Opportunity After Thoughts

When I hit it in the water in the round of 15 and stepped down from the tee box area it took a minute or two for it to sink in. My best chance ever of winning a car had just slipped through my fingers. So many different emotions ran through my body during that long walk back to my seat to grab my gear. It didn't take me long to get out of there. I really didn't want to see how it turned out and which luckbox would eventually take the big prize.

As we head out I realized that the FCPC poker series was just about to start. The crew that came to watch me were heading for dinner, but there just wasn't time for me to join them if I wanted to give it my best shot at winning the first week's event. Points are everything in this series. If you make the top 6 in points you are guaranteed a nice pay day.

We walked down to the underground parking and I caught a lift to my parking lot accross the street (lazy). I sent a reply to Fuel when he asked if I was a millionaire. When I got out the car and started to walk down to my car in the other lot I realized that I did not have my cell phone with my any longer.

You know the feeling. Panic and immediate hope ran through my mind as I tried to retrace my steps. I remembered sending Fuel a text right before I got out of the car. I thought to myself "It must be in the back seat still." I ran down to my car, paid for my parking on the way out and then I thought to myself "maybe it fell out when I got out of the car?"

Sure enough, as I pulled to the top of the underground parkade, there it was sitting in the gutter. No bad beat laid on Schaubs this time. I spotted it from accross the street and hoped that no one would see it before I could pull over, jump out and grab it. I did just that. My phone was back and things were right again. I called the crew in the car and they had a good laugh at my expense. I felt like it would be a lucky night for me since you know, I found my phone.

I hit up subway on the way over to the FCPC. Bacon and chicken six inch, toasted of course. I arrived about 45 minutes late and took my seat. I had been blinded down, but not much. 50K starting stack, 6 handed. I was ready to roll. I managed to finish in 2nd place and gain some valuable 2nd place points and a bit of cash. I was proud of the way I played considereing I haven't been playing 6 handed so much lately. Fuel finished 1st at his table, so it was a good night over all.

One guy already quit because of the sick beats that this one girl kept giving. He said he couldn't handle it. He stated she was so bad that he was totally turned off of the series because of it. We all told him to suck it up, but I doubt he will be back. FCPC organizer has agreed to give him his money back which I think it is total bullshit.

Have you ever played in a poker tournament where someone actually got a refund? No chance. Suck it up FCPC tournament organizer and put your foot down! No refunds, the money stays in the prize pool. Seat open!

So yeah, now the whole structure of the tournament has gone for shit. We might even change the entire thing and make it a one table, 10 player tournament now. Does it make sense to change the tournament after everyone has paid? I think not, but maybe that is just me.

Edit: The FCPC organizer has done the right thing and cancelled the tournament series. All monies will be refunded to the participants and we will work on something new. We appreciate all of his efforts as I can personally say that doing something like organizing a poker tournament (let alone a series, or any sort of event where it requires the participation of others) is a very thankless job. So THANK YOU Simon, I appreciate what you've done so far, and feel your pain in having to deal with some of the crap that has gone on in the past few days.

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Saturday I played in a golf tournament that I've played in for over 14 years now. We've won it a couple of times and always have a great day as it usually lands on my birthday weekend. We did some heavy drinking and had a blast. I guess the highlight for me was the $25,000 hole in one chance. Of course, I didn't make it, but I sure gave it my best try. The ball got a nice kick from the right side of the green, headed straight for the pin and finished less than 2 feet behind the hole. In fact, the spotters that were there for insurance purposes jumped right out of their chairs! lol. We finished 2nd with a score of 10 under par. We lost to a team of ringers and we weren't able to defend our title.

So it's official. This was the year of not being able to defend. Sure I had my biggest win ever in golf, but in other team events we just didn't get it done. As the saying goes, "It's always harder to repeat." So true.

Mookie Day, see you there.