The Poker Diaries: Poker Eve

fall in

In just over 19 hours from now, two tables of guys that I know pretty well will file into my Cave, as most of them have done, many times over, for the last six years. We'll sit down for the biggest buy-in of the history of our game, the largest stacks, and the longest blinds. My guess is that the tournament winner will take down somewhere around $700, and the side pot for the player of the year coming in around $1,500. And for the third time in four years, I'm in the hunt to take it down, and hoping like hell that this will finally be my year.

I don't know about you, but the time before a big gambling event -- and let's not mince words about it, that's a serious chunk of money for me, and a very different kind of Christmas this year, because I never count on anything like this coming back my way -- is dicey. For the better part of, well, weeks. Which means that this is, of course, the time for my Cave to develop a slow leak that ruined a couple of bookshelves, and is still having water appear in a bucket. And the work hasn't stopped, and neither has the family obligations, or the sudden appearance of ice and snow that I've gotta deal with...

And, well, this blog. Which I just don't have time for today, except here I am, telling you this. Rather than, well, getting some sleep or getting the room prepared or playing a few hands at some site to see if I can start trying different levels of raises or yada, yada, yada.

When, well, poker is about being in the moment, and getting your reads, and being patient while not being too patient, and setting traps and making moves, and none of that -- absolutely none of that -- happens 19 hours before the cards are in the air.

Wait, 18:45.

No, 18:40...