Is this the end? Well maybe not.

Completely non-poker related experience.

About two weeks ago I get a reocurrance of a nasty cough that has been going around. After about five days of suffering through it I finally decided to go to the doctor to get some meds and get checked out. In the past this cough was a result of Asthma and the Doctor put me on the standard stuff that has worked in the past as well as an antibiotic.

Five days after that (Monday) I still wasn't feeling better so the called the Doctor and she had me make a trip into the office on my way home from work. At that visit, she decided that a chest ex-ray was in order. So off to the Lake Forest Hospital Gurnee location. After waiting about an hour I finally get the chest X-ray and on my way out I'm told by the reception desk that I am to wait for the results to be phoned into the Doc. Thinking this was a little strange I sat down wondering when I was going to get lunch (it was about 3:00pm) and damn did I have a lot of work to catch up on. The results were ready in about 20 minutes and the Doc called into the reception desk to tell me that everything looked normal. Great I think, time for lunch. But no, the Doctor says "you need to get a CT scan of your chest with contrast (this is where they pump some iodine into your veins and take some pictures)." So I have to fast for two hours before hand and head on over to the Lake Forest Hospital Facility in Grayslake.

At 5:30 I start the CT scan which was completed in about 1/2 hour and if you have never had Iodine pumped into your veins, it sucks. You actually feel like you are pissing yourself. Also holding your breath for 20-30 seconds when you are coughing every 3 seconds tends to be a bit difficult.

Finally 12 hours after breakfast I head over to the Wendy's to grab a sandwich and head home to go to sleep. Well, that was not going to happen!

At around 8:00pm I get a call from the doctor. Strange I think, I would have guessed that I would get the results on Tuesday. "Dave, we have the results back. It looks like you have a Pulmonary Embolism in your right lung". Interesting, I have heard that term on ER, but have no clue what it is. She goes on to explain that it is a blood clot in my right lung. OK this sounds serious. "Ok," I respond, "how serious is this?"

"Well, Dave it is serious enough that it can Kill you. You need to get to the emergency room immediately. You get ready and put Angie on the phone. "

So we explain to the kids that I have to go the ER and that I am probably going to be there for at least five days. Jeremy (the 10 year old) looks at me and says "Pulmonary Embolism? Dad, that is pretty serious. Those can give you a stroke or a heart attack. Are you going to die?"

Well, I have to tell you, up to that point, I did not contemplate that outcome. I guess hearing something like that from your kid makes it a "little more real" than coming from the Doctor. I pack a quick bag and Angie and I jump into the car and head off to the ER.
Needless to say the ride to the ER was rather quiet.

We get to the ER and go to the reception desk. "Can I help you?" asks the girl at the desk. "Yes, my Doctor called and told me to come in immediately.". Before I can give her my name, she says "Oh yes, are you Dave?". OK, this really isn't sounding good. "Have a seat and we will be with you in just a moment."

After a short period of time, we are called into the office with a nurse who is to take vital signs and she is reading through my chart. She must have been new as the admitting order said reason for admittance "PE". She looking up and said, "PE I wonder what that is?". I said "Oh, it stands for Pulmonary Embolism." Man did her eyes get big. "OK, let's get through his fast!" And I'm escorted into an ER room next to a room with a screaming 4 year old.

The ER Doc comes in and explains what is going on and that they are going to put me on blood thinners to make sure the Clot doesn't get any bigger and that in the morning I would meet with my Doctor and the Lung and Heart Guy. Also, I would be getting an ultra-sound of my legs to look for additional clots, an Echo-Cardio Gram (I think that is what they called it) to check my heart as the EKG they ran came back irregular and a Renal ultra sound for good measure. Then they proceed so suck 12 vials of blood out of me.

"Have you noticed an rectal bleeding?" asked the ER Doc.

Uh oh, "um no."

"Well since we are putting you on blood thinners we have to check." It was at that point I noticed that the ER Doc has a pair of monsterously large hands.

After surviving the "exam", the IV was set up and I was rolled up to the critcal care unit, put on a heart rate monitor and snuggled into a room next to some old snoring guy (I was by 25 years the youngest person on the floor). Needless to say I didn't get much sleep. No real surprise I'm sure to anyone who knows my regular sleeping habits. In addition, to flush the Iodine out of my system from the CT scan, the Doctor cranked up the dripon the IV so I had to take a leak every hour to two hours. Nothing makes you feel like more of a man than to repeatedly call a nurse to help you take a pee.

Now, this whole ordeal was not a complete disaster up to this point. Everytime they came into check on me the nurse had to check my legs for swelling. Generally this check started at my groin. Now, this might not seem like a big deal, but as a 37 year old out of shape balding male, any time a pair of female hands gets within two feet of my groin it is time for celebration.

The morning roles around and I get visit from my Doctor who does a quick check up, including the now standard groin and leg check. She has a very soft grip.

Then off to 3 hours of ultrasounds starting with the leg ultrasound (damn no groin check). Anyways, this goes well and no additional clots are found. The person doing the ultrasound was very good at explaining what she was doing and what she was finding. For anybody who has ever done these usually you leave with no information and a comment, "your Doctor will get back to you."

Then off to the Echo exam. I was originally told this would take about 1/2 hour. Well it lasted for 1.5 hours and included 3 different technicians double and triple checking the previous persons work, with three pow wows between the techs on the other end of the room in hushed tones. The only things I would make out were "scar tissue" and "hole in the......." So when this ended, I asked the standard question, "well anything of note." Two of the three technicias looked at the third and she said, "yeah, well we will need to have the doctors look at this and somebody will get back to you."

Shit!!!!

So back up to my room for my first leak in over 3 hours. It was a monster. Even the nurse was amazed. Oh for small victories.

Shortly after a highly mediocre lunch of Spaghetti, the Lung and Heart guy roles into the room. "Well, I have reviewed your CT Scan. In addition I had four other Doctors take a look without leading them in any direction. In addition we have reviewed all the blood work from last night. I don't believe and the other Doctors concur that the "Clot" on the scan is a Clot at all, just a slight irregularity in the lung. It isn't anything to worry about and we are taking you off the blood thinners."

Damn that is good news.

"But," he continues, "your EKG is still irregular so I can't tell you when we can let you go until we get the ECHO back. Also, I want to give you a couple of breathing treatments for the Asthma. Those will happen after dinner."

OK not out of the woods yet. But it doesn't look that bad.

But then it got worse again. I met Al...... Albuteral. The drug in the breathing treatment. At 8:00 PM I began the breathing treatment. Bascially, they give you an inhaler with Al in it and you breath it in for about 5 minutes. Didn't seem to bad until my body reacted to the drug about 10 minutes later. I knew something wasn't right when my hands started shaking uncontrollable. If you have even seen Khyle betting with pocket Aces, multiply that shaking by 10. Uh oh, then after about 1 minute of that my heart rate shot up to 130 beats a minute and my heart rate monitor in the nurses station started making a lot of noise. The nurses station was about two doors down from my room, but when I heard the noise I knew what it was related to. Rebecca (the hot late 20's nurse who is a master at the groin check) came hustling in and asked how I was feeling. I said take a guess. She nodded an put me on oxygen. So I settled back and watched Mobsters, Rocky I, Rocky II, The Ghosts of Mississippi (I think that was the title) and the beginning of Mobsters again before my heart dropped to the low 100's and I could finally fall asleep somewhere around 4:30 Wednesday morning. Of course they woke me up at 5:30 to suck more blood and for a new nurse (sob sob Rebecca was off duty) to apply the groin and leg check. As of this writting I now have 4 hours of sleep from 6 AM Monday morning to 6:30PM Wednesday evening.

At 8:30 my regular doctor and the Lung and Heart guy came in to talk about the Echo. They wanted to do another test, this one a Echo with contrast. The contrast is they inject you with a bunch of saline bubbles and watch how they go through the heart. This is to determine if there is a hole, and if so how big. My Doctor said that if this went smoothly I would be able to go home, but would have to meet with her the next week to discuss the irregular EKG.

Well since I am writting and posting this to the blog, I must be home and you can probably tell everything on that end came out OK. Really, I just wrote this to get it all off my chest (no pun intended) and reflect on the week. Never having been in a situation where I had to reflect on my own mortality really made me think about my life and my family and where my job should fall into the mix.

Well thanks for listening (actually reading), if you got this far. Just remember that Family, Health and Friends are more important than your job and should be first priorities in your life. I have spent most of my professional career with these priorities in a different order. I am going to endeavor to reorder these priorities and become the father and husband that I should have been from the beginning. Hopefully I will be able to keep this promise to myself and not again get caught up in making that next dollar to the expense of my family.

Poker is too damn popular

Don't get me wrong. I like the fact that there are 18,000 poker shows on TV with pudgy pasty guys talking about poker. I mean, I can just never get enough of "he's got a legitimate pair of 2s!" and "GREAT Laydown!" and "OH BOY, We've got three way action!"

Now honestly, I don't get the Tilt thing. It just seems like if they wanna go the seedy Vegas route, they should be on HBO instead of ESPN, you know, do it right.

But a poker SITCOM? There's a story in the Poker Gazzette today that Janeane Garafalo is starring in a pilot based on the life of Annie Duke.

Duke is pretty annoying as a personality, she's got a little Phil Hellmuth in her. But, Garafalo is actually more annoying in an arrogant, artsy, socio-political commentary way.

But hey, that awful sitcom starring the guy from Seinfeld based on Tony Kornheiser is still on the air, so there's still room for awful television on the major networks.

Helpful Hints for Musky Boy

MPT Player of the year standings
In the first announcement of the standings for the MPT player of the year (at least I think so), we have a surprise at the top of the leaderboard. #1 is Curious Kitty, who earned his place by his stellar January play. However, even though his style has remained the same, his results have tailed off dramatically since January.

In second place, and rising fast, is the Regulator. His consistent play has finally allowed him to break through. Doc is in 3rd, largely by virtue of hitting a runner-runner to beat a made hand (shame on you).

Halfman and LuckyPP follow. Squeaky is in 6th. Following his 2004 formula, Squeaky started fast, and fell off just as fast. Magic Man, after a horrible start to the year is rising quickly, despite only playing in 60% of the games.

The biggest dissapointment in the rankings is Musky Boy (where have we heard this before?), who has had all the chances in the world presented to him, and has failed to take advantage. His play is sliding faster than the Cubs chances every September.

Suggestions for Musky Boy
Since Musky Boy has posted a couple times in recent weeks, the management thought it would be a good idea to suggest to him future topics. We're craving more poker-knowledge from the bad boy of the MPT. So here goes:

1. How to call all ins as an underdog, even without pot odds.
2. How to be Reg and Magic Man's Be-Yotch.
3. Me and Dan Harrington, separated at birth? He folds a lot, wears a hat a lot, except of course, he's better than Musky.

Hell has Frozen Over/Revenge of the Squirrels

They say a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally, but what are the odds that both MPT blind squirrel's find them? Well that was the case last night at the First Annual (that's for you Khyle) Rumble at the Regulators. Both the Magic Man and the Regulator took home Championships. The Regulator came back in game one from being down to his last 300 chips to go head to head with the the Magic Man but couldn't take down the early game championship. Squeaky and Doc reverted to form finishing out of the money and the Musky Boy who was the big stack early ran into the herd of Squirrels to take third. It should be noted that only stellar play by the Musky Boy allowed him to make money as he had to play inferior cards all night. Just goes to show that skill alone isn't enough.

Game two had a different feel but almost the same results as the squirrels finished one two again, this time with the Regulator taking first and the Magic Man taking second. If was a tough game as the cards were difficult to see from the smoke billowing out of the Regulators Bong. Beginner's Luck lived up to his name, as he has not made the money since he burst onto the scene late in 04, by being the first one out. Followed by some rather weak play by Squeaky and Musky Boy. Doc finished just out of the money on the bubble, but seemed content just to take one hit after another off the pipe. Khyle had his chance to make it two for the evening but was run over by the Regulator's full house in the final hand of the evening.

Poker Books

I got a shit load of em. So here goes a summary, don't waste any money without reviewing here first.

I have broken this into 4 categories 1) General Interest Poker Books (Stories, not technical poker how to), 2) No Limit Hold'em, 3) Limit Hold'em 4) Other. I have read and I have studied all these books and I still suck, so..... take my recommendations at your own risk.

General Interest Poker Books

Postively Fifth Street - James Mcmanus
This book is really two stories in one, discussing the murder of one of the Binion's by his slutty whore wife and also discussing the WSOP tournament play where Mcmanus finishes 5th and then goes and hangs out with a bunch of strippers (OK the strippers part is over only a few pages). Anyways, this is a must read. I would probably take another pass through it but Squeaky hasn't returned my copy.

Poker Nation - Andy Bellin
This book is a bunch of poker stories wrapped around a brief attempt to educate. The stories are pretty good and it is a very enjoyable read. Another item that should be on your must reading list. The back of the book says that Bellin "keeps you in the game with his portraits of the colorful players, dreamers, hustlers and eccentrics". Easy read and only $12.95 - but you can borrow it from me for only $5.

Limit Holdem

Internet Texas Hold'em - Matthew Hilger
If you are going to buy a general hold'em book, this is the one to buy. While its title says internet it has general hold'em theory, hand selection, betting strategies, starting hand charts etc. Sprinkled in is a discussion on some of the major differences between internet play and live play. Well written, great hand examples and easy to understand.

Small Stakes Hold'em - Miller, Sklansky, Malmuth
The 2+2ers and the ITHers really get into it when discussing which one is better. This is a little more advanced book than ITH and teaches a hyper aggressive strategy to limit hold'em. Pummel your opponents, betting and reraising big draws etc. If you are new to limit hold'em I would start with ITH and then move on to SSH. If you only wanted to buy one get ITH.

Killer Poker Online - John Vorhaus
This is the follow up to Killer Poker. I didn't read that one and got this one for Christmas. Don't waste your time if you have read ITH or SSH. If you are intent on reading this one, come see me I will give you my copy.

Inside the Poker Mind - John Feeney
This one came highly recommended. I put it here in limit because the focus is there. Another one of those don't waste your time books, poorly written and boring. You can have my copy.

52 Tips for Texas Hold'em - Barry Shulman
This one looked good, 52 general tips with a page or two of explanation. In one word - Crap. This bad boy comes out with intellectualy stimulating comments like, if you have the best hand bet. If you don't think you have the best hand you might want to fold. Blah blah blah don't waste your time.

No Limit Hold'em

No Limit Texas Hold'em - Daugherty and Mcevoy
Entry level NL Hold'em book. Good starter easy to understand and decent hand examples. Little boring and if you have played any NL against any decent competition (that rules out MPT) you are probably advanced past this book.

Super System - Doyle Brunson
Considered to be the Bible for serious poker players (SSII is out now). Aggression is the name of game here. This book covers all the variations of poker that are played at the WSOP. Great detail. If you want one general poker book, this is it. An f'ing encylopedia of poker. Get SSII though as some of the games in SS are no longer played.

Championship No Limit and Pot Limit Hold'em - Cloutier and Mcevoy
This is a tournament book. Cloutier is supposed to have won the most major tournaments of any player alive. Gives you strategy etc., along with a lot of I'm great from Cloutier. Definitely worth a read. Well written.

Tournament Poker - Mcevoy
Have it, read it don't remember a damn thing about it. Must suck. Stay away.

Tournament Tips from the Pros - Shane Smith
Who the hell is this guy? Never heard of him. Book is interesting, top notch advice like "you have to accumulate chips during the tourney" - Hmm hadn't thought of that. If you are going to Vegas and are going to play in a tourney and you have never seen the structure etc. its worth a quick read.

Harrington on Hold'em - Action Dan Harrington
This book is the cat's ass and I ain't talking about the curious kitty. If you want to study NL tourney Hold'em this is the book for you. Well written, great hand examples and really any book that refers to bad players as "feebs" has my vote. On my second read of this one and waiting on volume 2.


Other

Zen and the Art of Poker - Larry Phillips
Read it, forgot it, move on

Caro's Book of Tells - Mike Caro
If you actually pay attention when you play this is probably a book that is worth while. I don't pay attention and therefore I can't use anything here. I try but no luck. Oh well, I will give it another go soon. Borrow Khyle's copy.

MPT goes on....tour

The inaugural "Rumble at the Regulator's" event is being held this coming Saturday. The early odds favored LuckyPP, who I am giving a secondary nickname as "Million Dollar Baby" due to his incredible luck at pulling pocket pairs. However, he is out due to other entanglements.

Also absent from the game are Half-man, and Sausage King. Rumors are swirling that SK is scared to show his face on tour after his tell-all book. He continues to stick to his story that he is needed at home to help with the baby and two kids. Tour members know better.

The tour manager, Musky Boy, has announced rules changes that he insists are for expediency only. If you are absent when your turn to bet or deal comes, you are out of luck. We are also dumping the 75/150 and 150/300 blind limits. Finally, there will be no doubling up once we get to the final table.

Considering the rule changes, the home court advantage, and missing players, one might think that the Regulator would be favored in this game. However, when the odds were published, the Regulator was demoted to 45-1 due to his impatience and overall hyper-aggressiveness (always into a better hand, or against players with proven suck-out ability).

The only player with worse odds is Magic Man, who due to a recent battle with the dual poker killers SASS and WTS (Short Attention Span Syndrome and Weak Tight Syndrome) has been a non-factor recently.

The odds on favorite is Musky Boy, who is at even money. His recent 6th place finish on a $1 tourney is just stepping stone for this player. *** EDITOR'S NOTE It should be officially noted that Musky Boy finished 6th out of more than 2,000 entrants. We are all brimming with pride.

The MPT Chips are here

Below are the custom chips I ordered from www.5stardeal.com. Now the MPT is official, baby.