The only thing worse than having pocket kings busted twice (by AQo, then AKo) in three hands, moving me to the other side of the rail and out of the money, was my goddamn iBook crashing so hard it wouldn’t even boot, leaving me with no way to blog about the last few days. Five times in two years (across two different machines — this most recent time just a couple days after I got the damn thing back from the Apple Hospital) is just about my limit, so I think I’m done with it, and now I’m shopping for a new laptop. I’ll look at the Powerbook if I can convince Apple’s Customer Service to help me out, otherwise I think I’m giong to break down and get one of those Dark Side laptops, so I can play ultimatebet, or partypoker, or pokerstars while I’m on the road.
Or in my bedroom. Or in my living room, kitchen, or just about anywhere else, because if I liked poker before, I am madly, passionately, stupidly in love with it now.
My friend Chris wrote in his blog a month or so ago about this moment when his game suddenly changed; when all the books, homegames, the online and live tournaments, the WPT and WSOP on TV, and everything else all combined to kick his game up to a new level. That happened to me while I was nearing the end of the first day at Bellagio. It never would have happened if I hadn’t sat with Lee Jones at Aladdin on Monday night, but somehow everything he told me, plus the little bit of reviewing I did, then putting that into action against some amazing players . . . I may not have much money to show for it (though I did kill a guy at Flamingo late last night in the 1-2 NLHE game with . . . wait for it . . . Kings) but my game is better, I’ve made great new friends, and I proved to myself that I actually can compete at a higher level than I could ten days ago.
I didn’t make the money, but I played the best poker of my life. I sat there with the best, and I played with them. They made plays at me and I played right back. I took down a few good pots from some great players, and I can take some comfort in knowing that I was finally knocked out by one of the best players in the world. I always got my money in good, and I only needed to get lucky twice. Once I did, and once I didn’t. Hell, that’s poker. I wouldn’t change a thing.
I made some great new friends in Vegas. John Vorhaus, who is blogging the tournament for Ultimate Bet, and Jen Creason, who updates for PokerWire.com cheered for me when I was a player, and welcomed me into their world when I traded my chips for a notebook.
I’m home for another ten minutes, then off to ACME for the show tonight, then back to Vegas tomorrow morning to cover the final table.
In the past, whenever I’ve had the good fortune to experience anything great, writing about it has always been as much fun (and sometimes more fun) than the original experience itself. I’m so excited to start writing this story . . . I have a feeling that the story that eventually comes out of this week is going to fucking rock. (Well, for me, at least 😉
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Hey, for the record to any damned body who reads, my blog The Dark Side, and my typekey name, have NO intentional connection to the dark side Wil W. is referring to. Criminy, lord forbid. I use the term as in “Dark Side of the moon,” or human nature. That said, (I feel better,) – Wil, I didn’t originally read the poker entries all that closely, responding more as a Dad and Stepdad to the entries about family, then tonight I did and was glad… your Kerouac shows. And that is a compliment, one of the highest I feel I can bestow. Your beat nature shows in the poker grit.
Masterpiece that it was, though, let’s hope you don’t have a “Big Sur” in you. The family-related entries are too good to lose them to the kind of desolation one would need to do what Jack did in that harrowing novel.
hi wil,
i can’t wait to read the full story! its gonna be wicked cool, i can feel it!!!!
hope the show went well!
take care
rach
hey Wil…try Pokerpages.com…great games, free and cash.
I can empathize with your getting busted with K’s… I recently lost a hand having pocket J’s. Bet conservatively on the pre-flop; pushed all in once a jack showed on the flop. Lost to the guy next to me that had pocket queens and the Q that showed on the River. Still hurts!
As to the next notebook for you, if you choose not to go Apple, I’ve had great luck with the T-series from IBM – you’re Geeky enough to appreciate them 🙂 I’ve upgraded the WiFi card, RAM, HD, and Bluetooth module, all without having to send it into the shop… It’s pretty killer. And if tweaking HW isn’t your thing, I also recomment Sony – they were my favorite until I discovered the ThinkPad.
Also, if you do blog offline and go WinXP, Etco has a Windows version and I can recomment SharpMT (since I write it!). There’s also Zempt and w.Bloggar – all of which work with MT and/or TypePad.
I’ve had many problems with my G5 Mac, and the Apple “genius” was no help at all. These guys don’t really know what they are doing. I finally had to take my G5 to MacMall, and they at least figured out the problem and got it fixed.
Apple is starting to really piss people off!
Your stories about the Odessa poker room were really good. They inspired me to start learning about Texas Hold ’em for real. Poker has become my number 1 hobby. I took some time off to play Warcraft, but I am over that now.
Your poker stories are always lots of fun to read about. That and your audition stories are my favorites.
I think you should keep writing about poker for two reasons. First, the stories kick ass. Second, the more people who get into it, the more likely poker is to stick around.
Those of us who play online fear a legislative apocalypse. The more people who play and are passionate about the game, the more likely the game will survive into the future.
I think it would be an absolute blast to play in a private online table with you and some of your other readers.
-D
Your stories about the Odessa poker room were really good. They inspired me to start learning about Texas Hold ’em for real. Poker has become my number one hobby. I took some time off to play Warcraft, but I am over that now.
Your poker stories are always lots of fun to read about. That and your audition stories are my favorites.
I think you should keep writing about poker for two reasons. First, the stories kick ass. Second, the more people who get into it, the more likely poker is to stick around.
Those of us who play online fear a legislative apocalypse. The more people who play and are passionate about the game, the more likely the game will survive into the future.
I think it would be an absolute blast to play in a private online table with you and some of your other readers.
-D
I have a 3 year old PowerBook G4 and I have never had any problems with it.
Anyway, you could try booting up from your install CD or DVD and running disk utility on your startup disk. That will at least tell you if it’s a problem with your harddrive, and that might be able to fix it.
I have a friend with an iBook G4 (over 2 years old, I believe) and I think he’s had 2 logic board problems, so Apple should really be fixing that for free.
If you need any assistance, feel free to e-mail me at: [email protected]
Great blog, I’ve been reading for quite some time.
Wil –
If you want a Powerbook, get a Powerbook. Get Virtual PC for it and I doubt you’ll have any problems running your poker software in emulation. I’m running Virtual PC on my 600mhz iBook and the EmpirePoker front end works fine.
Love the blog, will be following it more regularly when I get back from my own Vegas trip.
James
I’ve heard that Virtual PC can open your computer up to the typical Windows viruses and whatnot and that can ruin your whole harddrive.
Personally, I don’t think Virtual PC is worth it.
I would recommend a Sony FS. Great laptop. Join the Dark Side. It’s so much more fun over here.
Kevin Smith’s blog mentions him using UltimateBet on his Apple; he has some PC emulation software, I think.
I’m working right now on a Titanium Powerbook G4, it has been pretty darn good to me for 3 years now. I need to up my memory a bit more, but I haven’t crashed yet (with the exception of when my 2 year old pulled it off the couch and ruined the power cord/CD-Rom and the wrath of the Apple God that is my husband came upon us all).
i love that feeling when you’re suddenly on your game and it’s like poker gods are just filling you with tight aggressive skillz.
btw, sorry about your kitty. i’m gonna go hug my cats, now.
Will,
The way you use your laptop, a PowerBook would be a much better choice. They’re a lot more rugged. I had an iBook and loved it, but they are just not as rugged. My last trip to Brazil my Powerbook came through with flying colors. Being 900 meters down in a dirty, humid, hot, emerald mine takes its toll on the body, I want a computer that just works (Microsoft should be legally barred from using that phrase to talk about Longhorn at least until it’s released!) and I don’t have to worry about a virus attack nuking 4,600 photos! (Although I did install XP Service Pack 2 on the mine owner’s Portugese laptop for him, my brain almost exploded!)
Anyway, have you checked out Yellow Dog Linux? They might be able to sell you a PowerBook with YDL installed (not sure they sell PowerBooks, but they are THE Linux-on-Mac folks). But, I have to tell you, Tiger is the killer OS I’ve been waiting for. Still, for a Linux geek like you YDL might be the ticket specifically for its Mac support. And Powerbooks run Virtual PC pretty good.