Great Donkeys Never Die

Ballys $1-2 NL, $300 cap
5 hours
+ $170

I showed up at the Aladdin poker room and the game was a wasteland of rocks and semipros. I said hi to Todd, a guy I met during last year's WSOP when he was in town to play the main event. I asked him if he wanted to go to another poker room, and we walked next door to Ballys along with the incredible Fighting Chicken.

Todd and I sat at one table and the Fighting Chicken at another. Within minutes we heard mysterious rumblings from the other table, strange goings-on. Something was amiss, out of place. A grown man's face was red, twisted into a mask of rage. The incomparable Fighting Chicken had cracked this man's AA with 2-3 ("But it was suited!").

The Fighting Chicken lives by the credo, "Nits come and go with the wind, but Great Donkeys never die."

This was one of those days I wished I had brought my ipod. I was sitting next to a guy who just would not shut up. One hand I was all-in with KK vs. 99 preflop and my opponent made a flush with his nine of hearts and the guy instantly starts how, "Yeah, that happened to me yesterday! One card flush, can you believe it! Yeah, man, what can you do? But you're lucky. I think my pot was for even more than yours..." Guys like this, if they played poker in the old days, road gambling in Texas, would be shot dead inside a month. Now, I didn't say that would be a good thing. I didn't actually say that.

I got drawn out on a lot, and in some big pots, too. But I made a pretty sick call with JJ on a Q7784 board. The guy bet $120 on the river and I called and jacks were good. It was just the player and the situation that made me call.