B.B and T.H.
The first time I met the man was in 2013 The World Series Of Poker Event #14. It was a $1,500.00 buy in and you started the tournament with 4500 chips. The blinds started out at 25/25, but by the time I played my first hand against him they were up to 50/100. The tall, dark haired man that looked to have played some sort of high school sports raised to 300. It folded around to the table fish on the dealer button who called and I was sitting in the big blind with pocket kings. I quickly re-raised to 700 and both insta-called.
The flop came out draw heavy with a JcQc7h. I was holding KcKd and I lead out 800, the original raiser called, and then the fish on the button raised to 2100. Fearing that the tall, dark haired man who sort of looked like Ben Roethlisburger could have flatted me with AA, QQ, or JJ, I decided to fold. When he shipped the pot all in, I thought for sure I had made the right fold. Then, the fish on the button folded his hand even though he had well over 50% of his starting chips in the pot.
Anxious to know what the man sitting next to me had, I said, "Show one time please."
The man looked me dead in the eye and replied, "Usually, I don't show my hand, because I'm playing the game with men, but since both of you that were in the hand with me are pussies, I guess I can make an exception."
The menacing looking man turned over 8c5c and started to laugh as he raked in the pot.
I was furious, I had just blew my 66% chance at an easy double up. Even though I refused to go on tilt and waited patiently for a pair of pocket 10s to shove all in on, it was clear when the same man called my all in with A/K and binked an ace on the flop that I was not meant to win WSOP Event #14.
I thought about the hand the entire day, in fact, I even lost some sleep over it. When I woke up the next day I figured I should head back over to The Rio to see if the man who felted me used my chips wisely and made his way to the final table. I wasn't surprised when I saw the man sitting there with a mound of chips. As I started to approach the rail a middle aged man approached me and said, "Hey Bull, sorry my friend had to take you out yesterday, he was sad to do it, he's a big fan of your blog."
"Really?" I said. "What's your friends name?"
He said, "That's Blake Bohn, we're from Minnesota, he just got done winning The Ante Up Midwest Championship Main Event."
http://www.anteupmagazine.com/news/b...main-event.htm
I said, "No shhite? That's awesome. What's your name?"
"Tom." He said. "What's yours?"
"Justin." I said. "But your friend just refers to me as a pussy, I can't believe I folded that hand to him early on in the tournament."
"He was just joking around." Said Tom. "He meant no harm by it, in fact he'd be delighted if you walked over to the rail and let him know you're watching him right now."
So, I decided to walk over to the rail in my Apollo creed robe, switched the blade on my comb, pointed to Blake and yelled, "Hey, nice to see you took my chips and made it to the final table, if you don't fukk things up and win this like you're supposed to we should hang out later."
Blake quickly got up to what I thought was maybe to beat my ass, but then he extended a handshake and told me that he was a big fan of my writing. I wished him luck, then he proceeded to sit back down at the table and put on his stone face. Eventually, Blake went on to take 2nd place in the tournament and netted around $300,000.00.
When I saw Blake and Tom walking out of the tournament area I stopped them to congratulate Blake on his epic performance and was promptly open hand slapped in the face. As I was stumbling back, Blake said, "You don't congratulate someone on a 2nd place finish in a bracelet event you idiot. It's kind of like Ricky Bobby in Talladegas Nights. 'If you're not first, you're last.'"
The man had a point so I calmly walked away as Blake and Tom were shaking their heads in disgust. I thought, "Boy, I really fukked that one up."
Then the next day I went to play poker at Bally's and Blake's friend Tom was sitting at the table drinking some Glenlivet. I initially wanted to change seats out of fear of being slapped again, but it looked like Tom was in a good mood so I decided to stay. It turns out he is a Seven Star Total Rewards member. I found this out when a young lady sitting next to him said she was cold and Tom called the floor man over.
I watched Tom pull out his Total Rewards card, instruct the floor man to go get him a blanket, and when the blanket arrived he gave it to the young lady. I had never seen anything like that and thought, "Wow, how hosslike and awesome."
I wanted to ask him how he was able to pull that off, but he seemed like a "Speak when spoken to" kind of guy at the poker table. Finally, him and I got into a hand with one another and he said, "Now Bull, you know Blake and I both love you, but don't be afraid to take our money if we ever get into a hand against one another."
I ended up winning the hand and was shocked when he congratulated me. He then went on to explain that Blake had just lost his cool and was really sorry about slapping me. Eventually, a dealer sat down that was giving Tom a hard time. An argument ensued and the floor man was again called over to the table.
As Tom was about to be issued a warning, he said, "I know the best way to solve this, watch." Then Tom took a green $25 chip and pelted it off the dealers chest.
"What was that for?" The dealer screamed.
"It was for you to take, put in your tip jar, and just shut the fukk up and deal. You got it? I am just going to tip you after every hand to shut your mouth? Does that sound fair?"
The dealer replied, "Yes." Then got back to dealing at a furious pace while flipping the cards to each poker player with pinpoint accuracy.
Tom looked at the floor man and said, "Is that good enough for you?"
As the floor man walked off back to his desk I asked Tom if I could buy him a drink at the bar. He said, "No, but I'll buy you one, lets go have a talk."
I found out Tom was a business man from Minnesota and had plans to play The World Series Of Poker Event #29. I also found out he places so much action here in Las Vegas that he could practically live in any hotel for free.
After a couple drinks he asked me, "So, why did you leave Ford? I read the thread you made in the 2+2 staking forum, I believe everything you said in it. What drives a man to want to leave a job like that and wonder America in a wolf shirt?"
I explained to him that I grew tired of being nothing more than a number that's punched into a time clock each day and that I no longer wanted to be a willing part of the corporate death machine they call capitalism.
I explained that if I had any chance to make money outside of having a soul sucking job, that I wanted to take it now.
So, I decided to give poker one last shot, hit the road, and blog about things that are important to me.
I said, "Following that path brought me here and now I'm sitting right here with you. Where will I be tomorrow? Who knows? I could go broke tonight and not have enough to pay for my hotel stay anymore."
"How long would you like to stay here?" He asked.
"Until July 15th." I said. "It's now my goal to win The World Series Of Poker."
After a few more drinks, Tom had me add his name to my room.
The next day, he came to Ballys and talked to the Seven Star representative and got my entire stay until July 15th comped.
A few days after that, he went on to place 26th in WSOP Event #29.
Congratulations to Blake Bohn and Tom Hammers on your tournament winnings.
Looking forward to partying with both of you soon.
Over and out,
-LG
Last edited by LotGrinder; 06-18-2013 at 11:39 PM.