom I have been training with lately. Knowing his aggressive style, I knew his range of hands were large and I ended up calling him all in pre-flop with KQ suited, he had 33. His pocket pair held up and I was out. He ended up making the final table which was pretty cool. This student is not surpassing the teacher yet, but it's only a question of time! *smile*

Team Peppermill ended up winning and Jeff Harrington was the last man standing. The foundation means a lot to him, as his wife is recovering from a 2nd kidney transplant. Great job Jeff!! His win also got him a seat to the WSOP main event worth $10,000! The event rose over $200,000 for the National Kidney Foundation. I am definitely looking forward to going again next year!

I am going to focus on playing online this week. I had some issues with my PokerStars account because someone tried to hack into it during my last trip to the Commerce Casino. The account had been frozen for security reasons since, but finally I can use it again. I just needed to send some proof of who I was to their security team. I hear it's a common problem traveling into different casino/hotels. Apparently the solution is to have your own WIFI card, (never use the public WIFI) and to have an email address that is only for poker such as an ISP account which is better than a free account (msn, gmail, hotmail, etc.).

This week I will be playing a lot of the SCOOP events, MiniFTOPS and good guarantees all around. My pets are happy to have mummy home even though I will be staring at the screen most of the time! I am definitely looking forward to taking some events down!!!

Photo-Shoot, interview for PETA and Palm Springs.

This has been such a great week for me! I left for Los Angeles last Sunday night after my training with David "The Maven" Chicotsky and headed to the Commerce Casino. I had a busy few days ahead of me planned and thought it would be nice to stay there so that I could play poker on my spare time. Little did I know, there was no spare time and I didn't get a chance to hit the tables; but it's ok... poker will always be there. Sometimes we need to take care of other things.

I had a photo-shoot scheduled for Monday with photographer Collin Clark. He was highly recommended by many of my peeps who are in the fashion and entertainment industry. I have wanted to do some promotional pictures for awhile and was very excited to finally get them done. The studio was really cute and Collin was great to work with. We did four different looks and played with props to keep it poker themed in some of them. I am really looking forward to seeing them; there should be some great ones. I used to model in Toronto in my 20's and this took me way back. I always enjoy being in front of a camera and getting my hair and make-up done. Very girlie of me... I know! *smile* Speaking of hair and make-up, my friend Tommy Cyr did all of my looks. He is a great make-up artist who works for Access Hollywood and various celebrities. I especially loved my last look and can't wait to show you all the pics! It will have to wait until next week. I’m sure it will be well worth it!

The following day, I headed to the PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animal) office for a video interview. I have worked with PETA in the past to help promote vegetarianism as most of you know; I am a vegan and animal activist. I had never been to their Los Angeles offices, so I was quite excited about it all. I was very impressed when I walked in. The place is colorful and modern. There's a "loungy" feel to it. Anyone working there is free to bring their pets to work, so there were a few (very lucky) dogs sitting around enjoying the day while their "mum" or "dad" were working. The interview went very well. We talked about how I became vegan, a few issues that I have taken to heart, such as the veal industry, foie gras and how big corporate chains such as McDonald’s and KFC unfortunately do not apply less suffering regulations to their ways of raising and slaughtering the animals. We also discussed the positive aspects of being vegan while playing poker. The video will be up on their website at www.peta.org in a few weeks. Another thing I look forward to seeing!

After the interview I headed to Palm Springs for a few days for a mini vacation. I don't have time to take a few weeks to go away, so I like to squeeze a little time in here and there instead. I've always loved Palm Springs; it's the perfect place to relax. They have cute little hotels with nice pools, a fun downtown area, great factory outlets, good restaurants, the Morongo Casino (with very easy to kill poker games) and great weather. What's not to love?

I’m now back in Las Vegas and getting ready to play poker this week. I definitely will try to satellite into the main event of the WSOP circuit event taking place Tuesday the 27th of April at Caesars Palace. So good luck me :-)

I was invited this week to be a celebrity player in the Throw Down poker charity tournament hosted by Jennifer Harman benefiting the National Kidney foundation at the Peppermill Reno, Saturday, May 8th. I hope to see you all there as it is a fun tournament for a great cause. You can get more info on the Greasie Wheels website. http://www.greasiewheels.com/events/Jennifer_Harman_CPT_NKF.html

My training with "the Maven"

I have been playing poker for almost 6 years now. My ex is the one who got me into it; he was at the time playing non-stop and I was what I like to call a "poker widow”. He would spend night after night playing online while I would either design, cook, play solitaire or Sudoku. One night we had my family over and he decided to teach us how to play poker so that we could have a home game. I found the game so fun and I loved the unlimited amount of concepts one could learn. I was immediately hooked!

Over the next few days I read my first poker and started playing on Doyle’s Room with the "play money" applying everything I was taught from the book. I very quickly build that "play money" to over 3 million in chips. Little optimistic me thought I could do just as good playing with real money and gave it a shot. Which I, to this date, am still trying to make that 3 million! *smile*

I started playing micro stakes online, during that learning process I was reading pretty much every poker book I could get my hands on. I was playing every night, and went from a "poker widow" to a "poker junkie" after all, there's a saying: "If you can't beat them, join them"! I eventually felt confident enough and started playing live. I started with $1-2 NLH and occasionally played low buy-in tournaments. I lost some; won some eventually got better, and moved up in stakes. Every time I moved up I went through the same win/lose process until I would get better, and believe me, the winning parts were more fun than the losing ones! I continued my learning process trying boot camps, virtual classes, and reading poker forums.

Cash games were my favorite, so I focused more on them. I eventually got good enough where I was capable of making a living from cash games. After all these years of playing cash, this year I decided that I wanted to make the switch and play more tournaments. The transition has definitely been a roller coaster!! From getting deep and bubbling, to getting heaps of bad beats from great hands, to seldom making the final table on smaller stakes buy-ins and doing horrible in the larger buy-ins. It has been pretty crazy! Also, let's be honest, if I am gonna do well in a tournament, I'd much rather it be a major one than a small one!!!

After a while I started asking around what I should do, I knew the game, but was obviously doing something wrong. I needed something more advanced to take me to the next level. It seems like a lot of pros I talked to where pointing in the direction of "The Maven" David Chicotsky, who was BLUFF magazine's player of the year in 2008. Everyone I knew that studied his technique had seriously improved their game. So I got in contact with David. We talked a few times about my game, where I wanted to be and what he could do to help me. Other than being a really nice guy, I thought he was very knowledgeable and had lots of new concepts, so I decided to go ahead and train with him.

I took "The MavenVT" 3 day boot camp this past weekend and it was a great learning experience! The training center is located in the 26th floor of the luxury condominium "Panorama" which offers great views of the city, surroundings and is very modern. I wouldn't mind living there at all!! The main room is set up for 20 students with huge Dell computer screens. We started with heaps of theory followed by watching hands history on the screen. Then David played live and walked us through his thought process. The amount of information I got was enormous to a point where I thought my cute little blond head would explode! His style of playing is totally different than anything I have ever learned. However, there is a method to his aggressive way of playing and definitely lots of simple, but effective math and statistics. It's obviously the new generation poker!

It doesn't matter how long one has been playing poker, to have an edge in this always evolving game, you have to keep up with new concepts and keep on learning and growing as a player. I can't wait to go play, as I feel so much stronger about my game. I am definitely looking forward to the few private lessons I’m having with David in the weeks to come!

Jennifer Harman 4th annual Charity poker tournamant for the SPCA

This week was the 4th Annual Jennifer Harman Charity Poker Tournament for the Nevada SPCA. Being a vegan animal activist and a poker player, I figured it would be a great way to have fun playing and raising money for a good cause.

The event started with all of the celebrities walking the red carpet with their own pets or ones that were up for adoption from the SPCA. Some of the famous names included Holly Madison, Doyle Brunson along with his daughter Pamela and daughter-in-law Anjela, Carrot Top, Louie Anderson, Tiffany Michelle, Howard Lederer, Tom McEvoy, Tyson Griffin, and "TheMaven" David Chicotski.

I walked down the carpet with my precious little dog Bijou who was a little nervous, but did great. I would have liked to take Lola since she is a rescue but unfortunately, she is a little hyperactive and might have gotten a little out of control with all the people and animals around!

The event had around 149 players and raised about $100,000. The tournament was $330 with re-buys and players started with a 1,000 in chips. There was an add-on after the 3rd level for an extra 2,000 chips. With that small amount of chips to start it made for a very fast structure and little did I know I was in for 2 re-buys and one add-on! Somehow I managed to built my stack to 7k by the 3rd level, but lost it all a few levels later when I unfortunately misplayed a hand that left me short stacked with 1,700. I later woke up with AA and moved all in only to get cracked by K,10. At least it was all for a great cause!

Little Bijou was on my lap the whole time, getting heaps of attention from the media. She did great and stayed calm except for one time where she jumped on the table which gave everyone but the dealer a good laugh!

There was also a silent auction, but I did not bid on anything. Even though the items where great, they where all sport oriented and nothing appealed to me.

High stakes poker pro Chau Giang won the tournament and the 1st prize which was a 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event seat. I would have like to have been the winner, but I am happy that I supported the Nevada SPCA in their efforts to find homes for all those poor homeless animals.

If I didn't already have a full house, 2 dogs of my own and a rabbit plus my roommate's 2 dogs, I probably would have taken one more home! The Nevada SPCA updates their websites daily with pictures of their available animals, so if you are looking for a companion you should check it out! http://nevadaspca.org/

I know that my pets are my babies and they bring a lot of joy to my life!