Ok......

So I know I promised not to get into the drama on here again, but I felt the need to clear some things up...

Some of you may have been following what has been going on 2p2 with Nick, and the charity money. I am happy to say that it appears this issue is being resolved. Ray did some extensive work, and it appears that it might have paid off. I say "appears" because until I see some physical proof that the donation has been made, I will still have my doubts. That's all I'm going to say about this as I did not have any part in the donations to begin with, but was there to help support Ray on his mission. Nice work Ray!!

There were also a couple things Nick brought up in the comments section of the Mad Poker Episode 10. Bodeye was a saint in LA, and obviously put up with much more than I ever could have. He was a confidant with me out there, and was really the only person I felt I could talk to on a daily basis out there. Without him, I probably wouldn't have been out there more than 2 weeks, let alone 5. He helped me out alot while I was out there, with my poker, yes. But even more with the emotional part of the experience, and yes, as Nick pointed out...financially. When I say financially, I don't just mean from the poker aspect, but on a personal aspect as well. It is true that Bodeye paid for some car repairs for me the day before I left, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make it to Las Vegas with them, let alone Iowa, which is where I truly wanted to go. Since I have been back, I have talked to Bodeye, and assured him that I WILL be paying him back as soon as I can. I intend to keep this promise, and will pay him back as soon as I am able.

I also wanted to address the childish comment made by Nick when he said "You were so creepy and disgusting that I had to ask you to leave my house and you refused since my girlfriend was uncomfortable being alone in the house with you"......

Well, first of all..this is Nick's attempt at saving face, and trying to make himself look better in this situation. I was not wanting to leave the house at 2am to drive from LA to Vegas when I had already been up since 8:30-9am that morning already. I didn't want to, nor was I planning on leaving until the next morning at a more reasonable time. I was not refusing to leave, just wanted to have a good night's sleep under my belt before I made the drive. Once you SUGGESTED that I go to Vegas early then, and meet up with Ray, I did, but only after I was able to adjust my original plans.

As far as me being "creepy" and "disgusting", I guess that's your opinion. However I must not have been too hideous as you weren't in such a big hurry to find me a place when I got out there like you said you were going to. You told me that I might have to spend a few days on the couch while WE found me a place to stay. Well, that "few" days turned into 5 weeks, as in the WHOLE time I was out there. You didn't even have the Vegas home set up until a week before I left. For the record, when you say WE, that does include you...that does NOT mean that you have me walking around the neighborhood, and looking on Craigslist for listings, and having ME call them, and send emails to them. Then having ME go look at them, then have the nerve to ask ME to put my name only on the lease for a whole year when I was only going to be there for a few months?? What part of that was YOU Nick?? It was only after I absolutely refused to put my name on the lease, and Aaron and Bodeye convinced you that it should be YOU to put your name on the lease, not me, that you finally filled out the rental application. If I was so creepy and disgusting, why weren't you putting in more of an effort to get me a different place? Either I wasn't THAT creepy and disgusting, or you were just too lazy...So which one is it?

Well, I think it's about time I get off my soapbox with this. I have wasted enough time on him, will try not to waste any more. As far as a poker player, I think Nick definitely knows what he's doing, but I also believe that if he even dedicated a fraction of the time that he spends on poker on his social skills, it would make a WORLD of a difference.

Class in session...

First off, I know it's been ages....but here's a HOD. I will say this, I was due to deal a beat like this. You may recall that I had a similar occurence take place earlier this year. The big difference was that my opponent had KK and I had AA. Also, I got all my money in preflop with my AA, this guy, not so much. He checked the flop, and did allow me to catch up on the turn...once I hit my set on the turn, I'm going nowhere. He just got extremely unlucky when I hit my 9 on the river. After that flop he was 99.9% to win the hand...well thank you Mr .1%....you came through for me this time.

The title of this blog however was not about the HOD. It actually refers to something going on in my personal life. I know, I said in the last blog that I would stick to poker, and I intend to. HOWEVER, this part is so important that I just have to mention it. I actually have a class tonight, no, not one at a college or anything like that. It's a parenting class that I need to take to make sure my divorce is finalized. Yep, after tonight, all that divorce paperwork can finally be processed, and I will officially be divorced!

I wanted to give praise and credit where it's due.... A former student of mine that I ran into at the $3 90s yesterday, not only took me out in that tournament, but made it through a field of 648 people to take down his 2nd 1st place finish in "The Ferguson" last night. The game of the night? Razz....my favorite ;) Congrats to GRZA on his win, you deserve it!!

Done with drama....

So....since my last blog, there has been alot said. Who was I talking about? Why was I talking about it? People happy I was saying something....Some not so happy....

To those of you who are happy I brought up what I did, and knew exactly who I was talking about, I thank you for your kind words and support!! For those that didn't know who I was talking about, you may know by now. Lately I have not been too quiet, and have let my feelings be known about this guy. There are some that do believe what I am saying, and then there are obviously others that won't believe me no matter what I say. For those that won't believe me, and are not happy with me saying what I have said, I feel sorry for you, because you will see soon enough what kind of person he really is.

I have realized recently that no matter what the truth is, people will believe what they want to believe. When I say I am done with the drama, I do mean it....at least in the public eye. I will not be airing the dirty laundry for everyone to see and hear. But if you honestly want to know what I've experienced, I'll be more than happy to talk more with you.

Anyone wanting to talk further about this, feel free to contact me on skype: josh.orent

For the record, any and all future posts will be poker related, and will not have to do with the drama. I also have never doubted his poker ability, I believe he can be very good(he is proving it in the ME as we speak)....it's just that I never got to see it while I was with him. I do wish him the best of luck, but no matter how well he does there, that does not change what kind of person he is on the inside.....Til next time everyone.....

What a journey..

Ya, so I pulled up a friends blog, and realized that it had been FIVE weeks since my last post...YIKES, guess I'm long overdue...

Well, to start off, I want to say that my trip back from LA was much more adventurous than my trip OUT to LA. I will say this, my time out in LA was very much a life changing experience, and I'm glad I went. Just wish I had been able to see more, and do more while I was out there. So how was it a live changing experience if I didn't get to see or do all that I wanted? Well, let's just say I learned alot about people in general while I was out there, and learned alot about myself.

I have had some people back home here tell me that I had alot of growing up to do, and alot to learn about life in general. Well, after spending about 5 weeks in LA, I realized that there are people in much worse shape than I when it game to growing up, an learning alot about life. Granted, they were right, I did have alot to learn, and I did have some growing up to do....HOWEVER there are people that THINK they are more grown up than they are, and think they KNOW alot more than everyone else. I won't name any names, but lost alot of respect for a couple guys while I was in LA, these guys were people I looked to for advice at times before I even went out there, and put alot of weight in what they said. I now realize that there was one person that deserved that respect all along, and that had helped me the most not only while I was out there, but while I had been here as well.

For you younger guys out there, life is not about putting everyone else down, bossing people around just to make yourself feel better. It's about earning that respect from others, not feeling like it's just owed to you.

Part of me wants to let alot of people know what one person in particular is REALLY like, but I will not stoop myself to his level just to make myself feel better. I will say though, that whatever I say about him would be the truth, something he evidently can't quite get a grasp on.

Maybe down the road I will open some people's eyes to some reality, but for now, I will just bite my tongue and move on with life ;)

Rough week....

As a grinder, you must teach yourself to not look at the results on a day to day basis, it will drive you crazy if you do. While I have continued to put in long hours, and lots of games, which is what I had set out to do, the profit side of things this week have been kinda ugly. The thing is, even though the profit line has been going in the wrong direction, I know it will make a change in the right direction soon.


To get away from the poker for just a minute.... Just got back about 15 mins ago from a dinner at a nice little restaurant here in LA, Pacific Dining Car. The food there was very good, probably the best burger I have ever had at a restaurant. Had some crab cakes, as well as a chocolate souffle dessert that was very good as well. It was very much worth the extended drive we had to get there. We were inadvertently giving a tour of "Little Mexico" on our way there, but again was well worth the drive.

My goal for the next week is to play 100 games/day. Up to this point in the month of May, I have played a total of 1265 games. We are one day shy of half the month, and I am more than half way to where I had wanted to be this month at 2500 games. I am confident, even with a few planned days off, that I will still reach this goal, and be more profitable than I have any other month before. I have a long way to go, and it will not be easy, but I am looking forward to the challenge ;)

Have a great weekend all, and a better second half of the month, I know I will !!

This many games in a week??.....

This month has been an unbelievable month for me. Though you might be able to tell exactly how many games I've played this month by the graph, the grand total in the first 9 days is 779 games. Before I came out here to LA, I'm not sure that I ever played that many games in a whole month, and here I am doing it in just 9 days!! That's an average of 88 games a day, and at that pace, I will easily reach my goal of 2000 games this month, might even reach 2500 games if I continue to do what I've been doing just the last few days where I have been playing roughly 100 games per day.

Nick, Daniel, and Aaron have preached to me how important it is to get in your volume, this is what's important, not how much money you make each day. You put in your games, and the results will follow. I know any of you that are either part of the Elite Team, or someone that has attended a webinar, have heard any one of those 3 say this at some point. Well, I'm here to say that they couldn't be more spot on with this comment. In months past, I have not really seen big numbers in profit, because I wasn't putting in that many games. Since I've been out here, and have just been focusing on getting my games in, I have seen the profits climb as well. Look at what I've done so far this month, my average profit per game is $4, if I could put in 2000 games this month, and continue at the rate that I'm at, that's $8000 profit this month!! Who out there wouldn't like to be making that kind of money?? I know I always have, and hope to continue to improve, and boost those numbers even a bit more!

Today started off fairly rough for me, running into big hand after big hand. But, I continued to put in the games, and continued to play the way I was taught to play, and what happened?? I won my first $52 90 man SNG today, which turned a not so good day, into a very good day! It only takes one tournament to turn your profit around, and that's why it's so important to just get your games in. You never know which game will be the one that turns it around for you ;)

On a side note, it was very much a relief to score my first win in that $52...I hadn't even played 40 of them, and hit it. But in the last few days, I had come closer and closer....and BOOM!!

Never has the Star Spangled Banner sounded more beautiful, Thanks Maestro!!

Best day.....so far.....

Today was a very good day for me....ALL AROUND. It started off by getting a good night sleep last night, and waking up this morning at 9am. I checked my email, then went upstairs to take a shower. After I was showered and dressed, Daniel(Bodeye) and I went to Starbucks for our breakfast sandwiches and of course a nice drink(hot tea for me). After returning, we got started on what we had planned to be a 12 hr day.

I had set a goal of 100 games today, which would be my highest daily total EVER.... After stopping about 11 hrs later, I had gotten in 110 games. I went into the day only planning on playing the 90-mans, but Daniel told me I should try a MTT, so I did. I am glad that he told me to give it a shot, cause out of 5223 players, I managed to finish 61st, which was good for about $215, not bad for a $33 buy in ;)

All in all, I was very pleased with my day today. I feel like I am playing some of my best poker, and couldn't be happier with the results I am seeing. Just goes to show that hard work does pay off in the long run!!

Below is a graph of todays results....Enjoy!!