Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:19 am Our Guru's posting on WSOP results
I posted this in Winner's Forum because Guru is a winner in all of our eyes.
Posted: 17.07.2007, 08:42
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My dear Poker Crushers!
Before I even give the individual thank-yous to all the Crushers to whom they are due for their cooperation and actions in my absence, I am going to cut right to the bottom line.....to what I THINK you all are most interested in finding out: How did I do in this years WSOP? Am I correct in guessing that is what you first want to know....for those of you who have not (in some way I could not figure out how) already know?
Okay. Here are the bare, unadulterated facts: I came closer this year even than last year in bringing that World Championship home to where it belongs -- to my loyal Crushers, especially the Poker Crushers, but to all the Crushers in the CRUSHER KINGDOM! Casino-Crush as well as Poker-Crush. After all, we are ALL loyal Crushers!
Of the more than 8000 players who made it all the way to the final event, just as I did, I managed to beat out ALMOST 8000 of them! All by following my own rules in my own lessons to a "T", without exception.
At the end of Day 3B, which was actually the 6th day of playing extremely long hours, we played until after midnight and when the day was called to a halt, as unbelieving as I was, I WAS STILL IN THE REMAINING GROUP OF PLAYERS! Scheduled to start again the next morning. Which I did. All of us remaining did.
I had seen in the last couple of days some of the best players and biggest names in poker eliminated! Some of them pitched a fit, but most lost graciously and walked out with their heads still high for coming as far as they had.
After a too-short break around noon, there had been more eliminations, but, miraculously, I was still hanging in there. I was in the last approximately 900 players from all over the world who had not yet busted out, as had far more than 7000 others who had started this main event with me ... the last event.
I was exhausted. Everybody was. It is an agonizing test of endurance!
THEN....late in the afternoon, the hammer fell. And your Guru was the one it hit. After 6 days of playing, I busted out... and lost all chances of a gold bracelet or the championship for the Crusher World in 2007!
I am truly very, very sorry. To come that close....and then lose..... Well, I can only say I'm sorry. I don't think I had made a single mistake until then. And I was actually beginning to think that this year just might be the year for the Crushers to claim it all!
But I did lose graciously, congratulated the S.O.B. (joking, almost) who beat me, had a few Margaritas, my first drinks since I had been there, walked back to my room, and collapsed onto the bed where I slept for almost 24 straight hours. The lovely lady who had accompanied me for the duration of the entire experience was at her wit's end as whether to awaken me or not. I am very glad she let me sleep until I awakened on my own and naturally. I am a believer in one's body knowing best what it needs most and first!
Now. For those of you interested in the details of how I lost....I will never forget that hand we played!
I had a pair of Kings in the hole. My third King came out in the flop....with all the rest low cards of differing suits, including a pair of fives which gave me a full house! Kings full of fives. No other face cards and no Aces!
Everybody folded except one cowboy who called All-In. And myself. I knew he could not have 3 of anything higher than my Kings, no matter what he had to go with them. I knew he could not possibly have a straight. I knew he could not possibly have a flush. I knew he could not possibly have a higher full house. Now let me ask you: Would you have folded at that point? Of course not, and neither did I! I figured he probably had, with the two fives on the table, two pairs: Aces and fives. And so I called.
He was holding the other two fives and beat my beautiful full house with four 5's.
And that, my dearest friends, was it. The end of the trail for me.
Last year, Orange Crush dried away my tears and was a great comfort when I busted out. Bless her.
This year, I have no tears; only sadness that I have disappointed you, my faithful ones. As far as my own state of mind, I am all-in-all generally happy with my playing. And I know I did give it the best of everything I had to give. Never lost patience, never lost the ability to think, not even when the extremely bold ESPN TV cameras were EVERYWHERE and seemed so often to be right in my face when I was trying to think. I didn't mind the close-ups, but it sure tested my powers of concentration.
So here I am, presenting myself back to you, my rising flock with guilded wings, with my tail a little bit between my legs, but a hopeful wish in my heart for a better year still coming. I thank my Creator that it is you -- my Crushers and scholars -- to who I am returning. If for no other reason, just to show you well in a truly good lesson, that you should never succumb to depression for ever losing a game!!!! It just happens. The numbers and odds do go awry some times and.....well, chit happens!
To Geno, my everlasting gratitude for a contract that allows me to leave at any time on a moment's notice or even no notice at all! A marvelous and highly principled English gentleman! With never-ending innovative talent that keeps him in the vanguard of modern technology....and ahead of it in generosity!
To OrangeCrush and RoyalCrush....whatever would I do without their constant assistance and their willingness to take on my share of the behind-the-scenes work with my every absence to pursue that elusive dream? And with never a word of complaint, but always more than a word of encouragement.
To our dedicated member Spookth, who posted (and I quote) " It falls upon us, in the Guru's absence, to encourage the new members" and many more responsible words and actions.
And to ALL of you, my beloved members, who not only do exactly that, but also manage to always come up with ways of keeping our site moving onward and upward in such an excellent way, that new members are bound to wonder what value one more missing member, called a Guru, could possibly offer!
I am indebted to all of you and not one individual Crusher's value will I ever overlook or forget!
This is OUR family-style, proud, and highly regarded forum, with its doors wide open to anyone who is willing to make an effort to live up to our standards, set by the members themselves!
Thank you for taking the time to read another one of my personal episodes in the life of a player of the game!
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