My March was pretty mad. It was crazy, and I just about wanted to punch Butler in the stomach for binking off the remainder of my NCAA bracket. But, it was a pretty fun month too. There is no greater sweat than the NCAA tournament (outside of poker), and speaking of sweat, I actually got to sweat for a hot minute when I was in LA earlier this month.

I flew out to LA for "The Big Event." My buddy Stapes (who hosts the PokerStars.net Big Game) picked me up at the airport, and I was completely in heaven already. No, not because Stapes is such a beautiful man, but because it was about 78 degrees in LA. I'm not sure what the temperature was when I left, but I'm almost positive it was "barely legal."

The way my schedule worked was that I had to fly on Saturday, so my Day 1 had to be Sunday - which was the five million dollar guarantee Sunday Million! Argh! At least I made up for it by winning the "The Big Event." Oh wait. No I didn't! I actually ended up busting on the last level of the day with a big flip TT vs. AK - but before that I had built up a HUUUUGE stack and managed to lose two monster pots when I flopped and turned the nuts and ended up losing to bigger hands at showdown. It was frustrating, though I guess it was for the best, since I had to be up at 4:30am one of the days to do a live local TV taping in Los Angeles. I actually did two TV spots while I was there, both with Jonathan Duhamel. I can honestly say that I really liked that dude a lot. I can't imagine a better person to hand the torch off to.

In between the two TV tapings, I hung out with Stapes a bit in Hollywood. We ate at a pretty cool Mexican joint called "The Velvet Margarita" where they played covers of popular music...in Spanish. After we went to see "The Adjustment Bureau." Decent. And then even though neither of us really wanted to, we briefly discussed going to a club, but decided to go back to his place and watch "Jackass: 3D." Wow. Now that I read all that it kind of sounds like we were on a date. Well, he was a perfect gentleman, let me tell you.

A few days later, I ended up having to bail on one interview for the LA times, as I did have a date. I had to fly back to Detroit (with just hours to spare) since Trisha and I were going on a long-awaited cruise. I love Stapes and all, but I have to have my priorities straight.

As far as poker goes, I was starting to feel a little rusty and thought maybe it'd do me some good to "start over." You know, start playing lower stakes again, and see if I can build a bankroll the way I did a few years ago when I was just starting out. I'm not saying I'm going to do it, and I'm not making any challenges or promises, but I've been thinking about it. Just sayin - if you see me on PokerStars playing $2-$4NL....you know why.

Man, time has really flown by since my last blog. I guess that makes sense. The holidays tend to fly by every year, and especially for me, as I had to do a whole bunch of Christmasses this year! But, I guess let's take it back to early to December.

My Mom got out of the hospital in early December, so that was good. I'm not sure if I explained what the issue was in my last blog, but she had a rupture in her small intestine caused by some other medication she was taking. It was quite serious, and things could have gotten pretty ugly, but she's doing better now.

I was also glad she was recovering in time for me to be able to attend my favorite charity event of the year - Jacob Zalewski's All-in for CP tournament to benefit the One Step Closer Foundation. Jacob's a really cool and amazing kid. He is afflicted with Cerebral Palsy, and every year he manages to get together a charity tournament that rivals the Ante up for Africa that the WSOP puts on. This year's tourney was no different. It was held at the Venetian, and they pulled out all the stops: private planes, red carpet, and celebrities galore. I got to meet Sean Astin - "Rudy" himself, as well as a bunch of other celebs like Mekhi Pfiffer, Jeremy London, and Cheryl Hines from Curb Your Enthusiasm.
The best part was that I got to bring Trish this year, and I think she enjoyed herself as well. Of course, I didn't win, which is a good thing - but I was happy to dust off several rebuys to help Jacob's amazing cause.

Besides, when I got back to Michigan, I had the keys to my new house waiting for me! I got the keys the night I got back from Vegas, and I moved in the day after Christmas - and managed to get enough done so that I could have a New Year's Eve party a few days later. Nothing like getting a new house and immediately trashing it! Other than the fact that I don't get very good cell service in the house - I'm loving it.

Part of my New Year's resolution is to start grinding the Sundays on PokerStars again, so I did a little of that on the 2nd.

There is just so much money to be won in those Sundays!

Well, I finally have an answer to the age-old question of "So, Joe, what did you buy with all your winnings from the World Series of Poker?" For a while I hadn't bought much more than a stack of Blu-Ray DVDs at the local Best Buy, but I'm pretty sure this qualifies as a big purchase: I just bought a new house.

I don't want to brag too much about the house, but it's got a lot of really cool features that totally sold me on it. First of all, I don't want to sound like a dork, but I guess I must be growing up because the place is very, very pretty. The whole thing just looks nice, and goes together very well. OK, sorry, no more dorky stuff.

Now, the cool stuff: The basement is basically like a clubhouse with a pool table, bar, kitchen - you name it. Some people have a man-cave, well, this is like a man-cavern. Plus, I know this is weird, but you know what really sold me on the bar? You can't just go under it to get back there. You have to go through another room. Now, that's a real bar.

There's no pool, which I wanted, but there's more than enough room for one, so I'll probably put one in this summer.

This is a pretty big step for me, as my girlfriend will be moving some of her stuff in, and my guy friends will be moving back into their parents' basements. Just kidding, guys. I've always had roommates, so it might be a little weird, but I'm moving right back to my old 'hood, so I'm sure it won't be a problem getting someone to stop by when I need some hang time. In fact, I'll probably end up regretting how close I am to everyone!

In poker news, I had a decent score in October playing the PokerStars Sunday 500. There was over half a million in the prize pool, with over $88,000 going to first place. I ended up taking 8th for a little over $10,000, but I took a bit of a misstep at the final table. I had been really active at the final table. It folded to me in the cut-off and I had [Kd][Qd]. This is a hand that should be in everyone's raising range, and so I raised it up. The big blind then three-bet me. I figured that because I had been so active, and because I was in late position, it was probably pretty easy for this guy to not put me for a hand as strong as I had, so I four-bet shipped on him. He called me with Queens. I got it in behind, and the right hand won. Still, a decent score.

And finally - a bittersweet day has already come and gone. I don't know if you've heard or not, but I didn't win back-to-back WSOP Main Events this year. I was there, however, to cheer on the eventual winner - John Duhamel. I'd have to say the guy played pretty good, and I can only hope he won't have to endure all the "luckbox" abuse to I took! Oh, and I had a good laugh after he won, remembering how he was about to do about 10,000 interviews the next morning, noon, and night. Oh, and PokerStars picks up another World Series Main Event bracelet. Not bad. Congrats, John!

Right before that, I played a really cool charity event in Wichita, put on by the Main Event's 10th-place finisher, Brandon Steven. It was actually a blast, and after seeing what an awesome town Wichita could be, I was happy we could be there to help the homeless in that city.

After all that, I headed to LA to play in The PokerStars North American Poker Tour. I played the heads-up and the main event, but couldn't really make any noise in them. I think part of the issue is that I was really excited to get back in time for my one-year anniversary that I just had with my girlfriend, Patricia. Love you, babe.

On a very sad note, my Mom had to be admitted to the hospital. Don't worry, she's doing much better now and she's out of the hospital, but things were pretty scary there for a minute as her small intestine ruptured as a result of some medication she was on. I spent Thanksgiving in the hospital, but it was totally worth it to be with my Mom. I told her now all I have to do is teach her to play poker and she can grind online while she rests up.

Next up for me is the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas. I'm sure I'll play way too many events. Last year I cashed in the high roller. This year, it'd be really nice to get another final table under my belt. We'll see.

See you in the Bahamas!

by Joe Cada

It seems for me that poker comes in spurts and waves. The only live poker I've played since my disappointing World Series this year (don't worry guys, I'm not complaining - but I am allowed to be disappointed) has been a trip to Brazil, which was also somewhat disappointing, although a great experience.

I took a long break from online poker, because right before the World Series I had been getting hammered online. I decided to pick it up again right before this year's WCOOP on PokerStars, and things started working out a bit better for me. As far as cash games go, I had been logging a lot of hours playing $25/$50 and $50/$100 heads-up. There are a lot of heads-up rounders that play on PokerStars, so I was having a decent time horsing around with those guys. I've had some decent sized swings, but overall I'm up slightly. This is a lot better than the way things had been going.

I had a decent WCOOP, with a couple of cashes, and a fifth place final table appearance in one of the second chance tourneys. Those second chance tourneys are on par with a lot of other big online tourneys, so I was pretty pleased to run that deep in one of them. I actually had 16 cashes in online tournaments on PokerStars in the month of September, and two fifth place finishes. One for about $8k and the other for more than $14k. It feels nice to finally be back in the black online.

Speaking of online, later this month, I'll be playing in the FCOOP - which is same as the WCOOP but it's exclusive to French players. I'm pretty excited about that. Now people can tell me what a luckbox I am in French too!

Even though it can get ridiculously hot in Michigan, it sure beats the massive amounts of snow we get in the winter, so right before the WCOOP, I tried to enjoy what was left of the summer, and went up to northern Michigan to spend Labor Day weekend with my girlfriend and her family up by the lake. Her family is really good to me, and we had a blast jet-skiing around the lake - even though we had to wear wetsuits. Pretty soon it'll be snowsuits.

I've also spent a lot of time looking for a new house. I haven't really bought anything since my win at the WSOP (I bought the house I'm living in with poker winnings back when I was 19) and I've been looking to get into a bit nicer place. I've probably looked at 40 houses over the last couple of months. I'm specifically looking for a place that either has a pool or room to put one in (so I guess, if that's the case, I'll have to also get a shovel...), a room where I can put in a home gym, and I really want to have a spot to put in a tiny movie theatre. So far I've made offers on four houses, and for every single one, it seems that an offer was accepted mere hours before I made mine, which is pretty crazy for this market. I'm not sweating it too much, I guess just none of them were meant to be.

Speaking of sweating it, I got a dog right after this year's World Series, and he put me in a bit of a stressful situation at Petco yesterday. His name is Bosco, and while I keep him at my house, he belongs to me and my girlfriend. In case you were wondering, he's named after the delicious "Bosco Sticks" you get at Bosco's pizza here in Michigan. You might think it's weird to name your dog after a food, but trust me, once you've had Bosco's, you'd probably understand. Anyways, yesterday we took him to Petco. He had just had a bunch of shots at the vet, so we decided to take him for some treats. Well, let's just say that he didn't really understand the concept of the fact that even though the store is dedicated to pets - you're really still not supposed to go to the bathroom in there. Twice. Luckily he's so cute or else he'd probably have gotten us into some real trouble.

I haven't decided whether or not I'm playing Bellagio this month, but if not, I'll be at the NAPT in Los Angeles in November for sure. Until then, you'll probably catch me online here and there (jcada99). Also, Halloween's later this month, which I love, so I'll probably have some good stories from there...

See you at the NAPT!

So much has happened since the WSOP Main Event, it's a little hard to remember it all. There hasn't been as much poker as I would like. But how can I complain? Immediately after the main event, I went with my agent, Dan, to spend a few days in New York City. Letterman, CNN, CBS, front row at a Rangers game, WWE Raw, and my birthday in New York - all amazing, just not as much poker as I would have liked.

I did manage to squeeze in some poker on my trip to LA where I was featured on the PokerStars Million Dollar Challenge with Vanessa Rousso and Daniel Negranu, and I was rooted on by my new friend (and fellow Team PokerStars Pro) Dennis Phillips.

By the time the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure came around, I was ready for a few weeks of nothing but poker. PokerStars is really turning its Bahamas event into a mini-WSOP. There are events that start every day, and they do something a little different than the American poker tours, where they have the main event happen closer to the beginning. That way if you bust, there's still plenty of action to look forward to.

I was happy with my play in the PCA Main Event. I got a little too involved in a hand where I knew I was beat, and I was out within the first few levels.

I played a few more events, including the AmFAR Celebrity Charity Tournament, which was pretty cool. Boris Becker, Montel Williams, Nelly, Kelly Rowland, and even Tony Almeida from "24" all played! I also played the six-max and another event with no results, but I was able to get a cash where it mattered most - in the $25,000 buy-in High-Rollers event.

It was a very tough field that included some of the best players in the world: Justin Bonomo, Lex Veldhuis, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Elky, Barry Greenstein, Nick Schulman, Dario Minieri, and Mike Matusow to name just a few.

On day one, I was lucky enough to river a straight with my pocket eights, even though Jani Sointula had pocket tens and rivered a set. The board came out 7-6-4-9-10. It's always a tough spot when the card that makes your hand makes a better hand for your opponent, and in this case, I was lucky enough to be on the positive end of that. I was able to make it through the day with around 100k.

I made it all the way through day two, and ended with 130k in chips, and I was feeling pretty good. Lately I had been busting out early. So I had a good feeling about this one to make it to day three. There were some guys with some monster stacks, but I wasn't that worried about it. I still had plenty of chips, so I was just going to keep playing my game, and keep letting other people make mistakes.

On day three I was able to add a bunch of chips to my stack when Brett Richey and I got it all in pre-flop. I raised on the button with pocket queens, and Brett re-raised me from the big blind. It's hard for him to put me on having a hand here since I usually play so aggressively. I moved in over the top, and he called for about 150k. He had pocket tens. My queens held up, and I had close to 375k after the hand.

It was a tough level, though, and before I knew it I was down to around 200k and then back up to around 400k. I made it through the money bubble (finally!), and then, unfortunately, due to math, I was forced to give Matt Marafioti a courtesy double-up because he had so few chips. My 10-8 was dominated by his A-10. It was a fairly standard play, but I didn't really need to take the 50k hit. After that, I got into a fairly huge pot with Brummelhuis where I was forced to fold on the river in a hand where I had invested almost 100k. I don't want to say what I had, but obviously I thought I was beat. This put me around 300k.

This tournament is very top heavy, and I was playing to win, and not necessarily to keep moving up prize places, so not too many hands later, fellow Team Poker Stars Pro Sandra Naujoks, raised from the button, and I shipped over the top with A-8. She ended up having me dominated (barely!) with A-9, but it was good enough to knock me out in 11th place. I'm not going to lie, though, it felt pretty good to cash.

The rest of the trip was fantastic. PokerStars puts on a great event, and as a Team Pro, they really know how to give you the royal treatment. I got to hang with a lot of cool celebrities, and I don't know if I'll ever get used to the fact that they are as excited as me to be in pictures. I'm just happy that I get an excuse to get my photo taken with them.

The worst part of the PCA was losing to fellow Team PokerStars Pro Hevad Khan on the giant water slide. Even worse, it's going to be televised on ESPN. He beat me by five lengths. He is a monster!

Next up for me is the NAPT Venetian. I'm very excited to be a part of this new PokerStars tour. I'm sure it's going to crush. Hopefully I'll see you there!