Tao of Poker

Sick Pauly

I've been fighting the flu for almost a week now. I bled away $250 of my bankroll making questionable plays while under the weather on Christmas Eve and I stopped playing online poker until my health improves. Just when I thought I was getting better on Monday, I got worse. On Tuesday I was hit with a bout of Montezuma's Revenge and I puked up everything else in my system. I cannot recall the last time I threw up without a three day long drinking or narcotic binge as the main culprit. Seriously. I went a couple of days without eating anything aside from dry toast and Gatorade. I lost ten pounds and a fistful of hair. That was followed up by a two days of the chills and shakes. Fever dreams are the worst. It's like tripping on bad acid without all the fun colors. I had a few moments of sheer terror when I was seeing the faces of tsunami victims haunting me in the middle of the night. I almost went stir crazy and started barking at the shadows.

And yeah, I don't have health insurance, so a trip to the doctor or hospital was ruled out right away. It had gotten so bad that I'm crashing at my mom's... and that might have been a mistake. She greeted me with a look like "the prodigal junkie returns" and insisted that I was ill because I don't wear a winter hat and a sweater when I go out to play. By the way, she has no cable TV and her apartment is freezing.

What has happened to me? A year ago I was in balmy Miami soaking up the sun, following Phish, and chasing around half naked teenaged girls in the hallway of a South Beach hotel with a chunk of hashish the size of Herve Villechaize in my pocket... and this year I am bed ridden dodging the saracstic quips from my unsympathetic mother, who I am now convinced has some percentage of Eskimo blood in her.

I got super depressed the other day because I haven't been well enough to physically write. I am way behind in updating my sites, personal writing, answering emails, and a few freelance assignments. Anyway, Vegas trip reports will have to be postponed until next week or this weekend at the earliest. I have a deadline on my blogzine which takes prioirty. I apologize for the delay.

Anyway, congrats to Otis and EvaCanHang and The Poker Geek on some big tournament wins this week. You guys rock. And, if you are looking for WPBT pictures then send AlCantHang an email.

Please Vote for Elisha

Yes, I am groveling once again. Plase vote for Elisha Cuthbert. I think the voting is rigged in Norway because everytime I get ten or fifteen people to vote for Elisha... Selma gets like twenty votes automatically. This just sucks. So I am begging everyone to go over and vote for Elisha. A simple wish for a sick blogger. Thanks. And yes I have money and pride riding on this election. It just sucks that I made a wager on a rigged election. I am asking my fellow poker bloggers and readers to help level the field and vote en masse. Voting is supposed to end on New Years. Thanks again for your help.