Ryan Schmelzer

I’ll start by letting everyone know why I haven’t been heard from in awhile. My father had to be taken to the hospital early in the morning a few weeks back and it ended up being a brain tumor. He remained in the hospital till last weekend. He is now undergoing chemo and radiation. He is doing very well and he looks as healthy as he did before he was admitted into the hospital. Hopefully his treatments do the job and help him remain healthy for many years to come. I would like to thank everyone that has kept my father in their thoughts, including the one and only Gary Wise. Gary called me a couple times to see how things were going; it was much appreciated.

Now to poker. I managed to keep my head in the right place while at the tables these last few weeks. My hunting grounds lately have been the six-handed sit-n-goes. They have treated me well all summer, and have remained so as I have increased my buy-ins. I have also changed my cash game play to six-handed tables. I believe that it takes more skill to do well at these tables. If you have the skill, it gives you a nice edge at these tables.

It is old news by now that Jerry Yang won this year’s WSOP Main Event. I didn’t follow any of the hands online, so I don’t have an opinion on him yet. I asked Lee Watkinson in a Pro Chat what he thought about the remaining players at the final table after he busted. He mentioned that he thought Yang was getting pretty lucky. I hope that isn’t the case. I am not a fan of mediocre players winning the Main Event. Hopefully Lee was wrong about Yang’s play. In the post final table interviews, Yang gained my respect right away. He is a religious man, as am I. He feels that this is God’s way of letting him help people. I don’t know if God would really choose poker as his medium to help people, but what do I know? Yang is donating some of his winnings to charities, which no one can complain about.

Well, my body is telling me it is time to eat, so I’m going to end this thing.