I ended up getting food at North Woods Inn, my all time favorite restaurant. Came back to play 100-200 stud and ran badly, losing somewhere over $3k. Game was great but lots of my two pairs lost and my only three of a kind or better was folded (correctly) on 7th street.

Saturday was the WPT Invitational day, always an excellent time. I had to drive to my Mom’s place to pick up my dress shoes I left there after waking up, spent the afternoon playing online and drinking wine, and met up with a bunch of the cool kids to pre party. The night became a blur as it should, I busted with a couple minutes left in the day, and that ended up costing me about $4k.

Sunday I played online with Tony Dunst while Cory went to traffic school online. We all lost our asses and minds, got out for dinner at North Woods Inn again, and then I did an interview with some guys shooting a documentary about the history of online poker. Spent the rest of the night chilling, watched Inception, and played a little more online.

Monday was a $335 NLHE 100k guaranteed donkament with 30 minute levels. It was perfect. Kessler complained about it being the worst $300 he’s played in a long time. Don’t you have better things to do? I did and was happy to not spend all afternoon in it. Those better things were 100-200 stud and then 100-200 O/E. I won $5k and quit to have dinner someplace rad in Long Beach.

A not so stretch limo picked up four of us, took us to pick up two more, and then we headed to 555 East in the LBC. Cory met us there and we had a rad dinner followed by drinks at Congregation. The three dudes without girls that had to do things early in the morning turned it into a night while Jay, Mary, Cory, and I headed back to the Commerce. Rad night.

Today I played the $1k. I never had anything. I couldn’t win. Played a bit online, can’t win at tournaments, can’t lose at cash. I’ll try again tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure I’m just storing up my run good for the main event.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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Monday night I intended on playing the $1585 Chinese Poker tournament. Ryan and I walked into the ballroom about fifteen minutes early and Sam told us about the $200 rebuy mega-satellite that guarantees a $10k seat. Nobody had registered yet. It started 45 minutes ago. The two of us register, hoping for a sweet overlay. We start three handed and are five handed quickly. Guys. Don’t rebuy or add-on. Please. Less than an hour ’til the end of the rebuy period two clowns join. They go all in dark and call several times for double stacks. Then more people register. They start another table. More rebuys. Some add-ons. And after 75 minutes of play the prizepool totalled $11,700. You morons. That money you hated while having a dick measuring contest literally evaporated.

This really annoyed me for a while. Shortly before the end of the rebuy period I didn’t care anymore though. I realized that they just can’t help themselves. They aren’t here to make the right play. They are here to gamble. If it wasn’t for this overwhelming blatant disdain for dollars the action wouldn’t be so good. Gamboolers are gonna gambool so let em do it in peace without calling them idiots.

Good thing they did though. I got heads up with a 2-3 chip disadvantage, declined his offers of $3k to concede and taking 25% of his action, and asked for an even chop. Why, I have more chips than you? Because I’m better and more experienced than you. He then wins every pot and I take 2nd for $1700. Nothing I could have done, he always had a better hand.

Tuesday I played a $545 nlhe, lost a huge flip, and registered for the $1065 8-game just a little late. I put the money in drawing dead on the turn in PLO vs. Jon Aguiar. I played the hand really bad. I suck at PLO. I played 100-200 Stud for most of the rest of the night, won over $2k, and went to sleep.

The following day was the $1065 HORSE tourney. Long story short: It started at 1pm. I busted in 6th place on the bubble at 6am. I was playing very well and declined to make a deal to give 6th place money. Tony Ma was especially upset about this since cashing = points. He was on my left. Everybody else was playing poorly and asleep at the wheel. The money went in good every time, and 7th street was poor for me most of the time. Very frustrating.

Thursday meant a $1k nlhe. I put the money in early with JJ vs a Frenchman’s 3rd straight 30+bb shove and lost to his AQ. I played cash online, won $350. I played PLO with Eric Baldwin, Justin Young, Shannon Shorr, Will the Thrill, Mike Katz, Jesse I don’t know his last name, and some dude that sat in the game by accident. He thought it was 5-10 nlhe. Once he saw how the 17 million in career tournament cashes were playing 5-5-10 PLO he stuck around long enough to hit the lottery getting AAxx in vs. J973 and QQxx and holding on two boards. I quit up $400 when I was finally called for 100-200 stud. Played that for three downs and quit at 4am up $19, toughest I’ve seen the game yet. Then I went upstairs, played 10-20 and 5-10 mixed games, won another $500. Finally fell asleep around 7am, schedule still whacked from the HORSE tourney.

Today’s Friday. I played the $335 shootout, got 3 handed with a small chip lead and a 20bb average stack, lost 3 straight pots and was busto. Have lost $300 online while … just kidding only stuck $200 now.. while writing this blog. Tomorrow’s the WPT Invitational and I’m stoked for that, gonna go find food now. I’ve been on the 1-2 stud list for 3 hours and they haven’t called me yet.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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Thanks to the parking lots that are LA freeways between 4 and 8 pm and a stop for dinner we headed directly to the Chumash Casino to see Sarah McLachlan. Cory randomly stumbled across it when looking up things to do around Solvang this weekend and I bought the two best tickets available. I hate sit down concerts but hey it’s Sarah who’s amazing and it’s a good way to kick off a romantic weekend.

The last time I was at the Chumash Casino it was a tent and in the midst of one of my favorite poker weekends ever. I had just recently turned 21, it was the fall of 2002, and I didn’t care a lick about school. I did care about surfing and whitewater rafting and poker and rebelling against alarm clocks. I hadn’t had a Friday class since my freshman year so I started the weekend with the Hustler daily $30 rebuy tournament.

Back then I thought the point of rebuy tournaments during the rebuy period was to see who could avoid rebuying. I never rebought unless I had to and I certainly never added on. Obviously I was way wrong and it’s actually a contest to see who can rebuy the most. I got heads up on my single bullet and chopped the thing for $500 or so. I also made a rack playing $6-12 LHE before the tournament started and asked for a security escort out of the place early Friday afternoon.

I had my surfboard strapped to the top of my 1995 Honda Civic which my mother still drives. I woke up early that Friday morning to go surf and for some reason or another I had decided to play poker instead. I’d like to think that the surf was flat or blown out or the tide was high but my degenerate ass probably couldn’t help but exit after I saw Rosecrans approaching on the 110 South. One of my favorite things to do back then was to take surf road trips. Depending on the season and my company I would drive along the coast either North or South and chase waves. This overcast October afternoon sent me North hoping for some good late season South swell along the central coast.

I remember catching a great afternoon session at Surfriders in Malibu followed by a sunset sesh under breaking clouds at County Line. The fried calamari at Neptune’s Net was standard and I camped somewhere off PCH toward Ventura. I had so many sweet stealth camping spots back in those days that would have me surfing with the sunrise.

It was no good that morning though so I hit the road, grabbed a cup of coffee and a donut in Ventura, and rejoined the coastline just above the harbor on 101. I love that drive from Ventura to Santa Barbara and was thoroughly enjoying the morning when I turned a corner and saw a beautiful right peeling off the point at Rincon. The water was way less crowded than it should have been, I caught a wonderful session until the tide came up and killed the wave and was pulling into Santa Barbara wondering what to do next somewhere around lunchtime.

I saw a billboard for the Chumash and the $700 I won yesterday were itching to go play some more. Turns out I arrive just in time for their $20 special Saturday tournament, $1k guarantee. At the final table they divide the prize pool by 10 and give each player that much money in real chips. Then we play $5-10 nlhe, blinds escalate normally, and anytime at the start of the hand if you have the least $ in chips you may bow out of the tournament, taking your chips with you. They missed the guarantee and I made the final table. I’m pretty sure I quit after the big blind with $90.

I spent that evening hanging in Santa Barbara with friends from Westmont College, slept on the beach again, and woke up to see bad surf. But they did have a $30 rebuy at the Hustler in a couple hours. I drove back there to play that, chopped it heads up again, and thoroughly enjoyed the Pacifico I drank on my porch off campus that Sunday evening.

All that to tell a good story and say that I really like this part of the world. Sarah McLachlan was awesome. Now I’m here with the girl that I had a crush on that weekend over eight years ago. I have the means to truly splurge on a kick ass trip to wine country. It’s going to be a good weekend.

And it was. Tasted at Lincourt, Blackjack, and Kalyra on Friday. Perfect weather, nobody out. Awesome dinner at Root 246. Tasted at Foxen on Saturday cause the Pinot we had with dinner the night before was killer. It still was to start the day but everything else sucked. We had an appointment at Demetria at 2pm and were meeting four of Cory’s friends.

This place was rad. Family owned and run, you have to be buzzed in at the gate, and then drive over a mile through vineyards and past their house to the barrel and tasting room. Sit down outside, quality live music is coming from a dude with an acoustic guitar. They bring the tasting to us as Cory and I set up the picnic buffet. Two different cheeses, salami, crackers, a French baguette, honey, and dark chocolate. We spent the afternoon feeling Italian and had another wonderful day.

Sunday we headed West into the Santa Rita Valley, famous for it’s pinot. The coastal fog and cooler temperatures are ideal for the grape and I was excited to drink some estate wine. Foley wasn’t bad and the place was too estatey for me. Melville had a great atmosphere and patio with decent wine. Sanford was our last stop and winner for best all around. The southern road is sweet, very undeveloped and full of wide open spaces.

Best wine at Blackjack. Best experience at Demetria. Sanford best overall. Paula’s Pancake House for best breakfast. Root 246 for best dinner, and the Solvang Brewing Company for best burger and beer. It was a wonderful weekend, we drove home (to the Commerce Casino) with 46 bottles of wine jingling in the back seat, eleven of which are now sitting on the floor next to my chair.

Life is good.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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I roll into the Commerce Casino without identification or a credit card intent on checking into my hotel room. First I ask the bellman if they’ve received a package in my name which should contain my wallet with the necessary documents. That would have been a fun conversation, oh great you have my package, ID please, sure it’s in the package. Just open it. Without a package though I had to settle for getting to have that conversation with the front desk. In one long sentence I explain that I don’t have my wallet and I’d like to check in and Matt Savage can verify my identity and I can leave a cash deposit. I’m sorry my manager has to make that decision. He’s behind me at a desk next to the bell desk, is laughing, says I heard everything and calls Matt. He hears something on the phone that leads him to believe this goofy looking bearded kid also bears my name, and just like that I’m in. Park in the room, play some turbos on UB with Ryan, and hit the sack excited to play some live poker Tuesday.

I’m on this wake up at 10am schedule which is quite perfect I think. That gave me enough time to play for a few hours online, I played one cash game and four 45 man SNG’s, finishing 2nd in two of them after getting it in good for the win in each match. Feeling great about my play and the year and life in general I head downstairs to find food, do so in the way of a new 20-40 hold’em game. My French toast ends up costing about $100 after getting two outed in a pot three feet long and twelve inches wide. I head upstairs for the $335 nlhe event, draw a seat that it was impossible to win at, and am in the $545 Omaha 8 event by 5pm.

It was impossible to win there too. I experienced a starting stack or greater for two hands all day. I made one flush in Omaha, otherwise never had better than one pair. Bluffs were impossible. But, during the Omaha event, within ten minutes of each other I had $12k cash dropped from the sky onto the felt in front of me by Ryan who was flying by. Then I handed $9500 of that cash to a dude I met that day in exchange for a $10k main event seat. I’ll buy as many seats as people will sell me for that price.

After busting the Omaha I spent some time with Cory, then she went to sleep early cause she goes to work super early. I went downstairs looking for some cash action and found it at 100-200 O/E. Game was excellent, I played for a few hours and booked a small win.

Wednesday was the $1k. Ryan wanted to play it and, well, when you’re winning everything and in the running for best all-around you can play whatever you want. I lost a flip for a 48k pot like 50 left, he busted around 40th. Fortunately or unfortunately that was late enough that neither of us ended up playing the $545 Stud8. Played online that night, getting on an earlier schedule because I was getting out of town Thursday. Three days of work really takes it out of you. Gotta have vacations imo. Lol.

On Monday I called Wells Fargo in Commerce, CA and told them that I needed to make a $25k cash withdrawal no later than Thursday at noon. I wanted to make sure I have all my bullets ready for Monday when I come back so I can fire hard for two weeks. Three days notice is plenty of time for that amount in the LA area. I called again on Wednesday to see if it was available or to make sure Thursday was taken care of, and then after packing up my room I called on Thursday around noon.

The lady that answered the phone this time spoke a bit more intelligently and authoritatively than the other two people I had talked to that both talked to “service managers”. Turns out she’s the branch manager and completely unaware of my need for cash and tells me that she can’t do anything for me because it takes time to move that much cash. Yes I know that’s why I called Monday. Well unless you talked to a manager I can’t guarantee what they said. Who’d you talk to? I don’t know who I talked to, I didn’t think it’d be necessary to doubt what your staff told me over the phone, twice. That goes back and forth a bit until she finally says that she’ll call me back within half an hour.

Meanwhile I head downstairs to find a cash game. I get a seat in a 30-60 stud game while I order a fruit plate and coffee. Shortly thereafter I start a 100-200 stud game that I spend an hour or so in winning $2300. I move over to 10-20 nlhe and lose $600 with AK on KTxQx to KQ. Then my phone rings.

Mr. Devonshire? We have the cash you requested.

F’n a. Just in the nick of time to get it done today.

Now just to drive across Commerce, by myself and unarmed, to pick up $25k cash and bring it back.

Really long story short, this was zero problem because I look homeless. I never even got looked at funny. It’s also remarkable how bad at cash banks are. Cage employees at casinos are so infinitely better at handling money than bank tellers. I stuffed my coat full of cash, drove back to the Commerce Casino, walked inside, dropped it off in a box, gave money to Ryan, and walked out the door in time to see Cory pulling up. She threw her stuff in my car, we put the top down and were headed North for wine country on a beautiful Thursday afternoon.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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I received a comment asking what I means that my horse is my horse so I’ll briefly explain. For more detailed information check out this article I wrote for pokerpages a few years ago, Adventures in Backing. Basically I pay for 100% of Ryan’s buy-ins both live and online. In special circumstances I’ll put him in cash games but not generally. Whenever he loses, that amount is added to a number called “makeup.” Whenever he clears makeup, he gets a certain percentage of the net and I get the rest. Any cash that is smaller than the total makeup is deducted from makeup. So say the deal is 50/50 and he plays 10 $500 tournaments. He punts the first nine and then wins the tenth for $10k. I would receive $7500 of that score, $5k to clear makeup and then half of the net profit. Horse pockets $2500 for his time, then we’re reset at all square and do it again. A horse cannot quit his backer while in makeup, but a backer can quit a horse at any time and if he does forfeits any claim to makeup.

Those business deals set up moments like this, when I’m sitting in a $545 Omaha8 tournament and $12k cash falls from the sky above my head and onto my chip stack. I pop out my ear buds and look up to see my horse flying by headed back toward his seat. Thanks bud! Table’s like wtf? Within ten minutes I hand $9500 to another dude that I had just met today, who in turn hands me an entry to the WPT $10k main event with my name on it. I just got to town and am already up $12,500. If anybody else would like to sell LAPC main event seats or $10k in tournament buy-in chips for $9500, I will buy all of them.

It was a bit of a stressful weekend on the business side until right around that moment. After Southwest’s Boeing 737 parked at LAX I checked the seat back pocket for any stuff I forgot, checked my seat, and was out the door in a flash knowing that my girlfriend was somewhere nearby. Lots of hugs and kisses later we’re on the road, I’m hungry, and it turns out my mood is directly impacted by my belly. We hit the 105 East and as soon as we clear the 405 we’re in a parking lot. Turns out traffic also affects my mood. I got out of LA asap in January 2003 and won’t ever be back because of traffic (and overall population density). Life’s too short and the world is too big to live somewhere like this.

We agree on In-N-Out and that has us headed for Norwalk. I’m happier than Vince Shlomi at the sight of my neon oasis down Pioneer Avenue. Out of the car like I’m sitting on a spring, pat my right ass cheek to confirm wallet and all I find is ass. There is no wallet in the immediate vicinity or in my coat.

Food. Lets go order. We do, I go back to operation search car, go through everything… nothing. Walk back. Hug. Aww honey, can I help? Yes please, I don’t know how though. Did you check your backpack?

o_O

Two cheeseburgers without onions or tomatoes make me feel extremely better, I’ve settled down, and to work I go. I call Wells Fargo to cancel my debit card. I haven’t had a credit card in 8 years. I forget that I could have just transfered all the money out of the account associated with the card I cancelled into my main account using my cell phone. That debit card is locked away in Colorado with my passport which I intentionally left at home so I won’t have a morning in the next month where I wake up wondering where the F I am and it turns out to be Mexico. So I cancel the small debit card of the two in my wallet and change my address to the Commerce Casino so I can have a new one sent there.

K. Priority one phone call is taken care of and I feel better because I thought I just accomplished something instead of wasting 15 minutes of my life protecting nothing and making things more difficult in the future. I call Southwest Airlines to file all the appropriate reports cause it’s gotta be somewhere between security at DEN and In-N-Out in Norwalk. It’s 99% not in my stuff or her car and it’s very unlikely in baggage because when we greeted she snuck in an ass grab and noticed the missing wallet. Those reports filed I called the Rock Bottom Brewery in DEN to inquire about my missing wallet, they didn’t have it but took down my number. Lastly I called Steve my housemate in Colorado and asked if he would be willing to overnight my passport and debit card. He said sure.

This man can do no more. By that time we were somewhere in the Inland Valley headed toward Palm Desert, it was a warm clear Southern California night, and I started to relax.

Just before midnight I got a call from Southwest saying that my wallet was in Sacramento and I had 24 hours to set up a FedEx account online and provide them with that account number before they send it to Dallas. I really wanted to pretend that it was impossible to set up a FedEx account due to my recently cancelled debit card to see where that road led, but I didn’t bother because by that point Steve had informed me that my debit card was not in my safe and I remembered that it was in my wallet. Now I was now extra thrilled that my wallet was in safe hands and wanted to do everything I could to get it to the Commerce before I arrived Monday evening.

I enjoyed a thoroughly relaxing weekend in warm weather with Cory, stopped by my mother’s place in San Dimas on the way back from Palm Desert to pick up my Mustang, and I was on my way to the Commerce for my LAPC debut.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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At one point early Wednesday morning the wind chill had it a frigid 49 below zero, the coldest weather Jared and I have ever experienced. So that day when Mac wanted to go snowboarding I politely declined. It was way too cold to drive the hooptie home, considering the National Weather Service released a statement that states bare skin exposure will result in frostbite within ten minutes. Plus, thanks to the 42 Jaeger-bombs lined up in front of me over the past three days I felt like I got run over by a whole team of trains. I’m gonna do my thing on this bean bag chair day and you guys can do whatever you want.

They went home. Plan A was initially to drive home today, but Summit County has a way of erasing days and deadlines and keeping people in a perpetual state of stoked. The air is clean, the views breathtaking, the people are good, and the beer is cheap. I certainly don’t want to leave but my accountant informed me that I need to maintain Nevada residency unless I want to donate 4.62% of my taxable earnings to the State of Colorado. I like Dusty’s idea about having a place out here though because I’m living life where and how I want to here, yielding big wins and smiles.

As requested I didn’t do shit Wednesday. I made a sandwich, laid on my Love Sac and played Fallout: New Vegas until I got hungry again. I mustered the motivation to leave the house, mostly due to laziness and the lack of a desire for cooking or anything edible in my kitchen. I wanted greasy ass Mexican food, for some reason delicious after outdoor physical activities and the day after rigorous drinking. That adventure lasted 45 minutes and I was right back in the Love Sac, initiated the final quest too early and got whipped by the boss man multiple times until I gave up.

Thursday started me with a long list of things to accomplish prior to my departure for Los Angeles. Breakfast was first, then I put money in my landlord’s account for February and March, and then hit the post office. I hadn’t been there in a week, found three envelopes in my PO Box, all tax documents, which I didn’t even open on their way to my tax folder. That I then shipped to my accountant in Georgia and went home to see about the washing machine that wasn’t working yesterday.

We finally decided that the washing machine wouldn’t function because it was frozen. It’s inside, but its in the coldest corner of the house. Steve disconnected the dryer vent to turn the laundry room into a sauna which thawed the washer and it finally started. Sweet. Half an hour later I go to change loads and the washer is full of the first cycle’s water. It made it through the fill ‘er up stage but that’s it. Thank God the load was the linens that Mac slept on instead of half my clothes for LA.

That gave me time to work before going to a nice dinner which earned me $800. We went to this kick ass place called Relish in Breckenridge and then had a few drinks at Jonny G’s for my last night in town. Place is way less crazy without a bunch of bartenders from Vegas trying to run the joint out of Jaeger. Made it home reasonably, finished packing, and went to sleep for the last time before getting to see Cory again.

So, I’m in a Colorado Mountain Express van heading down the hill to Denver International Airport for a Southwest flight to LAX. Ten of us are packed into a van and the only person comfortable is riding shotgun. Conversation, handshakes, and name exchanges have been non-existent. Kinda surprising to me but this is the best option to get up and down the hill to the airport I think I just got a bad draw. I’m very stoked to be in LA for a while, not excited about living at the Commerce for a month, I’ll probably start going insane somewhere around the WPT Invitational. Cory and I have a couple weekends booked which are going to be fantastic, the first one coming immediately which we’re spending in Palm Desert. I’m about to go through an almost 100 degree temperature swing in 24 hours.

I’m excited to play some live tournaments again. It’s been since the 5 Diamond prelims, over two months. I’m excited to be around Cory daily. I’m excited to be handed a pile of cash from my points leader horse and cheer him on to the win. I’m excited for this year!

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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Yuuuuuuuup! The kid did it again. Same camo hat, different color Mizzou hoodie, and his 2nd title through 15 events at the LAPC. F yeah, that puts him on top of the points standings, and it kicked off what turned into a helluva night here in Colorado.

Last week Jared called me and said he wants to come out. I told him I’d pay for a trip out here as a Christmas present, but I wasn’t going to buy the $500 flights that were the only things available this weekend. I also couldn’t pick them up at the airport on Sunday due to the UBOC main event. They booked plane tickets and a rental car for a bunch of money. Mac was thinking to himself, there’s got to be a better way. So he went onto Craigslist and looked at “Cars under $500″. He bought the 2nd one he found for $200. It’s an 89 Buick Century with a chopped top and tiger striped interior. They left Vegas at 1am on Sunday and drove it here, spending $100 on gas. Check this out.

Bahahahahaha. We tied one off Sunday night, woke up a little slow Monday morning, and then Mac and I drove the thing to Keystone. Heads turning everywhere and fist pumps coming from the ski bums. It was awesome, but very much cold on the way back when it was snowing.

We swapped El Gato Negro for the truck and picked up Jared at home, had a sweet dinner at the Boat Yard, took the skis and boards to get waxed, and stopped by the booze store for PBR, Jaeger, and Baileys. That launched a Guitar Hero session that was rocked so hard we opened the window to let in 6 degree air form outside. We played that until we broke it, many Jaeger-bombs down the chute from mason jars and PBR cans strewn about. Then we hear that Ryan won his tournament, head to Jonny G’s, and really let the celebration fly. And that’s when things get fuzzy.

Throughout the morning various stories from various sources have painted a picture of a great time last night. While climbing into the truck I see tracks in the snow that look like somebody fell out of the passenger seat and rolled down the hill about 5 feet in deep snow. Turns out that it was the tracks of me throwing Jared down the hill and then the wrestling match that ensued. We had an awesome breakfast telling stories and laughing, kicking around ideas of what to do when it’s six below with windchill to -30 outside. I said sitting on the couch sounds perfect and instead that’s what they’ve done while I’ve worked. It’s hard writing blogs and crunching numbers after a horse’s win.

I just heard Jared say from the living room, “Jaeger-bomb?”

It’s been the best start to a year ever and possibly the best month of my life. I kissed my dream girl at midnight on New Year’s Eve. She professed her love to me the following morning. I won over $50k playing poker, about $20k of that while drunk. I re-signed with UB for an additional two years and a deal that I’m pleased with. I skied 103,914 vertical feet over 9 days on the mountain. My horse won at least two tournaments and made a bunch of final tables online, he may have won one or more I can’t remember… they all blur together. He cleared makeup 5 days straight. I haven’t injured myself, I’m happier than ever, and I’ve been waking up with a smile every day for almost two months now.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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