Poker and Something More Important

Seat 2: Phil Ivey
Seat 3 Johnny Chan
Seat 4: Me
Seat 5: Gus Hansen
Seat 6: Lee Salem
Seat 7: Doyle Brunson
Seat 8: Chau Giang We were playing 8 games: Hold’em
Omaha H/L
Stud
Stud H/L
No Limit Hold’em (1000-2000 blinds with a 1000 ante)
Pot Limit Omaha (1000-2000 blinds)
2-7 Triple Draw
2-7 Single Draw No Limit (1000-2000 blinds with a 1000 ante) All of the pot/no limit games have a cap on them where you can “only” lose $100,000 on a hand. The first capped pot I played was against Johnny Chan in pot limit Omaha. The flop came A-J-7 with two spades. My hand: A-J-J-3
Chan’s hand: 7-7-9-10 We both put $100,000 in on the flop and Chan caught an 8 on the river for a gut shot straight. That had me down about $130,000 early. The next capped I played was against Chau Giang. This time the flop came K-7-6. My hand: K-7-9-A
Chau’s hand: K-7-8-A Yup, I lost that one too! So losing two capped pots at 100 dimes a pop had me stuck about $170,000. I continued to get drilled in pot limit Omaha all night losing yet another capped pot to Phil Ivey later in the evening. All told I’m certain the game cost me at least half a million. I played for 8 hours, till 8:30am this morning and for the last few hours it was three handed: Ivey, Reese, and myself. We were all tired and decided to quit so that we could play again today. Total damage for me was manageable considering the stakes and how I ran in the game, -$251,000. *************************************************************** Before I went into play I was on a very important phone call. I saw a couple posts in the forum questioning my relationship and whether or not I’m still getting married. Well as of last night, the relationship is officially over and I’m a single man. This wasn’t something that happened over night mind you. I think we both knew for quite some time that the differences between us were just to great to continue. We get along great for the most part, but there a few “minor” issues that we had trouble with. You know, politics, religion, raising kids, that sort of thing! None of this changes the fact that Lori has had an absolutely life changing influence on me. I’m a much better person for meeting her, and I hope that she feels the same way. I have nothing bad to say about her at all. She is a great woman with the purest heart of anyone I’ve ever met. She’s never done anything to hurt anyone. In fact, I don’t think she’s capable of something like that. In the end, I think we were both “good people” who just weren’t right for each other. I think we both feel good about the decision and are genuinely relieved that we realized this now rather than waiting until after we were married. I don’t want any sympathy e-mails or pity posts! I’m truly fine with it and I know that it was the right decision to make for both of us. As for me finding someone new, that’s simply not a priority in my life at all. In some ways I feel like the life I chose makes it difficult for a woman to cope. I don’t know what’s in store for me on that front, but I’m honestly not too preoccupied with it. I have a million other things going on in my life to keep me busy. A great group of friends, poker, business, etc. Good night all, it’s 9:30am here and I need to rest up for the big game tonight.]]>