About that story from The Bitter Southerner
Some of you have been reading Rapid Eye Reality since 2001. Other folks have found it in the years since then. Some of you are just arriving after having read “Bust” on The Bitter...
Category: Gambling
The other part of the reflection
The brush at the old Palms poker room led me to my seat one late night several years ago. The seven-seat at the table was the only open chair in the room, and it...
Gratitude, by degrees
If I’ve learned one thing this weekend, it’s that gratitude comes in degrees. I was unable to be in Beverly Hills on Friday night, and I honestly don’t know if I would’ve had the...
To the courageous Senator Lindsey Graham
Dear Senator Lindsey Graham, I write today to applaud your courage. Only a man like yourself–one worried that he might have to face a run-off in a primary election–would have the bravery to introduce...
The Last Poker Game
This story originally appeared at Up For Poker in January 2007. I’ve been thinking about that night a lot recently. What I learned more than four years ago seems more relevant with every passing...
What happened?
I long ago gave up the idea of chronicling everything that happens to me when I’m in Las Vegas during the World Series of Poker. I burn every candle at both ends and from...
Sinner and a sinner’s son
I never can remember whether I’m sinning in South Carolina. The target for sin is one that moves and not in a way you’d expect. You’re more apt to run right into the bullseye...
Bracketology with a five year-old
That I can win anything in the world of sports prediction is a testament to its ridiculousness. I am not a sports bettor, like those guys seen in an Oddsmonkey review. There’s nothing wrong...
The Club Guy
Part 3 of the November iPhone Photo Project … aka…NaNo-iPho June 2009 It was late, about the time the clubs start to let out in Las Vegas. I was a deer hunter in a...
Chilean millionaire
Part 2 of the November iPhone Photo Project … aka…NaNo-iPho January 2009 I have made a number of bad decisions in my life, but never any that have resulted in me having so much...
Murph’s Law
Eventually, the halluciantions become so routine that you learn to anticipate them. Instead of flinching at the giant bird swooping down to eat your eyes, you take an early step to the left and...
The Argentina gamble
(Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport)–I’ve been known to make a bet. In the past three months, I’ve bet on the toss of a lime, the next commercial to come on television, a rickshaw race, a game...
Rear cover in Mexico
I yelled a phrase that can be reduced to a three letter acronym and I wouldn’t say in front of my mother. I said it loud enough that it actually made my head hurt...
Busted
The foyer of the Greenville Secret Service office was smaller than a decent walk-in closet. A pretty blond sat behind bullet proof glass stuffing envelopes and promising that somebody would be with me in...