Scott Diamond

I have been talking about my tournament play and how it always seems the incredible beats keep coming and the past two days were no different.

However after what had happened here in Los Angeles on Friday at 4:23pm I do not see how I can ever complain or be disgusted with what happens in a Poker Tournament.

One of my very first articles I ever wrote was called "Perspective" I wrote it after being very upset about My KK getting beaten by the case Queen on the river when I was the chip leader at a WSOP Circuit Event in Vegas two years ago. It was about the family whose vehicle was rear ended by a semi truck and the twin girls and their brother died in the tragic accident. It made me realize being the father of two sets of twin girls Poker is just a game and how very lucky I am to be a father of these beautiful girls.

As time goes on we sometimes tend to forget about how lucky we are in life with so many tragic things that occur in our society today. I should be ashamed of myself for getting so upset about the bad beats I have been taking in Poker and when I tell you about my adventures I need to word them differently.

Friday was the worst Commuter train disaster in the history of the State of California. Two trains colliding head on and leaving a scene that was so devastating it will leave a vivid picture in my mind for the rest of my life. I can only imagine the picture the people who survived the crash will have,but it was the worst thing I have seen in my time and being a Deputy for 22 years, I have seen a lot.

There were so many heroes on Friday from Law Enforcement ,Firefighters and the public it made me proud to be a Deputy for the first time in a long time. Deputies crawling through twisted metal, smoldering fire and climbing over dead bodies and getting soaked in diesel fuel to save a life or to give some peace to those who were still alive but fading fast.

To the Doctors who were flown in by helicopter to the triage site and were amputating limbs in order to save people's lives,it was a scene out of a war zone,absolutely devastating.

The impact of the two trains was so enormous,all the windows in the homes nearby were shattered from the shock wave the crash sent out. We may never know the EXACT cause of the crash because the engineer died, the NTSB will only put the pieces of the puzzle together and give us their thoughts to as why the crash happened. We know the engineer did not obey signals, but we may never know why.

Twenty Five people lost their lives and hundreds are in mourning. With many more in very critical condition in the hospitals in the death toll could rise,but also the torn and battered survivors of this ordeal will live with pain the rest of their lives,not only physically, but mentally as well. My prayers and thoughts go out to everyone.

Thursday will be the Funeral for an LAPD Officer who died in the crash. Tomorrow I go with some of my board members to present a check from the Fallen Heroes Fund to her Mother and Father. It will be another difficult day.

Sunday I won an $80.00 dollar satellite and played the $225.00 Shootout Event where my flopped two pair lost to as set with three players left at my table and yesterday I played the $545.00 event and with 194 entries first place was close to $30,000.00

I played FANTASTIC and was so very focused. But as you know everything has to go just right for you in a Poker Tournament and with 40 players left My AK clubs lost 5k to AQ when a Queen hit the flop and a few rounds later I had KK in the Big Blind when the small blind moved all in for 7200 chips. I called he turned over Q8 of diamonds and the flop was all diamonds and I was crippled again. I hung on playing some very aggressive poker but my A6 diamond ran into 88 when I had only 5100 chips left with 26 players. Only the top 18 were paid and the blinds 600-1200 with a 200 ante...( Ok Brandon) I pushed under the gun with an Ace but lost.

I am very happy with my play. Again I felt I did not make one mistake, there were a few pots if I would have been more aggressive I would of won pre flop, but I was playing the style I said I would play before the event started and it was working, so I did not want to try and fix what was not broken. I satellited into these two events so it only cost me about $105.00.

I am pretty tired and do not think I should play tonights $225.00 event,maybe tomorrow. The $335.00 NL is the last NL event until Saturdays Main Event and that is a $1600.00 buy in..

Thank you everyone for stopping by and reading my blogs and coming up to me at the Tournaments and saying kind remarks. I am just a pea in the pod in the Poker Community and it has become a passion of mine and meeting all of you has been great.

Take Care and Be safe and please say a prayer for everyone involved in the horrific event of last Friday..