Here's the Taj poker room.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Time to go again
My next trip has dawned. Tomorrow I take off for two weeks, though not all of it is poker related. First, Brian and I head to Orlando for a couple of days. We have a friend from college who works at Disney World and she is getting us free passes to hit the parks. On Saturday, we go to Gainesville to work TV production for the Tennessee-Florida game. On Sunday we're driving to Atlantic City (that will be a nice hike) where Brian will stay until Wednesday and I will stay until Sept. 29. I'll play a few U.S. Poker Championship tournies at the Taj Mahal and maybe catch some final table action at the Borgata.
I submitted the sample to the editor on the college poker craze book possibility, but won't hear anything until at least October. My agent thinks I have the edge over the other candidate, but that could just be wishful boosterism. Anyway, here's what I wrote...just an average night in a University of Alabama fraternity house...
Only the sound of cicadas can be heard as dusk settles over the University of Alabama campus on a Sunday evening. A few joggers and dog walkers abound, representing a mere fraction of the crowds that packed the campus 24 hours earlier for the university football team’s season opener.
The crowds are long gone, but at the Sigma Nu fraternity house the game is just beginning.
In a poorly lit living room, nine students crowd around a table covered by a poker setup, a portable cushioned green felt with cup holders that can be transported wherever the action is. Have game, will travel.
Beside the poker game, two more fraternity brothers shuffle another deck of cards and play heads up over a Ping-Pong table as they wait for a seat in the big game. The deck only has 50 cards, but in a time of need it will have to suffice.
A couple of other students lounge on couches on the other side of the room, under the painting of legendary football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, as they tune into the Virginia Tech – N.C. State football game on the large screen television. As the popularity of poker grows, one has to wonder if football really is king in the South anymore.
At the main table, Matt Matthews is running over the field in this no-limit Texas hold’em game. The aggressive senior is one of the ringleaders of the game, helping to organize poker nights in various fraternity houses and off-campus apartments in Tuscaloosa. When discussion turns to the new college edition of Card Player that the stalwart poker magazine is now publishing, Matthews spouts, “I should be featured in that bastard.”
With his visor turned sideways and his confidence level high, Matthews debates the merits of 10-J, a middling starting hand in hold’em. He calls it the “cocaine hand.”
“People like it so much, but it’s bad for them,” he says.
As if on cue, the next flop is 10-J-K. “Cocaine! Crack on the board, baby!” Matthews exclaims.
The game itself could be referenced in the same way. A group of these guys play just about every night, either here or somewhere else -- sometimes making the drive two hours to the Indian casino in Mississippi, or sometimes just sitting down for an hour at lunch for a quick game.
“We played all day and night last year,” Matthews said. “We’d come in at 11 a.m., we’d get our food at dinner and bring it in here and eat while we played. People would come and go and we’d still play. We were sick.”
Trey, a sophomore who belongs to another fraternity, often lets his buddy Matthews play poker online at his house since Matthews doesn’t have an Internet connection in his fraternity house.
“He was sitting over there playing a tournament on Doyle’s Room on my computer and he called in sick to his boss,” Trey recalls. “You could hear the chips clicking in the background.”
For Trey, poker is in the blood. His uncle Harry Cullen recently made the final table of the World Series of Poker circuit event held earlier this year in New Orleans. But it wasn’t Cullen that got Trey into poker. He and his buddies played after class in high school in Houston and their love for the game was fueled further by the media attention the game began to receive a few years ago.
Now two years into college, Trey enjoys joining Matthews and the others in their regular games. Most of the games, like the one this night, have blinds of 50 cents and a dollar with a $40 maximum buy in. The stakes are high enough to keep things interesting, but low enough so friends and fraternity brothers don’t go broke.
“We try to keep it friendly, but no limit isn’t friendly,” Trey says. “It’s like a regular poker game. We try to take each other’s money.”
The next hand is dealt from the well-worn red deck and the chatter continues. As action moves around the table, most players splash the pot, a practice disdained in proper card rooms, but which is commonplace here, perhaps symbolic of the players’ carefree nature.
“Most of these guys are just pissing away their dad’s money so they don’t care,” Trey says.
Trey busts out, and leaves with a $56 loss. “I can’t really afford it,” he says before departing. “I work at McAllister’s [a local deli] so I’ll just go work some more hours.” At a wage of $6.50 an hour, it will take him a full day’s work to earn back the money he just lost -- before taxes.
As play continues through the evening, it’s obvious to the casual observer that this game isn’t so much poker as a pissing contest. It’s not about the hands one can make, but the biggest pots a player can take down with a bluff, as a guy called Buzbee proves when he wins a big stack with a big bet and throws his four-deuce face up on the felt.
“Take a fucking look at that!” he sneers.
A few players have received nicknames over the years. Matthews is dubbed The Disciple, a moniker the brash player relishes. Another player is known as Captain Maniacal. “He used to play anything,” Matthews quips. And another player, last name Bunch, has a hand named after him, the ten-five. Supposedly, he has cracked pocket kings and aces with this piddling holding. When asked why he likes to play that crap, Bunch pops a cigarette in his mouth, thinks for a moment and finally says, “I don’t know.”
When beer and college friends come together, logic often flies out the window, especially when there is a bigger game to be had. Some of the players with larger bankrolls plan to go to a $1-$3 blinds no limit game in downtown Tuscaloosa when this one breaks up, where they are likely to win or lose a lot more money playing with a larger crowd with deeper pockets.
As the night grows longer, the pots get bigger as the players grow impatient.
“
I’m up $80 so I’m waiting it out,” Matthews says. “These guys are trying to win as much money as possible before they go downtown.”
But on a flop of 10-7-2 with two clubs, Matthews pushes all in and is called by two players. Brian, another regular, ponders for a moment before tossing in his last $30. “I’ve got top pair and I’ve got places to go so I’ll go all in,” he says.
Matthews turns over a flush draw, while Buzbee turns over a 10-J. Brian has a five kicker with his pair of tens. No one improves and Buzbee rakes in a pot with more than $100 in it.
“Remember what I said about the Matt Matthews blow up,” Buzbee reminds a visitor of an earlier comment. “That was it.”
For a game that often goes into the wee hours of the morning, this one is quickly breaking up. After a few hours, the game is dead, with several of the players broke.
“Sometimes they get tired of losing money,” Rob says.
Some players are heading for downtown to the bigger game, while others are off to watch some football or go out drinking.
They will have a day break. The next game is Tuesday.
In Poker 101: The College Card Craze, Johnny Kampis delves into the world of college poker, where the first games start before fall classes begin and straight flushes often take priority over exams. As the nation’s fascination with Texas Hold’em has grown so has its popularity at the University of Alabama, UNLV, Yale University and any other college with living, breathing, impulsive college students.
As Kampis travels the country, mining college campuses for stories, he’ll answer many of the obvious questions about college students and their poker habits.
What sorts of games are college students playing? Are students from the Ivy League playing the same games as the kids in the South or the West? How does Las Vegas’ status as the poker capital of the world affect the UNLV games?
Are women joining in on the card craze on college campuses also?
How many of the legions of online poker players are college students? Why are college students in particular hooked on online poker? The book will catch up with students who have won or lost tens of thousands of dollars in cyberspace, including those who have even played online while in class.
What do college professors and administrators think about students’ addiction to poker? Do they believe the game has redeeming values? Do math professors ever use poker examples in their classes? Are they addicted themselves? (Allegedly, University of Alabama President Robert Witt plays in a regular home game.)
What position do universities take on students gambling on campus? (The University of South Carolina has sponsored free tournaments in which prizes were awarded on its campus, in part to stave off illegal poker playing for money.)
I submitted the sample to the editor on the college poker craze book possibility, but won't hear anything until at least October. My agent thinks I have the edge over the other candidate, but that could just be wishful boosterism. Anyway, here's what I wrote...just an average night in a University of Alabama fraternity house...
Only the sound of cicadas can be heard as dusk settles over the University of Alabama campus on a Sunday evening. A few joggers and dog walkers abound, representing a mere fraction of the crowds that packed the campus 24 hours earlier for the university football team’s season opener.
The crowds are long gone, but at the Sigma Nu fraternity house the game is just beginning.
In a poorly lit living room, nine students crowd around a table covered by a poker setup, a portable cushioned green felt with cup holders that can be transported wherever the action is. Have game, will travel.
Beside the poker game, two more fraternity brothers shuffle another deck of cards and play heads up over a Ping-Pong table as they wait for a seat in the big game. The deck only has 50 cards, but in a time of need it will have to suffice.
A couple of other students lounge on couches on the other side of the room, under the painting of legendary football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, as they tune into the Virginia Tech – N.C. State football game on the large screen television. As the popularity of poker grows, one has to wonder if football really is king in the South anymore.
At the main table, Matt Matthews is running over the field in this no-limit Texas hold’em game. The aggressive senior is one of the ringleaders of the game, helping to organize poker nights in various fraternity houses and off-campus apartments in Tuscaloosa. When discussion turns to the new college edition of Card Player that the stalwart poker magazine is now publishing, Matthews spouts, “I should be featured in that bastard.”
With his visor turned sideways and his confidence level high, Matthews debates the merits of 10-J, a middling starting hand in hold’em. He calls it the “cocaine hand.”
“People like it so much, but it’s bad for them,” he says.
As if on cue, the next flop is 10-J-K. “Cocaine! Crack on the board, baby!” Matthews exclaims.
The game itself could be referenced in the same way. A group of these guys play just about every night, either here or somewhere else -- sometimes making the drive two hours to the Indian casino in Mississippi, or sometimes just sitting down for an hour at lunch for a quick game.
“We played all day and night last year,” Matthews said. “We’d come in at 11 a.m., we’d get our food at dinner and bring it in here and eat while we played. People would come and go and we’d still play. We were sick.”
Trey, a sophomore who belongs to another fraternity, often lets his buddy Matthews play poker online at his house since Matthews doesn’t have an Internet connection in his fraternity house.
“He was sitting over there playing a tournament on Doyle’s Room on my computer and he called in sick to his boss,” Trey recalls. “You could hear the chips clicking in the background.”
For Trey, poker is in the blood. His uncle Harry Cullen recently made the final table of the World Series of Poker circuit event held earlier this year in New Orleans. But it wasn’t Cullen that got Trey into poker. He and his buddies played after class in high school in Houston and their love for the game was fueled further by the media attention the game began to receive a few years ago.
Now two years into college, Trey enjoys joining Matthews and the others in their regular games. Most of the games, like the one this night, have blinds of 50 cents and a dollar with a $40 maximum buy in. The stakes are high enough to keep things interesting, but low enough so friends and fraternity brothers don’t go broke.
“We try to keep it friendly, but no limit isn’t friendly,” Trey says. “It’s like a regular poker game. We try to take each other’s money.”
The next hand is dealt from the well-worn red deck and the chatter continues. As action moves around the table, most players splash the pot, a practice disdained in proper card rooms, but which is commonplace here, perhaps symbolic of the players’ carefree nature.
“Most of these guys are just pissing away their dad’s money so they don’t care,” Trey says.
Trey busts out, and leaves with a $56 loss. “I can’t really afford it,” he says before departing. “I work at McAllister’s [a local deli] so I’ll just go work some more hours.” At a wage of $6.50 an hour, it will take him a full day’s work to earn back the money he just lost -- before taxes.
As play continues through the evening, it’s obvious to the casual observer that this game isn’t so much poker as a pissing contest. It’s not about the hands one can make, but the biggest pots a player can take down with a bluff, as a guy called Buzbee proves when he wins a big stack with a big bet and throws his four-deuce face up on the felt.
“Take a fucking look at that!” he sneers.
A few players have received nicknames over the years. Matthews is dubbed The Disciple, a moniker the brash player relishes. Another player is known as Captain Maniacal. “He used to play anything,” Matthews quips. And another player, last name Bunch, has a hand named after him, the ten-five. Supposedly, he has cracked pocket kings and aces with this piddling holding. When asked why he likes to play that crap, Bunch pops a cigarette in his mouth, thinks for a moment and finally says, “I don’t know.”
When beer and college friends come together, logic often flies out the window, especially when there is a bigger game to be had. Some of the players with larger bankrolls plan to go to a $1-$3 blinds no limit game in downtown Tuscaloosa when this one breaks up, where they are likely to win or lose a lot more money playing with a larger crowd with deeper pockets.
As the night grows longer, the pots get bigger as the players grow impatient.
“
I’m up $80 so I’m waiting it out,” Matthews says. “These guys are trying to win as much money as possible before they go downtown.”
But on a flop of 10-7-2 with two clubs, Matthews pushes all in and is called by two players. Brian, another regular, ponders for a moment before tossing in his last $30. “I’ve got top pair and I’ve got places to go so I’ll go all in,” he says.
Matthews turns over a flush draw, while Buzbee turns over a 10-J. Brian has a five kicker with his pair of tens. No one improves and Buzbee rakes in a pot with more than $100 in it.
“Remember what I said about the Matt Matthews blow up,” Buzbee reminds a visitor of an earlier comment. “That was it.”
For a game that often goes into the wee hours of the morning, this one is quickly breaking up. After a few hours, the game is dead, with several of the players broke.
“Sometimes they get tired of losing money,” Rob says.
Some players are heading for downtown to the bigger game, while others are off to watch some football or go out drinking.
They will have a day break. The next game is Tuesday.
In Poker 101: The College Card Craze, Johnny Kampis delves into the world of college poker, where the first games start before fall classes begin and straight flushes often take priority over exams. As the nation’s fascination with Texas Hold’em has grown so has its popularity at the University of Alabama, UNLV, Yale University and any other college with living, breathing, impulsive college students.
As Kampis travels the country, mining college campuses for stories, he’ll answer many of the obvious questions about college students and their poker habits.
What sorts of games are college students playing? Are students from the Ivy League playing the same games as the kids in the South or the West? How does Las Vegas’ status as the poker capital of the world affect the UNLV games?
Are women joining in on the card craze on college campuses also?
How many of the legions of online poker players are college students? Why are college students in particular hooked on online poker? The book will catch up with students who have won or lost tens of thousands of dollars in cyberspace, including those who have even played online while in class.
What do college professors and administrators think about students’ addiction to poker? Do they believe the game has redeeming values? Do math professors ever use poker examples in their classes? Are they addicted themselves? (Allegedly, University of Alabama President Robert Witt plays in a regular home game.)
What position do universities take on students gambling on campus? (The University of South Carolina has sponsored free tournaments in which prizes were awarded on its campus, in part to stave off illegal poker playing for money.)
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Sunday, September 04, 2005
The unbeliveable devastation
Like many Americans I've been flipping over to the hurricane recovery coverage on a frequent basis, watching in horror the violence and lawlessness and in sadness the plight of those displaced. It's sad to see a city I visited often in total disarray. Things will never be the same, that's for sure. Biloxi and Gulfport, as you've seen, were hit even worse, and everything on the coast was obliterated. It's hard to fathom a force so powerful it could send floating casinos drifting across highways. It will be years before these Mississippi towns can be rebuilt. I had planned to go to Biloxi for the first time in years next month, to the WSOP circuit event that had been planned at the Biloxi Grand Casino.
Katrina did a bit of damage here in Tuscaloosa, though the downed trees and power lines were barely a blip on the screen compared to its destruction on the coast. Because of its close proximity to New Orleans, four hours away, many refugees came here. The rec center on the UA campus is being used to house a few hundred evacuees. The university gave away about 200 tickets to the Tide's opener this Saturday to refugees at the rec, which I thought a great gesture.
I think those of us who can help should help as much as we can. I'm going to pledge 10 percent of my poker winnings this month to the Red Cross to aid in its relief efforts. If I can fare as well in September as I did in August, I'll be able to give nearly $1,000 for the cause. Those of you reading this, I hope you will give as much as you can, or participate in some of the charitable online tournaments that are being held to raise money. Imagine how your life would be turned upside down if you had lived on the Gulf Coast.
I sat in on a fraternity house game on the UA campus tonight for material I'll put together for my college poker craze book proposal. I'll share that on my blog later this week.
Time for bed now. At 6:30 a.m. we're heading to Tallhassee for the Miami-Florida State game.
Katrina did a bit of damage here in Tuscaloosa, though the downed trees and power lines were barely a blip on the screen compared to its destruction on the coast. Because of its close proximity to New Orleans, four hours away, many refugees came here. The rec center on the UA campus is being used to house a few hundred evacuees. The university gave away about 200 tickets to the Tide's opener this Saturday to refugees at the rec, which I thought a great gesture.
I think those of us who can help should help as much as we can. I'm going to pledge 10 percent of my poker winnings this month to the Red Cross to aid in its relief efforts. If I can fare as well in September as I did in August, I'll be able to give nearly $1,000 for the cause. Those of you reading this, I hope you will give as much as you can, or participate in some of the charitable online tournaments that are being held to raise money. Imagine how your life would be turned upside down if you had lived on the Gulf Coast.
I sat in on a fraternity house game on the UA campus tonight for material I'll put together for my college poker craze book proposal. I'll share that on my blog later this week.
Time for bed now. At 6:30 a.m. we're heading to Tallhassee for the Miami-Florida State game.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Into the great wide open
Yes, I know. I've gotten lazy. No report in two weeks. No final BARGE report. (I'll correct that soon, out of order unfortunately.) I'm still floating around like the feather in Forrest Gump, with nary a care in the world. Why such ease? I'll get to that in a second.
First, let me tell you a little about the past two weeks. As soon as I got back from Birmingham, Brian picked me up at the airport and we rode to Myrtle Beach, S.C. to work on the TV production for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans vs. Kinston Indians Class A game that night. It rained on us for three straight days, including game day. Brian's job, as I mentioned before, is to prepare the graphics for each game. All those graphics that show the player's name and statistics? That's Brian's work. I was hired as font coordinator, which equated to glorified statistician this night. I watched the TV monitor in front of me in the truck and kept score of the game, feeding info to Brian so he could update batting average and such.
A final deluge in the second inning caused the ump to call the game and we got to leave early, though still getting paid in full. On my first trip to Myrtle Beach, I noticed how a few things compare to the city I had just left. The Hard Rock Cafe is in a pyramid, with a light beacon shining above it, much like the Luxor. The neon sign for Broadway at the Beach looks a lot like the Sahara sign from a distance. There's even one of those celebrity impersonator shows, American Superstars I think, just like in Vegas.
We headed back that Tuesday and stopped in Atlanta for the Braves game that night. I'm a huge Braves fan, nearly as big as I am an Alabama football fan (near sacrilege in "Bear" country, believe me), but I put a hex on the team. Their record during my attendance? 1-4, and the only win was after I left the game and they won in 14 innings. Brian scored great seats about 100-150 feet behind home plate thanks to the announcer for the Pelicans game (a Braves affiliate.) The rain held off and the Braves defeated the Giants for my first in-attendance victory.
Can you tell I'm enjoying life?
I drove to West Point, Miss., last week to take out an old flame and heard a whistle blow on the radio station, followed by the Loverboy standard, "Working for the Weekend." Then I realized it was 5 p.m. Friday. Days of the week have lost a lot of meaning for me now. My motto: I've got time!
The obvious question now is: Aren't you worried about your finances? No, right now I'm not only surviving, but thriving.
I've studied, played, studied, played and studied some more the intracacies of the shorthanded limit hold'em game. I play on one small site in the 6-max 10-20 limit game. I've found that the smaller sites give you two advantages: you see the bad players more often and learn their tendencies and there seems to be a higher ratio of bad to good players on these sites.
The end result is this -- I'm up $12,000 since I got back from my WSOP trip, a span of not quite six weeks. Since I left my job in mid-June I'm up close to $14,000 overall. It provides a cushion of comfort.
Everyone jokes about it being "tax free"money, but I will be reporting it. I'm not trying to be the scum of society here. I plan to pay my taxes like every other honest American.
Can I keep this up and what will it mean for my future? That's the unanswerable question right now. I'd like to think I can just sit around and make $100,000 in the next twelve months, but that's probably not realistic. I want to build up a nest egg so I can have options.
I wouldn't mind going to grad school next fall here at UA. It'd be nice maybe to be able to run my own business of some sort. As Brian and I discussed during our trip, as he thumbed through a book on real estate investing, to really make it in life you can't work for the man, you've got to BE the man.
I know I don't want to ever work in a cubicle in an office again if I can help it. It's nice to have the option to go back to the newspaper in a year, it's like I'm "on a freeroll" as my friend Joe calls it, but the idea was always to create a situation where I wouldn't have to go back to the 9 to 6.
As for my book idea, it's been nixed by two publishing houses and my agent Sheree is no longer representing it. So I will have to start anew on that. But Sheree is trying to get me a job writing that college poker craze book I mentioned. She told me the other day that I'm one of two candidates for putting it together. I'm playing a dorm room game tonight on the UA campus so I can put together a sample piece for the editor, Richard.
Joe and I rode over to Philadelphia, Miss., two hours away, to Silverstar for its Monday NLHE tournament. I met Richie, a UA senior, at the tournament and got myself an invitation to tonight's game. I finished 6th, which got me about a $230 profit. Richie was still in when I busted.
Brian got me the job as font coordinator for a couple of big college football games coming up. On Labor Day, we're working together at the Miami-Florida State game in Tallahassee and two weeks later we're at the Tennessee-Florida game in Gainesville. When you're watching those games on ABC and CBS respectively, think of us when you see the graphics.
Brian and I plan to drive from Gainesville to Atlantic City for the U.S. Poker Championship at the Taj Mahal. Brian's staying a few days and then flying out, while I will probably stay for 10-14 days.
First, let me tell you a little about the past two weeks. As soon as I got back from Birmingham, Brian picked me up at the airport and we rode to Myrtle Beach, S.C. to work on the TV production for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans vs. Kinston Indians Class A game that night. It rained on us for three straight days, including game day. Brian's job, as I mentioned before, is to prepare the graphics for each game. All those graphics that show the player's name and statistics? That's Brian's work. I was hired as font coordinator, which equated to glorified statistician this night. I watched the TV monitor in front of me in the truck and kept score of the game, feeding info to Brian so he could update batting average and such.
A final deluge in the second inning caused the ump to call the game and we got to leave early, though still getting paid in full. On my first trip to Myrtle Beach, I noticed how a few things compare to the city I had just left. The Hard Rock Cafe is in a pyramid, with a light beacon shining above it, much like the Luxor. The neon sign for Broadway at the Beach looks a lot like the Sahara sign from a distance. There's even one of those celebrity impersonator shows, American Superstars I think, just like in Vegas.
We headed back that Tuesday and stopped in Atlanta for the Braves game that night. I'm a huge Braves fan, nearly as big as I am an Alabama football fan (near sacrilege in "Bear" country, believe me), but I put a hex on the team. Their record during my attendance? 1-4, and the only win was after I left the game and they won in 14 innings. Brian scored great seats about 100-150 feet behind home plate thanks to the announcer for the Pelicans game (a Braves affiliate.) The rain held off and the Braves defeated the Giants for my first in-attendance victory.
Can you tell I'm enjoying life?
I drove to West Point, Miss., last week to take out an old flame and heard a whistle blow on the radio station, followed by the Loverboy standard, "Working for the Weekend." Then I realized it was 5 p.m. Friday. Days of the week have lost a lot of meaning for me now. My motto: I've got time!
The obvious question now is: Aren't you worried about your finances? No, right now I'm not only surviving, but thriving.
I've studied, played, studied, played and studied some more the intracacies of the shorthanded limit hold'em game. I play on one small site in the 6-max 10-20 limit game. I've found that the smaller sites give you two advantages: you see the bad players more often and learn their tendencies and there seems to be a higher ratio of bad to good players on these sites.
The end result is this -- I'm up $12,000 since I got back from my WSOP trip, a span of not quite six weeks. Since I left my job in mid-June I'm up close to $14,000 overall. It provides a cushion of comfort.
Everyone jokes about it being "tax free"money, but I will be reporting it. I'm not trying to be the scum of society here. I plan to pay my taxes like every other honest American.
Can I keep this up and what will it mean for my future? That's the unanswerable question right now. I'd like to think I can just sit around and make $100,000 in the next twelve months, but that's probably not realistic. I want to build up a nest egg so I can have options.
I wouldn't mind going to grad school next fall here at UA. It'd be nice maybe to be able to run my own business of some sort. As Brian and I discussed during our trip, as he thumbed through a book on real estate investing, to really make it in life you can't work for the man, you've got to BE the man.
I know I don't want to ever work in a cubicle in an office again if I can help it. It's nice to have the option to go back to the newspaper in a year, it's like I'm "on a freeroll" as my friend Joe calls it, but the idea was always to create a situation where I wouldn't have to go back to the 9 to 6.
As for my book idea, it's been nixed by two publishing houses and my agent Sheree is no longer representing it. So I will have to start anew on that. But Sheree is trying to get me a job writing that college poker craze book I mentioned. She told me the other day that I'm one of two candidates for putting it together. I'm playing a dorm room game tonight on the UA campus so I can put together a sample piece for the editor, Richard.
Joe and I rode over to Philadelphia, Miss., two hours away, to Silverstar for its Monday NLHE tournament. I met Richie, a UA senior, at the tournament and got myself an invitation to tonight's game. I finished 6th, which got me about a $230 profit. Richie was still in when I busted.
Brian got me the job as font coordinator for a couple of big college football games coming up. On Labor Day, we're working together at the Miami-Florida State game in Tallahassee and two weeks later we're at the Tennessee-Florida game in Gainesville. When you're watching those games on ABC and CBS respectively, think of us when you see the graphics.
Brian and I plan to drive from Gainesville to Atlantic City for the U.S. Poker Championship at the Taj Mahal. Brian's staying a few days and then flying out, while I will probably stay for 10-14 days.
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