Bring it on Baby!

So far the preparation really feels like it’s paying off. Several times in both my Moneymaker match and my Dario match I could have been a bit sloppy and got beat. Thanks to being fresh and rested, I was able to make good decisions in both matches. Playing Dario is so fun because he is such an animal heads up. Relentless pressure, so capable of so many things. He is a truly talented and I’d love to learn to do some of the things he does heads up. My style, however, I think meshes very well against a guy like Dario. My goal is to trap him, and since he likes to push the envelop, he is susceptible to being trapped. In the meantime, though, he will just grind you down. I said before in my interview, that Dario can make you look like a fool or a complete genius. One hand I’m going to look like a fool, but I still think I made the best decision: I raised with AA and he re-raised me. I just called. The flop came Q-7-8 all clubs and I had no club. He bet and I called. The turn was a King and he check called. The river was a 5 and he checked. The pot was already big at this point, and Dario is so tricky. I asked myself, “If he check-raises me all in, will I call?” I had no idea, so I checked. He showed Kc 6h so I may have been able to squeeze him for another bet on the river. Oh well, I thought he was almost equally likely to call my bet as he was to check-raise me. So, you might say, why not just bet and fold to a check-raise? Well, cause its DARIO!!! It’s hard to fold hands against him. The final hand was a bit similar. I had KK and min-raised, he re-raised and I called. The flop was Q-3-4 he check called 6000. The turn was a Jack, he checked, I bet 8500 and he moved all in. I had no choice but to call, and he showed 10-8 off suit. He needed only a 9 and luckily an 8 hit the river. On to Scotty Nguyen now. I played him heads up at the WSOP years ago in a fun event for bracelet winners only. I won that match handily and hope I can repeat that success against him tonight. If you plan on attending tonight, I also have a pretty fun surprise for all of you, lol. You’ll just have to wait and see. I’m home now eating some kale, pine nut, cranberry salad that Patty prepared (thanks Patty, you are truly the best) and about to head down there to prepare for my match. I started working out at the end of January and was just eating a ton of food and bulking up pretty good. A year ago I was about 142 lbs, and three days ago I weighed in at 159 lbs. I’m happy to see the progress in my chest, shoulders, and arms, but the carbs haven’t helped the little Buddha belly I got goin’ on! This morning I weighed 156 lbs and the belly is looking a bit better 🙂 I’m still looking to gain weight, but want to make sure it’s coming from muscle and not pastas, bread, and rice. Been eating super healthy the last few days. Loads of protein, and not much else. I made a weight bet with Ted Forrest about 9 years ago where I laid him 20-1 odds that I’d never weight 170 lbs in my life time. I became a vegetarian the very next day! It was a bet he’s always been drawing dead on, but with me trying to add muscle to my frame, he is officially drawing live. I’d be happy to lose this bet, because if I ever weight 170 lbs, it won’t be because I’m fatter. I’m starting to actually really enjoy working out and never have my entire life. I feel so, so, so much stronger than I did just a month ago. ]]>

Limit Hold’em
Omaha 8 or better
No Limit Hold’em
2-7 Triple Draw
Stud
Razz
Pot Limit Omaha Razz and PLO are ranked last, but I don’t think I suck at either. If there is one game I “kinda” suck at, it’s probably 7 card stud high low with no qualifier. Odd because Stud 8 is my favorite (and best) game, but when there is no qualifier for low it just completely changes the hand values and I just don’t enjoy the game. I think it’s stupid (probably because I suck!) (Yay Jenn! Just got a text from her, she won her first match)
]]>

Tonight at 6:00 PST Barry Greenstien and I are going to play some heads up poker. I’m looking forward to it and think it’s going to be a lot of fun. Recently PokerStars created a new format, the 8-game mixed game with limits as high as $400-$800 which is what Barry and I will be playing. Feel free to join us if you like. The mix of games includes: Hold’em
Omaha H/L
Razz
Stud
Stud H/L
NL Hold’em
Pot Limit Omaha
2-7 Triple Draw
PokerStars also has recently added higher limits in Badugi, what I like to call the “crack cocaine” of poker! That game is catching on fast in a lot of card rooms especially in California. Now you can play as high as $400-$800 on PokerStars. Be forewarned, though, Badugi is a very swingy game with loads of action and really big pots so you can win or lose big numbers in a hurry. Lastly, the SCOOP. A series of tournaments that offers a range of buy ins from small to big. The event starts in April, and for every single type of event there are three levels of buy ins. Expect to see me playing a full schedule of events starting on April 2nd-April 12th. Here is the high limit schedule: April 2:
$500 NL Hold’em with rebuys
$1000 PL Omaha H/L April 3:
$1000PL 5 Card Draw
$1500 NL Hold’em Turbo 2x Chance April 4:
$1500 NL Hold’em Shootout
PLO 6 max 1 RB 1 ADD ON April 5:
$10,000 HORSE
$3000 NL Hold’em April 6:
$2000 2-7 Triple Draw
$1500 NL Hold’em Heads Up April 7:
$3000 Mixed Hold’em (6 max)
$2000 Stud H/L April 8:
$2000 Razz
$5000 NL Hold’em (6 max) April 9:
$4000 8-game mixed
$3000 7 Card Stud April 10:
$2000 NL Hold’em 1 RB 1 ADD ON
$5000 Omaha H/L April 11:
$5000 PL Omaha
$5000 Limit Hold’em (6 max) April 12:
$25,000 NL Hold’em Heads Up
$10,000 NL Hold’em Main Event
That’s the highest buy in series of online tournaments in history- by a large margin. There are also guarantees on all of the events, and who knows, there may even be some overlays in some of the tournaments since it’s hard to guesstimate the number of entries for each event. An overlay is always great for the player, it’s just like free money. **** Thanks again to all those sending prayers and best wishes to my mother. Two nights ago an air ambulance took my mother back to Toronto and the transition went smoothly. My mother is scheduled to get a trach on Monday, as you can’t be on a breathing machine for longer than two weeks. She’d added a few new complications including pneumonia in her lungs, a bladder infection, etc. but her vitals are considered stable at this point. Along with the trach on Monday she’ll also be getting a feeding tube.
No doctors can tell me what to expect at this point. With brain injuries it’s impossible to know for sure. I’ll be making a trip out to Toronto pretty soon, in the meantime my brother is with her everyday at the hospital in Toronto.***** ]]>

I ended up finished just outside the money, in 82nd place out of a field of close to 700. For most of day two and all of day three my stack was well below the average. The structure was the best you’ll see, though, so I was able to lose hand after hand yet still protect myself from going totally broke. On the hand I eventually did go broke on, I took a gamble that didn’t pay off: With blinds at 1200-2400 with a 400 ante the button raised to 6200. I had Kd Kc in the small blind, with an aggressive big stack sitting in the big blind. It looked like a good opportunity to set him up and get all of my chips in. I smooth called, and while the big blind hesitated a bit, he just called as well. The flop came 9-10-J with two diamonds. Not the kind of flop I was hoping for, but still, with my short stack I would be forced to check-raise all in on this flop if there was a bet. Everyone checked, and the turn card came an 8d. It was again checked to the button who bet 14,000. I had a total of 42,000 at this point and now had a diamond draw, gutshot, and an overpair. I thought about check-raising here in the hopes of winning it somehow, but elected to just call and see if I hit my hand. The river was a King. Weird card. I checked and the button moved me all in for my last 28,000. I took a really, really long time dissecting the hand and changing my mind about 7 times. I didn’t think he had a flush at all. I ruled out a 7 completely as I didn’t think he’d bet that card on the river. I didn’t think he had just a lone Queen either. A-Q crossed my mind, but that was the only hand I was really worried about. The problem was that I played the hand so strangely that it didn’t look at all like I had a straight or better, and if my opponent was at all a player, he might decide to move me off a hand like two pair or something like that. I finally called him and he showed Ac Qc. I took solace in the fact that if I had re-raised before the flop, it wouldn’t have mattered. I don’t think he was folding that hand in that situation against my short stack. Only thing I could have done differently was made the correct read on the river and saved 28,000. Oh well. After busting I packed my bags, hung out with an old buddy for a bit, then headed to the airport which is where I’m at now. Tomorrow I’m going to the hospital to see my mother. Looks like she may be heading back to Toronto soon if she remains stable. Not sure when… not sure of anything just yet. My next tournament looks like it’s going to be the NBC Heads Up Championship on March 5-8. That’s always a fun event. ]]>

Before I get to the poker, the latest Mommy update: The feeding tube has helped make her face fuller, and they removed a tube from when she had surgery. Her breathing machine is down from a 10 to a 6, meaning that her lungs are now doing 40% of the work. The plan is to wean her off of the machine slowly until she can do the breathing on her own. My brother also told me that the plan is to, when she is stable enough, take her back to Toronto and do the rehab there. They are thinking maybe by next week sometime. ***************************************************************** Poker today started out a bit unlucky when I was forced to double up a short stack with QQ versus his KK. I hovered around 75k for most of the day, not hitting any flops at all really, unlike yesterday. I dipped as low as 40,000, but I swear, I was never worried for even a second. I was below the average of 67,000, but the blinds were only 500-1000. I had 40 big blinds and that’s plenty. I got my stack back up over 80,000 after folding for three straight rounds and then finally raising under the gun with 2h 5h. It was 4-way action and I bet 4000 on th K-2-4 flop. The blind called, and the turn was a 5. I bet 11,000- he called. The river was a 6 and he checked. I put him on a pair of Kings and decided to milk him, so I bet 6000. He called. The same guy a little later raises from late position to 2600. Paul Darden calls from the cutoff seat after a hesitation, and I decided to set a trap for the blinds by calling from the button with AA. Haralbos was in the big blind with a big stack of chips and I was hoping to see him raise, and then maybe the initial raiser going all in, and then snapping them off from there. The blinds folded and the flop came J-J-6 with two spades. The raiser checked, Paul bet 4500 and I figured him for a pocket pair so I called. Then, to my surprise, the initial raised made it 14,000. Paul hesitated for quite a while before folding. That led me to believe he had a bigger pair than I thought. Check-raising a bet and a call in that spot screams of a Jack. I set my trap with the AA and things didn’t quite work out as I’d hoped. I’m not one to get married to a hand in a situation like this, though, and genuinely felt like this guy was definitely not bluffing. I decided there was NO chance this guy thought he was bluffing either. He was super confident.
I’d usually call the raise and look at a turn card, but I decided, “Nah, he has to have the Jack,” and I folded on the flop. I showed my hand and Paul said he mucked QQ… the raiser showed QQ! Now, if you look at the way I played this hand you might be thinking it was just awful. Truth is, though, I’d fold it again in that spot. 9 times out of 10 the guy is going to show me something like K-J there. I’m not upset about my lay down at all. I disguised my hand and it ended up costing me the pot, but my decision to fold on the flop is going to be the right play the majority of the time so you can’t dwell on the odd occasion where you folded a winner. If you never fold the best hand, then you just aren’t playing all that well. Seems odd to say that, but it’s definitely a fact. So I ended the day with 89,1000 which is above the average. The blinds tomorrow will be just 600-1200, that means I’ll have over 70 big blinds to play with. That’s more than enough to continue playing the exact same strategy I started day one with. I have never veered from my strategy at any point in the tournament, because with the structure being so good, I’ve never been so short where I had to start eliminate hands from my range. I was still able to raise under the guy with 2h 5h profitably and can still do it tomorrow as well. I love this kind of poker. Lots of fun, and it just feels like it’s SO hard to get eliminated. I’d have to either: 1) Get coolered
2) Take a bad beat
3) Go ice cold for an extended period of time To get knocked out tomorrow. Let’s hope none of those three things happen and I can have some fun at a stacked final table with Ivey and Antonio. Both of those guys give me trouble, so I’m looking forward to the challenge. ]]>

Feeling good for most of the day, more good news on Mommy as she continues to make progress. Her vitals are considered stable now, an upgrade from critical which is a pretty big deal. She is more lucid and is regaining control of her left arm and her feet. Her right arm, man that right arm! It still won’t move. Doctors have said it never will, but I just don’t wanna believe that. I wanna believe she’ll have a full recovery and am still praying that it’s a possibility. As I said, I came to LA to put in a good effort and so far I’ve been relatively pleased with my play, except for one 7000 call that I want back very badly because I just know better! In the last 15 minutes of the night, I’d already been chip leader for most of the day and had a good read on all of the players at my table. With blinds at 150-300 with a 25 ante, I raised from under the gun with Jc Jh to 675 and the button called. The flop came K-9c-7c and it went check-check. The turn was the Kc so I bet 1650- he called. The river was another K, so I value bet 3000. He thought for a bit, then raised me to 10,000. I’d already promised myself I’d never pay this guy off- ever. I just had a tough time figuring him for a King and checking the flop in position on that board? I should have gone with my gut, I just knew he had it, but called anyway. He showed KQ. I ended the night with 112,375 which is a very good start to the tournament. I should have 120,000, and despite that not seeming like a big difference at this point, a mistake is a mistake, and I don’t like making them. The blinds tomorrow will be 200-400. Yes, you read that right, level 7 and the blinds are just 200-400. They had a 75-150 level and a 150-300 level, as well as a 250-500 level that will follow the 200-400 level. There is no better structure than this one. It’s just not really possible unless you lengthened the rounds. 25-50
50-100
75-150
100-200
100-200 (25)
150-300 (25)
200-400 (50)
250-500 (50)
300-600 (75)
400-800 (100) You just can’t have any more levels than that! It still boggles my mind, though, how flat out STOOOOPID some people are when it comes to understanding what makes for a good structure. So many people say ridiculous things like, “Other places have better structures, you get triple chips.” Ok, for you numskulls out there who don’t get it, I’ll explain this one more time fro you: THE NUMBER OF CHIPS YOU START WITH IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT WHEN DETERMINING THE AMOUNT OF PLAY A TOURNAMENT OFFERS. So while some places may start you with 30,000 instead of 20,000, but there structure looks like this: 50-100
100-200
100-200 (25)
150-300 (25)
200-400 (50)
300-600 (75)
400-800 (100) Which tournament has more play? If you guessed the second one, you are a numskull and should save your $10,000 and try out the slot machines, you’ll have a much better chance in the long run! Sorry for being so harsh, but this is a major pet peeve of mine. Tournaments were just fine when they gave you dollar for dollar, a 10,000 buy in- 10,000 in chips. People are just so easily fooled by this silly concept that doubling the chips offers more play, That would be true if the structures stayed the same- but they don’t. Well, they don’t in most of the tournaments, but Matt Savage actually uses a structure used for $10,000, but gives you 10,000 more in chips. The WSOP main event is a perfect example of how easily fooled some of you are. Years ago it was dollar for dollar, with 10,000 in chips and 25-50 levels to start. So, what changed exactly? EVERYTHING exactly doubled! The starting stacks were doubled, but the structure was also EXACTLY doubled every step of the way. I heard people get all excited, “Awesome, 20,000 in chips! That’s so much better than the way it used to be!” Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, I’m banging my head against the wall DUMB!!! End of rant. Point made…. (I hope 🙂 ]]>

It’s amazing how much joy you can feel when your mother is simply able to touch her forehead on command. That’s what she did yesterday. It’s the first time I really cried since she’s been in the hospital. They were tears of joy because Mommy is waking up. Everyday she’s been a little better. Before yesterday she could open her eyes on occasion, but they were glossed over and not open for very long. She couldn’t respond to any commands at all. Yesterday she squeezed my hand when I asked. She squeezed really hard too! She can wiggle her toes on both feet on command. Her right arm, however, the prognosis is not good as the doctor said that she likely won’t ever regain the ability to use it. She touched her forehead on command and that was a big deal. I told her I’d been working out, and said my chest is getting bigger. This is where I kind of lost it, she definitely heard me. She lifted her left hand to touch my chest. Her eyes are following you now. No longer as glossed over. She is essentially awake. She can’t speak yet, but that likely has a lot to do with the tubes in her mouth that are both feeding her and also helping her to breathe. The next step is to get her off of the breathing machine. I think she’s going to make it, and for the first time since Monday I truly believe she’s going to make a good recovery. As for me, I decided to come and play the WPT event at the Commerce. I skipped the first two events to be with my mother, despite her telling me not to. My brother is there with her, and I know, absolutely know that she wanted me to go and play the tournament. It might seem really odd to some people that I’m out here playing the event, but I genuinely feel like I’m doing what my mother would want me to do. I told her I was going to go win the million and bring it back to the hospital so she can count it. She loves counting money! When my dad used to bring home money from work she would always count it and put all the bills in the right order. It’s like a hobby of hers. I’m not coming to LA to put in a poor effort. If I’m going to play this event, I’m going to make sure that I try my absolute best, otherwise it really wouldn’t make much sense coming at all. If this tournament was on the east coast, or in Europe, I definitely wouldn’t have played. Since LA is only an hour away, I finally decided that I’m comfortable with getting back to work. If I bust out, I’ll be on the next flight home.]]>

There is nothing I can do at this point. My brother and I both left the hospital and are hanging around the house. I’m hitting balls. Any kind of balls. Played about 20 racks of pool against myself, went to the backyard and chipped on my putting green… just keeping busy. I definitely won’t be making it out to LA for the Heads Up event either, with the main event looking less and less likely by the minute. She just needs to wake up. Wake up mommy, wake up!
Thanks again to all those that have kept her in their thoughts and prayers. I haven’t had a chance to respond to everyone, but just know that your messages and prayers are appreciated. ]]>

My mother is still in the hospital and I think we got very lucky to have a well respected doctor doing her surgeries. His name is Dr. Dhousia and he has been working in Vegas for just a few years, but the word is that he is an excellent doctor and he seems confident that he can fix my mother. So far so good. Before he could go into her heart he needed to clean out a corroded artery in her neck that was the likely cause of the stroke. He did the surgery on Friday and it seemed to go very well. She needs to rest a couple days before the heart surgery, and that is scheduled for Monday. After the surgery she’ll probably have to stay in the hospital for about a week to recover. I’ve been very impressed with the way she’s been cared for. I have heard horror stories about Vegas hospitals, but so far it seems that this particular hospital is great. I’ve received tons of e-mails and I want to thank all of you who have been praying for my mother to have a speedy recovery. Keep em’ coming! ************************************************************************** So I was at the hospital again to see my mother and she knows that I was planning on going to LA for the $10,000 events this week. Monday is the $10,000 HORSE event, Wednesday is the $10,000 Heads up event, and Friday is the main event, My plan, before my mother got sick was to drive out there on Sunday and stay for the duration. Obviously with my mother being in the hospital I cancelled those plans, but was still hoping to maybe make it out there for the main event Friday if she was feeling better. My mother is THE most unselfish person I know. She doesn’t want to be a “burden” on me in any way and she wants me to go to LA. My brother is here in Las Vegas with her (she was too unstable to fly to Toronto) and she wants me to go. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do, and it’s Saturday night right now. On one hand, I was really looking forward to playing those tournaments, but on the other hand, I want to be in Vegas for my mother. My mother, wants me to go to LA! She is a woman, though, so what she says doesn’t necessarily mean thats what she wants me to do. It’s a bit hard to figure, but my mother isn’t like most women. I seriously think that she doesn’t want me to stay in Vegas. Like I said, I’m still unsure what I plan on doing at this point, but I have time to decide I guess… ************************************************************************** So it looks like I will no longer be playing on any more sessions of Poker After Dark. When I first heard the news that PokerStars would no longer be allowing it’s players to play on PAD, I was a bit perplexed. However, when I heard the reasoning behind it, I agreed with their decision completely. I won’t go into too much detail as to what exactly happened, but the decision is absolutely the right one. PokerStars didn’t become the world’s largest poker site by accident, there are smart people making key decisions as to what’s best for the site, and this is another example of them getting it right. While it was fun to play on the show, I totally respect the decision to pull PokerStars players from the show. ************************************************************************** I mentioned in a previous blog that I planned on buying a Mac, and this blog is being written on a MacBook. It really isn’t all that different once you get used to it, but there are a few things that I don’t have on the Mac that I will need. I need to buy Microsoft Office I guess, because with the Mac I can’t open xls files or even spreadsheets. I’m still keeping my other laptops for now, and doubt that I’ll switch over to Macs completely. We’ll see… ************************************************************************** My micro limit challenge has been going pretty good. I crushed the $0.02-$0.05 cent game and moved up quickly. After 209 hands played at $0.05-$0.10 I’m up $13.00 after getting coolered with KK versus AA pre-flop against a wild player and losing back $10.00. I won’t move up to the final micro limit level, $0.10-$0.25 cent, until I have a $125 bankroll. ************************************************************************** So that’s that. My brother has been staying at the house with me so we’ve had a chance to hang out a little bit. We couldn’t be anymore different. He’s huge, I’m tiny. He has dark hair, I have light hair. He can fix anything, I call Patty. He is so nice to everyone it makes me nauseous! I’m a nice guy for the most part, but man, my brother is so overly nice it’s almost bizarre. Must be a Canadian thing. Maybe I was that nice when I lived there too, but I don’t think so. When I was a teenager I was too cocky to be that nice. Anyway, I will update my mother’s progress when I know more. As for LA, I might not make up my mind until the last minute. ]]>

It all happened pretty suddenly. I saw her the night before, she brought over a ton of food for me, delicious as always, and when she went home she seemed upbeat, perky, and totally healthy. Previously she was feeling a big of neck and back pain, ever since the Bahamas trip actually. The next morning I got a call from Patty. She was called to my mother’s house by security because her home alarm went off. Patty got to the house, and said my mother didn’t look well. The right side of her face was droopy, and she couldn’t really speak, just mumble. Patty called an ambulance, my mother refused to go to a doctor. She is old school, and no matter how many times I tell her I don’t care how expensive the doctors are here, she can’t stand to spend my money on anything. Even a $300 visit would feel like too much for her. The ambulance came within five minutes and they’d said she likely had a mild stroke. They took her to a stroke specialty hospital in town and I met her there. I was actually impressed with the treatment at the hospital. I’d heard horror stories about Vegas hospitals, but from what I could tell the doctors and nurses were treating her well. She couldn’t really speak well out of the right side of her face. She was also a bit out of it. The doctor would ask, “Can you say tomato, tomato, tomato?” My mother looked at him, deadpanned and said, “Yes.”
The doctor tried a different approach and asked, “Can you say, let’s go to McDonalds and have a hamburger?” He was trying to figure out how affected her speech was. Her reply this time was, “Nooooooo.” She obviously wasn’t fully understanding what she was being asked. Her English, which has become her primary language since coming to Canada in 1967 was escaping her and she seemed to be able to find more words in Romanian, but even still, she mostly stared blankly when asked a simple question. The next day at the hospital, while her vitals seemed stable, her mind was in a scary place. At least it scared me. I asked her, “Did you fly to Vegas with U.S. Air or Air Canada?” She stared for a moment, processing the question and said, ‘Wednesday. Tomorrow.” That day I looked at her and just wasn’t entirely sure that it was her looking back at me. I saw her eyes on me, but the mind just didn’t seem to be all there and that worried me greatly. I went home for a bit and came back that evening. All of a sudden, it was literally like night and day! She could speak, she REALLY looked at me and not through me, and seemed to be way more cognizant. The doctors told me all signs were good, her face, once droopy on the right side seemed to be coming back to normal. She wanted to go home. Desperately. She kept thinking I was there to take her home. The next day my brother arrived and she seemed to be getting even better by then and we looked forward to her release the next morning. When we got to the hospital, her bed was gone. They moved her to ICU (Intensive Care Unit). They explained that her oxygen levels had dropped dramatically. Not seemingly related to the stroke, but a problem she’s had before. They worried it was either a clot in her lungs or possibly heart failure. They later ruled that she also had a heart attack. The plan was for her to have an angiogram test done on Monday. Her travel insurance wouldn’t cover it, though, and when she got wind of how much it would cost she refused to agree to it. She is old school, and no matter what, there is just no way she’d let me pay for it. The price, when I heard it, seemed completely absurd for a test and I didn’t believe it until I went online to confirm. I saw the price of the test figured at $86,000. That same test in India would cost $1400, but we aren’t in India. I’ve done dumber things with that kind of money before. If the test has to be done I’d pay for it in a heartbeat. Problem is, I know my mother. I love her to death, but she wouldn’t let me pay $8000 for the test let alone $80,000. That’s just the way she is and she is not going to change her ways at the age of 69. So the plan has changed. Tomorrow it looks like they are planning to put her on an air ambulance with two nurses and fly her back to Toronto where she can be cared for. They can do the test there, all covered by OHIP. She feels much safer being in Canada and I know she trusts the doctors there which is good for her spirits, which I must say, are pretty good considering. She looked great today. She won’t eat the food, though, all she really eats are bananas and skim milk. My mom is a great cook and is sometimes hard to please! Hospital food just isn’t going to cut it for her. She hasn’t been allowed to walk at all for several days and she is still on oxygen but even her oxygen levels are improving. If we don’t send her to Toronto, and instead agree to the Angiogram, nurses explained that the costs of her stay will likely exceed $200,000. If I paid them that money, I can promise you, that would only induce another heart attack for my mother. Anyway, if you are a believer at all, a prayer would be much appreciated. If you aren’t a believer, a prayer would also be appreciated. I have a friend who is an atheist, and he said a prayer for my mother for the first time in like 10 years. That meant a lot to me. It can’t hurt right? ****************************************************************
I won’t be doing too much until this all gets sorted out. I guess I’ll have to just grind really hard in the $0.05-$0.10 game on PokerStars so I can pay for any medical costs that might come up. I read a funny/gossip article on a website recently that my friend asked me to read. At first I was confused by it and thought, what is this? Then I figured it was just a bad attempt at humor that just, well, didn’t really have a punchline. The article explained that I’m playing micro limits because I’m too broke to ante up in the bigger games online. It was full of random absurdities and I think a lot of people took it seriously. I mostly laughed it off, because I figured it was supposed to be funny, but I can see why people didn’t see it that way. It was written as a piece of “news” and nowhere did it make clear that it was a joke. I would hope and expect that the site will do the right thing and clarify that their “news” piece was just an attempt at humor. Either way, I don’t really care. I have other more important concerns at the moment… ]]>