It was a rough start to the morning. I woke up feeling great
and made my way to the shower. In the process of drying off, however, I raised
my arm above my head and suddenly was brought to my knees as a shooting pain
shot down my spine. Evidently I tweaked my back playing golf yesterday and
didn’t realize it until I raised my arm and aggravated the nerve. So for the
whole day I’ve been walking around half bent over and looking like the
Hunchback of Notre Dame.
I still had to brave it out and make my way down to play day
2. We had 200 entries into our ABC Charity tournament between the 2 start days
and through physically I was feeling like a gimp, mentally I was strong and
made it to the final table. I fell short of victory finishing 7th.
The other poker pros in the field, Layne Flack and Kevin O’Donnell made the
money, but bubbled the final table.
It was a pleasant surprise to find Gaylord Perry coming into
day 2 second in chips. I had him by a few thousand and I guess he didn’t like
playing second fiddle because we mixed it up right from the start. I tried to
run a bluff on him and he looked me up with only 3rd pair. I knew he
was a calling station and after the hand was over I chastised myself for
violating the principle, “don’t try and bluff the sheriff!” In the end we raised a lot of money for the
kids of Arizona to play ball and all had a great time.
There’s a dinner and auction of a lot of great baseball
memorabilia tonight, so I got to wrap this up and get down there and get in my
bid. It’s been a really fun time hanging with my old friends and meeting new
ones. Unfortunately after 22 years this charity organization is coming to a
close. I’ve been involved for the past 6 or 7 years and it’s been a great ride.
Tomorrow is the old-timers game at Scottsdale stadium.
Hopefully my back will be in a little better shape tomorrow and I’ll be
trotting onto the baseball field with these guys. Just the thought of standing
in the box to face Fergie Jenkins or Gaylord Perry is a dream come true. I just
hope I don’t make the same mistake as I did last year and take the field with
the opposite team by mistake. Gaylord yelling at me from the mound, “get off
the field kid, you’re playing for the other team!” still makes me smile.
Even though I just turned 50, I still feel like a kid and I
will be tomorrow. It will be an old timers game, but I’m sure we will all feel
like kids at heart. And that’s how you should approach your poker game. Like
you’re a kid, just having fun and enjoying the game.
Enjoy the Journey!
Kenna
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