I had been building up entry chips playing in the one table sats so I figured I would use a few to enter the 5k buy-in nlhe event as my last big one before the main event next week. I had 13 chips now and that one would cost me about 11, so I would still have two to sell. Honestly, the money that the chips were worth was mattering less and less to me and it was beginning to bother me. I sold the remaining two chips to the guy behind me on line and got my registration papers.
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I made my way to the Full Tilt hospitality suite and grabbed a cup of coffee and a prune danish. As I took it, from just behind me on line, Jesus Ferguson said "Man, I wanted that prune Danish."

I laughed, took a lemon Danish, and offered the prune one to him as we sat. "I haven’t been handling chips yet today so my hands should be pretty clean," I joked as he took it from me.

He looked at me from under his well worn black hat. "I know you. You’re the kid that won the first event here." He stuck out his hand. "My name’s Chris."

I shook his hand, then wiped the icing off my fingers. "I know who you are," I joked. "You’re the man with the pruny hands."

We laughed and talked a bit as we had some more sweets and coffee together. I decided that I liked him and his down home sensibilities so I risked asking him a personal question. "Do you like what you do? I mean, do you ever wish you had a quieter life?"

He lowered his voice to almost a whisper. "Believe it or not, I sometimes wish I had been a ballroom dance instructor. But I look at life this way. You have to take advantage of the opportunities that you are given, otherwise you may end up a spectator in your own life."

I swirled the coffee around in my cup. "That’s pretty zen for a white guy. Maybe you could tell me what you think of this. It’s a Chinese poem and I’m trying to figure out what deeper meaning it holds." I read him the poem.

"I’m no wise man, that’s for sure. But it seems to me that whoever wrote that is talking about a relationship. I’d say the rose petals symbolize something that was once alive and is now just a memory that is easily swept from the mind. Most likely a lament over lost possibilities."

I put my hand under my chin to make sure my mouth wasn’t hanging open. "And you say you’re not a wise man? You sure sound wise to me."

Chris laughed. "I had a good education." Then he stood up and shook my hand again. "Good luck in the game today. And more importantly, good luck in the bigger decisions in life. Just remember this. When you first wake up Monday morning, make sure whatever you are doing makes you want to get out of bed."

I made my way to my seat in the 5k on autopilot. I was still thinking about what Chris had said and didn’t even notice that the game was about to start until I felt a card hit my hand. I was definitely not in the proper card playing frame of mind.

I was glad I didn’t see any playable hands for a while as my mind was still drifting back to Susie. Did she really want a long term relationship, maybe even marriage? Is she giving up on me, and is it just because of the poker? Do I love her?

My mind was wrapped around these questions when I finally got a hand. I found cowboys under the gun so I flat called and tried to focus on what my opponents had as they acted. The guy next to me raised it up to 300 with his pocket sevens. Two folds and then a reraise from the one woman at the table with AQ suited in clubs. I was still considering what to do with all that action when, after getting folded around to the big blind, he goes all in with his AQ offsuit! I was no math whiz but I knew I was a big favorite. I also knew that I shouldn’t get all my money in pre-flop if I can avoid it. I may have been the most surprised person at the table when I found myself saying "call".

Mr. sevens got out quickly and, just as fast, the woman with the other AQ called. We turned our cards up and almost in unison they both said "nice hand" to me. The flop came 732 rainbow and Mr. sevens let out a soft moan. I felt his pain, but I was glad that so far I had avoided the two remaining aces in the deck or any other lousy flop for me. The turn paired the board with the deuce of spades and the guy in the big blind grabbed his coat. As he turned to shake my hand the river card came – the ace of hearts.

The funniest thing was that as I was walking out of the room, I wasn’t that upset about them hitting a two outer on the river to knock me out. Instead I was pondering the irony of getting taken out by the ace of hearts. Since I was a small boy I had always believed in signs, and I was thinking that was a big one. Was Susie my ace of hearts and would she take me out of poker?

The only two things I knew for certain were these. Whatever I may decide to do with my future, in the main event next week I would not commit all my chips unless I was already sure I had a winner. And Susie and I had to talk.
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