West, East, then West again in less than 24 Hours

B) 5-6 of clubs I can’t reveal any more than that. He claims to have slow played two kings, which begs the question- would YOU have called me? *************************************************************** I started to roll for a little while and had him on the ropes up as much as $360,000. Then I lost a few key big pots where I made some bad calls and he got all the way back to even. In one pot I flopped top pair with an ace kicker vs. a straight, and in the other I had A-Q on an A-9-6 flop vs. 66. Both times I had him all in, and both times I was in bad shape. I had already told him that I couldn’t play too late since I had a 1:10am flight to catch. At 11:20pm we dealt our last hand and after 8 hours of play I am ahead $26,000. I’m uncertain when the match will resume since he lives in L.A. Plus I still have matches scheduled with Barry Greenstein, Tony Bloom, Aaron Katz, Ted Forrest, and Dustin Wolf just to name a few. *************************************************************** Since I was only traveling for one day I had no bags to check, just a knapsack with my I-POD, some magazines, and a new book I’m reading called Blink. I was already wearing my suit so there was no need to change, but I did forget to shave so I asked Travis to pick up my toiletries from the house. I made it to the airport in time and recognized the person waiting in line ahead of me. It was Joe Dumars of Detroit Pistons fame. It was rather odd what happened next: There were two security guards at the check point. When Joe walked through one of them says, “Hey man, you’re Joe Dumars! Oh man, sorry you guys didn’t win this year.” They exchanged pleasantries and then it was my turn to walk through. The first guy had no clue who I was, but this time the second guy says, “Wow, you’re Daniel Negreanu! I love watching you play on TV, you’re awesome.” The first guy looked puzzled. He had that, “Watch him do what on TV,” look on his face. I was a Joe Dumars fan myself, but I didn’t bother him. It’s just not something I do. Once through the gate I’d realized that I forgotten to eat and there would be no food available on a red eye flight. Most places were closed by that time, which for me didn’t make much difference anyway since I won’t eat most of what they offer. I walked into the pub and noticed that they had salads. When I walked in, the girl at the bar did a double take, “Oh…uh…err…umm… I am a HUUGE fan,” she says, “It is an honor.” I thank her and let her know that I’d like a salad. She gives me the salad and when I try to pay she won’t let me. Now I’m not exactly in need of a hand out and pleaded with her that she didn’t have to do that. Of course she insisted so I didn’t want to be rude and accepted it. I know she reads the blog, so again, “Thanks for the free salad!” Who says celebrity doesn’t have it’s privileges 🙂 *************************************************************** I had a lay over in St.Paul and finally made it to Grand Rapids at 9:22am. Lori picked me up from the airport and I had just enough time to shave and freshen up a little bit. The funeral service was scheduled for 11:00am. Lori’s aunt Leona had just passed away at the age of 83. I met her briefly, but know her more from what Lori has told me. At the service I was lucky enough to learn even more about her. From what everyone had said it seemed as though she had a great big heart and loved God and her family above all else. While funerals are very somber occasions generally, this one had a very inspiring aura about it. The pastor’s speech was very touching, explaining how she’s cried her “last tear” and that she is going to a better place where she will feel no pain or sorrow. It seemed to me that she lived a very full and rewarding life. She was never preoccupied with material wealth, rather she derived great joy from spending time with her family. She will be missed. *************************************************************** After the funeral we headed over to Leona’s son Russ’ house for lunch. I was genuinely worried- as I always am in these situations- that there would be nothing for me to eat. I was pleasantly surprised to see all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables since I was still pretty hungry. There I met Russ’ 11 year old grandson Austin. I would have guessed that he was 17 years old so when they told me he was 11 my eyes nearly popped out of my head! This kid was huge. Apparently he is quite the hockey player already so I made a note to draft him in my fantasy hockey pool next year. Hey, might as well get em’ while they’re young! It started to rain so we headed back inside the house. The house was full of aunt Leona’s friends and family and with the rain comes humidity. If you’ve never been to Grand Rapids when it’s humid and don