My trip to the World Poker Tour Celebrity Invitational

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Team IBY had the pleasure of meeting MadMike02 when the World Poker Tour invited him out to play at their Celebrity Invitational. We invited him to guest blog about his trip to LA:

Hey! IBY! This is your buddy MadMike02 here to blog about my Trip out to California! Just as a heads up, we’ll have a video Blog of my trip coming soon, so stay tuned!

As most of you know, I entered The MVP Competition for Best Poker Win Reaction and was chosen the winner by The Vine Group! Thanks to all of you who voted for my entry and a special thanks to Mekhi Phifer, Johnathan Schaech and Johnny Messner for the opportunity! Mekhi’s charity The Vine Group, sponsored my entry into the tournament. Be sure to check out the Vine Group at their website, and help educate children around the world. Finally, I’d like to thank ibeatyou.com for a truly life changing experience. Now, without further ado, here’s a brief day-to-day of my trip out to California!

Friday

Where to start…hmm, I guess the beginning! On Friday morning around 3:00 am my time I received a phone call from ImHungry with the good news. By 3:05am I had already picked out a flight plan and had begun packing for California! After not sleeping for roughly 36 hours, one would assume that Madmike02 would be dead tired, but for some reason I was wired (oh yeah! because I knew I was going to Cali).

I landed in California at 2:18 pm Pacific and had never been more excited to meet a group of people in my life. The IBY gang was extremely friendly, as I was immediately introduced to all of them (unfortunately, CashMoney was out) as soon as I entered the now infamous IBY Headquarters. One of my goals out in Cali was to make at least one competition with the Iby crew. I was fortunate enough to make several. We had a great time making the videos, but it was time to relax a bit (because videos are hard work :P) and so we made our way over to a bar called Q’s.

Q’s was one of the best experiences of my trip! I was able to meet up with many of the Ibyer’s and make some new friends! I even got to spank ImHungry in a couple games of pool! He’ll probably tell you different, but my pool partner CDubya will vouch for me. We remain undefeated to this day, so anyone who wants to challenge us…BRING IT! For more on Q’s check out GotGame’s Video Diary- “Happy Hour.”

Saturday

After a crazy night with Ibyer’s and 48 hours without sleep, it’s safe to say I crashed pretty hard into my bed Friday night. When I finally woke up at 10:45 am, I hopped in the shower and prepared for another day.

Crackdownjr made the trip over to my hotel around 12, and it’s been mass amounts of smack talk ever since. We grabbed some food and then he rocked me in Madden. I was still a bit jet-lagged, so I’ll give him the win on a technicality. After a couple hours of trash talking and a cool new competition- Best Video Game Win Celebration. ImHungry returned and it was time to get ready for some poker!

I came into this poker tournament with the idea in my head that I would do well. Let’s just say being overconfident isn’t always a good thing. I walked into the Poker room and was immediately tickled by the energy in the atmosphere. I was filled with excitement, but still nervous as hell. Seeing major poker stars such as Freddy Deeb, Chris Ferguson, Todd Brunson, Mike Matusow and Gavin Griffin was a rush! These guys do this for a living, so you know, that they know, what’s at stake. *Insert Game-Face* I was ready.

After sitting down at the table and meeting everyone, I settled down a little bit. - On a personal note, I have to say that all the celebrities I met were extremely cool and laid back. If you ever have the chance to sit with great people like I did, be sure to just be yourself and have fun. - Mekhi and John were both extremely friendly and laid back guys. I learned early on that it was ok to talk a little trash or joke around with them because they had no problem dishing it back. After speaking with Johnathan Schaech, I found out that he and I were actually from the same part of the country. He lived about 25 mins from me which was weird to hear… I hate to use the cliché phrase, but it really is a small world.

Unfortunately, I was eventually knocked out of the tournament by Danny Masterson (from That 70’s Show). It was a rough way to go out, but hey! I can say, that once when I was playing poker, I got beat by a cool guy named Danny Masterson. Can you say that? NO!…sorry I got carried away.

Sunday

The next morning after an interesting night out with the boys, I was still reveling in my defeat when I get a phone call from GotGame! This was an unexpected surprise! She said that we needed to check out Venice Beach, and I certainly wasn’t going to complain. Now, the night before, my good friend Joeybonezz showed up and that certainly helped ease the blow of losing. So along with Crackdownjr, the four of us were in route to Venice Beach, California. Even as I write this I remain in complete disbelief that I, MadMike02, was able to par-take in this amazing experience! After walking the boardwalk for what seemed like hours we stopped off near the beach. We wanted to do a competition between the four of us and so we began to brainstorm. Crackdownjr came up with a great idea and The Hi-5 Competition was born! Check it out (Most Hi-5’s in a Minute) on the homepage and get in it yourself!

The night was winding down and after a 3 hour sit down and a rousing game of real/fake at the restaurant of GotGame’s choosing, it was time to go. But not before ImHungry treated myself and the guys to one of the greatest Brazilian restaurants I have ever been too (message me for details). Dinner came to an end and we wound up back at the hotel. One by one our group of four started to dwindle until only Joeybonezz and myself remained. I was extremely disappointed when I realized my trip had come to an end. Saying my goodbye’s wasn’t easy because everyone I met made an impact on me in one way or another.

Monday

Waking up I remember thinking to myself, “You do whatever it takes to make it back out to California! You work however many hours at however many jobs!” And I will….

Joeybonezz got up with me and we walked downstairs. It was not my favorite part of the trip. We stood outside and waited for my ride to come and pick me up. We talked about the weekend and how we couldn’t believe that it had even happened. Everything was a surreal experience. I said my goodbyes and hopped in the town car headed for reality. After getting to the airport I sat down and waited for my flight. I thought about everything I had experienced and all the great people I had met. My next thought was that it was over, all the surprises of my trip were out, but just as I thought that, lil Bow Wow stepped off the plane and looked over at me. I was surprised, but it was a fitting end to my trip. Just when I thought California had nothing left to surprise me with out pops yet another celebrity…what a great trip!

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