Living Two Lives

I'm not sure where to start in this installment of my blog. Since Summer 2008, so much has happened: I played in a few events at the 2008 WSOP & did cash; Began the task of running a free poker-league in Colorado/Nationwide Poker Tour; plans for revitializing & launching a new Poker Website (PokerAcrossAmerica.com); transition from my full-time IT job @ Volleyball of The Rockies; Play in more tournaments & everything that I dreamed of doing, I did. Then Halloween 2008: everything changed. All of my past experiences in tournament poker & life would not prepare me for the phone call that I received: "My dad was unconscious & in the hospital". Okay, We didn't always see eye to eye but we would agree to disagree & would talk about the state of our businesses.

I packed my bags & began my cross-country drive from Colorado to Tennessee; not sure of what to expect when I arrived. Four days later (November 4,2008), my father passed & so did my uncle in completely seperate incidents but at the same hospital. The past 6 years in Colorado seemed like a lifetime away. I was beside myself & wondering what is going on? For the next 5 months, I would split my time driving to & from Colorado/Tennessee running my businesses & that of my dad's (Wholesale/Food Service Distributor)Oriental Mkt in Memphis, TN. My routine stay in TN for 3 weeks; drive to Colorado & stay for 2 Weeks & repeat. I spent more time on the road then a semi-truck driver. Playing long hours on the circuit didn't come close to the wear & tear that my body was experiencing from living/maintaining two seperate lives.

During this stretch of time, I barely had time to play poker. With each passing day, my urge for poker grew stronger & by Spring 2009, I resumed playing online on a regular basis in addition to my heavy workload. Who needs sleep, we can sleep later, right? Well, that's what my mind was telling me but my body was saying otherwise. I did go to Vegas for a few days this summer for work (buddy Jay M. took 2nd in the 2008 NPT Colorado Yearly & won a seat to a 09 WSOP Event) & a little r&r but I really didn't enjoy the trip. Had too much on my mind & the constant barrage of phone calls from the TN business. I also lost a poker/bowling buddy(Don) in July 2009. That is pretty much the last 9 months in a nutshell.

I've learned & aged so much in the last 9 months, that I feel so old. Not to say that I wasn't old or young before. Adversity reveals your true friends & foes. Life has a funny way of throwing you curves when you least expect it. Just as in poker, everyone over time gets dealt the same cards; It is up to you to play them. I have many projects/plans in the works for the next few months, stay tuned for exciting news & developments. In the next blog, I will chronicle my experiences/successes at The 2009 World Poker Tour in Tunica, MS & how Twitter has helped my poker game. Thanks Dad, for the hard work ethic & beliefs that you have instilled in me. Gone but not forgotten.

Chewey

Blog Hiatus

So sorry that it has been such a loooong time (Last Summer/2008 WSOP Main Event) since I posted on my blog for Chewey's Corner on Poker Across America . Much has happened since that time in my life; I don't even know where to start. For the time being, I will make this (cheweylam.blogspot.com) my home for all of my blogs in an attempt to streamline the process of communicating with my followers. I've also added my Twitter updates to this blogpage. Now you can see exactly what I'm doing /thinking at a particular moment; especially, during tournaments. There is an option to subscribe to my blog on the bottom right corner of this page, please subscribe and you will be sent an email of when I post a new entry to my blog. Just think, in the past I would manually email each of my subscribers individually.

Here are a few quick tidbits on what's going on: I've been playing alot lately on Bodog in the Free-Rolls, & STT's (Single-Table Tournaments) & am gearing up for The WPT in Tunica (South of Memphis) July 23-Aug 11. My next post will about what has happened since the 2008 WSOP Main Event & on me getting ready for WPT Tunica.

Chewey