RaiNBlOG

Two days ago I decided since the WPT championships held at the
Bellagio in Las Vegas had just ended that it was time to head back
home. However, at the time I decided to begin to pack I spoke
with Rekrul (Dan Schreiber) and he offered me to take him up
on his invite to visit him in korea for a month. I've been
dodging this invite for quite some time now simply because I was
just never comfortable (or rich enough) enough to say screw it, book
the ticket and go.

We arrived at Inchon Airport in South Korea at 6am, and
headed for Rekrul's Apartment. We walked in and I was impressed
with how spacey the place is despite hearing rumors about how small
apartments are here. I sat around, played some poker then we eat
some until eventually night time hit. I showered, got dressed, then
napped for like two hours until around 930 PM. Dan, Smuft and myself all walked out together for roughly two blocks till we grabbed a cab then arrived at the night club.

I have to admit that as I walked down the stairs of the
entrance into the club that I was nervous. Being a competitive poker player for so long, my socializing habits have gone down the drain as i've increased my focus into just poker and nothing else. All three of us got escorted to the back of the club and shown through the doors of the private room. We sat down, and a waiter brought us plenty of beers, whiskey and fruit to have. Basically, in Korea they have these 'booking clubs' in order to help with matchmaking between the opposite sex, which I find hilariously convienient. What's cool about it is the girl usually will just get up and leave you if she isn't comfortable in the area, so you know you aren't being a sleaze ball or anything if she decides to stay with you.
The night was long and fun, and we all shared good times for my first night in Korea. I'm sitting here as I type reviewing as much Korean as I can so eventually before half of this trip is over I will be able to hold a decent conversation with anyone here in Korean.
I've been taking up cash games as well while i'm here to pass time. It certainly also helps to have players in this apartment whose ability to play and analyze the game supercede that of my own by a longshot as well. Rekrul and Smuft have so much incite to the game and life in general, so I'm rdy to take this trip by storm. Good luck, and stay focused!

- Khan

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Finished 14th at the $5,000 Main Event @ Caesar's Palace: Atlantic City. I ended day 1 with 232k in chips after being short around 8500 @ 300/600 75 ante. I began day 2 by knocking out about 5 people in
30 minutes, including my buddy from the WSOP Main Event Final table: Lee Childs, unfortunately through a bad beat A9o > his AJo in a 3 way all in where him and the other fellow were very very short. A few hours later I tango'ed a bit
with some people and dropped back down to 200k after being up to almost 400,000 very quickly. Once the bubble kicked in, I went from 240k all the way up to 440k without showdown @ 3k/6k 500 ante. From the money bubble breaking to
down to 2 tables I couldn't pick up any hands to stack up huge and stayed afloat with about 300k--> 450k for 6 more hours, until finally when we were down to 14, I shoved AQ to Eric Haber's (Sheets on PokerStars) 88 after he delibatered
preflop for 2 minutes before making his call. I got knocked out in 14th finishing for 13,400$ after satelliting in for 500$. All in all, I was so proud of how I played the entire two days, and it left me with a strong clench in my
hands knowing that something has changed, and I have risen to a new level of poker strength. I'm ready to take on the Foxwoods Poker Classic and Bellagio Five Star immediately after. If anyone is planning on showing up to either
events, come and let's kick some tournament ass. Later.

- Khan

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Comments (8)

It's not a machine, an equation, or a system that will help us find
our inner peace while we pursue poker as a career. It's exercise!
For the past three weeks i've put in 30-60 minutes on my bike before
or after my poker sessions and I always feel euphoric during and
once it's over. I mean even without poker tilt or stress, I find
myself laying back on the couch playing a video game and sitting
there in awe to how magnificient fantasy roles or movies can end up
being, which makes me feel a bit anxious as to what i'm missing in
my life. But that's the whole problem: I know for a fact that my
life has been good up to this point so why should I sit there and
mope about god knows what when all I really need is to uncloud
these fictional thoughts and get back on the poker track. Well,
that's the whole thing, and this is where exercise came in. It's
suddenly hit me that everyone in this world works so hard to pursue
figments of accomplishment, status, and peace. I truely feel that
the simplest things in life are exactly all that we need, as people
on this Earth, to live a strong and fulfilling life. So, that being
said: Play poker for every reason that you interested in the first place,
Eat well and treat your body good so that you may be awake longer each day,
exercise and push your body to the test during exercise to meet that
sense of fulfillment and accomplishment that you can always keep within
yourself, and live your life in the present while still keeping a lazy, yet
focused, eye on your future.

- Khan

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Comments (14)