Tao of Poker

Lost on a Rainy NYC Night

Something happened about ninety minutes ago... that is worth at least a short story, but for now... due to time constraints, I'll just mention the overview of what happened.

I left Signor Ferrari's at 2am. Played poker all night and was mentally drained. I was in a hurry to get outta there. I played like shit all night and lost $75. It was pouring out, heavy droplets of rain and the street corners were all flooded with massive puddles the size of small lakes. No cabs in sight. I walked several long blocks across town to the subway station on Seventh Avenue. My plan was to take the train uptown and meet up with Haley. It was going to be the last time we could hang out before I left for Vegas. She had to work until Midnight, so she was up and about. Alas, I was going to call her to let her know I was on my way. Just before I walked into the subway, I realized I left my cell phone at Ferrari's! I never do shit like that. The phone is the first thing I check for... alas, I was in a rush and my mind was focused on other things... including replaying every bad hand of poker fromt he previous five hours... and anticipating my trip to Vegas and three Phish concerts, while forgetting about the now.... in the moment. I had to walk all the way back to Ferrari's in the cold, pouring rain. I was miserable.

When I got my cell phone back, I walked one block and a cab pulled up. Normally, I'd take the subway to 72nd Street. But for some reason I said, "Fuck it." and splurged, probably because I was soaking wet and wasted too much time go back to Ferrari's.

My cab driver was a young Pakistani man by the name of Mohhammed Ali. I'm not shitting you, that's what his picture ID said. Anyway, his wife was sitting in the front seat riding shotgun and eating some sweet smelling food. I wanted to ask, but chose not to get involved. I thought it was kinda weird, almost 2:30am in NYC and a cabbie is driving around the Upper West Side with his wife on one of the worst nights weather wise in a long time and a dejected card player in the backseat. Oh well. Of course as the cab pulled up to Haley's corner, the rain was reduced to a minor drizzle.