A Day 2 Remember

The other day I was rooting on my boy Elky to win the World Poker Tour Championship and he finished a disappointing 3rd. Although it is hard to grasp somebody upset over winning $775k it happens all the time. I can remember when my good friend Dave Baker got 5th at the Bellagio like it was yesterday. We had started off the day having lunch with Ray, Dave's brother Seth and Dave and Seth's parents. We ended the night off at Stack at The Mirage and in between Joe Pelton managed to fit a horseshoe insided his Ass and screw over Dave in the process and leaving Dave $120k day instead of much much more.

Anyway, Elky played unbelievably well and got his $ in as roughly a 60% favorite preflop which is hard to do in a 3 way preflop pot 4 handed. After the final table we all went to Picasso in the Bellagio and had a great meal, great wine, and great conversation. At one point at dinner we were talking about a poker player named prince who wears jewelry and is a gambling degenerate. Someone asked where PRince got all his $ and Eric Liu in his non americanized voice said "I would imagine from record sales" which I will never forget. We all cracked up and Eric had no clue why.

You might have thought that was a great day but the day I am remembering is today. I picked up Austin from after school day care and took him to the movies and we started talking baseball and I remembered I needed to get his basball stuff from his mother's house. Since I lost my phone 3 days ago I couldn' t call her so I decided to stop by (side note I still don't have a phone and really don't want one). My little honey Ashley was so happy to see me and my ex let me play with her for a long time. I helped Austin with his homework with Ashley on my lap and then Kathleen asked me if I wanted to put her to bed which I haven't gotten to do in over 2 years. I am crying while typing this because I miss my baby girl so much. I read her book after book after book and sang to her as I did when she was a baby girl. I really miss those days and am ecstatic I got to enjoy that again. Ashley told me she wishes that I were her Daddy and asked if she could come live with me and I just shed a tear and she says, "ahh, don't cry daddy" and don't tell Mommy I called you Daddy. She is truly the sweetest little girl in the whole world & I hope Kathleen and I continue to get along so I can see her more and more.

Ok back to Poker so I can quit crying. Here is a hand from a 10-20 plo game tonight on Stars. I just chopped a plo tourney in Caesars with xxsteinxx and no for a fact that he is done on the river if I fire and I have no info on the other villain. I decided to not raise the flop b/c my hand has no showdown value obv. In this instance I played the hand perfectly b/c I had 100% correct read on 1 of 2 opponents and that is sometimes all u need. I am 100% sure the other guy had AA and was about 70% sure he would fold to a big bet on the end. It's nice when a plan comes together. Enjoy and gla

** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Sooners [9d Jd Kh Qh]
yuanyuan: folds
yuanyuan is sitting out
xthesteinx: raises $40 to $60
damiancho2: folds
ScoopIdo: raises $150 to $210
flaneur: folds
ervinprifti: folds
Sooners: calls $210
Lt.McLuckbox: folds
EDWARDHOPPER: folds
xthesteinx: calls $150
*** FLOP *** [Ts 8d 8h]
xthesteinx: checks
ScoopIdo: checks
Sooners: checks
*** TURN *** [Ts 8d 8h] [5c]
xthesteinx: bets $280
ScoopIdo: calls $280
Sooners: calls $280
*** RIVER *** [Ts 8d 8h 5c] [2c]
xthesteinx: checks
ScoopIdo: checks
Sooners: bets $1400
xthesteinx: folds
ScoopIdo: folds
Uncalled bet ($1400) returned to Sooners
Sooners collected $1497 from pot
Sooners: doesn't show hand
xthesteinx said, "shooow"
xthesteinx said, "booooo"
Sooners said, "i cant"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1500 | Rake $3
Board [Ts 8d 8h 5c 2c]
Seat 1: flaneur folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: ervinprifti folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Sooners (button) collected ($1497)
Seat 4: Lt.McLuckbox (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: EDWARDHOPPER (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: yuanyuan folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: xthesteinx folded on the River
Seat 8: damiancho2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: ScoopIdo folded on the River

Russ