The Clan Jam is just over the horizon – Saturday! There should be 17 or 18 people in attendance…Woo Hoo! Nice tournout for a group of Forum posters to get together and meet each other – some for the first time – and play a friendly game of poker. We started small and are growing – a great foundation with great people involved in poker. It’s going to be fun, fun, fun and lots of poker.

Keep in mind that by entering my premises, you are accepting the fact that you will be photographed and publicly displayed on the internet…with poker chips in front of you if the Card Fairy is on your side. *Snicker-snort*
Continue reading Sunday, February 27, 2005 →

I sat down in an $80-160 H game, announced, “Time Pot,” dealt the hand, and Kamell came up behind me and told me that I would be backing up one table – immediately – a mistake had been made in the line-up. I dropped the Time with, “Thanks everyone, see you in a half hour.”

When I pushed back into the game, I went through the same procedure. Gary was in the 5s and won the pot. “Did you announce that it was a Time Pot?” as he stacked the chips.
Continue reading Friday, February 25, 2005 →

I thought Poker School was on the 5th Tuesday of each month just at a time when stars and night hit the first few seconds before a sunrise – when the Sandman sprinkles the first grains of sand over the Card Fairy’s nodding brow. That’s how it should be. Some nonexistent time and place that no one can get to and it’s not posted anywhere in the real world but that ain’t the way it’s coming down. Everyone is an expert. They know why you played a hand a certain way and they want to tell you why they played back at you the way the did…why? It’s TV time.
Continue reading Thursday, February 24, 2005 →

No confusion on my part – I know why all these people are charging into the Poker Pit…some of them don’t even know the room is being remodeled…they see the tables and race in to get their names on lists.

I was leaving the room last week and was stopped by a young couple that had been watching a $10-20 NLH game. They wanted to know what the object was. I spent about 15 minutes talking to them, explaining the hand ranking, the betting in NLH and LH, and that they were playing against each other instead of playing against the house. I gave them my PokerWorks card and told them they could send me an email.
Continue reading Wednesday, February 23, 2005 →

I just can’t get past sad news and more bad news. Mike – a guy that lives in Montana and is well known by my sis, Vickie, due to her association with Mike’s mom – is the subject of a post here a few years ago. Mike has my vote for the positive thinker of the year.

Mike’s had all kinds of problems due to diabetes. He’s blind, has kidney failure and receives dialysis three times a week. He lost one of his legs due to problems with diabetes a few years ago and just a few days ago, had the other leg amputated. Mike received an artificial leg after his first amputation and learned to walk with it.
Continue reading Tuesday, February 22, 2005 →

The update on Jason – 2/12/05 post – he’s in San Diego and has been since last Wed. He had problems with his lungs a few days ago and had to have one of them drained, over a liter of fluid in it. I won’t explain the procedure…ugh!!! It’s painful. I visited him in the hospital a week ago tonight and we talked about his plans – as well as he could with a raspy voice and a hard time breathing due to broken ribs and other things going on – and our plans to get together and play poker at my place again. I’ve talked to him every day – except two – since he called me with the devasting news. He’s expected to be in San Diego for another nine weeks or so.

I’ve received several emails from people on Jason’s behalf since the original post and I really appreciate their thought and concern. Life is so damn hard sometimes.

And it doesn’t seem to get any easier.

Melody Tashman came up behind me – while I was dealing a game – and put her arm around my shoulder, giving me a ‘buss’ on the cheek. It was quite emotional. It’s the first time she’s been ‘out’ since Mike died. Their lives entertwined with mine for years, Melody more so than Mike the first few years because we played in the same games at The Mirage. The last few years, Mike was one of our regular weekly NLH players and wonderful to have in any game. He had such great composure…he’s missed by all of us.

I did visit with Melody for a few minutes before I left for the weekend – away from the Poker Pit. It was sad. We both had misty eyes more than once.

Twelve tons of River Rock landed curb side at my place around 1 p.m. Only problem is that it was supposed to be here between 9 and 11 a.m. – there were people here to transport it to the backyard – now it’s just me and it’s R-A-I-N-I-N-G!!! Oh well! Hope everyone that lives on my street is paying attention and manages to steer around it for a day or so.

The Terminal Backyard Project continues!!! I’m still shooting for it to be completely finished by the end of summer – not that it won’t be WAY COOL and wonderful before then – and that is if it doesn’t rain all summer. So while it’s raining, I’m having coffee, and it’s Poker Time.
Continue reading Friday, February 18, 2005 →

There’s just a little bit of Grumble Bitch going on in my head right now. Every night of dealing, I hit the big game…$2,000-4,000 Mixed. Ok, that’s the luck of the draw and it can happen to anyone. Right now I’m about two to three weeks where I haven’t missed it if I worked my full shift. I really don’t mind dealing it except for the fact that it costs me money…as in there is very little ever given in that game in the way of a toke – unless I happen to push Chau a few pots.

Normally I skip through that game without any bruises but Tonight I was reprimanded by Jennifer – it all started with my announcing, “Time pot!”
Continue reading Thursday, February 17, 2005 →

Sha-zam! Poker to the ‘nth’! The Poker Pit is incredible. While those that play a certain limit or game may think there isn’t much going on, it’s totally crazy. Remember that all of those $4-8 Holdem players are the single celled beginning of an $80-160 player in the future. What they are doing now, they won’t be doing in the future and that – mainly – is explaining their reasoning through the play of a hand…”I had to give you ?? but I knew that if I raised, you’d put me on ??, and if you raised back then I’d…”
Continue reading Wednesday, February 16, 2005 →

An email received from Michael Byers – great story about the NL games at Bellagio. Enjoy!

*BEGIN EMAIL*

Linda,

I have been an avid lurker of your blog for well over a year. I am a veteran hold ’em player that you dealt to on my past trips to LV, including the 2003 super bowl weekend in the 15-30 HE game. I went back this past weekend and was hoping to have you deal to me in the new no limit hold em games at the Bellagio, as you had described the 2-5 NL as such a joke of a game on weekends. However, alas, the buddy I went with only played during your off hours except this past Monday evening. I did very well in the 2-5 game and in my one hour session in the 10-20 NL game. It was exactly as you described, very bad players wanting to play what they play on TV.
Continue reading Monday, February 14, 2005 →