Year End

Well, I guess I thought I was off to Palm Springs, but it turned out that the weather would intervene. I loaded up my car and headed South on I15. I take it just into California then exit and cut across the Mojave via back roads to Palm Springs. It is really a pretty drive; you rarely see another car and can make it there in about three hours door to door. I made it all the way to Prim, about 25 minutes out of Vegas, and the road was closed. The Nevada State Patrol said the road was impassable due to snow. So I turn around and head back to Vegas and thought I could catch a flight to Palm Springs. I have a friend on the phone that looks up online and finds that the flights are all cancelled. My next stop is NY City so she checks and finds there is availability. I head to the airport and get my ticket, check my bag to JFK in NY and head through security to the gate. I spend the next 6 hours there being told they will get out until finally the airport closes for the night.

I head back to the Bellagio and on my way to my room run into a good friend of mine Shaun. He is also stranded and we head to my room to play online. He is there with a co-worker of his and we all play a little, order room service and talk poker for a while.

I head back to the airport bright and early to catch a 7:15 to JFK and finally at 11:20 we are in the air, which is where I am writing this. The poker year is now over for me and as I reflect back upon it I wonder what might I have done differently. There were a few key hands I might have played differently if given the chance, but somehow you don't ever get a do over in life. I remember growing up in Brooklyn NY; we would play several sports in the street like football, hockey, and stickball. There were times that in the middle of a play a car would head down the street and you would get a do over. Wouldn't it be nice if in life you could occasionally get a do over? Obviously in poker it wouldn't work out to well because your opponent would then want a do over after your do over. It is perhaps idle folly to think about do over's in life because unless there is a process I am unaware of, they just don't seem to happen. I do however think it can be beneficial to consider what you might do differently if you were given another chance. Perhaps in a similar situation one might make a better choice. The choices we make dictate the life we lead.

As the year draws to a close I find myself reflecting on some major life choices I have made. I usually don't love the yearend holidays, ba humbug, but I think this year will be different. I am going to spend Christmas with a friend's family in Toronto, and New Years with my family in Western Massachusetts.
For more information on Roy Winston, you can visit his website: www.oraclepoker.net or send him an email: [email protected]. The contents presented herein on this blog are purely the opinions of Roy Winston, and are not intended to reflect or promote the opinions of any other person, group, or entity. If you like what I write than thanks for reading, and if not well, thanks anyway.