Great Update. Never fails to entertain me as I slave away my life working for the ''man". Sounds like the exotic plant industry is a very niche market and has many exploitable fish if you know how to bum hunt. Crazy sick life... are you sill involved w the gun business? Also, do you plan on staying in S. FL for the rest of your life?

The exotic plant industry is like selling artwork. There's a small group of people that are the big sellers and if you make a mistake or deceive someone, it can mean your business. Check out Jurassic Garden in Hollywood on Google that guy had a gold mine going and he destroyed his reputation by airing dirty laundry and taking in deposits for plants he was never getting. We are talking 15-60K plants he just took the money and no one goes after them. I never understood. The money is in repeat clientele, as well as finding the new guys who are up and want to start a collection.

I still do buy guns for collecting and if there's a good deal, then I'm all about it. I probably won't leave SoFl, but if I do, I will probably head to either the Gulf Coast area, or down into the Caribbean or South America.

Getting a lot of new guns in the shop, I have gotten to try out just about everything. I still had a hard on when he brought out the Barrett and the HK UMP though. People don't realize how powerful a .50BMG is. The blowback alone can give someone temporary shell shock if they are standing in the wrong place.

Did you gamble any in Biloxi on the way home?

epic epic thread.

The Texas Trip - Part 3

I woke up fairly rested around 930, and Kathryn was still in the room, she was sleeping on her back and her titties were just lying to the side like two big pink water balloons. I smiled thinking that at least Ken got what he wanted on this trip besides money and a shady handjob. We packed up, Kathryn was a little embarrassed about the whole thing, being a southern lady and all, and we got in the truck and maneuvered our way through the narrow streets of the Quarter and took the low road to Biloxi. Getting there around 1pm on a Sunday, it was fairly empty at Beau Rivage, but I knew that I could play craps there - something I had never gotten the chance to do. Craps and roulette are not legal in Florida, so I figured I would give them a try. I go to the tables, and there are only 2 running. I really didn't know a lot about craps, and still don't, but I wanted to roll dice. Ken told me he was going to go all out, but he wanted the buffet first, which was full of snow crab. I had bought in for $500 and was familiar with comps from Mohegan Sun (Hard Rock Tampa basically gives out zero comps). I took my 500 red to the nearest pit boss and said I wanted to play after I ate. He asked for a player's card, and since I had none, he basically brushed me off like I was a slot degen. **** that. Ken went off and paid the 22 bucks, and I went over to the craps table.

It was awkward because I didn't know when to bet, when it was my turn to roll dice, and when I could touch chips on the felt. With only 3 players at the table, I figured this was a good time to learn. This was a "No-Craps" craps table, so 11 was a good number - if anyone is more familiar with this type of table maybe they can explain further. Two ladies in their late 30s and a 60 year old dude were there, and I waited for a 7.

"You roll the dice kid, you look like you can roll some dice." The older guy handed them to me.

I put 5 on the pass and get an 8 point. I started playing 5 and 8 hard with an occasional hard 4 or 6 bet. I was going up and down, and crapped out after 8 rolls or so. One of the ladies rolled next, and I stopped playing single reds and started putting in half stacks on 5, 8, and occasionally a hard 6. Not much was working out, and this sassy black lady that showed up was telling me I was betting all wrong. She was playing everything hard, and she was actually getting paid off well. She was clearly a seasoned craps pro, so I soaked in the info like a sponge.

"You just gotta go for them hard ones, playing the easy way ain't gonna make you no money," She said in her Mississippi accent. I explain I was betting 5 and 8 and she wasn't having any of that. As soon as I got the dice I decided to bet hard, and hit the pass for a 4 point. She had a green on a hard 4, and I matched it with 2 red stacks and told her I had faith in her. It was all I had left, and I wanted to go big. I rolled and waited to hear the stickman call it out.

"4 the hard way!" He exclaimed and I see my stack get matched with a large stack of black. I kept a thousand and flipped the stick, box, and dealers a bunch of reds, and gave the lady a green for pushing me into the bet. I kept a thousand back and kept 2-400 in play and went on a 27 roll streak. The whole table had become crowded and Ken had showed up with a stack of red. Ken wasn't much the gambler, but I thought with a 30K score he would put at least 500 in play. After I rolled 7 out, I sat on the lines and bet some reds here and there, keeping a stop loss at 1k. I was getting hungry, so 45 minutes later I left the table with about 1600 and the same pit boss ended up writing me a comp buffet. Since Ken only had 100 in play, I wasnt that excited, so I ate my food, went back, and Ken was down to 40. I tell him to put it on a hard 8 and it misses. It's about 530 and we have an 11 hour drive back home to my place, and Ken has another 3.5 hours back to Miami. I-10 is such a boring drive, but I am on an adrenaline rush from the quick 1k jab I gave the Beau in my first time playing craps. I LOVE seeing the casino lose money, its a David and Goliath thing. We are rolling up and down the hills in North Florida, and get out at a rest stop. I go take a piss and I can hear Ken ****ting up a storm in the stall and start laughing.

"How're those crab legs now?" I asked, insinuating they had probably been sitting there for hours.

"**** it, they were delicious, I'd pay to eat them again."

We get off I-10, head down 19, and I finally stop at Crystal River where the highway begins again. I walked in the Racetrac there and didn't realize how tired I was - I felt like passing out. Ken takes the wheel and all I can remember was waking up at the Skyway, then again in front of my house around 545. First light was coming up and I wanted no part of being awake in the summer sun right now. I walked past my car, which at the time was a rare Lexus SC300 5-speed, basically a Toyota Supra engine with Lexus badges. I was so paranoid that someone was going to steal it I had someone check up on it every night. My paranoia had set in, and I was going through the car to make sure all was well. I finally passed out around 630, and it was nice to sleep in my own bed again.

One thing I did notice was the poker room at Beau. It did seem lively, and I was unsure how to start playing (bankroll, understanding live action, etc.), but I definitely wanted to give it a go. That was sort of the inspiration for me, as I never noticed the poker room at HR, as it was tucked away, and the buy ins were capped at $100 until mid 2010. I'm sure there was money to be made, I might just have to play NL for a bit.

Beau poker room is fairly good. 2-3 times a year they have pretty big WSOP tournaments...

Lol, born and raised in Florida here and this is such an accurate description. Florida really is (south of Gainesville at least) almost like another planet.

I'm 30 and lived the last 10 years in central Fl, grinded Tampa and Daytona hard, mostly 2/5 tho. In another life we could have been buds OP.

Can confirm OP gives very accurate descriptions of a ton of the minute details of central/west Fl, been having flashbacks from some of the posts. Also am aware of the 1% games that take place in Naples / Boca Grande, though I thought you had to literally sacrifice your first born to get an invite. Bringing a hot chick that tends bar and comforts losing players is probably pretty solid though.

Like others I'm still very curious about the plants. How did you specifically get involved, do you have to have a degree, etc? Is it underground or is the only thing "iffy" about it the traveling states lines with exotics type thing?

I have such excite to be a part of an epic storytelling thread as it's actually happening, thanks OP.

No need to wait another lifetime to make friends. If you come down to Southwest Florida, I have recently moved closer to Fort Myers so if you plan a trip down in this area, feel free to message me.

I will write a flashback on how I got into the rare plant business, it was the combination of a few events and meeting the right people, but it was also much more complicated than that. I'm going to try and get another few poker chapters in before I get back to plants.

I have the most ****ed up sleep schedule so if my writing seems different at certain times of the day that's probably why. I wake up at 530-7 on "workdays", work till 12, take a nap, get up around 330, stay up until 2ish, then rinse and repeat. I have customers in South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, Israel, Europe, so I get plant queries around the clock.

To answer one thing- the problem with buying/selling plants to and from Cali, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, and a couple other states is they require permits for insects, etc. that are really just formalities, but we can't get them because these plants were grown in the ground. It is really just a bunch of bureaucratic red tape that I would rather just walk around when I can.

The Beginning of the End - Vito's House

I rolled up to Vito's early on that Thursday. I had no idea what to expect but I knew there was a pretty good chance I was going to get kicked off the property. I walked in the back way through his garage and turned the door, it was locked - it was never locked. I rang the doorbell up front and after 2 minutes, I see Vito come to the door.

"What's going on? The door to the garage is locked and I have ice melting in my car."

"We're going to wait until Mike gets here and then we can talk."

This showed me that Vito had no respect for my time, and was either really pissed, or just thought I was not worth his time. People that do this really ****ing piss me off and I considered just leaving. He made me sit outside until Mike came, which finally happened 15 minutes later. I let Mike know the situation on text, and he seemed slightly concerned. We walk up to the door, and Vito opened it, looking at us like we were his employees that had been caught doing something.

"So we need to talk about the game that happened at Tim's house. You see, when I see two guys that go to deal at a game that has a bad rep, I am worried about how badly they are in need of money. Why would you guys go deal over there after it was known there has been a cold deck? Why don't you guys get regular jobs if you need money that bad?"

This infuriated me.

"I'm not going to speak on behalf of Mike, but I DO have another job, I have had it for 10 years, I do this because I like the money and the action is good. Only a dealer can throw a cold deck, and I am not going to throw away my reputation to make a few hundred bucks. If I am dealing there, my friends have nothing to worry about. He had a game before you even thought of having one, and Thursday is not your game. We rent your house for $450 and that's it. What we do on our off time is not your concern."

My intention was to make it look like I was speaking for both of us when in reality I was pointing out the flaws Mike had, and what a liability he was. I was also ready to walk away at any moment because I was tired of Vito's attitude and Mike's weaseling at the game on Monday. I wanted to throw Mike under the bus. Vito turned to Mike and explained that he was concerned with his sportsbetting problems, and was worried that the reputation at his Saturday game would go south. As the conversation turned away from me, I went back towards my car to smoke a cigarette while Vito and Mike had storytime going. Vito would always relate to other's problems with a story about his own life. I don't need life coaching, I need to have a game run right. Vito can't tell me anything about life I don't already know, and he isn't willing to learn from others.

It seemed like forever, me waiting with the ice bags lying on the grass because **** if I'm going to let them melt in my car. I walked back over and they had settled on a payment plan and the game was to continue. It ended up being a good game to start, but Vito jumped in around 9 like he often did and bought in for the $450 of the host money and play hyper aggro. He was the worst tipper in the world and would complain even when he won. I had to deal with him not liking how I burned cards (which I did 100% correct), and even started calling burn cards out, slowing the game down, being wrong all the time, and forcing me to influence action by exposing cards. I finally told him I wasn't going to flip any more cards over and he was upset. He just couldn't learn how to properly control himself at the game and it was killing action. By 1030 we were 6-handed, and I ended up leaving the box because Mike was letting me play on my credit which he guaranteed I could cash out.

I was clearly flustered by Vito busting my balls so it was glorious picking up QQ in the CO to a Bookie raise to 25 and a Pornstar 3 bet to 85. I only had 240 so I just stuck the stacks in like I was on tilt and got called by both of them pretty fast - Pornstar was in for less. Bookie had A9 and Pornstar had 88. I was not sweating a flip 3 ways, and when a Q33 came, I didn't even bother looking at the rest of the board and put a cigarette in my mouth and walked outside like I had more important things to do than drag a $700 pot. Josh was outside smoking too, and he was talking to me about Vito. He always had inside info on how Vito felt because he had made Josh his prodigy. He was also talking about the upcoming tournament series at the poker room and wanted a stake.

"Won't Vito stake you?" I asked, assuming a staking question was coming next.

"He doesn't do things like that, he likes to see people earn money. I can have Tampa John stake me but he's always an ******* about these things."

Josh had become quite a good tourney grinder, taking down the Derby Player Appreciation (1%rake) for $6k and just having above average results. He had a confidence and swagger about him that definitely played to his advantage. I just wasn't in the mood to talk money, and I felt like Vito had a grasp on him that was unhealthy. Josh wasn't going to change, at least not now. I didn't know how much longer I could take Mike, what was going to happen with Tim's game, and I was ready for Paulie and I to take it all.

Paulie was there that night, and we stayed out of each other's way. Derek was starting to come around 130-2 and take over for Mike. He had started going to AA by Vito's request and was starting to cut in on the action. This was good for Mike because they could make arrangements to owe each other money through sports bets, IOUs, and Mike did not have to pay him cash. Mike was finding every which way to cut down on paying anyone anything. I took Paulie aside and told him I was going to buy the chips, cards, buttons, etc. and he needed to get a nice table. He would get 65% and I would get the 35 plus all my tips. All chips were to be exchanged for cash and no ****ing around. This was going to happen soon - I was tired of seeing a bunch of guys pat each other on the back for running what was a half-ass game with too much credit.

I walked out there a 500 dollar winner at 2am, I was starting to leave earlier each week. I wasn't going to sit around and watch Mikey get felted and dump my money away and tell me he would get it next week. I took the highway home to stop at Waffle House because lately Mike's food was getting progressively ****tier and his wife was making these dried up chicken bakes that were barely edible. I came home to Marcy's car hanging on the road and she knew the code by now. She was all ready to go before I could even put my things down, and after that I was all about eating a plate full of heart attack while watching some Pawn Stars.

What I never expected was that was the last night I would ever see Marcy.

I close my eyes, only for a moment and the moment's gone.

Does poker play a part in your life nowadays?
Great read btw, keep the stories coming!!!

Vito sounds like a lot of people I know, he thinks just because he beat addiction he has nothing more to learn and he knows everything. He also has made some $ along the way which makes his ego even bigger, when in reality he is a very fragile person in a lot of ways.

LOL....that reminds me of college at Wake Forest many moons ago.

Right now, as of this moment, I do not play much poker. I have been playing PLO/PLO8 on Ignition, cashed some out, saved a little for practice, then went busto at 50PLO with bad bankroll management on the site (lol).

I have been focusing on my plant business and am in the process of building a new site in South Florida. When I was at the top I was making 150K a year, but starting out it is a slow curve to success. Plants take a while to acquire and grow up to a profitable size. The partner I am working with currently lost $100K a year for 3 years and is now turning a profit. He's in a power curve at the moment so I got back in at the right time. Most nursery guys are happy to make 40K a year here, they do it because they love it. I can't risk my business to play 5-10 NL or PLO right now, but I will always keep my skills honed online.

With that said, I keep all of my ties with the poker community that I know and can trust, and am always happy to meet new members, here or far. I have gotten a few messages, and if anyone comes through SWFL, feel free to contact me.

You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

When I woke up that Friday afternoon Marcy was gone. She had left me some texts about going to Kendra's, and I was getting the feeling that this "situation" that we had was not going to work out in the long term. One of my favorite books, The Lords of Discipline, the protagonist had a short affair with a young pregnant girl who was hidden from her shame, and he was dropped like a rock once he wasn't needed anymore. I sympathized with him in that book, and decided not to make the same mistakes that he did. I had also heard from some locals that Kendra had been getting pretty hooked on opiates, something she had tried to hide from me in plain sight. I'm sure many people on here have known someone that has had an opiate addiction, but this was a common occurrence in Florida. You couldn't find heroin to save your life in Sarasota but a 16 year old could get Oxys easier than he/she could get beer or cigs. I have had too many friends go down the tubes, and I somehow managed to never get addicted, I guess I was lucky. I told Marcy that she was no longer welcome in the house, and wished her the best with her sugar daddy child. After all, TIF (This is Florida).

I checked my emails - something I didn't do often these days, and saw that I had gotten one from a previously huge client. His property was my masterpiece of botanical collections. Back in 2008, he had flown down from Michigan with his brother-in-law to find me at my house and ask me to work for them. The owner was an Iranian cardiologist who also had ties to the oil industry. I had heard a lot of stories of people with sick houses, but this guy seemed to be pretty legit. They were building a 8500 square foot house with separate guest quarters on a 16 acre island in the Sanibel area. Fast forward to 2015 with spring approaching, he was ready to open up a new area of the island to planting exclusively Cuban plants. The thing about Cuban plants is they were very hard to obtain, only a few species got out of Cuba before 1959, and they were endangered in habitat. You could ask whatever you wanted for these plants if you could find them. He wanted me to go to the island and find some sites for planting, and acquire plants.

The on Saturday I drove down to the area and took the private bridge, had a look around, and was done by noon. I figured I would order a Publix sub online and pick it up at the closest store. I walked into Publix (a grocery store chain) and looked for my sub in the take out area. There is a bin that has your name, what your ordered, and your phone number. I must have shown up too early because there was only one, for a Nicole. I wondered if Nicole was hot, I mean what better place to meet someone than in a grocery store? I am walking around trying to kill time and tired of smelling fresh cooked food and look back in the bin. There it was, and as I picked it up I heard a voice behind me.

"Is that your sub?"

"Well, my name is Liam, and I did order turkey, so I think it is."

"Is there one that says Nicole?"

"No....wait, yes, it's right here. Sorry I have had a rough couple of days."

"It couldn't have been as rough as mine. Did you find out your boyfriend of 7 years cheated on you?"

"No, my boyfriend never cheats on me." She started laughing.

I turned around to see Nicole. She was in her late 20s, early 30s, about 5'7, 120 pounds. She was basically wearing pajamas but looked pretty hot nonetheless. She wasn't just hot, she was beautiful. She ended up sitting down in the eating area and like an awkward middle school cafeteria moment, I asked her if she cared if I sat down too.

I started asking her about the situation with her boyfriend. Apparently she found him cheating on her with some girl from Home Depot. She has an 8 year old daughter, and she works in the insurance business. I ended up telling her about the situation I had been in with Marcy to try to sympathize with her. I was starving and ended up finishing my sub pretty fast, and said goodbye to her and wished her the best with the situation. I felt like being a friend to her, but my instincts said to give her my number and told her I would be working in the area. She took my card and plugged it into her phone - that was definitely a good sign.

It was only 1pm, and the Fort Myers-Naples track was calling my name. I headed down there and got a seat at 2-5-10 PLO and noticed a few regulars. Season was ending, but there were still plenty of snowbirds around. I picked up AA99 UTG and make it 35 and get one caller who I had never seen before, but did not appear to be a snowbird. The flop of A93 was so beautiful, but so bittersweet, as it was basically impossible for him to have much. I hadn't seen him to be too aggro, so he either had a piece of this board, or wasn't going to put a dime in unless he had me beat. I led into him for 60 and was met with a raise to 200. The only draw out there was 245x and was unlikely in PLO hi only, I doubt A9 raises me, and that leaves 33xx. On this kind of board I want a clean runout, a turn 9 or A would deter him from continuing with the hand. I call and a 6 appears on the turn. In what appeared to be one fluid motion I check/shoved and got snapped off for all his chips with 2334. The river was paint, and I dragged a $1400 pot.

I could not get much going for the next few hours, raising the right hands and getting called 4 ways to be led into where I had no equity and wasn't last to act. I had whittled down to 1400 and decided to call it a day. An hour before, I had gotten a text from Nicole that she had enjoyed eating lunch with me and would like to hang out sometime. I didn't know what I was ready for - I had just been through a very odd situation with Marcy and Kendra, and didn't know if I should focus on work. She lived a little over an hour away, but it wasn't a terrible drive, just the wrong way from most of my points of interest. We talked on the phone the whole ride home, and I felt like she was mature, not looking/expecting for a whole lot, and what could it hurt? My only concern is that I would like her too much and I would end up emotionally face down in a ditch. It was worth it, and we decided that next weekend she would come up and we would hang out at the beach. It was a light of hope in a sea of uncertainty in my life. I thought if I found the right person to spend time with, my outlook on life would improve and the gears of life-progression would turn once again.

I hate to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else, but I agree that this story is addicting. OP, you have a real talent for writing/storytelling. I just discovered this thread a few days ago, and I have been reading it non stop at work ever since. I am kind of glad I am late to the party, as I don't have to wait for updates. Keep up the good writing man, looking forward to reading the rest of the story!

So Marcy was a pill popper and pregnant?
Sorry,but it didn't seem clear what the breakup was about,Marcy or Kendra's drug use.

Otherwise great story.

The Lords of Discipline...what a great book. Like most Conroy novels if you skim over the 3 or 4 page descriptions of South Carolina sand dunes it is a ****ing great read. Nice reference.

There's plenty of room on this wagon my friend.

I have been backed up a couple days at work because I am building a new shadehouse for plants, knee deep in plants trying to ship out, and have my mom at the house because I have to give her a ride to the airport tomorrow. Clearing land by hand here is brutal.



I was also a witness to this - cop was chasing someone down the street, popped the median doing about 50, and rolled into oncoming traffic. He got out of the car dazed more concerned about going after the car than going to the hospital. He told one of the people on the scene, "Help me flip this car over so I can go after him." Clearly he needed to go to the hospital.

Sorry that was unclear - Kendra was the pill popper, Marcy was prego and kept clean.

As far as Lords of Discipline go, I love SC and would move there if I had good reason to. Humble brag - my mom told me Pat Conroy lived in our neighborhood in VA when I was in middle school but could never confirm it.

Great stories, much love op!
Have to admit I Didnt get the marcy breakup either

This thread is ****ing epic

Thanks, I try my best to explain things but what I think I say and how well it is put out there can be two different things. Basically Marcy was having a kid with some other dude, was stuck down at school more often than not, and was slightly delusional about her current situation that I didn't want to continue the relationship. She also started to become best buds with Kendra, who was doing pills at the time. She basically disappeared and I didn't ask for her to come back.

Sound like a standard Tuesday in Florida! Only missing the junkie on the street corner asking everyone for change (he would be totally disregarding the upside down police car)

5++++++ stars

read the entire thread in 2 days. well played OP