I am now back at home in Pittsburgh and just reflecting on the 2011 WSOP as a whole. I am glad I didn’t write a blog before I left, because my thoughts have changed a little and some things are more clear now.
 
First off…I wanted to be sure to thank everyone that is involved in making the WSOP so fun and successful. All the media and staff do an amazing job every year, and we don’t realize sometimes the efforts that go into making it seem, for the most part flawless. There were obviously some issues along the way but for the madness that takes place it sure seems pretty well run to me. So thank you Jack Effel and your staff/dealers/etc. Thank you Cardplayer for your coverage and all other media outlets and employees. We truly appreciate being able to just play poker and not have to worry about much else!
 
I have mixed feelings about my performance this summer. I started off the summer pretty good with 3 early cashes and final tabled an event for the 3rd year in a row at the WSOP. I also had chances in tons of other events. I built stacks, made alot of Day 2’s and really with a few minor things, could of had upwards of 7 cashes. I was 10 away from the money in the $10k 2-7, that was a big one for me and it was really upsetting. I also was extremely upset when I made Day 2 of the $10k 6max and busted like 90th when it paid 48. These were big buyins for me and being on my own its huge to cash them and I didn’t. I also bubbled like 3 events this summer and that obviously didn’t help either. Needless to say, I had alot of shots and things could of gone alot differently but they didn’t and I am ok with that. My confidence is extremely high right now even with having a losing summer because I have gotten deep in so many events and feel like I am playing my best poker. The Main Event started off with a bang, I never ran so good in any tourney as I did in the first 4 levels of Day 1. I had sets like 4 or 5 times and built my stack to 92k with 1 level left but ran into a few bad situations in the last level and bagged 68k. The 3 days off really helped and Day 2 was a roller coaster for a few levels as I had one of the tougher tables on a Day 2 for sure. I managed to run my stack to 145k before flopping a set and running into a turned set for what would be the biggest pot I played all tourney and ultimately bagged only 72k. Day 3 table wasn’t great either and I stayed pretty steady until I lost w TT and AK then was down to 21 big blinds and lost with QQ to AA and that was the end of the summer for me. It is never fun busting the main event and having to wait a full year to play it again.
 
Now that I am back home and have had some time to reflect, I have made some minor changes and decisions going forward. I knew going into the summer that I was going to take some shots and play outside my roll and stay on my own…I thought I could get a score and sometimes it doesn’t work out. For the rest of the year I will stay on my own dime but I am going to certainly cut back on my buyins. I don’t believe there is an event above $3500 that I will be playing for the rest of 2011. I am heading to Borgata for the $1650 deepstack on Aug 8th and then I will be there for most of the open in Sept. After that I plan on following the WSOP circuit and playing all the prelims and main events of those. I also have plans to grind cash games at home and on the road to build up some buyins too. I thought about the possibilty of being backed and ultimately decided against it for now. Things may change down the road but I just don’t really wanna be in that spot right now and feel better being on my own even if it takes cutting out some tourneys.
 
I am really enjoying being back home after the long summer and having alot of fun hanging out with family and friends here in Pittsburgh. We have some real excitement going on with our Pittsburgh Pirates…and let me tell you that I am a big fan of all Pittsburgh sports and it has been really hard for a long time with the Buccos, so to see all this hype and see us winning some games is just awesome! We went to the game on Friday against the Cardinals and it felt like a Steeler game atmosphere with people tailgating and the sellout crowd and everything…I think I was like 15 the last time I remember anything like that for the Bucs! I hope we can win some of the important games and make a run at the playoffs, its really good for the city and lots of fun!
 
Well…Thanks for reading everyone, I truly appreciate all of you guys and the support you give me…even you haters that will certainly have something to say as usual…if you don’t have haters you aren’t working hard enough!
 
Josh Brikis was 25th in Player of the Year in 2009. He is a member of Poker Players International Elite. Josh has amassed over 1.5 million in career earnings playing live and online under the name Brikdog24. Brikis won the $1500 Prelim at Borgata for $119k in Sept. His biggest score was in 2009 at the WSOP. Josh took 2nd in the $5k 6 Max NL Event #56 for $619k. Josh has 8 cashes in the past 2 years at the WSOP including a 55th place finish in the 2010 Main Event! Check out his professional website at www.joshbrikis.com and follow him on Twitter @Jbrikis.

This is a reprint from cardplayer.com To view the original, click here.