That's Life Baby

What's up limit players? I am trying to figure out where I am going with this blog. Lets say I have told the story of how I kept limit poker together and strong in NYC. In a really tough time I stayed under the radar and had some great action. Shit happens and you roll with the punches. That's life baby! What are you going to do. Whatever I'm up to right now, swinging a golf club in a warm climate, planning a trip to the series, it doesn't matter because this is as far as I go telling about the present NYC poker scene. I will now start from the beginning of my life in poker . I have been in and out of NYC poker since my first underground club The Diamond Club and it has been a lot of highs and lows since then. I first walked into the club in 1996 and knew right away I would be spending a good part of my life around poker. It became my passion! After a trip to Az. and playing my first casino style poker at Fort McDowell. I fell in love with the game! Wow I am thinking this is the greatest thing in the world 20 something tables going on. I knew that this was for me. Somebody handed me a magazine with a advertisement for poker in NYC, I didn't even know that they had big clubs back home. Social clubs I knew of but those games weren't for me. So when I came back to NYC unfortunately for me I came into a nice chunk of change. I was determined to part with it., When I first started playing hold-em in NYC and I learned the hard way playing till the morning 3 or 4 handed. The players were an eclectic mix of the city, solid people, colorful characters and some not so desirable lowlifes. Who cared? We were in action! The club was a magical place were friendships became lifelong, sure there were hustlers, bookmakers, hardcore gamblers, action junkies and civilians playing poker together but for the most part every one got on fine. The brothers who ran the place were great and a lot of fun to be around, the head one was quite a character and always promoting. A perfect place to get an education for a life in poker. I learned so much on how the place worked without even knowing it I just absorbed everything around me. After going broke a couple of months later I asked the brother if he can teach me to deal, he said some wisecrack about something cause that's the way he was. Big deal I'm a NYC bred street guy with thick skin who knew my way around. Whats he gonna say no? I lost 15k learning 10-20 hold-em when I belonged in the 4-8 limit game in his joint. He gave me a box of VHS instructional tapes from Hollywood Park that showed the proper way to deal . At the time I had a small studio on the beach and I remember staying home in the summer and watching and learning how to deal . Each tape was about ten minutes long showing all of the different technics involved in dealing. After about 2 weeks of practicing I went and auditioned for the head brother and either he liked me or he really needed a live body and the start of my dealing career was born and I loved it. When I first started I was horrible and over the next couple of months I got better and I started making some pretty good coin. The way I played back then the dealer seat was the best place for me and I soaked it up. The action was great 10 tables from 4-8 to 10-20 to 5-5 pot limit and great tournaments we had it all seven nights a week. I loved my life working as a dealer and always in action. Some great NY players either started or passed through there. Honestly it felt like you were part of something special. It was like Cheers where everybody knew your name and when you walked in you knew something exciting was going to happen.