Tao of Pauly

Run to Foxwoods

Senor called me while I was sleeping the other day and said he was getting a room at Foxwoods Casino on Wednesday. It was bad timing for me. I'm coming down with a cold. I have tons of Christmas shopping to do. I need some much needed sleep that I have yet to catch up on from Vegas. I'm also in the middle of writing up to six or seven hours a day working on various projects including Vegas trip reports, the new issue of Truckin', tweaking the third draft of Gumbo, and negotiating a freelance deal with an online site where I will be writing some gambling related material in 2005. The pay is peanuts but I could use the money. And when was the last time I actually got paid to write something? I also came up with this grandioise idea to write a novel in a random European city (Oslo, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Copenhagen?) next summer. That's going to take seed money. Not to mention the numerous of places and events I would like to attend in 2005. I'm starting to go through the motions of booking trips to LA, Miami, and Las Vegas for the first five months of 2005. New Orleans is out... for now. I was going to go for Jazz Fest this year... but that looks like it won't happen this year. I'm already spending paycheck I haven't even cashed yet! Plus I still owe my brother over $1000 in various credit card charges from this past year. Phish's final tour really killed my poker bankroll. It's time to reload... and hence the trip to Foxwoods. I'm going to try to win a few bucks to pay for Christmas presents and of course, to hang out with Senor and his brother, while trying to rebuild my bankroll. The Vegas trip helped put me back on track. I had two huge losing months and my slide is officially over.

I used to go to Foxwoods like twice a month at one point last year before I started playing online and in NYC. I miss those trips. I may be meeting a fellow poker blogger up there... and I will definitely meet one of my loyal readers of the Tao of Poker, a guy named Hank who I play with online at Party Poker quite frequently. I've had a lot of luck meeting people through my poker blog. Seriously, these are some of the most solid people I have ever come across.. from all different walks of life. I guess I'm still coming off the high about hanging out with 30 bloggers... 2/3 of which I never met before, yet we were hanging out and partying like we were all old high school friends. I really got ultra lucky landing myself in the center of a thriving community. I have been meeting some new bloggers and readers online at Party Poker. Here's an actual chat from the other night. He had no idea I was me... because I play under an assumed name:

ME: What is your blog?
FAN: No blog, just a reader
ME: Ah, who do you like?
FAN: Iggy, Felicia, Poker Babe, Tao of Poker

Wow that was pretty cool. Usually, I have a fair number of bloggers who seek me out when I play online. They want to watch me play or play with me. A new blogger was shocked I was sitting at the same table with him this past weekend. I actually made him speechless. Am I that famous? Unreal. Here's how one blogger describes those infamous tables:

Sitting at a table with a bunch of bloggers is kinda like playing a game of chess, in a comedy club, while getting interviewed by a reporter, with the soundtrack to Oceans 11's being played by a Mariachi coverband. Oh yeah it's for your hard earned cash too.

Then of course I forgot that I have to get a Christmas present for this girl I sorta like. What do you get someone who already has everything? Lotto tickets or this. That's what.