Wise Hand Poker

Does it seem just like yesterday all the pomp and circumstance that goes along with the WSOP Main Event had just ended?

It is amazing how fast the days go by as we get older in life. Maybe it is because we do so much more than our parents did or because of all the hours most of us work it makes time go by light speed.

On Saturday, November 8th at 10:00 am pst, the final 9 or the November 9 reconvene at the Rio's Penn and Teller Theatre to crown a new WSOP main Event winner. Their picture will hang in the Amazon Room along side the other notables for eternity for all of us dreamers to see. Jerry Yang dreamed about it and I am sure there are 9 individuals who are dreaming about it now. I wonder how many of them as they entered this field of over 6,000 people actually looked up and said to themselves,"I wonder how I would look up there".

ESPN and the WSOP staff experimented with delaying this years final table for 117 days. We have watched for the past month on Tuesday Nights bits and pieces of the Main Event as it unfolded. Some players were shown as happy go lucky and others were not portrayed as they would have hoped for.

The controversial people have been the talk of the Internet forums more so then the actual November 9. ESPN thrived on showing the antics of some of the players, possibly for ratings. It has made some very good Internet debates and I believe it has taken away some of the final nines glory.

ESPN began to focus on some of the final 9 the past two weeks. One story was very touching and was very emotional for me also.

I have been a Deputy as you all know for 22 years. I have told you several times that I have seen things no person should ever have to see. I have seen so much death unless it's a baby or a child I am no longer affected.

I tell people do not mistake my kindness for weakness! My life has changed with the birth of my two sets of twins and I now have more compassion for people then I ever have. Life is just to precious and I do as much as I can to enjoy my days and as much as I can to help those who are less fortunate, or have been hit by tragedy in their lives.

When I was 14 years old my mother who was only 35 years old died on Valentines Day from Leaukimia. I remember going to Houston where we had lived and where my mothers hospital,St.Lukes was.We had moved to Dallas in January of 1971 for my father's job and my Mom stayed behind as she had to return to the hospital due to her blood count not being correct.

I was to young to understand what was going on with my Mother and why she lost all her hair because of Chemotherapy. I had become an altar boy at St.James in Houston because this is what she wanted and my Mom had done so much for me and I loved her as a son should so when she died on that Saturday in Febuary, I cried for the first time as a young man off in the hayfield so no one could see me.

When ESPN did the story on Kelly KIm it brought a tear to my eye and a heavy heart for him. It was the best portrayal of one of the November 9 or any Poker Player ESPN has done. I have met Kelly playing here in Los Angeles and I never knew he went through the same thing I did with his Mom. We both never had the chance to grow up as young men with are Mother by our sides pushing us in the right direction.

I had already liked Kelly from our conversations and he was and still is my choice to win the ME. He has a long uphill battle, but hopefully the support and strength he needs will come to him from up above.

Leukimia is a terrible disease and over the years Doctor's have made great strides in combating it. Hopefully someday we will be rid of all cancers.

Congratulations to the November 9 I look forward to the FT as you do and best wishes to you all.

Take care....Be Safe....

I have received a few e-mails on why I have not posted any blogs for a few weeks. So in response to those e-mails I just have not played any tournaments except on-line.

I am usually not an on-line player, however I played three tournaments last week and cashed in two of them for around a 645.00 profit.

I have been busy with setting up the fallenheroesla.org web site that is now up and fully running and if you have not checked it out,please do so.

There is a guest book you can sign as a visitor and there are some pictures of J.C Tran, Quin Do and Nam Le wearing the Fallen Heroes patch at this weeks Festa al Lago WPT Event, at the Bellagio.

I cannot tell you how honored I am to have three of the best Poker players wearing our patch.I will never be able to thank them for their support. Mark Seif was also going to wear one this week, however he never received his and as always Mark supports the Fallen Heroes daily.

On a sadder note last Sunday a former member of my unit who was a Security Assistant that assisted Deputy personnel at all the train and subway stations was shot 9 times at a friends party in Bell Gardens about a mile away from the Bicycle Casino.

Hector had recently promoted to a jailer at the County Jail and was at a family party when an uninvited guest from a local gang decided to show up. He was escorted out by several of the party goers and was furious about having to leave and pulled out a 9mm handgun and began to shoot.

Hector was standing next to his younger brother and immediately stood in front of his brother in order to protect him and was hit.

Hector was rushed to St Francis Hospital in Lynwood Ca and was fighting for his life as it took four days to stop the bleeding from the numerous wounds.

A few days ago we found out Hector is paralyzed from the waist down but is going to survive his tragedy. He has a long road ahead of him but what compounds this incident is even more troubling.

Hectors father was a Policeman in Mexico and when he was two years old his father was shot in the line of duty and paralyzed from the waist down. Hectors father could not live with the idea of being in a wheelchair, so he took his own life.

Hectors mom has since re-married but Hector is the provider in the household and his family depends on his income.

There was a barbq setup for hector Wednesday and nearly 2000.00 was raised. I had my charity foundation donate a 1000.00 even though it is supposed to be for those who give their life in the line of duty.Hector is one of our own !! Also I would like to thank Willing2die from the Poker Road forums who is also in Law Enforcement for sending a 100.00 to Hector. I gave Hector the money yesterday along with a shirt and a hat and coin and although his spirits are low, he was very thankful.

Additionally we had a Deputy Sheriff get hit by a car four years ago while directing traffic in the city of Santa Clarita. He went into a coma and there were some legal issues that were finally settled Thursday and he was taken off of life support yesterday and passed.

The Fallen Heroes Charity will be there to help his family in anyway we can.This is why I and my buddy Craig, work so hard to promote this foundation, so we can help others in there time of need.

I have also been at home with some family issues and it has kept me from playing any of the local tournaments going on right now.I messed around on line to in a few small buy ins and got lucky on some hands and unlucky on others, but it passed the time by and I actually made a small profit.

I have been watching the live updates of the Festa al Lago tournament on-line and as of this morning Nam Le is in the final 12 players along with another friend, Joe Sebok. I wish them both the best today.

Thats what has been going on with me, hopefully I will be back in the next week or so. Until then.........Take Care and Be Safe.....

Yesterday two of my fellow Deputies and me went to Dodger Stadium and I brought along some Fallen Heroes Shirts,coins and patches.

Both of them are die hard Dodger fans and when we went down to the clubhouse and talked with Larry Bowa and they were about to wet their pants with excitement.

We went into the dugout and onto the field as the media and TV crews were very busy setting up for the game. We stopped by the locker room and I spoke to Derrick Lowe who I had met several years ago when he was with the Seattle mariners. A childhood friend of mine, Norm Charlton was with the Mariners at the time and I was spending a week with him at spring training.

Derrick remembered and we had a great conversation as Greg Maddux came by and shook our hands as did several other players.

I wanted to meet Joe Torre but he was no where to be found. Most likely because the locker room was jumping with loud music and the players were actually dancing and having a good time. They then went out to put a beating on the Phillies and put themselves back in contention to go to the World Series.

There was a lot of Dodger memorabilia in the hallways leading up to the locker room and was something special that the average baseball fan hardly ever gets to see.

Game 4 is today at Dodger Stadium and we wish them luck.I have four tickets to todays game but I gave them to the two die hard fans, because I have the FLU really bad and I am home in bed taking meds!!!

As for Poker...last tournament at the Bikes Big Poker Oktober...absolutely card dead and went all in with 55 against QQ with a very little stack. I did not play one hand for three levels..Honestly my cards were that bad and hour and a half of losing chips ...With 3200 chips left and the blinds 400-800 I pushed only to run into a bigger pair.

Take Care...Be Safe.....

As you know from past blog's I started a Charitable Organiztion called the Fallen Heroes Fund. This Charity assists the families of Law Enforcement Officers and Firefighters families who die in the Line Of Duty. The web site is now up and running and we are still improving it, however it has pictures and information from our past two tournaments.

Linda Johnson,Jan Fisher and Mark Seif have helped these tournaments get off the ground and we will be forever grateful for their support.

February 22nd 2009 is our third event at the Bicycle Casino and Linda and Jan will not be able to make it this year, because of a prior engagement. However Mark will be there and James Woods promises to attend as will several major professional players who will be at the tables for autographs,pictures and a few lessons.

Chris Bell and J.C.Tran are going to be there and they also will be wearing our new patch at this weeks WPT Event in Niagra Falls.

Some of the other pro's who support our event and will be there this year are,Jamie Gold,Chad Brown,Michael Gracz,Nam Le and Kelly Kim with several others wanting to attend schedules permitting.

Bluff Magazine who has supported us from Day 1, when no others would, are possibly going to be doing a story about the Fallen Heroes in their January issue. Eric Morris who is the owner and Matthew Parvis their superb editor have discussed the possibility with me recently.

If any of you would like a patch or a hat the pictures should be up on our web site within the week. In the meantime you can e-mail me at smdiamon@lasd.org if you want one and I can mail it to you.

We have helped four families this year with our fund and their responses have been heartbreaking. Tragedies such as these are not easy and by helping the families we try and bring comfort to them with our support and the promise to be there for them always.

I hope you can attend the upcoming event and have a great evening of Poker. There will be some outstanding prizes and for the $120.00 donation you get a long sleeve shirt,hat,commemorative card protector coin and a Buffet Dinner.

We have several months before this event,but time goes by so fast I am just getting the word out to all of you,so please mark your calendars..

As always thank you wisehand and checkout our site at fallenheroesla.org...

Take Care...Be Safe....

What is Superstition:

To believe in spite of evidence or without evidence. To account for one mystery by another. To believe that the world is governed by chance or caprice. To disregard the true relation between cause and effect. To put thought, intention and design back of nature. To believe that mind created and controls matter. To believe in force apart from substance, or in substance apart from force.

To believe in miracles, spells and charms, in dreams and prophecies.

I know Baseball players have a superstition, never stepping on the white chalk line; Sports figures pointing to the sky after a home run or touchdown as if anyone really believes God had something to do with it. How about the number 13.

Some superstitions may be just for fun while others may affect you deeply enough to affect your choices in life. None of them are based in fact, but many have roots deep in tradition and history.

Why do Poker Players have those little trinkets at the table with them, Texas Dolly has "Casper" and has willed it to Howard Lederer. Others have Rocks or coins and even pictures of their children and grandchildren with them.

The first player who comes to mind having his kids picture at the table and kissing it when he had to make a tough decision, was Bernard Lee. Recently though Jerry Yang had his kids picture take him to the final table of last years WSOP Main Event and with help of some other powers, he eventually won .

I know some Poker Player's wear the same hat or shirt and even the same shoes if they have done well in a tournament or won a tournament with that certain garment on.

I have to admit, I have been looking for the perfect good luck charm since I began playing Poker two years ago. Several have come close and when I have won an event or done well I have used that same item again believing it was my lucky charm. It has turned out not to be and so the search goes on. However recently I believe I found it.

The wisdom came from one of my five year old twin girls, Jasmine. I was driving her to school with her sister Jennifer and she looked at me and said, "Daddy, we are so lucky everyday to wake up and have fun". WOW…I said to myself, where did this come from. I told her, "yes we are" and Jasmine went on to say, "Are there Twin Towers in California" Then it hit me, they learned about the Twin Towers in class last week and last night I had a conversation with a friend on the phone about a person I arrested and took to the County Jail here in LA, it is called the "Twin Towers". The things our children pick up.

My good luck charm is the four beautiful girls the good lord and my wife have given me.
I do not need a certain card protector or the perfect hat or putting two cushions on my chair during a tournament. I have the two sets of twins who give me a hug and kiss before I leave to play Poker and that my friends, is all I need!

What are your superstitions? It would be interesting to all if you post them here in the comment section.

Good Luck as we say, break a leg.....have Fun....more superstitions?

Take care...Be Safe............

WELL.........I entered the $225.00 NL Deep Stack Event at the Bicycle Casino last night and it was the smallest field of this tournament.

Three Hundred hopefuls registered and with starting chips of 7,000 we were off and running at 7:00pm sharp. I could tell you the first level I was on fire and built my stack up to 16,000 with some tough play and they were all small pots.

I then lost 6500 chips with a set of fours on the flop, when I was chased to the river by a spade flush draw.

Then right before the first break I was in the big blind with J-9 and the blinds were at 200. Five players called the 200 and we saw a flop of J-7-9 rainbow. I bet 1000 and was called by one.The turn was another 9 and I bet out 3500 leaving me only 2000 chips and a Queen hit the river and my opponent went all in...

I thought for a minute and thought he might have AQ or maybe 2 pair,QJ..I put my last 2000 in and he showed QQ for a bigger full house!!

I go play a cash game for a bit and build my stack from 100.00 to 225.00 and this guy to my left always raised his Blinds. Two times I called him and both times I hit middle pair but ended up folding when he made a large continuation bet.

I look down at Qh-Js and he raise again with 25.00 in the pot to $50.00 it folds to me and I smelled a rat and called him. The flop was As-10s-Kh SWEET a flopped straight... With 130.00 in there I went all in for 165.00 and he insta called me with 7-5 of spades....raised to to 50 bucks with 7-5 of

SPADES

This people is what you call a SIGN and its bigger than a full moon in my face telling me ...STOP...

So I am...Going to take a rather long break from poker for awhile and work some days off and start getting ready for the holidays. I will post a blog every so often with out any Poker content and wisehand is changing the site around very soon. There are going to be some very cool things here, so keep checking back.

I want to congratulate Mike Alzona, AKA: "Mr Flush", he won last nights event after hitting a 9 on the river when his 99 was losing then flopping a spade flush with 98 when his opponent hit a set of deuces on the flop and went all in. This gave Mike at the time over 350,000 chips. He sent me a message this morning and the final 9 players made a deal as it was close to 7:00am..and Mike had over 950,000 chips and a 2-1 to one margin over the closest player.

First place was $21,500.00, Just to let you know Mike is the gentleman who beat me at Commerce with the Q8 of diamonds when I had KK and he made a move and flopped a flush ,hence the new nickname.."Mr. Flush"

Also congrats to his lovely wife who took 13th in the event when her AQ lost to KJ..Congratulations again guys!!!!