Reminiscing

Recently, as I lay in my hospital bed recovering from some minor surgery (oxymoron), I found myself reminiscing about younger days and poker. I was thinking of these things because instead of bringing me flowers in the hospital, Barry brought me Hold'em Excellence by Lou Krieger. The fact that I had very blurred vision and would rather have been looking at flowers than at a book that I could not possibly read for another month did not go unnoticed in my drug-befuddled brain. However, it reminded me of some Barry poker stories.

Our youngest son, Jeff, just turned 26, and I realized that he has come to love poker through subliminal forces. After returning home from the hospital with my little bundle, I learned that we had the baby nurse from hell. She had been a gift from my parents, and although she was the best gift they had ever given me, problems abounded. She put a beautiful roast in the oven at 9 a.m. for a 6 p.m. dinner. We thought that we had found Barry's missing tennis shoes.

Anyway, I digress. We have some good friends, Bob and Linda Kollack. She came to visit me in the hospital and ended up with a room next door to mine. She gave birth three days after I did, and we left the hospital within a day of each other. Since it was their first child and our second, we were the experts.

The two men, both 27, were bigger babies than the babies. Each night after the nurses had put the babies down, Barry and Bob rendezvoused and played poker all night at the cardroom. Linda and I knew that was all that was going on, but the baby nurses had concluded that they were both having affairs. The two nurses had never met or spoken to each other, but each came to us to tell us how they had no respect for men who fooled around on their women, especially while the stitches were still throbbing. We tried to explain, but I know they thought we were covering for the louses.

Another time, Barry and Bob were involved in a game that went on all night. To this day, Barry never plays all night. However, that night, Barry called me every three hours to tell me about a terrible player who was winning every hand and that the guys couldn't leave yet, as they were certain to get even. His last call was at 3 a.m.

The next morning, I got up, put Michael our oldest son in the highchair and Jeff in the infant seat, and began feeding them. Barry came in at about 7:45 a.m., and before I could get mad, he went into this whole spiel about what a bad night he had had, and so on, and so on. Lesson: Big boys need their sleep, too. Big boys who play poker all night and lose more than they can afford do not take criticism well. Luckily, it never happened again.

The third story really involves Jeff. I had an appointment with a doctor, and I could not bring a child. Michael was in preschool, but Jeff was too young.

All of my friends were either busy with their own kids or with their own work, or like one of my best friends Susan, had picked that week to do the '70s shrink bit about thinking only of yourself.

My options were limited to one. Our good friend Mike Silver was the only person I knew who might be home, because he was a professional poker player. Perhaps I could leave Jeff with him.

Mike is 6 feet 4 inches tall and is a large presence in any situation. Although having no experience at all with any living thing, he said he would watch Jeff for me.

What a guy! What a friend, indeed! I took Jeff and his coloring books, crayons, and toys to Mike and Janet's apartment. Even though Janet was at work, I knew her good vibes were there to help look out for my baby. I reassured Mike that I would be back within an hour and a half, and that I had brought everything that a 2-year-old could need in that amount of time.

I returned well within my promised time, ran through the door to retrieve my baby, and what did I see? A 2-year-old and a 26-year-old sitting cross-legged on the floor playing poker. I don't know what was scarier/funnier, but they were both having a great time. I believe Mike was winning, but then again, he had a better grasp of the language and life, and almost 24 years on the kid. I remember Jeff crying when I took him away from his friend, and Mike actually seemed sorry to see him go. As the years progressed, the two played tennis together on occasion, and now they talk about poker together. What a strange world this is, and what goes around does come around. When Jeff finished seventh in last year's championship event at the World Series of Poker, Mike was one of the first to E-mail congratulations to him. Of course, he tried to take part of the credit, but then, so did Barry.

We recently returned from the Card Player Cruises voyage from New York to Southampton. It was the first cruise I have been on strictly as a passenger since we sold that business more than a year ago. I must say that it was very enjoyable.

The credit goes strictly to the Card Player Cruises owners and staff. In fact, I am definitely not a fan of the QE2 in any way, as I find it stuffy and way too formal. The parties that Card Player Cruises had and the cardroom itself were where the action on the ship was. With Linda Johnson leading the way, much more fun and casual times were had by all. As usual, the poker games were good, and there were many choices. Somehow, they found a way to have better food and service in the poker room than were available in the fancy dining room. Many thanks to Linda, Lisa and Mark Tenner, and Jan Fisher for their hard work and good organization skills.