Playing more and enjoying it less

I am on at least a one month hiatus from playing Full Tilt Poker (other than the Tuckfard). . . In fact, I did not play last two week at all other than Tuck Fards I & II which I played the last two Mondays. As always, there is a nice crowd there. My on line game plain sucks, which is not unsuaual. My attitude really sucks too, and there is no one to blame but me. I guess that is life sometimes. The poker gods willing, and the computer battery working, I'll play TF again next week, but my heart aint quite in it. Maybe I'll even post a decent post again, haha, or even once. It is football season and between USC and Clemsonsome of the best tragi-comedy theater goes on right here in my home state. If there aint some fine material there before the second kickoff, it'll be a first.

Best Olympic Memmory

Winter 1980--Hockey--need I say more. My friend the Captain told me that it was his first memory of Olympic competition. . . that being from Minnesota, hockey was king. Well for a few special days in the winter of 1980, hockey was king in Charleston, South Carolina, too. I dare say it was king all over the USA. . . Hell, in Charleston we couldn't spell hockey prior those days. What did I know about icing? Well, it had to do with cakes, not sport.

But everybody loves an underdog, especially when it is your own underdog. What a great Olympic time. I don't have the words, the phrases, the blogogasmic talent to do justice to what we watched and the exhilaration we experienced. The emotions that the country felt. . .it was like a national spiritual experience. It brought us together for that very special few days. It didn't seem to matter where people came from or who their people were: tall, short, rich, poor, gay, straight, black, white, rock-rib republican redneck, liberal yellow dog democrat, christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Wicca, agnostic, or any other individual identification--We were all proud countrymen; we were all hockey fans. The USSR was so talented, so experienced in international competition. Our rag tag group of college kids pulled the upset of the century ( in our eyes). This was the days before the real pros were allowed to compete in the Olympics. Ad it was a joyful and unifying moment.


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Olympic memmories

The first Olympics I remember watching with interest were the 1972 Summer Games from Munich. Now there are several noteworthy events that happened there, the least of which not being the kidnapping/murder of the Israeli athletes. On the lighter side there was Mark Spitz--the Michael Phelps of his day, scoring 7 golds; Olga Korbut, the Russian gymnast who captured every one's heart and imagination; and there was the unthinkable loss of the US basketball team to the USSR.

It was kind of like mini lessons about life wrapped up in two weeks. I had no idea about terrorism and politics and the tragic consequences when extremists took out their frustrations on innocent parties, but I learned about real tragedy. There were real live young men and women who were killed. . . died when all they wanted to do was compete.

There was the nationalistic pride brought on when US Swimmer, Mark Spitz put on an heroic performance. he was actually sent home early because he was Jewish and there was fear of other terror attacks.



Prior to 1972, the USA had never lost an Olympic basketball game. It was as if it was deemed that just being American gave us a birthright to the gold in basketball every four years. I believed it in my heart of hearts. There was some injustice, it seems, in the way that the soviets dethroned our cagers, but in light of what happened to the Israelis, tragedy is just not a fitting word. A lot of pride was swallowed, but not one person died. In the bigger scheme of life, where disappointments are meted out to us all by the bucket load on a daily basis, this was a lesson in humility. It really did not matter how wronged or indignant, I felt about the results or how they were obtained, they weren't gonna be changed. There was not one thing I could do about it. Time spent begrudging the facts was time wasted, life goes on. We were going to lose sooner or later anyway--and did, more and more often as the years moved on. And it wasn't because we were bad, the rest rest of the world just caught up. More over the soviets were our arch enemies. I really believed we were the good guys back then, that we always did right. They were the evil empire, and always did bad. . .more history and politics I did not understand.

Even at 11 years old, I had the common sense to realize that the basketball teams of neither country were out there for world political or military domination. They were there to compete. And even despite this slight at the hands of our rivals, it seemed the whole country indeed put aside political differences when we all cheered for Olga Korbut with heartfelt enthusiasm. It did not matter that she was from the Soviet Union. She was a special athlete and through her performance she earned the respect and the cheers of everyone from what I could observe. Nationalism was put aside, and for few glorious days a little gymnast conquered the world.

Oh well enough for now. . .

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Inaugural LPR Tour

. . .and I was there!! Though nothing in particular good happened. in my hand, I did run my set of 10's into a set of J's in what I felt was a masterful move to get my opponent AI. lol. That is before I was so rudely shown the error of my ways. Later (with barely more than the blinds) I was shown the door and said good night when my AK sooooted lost to AK os on a spade, spade, spade flop, spade turn. (My AK was clubs.) It was a good game for some one, just not for me. My only consolation is that this was the first and I got to say I was there amongst the real players rubbing elbows and tossing chips for the very first Live Poker Radio Tour.

I really have only one question. . .How many of these things do you have to cash in to get an intro to Annabelle the sheep. You know she looks pretty hot dancing around in those high heels and pink wool. . . . Now you're talkin' live poker radio celebrity!!!