Was the bar in Deland lol

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It was me. Cardoza Publishing is a part of 2+2. All of Sklansky's books, ed Miller, etc. AFAIK they only do strat stuff, poker, chess, backgammon, but you never know. I have no idea who to ask.

There better be another part today!

Legit lol'd at the RIP Kendra comment

On Your Bike

As I read this text, I sit there and kind of stare in shock for a moment. I realize that Keith could be there just having a drink, or something serious was about to happen. Either way, Keith was abusive to women, and right now, it might just be the one I am trying to save. I tell Tim about the situation and he is happy to help. I know he's been in a lot of gangfights in Chicago and at 6'3, 300+, I figured it wouldn't hurt for him to come along.

We fly over to the bar and I shut off my lights. There's about 3 cars there - Kendra's and two trucks. I don't know why she was left there solo, I'm sure her coworkers are aware of the problem with Keith. This girl was becoming a serious liability, twice in one week I was going to have to deal with drama. I hatch a plan to lure him out by getting Tim to go in there. Him and his friends know what I look like I am pretty sure, but they don't know Tim. I text Kendra and tell her I am outside, and ask if he is alone. Thankfully he is and I tell him to go and talk to Kendra, get her to point him out, and have him come outside. I wait outside the front doors, and the area is deserted. I shine my flashlight up near the roof to check for security cameras - they have none.

For some reason this bar had tinted windows that allowed you to look in, but not out. I peer over and see Tim talking to Keith, they looked like they were getting along like friends. After about 5-6 minutes, I see Tim ask Keith about something, and they head out the doors, Keith first.

"You're Keith, right?" I ask in a rhetorical manner.

"Yeah, you're that guy that Kendra lied about hanging out with."

"Do we have a problem?"

"Yes, I'm jobless and now I have no way to pay my rent, and you took Kendra out of my house. You ****ed up my life man, I'm gonna be homeless."

"You ****ed up your own life dude. Don't come into my life and start to try ****ing **** up too. The same goes for Kendra."

"What're you gonna do with that?" He said, staring at my asp.

"Consider yourself lucky its only an asp."

He made the choice to rush me and I turned the strobe on the flashlight, blinding him. I took a swing down low with the asp and hit him right in the ankle, dropping him to the ground. He was cursing like a sailor grabbing his foot, and Jim walked out calmly so no one inside got smart about what was going on out here.

"ARE YOU GOING TO COME AROUND THIS BAR ANYMORE?" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"No, I...."

"ARE YOU GOING TO HARASS KENDRA ANYMORE, OR ABUSE WOMEN? I'VE SEEN THE BRUISES ON HER LEG!!"

"I'm not going to man....I'm not.." I calmed down a little bit.

"Do you see that car over there, can you read that license plate? What kind of car is that?"

"Its a Subaru, I dunno, they're all the same...."

"Its the only WRX STi in town, if you see that car....you better run, or come at me man to man, because if I see you harassing Kendra or any other women around here again, I'll kill you myself. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"I don't even live in this town man....I rode my scooter here."

"On your bike then, let's go."

We walk with him over to his old ****ty Chinese scooter, and it is taking forever with him limping. He finally gets on the scooter, tries to crank it over, and it finally turns on. As he leaves, the heavens open up Florida style and it starts to pour. We roll inside and there is like 6 people in there - 2 patrons, Kendra and a barback, and us. Jim asks everyone if they knew what had happened outside, and the two patrons are so wasted they weren't even paying attention.

"Where'd Keith go?" Kendra asked with an air of curiosity.

"He had to go, he's not going to be around anymore."

Kendra kept on questioning what happened, and I explained that I had to do what needed to be done. I ordered a Godfather, and went over to the jukebox and played "In the Air Tonight". I felt like I needed to relax or I was going to have a brain aneurysm. Jim didn't feel like hanging around, so I told him to take my car to his house and leave the keys in it, and I would pick it up later. I was trying to figure out if there were any witnesses, and was convinced there weren't. 230 rolled around, and we picked up my car, then went over to her place and fell asleep. I wasn't even in the mood to get it on, I was tired and stressed out. I went to sleep half expecting for the cops or Keith's friends to roll up to the house, but finally passed out around 5.

There is zero chance of that, man. I think the rest of us just want to keep the thread relatively free of clutter - so it's easy for everyone to read your story. No one gives a **** about the comments like mine here, we're just making sure you know it's appreciated. But you story is pure gold, I wouldn't even care if it was 100% fiction. Not that I think it is. But your writing is top-notch.

+1 million

You've kept me hooked for a solid two weeks now. Cant remember the last time I regularly checked in to see if a thread had been updated. Keep it coming man great stuff.

You're doing God's work sir.

Keep it up! That was a short installment. We need two more today to make up for it.

Question though. From your first installment to your last, whats the timeframe? Weeks? Months?

I have been in and out of town and I just woke up, work got a little hectic.

From when I started until now is about 10 months, but I would say most of the story's timeline was since Mike came into the game, so probably 3-4 months.

I will try to get more out today, I feel like I got runover by a train.

Are Jim and Tim from the last installment the same person?

Great stuff man, super entertaining read. You cannot post these quick enough.

@truestoryteller how many times do I have to refresh this damn page for the next part!!! You don't get to sleep or eat until this damn thing is finished!!!!

Literally refreshing every 30 minutes at work.

Sorry guys I got slammed with orders and deliveries, I have to go to Miami tonight but I'm having someone else drive so I can type. I am dedicated.

Everytime I see you Truestoryteller is the last poster I get excited only to get let down when its not another part!! Hopefully a few more tonight!

New Beginnings and Loose Ends

Our first Thursday at Vito's was sort of like a staff meeting. Vito managed a small business and I have a feeling he was quite the micromanager. He had us come early, he told us about his life (like I didn't already do research on this), and treated us like employees. I think it was more to the effect that he knew Mike was unstable with money and make it clear he wasn't going to tolerate it. This new venue for Mike was going to his head - he thought he was running the best cardroom in Florida. We were getting higher end clientele, including a couple people who have been on PNIA, a November Niner, and some people who had made multiple WSOP final tables. The one problem we were having was German's wife was calling Big Mike and demanding to be paid, that she was going to call the cops, etc. I decided to end this once and for all - this was what I was getting paid for anyway.

An hour before the game, I went over to German's house to find his wife there just cooking as if there were a game. She saw me and immediate got irritable and was asking where Mike was.

"Why don't you tell me where German is?" I asked in return.

"He's gone, I haven't heard from him in 10 days. The last place I was able to get him to admit he was, was at the dogtrack in Fort Myers. I want to know where all the backrent is from Mike. He owes us over $2000!"

"Us?"

"Yes! We're ****ing married, so it's us!"

"German owes a lot of our players money. He used our game to solicit people for his football pool. He had no intention of paying back $40,000, so if you are asking for $2000 I find that hilarious. I still think there is an 'us' too, so I find that interesting that you guys steal $40k but beg for $2000. You get the money when German comes back with $40k in cash. In the meantime, I'm going to tell anyone who asks about the pool where you live, and I am going to try and find German too."

"Get the **** out of here you *******!"

So, I got the **** out. I don't know whether she was too dumb to understand the financial situation, or she thought she was actually entitled to 2000 when her husband stole 20 times that from players and friends. Luckily Vito had a huge gate and fenced in property, and we could monitor everyone that comes in and out. The game got started and Mike paid Vito with players' buyins hoping that what he owed plus the rake would cover it.

Vito's place was extremely nice, and a huge step up for the game. With two separate rooms to have games in, private parking, a nicer table and cards, this place was nicer than pretty much any room in Florida. Vito's wife Ellen was very flirtatious, and was nice, but she was basically an art major that never had to work a real day in her life. She had a private studio in the back, and when I first walked in the 4 car garage, I saw a new Polaris off road vehicle (I forget what they are called, the ones that look like off road golf carts). She explained that her parents surprised her with that as a birthday present. Oh nice, a $17,000 vehicle that you can't drive on the road, and she didn't off road at all. "We just drive it around the property to move things," she said.

Some new characters showed up for our game, word of mouth of a game in a mansion goes around fairly fast. On that first night, we made $2200 in rake on just one table running all night, and Mike walked away with $300. The problem was he refused to deal at all, even though he was faster than me, and would sit down with 3-500 in chips, thinking he could outplay his customers, when really he was the one getting played. He would never bet for value, but always overbet bluff the river and get called. He was minus 500 by the end of the night, and he had to bring something home to his wife. I took on some more debt from him - since he ran the game and basically paid me, I knew I was going to take some risks from him running the book. I was making as much as I normally was at German's but we were making more.

The Saturday after talking to German's wife, I decided to go down to Fort Myers dogtrack and try to find German there. I had made a few calls to some friends I knew there, notably Iceman. If anyone played poker at that track back in 2012-2015, they probably knew Iceman, he was around my age and had gone from a manager at a chain store to a legit pro. We had met back in 2012 and he was playing at Hard Rock Immokalee to make a living. He told me he was ashamed to go back to Fort Myers to play because he was only rolled for 1-2. That changed over the course of a year or so, and we were playing 1-2-5 and 2-5-10 PLO a lot. He was a super nice guy, a great player, and always acted professional. I hadn't talked to him in years, but between him and a floor there, I had found out German was in fact there. I stayed over at Kendra's that night with some extra stuff, and told her we had some plans for Saturday.

"Are we going to be playing some poker?" She asked excitedly.

"Of course we're going to be playing poker, you're hopefully going to be meeting a friend of mine."

after reading this religiously for the last week i have finally reached that horrible feeling when being engulfed in a story....i'm current. just waaaaiting for the next episode....you're a great writer and this reminds me of this book i read once





was also a great read and i love your story too...a full book would be pretty awesome

I would need to find a way to compress or rewrite this for a book, but would be happy to do so. I have been slammed doing work, so I have been writing in between my travels and trying to keep my grammar up to par. Part of my writing of these recollections is to give the darker side to poker some light while still keeping the passion of the game in present.

Heading South

So after a night of playing poker with friends in cheap tournaments on Friday night, I stayed over at Kendra's place and slept in, knowing it would be a long day on Saturday. We finally left her place at 2pm, and it took about an hour and a half to get to the Naples dog track. This was a place I was very familiar with and played at 3-4 nights a week back in 2012. I had become friends with a lot of the regulars then, but when I broke up with my ex who I was living with at the time, I moved back up north and had not kept in touch. It is overall a decent place, had a good 2/5, but it had more PLO games than any other cardroom or casino up until recently. It was where I had gotten most of my live PLO experience and moved up from playing 1-2-5 to 2-5-10. There was a 5-10-20 game that played super big, and would see big time players come in and get in the game for 30-50K regularly. This was a huge game for a relatively small poker room, and reminded me of the Boca Grande game, but much more public.

We took her car in case German came there and saw mine parked in the parking lot and got scared off. As we pull up to the parking lot and walk up the stairs, I get a feeling of nostalgia walking around the floor. At the time I lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere, and when I left the farm, it was to go into town, or to go to the room or to Immokalee. I see a few old guys I used to play with, not much had changed. I signed up for the 2-5-10 PLO list and Kendra got on the 2/4 limit list. Flashbacks of Jenny in my mind sitting with that dude at the table made me go over and look at who was sitting there. As I glance, it is just a 55+ crowd, no one under 40. I finally get called for the game, and buy in for 1200, as that seemed to be about as much as anyone had on the table at the time. This room was better in the fact that all the PLO games played 150+BBs deep, and you didn't have to be all in by the turn - I am always a fan of more postflop action and decision-making.

I sit down in seat 2, and Iceman is in seat 1 with about 1100. It had been awhile and I think he was shocked I was back. He was the only person I knew at the table, but he also seemed to be the only person I needed to worry about as far as skill level went.

I picked up 6678 in the straddle and EP raised to 35. Iceman flats in the BB and I come along for the ride. The flop is a beautiful 45K. Iceman checks, I bet out 80, EP calls, and Iceman calls after a little thought. While my flush draw is very likely no good, I block other nut wraps and flush outs, as well as dirty flush outs. The turn was 10 and before I can consider a move Iceman bets out full pot at 350. I know that EP cannot be strong here unless he had KK with spades, but Iceman is not one to flat out bluff into two other players out of position, he was not laggy at all. Full pot for him was not a value bet though, and I don't think EP has KKxx here. I call, knowing I might face a hard decision on the river. The dealer turns over the Q, actually a good card for me with less nutted flush combos out there. Ice checks, I check behind and his A36K is no good. Against other people at the table, I would fold the turn - it was a player dependent decision.

"No fold button?" He laughs.

"You bet 150 and I press that fold button much more easily." I smiled back. I guess Iceman has gotten a bit more aggro.

As the hours went on, I was up and down a bit, but I saw it was getting around 6:30, and I figured if German was going to show, it would be soon. I get off the table and walk over to Kendra. She had run it up from 50 to 120, and I was proud of her. I had told her to bet more rivers in limit, and to play more disciplined and only with value hands. She must have listened or gotten really lucky, and I tell her let's go eat somewhere nice. We get out of the room and go to a hibachi grill, and she gets all excited about the chef doing his magic tricks while I am knee deep in sushi. I push her to try some sashimi and she finally breaks in. I hold it to her mouth, and instead of just putting it in, she starts to sniff it and lick it like a chihuahua.

"Ewww, it feels weird....."

"If you would stop licking it and just put it in your mouth it'll be over faster!"

She finally opened her mouth enough and I shoved it in, and she started to slowly chew. It got faster for a few seconds, then it just stopped and her eyes started to widen. This was not good. She got up quickly and ran to the bathroom for 10 minutes. I guess she didn't like sushi, oh well, more for me then. She came back with a red face and I started laughing, and she slaps me right in the face! We finish and head back to the room for what I had really come here for - German.

I pull into the parking lot again, and start going up and down the rows, figuring if I saw his Caddy, then I would save myself some time and get a jump on him. I started from the back and moved my way forward, and it was going to take a while because it was Saturday night in season. As I approach the second row, his unmistakable dark beige Cadillac STS with a German flag was visible. I found a spot across the way and pulled in. Now that I had the element of surprise, I couldn't let it go. Knowing German, he would be here all night, but what if he busts? I had to figure out my next move - I had already come 80 miles, I had to go the last 100 yards.

grunch: great job man. I don't know how you can recall such fine details of hands from a year ago but it doesn't even matter. you truly are a true story teller and am glad there are already so many pages in front of me to binge on

German?

I had to hatch a plan for approaching the German. Could I just walk up to the poker room and talk to him? No. That wasn't going to work out. I needed the element of surprise, and preferably in a less public area. I look over and Kendra is non-stop texting someone, she says her friend goes to FGCU which is one town up from there in Estero. She had just smoked and looked like she was getting bored from just sitting there for 15 minutes.

"Do you want to go hangout with friends tonight? This may take a while."

"What's a while?"

"2am, maybe later."

"Really? I don't know if I want to play poker anymore. I wanted to have some alone time with you, I know you had to come down here for a reason though."

We decide that she can go and hang out with her friend at FGCU, and German most likely will still be here. I head up there, we meet with her friend Marcy who is 100% Italian and from Long Island. We end up talking for a while, they were going to watch movies and catch up on life, so again I dodge the bullet of boring Kendra with my private eye work. I began to second guess why I was doing this in the first place. I was not looking to blackmail German, rough him up, or teach him any sort of lesson. It was just the wanting to know what happened - no one up north even knew or seemed to care that German was gone. I should be getting paid to do this, but I wanted to get answers for myself.

I get back to the track around 930, and cars were starting to disperse a little as the horse betters were disappearing, and the tournament was starting to die down. I know I can walk up there and blend in with the surroundings, the place wasn't dead, but I was going to go crazy if I just sat in my car any longer. I go up the escalator hoping he is not just sitting right there, and as I get up there is a decent crowd. I walk along the long window separating the tables from the betting area, and I can see him on a middle table with his back to me. Perfect. He is on a 2/5 table and only has about 220 in front of him, which is not what he normally buys in for. Unsure if he has rebuy money, or any self-control, I get a good idea and go over to my friend Sean. He is a 2/5 player, and was out getting food in the serving area. I ask him if he will talk to German, and engage him to see if he is going to be here all night. German is a very engaging person, so he should spill his intentions to a perceived stranger.

Sean goes over, talks to him for about a minute, and comes back to tell me that German isn't going to rebuy, but "is going to get his stack working or go home." That's what I need to know, where HOME is. After pacing back and forth outside smoking a cigarette, I ask Sean if he will text me when he sees German get off the table. I go out the door, down the stairs, and walk out to my car again. Kendra texted me pictures of them watching The Notebook, I don't know if that is going to make her sad or in the mood, and I get curious. I get a text back as I open my door, and it wasn't Kendra - it was German. He was heading out the back door. I have about 3 minutes.

This was going to be the hardest part of the plan. I had to make it look like I was just pulling out, as well as not following him. He was never sober enough to see my car in the daylight, so I know he won't make me from the car. I turn the car on with it in neutral, and about 60 seconds later I see the lights flash from German's Caddy unlocking. He gets in, pulls out and is on his way. The thing about the Naples-Fort Myers dogtrack is it is actually in a smaller town called Bonita Springs, and there were only so many affordable hotels in the area. If I lost him, I could always pick and choose, but it would take about an hour. He pulls on Bonita Beach Road and heads towards 41, and pulls right into the closest hotel, a Comfort Inn. I wasn't expecting this short of a ride and I think fast and pull in real fast to park. As he was getting out, I walked over to him in a friendly manner.

"GERMAN! How are ya?"

"Liam, what are you doing here? Did someone send you?"

"No, I came here because I wanted to know where my German went. The guy I knew who could light up a house with his stories of the past. His story of losing 1.5 million in Vegas in one night. Where is that man?"

"I just....." German started crying, "I lost everything Liam. I have no one, my children won't return my calls, my wife is gone forever, and I can't ever go back to town. I am here all alone, and I am almost out of money."

"How much do you have left?" I asked in a concerned tone.

"About $2000, but this place is $400 a week, and blackjack and poker have not been good to me."

"Listen, no one sent me here, I came out of curiosity. You don't owe me anything, and no one will know I was here. You want to go inside and talk?"

We head inside, and we talk about what happened. These were the answers I was looking for, when he realized he couldn't cover, what he did, and how he planned this. He told me about 3 weeks ago he knew he would never have the money, he was down 10K in poker and it was all football money. He was too ashamed to tell his wife, but told his daughter in Germany. He could go back home but there was not much left for him there. He had been an American for 25 years, almost half his life, and he was completely, utterly alone. I was expecting to be mad at him, but looking at his current conditions, it was just pathetic to see him this way. It wasn't the German I knew.

After an hour or so of talking, I looked at my phone and it was 1130. I wanted to get home at a reasonable hour if I could, and I still had to go and pick up Kendra. I bid goodbye to German, and he told me he was going to try and start new in Miami. I wished him well, walked out the door, and that was the last I ever saw of the German.

As I get into my car I check some messages I got a half hour before, and 3 were from Kendra.

"We are done watching the movie."

"We're bored, are you almost done there?"

The final one was a picture message of her and Marcy that looked like they were just in underwear, and below it in capital letters were "COME OVER NOW!!!!"

I guess I had to go over there......

As crazy as it might sound, I can remember most of the notable live hands I have played since 2011, I am sure I have forgotten some, but I write them here for not only the story, but I also have a place where I can remember what I played and when. Obviously the notable hands will be more biased towards winning ones, but there are plenty of losing ones too. I think of a part of the hand that stands out such as the pot sized bet of Iceman on the turn, and the rest comes to me, almost like pressing a button. Glad you enjoy!

Back to College

As I got that text, I was concerned at what the hell was going on over there at Marcy's place. I didn't know if they were in trouble, bored, drunk, but it certainly wasn't the way I left them. They told me they were going to watch The Notebook or something and maybe smoke out in Marcy's car. It's 7 miles between the exit for FGCU and the cardroom, but I swear it felt like 30 minutes on the highway. She lived in off-campus housing that was up the road from the school, which from my experience was nicer, because you didn't feel like someone was watching over you all the time. Marcy was a forensics major, and seemed very wholesome too.

I pulled into the only free parking space and had to walk about 100 yards to get over to the room. It was up on the third floor, down a walkway, and tucked in a corner. It was a two bedroom place and she had one roommate who was back in Miami for the weekend. I knock on the door and I hear some yelling and get immediately on the defense. The door swings open and its Marcy and Kendra, both in.....robes? I thought they had started drinking, but I didn't see any signs of alcohol around the place. Did they just get some really potent weed? We go into the room and they both have me by the shoulder to the point I thought they were going to pop it out of its socket. The lights were really dim and just the TV playing music was on kinda loud. I sat down on the couch and stared around looking for some answers.

"We have been waiting for you, did you find your friend," Marcy asked?

"Yes, I did, I was going to be gone late, did something happen here?"

"Well we got bored, so I called up a friend and she hooked US UP!"

"Hooking someone up" can mean just about anything depending on what your vice is. They were all smiles and laughing, and I figured they were just really stoned. Avicii started playing in the background, and they brought out glowsticks and finger lights and started messing around with them and dancing.

Oh, they were rolling.....that explains it.

I used to be into the EDM scene, going to Ultra in Miami, concerts in Tampa, STORY in Miami, I had seen just about everyone live. I had only taken Molly a few times in my life, and I had a bad experience one time that made me feel like my heart was going to explode.

"So you two are all alone?" I asked, curious if there was some party going on in the building.

"Do you have any alcohol in here?"

"Yeah.....it's somewhere over there, pointing to the entire kitchen, real helpful. I ended up finding some Captain Morgan and made a crappy rum and diet coke. I definitely couldn't hang out here completely sober. As I sat down on the couch again, Kendra came over from Marcy's bed and took her robe off, and was just wearing a bra and panties and proceeded to jump in my lap. I tried downing my drink faster before it was spilled everywhere. She started to rub my shaved head, and it was just the most amazing feeling to her. She started making out with me and I was honestly just trying to find a way to drink while doing all of this.

I got up quickly and told them I needed another drink, it didn't seem to faze them at all in their quest of happiness. I just poured straight rum and downed about 2-3 shots with a little bit of water. I went to go back over to the couch and Kendra pushed me to the bed where she continued her touching frenzy. While she was kissing me, I felt her rub my head, and realized her hands were to her side - that was Marcy doing the head rubbing.

As all of this was going on, I was thinking in the back of my head, "was that a good call with that flush? What would I do with myself if I were German right now? Should I help him?" My mind clearly was in the wrong spot. I suddenly felt my shorts getting ripped off and Kendra was suddenly where my shorts once were. While Kendra and I were going at it, Marcy was totally taking this all in, making out with both of us - a cheesy porn came to mind when I thought about it, but I wasn't complaining. After about an hour they were starting to come down from the high, and I was totally exhausted. I hopped in the shower there, and they were already passed out, so I took the couch.

I got woken up at 4am to the sound of them going at it with each other completely naked. I was so tired I was going in and out of consciousness and tried to stay awake but ended up falling asleep after a few minutes. I woke up again at 10am to them in the middle of getting dressed as if nothing out of the ordinary happened last night. Marcy had to go to campus for some meeting, and I was ready to go home and sleep in a real bed. Marcy gave me her number (which was odd), and said "Come back sometime soon, it was fun!"

Kendra seemed unfazed by any of this and we had a relatively normal conversation on the ride home. She ended up falling asleep as I wondered if Kendra had set this night up - maybe I was paranoid, but in the end, should I really care? That was one of my last thoughts as I popped a vicodin and fell asleep on my own bed.

Still D.O.N.N.I.E

Even though I had met Kendra and she was very much in my life, my Thursdays had not changed much at all. My only change was I would stop by the bar on the way to Vito's to say hi, sometimes I would get her dinner - she loved chef salads, which, if you think about it, is just a bunch of lettuce with chopped meat and cheese piled all over it and some extras. I would bring it by, give her a hug and tell her that I would see her later. She would always ask how the game was going to go that night, and I really had no answer for her. I never had a clue how it was going to run, how late, how much the rake was, and if I was getting paid in full. I just gave her the answers she wanted to hear, I don't think she would ever understand the nature of home games.

After picking up beer and two quarts of coconut water (which I started to drink religiously even though it doesn't do much more than regular water), I put the code into Vito's gate, and strolled in. Mike was already there, and he had a concerned look on his face.

"We don't have a lot of confirmations for tonight, I don't know if we're even going to run."

I made a few calls of my own, including some cowboy dude named Red. Red was in the military, got discharged, and was in school nearby. Something wasn't completely right about him, but he was a decent player and had expressed interest about coming to the game when we were talking at the cardroom. In one hand we had been talking, I had accidentally checked back 10s full by accident and he could have lost a lot more money. Maybe this is the chance to make it back in the game?

I gave him a call, he said he would come on up, and said that he had talked to someone else where he lived that also wanted to come play that had been invited before. His name was........ Donnie. I thought I had been done with Donnie after Tim's games, but Donnie was like a mosquito that kept on coming back for more to suck you dry. He already had 1500+ sitting on Jim's old book, and chances are, he was only going to show up with 200, and ask to borrow. The worst part was Mike was probably going to give it to him. I talked to Mike about it, and he said that he had already invited Donnie because he had recently had a big tournament score and had cash to play with. Donnie and Mike were similar in that they were trying to make a living grinding out -EV spots and had multiple children they were trying to support on their gambling habits. There must have been some sort of connection there.

"Just make sure that Donnie brings money to play - we aren't Tim, " I told Red.

The game ended up starting well due to Red and Donnie, and in the beginning, Red and Donnie ended up both busting and Donnie of course went on Mike's book. It got all the way to 800 bucks with two 400 dollar rebuys, and players were not fond of this, feeling like they were playing against their own money. I was just sitting there dealing, and Bookie and Nazi John were taking Mike aside to tell him they were thinking of leaving because of Donnie. This was definitely not good for the game. Bookie and Nazi were cornerstones of this game, never went on book, and had plenty of cash. They were also recreational players that fed a lot of the more pro-ish clientele. Mike used his charm to calm down Bookie and explained that he would cover any book tonight - a promise I never believed he could keep on any night.

As the night went on stacks got deeper and deeper, and people were double straddling, which from a game running perspective was bad - people go broke faster in bigger pots. There was a perfect balance in the game between action and stack preservation that needed to happen to run a long game, and people going busto was too much action. Mike himself was into the game for a bit, and at this point was sitting on about 500. Just to cover his losses for the night between him and Donnie, the rake had to be 2000, possible, but it would have to be a long night.

The action slowed for an hour, but picked up when Nazi John opened to 25 UTG and Donnie 3-bet to 85. Mike then tanked and 4-bet to 225 OTB with 275 behind. Bookie tanked for a bit and called the 275 out of the BB, and Nazi went all in for 535. Donnie snap called with about 1300 behind, and Mike goes all in for about 500. Bookie calls after another minute with about 1000 behind. I had a feeling either Mike or Nazi had the best hand at this point. The flop was 993r, and the action between Bookie and Donnie went check/check. The turn was a 6, and when checked to, Donnie bet out 100 into a side pot. Bookie called, and a 10 hit the river. Bookie checks to Donnie again, and Donnie bets 500. Bookie snap raises all in, and Donnie then goes into the tank asking him if he has A10, saying that he already has 1100 in there, and is so pained. It is that moment when you know you are beat, but you see how much is in the pot, and you tell yourself you have to call. He eventually calls, and Bookie flips over 78o for the nut straight. Donnie flips over JJ, Nazi flips over QQ, and Mike flashes KK for the best hand until the river. Mike had a look of utter disgust on his face, but equally pissed was myself, who knew I wasn't getting paid out that night. Mike's wife, who was there, started crying because she knew that was the money they were going to need for the week.

The game stopped for about 15 minutes after that @4000 pot at a 1/2 game, the largest 1/2 pot I ever dealt. Bookie and Mike go outside for a cigarette, and I am thinking WTF is going on? Mike doesn't want the game to continue? He was the only person who got busted and couldn't buy back in. He ended up making a deal with Bookie to borrow money to pay off me as well as the game, and Bookie gave me 4 greens as a tip. If only that meant something in real dollars in this game - it was all becoming funny money at this point. By the end of the game, I walked away with 200 bucks and an IOU for the rest. I told him that wasn't enough, and his book caused me to lose money - this wasn't a charity - if people don't have money, then don't let them in the game. Donnie was into the game for 800 and said he would get the money as soon as he could, and it was going straight to me. I was tired of having to pick up unpaid debts and knew this was going to happen.

"I do have something I can give you, Greek didn't have money to buy in, so he gave me his PS4 with some games. Do you want it for $300 taken off my tab?"

I gladly took it, knowing I could get about that if not more if I sold it. I drove over to Kendra's, she was asleep and I hooked up the PS4 figuring she would like it to pass the time. I woke up to her playing GTA 5, she was so excited that I had gotten her something she normally couldn't afford.

"Someone owed me money so now its ours," I told her, "I was thinking of selling it in the future when I start my own game."

"Your own game?" She asked curiously.

"Yes, one that is run properly, I just need my own place and a few more players."

I said that without thinking the reality of the situation. It was the first time I had seriously thought about starting my own game and getting away from the bull**** that surrounded Vito's house. I laid back down thinking a little more about it - it was something to think about for the future.

Wondering when you would think of making your own game, i get tilted by Mike or Tim running their games haha