Well last night was my last chance to go out and play poker before I went back on GAP again. So I took that opportunity and drove off last night to the Strip and chose to play at Mirage. If you have not noticed like many players I have focused most of my cash game action playing smaller or baby no-limit Hold-em cash games.

But when I arrived it appeared that I could more readily get a seat in a $10-20 Hold-em game so I did! It was kind of funny playing in a limit game after such a long time. I played well but in about an hour and a half I was down $79- when I was finally called for a seat in a new $2-5 $500- cap no-limit game. So I got up and took my remaining $421- (I bought into the $10-20 game for $500) and sat down at the $2-5 game. I started off my session in this second game pretty rocky.

As I waited patiently for some good cards I happened to notice that the player on my right had some physically messed up hands. In fact many of his fingers were either munched up and partially missing or what appeared to be badly deformed. Suddenly I went from really wondering how to turn around my session to really curious what happened to this guy on my rights hands. Well after talking to him briefly this mystery was suddenly cleared up.

His name was Rick and he came to town for some IT Telco conference. He then went on to tell me (without me asking him first) that he used to be a fireman who was laid off. Then he worked temporarily in a farming machinery shop where his hands got crushed in a metal milling machine. It was an incredible story of how one human spirit overcame a pretty serious tragedy in his life.

What really amazed me is how candid Rick was about what happened to him and how he even joked and laughed about it all. But what I liked the best about Rick is how upbeat he was and how well he handled the cards and chips during the game. I loved the fact that he never gave up after his accident rather he became a very successful IT specialist who just re-invented himself. He went on to tell me he leads a very active life hunting, fishing, and following many other personal pursuits.

Well needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed my time talking with Rick last night and getting to know him better during my outing. Was also nice to see after I was a bit distracted listening to his fascinating story that I started picking up a few good cards and winning. I ended up picking up an extra $281- but even more importantly I picked up a lot more appreciation for all the good things I have going for me today! I sure hope I get to meet Rick again too...