poker — Michele Lewis

Totally Not Poker But Who Cares…

April 7, 2009 By Michele Lewis Leave a Comment

i-love-poker-moms I love poker. I really do. It has given me some great opportunities I certainly never would have predicted for myself. Like… a job revolving around the ever exciting subject of math. Although, exciting wasn’t the word I would have used in my darker teenage years when the government forced me to listen to monotone polynomial explanations. Sigh.

Poker has provided other excitement, like some super smart wonderful friends. Over the course of the past two years, several of these cool kittens have encouraged me to branch out or put more focus on my mom blog. Yeah, I’ve had a mom blog but it wasn’t a poker mom blog. But I’ve felt the mom blog was too exclusive. Like, I’m a mother, you’re a mother, wouldn’t you like to be a mother $#@$ too? Because what if one day I revolutionize relationships and a non-mom doesn’t click on my site and she misses out on the greatest advice the whole world has ever ever ever read? Yes strangers, I was being facetious.

For now, I’m on the ”Niche Narrow Down“ lowdown. I found some motivation from iJustine a couple of weeks ago be. This girl is goofball funny (that’s a compliment from me) and I think she may be my twin but only like, if I had blonde hair. Or like, if she had black hair. Or like, if she were born 15 years after me and like, had brown eyes. Or like, if I had been born 5 years ago with green eyes and red hair. Huh?

So, once I decide on one the 5,064 domains I bought (more like 20) I will be getting a new site up soon. Of course, I will keep my poker blog going. I mean, where else are people going to read who won the WPT or the WSOP ME two weeks after the event? Duh, right here of course. www.MicheleLewis.comwhere you get the two week old exclusive! Whoo Hoo!

It’s late, I’m tired and I probably shouldn’t even post this but what the hell.

Photo courtesy of a T-Shirt for sale on PMSPokerWear

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: ijustine, mom blog, poker

WSOP Final Table Delay

April 13, 2008 By Michele Lewis Leave a Comment

Still not sure if the 2008 WSOP Main Event delay will shower final table contenders with extra change. It is hearsay if any “Dead Money After Midnight” will benefit after 129,600 hours of sleep, eat and re-group. ESPN and Harrah’s attempt to turn the final table into a live televised cliff hanger makes sense considering…an all-in move by the fifth place winner isn’t all-that-exciting when it is a five handed table and it’s already been posted.

Yet, not to be crude but what if someone dies? Would a family member sue Harrahs for lost wages? Any decent judge would throw the case out of court (excluding election years) faster than a man burns skid marks after hearing “we need to talk.” Besides, it wouldn’t be like Harrahs inflicted emotional harm to the family members, right? However, despite the integrity of the claim you can still file suit at the courthouse. I think I could sue my cat for divorce even though we never officially married.* But I wouldn’t because:

1. Why waste tax dollars when people need food.

2. Not interested in winning example status and jail time for lawsuit abuse.

3. I wouldn’t marry my cat (because I’m already married).

Nonetheless, should a horrible situation like death arise, they will have to decide between one of the following two scenarios:

1. Tenth place will move up a rung like an online cheating scandal.

2. A WSOP Vinnie Vinh empty chair Blind-Off.

On a lighter note, the players will get plenty of time for heavy sleep. Not so good. Why? Because traditionally tournament success also depended on how well a player could think after many hours of play (endurance).** This is the part of poker I refer to as…dead money after midnight. In fact, Freddie Deeb, the “other” main event winner (50k H.O.R.S.E) liked my phrase so much he wanted to use it for a chapter in his book, “should I ever write one.” And don’t forget…Johnny Moss winning in 1949 after Nick Dandolos said “Mr. Moss, I have to let you go” then went to bed.

That being said, I’m at home and it’s after midnight so I’m totally rambling with typos and poor grammar…head on over to Tao of Poker and check out BJ Nemeth’s post with some smart pros and cons. He has great points on why this will do well for poker. As to Harrahs and ESPN’s goals, keep in mind that Benny Binion liked the advertising and publicity his casino received from the World Series. But I’m going to bed now so you will have to read the 1973 Binion interview with Nevada historian Mary Ellen Glass here.

And Mr. Jeffrey Pollack…would you enlighten us because inquiring minds want to know.

*I think, meaning these are assumptions as I am not practicing law without a license.

**The content of this post has been written while under the influence of sleep deprivation. Anything stated above may or may not be true as it is highly probable that I was sleep typing.

Filed Under: WSOP Tagged With: poker, wsop final table

Make New Friends With Poker

December 24, 2007 By Michele Lewis Leave a Comment

The last time I played poker I took 9th in a tournament of about 100 players. I went in with the best of it and as usual some medium stacked guy called me because I didn’t look scary and he hit one of his two outs when I laid 1.2 to 1. No hard feelings as I’m accustomed to players thinking I must be bluffing after playing like a tight ass for ten hours. Anyway, I haven’t played poker since last August. Not because I was angry but simply because I was busy. I have to tell you it’s been kind of nice. No bozos sucking out with poor odds, no miserable feelings about making a bad play and more importantly no bad beat stories because I NEVER tell bad beat stories.

You can read the infamous sentences on almost any poker blog. You know, they read something like this…I hate poker, I’m quitting poker, poker frickin’ sucks, I hate this game! I’m never playing again. Then like clock work they return a few days later with…so I was playing 2 – 5 last night and this guy with….

I miss the game. I really do. I miss slowly peeling back the edge of the cards to find out if I have an ace in the hole. I miss hearing new players tell everyone at the table that Q 3 is the gay waiter’s hand like they’re telling something new. Most players have this love/hate relationship with the game ( I’m referring to those of us who aren’t paid to love the game). That would be me. I’m not sponsored, I’m not backed (except in a few WSOP events) and I don’t wear labels for money (because I haven’t been asked). Well, except when I paid Gucci to wear their logo. Nonetheless, just when you thought you we’re out of the game…it pulls you back in. A few reasons why I get sucked back into the game of poque are money, intellectual stimulation, friends, freedom to make my own decisions, the challenge.

You can get some of the above in group therapy which would probably be more rewarding in the long run but I’m talking more along the lines of business and or hobbies.

For me the biggest asset of poker (besides winning money) is the friendships I’ve developed. Believe it or not, I’ve made more close women friends in poker than men. Yep, be jealous because I’m talking about the sexy women in poker. Seriously, where else can you get a person to listen to you talk for hours? Kidding. In fact, most of the time I don’t talk while I’m playing tournaments unless I need….can’t share that strategy secret.

So get back in the game and make some new friends (that don’t ask to borrow money).