Thanks guys

I'm sorry I haven't updated in ohhh... 10 months?

Lots has happened with my poker results but I don't wanna write about that.

Many may know I've been goin through very tough times personally as of late. I wanted to let people know I've been in a lot of physical pain in the last year. Nerves in my back are pushing out from my vertebrae and the pain has been excruciating. About 15 years ago I broke my Pelvis falling from the 2nd floor of my house onto concrete tiles. I was lucky to survive as I landed almost face first but I broke my pelvis in the fall. It may have never healed correctly. This, combined with bad posture and long hours sitting improperly eventually put me into this mess.

I knew what was happening about a year ago, or at least knew something was very wrong. I acted irresponsibly. I continued playing all the live tournaments I could, doing my best to curb or ignore the pain as I played. I loved the traveling, loved the grind and loved hanging out with friends on the road. I needed time off. I needed to rehab my back. After tests/x-rays/scans I was told I'm too young for back surgery. The only option was to manually move my vertebrae and hip back back into place through intense stretches/workouts.

I'm so happy to report I've really crossed a hump with it and I'm finally starting to sleep regularly again. My back has shown great progress and I feel excited to keep getting better. I've been told it might take years to be back around 90% but I plan to get there. I've decided to start booking live trips up to January. First stop - British Columbia Poker Championship.

Now the point I really wanted to get to. Thank you to everyone who has been concerned about me and asking about my progress in chats/messages/e-mail. It felt so good to get so much support. I was surprised to see that many people in the poker world who didn't know me well were even kind enough to ask about my progress. It meant a lot to me and gave me some extra strength in pushing myself to get better. It really did. I'm blessed to have a lot of great friends and my mom who was calling me daily (love ya mum). I'm also grateful for those in the poker community who have given me very kind words about my game recently. I feel humbled by the comments. Lot of people I got mad respect for.

Thanks everyone :)

Peace,
Simon Charette

Last day in Australia

It's my last day in australia. I'm in Brisbane trying to figure out what to do on a day that's pouring outside. Our original plans of hitting the waterpark have hit the muck. Ping pong and bowling to start we think.

After Melbourne I was in Adelaide for a week where I played the ANZPT main event and was eliminated on day 1. Then I spent about 10 days in Byron Bay with Serock, Fosco and Ch0ppy in a beach house we rented. Was a pretty cool surfer town. It had 3 great Thai restaurants which made me so happy (my favorite). Flying home tommorow back to TO after being overseas for just under 2 months.

Been a great trip both personally and poker-wise. I miss my place and my TV and will be happy to unload my PVR as soon as I get home. I had a bunch of videos I took in Byron Bay but the stupid little camera I bought somehow deleted everything I took in the past month or so. So I have nothing to post for now but I'll post some pictures off a friends camera when I get them.

All in all, life is good. Things are good. Hopefully not as much snow in TO as I've been hearing from friends back home.

"Getting upset about money for more than like 5 minutes is just stupid"
-Anton Wigg

Aussie Millions success. Next Adelaide

So I finished a disapointing 60th in the main event for a min-cash of 15k after being very excitied about my chances. However, I final tabled the 2k 6 max side event and finished 2nd after being chip leader a good portion of the way down. Disapointing as well but I have a 76k score to ease my pain.

This PCA-Melbourne trip has been pretty good to me. I've worked horrendous long hours and haven't had much time for fun like I had hoped. Can't complain. flyign to Adelaide tommorow for the ANZPT 2700 main event and possibly the 4k high roller tournament after that. The orignal plan was to stick around in Australia an extra 10 days after that just to enjoy ourselves but I've been feeling really run down and sick and might just return to Toronto and rest for a while. We'll see how I'm feeling then. Still got a chance or 2 to win a tournament before I go.

Peace,
Simon

Aussie Millions update

Hey I'm about 76 left in the Aussie Millions main event about 4 off the money. I got 175k in chips going into 2-4k tommorow.

Excitied and focused. 2 million for first. Gonna play my heart out on day 3 and hopefully day 4 and 5 if Iam so lucky to be there.

Peace,
Simon

Kangeroo video

Heres a video of us chilling with some kangeroos

Bahamas to Australia

Hello all. Just finished PCA in the Bahamas and am now currently in Melbourne Australia for the Aussie Millions. PCA was an amazing time and a very good trip for me overall. I min cashed in the main event for 15k and chopped a 1k side event for 77k!

Happy to ship another live tournament and I know it won't be my last for the year. Everyone in the poker world was at PCA and it's so awesome to see everyone and meet even more people. It was my 3rd year at PCA and defintely my best and I only ended up playing a total of 4 tournaments. I flew my mom in for the last few days and took time off to spend with her and I'm really happy I did.

I got really sick as soon as I arrived in Melbourne so I've only played 1 side event before the main event which I'll play 2 days from now. Super stoked for this one. I think this will be the highest value 10k I play all year (except the WSOP main of course.) Did a tour with roommates Matt Kay, Joe Serock and Mike Fosco. Met some birds and kangeroos and visited a winery. Very cool day. The next day we played drunken kickball with 2 dozen other poker players which was organized by Tony "Bond18" Dunst. Really fun. Playing very little poker this trip and pleased about it.

Will probaly upload some more pics and maybe some small videos soon.

Peace,
Simon

More NZ pics

Here's some more pictures of my trip to New Zealand. i love New Zealand. Will be back. So happy to be traveling. I wanna do tons in 2011 and hopefully paly some poker along the way. 2010 wasn't my best year but I think 2011 will be HUGE