Friday, February 13, 2004

I wasn't able to play in the Omaha 8 tourney on Thursday. I can't believe I'm even saying this, but I have another cold! I sent Glenn out to play, and thought I would have the worst evening in the world. I was surfing around the web with a box of Kleenex in front of me, when fellow journal keeper Iggy accidentally messaged me. I thought it was kind of funny when he told me it was an accident, because just before that, hdouble (another journal keeper) had accidentally messaged me, too!

Anyway, Iggy and I started chatting, and proceeded to have a conversation that lasted for hours. We talked about a lot of different things, most of them included poker. Instead of a horrible evening, jealous that Glenn got to play a tournament and I didn't, I had a very nice evening with Iggy.

On Friday, I tried to rest up all day to be able to play in the tournament. It worked, I felt marginally better, and we set off for the Belle.

A subscriber to my journal, and fellow poster on UPF, Mark, had made reservations at the Belle and drove in from southern California. He approached me as I was standing at the poker room desk. We shook hands, and he said he would see me at the tournament, as he needed to go get something to eat with his wife.

Larry was seated at an Omaha game. He greeted me and told me he was sorry for being in such a bad mood on Tuesday. I told him it was okay, that I understood him better than he probably thought I did. Larry and I have a very good understanding of one another. He says I remind him of his daughter, and I think he is very similar to my father. My father comes off as aloof and uncaring, but there is something under that veneer which can be pried off and enjoyed for all it is worth. I find that in Larry, and no matter what image he chooses to portray in the poker room, I know that he is a caring, generous man, whom I feel fortunate to know so well.

Poor Mark got seated at table one, the notoriously maniacal table, lol. Unfortunately, Ali also chose table one, although Mark wasn't seated next to him, so didn't have to hear many of his nonstop comments throughout the tournament.

I had a great table. Most of the players were locals, and very loose/passive. After the break, I started terrorizing the table by frequent all-in's. These players rarely raised, and never went all-in BTF. So I doubled up quickly, then sat on my heels for a while with cold cards.

One thing I notice that seems to happen to me a lot is that players who don't normally chat, and keep to themselves, come out of their shells a bit when I'm around.

Sometimes this has good consequences. I would say the majority of the time it does. Other times, though, it can have disastrous consequences. For instance, a few months ago there was this player named Gary. I called him "crazy Gary" because he was. Anyway, Gary got into this habit of calling me "nigger" all the time. That is NOT acceptable to me. He wouldn't stop, even though in his own mind he was being friendly. I finally had to report him in order for him to stop.

Getting back to Friday night now, there is an older man, named Don, who rarely speaks at the poker table. He looks like an innocent, harmless old man. We've played together for months, and he has barely spoken two words to me. I guess I found out why he is so quiet. He was to my left, and was his usual, silent self. Someone at the table started talking about the Superbowl debacle with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. Everyone was putting in their 2 cents except Don and me, since I hadn't seen it (we don't have TV).

Anyway, Don leans over to me, like he wants my confidence. I leaned into him. He starts talking about how ridiculous the stunt was, etc, etc. I told him I didn't have TV, so I didn't watch it. Then he says, "You know what, I can't stand any of them. I wish they would just take those Indians, Mexicans and niggers and get rid of them!"

I was appalled! My face must have gone 50 shades in 30 seconds. I jumped back from him like I'd been bit, and never said another word to him. Nor will I.

The tournament started winding down. We were down to the final two tables. Glenn and Mark, the guy from UPF, were at a table together now, and I was at my original table. I had gotten blinded down a bit, with cold cards and no wins. Then Carl was seated to my right. He was the SB, I was the BB. We had just switched to 200/400 blinds, and I only had about 1000 left. The hand was folded around to Carl, who went all-in. I knew he could do this with a myriad of hands, so I called him with 2336s. We had exactly equal chips, which is why I knew he was making a move. Sure enough, he only had 55xx. Unfortunately, no low got there, and his fives held up. So I was gone, in 16th place, I believe.

Mark was out right after me.

Glenn made it to the final table, and got 9th place. He went all-in against the BB, who was also one of the chip leads, but the BB just happened to have A23x to Glenn's A3xx. I can't remember what won the high.

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My journal keeper of the day is:

www.pokerworks.com

Linda Geneen is a dealer at Bellagio. Before that, she worked at Mirage. She is very candid and gives great insight into the world of poker. She pulls no punches and tells it like it is; the good, the bad and the ugly. She was one of my first inspirations to keep a poker journal.

If you haven't read Linda, you haven't read a poker journal!