AimlesslyChasingAmy

I noticed that Michael Craig has outted himself for trying to seduce me; that is seduce me into working with him to meet his looming book deadline.  Michael is working on a tournament strategy book that will be authored by many of the pros over at Full Tilt.  In a sense, it will be like the Super System of tournament books, with chapters on everything from NLHE to Roshambo.  It is going to be a killer book. 

I left the mothership to work with Michael for three months on the book and various other projects.  I thought I’d miss the steady paycheck from my poker day gig, but as it turns out, I prefer the ups, downs, and control of self-employment.  Getting to work with Michael was just the best icing on the contract cake I could ask for.  I had never worked with another writer before and it was cool to observe someone else’s creative process.  I think the funnest part of the job was working with Michael on the Beal Bluff articles, the bulk of which were processed in Michael’s car, driving from Vegas to LA back to Vegas.  When our contract period was over, the book deadline had been reset and we both felt Michael had ample time to wrap it up on his own.  But of course the deadline looms again and Michael has now asked me (in dozens of creative ways) to help him.  Unfortunately, I have a little educational deadline of my own.

Michael is tenacious, which is how he nailed the Beal story to begin with.  He was a great lawyer and is a bulldog of a negotiator.  So his requests have been diverse, frequent, and creative.  We’re way beyond sheer financial bribery and guilt.  He calls once a day with at least three different ploys.  Here is just a sampling:

- During the WSOP, he offered to pay 25% of my buy-in for the Stud 8 (not my best game) event if I’d edit the Stud 8 chapter.
 
- If I helped him on the book for the next three weeks, he’d help me on my dissertation. (This might have worked if he knew anything about the latest statistical tests for the validity of clustering and discriminant analyses)

- If I worked on the book, he’d tell me about a funny exchange between Huck Seed and Ted Forrest during a discussion about razz. (While I’m a sucker for Michael’s stories, I know he can’t resist telling me his stories.  When I say ”no”, he immediately tells me the story.)

- If I worked on the book, he’d tell me the latest thing he “stole.”  (As above, he tells me anyway)

- If I worked on the book, we could go to Vegas next week on a fact finding mission and hang out with any number of pros he thinks might tempt me. (He knows this would be a distraction from the book but he also knows that’s a pretty tried and true temptation for me.  It might have worked if I hadn’t just come back from over a month in Vegas)

- In true blogger fashion, Michael is now using his blog as an instrument of persuasion, hoping to drum up some blogger ground swell for his cause.   

At this point, I think both Michael and I are pretty sure that I’m not going to be able to help him.  But Michael seems unable to let go of any challenge and I think we both have come to count on the daily attempt as a fun break from our looming deadlines.            

Tunica has always had a strange hold on me.  It’s hard to imagine that this jaded oasis in the middle of Mississippi swamp land could be the origin of my siren poker song, but there it is.  In many ways, it is where my full obsession began.  I played my very first major tournament there.  I met almost all the poker boyz there; my rag tag, talented, hilarious poker road trip buddies.  I met one of my backers in Tunica - and magically (even with my proclivity to bubble) I’ve never failed to make him money in Tunica.  It was in Tunica where PocketRocket first made me spew beer out my nose from laughter.  And my strangest girl-on-girl encounters also seem to take place on the banks of the Big Muddy.

When I was looking for my Vegas sublet for the WSOP, there was one place that was perfect - but it was already booked.  Just when I thought I had to lock and load on a less suitable alternative, the real estate agent called.  She said she’d give me the condo sublet I wanted on one condition: I had to tell her what “busted in Tunica” meant.  Apparently the person who had booked the condo had a really bad run in Tunica and could no longer afford to come out to the WSOP.  So there is some strange Amy-Tunica connection that I just can’t fight. 

Even with my own deadlines looming, I’m probably going to Tunica for the WSOP Circuit event at the end September.  I will, hopefully, be past one of my major hurdles and I do pretty well writing from casino venues.  I also do much more writing if I know there is a poker reward involved.  My most productive time working on my dissertation was when I spent three weeks up in the mountains of Taos, NM.  For every 20 pages I wrote, I would reward myself with a trip to the Cities of Gold near Santa Fe for a few hours of poker.  I was writing like nobody’s business. 

Rumor has it that a few of the boyz will make it down that way.  I also have a freelance offer if I should go.  So I suspect my plans will start to gravitate towards the river.          

I’ll leave you with this picture of Huck Seed playing the 2006 WSOP Razz event.