For everyone that may be reading this from a foreign country (my poker/travel buddies) tomorrow is Australia day, which if you didn’t know is pretty much the greatest day of the year in kangaroo land. The weather is hot, my backyard pool is cold, the beer, wine and spirits are free flowing and everyone is basically having an awesome time!

All of my friends will be coming over and either relaxing sunbaking on the grass or swimming in the pool (backyard pictured ). In terms of life I have been playing basketball a lot, my D grade team won on Thursday by 10 points, I think I got about 8pts with a few decent blocks, rebounds and assists. The weather in Perth has been unbearably hot, I talked about Thailand being overly hot and this is definitely comparable.

Poker has been a roller coaster this month, but having only played around 2 weeks worth of sessions I am not overly phased with my inconsistent results, I do however have big hopes for February as I plan on getting grind on the mind and getting back into a good work cycle, if you can call it work!

After a hard week at work, whether that may be poker or a real job sometimes you gotta just keep the wheels spinning. One of my favourite quotes of all time is this gem from Michael Jordan:

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. - Michael Jordan

Arguably the most successful basketball player ever, in the most successful franchise of his era admits that you can’t be the best in the world without trying and failing. It is the innate ability to get back up on your feet that makes you a champion at whatever you want to achieve. I am going to use this as a life motto and remind myself whenever I am feeling down and unmotivated that failing is just part of the path in the long road to success. I urge anyone and everyone that may ever read my blog to consider and do the same, most people have desires and goals in life and if you don’t dive in head first and give it a red hot go you might never know what could of been.

I would like to think since I have got back from my short trip overseas that I have started to change my life, I have been eating healthier, exercising on a daily basis and working with the correct mindset. On a lighter note here are a few pictures from my travels to Thailand:

Streets of Phuket at night:

Colours of Thailand:

Colourful belief:

So today I was playing some poker as per normal and decided I would lose some money by playing very poorly leaving me with a very bad January as we head onto the second half of the month, graph below:

Sometimes in your poker career unless you are a freak with perfect mental conditioning, you will play bad, you will lose money. It is because of this you will have to learn to recover, to play your A game and to move forward, if you don’t you will do what so many people have done before and lose it all. Poker is ALL about emotional control, the rest can be learnt by or taught to anyone with half a brain.

A friend and I left just before NYE 2010 to Thailand for a bit of rest and relaxation, or should I say partying and partying. We traveled with his parents for just over a week at a ridiculous 5 star resort in Phuket, 5 minutes from Patong beach (the party place to go in Phuket). Our days mostly consistent of waking up between 9-10am, eating as much of the free buffet breakfast as we could (think pancakes, bacon, eggs, omlette, hash browns, toast, croissants and loads more) and then going for a swim in practically bath water.

We would normally let that settle in before either heading out for a days worth of tourist attractions or lazing around by the resort getting a cheap cheap massage (no happy endings were had!). One day we decided to go ATV riding for an hour which was insanely fun, riding through thick forest then popping out onto sandy beaches or trawling through deep mud, I am not sure more fun can be had on four wheels unless you happen to know someone with a Ferrari.

At night we would normally venture into Patong and go out for dinner / drinks with his family (costing us a whole 5$ a head with drinks) and then leave them to head out for the night trying out the nightclubs, or as they like to call them “discotheques”. On NYE we wandered the ridiculously busy streets of Patong and finally decided to head to one nightclub in the search of some non local population, we walked into a club called “the banana bar” which seemed to keep us busy until the wee hours of the morning.

During our stay I also liked to barter with the locals who had an extreme fascination with my height, one night Mitchell and I were out and the usual offerings of Ping Pong shows, stupid hats, photos with iguanas and all sorts were being offered. I decided to try my hand and became a salesman of Ping Pong show tickets, managing to sell 7 tickets in about 10 minutes (and getting paid to do it!) I imagine I would of fit in well with the locals if I had some more time to stay there. Overall Phuket was exactly what I expected, cheap food and drinks, some good relaxation and some great nights out!