So far the preparation really feels like it’s paying off. Several times in both my Moneymaker match and my Dario match I could have been a bit sloppy and got beat. Thanks to being fresh and rested, I was able to make good decisions in both matches.

Playing Dario is so fun because he is such an animal heads up. Relentless pressure, so capable of so many things. He is a truly talented and I’d love to learn to do some of the things he does heads up. My style, however, I think meshes very well against a guy like Dario. My goal is to trap him, and since he likes to push the envelop, he is susceptible to being trapped. In the meantime, though, he will just grind you down.

I said before in my interview, that Dario can make you look like a fool or a complete genius. One hand I’m going to look like a fool, but I still think I made the best decision:

I raised with and he re-raised me. I just called. The flop came and I had no club. He bet and I called. The turn was a King and he check called. The river was a and he checked. The pot was already big at this point, and Dario is so tricky. I asked myself, "If he check-raises me all in, will I call?" I had no idea, so I checked. He showed so I may have been able to squeeze him for another bet on the river. Oh well, I thought he was almost equally likely to call my bet as he was to check-raise me. So, you might say, why not just bet and fold to a check-raise? Well, cause its DARIO!!! It’s hard to fold hands against him.

The final hand was a bit similar. I had and min-raised, he re-raised and I called. The flop was he check called 6000. The turn was a Jack, he checked, I bet 8500 and he moved all in. I had no choice but to call, and he showed off suit. He needed only a and luckily an hit the river.

On to Scotty Nguyen now. I played him heads up at the WSOP years ago in a fun event for bracelet winners only. I won that match handily and hope I can repeat that success against him tonight. If you plan on attending tonight, I also have a pretty fun surprise for all of you, lol. You’ll just have to wait and see.

I’m home now eating some kale, pine nut, cranberry salad that Patty prepared (thanks Patty, you are truly the best) and about to head down there to prepare for my match. I started working out at the end of January and was just eating a ton of food and bulking up pretty good. A year ago I was about 142 lbs, and three days ago I weighed in at 159 lbs. I’m happy to see the progress in my chest, shoulders, and arms, but the carbs haven’t helped the little Buddha belly I got goin’ on! This morning I weighed 156 lbs and the belly is looking a bit better I’m still looking to gain weight, but want to make sure it’s coming from muscle and not pastas, bread, and rice. Been eating super healthy the last few days. Loads of protein, and not much else.

I made a weight bet with Ted Forrest about 9 years ago where I laid him 20-1 odds that I’d never weight 170 lbs in my life time. I became a vegetarian the very next day! It was a bet he’s always been drawing dead on, but with me trying to add muscle to my frame, he is officially drawing live. I’d be happy to lose this bet, because if I ever weight 170 lbs, it won’t be because I’m fatter. I’m starting to actually really enjoy working out and never have my entire life. I feel so, so, so much stronger than I did just a month ago.