Hey guys. I recently found this forum and have really enjoyed going through people's PG&C's, so I thought I'd do my own. I've always enjoyed writing so hopefully this will give me a chance to brush up on those skills and chronicle what I hope to be a very successful year.

A little about me: I played MTTs and MTTSNGs for a living pre BF. I had moderate success finishing #12 on the PokerStars TLB. I parlayed that into a win in the Top 100 TLB Freeroll and landed a $16k PCA package, which was a pretty cool experience. My game back then was very very raw. I played too high, too many tables and looking back I was just plain bad.

Black Friday hit me pretty hard. Like most everyone, I was unprepared and I quickly found myself staring a bleak reality directly in the face. I struggled for the better part of post BF until I moved to Tijuana in March.

I didn't immediately relocate A) because I was broke B) because I'm a proud father of a beautiful 7 year old daughter and I couldn't imagine leaving her behind. Eventually, worse came to worst, and I was up the proverbial creek. I'm pretty unemployable with no degree, no real work history/resume, and no car. (I had to sell my car in December so I could buy Christmas presents). So I was backed into a corner and I had no other choice but to take the leap and see if I could make this work. I had to ask my dad for a loan to even move down to Mexico. I literally had no money.

So I was lucky enough to find a room for rent in Tijuana, Mexico through the Rosarito thread in the Travel forum. Once I got my loan I packed up and hitched a ride with the legendary SirSwish6 and we drove to Mexico from Northern Illinois.

I wasn't sure of the path I was going to take once I got on Stars. I had a limited BR and wanted to play on my own dime. So I tried that for a few days and I just didn't have the bullets I needed to do my thing. An old backer of mine, Frenzuh, saw me spinning my wheels in the micros and offered me a stake. 180's, 33< and the Big 55. I was happier than a pig in ****.

I got set back up on Stars on March 8th, got staked by Frenzuh on March 15th and have since had my best month ever. Here are the tournaments I have won since my relocation.










I really couldn't have envisioned this kind of success. I knew I was capable but honestly, I came to Tijuana with a lot of doubts both about my game, and if this is what I should be doing. Everyone in my life who doesn't have a poker background has told me it's time to move on and 'get a job'. Well I'd like to take this opportunity to tell all those people, "kiss it"

I'm smart enough to know that I'm probably running hot, but my game selection is 100x better than it was before and I feel really comfortable and in control at the games I've been playing.




As for the goals and challenges...I really had no clear cut goals coming down. I was just desperate to dig out of the hole I found myself getting deeper in post BF. I plan on going back to the States quite a bit to see my beautiful daughter, Aaralynn so I won't be in Mexico for the entirety of 2013. That being said I still want to improve on my 12th place TLB finish in 2010. It's going to take some luck and an intense grind for the times I'm in Mexico but I think it's attainable. I've already cracked the top 150 after only 5 weeks so I'm making progress pretty quickly. As far as monetary goals, I'm not sure. I'd like to get out of debt, buy a car, and just be generally secure. I've spent the last 2 years not always sure how the next buck was going to come in and it's a very, very tough way to live. I've already got a decent chunk in my pocket from the past few weeks so I feel like the money will come as long as I keep putting the volume in.

Hopefully this thread doesn't flop. Feel free to troll, post HH of me playing bad, or anything else you might want to contribute.

I'm in the states right now for another week visiting my daughter so I don't foresee a whole lot of updates until I get back to TJ next week.

Here are some more pictures from TJ


Sun coming up over the mountains from our balcony

Tijuana has a sick soccer team and that's the balcony view of their stadium

A street in our neighborhood

Thebest tacos in all of the land, Taco Nazo.

Homemade breakfast from our Nanny

Homemade soup


That's all I got guys, I hope this was enough to keep a few people interested throughout the year. I'm really excited about getting my life back on track and carving out a better future for my daughter. It's tough being away from her but this is for her whether she, or anyone else, understands or not.

first to legendary thread its been a real pleasure meeting you perro and i hope you the best in 2013 and beyond.. enjoy the time wit your daughter now while me and Alex ship the trny you left behind cya in a few days

Def subbed.

Legit feel good story. I love hearing about people breaking through after having their back against the wall.

So much this. Work hard, man.

Gracias cachorrito GL with the no weed thing! (fyl)



Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen.

hey perrow!!!!!

cant keep away can you?

Take that little one to have some fun will ya... stop trolling the thread..

We need you rejuvenated champ!!!!!

Forgot this one! Chopped with some legend.

Subbed

really nice op

much love since back in the day bro gl

great story op, glad to see you recovered! crush dem MTTS

Thanks guys.

I was thinking that I need some clear cut goals. I thought of a few.

Quit smoking cigs. If quitting multiple times is an actual thing, I've done it. I think they call that relapse though. It's really not that hard. I'm going to get another e-cig. Those things are money. I lost my last one and just started smoking the real things again like an idiot. Should be easy, I think I'll start Monday. I'm taking my daughter, mom, bro & sis (16&17) to a waterpark resort this weekend so I'm going to enjoy some cigs with my mom most likely.

Fly my daughter out for some time in SoCal/Mexico. I tried to pull it off in late March but it was too short notice and a little too fiscally unwise to make happen. But I really want to let Aaralynn see with her own eyes where I'm at and the huge world there is outside of our small rural town in northern Illinois, USA. I also want her to realize some immediate benefits from this endeavor. It's got to be pretty hard to understand as a 7yo that your dad moved to Mexico to 'play poker'. Granted, I think she gets it more than 95% of the adults in my life. But I want her to get some immediate benefit out of it. A couple weeks in beautiful SoCal is a little girls dream. DisneyLand, SeaWorld, SanDiego Zoo, beaches, etc. I want her to see all of it ASAP. If she doesn't get to see her dad as much as I, or she, would like, than she damn well is going to get spoiled a bit! So, honestly, flying her out to the west coast is my next move. It would be far more fiscally prudent to put the money to better use as I've stacked up a decent amount of debt in the last 2 years, but NAAAHHH. She deserves it and that's what I want to do. #yolo2013

Subbed, I think this will be one of my new favorite blogs here on 2+2! Keep crushing

Mis-click booked my trip back to Mexico a day early. I'll be back Wednesday probably back on the grind by Thursday 2amish. I absolutely love the 1am+ local time schedule. I usually reg from 2-3am until the Big 55 and then load 180s/turbos until my mtts are done, which is about 12 hours of regging. Pretty long days but I really enjoy playing and I need to make the most of the time I spend both in Mexico and in the States.

I'll post some cool story pics from my weekend with my daughter later on this weekend. Really looking forward to getting back to the games. I have a bet with Little Kraut on the TLB this month. I knew before I bet I would be missing a week but he laid out the challenge a week into the month and hadn't played much so I figured that would even it out a little. I obviously know I'm a huge dog vs Kraut but I wanted to challenge myself and I've always enjoyed sweating the TLB.

Goals: Be like Kraut and Dhilton12

Good luck man, I am happy that things worked out for you financially that is. Have to be rough not seeing your daughter everyday, I couldn't imagine not seeing my son everyday who's 9 months. Must've been the toughest choice you have made, but you do what you gotta to take care of the ones you love!

Wish you all the best!

Sub a dub dubbed

Inspirational thread dude, good luck with everything

Glgl

Gl man, how you likin living in TJ? Been in Rosa for about 19 months now, have spent my fair amount of time in TJ partying, eating out, at a Xolos game, etc but never thought of living there other than those 2 towers right by the border if I got a place in SD as well

Also, am from northern illinois myself (Belvidere, right outside Rockford), heyoooo

Yeah man, I saw that you were from Belvidere when I was perusing the Rosa thread. I'm from Harvard so we're real close. I'm actually typing this from Roscoe

But yeah I really like TJ. I looked into those towers by the border, they look pretty sick.

IIRC you are friends with game2eazy? We'll have to get together and head to HongKong or a Xolos game for sure! We haven't done much in the recreation department so for sure let's meet up.

It was definitely one of the tougher decisions I've made. We text/snapchat/facetime just about everyday so that makes things a lot easier. The little $hit has a laptop/kindle/ipod so we stay connected. I think she also gets a kick out of telling people her dad lives in Mexico and I brought her back some pesos to show off to her friends too. We're makin it work . Headed up to the Wisconsin Dells today to get some waterparkin' in! Looking forward to it!

+ 5

gl, subbed. Motives are awesome I hope you have every success.

Spent a good 4 days with Aaralynn. Felt really good, except I spent HEAPS on the whole weekend. Oh well, that's what money is for, right?

Really looking forward to getting back at it. I'll be back in TJ by around 10am tomorrow. Probably going to be exhausted so hopefully I can just hop back into the routine @ 2-3am on Thursday.

My TLB bet has gone well while I've been away. Kraut hasn't seemed to gain any ground. Dhilton12 is a sav and my hero. When I first got into poker, I ran good and binked 4th in the Wednesday Quarter Milly. Dhilton12 got first, so everytime I pull up OPR I have to see his name as that score was my biggest ever so it's at the top of the list! I've fallen into the 60's on the monthly TLB. I know TLB doesn't mean anything really but I love sweating it. I find myself more infatuated with the TLB's than the prize money when I get to FT's. I'm sure that will change when I FT some SCOOP.

I was looking through some players that I admire's OPR. I've already played more games than most of them this year and I've only been playing 5 weeks. Really quite proud of that. At 4-5k games/month I think my top10 goal is looking more and more attainable even though I will be traveling back and forth and missing most likely June/July.

I haven't really hit a huge downswing since March. Hopefully my game selection and volume are just evening it out a bit better than before. I've never really played this long without degening on HSMTT so I am pretty unfamiliar with the kind of variance I can look forward to at these stakes/volume.

I'm getting some 180's reviewed so hopefully that will plug a few leaks in those games. I'm a winner at 180's but I'd really like to get to that next level and iron out the variance even more.

Less lame updates will be coming soon!

Fix that picture, I'm envisioning a great troll.

Nice story! i've seeen you playing before!

Best of luck (with SCOOP)!

Hehe in before you bink a scoop an take me to taco nazo