Steve Sung

(cuz i don't belong.. here in heaven...) or can i...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:49:29 -0800

It was May of 2003. Limit hold'em was the game. More and more limit hold'em. Started from $2-$4, $3-$6, $4-$8, $6-$12, then $8-$16 in less than 3 months. We played those games viciously. I didn't care to read any poker books. Not that I was trying to be stubborn, but more because I was the illterate-type. Beating $8-$16 wasn't easy. I was going through the usual ups and downs of the hand ranges. I'm going to skip to about October/November of 2003. One day, my friend Ryan and I, decided to go to the Sycuan Casino in San Diego instead of Viejas Casino which was our weekly spot. I saw and sat down in a $3-$5nl game. It was my first time sitting in a no-limit cash game, and the buy-in ranged from $200-$500. I watched the action from the sidelines and was immediately fascinated. I had previously played in and had decent success in on online nl tournaments, but had never actually played in any nl cash games. I thought to myself and said to my friend Ryan, "It's like a tournament, but the blinds never go up. Dude, I can absolutely destroy this game!" I was right. I did destroy that game that night. I don't remember the exact amounts, but I'm guessing around $1500-$2000. When I first sat down, I wasn't sure the exact amounts to raise, so I just copied what others did and went with the flow of things; everyone seemed to raise 3x or 3.5x so I did just that. Also, I tried to concentrate and memorize as much information as much as possible. Just like I did on PartyPoker, I took mental notes and tried to gain other players' strengths and weakneses. But I did this as much as possible while listening to my iPod. I have to confess that music is my life. I'd rather be listening to a soothing music than be part of a funny conversation. I love all types of music. From Chopin to 2pac, Tony Bennett to Norah Jones, and from LeAnn Rimes to Chris Tomlin. But my playlist was filled with mostly R&B. (to be continued...)

6 years to remember (the beginning)

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:28:43 -0800

I'm going to start this blog by apologizing for any grammar, mathematical, sequencial, and/or any kind of mistakes that I may make. With that done with, I want to start reminiscing how poker has changed for me in the past 6 years. I remember playing 4-8 limit hold'em (I barely got into the game with a long wait list) to watch Chris Moneymaker winning the main event. I remember my friend Richard running across the old Morongo's Casino telling me "Man WTF! That Chris Moneymaker won! Dude, he's so lucky!" Haha. Rich-Diggety, how can I forget those days... Anyways, I played poker all summer long with certain gambling friends (Richard, Jeff, James, Kyle) after my graduation of 2003 and man was I stuck in a never-ending roller-coaster. I remember I loved to play the game, but the only problem was that I couldn't figure out how to know if I were any good or not. I was never the reader or write-type of student in grade school, but more of the mathematical, counter-strike playing, wanting-to-gamble in church retreat type of kid. I was immensely ahead of my class in math at an early age thanks to my mom who would put my sister and I into a private tutoring studio called 'Kumon'. However, she would brutalize us until we got everything 100% right and maybe that's why I'm still traumatized by numbers. If I were to close my eyes, visualize those days, and if I fall deep asleep, I'll probably have nightmares... by the time I was a senior in high school, I absolutely hated math and wanted no part of it. I just wanted to play poker every day and drink on the weekends. I remember writing my own "doctor's notes" during Physics class and driving an hour and a half to the Morongo's Casino only to realize that there were no games. The very first game my friends and I played was 7-Card Stud. I had previously watched my dad in 8th grade on the side beat out 3 other guys (who were friends) who tried to cheat my dad knowing that it was his first time playing. However, my dad won all the money and when he saw the sad look on those guys' faces, my dad ending up giving them all of their money back. I remember I angrily yelled my dad, "Dad! You could've at least saved some for my Oakley's!" So 7-Card Stud was the game I chose for all of us to play after turning 18, and no more Psoy (which I was one of the elites from Torrance lol), but the game quickly changed to limit hold'em after we started going to the casinos... (to be continued)

Wedding

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:19:32 -0700

Nice wedding Paul. Job well done my friend. Now it's time for you to step up your game.

My First & Daniel Alaei's Second Bracelet...

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:41:52 -0700

Wow!! It's really funny how fast things turn out... I won the 1k nl event with over 6000 poker players in 5 days... There were a lot of lucky situations, but I feel like I played the finals table pretty well esp. after Dan Heimiller busted... You guys can watch it on espn360.com... Dan was definitely my toughest opponent (so tricky & has the heart of a lion) at the final table... But luckly, I was fortunately enough to get heads up and was all in with KK vs. 88 and didn't get sucked out... I also want to congratulate my great friend Daniel Alaei for his 2nd bracelet (10k World Championships Omaha hi/lo) tonight... His excellent display of poker truly inspired me to finish this WSOP with a bang!!! I hope all of my friends win their first or multiple bracelets... They immensely deserve 'em...

I am extremely excited about the 10k 2-7 nl single draw tomorrow at 5pm... I have a really good feeling about that tournament... I might not have the most experience in the world in that game, but I feel like my momentum will help me to outlast the best players in the world in the purest form of online poker...

I want to personally thank Tom Hall & Chris Parker (founder of Asian Poker Tour), Tommy Le, Nam Le, JC Tran, Quinn Do, Chino Rheem (The Poker Pack) for their endless support...

All of you guys should come to the Asian Poker Tour Macau event on August 12-23 which is going to cost $4300 US for the buy-in! It's going to be such a great event & a lot of fun! You guys wouldn't want to miss it!

Lastly, I want to the thank EVERYONE for the immense support. I honestly cherish every single one of them. Also, I want to send a whole lot of good luck to everyone who is playing in the WSOP as well as all the side cash games!!!

Steve Sung

ssung41585@yahoo.com

I haven't posted in a while, but I'm in AMSTERDAM, so that might interest you. lol.

Wed, 13 May 2009 10:22:50 -0700

So, I'm sitting here at the NH Hotel (Center) in Amsterdam waiting to fly to Paris, France in a couple of days to play the 10k Euro tourney at the Aviation Club. I've been here for a couple days relaxing and it's been great. Seeing the advancement in society among these Europeans make me wonder if the United States will EVER catch up to their level and standards. The truth is, these Europeans are just naturally smarter than the average Americans. What makes this possible are the diverse environments they grew up in, the cultural differences that they innate, and their individualism mentality. These people grow up wanting to be individualistic, so that if they were ever to bump into an American in the future, they'd be more prepared and would know exactly what to say to them, compared to normal Americans, who went through normal public schooling. Anyways, swaggering from the topic, in the past couple months. I've been mostly busy travelling around the world playing poker tournaments and vacationing. What most people don't understand is that these tournaments are extremely exhausting, and adding to all the travelling involved, it makes it very tough to be able to focus throughout the tournament. Also, there's the dilemma involved where you don't want to tire yourself out before the series of the biggest poker tournaments in the world in WSOP. So, I guess what I've been doing is pretty risky, considering that I want to do so well in this year's WSOP, but in the end, I'm glad I chose that choice. Anyways, I've been doing quite well in the past couple previous online poker tournaments. I've been making it deep in like EVERY tournament I've been playing (pretty crazy thinking about it all actually. lol). However, I have to admit, I did go complete mind blank at the 25k Bellagio tourney in late April. I had 1.4 million in chips at the 1500-3000 level. Do you know how that feels to have that many chips which such miniscule blinds?? It's like inexplainable. Anyways, I decided not to discuss this with anybody, since theoretically, I knew I'd be the first to tell you not to do such a dumb thing in that spot. I guess that's what created that saying, "Do as I do, don't do as I say."

I got paid somewhere around 40k US for my effort. Even though I truly, truly believed that I was going to win the tournament, I'm still glad that I saw some accolade for it. But that didn't stop me from my constant thinking of the blow-up that I made with 1010 against AA.

After Bellagio, I went to Monte Carlo, Monaco, with my friend X, which I'll just call him that just in case. X and I went to Monte Carlo expecting it to be just another tournament, and came back (although I'm still in Europe) with a complete surprise. This feeling of surprisement is by far the most magical feeling. For instance, seeing the different cultures collide, was a beautiful thing. They did it so smoothly, and it just kept making me wonder if the United States will ever get to the level. It felt like I left US in 2009, and went to 2029, still living like 2009 in 2029 and wanting to adjust to 2029. So I decided this is where I need to be.

In Monte Carlo, we stayed in Novotel which when we were first looking for rooms told us it was only 10-minute walking distance to the actual casino where the tournament was held. However, later we found out it was more close to a little over an hour walk. It was very beautiful there. The scenery is unmatched. I don't think I've ever seen a better-looking views from a hotel room in my life as I did in Tmay's room. That was just stunning. Anyways, the tournament started off great, was a little bumpy in the middle, and then at the end I really got screwed in a pot where I got rivered and although I did pay him off on the river, it was a complete blank and I did put him on Aces Up, but I still called him. But I was just annoyed by the river in such a critical spot in the tournament. Then it happens.

It's morning, playing a little online poker, still a little shocked by my beat and busting out in like 40th place, X is chillin' in the room getting ready for Day 2 of the High Rollers tournament, I get a messaged from a friend on AIM. He tells me my friend Jackie passed away. My first reaction was a complete numbness to my whole body. I just couldn't comprehend the words like I knew I was supposed to. It felt completely indescrible. Who would murder such a beautiful, loving, caring, trustworthy person? I just didn't get it. Who would dare throw the most warm-hearted person in the world down a 11th floor hotel building?? What the fuck! I've been trying my hardest to get by with this whole situation, but it's hard. I might not have known her as well as certain people, but I did know her. I knew how she was and what kind of person she was. You'll be very missed Miss Jackie Rhee (1984-2009).

The day I found out about Jackie's death, I decided to play the 5k Euro 6-handed while sweating my friend in the High Rollers. I felt like it was the best thing to do to get things off my mind as much as I could. So, when I got to the casino to register, they told me the person in front of me was "the last" entrant. I was completely shocked! I felt like i NEEDED to play this tournament and couldn't let anything stop me. So, I tried to use all the possible charm I had left in me, and she somehow agreed to register me in. Although, I ended up bubbling this tournament with some ridiculous beat I'd rather not talk about because it's almost unbelievable, I had a great time expressing my complete inner feelings through this short-handed where I was able to play more hands with more variance.

Now we went off to Venice, Italy. I honestly didn't know what to expect. All I have heard was that it's a city by the bay, and you have to travel everywhere by boats and ships. Also I, having this strange phobia of eating certain type of food, already prejudicely stereotyped the whole city in itself. But, unlike I expected, I have able to eat the food there! The seafood was just fabulous. This one seabass dish called "Brazino con Vendure" had the freshiest feeling I've ever had eating fish. Also, the casino where the tournament was held, was fabulous. It was very high-classed (trait which completely attracts me about Europe) and had a great staff behind the whole ordeal. So X and I decided to play on day 1a, so that if we busted early, we could go back and could've tried to make it to Jackie's funeral which was going to be held on Saturday. The tournament was quite possibly the most softness high buy-in tournament I've ever played. Long story short, I played all day 1 of 9 levels, and another level of day 2 feeling extremely confident, and ended up busting and feeling more miserable about the fact that I blew a huge opportunity of beating up on with such easy players. By the way, X ended up busting on day 1. So, we decided to GTFO and where else better than Amsterdam! Right?? Now, X left couple days ago, and I'm still here waiting on the Paris tourney; that's where I'm currently standing.

I have decided to move to "somewhere" in Europe. Not only are the people and the environment so amazing, the tournaments here are still growing while it's dying in the US, and most importantly, it'd be where I'd be the most happiest. So, I don't know exactly where and the exact dates yet, but I have made a firm decision to move to Europe sometime after the WSOP. I'm just going to give it a try and see what happens from it. Maybe it will be the beginning of a new chapter in my long, adventurous life...

Steve Sung

ssung41585@yahoo.com

Random Thoughts...

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:46:28 -0800

So what a long break from blogs that was and hopefully that'll change soon. So i didn't win a tournament before 2008 was over, but I was close right? I really did want to prove a point, but I couldn't. You can call me a liar, a failure, but frankly, I could care less. I've been taking a break from online poker which is making my life so much more happier. Online poker can definitely turn people into degenerates. It's so sad how many people's lives have been ruined from online poker. It especially makes me sad seeing great people turned into degenerates from online poker. I just wonder how different the poker scene would be without online poker. Who would still be poker players and who wouldn't? My guess is about 70-75% of the "online kids" would not be. I'm not trying to say it's good or bad; it's just something that came to my head that made me wonder. I just want to know who the "real" poker players are, and who the "nits" that play poker strictly as a replacement of video games. I wonder what Doyle thinks about this whole issue... But any-who, it's truly amazing how poker has changed. I remember as a kid watching my dad playing poker with his "so-called" friends/co-workers. I could visibly see him getting cheated but kept my mouth shut since he was still winning. But that truly gave me the poker instincts, and I remember that was the genesis to my love for the game. I would envision myself at an older age playing a great game of poker with couple close friends while drinking alcohol and smoking cigars. That's what I thought was "fun" for me. Nowaday, playing poker in a friendly environment is my least favorite thing to do. I see playing poker strictly as "work" instead of "fun". So sad but so true. I would pay a lot to revive my love for the game of poker. But sometimes this happens to people when poker and money co-exists. But without the involvement of money, I doubt poker would exist. So as one of my friends would say, "It is what it is..." and "What is done is done..."

I'm currently laying on my bed at the Crown Promenade Hotel in Melbourne, Australia with a mixed emotion that is truly hard to explain. I'm happy to be on vacation, but bored to be in Australia for a couple days too long. I'm excited to go to Manila, Philippines, a place full of warm-welcomes, in approximately 8 hours. I'm anxious for the cash games and the tournaments in Commerce Casino, Los Angeles, where I will and always have felt the "home-court advantage". I'm tired of too much alcohol consumed in my body in the past couple nights without any visit to the gym. I'm sad for not being able to spend time with my mother for her birthday. Happy Birthday mom!

So I played the Aussie Millions main event with my heart out. Actually I can guarantee a little more focus this year. Not only because of the many prop bets I have made, but because I feel like I got to see another perspective of life during the time I took a break from online poker and had time to reflect. Since I don't like talking about poker or poker hands much, I'll make it quick and messy. I made a "hero call" which I don't like doing for the first time in a long time in the Aussie Millions main event. Blinds were 1200-2400 (400 ante) with 2 hour levels. It was 7 handed, and I had around 150k in chips. Everyone folds to the button who was this young Asian kid that definitely could play. I played with him all day 1, and I saw him make a lot of moves silently. But I did see his flaws. He was very hard to read, but I picked up something from the hand that crippled me. So he makes it 6k on the button which was a normal raise for him. The SB instantly called, and I made it 24500 to go with AJ, a fairly borderline squeeze for as tight as I play tournaments. He asks me how much I have behind, and I had around 125k or so. He tanks for a short time and says he's all-in for another just under 100k. SB instantly folds, and I tank for a bit. My first instincts told me to fold, but as I looked at him, something that he did which I cannot say, made me call. I said "F*** it, I call." He tabled J10offsuit against my AJoffsuit. Flop came K77, turn 8, river 9. It's not that exciting of a bad beat story, but after 2 drooling days of poker, it sucks to bust out couple just before the money. Oh yeah, btw, I busted from the PCA Bahamas with AA vs. 66 on a 854 rainbow flop all-in. So, not trying to be ignorant, but I have been running pretty bad in tournaments. A lot of the ways I've been busting out have been really sick. But I guess that's poker. I just hope there would be justice in poker at times. But you must be thinking, who am I to complain right?

This blog has gotten a little longer than I have expected but F*** it. I haven't posted in a while, and I bet you hate me immensely Joe =(. Anyways, I'm here in Melbourne and didn't get to see any tennis. Damnit! I really wanted to go see it but too late now. But my style is watching a match with Federer and Nadal instead of watching Nadal skunk some random. Anyways, it's been fairly fun in Melbourne but it's my fault for expecting too much. Thanks to Tom Hall, Chris Parker, and the whole staff of APT (can't forget Angelica) for making this possible for us and see you guys in Manila real soon!

I'll be right back guys...Just don't be surprised if it's in another month...A be-lated congratulations to Chino for his strong win at the 5-Diamond Classic; I just hope I had it in me to make it to see you win...

Steve Sung

ssung41585@yahoo.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:10:30 -0800

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Just came back from Vancouver after playing the BC Championships and partying. Congratulations to Daniel Negreanu for winning the poker tournament. Very impressive. It was a somewhat shitty feeling to be coming home from the extremely cold, rainy weather of Vancouver to a replica in l.a. Online poker.

I'm looking forward to the following:
-Season 7 of 24
-Season ?? of American Idol
-Barack Obama's presidency
-finally receiving my US citizenship after so many years so that I will be able to visit my family (esp. my 89-year-old grandmother) in Korea

Festa Al Lago BUST

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:16:05 -0700

The Festa Al Lago poker tournament was like a blur, in which, I only lasted couple minutes into the 2nd level of day 2. My chips fluctuated from 40k to 80k in the first level of day 2, and I was extremely disappointed at myself for making too many mistakes. There were about two hands where I misplayed the hand in every street.

For instance, a late position older gentleman raised to 2100 preflop at the 400-800 level, and instead of re-raising like I should've, I just flat called on the button with AK offsuit. Flop had come AQ3 rainbow and he led out for 3000. Here was another spot where I should've made a value/feeler raise, but I just called. Turn comes the offsuit 10, and he made a very weakish check. Instead of betting the turn, I checked behind. River comes the K, and he instantly leads out for 6k. I made a crying call and he showed me QJ of spades for a straight. I couldn't have played the hand any worse, and I absolutely hated myself for the rest of the level.

My bust hand was very weird and borderline. I had been limping in a lot in the first level and a half and had been getting raised behind. After losing a pretty big pot on the small blind, I limped again on the button, getting raised by the aggressive internet player to my direct left and having to fold the river. The very next hand, on the hijack, I limped for 1000 with JJ. the same internet player to my direct left made it 3300 to go. I had been playing with this kid for the entire day 1, and I was positive this type of raise was an isolation raise instead of a strength raise. The small blind (another tough internet player), made it 11500 to go. After over-thinking myself and making myself believe this was a steal, I decided to do something that I hardly ever do; I went all in for over another 33500. After the first raiser folded instantly, the re-raiser thought for about 30 seconds, and called with AK. My online poker tournament life was doomed when an ace flopped with no help.

A Little Update On Life...

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:21:59 -0700

There is a much bigger update in the next blog, but for now I want to congratulate Nam Le on his terrific win at the high rollers event in Macau. He truly played excellent, and proved the doubters wrong that you can win a tournament playing tight, solid, slow and not super aggressive, confrontational.

Online poker hasn't been too nice to me in the past couple weeks. However, I am not worried, because I believe that things will turn around for me real soon; I feel it.

Also, I think it's time for me to win a major this year. I hate calling things out, but f it, I'm gonna call it out anyways. I AM GOING TO WIN A MAJOR IN THE NEXT 6 MONTHS. If I'm wrong, you can sue me. But when I do, it will not be a fluke! Anyways, I feel like I'm playing my best tournament poker at the moment, and I'm extremely disappointed that I can't be going to London this year. But there are WPT Niagara and Festa Al Lago around the corner, so I'm semi-glad I won't be tiring myself out before then.

One funny fact about me is that I am not a US citizen. I came here at a very young age and never applied for citizenship. Actually what's really messed up is that my whole family became US citizens without me. When they told me that they were US citizens, I was just like "wtf why didn't you apply me damnit". Anyways, I applied through my lawyer earlier this year and luckily I will be taking my test in November; I will become a US citizen before this year ends which I'm really stoked about. I've been wanting to visit my grandma, who is really really old, for a long time and I couldn't, because if I went to Korea as a Korean citizen, they would've snatched me and take me straight to the army.

Well that's about it for now. GL to everyone in London.

Steve Sung
ssung41585@yahoo.com

update from Macau, China

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:53:03 -0700

so I have been in Macau for about 2 weeks now with JC, Nam, Quinn, Chino (left to Cannes), and Nick (friend from Japan)... The tourneys haven't gone quite well financially for us but the APT event was very nicely held with a nice overlay... Also the staff was fantastic and the tournament was held at the Starworld Casino which I personally consider a 5-star hotel... Thanks to Mr. Tom Hall (CEO of Asian Logic), we also had a nice little presidential suite party which I got completely trashed in. but the room was so pimped out...haha... anyways, a lot of familiar faces appeared for the celebrity poker tournament such as a great Hong Kong actor Michael Wong who was extremely friendly and many models... It was also fun spending time with Kim and her PM models...

Anyways, after we busted from the APT, we went on a quick trip to Hong Kong via a ferry. I was honestly mesmerized by the high-rising buildings and lights on the streets of Hong Kong. It gave me ideas of actually wanting to move to Hong Kong which was a little crazy. Anyways, after a day or two of sight-seeing and shopping, we went back to Macau for the APPT tournament. However, I didn't last too long in the APPT, because I ran horribly against one certain player that I did not recognize. I lasted almost 4 levels and now I'm waiting for the high-rollers event which will be held on Sunday. Till then, I will be... probably playing online poker... eating some bomb ass Chinese food... or trying to figure something to do in this Vegas-like atmosphere...

Steve Sung
ssung41585@yahoo.com

i'm so delirious i dunno what is going on...

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:23:24 -0700

-up and down it was going so i took a little break...
-my boy e got married. it was a nice ass wedding... really really nice... spent some time in NYC eating some street food walking everywhere just enjoying life and chillin...
-just got done with some 24 hour session online poker...won a bit after being stuck a bunch...
-my full tilt server was acting up on me and i must've lost close to 100k in the past session of getting disconnects with the best hand!!! big pots!!! 2k-4k pots!!! Poker news.
-anyways, now i'm getting ready to hit up Macau..
-i need some sleep haven't slept in a long long time...i feel like such a degenerate...oh wait, that's exactly what i am huh....hahaha

Steve Sung
ssung41585@yahoo.com

just a lil update on life...

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:19:25 -0700

For the past 2 weeks or so I've been playing under a lot of distress, for, I gave a lot of money away. Oh wells, nothing I can do but to make it back playing online poker good. Anyways, tomorrow I will leaving for my friend E's wedding in NYC. Then next Thursday I believe I will be leaving for Macau and a long, well-deserved vacation, poker news.

Million Dollar Swings + Earthquake!!!

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:37:46 -0700

Online poker has been pretty swingy in the past week or so. I was on an up-and-down week being down just a little bit, and then won a little under 900k one day playing 2k 4k HORSE and 2k 4k Omaha hi/lo. THEN, couple days later, i lost a little over 700k mostly from 20k FLIPS! What a bad idea that was! I don't plan on doing that again, because I run so f*#@ing bad! That kinda shook me a bit since I pretty much gave it away for no particular reason. So, I came back strong and won about 500k 2 days later poker news. Therefore, I plan to quit doing flips, play more when I'm focused and awake, and quit when I'm tired, annoyed, or just straight tilted...

I watched my WPT Bay 101 final table and was very disappointed to see me lose. haha. Anyways, I didn't know how much Jennifer Harman raised with junk and how tight Noah Jefferson was playing...

The other day, I was at the Apple Store with my assistant Theresa when the earthquake occurred. Everything started falling from the sides of the store, and I really didn't know what to do. So, for a split second, I thought about what I had learned when I was in grade school and rushed under the tables. The funny part is that as they started evacuating everyone from the store, Theresa refused to get out of the new iPhone line; we were the next one up after waiting for approximately 90 minutes. I just told her, "Don't worry. That's how I run..."

Steve Sung
ssung41585@yahoo.com

Some Much Needed Update sorry Mr. Sebok

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:52:53 -0700

World Series didn't go as planned...I had planned to make lots of money, win lots of bracelets, and make the final table of the main event. However, done of the above was accomplished. Not only did I do horribly, my "horses" did horrible as well. 1 cash for 10k from all of my horses combined. I lost approx. 2 mill in this year's WSOP which is pretty whack. But I plan to make it all back with some online poker grinding in the next couple months.

Before I get to anything, I want to congratulate Chino for making the final table of the main event. It's amazing how things change so fast. It sure is like magic. If you'd ask me if I believe in magic, I definitely do. It reminds me of a certain time in freshmen year in college when I was in a gambling debt. I was playing the $8/$16 limit hold'em daily at a nearby Indian Casino and was in some real long losing streak. I was owed by certain close friends but I also owed more to some college gambling buddies. My close friend Diggety had owed me about $1000 and I owed my college buddy Aaron about $3500 which was a HUGE amount at the time. When I asked Diggety yet another time if he could pay me my money, he answered me with the obvious no. However, this time, he told me something that I would never forget. He told me he had a dream the other night of me winning the jackpot at a nearby casino. And then he asked, "Hey MuG, do you believe me in magic?" I replied, "I think so." Then he said, "Then just let the magic happen!" I was so intrigued by Diggety's dream that I went on to tell Aaron the story, and he also enthralled. I went on to play the $8/$16 and although I didn't win a jackpot, I went on a run which easily got me out of the $3500 debt and put my bankroll of over $50k! God, those were the good 'ol days... poker news.

Anyways, the $2k/$4k games on FTP hasn't been treating me too well, and I need to stop playing when I was tired. These long sessions have been killing me. Especially when I'm playing the 200/400 plo tired and/or drunk, it can get extremely scary...So I'm going to try to prevent that as well. Other than that, I guess I'm going to be hitting the gym, relaxing by the pool, and eating some healthy food until my next stop in Macau.

Steve Sung
ssung41585@yahoo.com

World Series of Disaster

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:02:50 -0700

What a horrible end to a World Series. This World Series f*#!in sucks. However, I am looking forward to traveling around the world to play mostly APT and EPT poker tournaments starting late August. Online poker.

Congratulations to JC Tran, David Daneshgar for getting their bracelets. Tommy Hang for 2nd place finish.

Philippines...I Love This Country...

Sat, 31 May 2008 10:19:19 -0700

I played horribly in the APT Philippines. I went down an hour late, because I was stuck online. I never had more than the starting chips of 10k and busted on a hand where 2 old guys limped in with AA and KK, and I happen to have QQ as a shortstack. BTW, a King flopped, so the AA got cracked as well. lol.

Something horrible happen two times in this trip so far. Both nights that we went out and got drunk, I ended up playing online right afterwards and lost a combined total of 1.15 million. I played the worst poker you could possibly play online poker while drunk. However, the good news is I'm still up over 200k in this trip online; so technically, if I had not played online drunk, I might've been up 1.35 million in this trip. But, oh wells. Too late to deal with it now.

Anyways, it's been fun partying mostly with Nam, Quinn, Nick, Huck, and Carla. A good bunch to be around with positive energy. We partied at Club Embassy in Fort Benafacio. Definitely a nice club with so many locals. Beautiful women everywhere. But there are she-males or "ladyboys"? LOL...It's so crazy how many there are. Not that I would ever do it as long as I'm alive, but it made me wonder how I would look dressed as a woman. hahaha. So seeeeeek!

Anyways, just played a Chinese poker tournament. We played the "Commerce" rules with Royalties for the first level! But we realized how crazy it was and how no one knew how to score royalties correctly; so we took it out.

Quinn Do is the only one still left in the tournament so good luck to him.

I went to the salon in the hotel to get a fade, but realized quickly how the hair stylist did not know how to give a fade. So, I took the clippers myself and gave myself a fade. What's crazy was that they charged me $25 for cutting my own hair. What's even more crazy is that I didn't even complain and told them to have a nice day! I guess I could either pat myself on my back or hit myself on the back of my head for not complaining. You choose!

I miss home very much, but I can't be thinking about that too much, for, I need to get my mind straight to be ready for the World Series which has already started. But, I can't help but to enjoy my wonderful stay here in Manila! People are so polite and humble. It truly helps me realize the finer things in life and how superficial money really is. The saying, "more money, more problems" is truly in effect. After this trip is over, I will definitely schedule another trip back in Asia, possibly the next APT event which will be held in Macau.

Oh ya, btw, I want to thank all the APT staff for their wonderful treatment. I actually cannot thank them enough for what they have done for us. Everyone from Tom, Chris, Mike, and whoever I'm forgetting. Thank you all for this wonderful experience!

Steve Sung
ssung41585@yahoo.com

some 25k HU in the Philippines...

Sat, 24 May 2008 17:12:35 -0700

I'm here in Manila, Philippines hanging out at 5am playing 25k HU tourney on Full Tilt. My first match vs. my good friend Serb wasn't an easy feat. He had me the whole way and I got lucky with K10o vs. A2o preflop hitting the K on the turn. Then, I won a crucial pot all-in with KK vs. J8o on a 872 flop and the turn and river blanking out. Anyways, I barely got any sleep other than in the plane.

I actually got here around 7:30am Philippine time. I came with Nam Le, Quinn Do, and Carla Classic. It was actually an easy flight to be in, because I was able to pass out throughout the whole plane ride. When we arrived, we ate some food at the 24/7 cafe, watched the Lakers crush the Spurs by 30 points/under, went to a mall with a million people (literally), and got an amazing massage. That's pretty much all we did so far but I'm really looking forward to the rest of this trip.

I am extremely disappointed at the outcome of American Idol. I actually do not want to watch another episode of that stupid show! That David Cook had an ante left and came back to win the whole thing. Lucky ass Bill Edler! lol. Anyways, I really believe David Archuleta deserved to win it but too late now...

Geez...when is Peter W Jepsen and jimmie23 gonna finish this freakin' match!? I thought Nenad and I took long enough...blah...anyways, have fun in San Fran. u crazy people...

*edit*
well, round 2 didn't go as well as I wanted it to. I was matched up with pr1nnyraid. I've never played with the guy, but from what I saw, he seemed decent. I forgot how he got most of my chips but the last hand was like this:
I double raised to 160 at the 40-80 blinds with Kd3c. pr1nnyraid calls. flop comes Td7d3s and we both check. turn comes the 3d. he checks, i bet 240, he check raises to 1250, and i call. river comes the 2s. he checks, and i bet 2100, he check raises all in for me to call 5160 more. I actually anticipated his check raise all-in like an idiot and called with trip 3s and he ended up having a Jack-high flush.
I guess I should've checked the river? no value in betting that river? Since he was an aggressive enough poker player, I actually wanted to look like I was inducing a bluff so that he could raise me all-in like he did. Online poker. But it backfired on me and now I'm here at 6:15am in the morning just listening to music in the dark in my room starving but too lazy to go downstairs...with no phone btw...sux...

Steve Sung
ssung41585@yahoo.com

Online Poker Frenzy...

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:30:27 -0700

Wow. It's been a while since I updated this blog. So after Tommy Legend's 5th place finish, I was pretty upset and couldn't sleep much for the next couple days. But I was able to recover quickly and decided to play some online poker. I've made a decent amount but it was pretty funny how I quickly evolved into the biggest-action player in the 200-400 plo game with getting a longer wait-list than Guy. I was involved in a pot on the end of a 30-hour session which caused a lot of chaos among the players, rail, and the forums. I ended up losing around 480k of my winnings 2 days prior. I couldn't help but to think how funny it was that with all the crap people were talking, most of them couldn't even back it up. Well, I guess that how it is in this world. Btw, I won back that money couple days after that incident.

Other than poker, I have pretty much done absolutely nothing. I'm getting ready to attend my sister's wedding on the 17th which will be exciting. Even though I think she's way to young to wed, I'm sure she'll be fine. Also, I will be going to Manila, Philippines for the APPT tournament which will be ran by Matt Savage on the 22nd. Going on the 22nd will give me time to relax for a couple of days to get used to the time zone. I will also be playing the $25k heads-up tournament in FTP on 24th; that'll be fun.

Nothing more going on right now, and I can't wait for the world series. I feel like I am more than ready to play non-stop tournaments for a couple of months. I've only played a total of 7 tournaments so far this year, and I think it was a great idea in my part for the long hiatus unlike last year where I got too burned out by this time. Anyways, I got nothing more to blog about, so...

Steve Sung
ssung41585@yahoo.com

Good Luck TOMMY LEGEND aka THE HALO MASTER

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:10:12 -0700

so...it's been a while since i updated this and i once again blame it on my laziness...ahhh fuck it...it's my blog right? nobody could tell me when to update or whatnot...this ain't school! anywho...i got some things to discuss today and let me start off by calling John Hoang a no good yellow belly c@&%sucker...u might think that's a little bit harsh but i'm speaking the minds of probably everyone out there who knows or have played with this fucking guy...here's one incident of John Hoang's slowroll that surprised a lot of people out there...unfortunately it didn't surprise me cuz i knew how big of a piece of monkey shit he really was...so on day 4 of the WPT Championship, he raises my good friend JC Tran's big blind to 35k at 6-12k blinds...JC has 54k total and decides to call the 35k for a stop-and-go leaving himself with 19k...flop comes Axx and JC moves in for 19k...John Hoang sits there and asks, "How much is it?" when he was sure how short JC was and what he was up to...so John Hoang calls the bet finally, and because of his lag, JC proudly turned over K10 offsuit thinking his King-high might've been good...however, John Hoang slowly turns over the A4 offsuit for a pair of aces...the whole table awwwwed with amazement of his horrendous etiquette... you might be thinking, "But Steve, what if he really didn't know how much JC went all in for or how short he was? He might've thought those 1k chips were actually 5k chips"...well, to answer that question, i got to say it that this is not the first time something like this happened with this mother fucker...he was definitely aware of JC's chip count and plus the 1k and 5k chips look NOTHING alike...so, if you never played with the guy, don't be surprised if something like this happens to you...

so enough with that shit...let me transcend this blog into more of a positive blog by wishing my good friend Tommy Legend who have proudly made the WPT Championships Final Table...he currently sits on 1.9million and is playing some amazing poker...I've been trying to get this guy to come out and play some of these tournaments, but lately he's been soooo busy at home playing Halo 3 probably 20 hours a day...but the guy is pretty damn good...lol...anyways, I told this guy before the tournament that although he hasn't played many big events, he was going to win or at least get close to winning a big event very soon (i wasn't even saying it to be nice...i wouldn't wanna give someone props for no reason)...as a matter of fact, this guy was very close to doing something great in the 2007 WSOP Main Event and had over 2million in chips on day 4 or 5...however, his inexperience got to him then...but this time, i think it's time for redemption...he is such a naturally-gifted people person and has such good instincts...i know that winning this event will be a gateway for his new profound life not only in poker but outside as well...people might think of him just as a poker player, but you'd be surprise if i told u that his talent in business investments is priceless...he also has the heart of a champion and won't give up...GL Tommy Legend...

for me poker-wise, it's been pretty brutal in the past 2 weeks or so...i've taken some shots at the big PLO games in Bobby's Room at Bellagio since i've been running extremely hot in the PLO games on pokerstars...the game was 500-1000 PLO and the minimum buy-in was 100k...the game consisted of players like Sammy Farha, Guy Leliberte, Johnny Chan, Durrr, Rafi Amit, Kido Pham, Minh Ly, Bradley Berman, and Ralph Perry...the game was complete animal-game, meaning that it was filled with action like you've never seen...from this game, i've realized that running it more than once after being all-in doesn't treat me very well...as a matter of fact, running it twice probably costed me over half-a-million in that game...oh wells...outside of online poker, the pits got me too in the past 2 weeks so that sucked...but all will change as Tommy Legend wins this event since i do have a piece of him...

i realized that people out there are holding things back and aren't able to express their minds even though they are dying to do so...i've been approached by quite a few if they could Guest-Blog...i said definitely...so, expect some Guest-Blogs in the near future, and i hope you enjoy their tilt-filled lives...

oh ya i almost forgot...i want to thank Theo Tran and the rest of the guys for making my birthday pretty damn fun at Pure, even though i blacked out and felt like complete shit the day after...that birthday announcement and them playing that birthday song for me was pretty cool...

btw...BOOO to brooke white, and i think we got a new favorite in david cook...i'm out...

Steve Sung
ssung41585@yahoo.com

uhh...A Fun Weekend With Me?

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:57:47 -0700

So...I was supposed to write this blog like two weeks ago but fuck it...I was lazy...So what...Anyways, I ended the other blog with a preview of this blog by talking about America's Best Dance Crew. That show was an amazing hit, and I was very surprised. The only reason I watched the show was because I had a friend in the competition. His name is Mike Song from Kaba Modern. As long as I've known him, he's always been dancing. But I'm very impressed of how he transformed himself from a straight popper to an all-around hip-hop dancer. Anyways, I was rooting for his group throughout the competition and was pretty pissed when they were in the bottom 2 with Jabbawockeez, second to the final episode. I believe Status Quo got hella lucky and should've been booted weeks prior. Anyways, I just can't believe how many fans Jabbawockeez aquired. I ain't trying to hate, but they ain't as good as some people think they are. People be talking about how they should have their own show in Vegas or whatnot. I'm just like wtf. That shit would die out superquick. Anyways, I can't imagine how that show's going to be better year after year, especially after the kind of standard was set from the first season.

So, I was browsing through Cardplayer yesterday and saw an article titled: "Spend a weekend with Daniel Negreanu". It was very intriguing to me. It not only made me realize how big online poker has gotten but also gave me tons of ideas. I don't want to publicly express my genius ideas, so I'll just tell you how a weekend with ME would be like...

Friday
6:00 p.m. Board yellow cabs to Steve's house for a welcome reception and some straight chillin with some chicken.

Saturday
3:00pm. Wake Steve up.
4:00pm. Brunch catered from KFC.
5:00pm. Nap time.
6:30pm. Dinner. Whatever is left in the fridge from Costco or something. Talk about sports and politics while eating. Make sure there's an argument to waste some time.
8:30pm. Private 1 on 1 basketball with yours truly. If you beat Steve, you are escorted back to your home.
10:00pm. Seminars, workshops and video analysis on why you shouldn't play poker nor gamble.
10:30pm. Private shots of Tequila with yours truly.
1:00am. Uhhh. Keep drinking 'til you pass out damnit!

Sunday
1:00pm. Try to wake Steve up. Snooze.
1:15pm. Try to wake Steve up again. Snooze.
1:30pm. Try to wake Steve up once again. Snooze.
2:00pm. Shoot Steve relentlessly with a SuperSoaker.
3:00pm. Eat some fruit left in the fridge.
3:30pm. Take Steve to get a haircut.
4:30pm. Uhhh...no more ideas. End of weekend.

So that was a little like the weekend with Daniel. I don't know about Daniel, but times are rough here, so imma charge $20k a pop...shit...gotta make a livin' somehow right? Anyways, I don't think I'm going to play anything 'til the 25k Bellagio. So, probably no updates 'til then. But you never know...

Steve Sung
ssung41585@yahoo.com