Weekend Wrap-up and a day I will not soon forget.

Friday night didn't go as I planned, I had hoped to make it over to CC's house to christen his beautiful poker room. The problem was, Friday was also Poker Night for my neighborhood. I have the 'honor' of running the game on a Monthly basis. I was hoping we would have a bad turnout and I could close up shop, but we had a very good turn out instead. +EV for me, I get to play against a 60/40 mix of players/donks rather than the table full of sharks over at CC's. It turns out I made the right choice for the bankroll as I took 2nd in the tournament then won another 60 playing .50/1 Holdem with a $5 max. Which really turned into 5 Limit. there were 2 guys at the table who were recklessly spewing chips and I was happy to partake of the action.

Saturday I sweated out the alcohol working in the yard, beginning my quarterly yard maintenance. I sprayed weeds, spread some granules and whacked down the butterfly bushes in the pine island. I will need to get about 30-40 bales of pine straw to complete the work. I'll go back through the island and yard next weekend for more spraying and weeding in preparation. Saturday night I stayed up till 2(3) to see if anything went wrong with my servers. I spent an hour or so logging on to various systems and checking things. As I suspected, nothing major happened and every thing seems to have changed time properly except a few clients in NY who probably didn't reboot as I asked. The wife was out with her mom and sister.

I got a call around 1:30, the wife was at her sister's house and they got their mom drunk! Trust me, this is something I have never seen, I've never seen this woman have more than one drink. Saturday she had three......evidently thats her limit. The wife decided to wait it out a bit, then take her mom home. They got a real good laugh out of it, but her mother was none to pleased. She wandered in around 4 am and we slept in instead of going to church.

Sunday morning was quiet, I got up and did my usual breakfast routine. Bacon, eggs, waffles and fruit. The kids love to help, but mostly love slathering everything on their plates with maple syrup. After Breakfast was cleaned up I took my cup of coffee out to the porch to get a little air and relaxation before beginning what was to be a full day. My cousin Stew was having his second child baptized (my justification for skipping early church) then having some people over to his new house. I really wanted to see his new place, Stew and I are very close and see each other once a month or so. (usually to disastrous results....but more on that another time). Then we were heading to my big brother's house for his daughters 4th birthday.

I sat and breathed in deep, the weather was just perfect outside. I wondered what the wife was doing, as I was sure she saw me go out. Several minutes later I hear a noise, I think to myself that the children have broken,maimed or thrown something, I reminded myself to take a breath before getting angry, then I heard the screams.

I ran through the front door and saw my wife coming up the stairs from the basement. She had our youngest daughter (G-squared) in her arms, her face was covered in blood and she was screaming. I froze, just for a second, and that image burned into my mind. My beautiful daughter looking at me mouth wide open, screaming, her eyes huge as saucers,pleading to me, and a huge red gash over her right eye streaming blood into her porcelain white face.

I swallowed and tried to breathe. I took g2 and sat her on the counter. I told my wife to get the number for the hospital, not 911. She called to find out if they had a plastic surgeon on call. I took a closer look at my little girl and reassured her it was going to be OK, even though I was holding back panic to the best of my abilities. I took off the towel my wife had gotten, and took a look. It was not easy to look at. She had a slice running from just below the orbit of her eye to the middle of her forehead as deep as it could go without going through her skull.

I looked at her eyes, she was in shock, but alert and talking. She was calming down a bit, and I tore through the medicine box and found the butterfly bandages. I had to get that bleeding stopped as much as possible. I taped the wound closed and grabbed the gauze. I taped gauze over the whole thing and told her to keep her hand pressing on it. She held the gauze there and I ran upstairs to get dressed, get kids shoes and a change of clothes for g2. We called Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and let them know we were coming. I just had too many doubts about taking her to the hospital in Cumming. I knew she would get the best care at Children's, and they confirmed there was a specialist on hand.

Children's Healthcare is located about 20 miles from our house, but it felt like it took an hour to get there. Master P and mouse briefly complained about going to the hospital instead of seeing their cousins. I firmly (maybe a bit too firmly) explained the situation to the kids in an attempt to make them understand the gravity of it all, but they really had no idea how bad it could have been.

The wife's folks were called, I explained the details to my mother in law who was a nurse at one time. I asked her about shock and what to do. G2 was sleepy, and I told my wife to keep talking to her and to make her stay awake. My mother in law went through a few general nurse-type questions and convinced me that g2 would be fine. She lost a good bit of blood, but her color was good and she was coherent and talking.

I hate Hospitals...but doesn't everyone? I especially hate hospitals when I have to stand in line with my child in my arms and a bloody towel over her face. We get her checked in and I resist every urge to scream at someone...I just wanted a fucking doctor to look at my child NOW, but I played the game and we waited.

The in-laws came in the door shortly thereafter and my sister in law came in with doughnuts and milk for everyone....damn she's good. After about 10 minutes and five trips to the admitting desk, we get called by triage. They go over the basics (again) and we finally get taken back to a room. I start feeling better in small increments.

We see the first doctor, who I am sure is lighter than peter pan, but he is very good. ( We are later informed that he is in fact married with children, and all the nurses call him 'PIP', hmmmm)He asks g2 all the questions, which she answers perfectly. He then asks who put on the butterfly bandages and I get a nice little pat on the back. He confirms the plastics dude is on the way, but he has to undress the bandage and apply the numbing agents which take 20-30 minutes to activate fully.

We relax a bit, g2 gets to watch the Incredibles.

The youngish Surgeon comes in and he is all business, but gentile and reassuring. I start to think about the small mint this is going to cost me and quickly push that thought out of my mind.

What's interesting is I was listening to the news station this morning, and they were reporting on a missing boy in Glynn county. They were interviewing the missing boy's grandmother and she stated something to the effect of "they can take my cars, my house, my land or my leg.....I just want that baby back. there ain't nothing that matters to me as much as that baby"

I just sit there and traffic and cry a little for that family, I felt the same way at the moment money crossed my mind. Nothing matters as much as my baby(ies) I'd go and clean that hospital on the night shift if that's what it came down to. But I know my insurance is good, and I knew I was just thinking irrationally.

The surgeon sewed 18 stitches into the injury and did really a fantastic job of talking to us and g2 during the procedure. She went through the whole thing wide awake and didn't move a muscle, there's just no way to explain how amazed of her I was. The doctors and staff were equally amazed at her demeanor and strength. I'm pretty sure she never cried during the entire visit.

We got the kids home, fed and in bed. We went downstairs and cleaned up the broken glass and table. We finally sat and talked, we played the "what if?" game for far too long going over and over how it must have happened and how close she was to losing her eye, and possibly her life.

As my sister said, she had a little angel on her shoulder.

We could have been making funeral arrangements, but we got to kiss our baby and put her in her bed. We could have been looking for some depraved pedophile who stole into our baby's room and took her off into the night, but she was safe and warm.

A little cut can do a lot of things to you...

chew on this

Hi boys and girls, just a little update and miscellaneous post from yours truly.

The Fantasy Baseball league is filling up nicely now, we have 5 in and 5 to go, so if you're on the fence go ahead and join up, theres money to be made here folks.. you like money! I like money, you like money too??

I can't believe you like money too. We should hang out.

Speaking of money, I'm planning on funding some new accounts when I get back from my self imposed hiatus. I'm going to chase some bonuses and get my bankroll back to where it was in December. It will take awhile, starting I think with three or four hundo. I want to focus on SNG's, so I'll try to emulate the smokkee school of bankroll building even though I won't be able to play more than once or twice a week.

I'll be playing some live poker on Friday as it is my monthly poker game in the neighborhood. I found out this morning there is a huge contingent of women who went to Destin for the weekend, so my turnout may not be so hot. BUT ALL IS NOT LOST, CC is organizing a little game at his place and I will do my damnedest to hit that game up if at all possible. Turns out its a who's who of Atlanta poker bloggers with weak, transfish, kurokitty , surf, butchhoward and flagstaff (not an Atlanta blogger, duh). I'd be remiss if I didn't make it, but I have my n'hood responsibilities to think of. In a perfect world my regular game won't have enough players and I can head over to CC's which is only 15 minutes away.

You kids have a safe and fun weekend, and pray the shit does not hit the proverbial fan when half the computers in the world don't know what time it is.

chew on this

Hi boys and girls, just a little update and miscellaneous post from yours truly.

The Fantasy Baseball league is filling up nicely now, we have 5 in and 5 to go, so if you're on the fence go ahead and join up, theres money to be made here folks.. you like money! I like money, you like money too??

I can't believe you like money too. We should hang out.

Speaking of money, I'm planning on funding some new accounts when I get back from my self imposed hiatus. I'm going to chase some bonuses and get my bankroll back to where it was in December. It will take awhile, starting I think with three or four hundo. I want to focus on SNG's, so I'll try to emulate the smokkee school of bankroll building even though I won't be able to play more than once or twice a week.

I'll be playing some live poker on Friday as it is my monthly poker game in the neighborhood. I found out this morning there is a huge contingent of women who went to Destin for the weekend, so my turnout may not be so hot. BUT ALL IS NOT LOST, CC is organizing a little game at his place and I will do my damnedest to hit that game up if at all possible. Turns out its a who's who of Atlanta poker bloggers with weak, transfish, kurokitty , surf, butchhoward and flagstaff (not an Atlanta blogger, duh). I'd be remiss if I didn't make it, but I have my n'hood responsibilities to think of. In a perfect world my regular game won't have enough players and I can head over to CC's which is only 15 minutes away.

You kids have a safe and fun weekend, and pray the shit does not hit the proverbial fan when half the computers in the world don't know what time it is.

Fantasy Baseball Redux

All right kids, I've changed a few things for the prospective baseball league in order to get things moving. First of all I cut it down to 10 teams, so we just need 7 more. I have changed from daily to weekly moves in order to allow for people who can't or don't want to make daily moves. This means you can make your changes for the coming week at anytime until Sunday night. Managers will have to set the rosters for the week. I lowered the roster size and increased the bench to have more competitive teams. The draft has been moved to March 30th at 9pm. So you have 24 days to join. I have also added $20 to the prize pool to get you fuckers to join.....WHAT ELSE DO I GOTTA DO???

Just kidding...

Here are the details:

$10 Entry 10 teams $100 Prize pool. $20 ADDED!!
1st Place $70
2nd Place $35
3rd Place $15

POKER BLOGGERS FANTASY BASEBALL



In order to join the league, follow the link above or go to game front page, click the "Sign Up Now" or "Get Another Team" button and follow the links to "Join a Custom League". When prompted, enter the League ID# and password below.

League ID#: 112680

I'll email you the password if you didn't get the earlier e-mail.

Reply to 23skidoo AT gmail

Fantasy Baseball Redux

All right kids, I've changed a few things for the prospective baseball league in order to get things moving. First of all I cut it down to 10 teams, so we just need 7 more. I have changed from daily to weekly moves in order to allow for people who can't or don't want to make daily moves. This means you can make your changes for the coming week at anytime until Sunday night. Managers will have to set the rosters for the week. I lowered the roster size and increased the bench to have more competitive teams. The draft has been moved to March 30th at 9pm. So you have 24 days to join. I have also added $20 to the prize pool to get you fuckers to join.....WHAT ELSE DO I GOTTA DO???

Just kidding...

Here are the details:

$10 Entry 10 teams $100 Prize pool. $20 ADDED!!
1st Place $70
2nd Place $35
3rd Place $15

POKER BLOGGERS FANTASY BASEBALL



In order to join the league, follow the link above or go to game front page, click the "Sign Up Now" or "Get Another Team" button and follow the links to "Join a Custom League". When prompted, enter the League ID# and password below.

League ID#: 112680

I'll email you the password if you didn't get the earlier e-mail.

Reply to 23skidoo AT gmail

ez money

Something lost, something gained.

I've been thinking about the effect the loss of Neteller means to me. First of all it was really annoying. I am not as bad off as most people, I only had a relatively small amount there. I had luckily taken out some $ from my good cash in the 25K.
I also put a good bit in FT and PS (which I subsequently lost in Jan/Feb). This all culminated with a stressful job move and the ongoing stress of raising a family, having a wife who works part time and is in school part time.

So despite my accomplishment in the personal arena (new job mo' money), I was not equipped for the pressure and the swing in poker in Jan/Feb. Now its all gone. Every last cent I have earned in poker in the last 3 years has vanished. It is truly sickening since I had reached a self sustaining roll just in the last year or so. I was not equipped to handle the loss and subsequently burned through everything in classic chase/tilt manner.

Brave New World

I was really down on poker and just had a sick feeling, like my stomach was burning in its own acids. I've been down before, but most of that was due to outside influences. Poker has always been a fun outlet for me, but for 2 months it turned into something else. Something that I thought I had gotten out of my system. A compulsion.

Now that I have gained some perspective, I can see it. I have now given myself some time to figure out what I'm going to do about it. Since Lent began, I have not gone a day without thinking about playing. I want to get back and plug the hole. The loss of Neteller has allowed me the opportunity to re-evaluate (again) what I'm doing.

Enter ePassporte. Now I can fund my account again, its kind of scary, because I'm not sure if I have the responsibility for it. The good thing is that I have another month to hash that out. Hopefully after Easter I will have a better idea of what I hope to accomplish. If I can't come up with a plan and a real goal, then I just may have to be done online for awhile. I really don't want that to happen though. We shall see.


Is this the real life, is this just fantasy?

What the hell is wrong with you people???? I'm really having a hard time believing there are only 3 bloggers who want to play fantasy baseball. If there's one thing more American than poker, it's baseball.

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come. -Terrence Mann, Field of Dreams

COME JOIN THE LEAGUE! If you need more info that you can't find here, contact me at 23skidoo at geemail.

ez money

Something lost, something gained.

I've been thinking about the effect the loss of Neteller means to me. First of all it was really annoying. I am not as bad off as most people, I only had a relatively small amount there. I had luckily taken out some $ from my good cash in the 25K.
I also put a good bit in FT and PS (which I subsequently lost in Jan/Feb). This all culminated with a stressful job move and the ongoing stress of raising a family, having a wife who works part time and is in school part time.

So despite my accomplishment in the personal arena (new job mo' money), I was not equipped for the pressure and the swing in poker in Jan/Feb. Now its all gone. Every last cent I have earned in poker in the last 3 years has vanished. It is truly sickening since I had reached a self sustaining roll just in the last year or so. I was not equipped to handle the loss and subsequently burned through everything in classic chase/tilt manner.

Brave New World

I was really down on poker and just had a sick feeling, like my stomach was burning in its own acids. I've been down before, but most of that was due to outside influences. Poker has always been a fun outlet for me, but for 2 months it turned into something else. Something that I thought I had gotten out of my system. A compulsion.

Now that I have gained some perspective, I can see it. I have now given myself some time to figure out what I'm going to do about it. Since Lent began, I have not gone a day without thinking about playing. I want to get back and plug the hole. The loss of Neteller has allowed me the opportunity to re-evaluate (again) what I'm doing.

Enter ePassporte. Now I can fund my account again, its kind of scary, because I'm not sure if I have the responsibility for it. The good thing is that I have another month to hash that out. Hopefully after Easter I will have a better idea of what I hope to accomplish. If I can't come up with a plan and a real goal, then I just may have to be done online for awhile. I really don't want that to happen though. We shall see.


Is this the real life, is this just fantasy?

What the hell is wrong with you people???? I'm really having a hard time believing there are only 3 bloggers who want to play fantasy baseball. If there's one thing more American than poker, it's baseball.

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come. -Terrence Mann, Field of Dreams

COME JOIN THE LEAGUE! If you need more info that you can't find here, contact me at 23skidoo at geemail.

...and all was right with the world

Unless you are completely brain dead, you've already noticed that the blogfather has moved back home.

Nothing against the Pokerworks crew, but somehow it just didn't seem right.

Iggy neither follows or rides coattails, he is a singular entity and should stay so.

So drop on by Iggy's new/old/same place and say hello!!!

...and all was right with the world

Unless you are completely brain dead, you've already noticed that the blogfather has moved back home.

Nothing against the Pokerworks crew, but somehow it just didn't seem right.

Iggy neither follows or rides coattails, he is a singular entity and should stay so.

So drop on by Iggy's new/old/same place and say hello!!!

Odds and Sods

With all due respect and credit to The Register.


I was able to play a little live poker on Friday with my cigar buddies. The four of us played 5 $10 SNG's. I didn't manage to win a single one. Then I convinced the guys to come to my place since the cigar shop was closing and I managed to get back to -$10 from a low of -$80. It was particularly fun since my buddy the Dutch Oven decided to play a last longer on the final game for $50. I came back from a 4-1 chip deficit to take down the last tourney and win the last longer. Good Times.

If you didn't notice, I rewrote a little bit of the Salami Game. I got some expert advice and fixed the tense issues and reworked the ending. I still don't like the ending, but I'm not sure what to do with it. It went from too esoteric to too sappy. What are you gonna do? Pauly recommended reading Stephen King's On Writing, so I bought a copy off of Amazon.

I also bought 2 of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books. I have never been very good at managing my money, so maybe this will help. Worst case scenario is I can pass on some rudimentary finance teaching to my children. Those little fuckers are gonna support me one day.

I also decided to start up a fantasy baseball league on yahoo for the bloggers. I thought head to head play would be a bit more fun than straight rotisserie. In H2H you play against a team for a week and score based on rotisserie categories. Whoever wins a category, gets a point. He who has the most points wins the week. So, on a weekly basis it's anyones game. So far, Chad and Shea have joined, you should too! So if you're thinking about joining please do, it's not as ghey as FUEL thinks, and he's the resident expert on gheyness. I also added a little prize pool to keep folks entertained.

Thats all for now, tomorrow marks one week of no online poker for me and boy is it a sacrifice.

Odds and Sods

With all due respect and credit to The Register.


I was able to play a little live poker on Friday with my cigar buddies. The four of us played 5 $10 SNG's. I didn't manage to win a single one. Then I convinced the guys to come to my place since the cigar shop was closing and I managed to get back to -$10 from a low of -$80. It was particularly fun since my buddy the Dutch Oven decided to play a last longer on the final game for $50. I came back from a 4-1 chip deficit to take down the last tourney and win the last longer. Good Times.

If you didn't notice, I rewrote a little bit of the Salami Game. I got some expert advice and fixed the tense issues and reworked the ending. I still don't like the ending, but I'm not sure what to do with it. It went from too esoteric to too sappy. What are you gonna do? Pauly recommended reading Stephen King's On Writing, so I bought a copy off of Amazon.

I also bought 2 of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books. I have never been very good at managing my money, so maybe this will help. Worst case scenario is I can pass on some rudimentary finance teaching to my children. Those little fuckers are gonna support me one day.

I also decided to start up a fantasy baseball league on yahoo for the bloggers. I thought head to head play would be a bit more fun than straight rotisserie. In H2H you play against a team for a week and score based on rotisserie categories. Whoever wins a category, gets a point. He who has the most points wins the week. So, on a weekly basis it's anyones game. So far, Chad and Shea have joined, you should too! So if you're thinking about joining please do, it's not as ghey as FUEL thinks, and he's the resident expert on gheyness. I also added a little prize pool to keep folks entertained.

Thats all for now, tomorrow marks one week of no online poker for me and boy is it a sacrifice.

Fantasy Baseball Time!!!

9 Spots remaining!! JOIN NOW!


I've created a custom league in Yahoo. I've sent out an invitation to those of you who may be interested and I have e-mail addresses for. If you didn't get the invite, either I don't like you or I don't have your e-mail address. Most likely #2.

Here are the details:

$10 Entry 12 teams $120 Prize pool.
1st Place $70
2nd Place $35
3rd Place $15

POKER BLOGGERS FANTASY BASEBALL

Season Type: Full
Draft Type: Live Draft
Draft Time: Sun Mar 11 9:00pm EDT
Max Teams: 12
Scoring Type: Head-to-Head
Player Universe: All baseball
Max Moves: No maximum
Max Trades: No maximum
Trade Reject Time: 2
Trade End Date: August 26, 2007
Waiver Time: 1 day
Can't Cut List Provider: Yahoo! Sports
Trade Review: Commissioner
Post Draft Players: Follow Waiver Rules
Min Innings Pitched: 15
Weekly Deadline: Daily - Tomorrow
Start Scoring on: Week 1
Roster Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, OF, Util, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P, P, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL, DL
Stat Categories: R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OPS, W, SV, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP


In order to join the league, follow the link above or go to game front page, click the "Sign Up Now" or "Get Another Team" button and follow the links to "Join a Custom League". When prompted, enter the League ID# and password below.

League ID#: 112680

I'll email you the password if you didn't get the e-mail.

Reply to 23skidoo AT gmail

Fantasy Baseball Time!!!

9 Spots remaining!! JOIN NOW!


I've created a custom league in Yahoo. I've sent out an invitation to those of you who may be interested and I have e-mail addresses for. If you didn't get the invite, either I don't like you or I don't have your e-mail address. Most likely #2.

Here are the details:

$10 Entry 12 teams $120 Prize pool.
1st Place $70
2nd Place $35
3rd Place $15

POKER BLOGGERS FANTASY BASEBALL

Season Type: Full
Draft Type: Live Draft
Draft Time: Sun Mar 11 9:00pm EDT
Max Teams: 12
Scoring Type: Head-to-Head
Player Universe: All baseball
Max Moves: No maximum
Max Trades: No maximum
Trade Reject Time: 2
Trade End Date: August 26, 2007
Waiver Time: 1 day
Can't Cut List Provider: Yahoo! Sports
Trade Review: Commissioner
Post Draft Players: Follow Waiver Rules
Min Innings Pitched: 15
Weekly Deadline: Daily - Tomorrow
Start Scoring on: Week 1
Roster Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, OF, Util, SP, SP, RP, RP, P, P, P, P, P, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL, DL
Stat Categories: R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, OPS, W, SV, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP


In order to join the league, follow the link above or go to game front page, click the "Sign Up Now" or "Get Another Team" button and follow the links to "Join a Custom League". When prompted, enter the League ID# and password below.

League ID#: 112680

I'll email you the password if you didn't get the e-mail.

Reply to 23skidoo AT gmail

Lent

Hi folks! I had a good bit of fun running in the WWDN last night. I sucked out a set early on versus poorly played kings and stayed in the top 5 for nearly the entire night. Unfortunately I couldn't will aces or a flush draw on my last hand and ended right in 5th. I was a bit perturbed, because I think if I had played a little less loose/agg at the final table I could have taken it down.

Despite a good showing last night, I'm taking a little break from online poker. I've decided to quit as a part of my Lenten obligation. Now, I may not be the most ardent of catholics, but we do try to observe the holy days.

This break will give me a chance to recollect on the last couple of months when I went completely batshit crazy as well as a chance for ePassporte to get their shit together so I can once again lose my money on a more consistent basis.
Weak has already warned me its a long process, so we shall see.

Lent

Hi folks! I had a good bit of fun running in the WWDN last night. I sucked out a set early on versus poorly played kings and stayed in the top 5 for nearly the entire night. Unfortunately I couldn't will aces or a flush draw on my last hand and ended right in 5th. I was a bit perturbed, because I think if I had played a little less loose/agg at the final table I could have taken it down.

Despite a good showing last night, I'm taking a little break from online poker. I've decided to quit as a part of my Lenten obligation. Now, I may not be the most ardent of catholics, but we do try to observe the holy days.

This break will give me a chance to recollect on the last couple of months when I went completely batshit crazy as well as a chance for ePassporte to get their shit together so I can once again lose my money on a more consistent basis.
Weak has already warned me its a long process, so we shall see.

The Salami game.

The Salami Game (1st revision)


It was 7:05 and our hero was running late. He was speeding through the streets of the busiest city in the world without the slightest clue of his destination. It was somewhat cold and dark, but busy and alive with people and light.

Jeremy just had to get out of the car. He was sure he was lost and just wanted to walk now. Maybe if he could walk it would get his mind moving in the right direction. The air would have a calming effect to it. "Breathe," he said at a whisper. Finally he received the message. The news was good, he was only a few minutes from the game.

He jumped out of the cab with a few minutes to spare and peeled two twenty dollar bills out of his large roll. "Keep it," Jeremy said. Knowing this was a paltry sum considering what he was about to do.

Jeremy met the contact just outside the room. This was it, the biggest game he'd ever heard of. He flipped the man another wad of bills... a finders fee. Now was the moment. He knew once he hit the doorbell, it was going to be one of two things. He would get fleeced or he'd walk away a very rich man.

Losing wasn't really an option for Jeremy, you see. He had markers all over the place. The last vestige.....desperation. He was playing with borrowed time and borrowed money. He felt unattached from everything. Like the only real part of him had already become disconnected from the real world.

He felt his eyeballs float to the camera, and his left index finger, warm from his pocket, push against the bell. First came the buzz, and he walked into the dark corridor. As the harsh fluorescents lit up the room, he felt a two hands on his outer thighs, but he did not dare move.

"Weapon?" the harsh voice said, Jeremy looked directly at the wall inches from his nose and shook his head. He knew this treatment was procedure, and he dealt with it. The doorman finished his job quickly, there were more guests arriving.

Jeremy walked into the smallish room, there were several men sitting at a felted table, talking and watching television. Each man had a clear plastic case in front of him. Each case lined with three rows of clay poker chips....red, white and black. In the back of the room three men cooked what smelled like pasta in the kitchen. The air heavy with the smell of garlic.

Jeremy looked to the left and saw a face he recognized, but neither man registered it with each other. Jeremy began to feel a burning in the pit of his stomach. "What the fuck is HE doing here?" He thought to himself. There was no turning around now. Maybe, he thought, "I can find away around him."

Jeremy looked to the right and saw a large tattooed man looking straight through him.
"Buy in," the man said through a thick Italian accent. Jeremy moved closer to the man and began unloading his ankle length coat. He slowly pulled 50 stacks of bills from the inside pockets, then he produced the chip.

The chip was nothing like anyone has seen inside a casino. The chip had a weight to it, and it made a distinct sound when Jeremy tossed it gently onto the table. Everyone in the room knew what that sound meant. There was a ringer in their midst, one who could topple the biggest game in the world. For a full minute there was an uncomfortable silence as all the men, save one, looked in Jeremy's direction. He could smell the fear, but did not turn his head or change expression.

Finally, the one man who was not looking in Jeremy's direction stood. Tall, tanned, and grey-haired, the gentleman filled out a waist length silk shirt. The man walked to a spot within inches of Jeremy's face. Jeremy felt the cold gaze of everyone in the room, then the man's stare slowly began to warm into a smile. The other players began to turn away, and the man said to Jeremy, "You are welcome here, I am Pauly. You take care." The last three words spoken as if Pauly was whispering to himself.

Jeremy's mind raced, but he was numb with fear, elation and anticipation. One thing he had to do was get his head straight. He began an inner dialog. "Ok, breathe. These people are worse than dogs. They can smell fear straight through the garlic and expensive cologne. I'm so fucking hungry I can't see straight. Just push it out of your mind....clear it all. Start getting your targets, this is the best time to get a read. The guard is down, and I now have the biggest target on my back. They ALL want to bust me, I have to make that work"

After a few more minutes, the game was set to begin. There were twenty entrants, twenty of the richest and the best. Twenty million reasons to be as focused as one could possibly be. The format was easy, winner take all, freezeout. Once you were out, you were out...period.

The cards were drawn and players took their seats. Jeremy sat on the first table in seat 10, to the right of the dealer. He felt like he had an advantage already. He didn't need to play a hand for awhile, since he was last on the table to post a blind. He would get a good sense of how these players were going to play.

In seat 1 was a young man, the Kid, barely 21. Jeremy could tell immediately this guy was good. It's just a sense a player gets from another player. The way they count their chips, The way they hold their head, what they do with their hands. This was important.

Good players can spot these tells. Forget what you hear about the eyes, and the jugular vein and all that shit. A real player can put you on a hand without even looking at you. Jeremy was such a player. No one was going to pick up anything on Jeremy unless HE wanted them to.

Seat 2 was an old 70ish man, a little sloppy. He hung in his chair like a dirty shirt. In the first hand he had almost half his chips in the pot on an obvious steal. He was loose, aggressive, and cocksure. Jeremy labeled him Einstein because of his disheveled appearance.

Seat 3 was a 30-something would be librarian. There was nothing in his appearance that was remarkable. His voice shook when he spoke, he had no business here. Dead Money

Seat 4 was Andrew Silver, a well known Poker professional. Jeremy thought he might possibly be the best player at the game. Calm, confident and bold.
In the 5 seat was Pauly, an obvious mob boss. He had silver-white hair and tight tanned skin on his face. He oosed confidence and leaked money, a good mark.

Seat 6 had been sitting next to Pauly when Jeremy walked in. They were together, Jeremy noticed. They could be team playing, but Jeremy couldn't worry about that...just watch it. Jeremy labeled him as stooge.

Seat 7 belonged to Ellard 'Jimmy' Carter, the Millionaire Playboy. Jeremy wasn't sure why Jimmy was here, he must know someone else at the game. Jimmy was tall, black, good looking, and loaded. His family ran 2 casinos, a hotel empire, and several media outlets. This game was too low profile for him.

In Seat 8 sat "Goggles" he wore coke bottle glasses and had a wandering eye. He spoke with an obvious lisp and was completely wild. Almost impossible to track. Jimmy suspected he was connected somehow and was there out of pity or in repayment of a debt.

Seat 9 held Hank "the shiner" Granderson. A high stakes poker specialist, and star of the hit cable series "Professional Poker." Jeremy was definitely glad to have the shiner in front of him. Jimmy would have to expect some tough play and for the shiner to use his image as a grinder to make different plays.

Jeremy was a virtual unknown. There was one person who knew Jeremy at the Salami game, it was Hop, the man he made eye contact with on the way in. Hop was seated at the other table. He wasn't supposed to be here, and his presence shook Jeremy to the core. He prayed someone would take out Hop before he had to.

Jeremy knew that the first hour or so of this tournament would have the most action. This game featured some of the largest egos on the planet. They would be tough to bluff and easy to trap, for the most part. Jeremy played his first hand out of the big blind. The action was folded to him on a raise by Einstein. Einstein had played nearly every hand so far, raising pre-flop and pounding post. Everyone had backed down to him so far. Jeremy looked down to two black tens. The raise was about 3 times the blinds, a standard raise. Jeremy knew a re-raise would be met with stiff opposition, So he thought for a minute and called.

The flop came Jack of clubs, Ten of hearts, Six of diamonds. Einstein stared at Jeremy, then wrapped his hand against the felt. Jeremy expected a bet from Einstein. This meant to Jeremy that Einstein has either a great drawing hand, a trap hand, or nothing. A check felt like a Draw to Jeremy. He checked behind giving the old man a chance to hang himself.. The turn came 8 of clubs and Einstein lead out this time. He put out a pot sized bet. Jeremy knew that Einstein was on a draw but had not filled it. Jeremy thought for another minute, he had not even looked in Einsteins direction, but he knew Einstein was staring him down. Jeremy looked up and deliberately pushed his chips into the middle. Einstein folded immediately, maybe he wasn't that loose.

Jeremy was still out of his body. His mind felt like it was floating a few feet over his head, totally aware...calm and open. He let his mind drift a bit as he folded his cards again. He had sent a message to the table. Stay out of my pots or be punished. He had yet to show a hand, but he controlled the table.

Jeremy began to daydream, his mind was starting to wander. The action bug, started to nip at his ego...'cmon man, do it....you can push these duds off of anything.' but the voice of reason was still awake. 'No reason to show anything yet. Pace yourself, bluffing is weakness until you show them you're not bluffing. Make them pay for their ignorance, not gain from yours.'

He snapped back, and the action was on him. Jeremy peaks at his cards, AK of different suits. "Raise, eight hundred", 4x the blinds. He just wanted to steal the blinds which sat in front of Pauly and his stooge. He did not want to tangle with Einstein again, and he definitely didn't want Silver to wake up with a hand.

Everyone folded to Pauly and he called after thinking for some time. The stooge got out of the way. The dealer flopped three small cards. Four of hearts, six of hearts and the nine of clubs. Jeremy threw out a continuation bet, and Pauly quickly called. The next card out was a Jack, and Jeremy thought for a very long time. He knew he was done with this hand and needed to exit well, so he waits a bit longer and checks. Pauly pushes out 1200 chips, and Jeremy thinks again. He needed Pauly to know he faced a tough decision. Jeremy lays down his hand and Pauly tossed his nines face up on the table.

An hour later the table had lost Mr Dead money, and Pauly had the chiplead. Interestingly, he took a large pot off of stooge, who was left with scraps. Jeremy played patiently, taking one hand from Goggles on a turned flush and one from Silver on a stone cold bluff. Jeremy took great joy taking a pot from the champion. He wanted Silver mean...angry people make hasty decisions on the poker table. If he couldn't induce fear, then hatred was the next best thing. Table 2 had been a little louder than table 1 with a lot more action at the table. Two people were already out there, and Hop was nursing a short stack.

Jeremy was in the big blind with 89 off-suit. All the players fold to Goggles, who nursed a semi-short stack. He had been nervously shifting in his chair an hour. Either he had to pee or he was having an epileptic fit. No one seemed to notice though. He looked over to Jeremy's stack and calls the blind. The Shiner calls and Jeremy checks behind.

The flop came out with two spades Jack Ten and a red 7. Jeremy flopped the straight. Both Goggles and Shiner check and Jeremy checked behind. The King of hearts came out next and both Goggles and Shiner check again. Jeremy bet about half the pot. He wanted it to look like a steal, but he also wanted any drawing hand to pay. The half pot bet represented most of Goggles stack. Goggles thought long and started talking to Jeremy. "You getta pietsh of that?" as a white piece of spittle gathered on the left corner of his mouth. He was rocking back and forth, muttering, looking like he was going to launch himself from the seat at any moment.

The table was quiet besides Goggles, Silver looked intently at Jeremy....Jeremy peered over to Goggles, and said "Yes, I do." this was exactly what Goggles needed to hear, he pushed his chips in...'I'm drawing' he said and showed the Queen and seven of spades. Jeremy looked to the felt and showed his straight. He did not want to see the river until everyone else had.

The five of clubs scares him for about half a second, then Goggles stood up, insisting (asking if) it was a good call. Jeremy nods, "yes, you had to call that" he lied.

Finally, the players got a break. Jeremy was much more comfortable now. He stretched his legs and wandered over to the bar. Hop, was waiting on a drink, and the men exchanged looks. Hop spoke first, "You're playing well." He was sincere, but the statement was tinged with contempt. Jeremy glanced to Hop's spot at table 2. "Hang in there, your fine." Hop replied quietly, "I am as long as your in." Jeremy didn't acknowledge the statement, but he knew Hop was right.

The players were seated again, there were 16 left.

Jeremy began to work again. He decided to open up a bit and try to bust Silver. Silver was no push over. He had a keen mind and incredible intuition. The problem this night was two-fold. Silver was not getting cards, and Jeremy was determined to bust him soon.

It didn't take long for Jeremy to get his chance. He stole the first two pots after the break with no resistance. On the third hand Silver had the big blind, and Jeremy looked down at two Queens. Everyone folded to Jeremy, and once again he put out a pot stealing raise. The same amount he had used on the previous hands, about 3 times Silver's blind. Silver looked down at his cards and thought for a very long time as he looked intently at Jeremy.

Jeremy decided to look at Silver, and return his gaze. He hoped Silver read his strength as a tell. Silver still sat, thoughtful. He was going to put a move on Jeremy. "All in" he said. It sounded like a bull-horn in Jeremy's head. Silver took the bait, and he couldn't believe it. Jeremy called and Silver's Aces hit the felt before Jeremy could push his chips in.

Jeremy was stunned. This would cripple him mightily and make him the short stack. Jeremy closed his eyes and sat back, exhaling into the chair. The dealer sat forward and dealt the flop. Jeremy could not see the felt, the large tattooed dealer blocked Jeremy's line of sight. It didn't really matter, until Jeremy saw the reaction. The whole table deflated in a gasp, and Jeremy sat up and saw the queen. He just sucked out on the best poker player in the world.

Silver looked into his chest and sort of melted into the chair for a minute until he was able to gather his dignity and stand up from the table. He took his loss well, stepping up and looking over to Jeremy. "Nice catch" he said genuinely. All Jeremy could to is nod, looking at Silver with a hint of sadness. "Horrible way to go out" said Jeremy, and that was it.

There were only 13 players left now. The action would ramp up now as the short stacks had to make a stand with what they could get. Jeremy didn't play a hand for a long time. Jimmy took out the stooge, then the kid took out Jimmy on consecutive hands. The tables were going to combine soon, there were 3 players standing up looking at table 2, and a huge mound of chips in the middle.

The board showed the Three of hearts, Six of spades, Queen of hearts, and three of diamonds. Hop was all-in, and the other two players had just gone all-in, creating a side pot. The woman in the 9 seat showed her cards first, she turned a Queen high full house, the second player tabled his Aces, and Hop, looked back at his cards again and produced two black threes scooping the biggest pot of the night. The woman in the 9-seat, Dalia, was glaring in Hop's direction as she scooped the remaining chip stack. It was break time again.

The final table had to be redrawn. Jeremy sat in the 4 seat, between the shiner on his right again, and Hop directly on his left. Certainly not the best place for Jeremy to be.

In the first seat was Dawn Sumners, an internet professional. She was widely known as being connected with the board at Full Hit poker, the most popular gaming site in the world. Fortunately for the table, she was nursing the short stack.

Seat 2 was Anna Kotsfeild, preeminent math professor and author of "Assessing your Odds: A Poker Tutorial," She had been playing sparingly, with only a few more chips than she started with. The blinds were going to start catching up to her soon.

Pauly was in the 6 seat. Followed by the kid and Einstein.

In seat 9 was Dalia, still steaming at Hop for busting her full house.

In seat 10 was a man unknown to Jeremy, but he seemed to also know Pauly. He was well dressed and quiet. Jeremy labeled him as the Ghost.

Action began on the first hand as Dawn pushed all her chips in blind. Hop called with Jack Ten of clubs then the kid called with two sixes. action folded back to Anna, and she pushed. Both Hop and the kid were forced to fold. Anna came up with Kings and took out the first player at the final table on the very first hand.

The very next hand Pauly and the ghost went all-in pre-flop. Pauly's Tens held up versus the ghost's King and Queen of clubs on a raggy flop. Just like that, they were left with 8 players.

The table settled into a more predictable cadence of pre-flop folding to raises or all-ins until Jeremy got his chance. Sitting in the big blind, he was dealt two Kings, a very favorable position that was rewarded when 3 players, including Hop, limped in. Jeremy wasted no time, the pot was big enough and he did not want an inferior had with an ace to be willing to call.

Jeremy pushed his chips towards the pot, Hop thought, but not too long and folded his hand. The kid decided to call off his remaining chips with Jacks. The kid got no help from the flop and was out in 8th place.

Not long afterwards, Einstein went all in in front of the shiner and Jeremy. The shiner was uncomfortable and frustrated. He had not been able to play many cards at the final table, and slapped his cards down in front of the dealer. Jeremy peeked below his thumb, two red Jacks. He had Einstein covered, and called. He knew Einstein was capable of making his move on a wide range of cards, so it was an easy call. Once again, Jeremy held the higher pair to Einstein's Eights and was rewarded.

Despite the results, Jeremy was still behind Hop's huge stack. Hop had continued his aggression and stole several blinds, even one from Jeremy.

Pauly had only won one pot so far, almost an hour on the final table. The blinds were getting very big and an ante had been introduced.

Under the gun, Pauly went all in and the action folded to Anna, she called, Jeremy and Hop mucked their cards. Pauly proudly produced black aces and Anna tabled her Ace and Queen of hearts. As Pauly quietly chucked the dealer flopped three hearts.

Pauly stood over the board and sucked in his breath. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT SHIT!!!" he bellowed to the dealer. "WHAT KIND OF FUCKING SHUFFLE IS THIS??? YOU"VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME YOU MISERABLE FUCK" Pauly is now hunched over the table, getting his face as close to the dealer as he could.

The two large tattooed men at the bar came over to pull Pauly back. Pauly screamed at the top of his lungs "YOU FUCKING PUNK, YOU STACKED THAT DECK!!!" The two men pulled Pauly back toward the bar and a man came from the kitchen wearing an apron. The man walked purposely over to Pauly and punched him deep in the belly. The air sucked audibly from Pauly's lungs and the man in the apron placed his arm around Pauly and pulled close to his ear. He whispered quickly to Pauly and Pauly regained his composure. Then the man in the apron strolled back to the kitchen and Pauly rested on a barstool.

After a few more hands, Dalia doubled her short stack off of Hop, and was outwardly pleased with herself. Hop glared in her direction as says "Don't get to excited there girl" and play resumes.

The shiner opened up the next hand with a conservative bet and was called by Hop. The flop was King and four of hearts and a Queen of spades. Both the shiner and Hop checked and the turn was a Jack of diamonds. Once again the shiner checked to Hop, and Jeremy could smell a trap. Hop took the bait and lead out about half the pot. The shiner called and the river was another 4. The shiner immediately went all in and Hop had a lot to think about. Finally he quietly said "call", and the shiner said "good call." The shiner had been making a move the whole time, and flipped over an ace high. Hop showed an amazed table the hand he picked to go to war with... pocket threes. Truly an amazing call.

Down to four, Hop was in control with a large stack of chips, Jeremy was a not so distant second with Anna in third and Dalia still with a small stack. Several hands in Dalia made her stand with Ace Nine and Jeremy was happy to call with pocket Kings. Again Kings held up for Jeremy, a dejected Dalia slinked away from the table.

Anna still had a decent stack of chips but needed to make a move to have any chance of winning. The blinds were so high she could only cover about 6 big blinds. She put all of her chips out against another steal attempt by Hop. He took her out with King Jack versus her Jack Ten.

Finally, they were at the breaking point. Jeremy knew what had to happen now. Take a dive or die. Hop would never let him leave here with the money. Hop was the only man in the world Jeremy was afraid of. Blood was a dangerous thing. It was all clear, the setup was too perfect and Jeremy never even saw it coming. This game, the money, the connections coming out of the wood work, the competition. Every thing stacked together for him, just to fall on top of him.

He had played perfectly. Patient, deliberate, open. He had to find a way to to leave this place alive. Money didn't matter now. He could go away, disappear if he needed to. Jeremy only wanted to leave here on his feet, instead of in someones trunk.

Hop looked at Jeremy and said "Chop?" with a smile on his face. Jeremy couldn't believe what he had just heard. He gingerly cleared his throat, "what?"

Hop said it again "You want to chop?" He was serious, and looked directly at Jeremy. "If I can't forgive my own brother, what kind of person does that make me? You think I was gonna kill you did you?" Then the two men shared a laugh for the first time in years.

The Salami game.

The Salami Game (1st revision)


It was 7:05 and our hero was running late. He was speeding through the streets of the busiest city in the world without the slightest clue of his destination. It was somewhat cold and dark, but busy and alive with people and light.

Jeremy just had to get out of the car. He was sure he was lost and just wanted to walk now. Maybe if he could walk it would get his mind moving in the right direction. The air would have a calming effect to it. "Breathe," he said at a whisper. Finally he received the message. The news was good, he was only a few minutes from the game.

He jumped out of the cab with a few minutes to spare and peeled two twenty dollar bills out of his large roll. "Keep it," Jeremy said. Knowing this was a paltry sum considering what he was about to do.

Jeremy met the contact just outside the room. This was it, the biggest game he'd ever heard of. He flipped the man another wad of bills... a finders fee. Now was the moment. He knew once he hit the doorbell, it was going to be one of two things. He would get fleeced or he'd walk away a very rich man.

Losing wasn't really an option for Jeremy, you see. He had markers all over the place. The last vestige.....desperation. He was playing with borrowed time and borrowed money. He felt unattached from everything. Like the only real part of him had already become disconnected from the real world.

He felt his eyeballs float to the camera, and his left index finger, warm from his pocket, push against the bell. First came the buzz, and he walked into the dark corridor. As the harsh fluorescents lit up the room, he felt a two hands on his outer thighs, but he did not dare move.

"Weapon?" the harsh voice said, Jeremy looked directly at the wall inches from his nose and shook his head. He knew this treatment was procedure, and he dealt with it. The doorman finished his job quickly, there were more guests arriving.

Jeremy walked into the smallish room, there were several men sitting at a felted table, talking and watching television. Each man had a clear plastic case in front of him. Each case lined with three rows of clay poker chips....red, white and black. In the back of the room three men cooked what smelled like pasta in the kitchen. The air heavy with the smell of garlic.

Jeremy looked to the left and saw a face he recognized, but neither man registered it with each other. Jeremy began to feel a burning in the pit of his stomach. "What the fuck is HE doing here?" He thought to himself. There was no turning around now. Maybe, he thought, "I can find away around him."

Jeremy looked to the right and saw a large tattooed man looking straight through him.
"Buy in," the man said through a thick Italian accent. Jeremy moved closer to the man and began unloading his ankle length coat. He slowly pulled 50 stacks of bills from the inside pockets, then he produced the chip.

The chip was nothing like anyone has seen inside a casino. The chip had a weight to it, and it made a distinct sound when Jeremy tossed it gently onto the table. Everyone in the room knew what that sound meant. There was a ringer in their midst, one who could topple the biggest game in the world. For a full minute there was an uncomfortable silence as all the men, save one, looked in Jeremy's direction. He could smell the fear, but did not turn his head or change expression.

Finally, the one man who was not looking in Jeremy's direction stood. Tall, tanned, and grey-haired, the gentleman filled out a waist length silk shirt. The man walked to a spot within inches of Jeremy's face. Jeremy felt the cold gaze of everyone in the room, then the man's stare slowly began to warm into a smile. The other players began to turn away, and the man said to Jeremy, "You are welcome here, I am Pauly. You take care." The last three words spoken as if Pauly was whispering to himself.

Jeremy's mind raced, but he was numb with fear, elation and anticipation. One thing he had to do was get his head straight. He began an inner dialog. "Ok, breathe. These people are worse than dogs. They can smell fear straight through the garlic and expensive cologne. I'm so fucking hungry I can't see straight. Just push it out of your mind....clear it all. Start getting your targets, this is the best time to get a read. The guard is down, and I now have the biggest target on my back. They ALL want to bust me, I have to make that work"

After a few more minutes, the game was set to begin. There were twenty entrants, twenty of the richest and the best. Twenty million reasons to be as focused as one could possibly be. The format was easy, winner take all, freezeout. Once you were out, you were out...period.

The cards were drawn and players took their seats. Jeremy sat on the first table in seat 10, to the right of the dealer. He felt like he had an advantage already. He didn't need to play a hand for awhile, since he was last on the table to post a blind. He would get a good sense of how these players were going to play.

In seat 1 was a young man, the Kid, barely 21. Jeremy could tell immediately this guy was good. It's just a sense a player gets from another player. The way they count their chips, The way they hold their head, what they do with their hands. This was important.

Good players can spot these tells. Forget what you hear about the eyes, and the jugular vein and all that shit. A real player can put you on a hand without even looking at you. Jeremy was such a player. No one was going to pick up anything on Jeremy unless HE wanted them to.

Seat 2 was an old 70ish man, a little sloppy. He hung in his chair like a dirty shirt. In the first hand he had almost half his chips in the pot on an obvious steal. He was loose, aggressive, and cocksure. Jeremy labeled him Einstein because of his disheveled appearance.

Seat 3 was a 30-something would be librarian. There was nothing in his appearance that was remarkable. His voice shook when he spoke, he had no business here. Dead Money

Seat 4 was Andrew Silver, a well known Poker professional. Jeremy thought he might possibly be the best player at the game. Calm, confident and bold.
In the 5 seat was Pauly, an obvious mob boss. He had silver-white hair and tight tanned skin on his face. He oosed confidence and leaked money, a good mark.

Seat 6 had been sitting next to Pauly when Jeremy walked in. They were together, Jeremy noticed. They could be team playing, but Jeremy couldn't worry about that...just watch it. Jeremy labeled him as stooge.

Seat 7 belonged to Ellard 'Jimmy' Carter, the Millionaire Playboy. Jeremy wasn't sure why Jimmy was here, he must know someone else at the game. Jimmy was tall, black, good looking, and loaded. His family ran 2 casinos, a hotel empire, and several media outlets. This game was too low profile for him.

In Seat 8 sat "Goggles" he wore coke bottle glasses and had a wandering eye. He spoke with an obvious lisp and was completely wild. Almost impossible to track. Jimmy suspected he was connected somehow and was there out of pity or in repayment of a debt.

Seat 9 held Hank "the shiner" Granderson. A high stakes poker specialist, and star of the hit cable series "Professional Poker." Jeremy was definitely glad to have the shiner in front of him. Jimmy would have to expect some tough play and for the shiner to use his image as a grinder to make different plays.

Jeremy was a virtual unknown. There was one person who knew Jeremy at the Salami game, it was Hop, the man he made eye contact with on the way in. Hop was seated at the other table. He wasn't supposed to be here, and his presence shook Jeremy to the core. He prayed someone would take out Hop before he had to.

Jeremy knew that the first hour or so of this tournament would have the most action. This game featured some of the largest egos on the planet. They would be tough to bluff and easy to trap, for the most part. Jeremy played his first hand out of the big blind. The action was folded to him on a raise by Einstein. Einstein had played nearly every hand so far, raising pre-flop and pounding post. Everyone had backed down to him so far. Jeremy looked down to two black tens. The raise was about 3 times the blinds, a standard raise. Jeremy knew a re-raise would be met with stiff opposition, So he thought for a minute and called.

The flop came Jack of clubs, Ten of hearts, Six of diamonds. Einstein stared at Jeremy, then wrapped his hand against the felt. Jeremy expected a bet from Einstein. This meant to Jeremy that Einstein has either a great drawing hand, a trap hand, or nothing. A check felt like a Draw to Jeremy. He checked behind giving the old man a chance to hang himself.. The turn came 8 of clubs and Einstein lead out this time. He put out a pot sized bet. Jeremy knew that Einstein was on a draw but had not filled it. Jeremy thought for another minute, he had not even looked in Einsteins direction, but he knew Einstein was staring him down. Jeremy looked up and deliberately pushed his chips into the middle. Einstein folded immediately, maybe he wasn't that loose.

Jeremy was still out of his body. His mind felt like it was floating a few feet over his head, totally aware...calm and open. He let his mind drift a bit as he folded his cards again. He had sent a message to the table. Stay out of my pots or be punished. He had yet to show a hand, but he controlled the table.

Jeremy began to daydream, his mind was starting to wander. The action bug, started to nip at his ego...'cmon man, do it....you can push these duds off of anything.' but the voice of reason was still awake. 'No reason to show anything yet. Pace yourself, bluffing is weakness until you show them you're not bluffing. Make them pay for their ignorance, not gain from yours.'

He snapped back, and the action was on him. Jeremy peaks at his cards, AK of different suits. "Raise, eight hundred", 4x the blinds. He just wanted to steal the blinds which sat in front of Pauly and his stooge. He did not want to tangle with Einstein again, and he definitely didn't want Silver to wake up with a hand.

Everyone folded to Pauly and he called after thinking for some time. The stooge got out of the way. The dealer flopped three small cards. Four of hearts, six of hearts and the nine of clubs. Jeremy threw out a continuation bet, and Pauly quickly called. The next card out was a Jack, and Jeremy thought for a very long time. He knew he was done with this hand and needed to exit well, so he waits a bit longer and checks. Pauly pushes out 1200 chips, and Jeremy thinks again. He needed Pauly to know he faced a tough decision. Jeremy lays down his hand and Pauly tossed his nines face up on the table.

An hour later the table had lost Mr Dead money, and Pauly had the chiplead. Interestingly, he took a large pot off of stooge, who was left with scraps. Jeremy played patiently, taking one hand from Goggles on a turned flush and one from Silver on a stone cold bluff. Jeremy took great joy taking a pot from the champion. He wanted Silver mean...angry people make hasty decisions on the poker table. If he couldn't induce fear, then hatred was the next best thing. Table 2 had been a little louder than table 1 with a lot more action at the table. Two people were already out there, and Hop was nursing a short stack.

Jeremy was in the big blind with 89 off-suit. All the players fold to Goggles, who nursed a semi-short stack. He had been nervously shifting in his chair an hour. Either he had to pee or he was having an epileptic fit. No one seemed to notice though. He looked over to Jeremy's stack and calls the blind. The Shiner calls and Jeremy checks behind.

The flop came out with two spades Jack Ten and a red 7. Jeremy flopped the straight. Both Goggles and Shiner check and Jeremy checked behind. The King of hearts came out next and both Goggles and Shiner check again. Jeremy bet about half the pot. He wanted it to look like a steal, but he also wanted any drawing hand to pay. The half pot bet represented most of Goggles stack. Goggles thought long and started talking to Jeremy. "You getta pietsh of that?" as a white piece of spittle gathered on the left corner of his mouth. He was rocking back and forth, muttering, looking like he was going to launch himself from the seat at any moment.

The table was quiet besides Goggles, Silver looked intently at Jeremy....Jeremy peered over to Goggles, and said "Yes, I do." this was exactly what Goggles needed to hear, he pushed his chips in...'I'm drawing' he said and showed the Queen and seven of spades. Jeremy looked to the felt and showed his straight. He did not want to see the river until everyone else had.

The five of clubs scares him for about half a second, then Goggles stood up, insisting (asking if) it was a good call. Jeremy nods, "yes, you had to call that" he lied.

Finally, the players got a break. Jeremy was much more comfortable now. He stretched his legs and wandered over to the bar. Hop, was waiting on a drink, and the men exchanged looks. Hop spoke first, "You're playing well." He was sincere, but the statement was tinged with contempt. Jeremy glanced to Hop's spot at table 2. "Hang in there, your fine." Hop replied quietly, "I am as long as your in." Jeremy didn't acknowledge the statement, but he knew Hop was right.

The players were seated again, there were 16 left.

Jeremy began to work again. He decided to open up a bit and try to bust Silver. Silver was no push over. He had a keen mind and incredible intuition. The problem this night was two-fold. Silver was not getting cards, and Jeremy was determined to bust him soon.

It didn't take long for Jeremy to get his chance. He stole the first two pots after the break with no resistance. On the third hand Silver had the big blind, and Jeremy looked down at two Queens. Everyone folded to Jeremy, and once again he put out a pot stealing raise. The same amount he had used on the previous hands, about 3 times Silver's blind. Silver looked down at his cards and thought for a very long time as he looked intently at Jeremy.

Jeremy decided to look at Silver, and return his gaze. He hoped Silver read his strength as a tell. Silver still sat, thoughtful. He was going to put a move on Jeremy. "All in" he said. It sounded like a bull-horn in Jeremy's head. Silver took the bait, and he couldn't believe it. Jeremy called and Silver's Aces hit the felt before Jeremy could push his chips in.

Jeremy was stunned. This would cripple him mightily and make him the short stack. Jeremy closed his eyes and sat back, exhaling into the chair. The dealer sat forward and dealt the flop. Jeremy could not see the felt, the large tattooed dealer blocked Jeremy's line of sight. It didn't really matter, until Jeremy saw the reaction. The whole table deflated in a gasp, and Jeremy sat up and saw the queen. He just sucked out on the best poker player in the world.

Silver looked into his chest and sort of melted into the chair for a minute until he was able to gather his dignity and stand up from the table. He took his loss well, stepping up and looking over to Jeremy. "Nice catch" he said genuinely. All Jeremy could to is nod, looking at Silver with a hint of sadness. "Horrible way to go out" said Jeremy, and that was it.

There were only 13 players left now. The action would ramp up now as the short stacks had to make a stand with what they could get. Jeremy didn't play a hand for a long time. Jimmy took out the stooge, then the kid took out Jimmy on consecutive hands. The tables were going to combine soon, there were 3 players standing up looking at table 2, and a huge mound of chips in the middle.

The board showed the Three of hearts, Six of spades, Queen of hearts, and three of diamonds. Hop was all-in, and the other two players had just gone all-in, creating a side pot. The woman in the 9 seat showed her cards first, she turned a Queen high full house, the second player tabled his Aces, and Hop, looked back at his cards again and produced two black threes scooping the biggest pot of the night. The woman in the 9-seat, Dalia, was glaring in Hop's direction as she scooped the remaining chip stack. It was break time again.

The final table had to be redrawn. Jeremy sat in the 4 seat, between the shiner on his right again, and Hop directly on his left. Certainly not the best place for Jeremy to be.

In the first seat was Dawn Sumners, an internet professional. She was widely known as being connected with the board at Full Hit poker, the most popular gaming site in the world. Fortunately for the table, she was nursing the short stack.

Seat 2 was Anna Kotsfeild, preeminent math professor and author of "Assessing your Odds: A Poker Tutorial," She had been playing sparingly, with only a few more chips than she started with. The blinds were going to start catching up to her soon.

Pauly was in the 6 seat. Followed by the kid and Einstein.

In seat 9 was Dalia, still steaming at Hop for busting her full house.

In seat 10 was a man unknown to Jeremy, but he seemed to also know Pauly. He was well dressed and quiet. Jeremy labeled him as the Ghost.

Action began on the first hand as Dawn pushed all her chips in blind. Hop called with Jack Ten of clubs then the kid called with two sixes. action folded back to Anna, and she pushed. Both Hop and the kid were forced to fold. Anna came up with Kings and took out the first player at the final table on the very first hand.

The very next hand Pauly and the ghost went all-in pre-flop. Pauly's Tens held up versus the ghost's King and Queen of clubs on a raggy flop. Just like that, they were left with 8 players.

The table settled into a more predictable cadence of pre-flop folding to raises or all-ins until Jeremy got his chance. Sitting in the big blind, he was dealt two Kings, a very favorable position that was rewarded when 3 players, including Hop, limped in. Jeremy wasted no time, the pot was big enough and he did not want an inferior had with an ace to be willing to call.

Jeremy pushed his chips towards the pot, Hop thought, but not too long and folded his hand. The kid decided to call off his remaining chips with Jacks. The kid got no help from the flop and was out in 8th place.

Not long afterwards, Einstein went all in in front of the shiner and Jeremy. The shiner was uncomfortable and frustrated. He had not been able to play many cards at the final table, and slapped his cards down in front of the dealer. Jeremy peeked below his thumb, two red Jacks. He had Einstein covered, and called. He knew Einstein was capable of making his move on a wide range of cards, so it was an easy call. Once again, Jeremy held the higher pair to Einstein's Eights and was rewarded.

Despite the results, Jeremy was still behind Hop's huge stack. Hop had continued his aggression and stole several blinds, even one from Jeremy.

Pauly had only won one pot so far, almost an hour on the final table. The blinds were getting very big and an ante had been introduced.

Under the gun, Pauly went all in and the action folded to Anna, she called, Jeremy and Hop mucked their cards. Pauly proudly produced black aces and Anna tabled her Ace and Queen of hearts. As Pauly quietly chucked the dealer flopped three hearts.

Pauly stood over the board and sucked in his breath. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT SHIT!!!" he bellowed to the dealer. "WHAT KIND OF FUCKING SHUFFLE IS THIS??? YOU"VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME YOU MISERABLE FUCK" Pauly is now hunched over the table, getting his face as close to the dealer as he could.

The two large tattooed men at the bar came over to pull Pauly back. Pauly screamed at the top of his lungs "YOU FUCKING PUNK, YOU STACKED THAT DECK!!!" The two men pulled Pauly back toward the bar and a man came from the kitchen wearing an apron. The man walked purposely over to Pauly and punched him deep in the belly. The air sucked audibly from Pauly's lungs and the man in the apron placed his arm around Pauly and pulled close to his ear. He whispered quickly to Pauly and Pauly regained his composure. Then the man in the apron strolled back to the kitchen and Pauly rested on a barstool.

After a few more hands, Dalia doubled her short stack off of Hop, and was outwardly pleased with herself. Hop glared in her direction as says "Don't get to excited there girl" and play resumes.

The shiner opened up the next hand with a conservative bet and was called by Hop. The flop was King and four of hearts and a Queen of spades. Both the shiner and Hop checked and the turn was a Jack of diamonds. Once again the shiner checked to Hop, and Jeremy could smell a trap. Hop took the bait and lead out about half the pot. The shiner called and the river was another 4. The shiner immediately went all in and Hop had a lot to think about. Finally he quietly said "call", and the shiner said "good call." The shiner had been making a move the whole time, and flipped over an ace high. Hop showed an amazed table the hand he picked to go to war with... pocket threes. Truly an amazing call.

Down to four, Hop was in control with a large stack of chips, Jeremy was a not so distant second with Anna in third and Dalia still with a small stack. Several hands in Dalia made her stand with Ace Nine and Jeremy was happy to call with pocket Kings. Again Kings held up for Jeremy, a dejected Dalia slinked away from the table.

Anna still had a decent stack of chips but needed to make a move to have any chance of winning. The blinds were so high she could only cover about 6 big blinds. She put all of her chips out against another steal attempt by Hop. He took her out with King Jack versus her Jack Ten.

Finally, they were at the breaking point. Jeremy knew what had to happen now. Take a dive or die. Hop would never let him leave here with the money. Hop was the only man in the world Jeremy was afraid of. Blood was a dangerous thing. It was all clear, the setup was too perfect and Jeremy never even saw it coming. This game, the money, the connections coming out of the wood work, the competition. Every thing stacked together for him, just to fall on top of him.

He had played perfectly. Patient, deliberate, open. He had to find a way to to leave this place alive. Money didn't matter now. He could go away, disappear if he needed to. Jeremy only wanted to leave here on his feet, instead of in someones trunk.

Hop looked at Jeremy and said "Chop?" with a smile on his face. Jeremy couldn't believe what he had just heard. He gingerly cleared his throat, "what?"

Hop said it again "You want to chop?" He was serious, and looked directly at Jeremy. "If I can't forgive my own brother, what kind of person does that make me? You think I was gonna kill you did you?" Then the two men shared a laugh for the first time in years.

pay no attention

to the man behind the curtain.

I've got to challenge myself, not fold under the pressure. I've got something cooking with another blogger which may be fun. Maybe we can recruit some others who share our position.

Nearly stuck and running bad.

I just deleted everything else in this and kept Brain's nice comment.

I'm trying to finish it now. Writing is hard.

Oh, and I just found out the wife is goin out with her mom instead of me. Should I be worried? nah I get to play poker tonight! I'll be racing for tokens and playing some low limit SNG's and MTT's on FT wish me luck.

pay no attention

to the man behind the curtain.

I've got to challenge myself, not fold under the pressure. I've got something cooking with another blogger which may be fun. Maybe we can recruit some others who share our position.

Nearly stuck and running bad.

I just deleted everything else in this and kept Brain's nice comment.

I'm trying to finish it now. Writing is hard.

Oh, and I just found out the wife is goin out with her mom instead of me. Should I be worried? nah I get to play poker tonight! I'll be racing for tokens and playing some low limit SNG's and MTT's on FT wish me luck.

Lazy

Damn I'm a lazy bastard. I's still 'working' on my NY post which actually involves poker. Now I'm a week away from it, but its still a fun story..

I managed to get online last night and play in CC's Thursday tournament. I played really bad, pushing AKo against TT on a shit board. That's two blogger tourneys in a row I pushed knowing I was behind and not caring......anyway.

It all feels like fake money these days...until your stuck.

I managed to get some fundage in PS using a secret system developed by the Canadian mafia.

I played some 2/4NL with CC and Fuel It was strange when someone joined the game and said he knew who we were and read all of our blogs......I've actually never been told that by a non blogger. He (or she) was rocky and disappeared without another word several hands later. I played much better here doing my best Fuel impression and playing my hands hard and aggressive. I ramped up to 1100 on a fantastic run of cards and managed to whittle it back down to ~250 ...I stayed patient though and stacked the the guy who took about 400 off of me in one hand. I got it back up to about 890-ish before the table dispersed. I played a 2 table SNG as well and got 2nd in that. It sure is nice to double your bankroll in one session. My thanks goes to the Canadian mafia, enjoy your juice.

Poker craziness TONIGHT

It is the Monthly poker tournament for the Neighborhood. I am hosting it at my house instead of the clubhouse cause the woman who is in charge of booking events there is either A) A complete moron or B) A frigid hateful bitch C) All of the above. I'm gonna have to go with C. I don't mind playing at my house except for the fact that I've got to get the damn 300 pound table from the clubhouse. Hopefully the my buddy Dutch Oven will help me out with that. There will be a guest blogger at the event George is making the trip from Mayretta to the boonies to sling ships with the donks. It should be a hoot. If any other ATLiens want to come, then drop me a line. We start around 8. 23skidoo@ GEE!MAIL! .com

Lazy

Damn I'm a lazy bastard. I's still 'working' on my NY post which actually involves poker. Now I'm a week away from it, but its still a fun story..

I managed to get online last night and play in CC's Thursday tournament. I played really bad, pushing AKo against TT on a shit board. That's two blogger tourneys in a row I pushed knowing I was behind and not caring......anyway.

It all feels like fake money these days...until your stuck.

I managed to get some fundage in PS using a secret system developed by the Canadian mafia.

I played some 2/4NL with CC and Fuel It was strange when someone joined the game and said he knew who we were and read all of our blogs......I've actually never been told that by a non blogger. He (or she) was rocky and disappeared without another word several hands later. I played much better here doing my best Fuel impression and playing my hands hard and aggressive. I ramped up to 1100 on a fantastic run of cards and managed to whittle it back down to ~250 ...I stayed patient though and stacked the the guy who took about 400 off of me in one hand. I got it back up to about 890-ish before the table dispersed. I played a 2 table SNG as well and got 2nd in that. It sure is nice to double your bankroll in one session. My thanks goes to the Canadian mafia, enjoy your juice.

Poker craziness TONIGHT

It is the Monthly poker tournament for the Neighborhood. I am hosting it at my house instead of the clubhouse cause the woman who is in charge of booking events there is either A) A complete moron or B) A frigid hateful bitch C) All of the above. I'm gonna have to go with C. I don't mind playing at my house except for the fact that I've got to get the damn 300 pound table from the clubhouse. Hopefully the my buddy Dutch Oven will help me out with that. There will be a guest blogger at the event George is making the trip from Mayretta to the boonies to sling ships with the donks. It should be a hoot. If any other ATLiens want to come, then drop me a line. We start around 8. 23skidoo@ GEE!MAIL! .com

I like New York in ....February

How about you?

Thursday morning was going to suck, there was just no two way around it. I booked the earliest flight out of Atlanta at 7:05am, not a huge issue except taking into consideration that even on a good day, I am about 1.5 hours form the airport. Add to that the fact that the airport recommends (even on the earliest flight) to be at the airport 1.5 hours prior to the flight. Again, not a huge issue remembering this happens to be the busiest airport in the world. Now the kicker is the weather.

If you live in or have visited the south, you have enjoyed some of the best weather in the country (IMHO). Though the one thing we do not have a grasp on down here is snow and ice. Southerners (especially ATLiens) freak the fuck out when it comes to snow and ice in the forecast. Please don't ask me why, but this place turns into utter gridlock and stupidity at the drop of a flake. People rush to the grocery store to stock up on canned goods, the Home Depot is crowded with folks stocking up on kerosene and buying generators. What people don't seem to realize is that unless there is a MAJOR ice storm (last one I remember was over 10 years ago) the roads stay bad for maybe a day. But, no... the weathermen crowd the airways with snowstorm this and icy conditions that at even the HINT of snow. Well, Thursday was to be such a day. This was bound to add to the stupidity. I now had to plan on being up at 4am for my 7am flight.

Wednesday night I get home, pack the bags and hang with the wife for a bit. Around 10 I go to check the flight and check in online. Well, imagine my surprise when the flight is displayed as canceled. I check Delta's front page and they have a post that ATL has preemptively canceled some early flights for the POSSIBILITY of snow. Travel tilt has begun and I haven't even gotten in the car. Of course, they can offer no further information on the web, and I am forced to call the help line. This is my second fairly large project with my new company and I have been employed for just over a week. I HAVE to get to NY and a weekend trip is out of the question. Needless to say I'm a little stressed at this point, and after 20 minutes of elevator music, I am fully prepared to pop the first person I speak to in the testicles.

I forget the totally fake name of the operator, something like Gerald, but I press him for information as he politely and slowly gets the information I need. I keep my cool and find out that my flight has been moved to 8:15, and I can check in online. I keep 'Gerald' on the line as I do so.

Now, one would think that this means 'yay, I get to sleep for another hour!' one who thinks that has never been to Atlanta. Essentially, traffic blows mud between the hours of 7 and 7. It literally sucks to go anywhere, seriously. If you are thinking about moving to Atlanta, please lobotomize yourself first; it will be better for all of us. I generously give myself another 20 minutes, so I can set my alarm to the uber trendy 4:20.

I arrive to the airport with 1.5 hours to spare, and get to my gate about 10 minutes later. So much for being prepared, but it beats being late. I proceed to play some cards over WiFi CC style and donk off about $20 playing .50/1.

The rest of the journey is event free and we arrive in the NY office around noon after scarfing down some NY style pizza. YUM, I don't know if its a mental thing, but the pizza in NY is far superior to any pizza anywhere else.

The New York office to put it lightly is a clusterfuck. It's obviously suffering from neglect as they have not had a dedicated systems person there for awhile. We set to work, my assistant and the consultant work on the clients and I poke around server side to get an idea of whats up and set up a new server. We work furiously through 6:30, and I'm really itching to get out of there.

I had been e-mailing Jordan back and forth and he knew of a game we could get into at 7:30. I was starting to push it. My co-workers were heading back to ATL and were leaving soon. I was staying behind to deal with the certain shitstorm the next day in the office. My first priority was hitting this game with Jordan, sleep and hunger be damned.

I managed to get a cab heading towards midtown, and I had an interesting exchange with the driver. The last e-mail I received from Jordan gave me the corner the driver could drop me off. It was something and Houston. I told the driver the intersection and he had no idea what I was talking about. I slowly said the street names again thinking he just didn't hear me, but no, he had no idea where Houston street was. I tell him to just go that direction so I can get in touch with Jordan to confirm the street. I try to call, and realize I have the wrong number in my phone. Luckily for me Jordan had at the same time been leaving me a message on my phone with directions and his number. Listening to the message, he pronounces Houston as HOW-STON, being a good southerner, I was telling the driver HUGH-STON doh! I correct the pronunciation and the driver is now clear. I correct the number in my phone and call Jordan when I am dropped off.

We flag each other down as I'm in the middle of the intersection and we are off.

OK that's enough for now, I guess I will actually get to some poker in the next post.

I like New York in ....February

How about you?

Thursday morning was going to suck, there was just no two way around it. I booked the earliest flight out of Atlanta at 7:05am, not a huge issue except taking into consideration that even on a good day, I am about 1.5 hours form the airport. Add to that the fact that the airport recommends (even on the earliest flight) to be at the airport 1.5 hours prior to the flight. Again, not a huge issue remembering this happens to be the busiest airport in the world. Now the kicker is the weather.

If you live in or have visited the south, you have enjoyed some of the best weather in the country (IMHO). Though the one thing we do not have a grasp on down here is snow and ice. Southerners (especially ATLiens) freak the fuck out when it comes to snow and ice in the forecast. Please don't ask me why, but this place turns into utter gridlock and stupidity at the drop of a flake. People rush to the grocery store to stock up on canned goods, the Home Depot is crowded with folks stocking up on kerosene and buying generators. What people don't seem to realize is that unless there is a MAJOR ice storm (last one I remember was over 10 years ago) the roads stay bad for maybe a day. But, no... the weathermen crowd the airways with snowstorm this and icy conditions that at even the HINT of snow. Well, Thursday was to be such a day. This was bound to add to the stupidity. I now had to plan on being up at 4am for my 7am flight.

Wednesday night I get home, pack the bags and hang with the wife for a bit. Around 10 I go to check the flight and check in online. Well, imagine my surprise when the flight is displayed as canceled. I check Delta's front page and they have a post that ATL has preemptively canceled some early flights for the POSSIBILITY of snow. Travel tilt has begun and I haven't even gotten in the car. Of course, they can offer no further information on the web, and I am forced to call the help line. This is my second fairly large project with my new company and I have been employed for just over a week. I HAVE to get to NY and a weekend trip is out of the question. Needless to say I'm a little stressed at this point, and after 20 minutes of elevator music, I am fully prepared to pop the first person I speak to in the testicles.

I forget the totally fake name of the operator, something like Gerald, but I press him for information as he politely and slowly gets the information I need. I keep my cool and find out that my flight has been moved to 8:15, and I can check in online. I keep 'Gerald' on the line as I do so.

Now, one would think that this means 'yay, I get to sleep for another hour!' one who thinks that has never been to Atlanta. Essentially, traffic blows mud between the hours of 7 and 7. It literally sucks to go anywhere, seriously. If you are thinking about moving to Atlanta, please lobotomize yourself first; it will be better for all of us. I generously give myself another 20 minutes, so I can set my alarm to the uber trendy 4:20.

I arrive to the airport with 1.5 hours to spare, and get to my gate about 10 minutes later. So much for being prepared, but it beats being late. I proceed to play some cards over WiFi CC style and donk off about $20 playing .50/1.

The rest of the journey is event free and we arrive in the NY office around noon after scarfing down some NY style pizza. YUM, I don't know if its a mental thing, but the pizza in NY is far superior to any pizza anywhere else.

The New York office to put it lightly is a clusterfuck. It's obviously suffering from neglect as they have not had a dedicated systems person there for awhile. We set to work, my assistant and the consultant work on the clients and I poke around server side to get an idea of whats up and set up a new server. We work furiously through 6:30, and I'm really itching to get out of there.

I had been e-mailing Jordan back and forth and he knew of a game we could get into at 7:30. I was starting to push it. My co-workers were heading back to ATL and were leaving soon. I was staying behind to deal with the certain shitstorm the next day in the office. My first priority was hitting this game with Jordan, sleep and hunger be damned.

I managed to get a cab heading towards midtown, and I had an interesting exchange with the driver. The last e-mail I received from Jordan gave me the corner the driver could drop me off. It was something and Houston. I told the driver the intersection and he had no idea what I was talking about. I slowly said the street names again thinking he just didn't hear me, but no, he had no idea where Houston street was. I tell him to just go that direction so I can get in touch with Jordan to confirm the street. I try to call, and realize I have the wrong number in my phone. Luckily for me Jordan had at the same time been leaving me a message on my phone with directions and his number. Listening to the message, he pronounces Houston as HOW-STON, being a good southerner, I was telling the driver HUGH-STON doh! I correct the pronunciation and the driver is now clear. I correct the number in my phone and call Jordan when I am dropped off.

We flag each other down as I'm in the middle of the intersection and we are off.

OK that's enough for now, I guess I will actually get to some poker in the next post.

Ch ch ch changes

All right, I had a lazy blogger January in attempt to get some perspective on my goals, but first some background to my decisions.

As I have alluded to in the past, I am somewhat of a busy body when it comes to working. I get bored very easily and have luckily chosen a career (IT) that keeps things challenging in most cases. I was not very happy with my last position for most of my time there. I had thought working as a cog in a larger company would have some benefits in specialty. About 6 months onto my employment I had pretty much done what I needed to do and switched into baby-sitting mode.
Fast forward 1 year and I'm on the market again looking for something perfect. I knew this was folly, but I didn't want to make a sideways move for the sake of moving. I was comfortable (placating my mean lazy streak) and occasionally challenged to fix things. Another 6 months go by and I start getting surly and uninspired....I needed to go.
I put some feelers out again, look up a headhunter that I have used before, and tell my geek buddies that I'm looking. I get an immediate response from one good friend who also runs a small consulting business. Dave tells me about a client of his who needs a full time IT director. Dave has done a good bit of work for them, but they need more. His first and only referral is me.
The position is a bit over my documented experience since I have done very little (none) managerial type duties since my first job with a very small company. However Dave's word carries a bit of weight with them, and the applicants they've gotten have been less than stellar.

In the initial interview we do the Title and Salary wrangle, which is a good sign. Although, it is extremely hard to get paid in IT when your function isn't directly generating revenue. This is by no means an IT company, so I have to draw a line in the sand that they aren't thrilled with. The job also doubles my commute, which I am not thrilled with. I am thrice interviewed and loved by all, so we go back to negotiating. They have dropped the director and added manager, which doesn't really bother me as long as I get paid, though they obviously don't want to pay director money to someone without director experience....blah blah blah... Long story short, I give a little and take the job.

My previous company didn't particularly cry when I informed them, it wasn't much of a shock since I made sure at every possible chance to let them know I was bored and underutilized.

So, I've been here now just over a week and things have been about as hectic as I thought. This place is a bit of a mess, and New York belongs in a post of its own.

So, my goals this year are fairly simple giving the change to my schedule and the ongoing issue of funding a poker account.

GOALS

1. Don't go broke. - This will be my biggest challenge since I tend to win, then donk and reload on a fairly regular basis.
2. Win the Mookie and at least one WPBT event. - These are the only regular blogger tournaments I have not won. I won't count the DON's Big Game.
3. Attend a sanctioned blogger event. I'd really like to put some faces to names at some point. I need to win enough money to get to Vegas this summer, another big challenge tied to #1 goal.

That's it! fairly simple since I have never really set any true goals for myself.

Thanks for stopping by and I will follow this soon (hopefully) with my New York trip report, meeting Jordan and DAWN, and taking down (splitting) my first Hold'em tournament outside Georgia.

Ch ch ch changes

All right, I had a lazy blogger January in attempt to get some perspective on my goals, but first some background to my decisions.

As I have alluded to in the past, I am somewhat of a busy body when it comes to working. I get bored very easily and have luckily chosen a career (IT) that keeps things challenging in most cases. I was not very happy with my last position for most of my time there. I had thought working as a cog in a larger company would have some benefits in specialty. About 6 months onto my employment I had pretty much done what I needed to do and switched into baby-sitting mode.
Fast forward 1 year and I'm on the market again looking for something perfect. I knew this was folly, but I didn't want to make a sideways move for the sake of moving. I was comfortable (placating my mean lazy streak) and occasionally challenged to fix things. Another 6 months go by and I start getting surly and uninspired....I needed to go.
I put some feelers out again, look up a headhunter that I have used before, and tell my geek buddies that I'm looking. I get an immediate response from one good friend who also runs a small consulting business. Dave tells me about a client of his who needs a full time IT director. Dave has done a good bit of work for them, but they need more. His first and only referral is me.
The position is a bit over my documented experience since I have done very little (none) managerial type duties since my first job with a very small company. However Dave's word carries a bit of weight with them, and the applicants they've gotten have been less than stellar.

In the initial interview we do the Title and Salary wrangle, which is a good sign. Although, it is extremely hard to get paid in IT when your function isn't directly generating revenue. This is by no means an IT company, so I have to draw a line in the sand that they aren't thrilled with. The job also doubles my commute, which I am not thrilled with. I am thrice interviewed and loved by all, so we go back to negotiating. They have dropped the director and added manager, which doesn't really bother me as long as I get paid, though they obviously don't want to pay director money to someone without director experience....blah blah blah... Long story short, I give a little and take the job.

My previous company didn't particularly cry when I informed them, it wasn't much of a shock since I made sure at every possible chance to let them know I was bored and underutilized.

So, I've been here now just over a week and things have been about as hectic as I thought. This place is a bit of a mess, and New York belongs in a post of its own.

So, my goals this year are fairly simple giving the change to my schedule and the ongoing issue of funding a poker account.

GOALS

1. Don't go broke. - This will be my biggest challenge since I tend to win, then donk and reload on a fairly regular basis.
2. Win the Mookie and at least one WPBT event. - These are the only regular blogger tournaments I have not won. I won't count the DON's Big Game.
3. Attend a sanctioned blogger event. I'd really like to put some faces to names at some point. I need to win enough money to get to Vegas this summer, another big challenge tied to #1 goal.

That's it! fairly simple since I have never really set any true goals for myself.

Thanks for stopping by and I will follow this soon (hopefully) with my New York trip report, meeting Jordan and DAWN, and taking down (splitting) my first Hold'em tournament outside Georgia.