It's a new year and it's Aussie Millions time!

Hi All,

Been awhile since I last updated my blog; I haven't played any serious poker since before Christmas and I spent the break catching up some much needed rest, working on a few side projects, playing host to several interstate guests and finally dealing with car break ins and theft and one crazy, irrational, insensitive, bully of a neighbour!

Anyways that's all in the past and to extend any further on the above I would need to charge you a subscription fee and ask all people with heart conditions to sign a waiver!

In other news; the AUSSIE MILLIONS series kicks off tonight, and I am absolutely PUMPED for this!

In a record for 888PL we will have 37 players participating across 4 events for this series. Tonight sees Event 1 kick off at 7.10pm and we will have Mr Deep Run himself; Kon Koroneos playing along with Mark McQuinn, Darren Watts, Taso Koufos and Fran Marashi! I will be playing tomorrow with the bulk of the 888PL qualifiers!

We will be reporting, blogging, facebooking, forum posting all the action and results 24/7 over the next month so be sure to stay tuned as I am sure we will see at least one 888PL player make a decent score!

I wish all of our qualifiers the best of luck (unless your in a hand with me; then may the Variance Monster eat your soul) and remind them all that preperation is just as important as actually playing. These tournaments will be mentally and emotionally draining, especially with the deeper you run. Eat healthy, drink plenty of water, get plenty of rest and try and exercise as much as possible; it's as much about conditioning your body as it is your mind. The last three days for me have been about training at nights and I have even been running up to 3 km's; for those that know me will tell you that I hate running. If you want any more gameplay or prep tips come and see me, I will be onsite at Crown for most of the series!

Whilst I don't have a lot of related poker material to talk about right now I would like to fill you in on my goals for this year. 2010 was kind of a blow out year for me (even though I completely quit smoking) and I am setting myself up to really work on building myself socially and personally in 2011 so I have outlayed myself some very serious goals:

1. Get down to 85kg by the end of 2011, I am currently a fat bugger weighing at my peak at 120kg. I already find myself down to 115 after my first week of eating healthy and exercising. I have set myself some rules to help accomplish this:
1. No junk food, deep fried or take away food from Monday - Sunday (I am allowed one treat on Saturdays)
2. One can of diet soft drink every day (I am addicted to coke zero and sugar free red bull so this is crushing me right now)
3. Exercise for at least 30 minutes every day (if it is for only thirty minutes it must be some decent cardio where my Heart rate is at at least 150bpm)
4. Rest is important and ensure I do not eat or drink (anything but water) after 8pm
2. Ship at least four figure paydays throughout the year online. I seriously wont be able to keep up the rate of volume I was doing before Christmas but this should be easily accomplished if I can continue getting in 200 tourneys a month.
3. Lead 888PL into becoming the number 1 provider of poker Nationally, measurable upon amount of games, players per game and customer satisfaction. And set up a future proof events system and launch some new tournament structures and events for my players.
4. Mentor some of our junior TC's and teach them about this business and how to be the best 888PL representatives they possibly can. Also to run at least one regular tournament per month (think Undercover Boss without the Undercover bit). Sometimes those of us who sit up on high lose our ability to empathise with our front line "troops" I want to remind myself of the fun, joy, angst and worry that running a tournament produces.
5. Always remember to spend some critical time with my family and very close friends!
6. Ensure my side projects are successful, turn a profit and finally launch into full swing!

So as you can see I have plenty to get sorted this year and I have set myself some heavy goals. Some of them may take a little bit longer than the 12months I have but I am hoping I can at least cut out some of the major obstacles to them and really start honing on them.

One more item should be added to the goals above, find ways to help those in need; after the devastation of the floods in the city I attended Uni in I just feel so helpless and need to remind myself that every little bit helps (my donation just seemed too small but it was all I could afford right now) and I am hoping that 888PL, with some sponsors assistance may be able to produce another fund raising events. My thoughts, prayers and well wishes go out to all who have been affected by the floods and especially to all my friends and 888PL colleagues and players! Stay safe all!

After that somber note it is probably best to close off and wish all of you the successes you desire and here's to an (eventual) fantastic 2011 for all!