This One's for My Son

So, you think that you're tired? As I write this, it is 1:30 p.m. on Friday, April 27, and I will be playing in the $1,500 buy-in pot-limit Omaha tournament at the World Series of Poker at 3 p.m. On Tuesday, I played until 5 a.m. to make the final table of the $2,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em event. After a few restful hours of sleep (yeah, right), I went on to win the event on Wednesday. T.J. Cloutier and I played heads up for more than two hours! After another nice night of sleep (yeah, right), I played in the $1,500 buy-in seven-card stud eight-or-better event. At 3 a.m. Friday morning (today, actually!), I finished in ninth place, but only eight came back for the final table. Imagine this: I had just beaten 700 players in three days, and needed to beat only eight more to win back-to-back WSOP tournaments! After another weak night's sleep, here I am writing this "Hand of the Week" for y'all before I rush down to play in the pot-limit Omaha event. Now, that's being tired!

I once read that Magic Johnson gave away all of his basketball mementos and trophies to friends and family. I really thought that sounded like a great idea, so I gave away five of my six WSOP bracelets to my mom, my dad, my wife, my sister, and my brother-in-law. Of course, I kept the one from the main event! Now that I just won my seventh bracelet, I am going to give it to my oldest son, Phillip III. Phillip is a 10-year-old fourth-grader who is just amazing. He loves basketball, and swears that he will be in the NBA someday. He is very enthusiastic and bright, and loves skateboards, video games (especially "Tony Hawk – Pro Skater"), pizza, and animals. I tell him that he can do anything that he wants to do in life, but he always says with a bit of the imp in his eye, "But dad, I can't fly!"

I decided a couple of years ago to give my next WSOP bracelet to Phillip, but I didn't think that I would have to wait this long to do it! Now, I understand that bracelets aren't quite as easy to win as I used to think they were. With the constantly growing fields and the much-improved play of everyone in those fields, it's not as easy to win as it used to be.

The run of emotions for me over the last couple of days has been pretty intense. First, I had the elation of winning the no-limit hold'em event and $316,000! My wife flew in for the final table and we celebrated with a quiet dinner and water. After all, she had to get up at 5 a.m. the next morning and fly back home to take care of business and the kids. But having her here watching me win the event was incredible for me! The next day, the devastation that I felt after finishing in ninth place was pretty horrible. I almost cried here at Ted Forrest's house when I got up this morning. I wasn't 100 percent sure why I almost cried, but a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was so close to accomplishing an amazing feat, and then fell short of it. Two WSOP tournament wins in a row would have been something, but I have done that before, in 1993. Still, to pull it off again, wow! So, as I head off to the pot-limit Omaha event more than three hours late and pretty darn tired, I am feeling awful – or am I?