Nothing’s Going to Change My World
So you know that feeling you get when you haven’t called your mom for awhile? And I mean a looooooooong while. And you kind of start feeling like there’s way too much to talk about, so you put it off some more. And then you start feeling guilty, but now you can’t call because you know once you do you’re going to have to explain why you’ve been MIA and the only excuse you have is that you’ve been trying to up your XBOX 360 gamertag score. You know that feeling, right?
That’s kind of how I feel right now as I whip out this blog post. I don’t know really even where to start with what’s been going on since I won the bracelet. Got to meet a whole bunch of cool people at the WSOP. Some celebrities… the highlight was playing with Matthew Lillard (“Wing Commander… I liked it!”) during the main event and getting Pete Rose’s autograph during the convention. Met Shannon Elizabeth outside the Ceasers poker room and that was pretty cool too. I stuck with the safe play (“Big fan… love your work”) instead of the tried and failed “Happy Birthday” I used when I met Meadow.
I don’t want to say too much about the tournament just yet. I will say it was pretty crazy cool. The best part of the whole series for me was when my mom suprised me by showing up at the final table. I had talked to her about an hour before on her cell and she told me how she wished she could be there… and that she’d be watching all the updates on “www dot cardplayer dot com” (I still haven’t told her she doesn’t have to say the Ws). She said she was praying for me and that she knew I’d do well. Then when I got to the final table, my buddy Scotty “fivedeuce” Dinsmore said there was someone important I needed to meet. He takes me to the stands and there she was… looking all made up and proud, front row right next to Bobby and Ali. She flew down the night before and didn’t say a word to anybody. Not even Bobby knew.
Funny sidenote… Bobby probably WOULD have known about the suprise if he answered his phone once in awhile (not that I’m better on that front). When my mom got to the Rio, she had a security guy walk her to the stands and she saw Bobby and Darin in the convention center. She stops the guard for a second and says, “Hey, watch this. That’s my son over there. I’m going to call him. Watch what he does.” She pulls her cell out and calls him and they both watch as he digs in his pocket, grabs the phone, looks at the caller ID and hits ignore. Nice read, mom.
Anyway, having my mom there really sealed the deal for me. I can’t really describe in words what a crazy feeling it was to win that bracelet. The five hit on the river, and all the sudden all my friends rushed the table and lifted me in the air as I did a little celebratory crowd surf. Then I got back on my feet, gave my mom a great big hug and rushed out of the room.
There was so much energy around that win… maybe more then any other win in the history of the WSOP. That’s something I really got to chew on when I was watching the PPV of the final table on ESPN. Got to see Jamie Gold play really well and pull off the biggest win ever… but 12 mil can’t buy a crowd surf. And after the win, he called his sick dad on his cell (which went straight to voicemail). It’s like the Beatles song.
Anyway, the rest of the month was a blur. There were some pretty cool interviews and spots on PokerListings and PokerPages if you feel like checking it out. Did an appearance on The Circuit that I thought went ok (and btw, if you haven’t heard The Circuit yet you should pretty much download all their stuff… it’s all good). And there are some articles in the magazines… Poker Life, CardPlayer, All-in, High Roller, etc.
I did get some of the experience on video for the reality show, which is still in the works but kind of got put on hold. My girlfriend Ali had been doing a lot of production work on it and we brokeup. It was bad timing and it looked really bad because in one of the interviews I had joked about how since I had won I’d get to upgrade all my friends. Even worse was that Ali had dated Joey for a few weeks and he broke up with her right after he won his big score. So now she has a history of this. Poff calls her “The Magic Snatch”… and I will admit that there’s something to that nickname.
Ali is an incredible muse. She’s inspirational… the rare girlfriend who convinces you that all those grand delusions you come up with are actually obtainable. At the beginning of the series, I told her more than once that I was going to win a bracelet. I’ll never forget the way she’d look at me and say, “I know you are.” And she wasn’t bluffing… this girl really believed 100% that I was going to win a bracelet. She was so certain of it that I started believing it too. And then… snap. I don’t want to go on too much but about Ali. We’re still very close and the reasons we broke up didn’t have anything to do with a lack of love or a little bling.
Ok… that’s about it for now. Gotta go set my Tivo-wannabe DVR to record the WSOP tonight. My episode comes out on October 10th, so clear your calenders. And before I signoff, here’s a picture of a monkey wearing my bracelet.
