I'm starting to look forward to Christmas now. I have been swamped with college work and finding this year very tough going. So attention has moved from poker to college for the time being.

Coming into the IPO final table this week, I was calm and relatively unconcerned about what may or may not happen.

What a weekend that was. This was my 4th year playing the IPO and I have always had so much fun at them, despite never making it past level 2. Have to say that I haven't always taken it seriously. A few years ago, I remember arriving late with some of the guys and stopping of in the Tesco down the road to stock up on bottles of vodka. Needless to say after a few levels they were empty and so was my seat.

I really started back grinding over the last six weeks or so. I plan to play a lot more live tournaments than I did last year. So first up was the UKIPT Dublin.

Anyone that loves sport and more importantly golf, will never forget where they were when Rory McIlroy came of age and showed the world his unbelievable talent. I have played with Rory when he was 14 and even then you got a special feeling about his curly haired future.

The Hangover 2 is coming out soon and if it resembled the weekend I just had, then I'm sure it wouldn't disappoint.

April/May have been unusually quiet months for me in terms of poker.

I am pleased to say that the charity idea I had was a success even if my challenge at the European Deepstack ended early.

I just finished my exams for my first semester and I'm delighted to get them out of the way. Even though this course is part-time, I really am finding that I was playing less and less poker than ever before. Hopefully now I can start to play a bit more again.

Since I started playing poker seriously in 2008, I have struggled with the word "grinding". I'm a spin merchant, taking shots wherever they present themselves. 2010 saw a change in my ideology as a poker player.

It has been a good couple of months for me on the felt. After I came back from Vegas I continued to do well grinding out some online MTT's and was, possibly for the first time, exercising some good bankroll management.

All in all, it's been very quiet since I got back from Vegas. My bankroll has depleted from the small amount I had managed to build up in Vegas and the few months before. Happy to say though that poker hasn't been the culprit.

Basically the highlight of my Vegas trip was seeing the A-Team and hearing Cpt. Hannibal utter those words. I've stolen the phrase and have been pinging it out there at least 47 times on nights out. When it started to wear thin with the lads, I threw in a cigar and got some more chuckles! Hopefully it will last until the end of the series.

A few years ago in 2008, I got my first taste of Las Vegas. I thought I was a player as we drove into Vegas at 2am. If you are going to Vegas for the first time, you have to arrive at night.

Seeing as this is my first blog for Boylepoker, I better make it worthwhile. I have been studying for my final exams for the past few months and only playing the odd live cash game or online tournament.