The ongoing saga of Ellix Powers part 3

So I get a call the next day at like 12:30 from ellix the next afternoon, even though we agreed to meet at the Rio at noon. I’m laying on a couch in my apartment in wake and bake mode when I get the call, and I don’t think there was anyone I would have rather heard from at the time. “Hey, what’s up Ed, I’m runnin a little late, the documentary crew is coming over and they got to film a bunch of shit, and I gotta talk to them for a little bit, but Ill be over there around 3 and we can take care of this”

He had told me that a documentary crew was following him around for the past 8 months, and that he had a book treatment. He also told me that his agent worked on million dollar movie deals and had among his client list Michael Vick. To be fair, I didn’t know what to believe, but I told him I would meet him at the Rio around three.

When I got there, it was much busier than I had ever seen it. 200 tables of action, both the pot limit 1500 dollar event and the no limit 1500 dollar event were going on, as well as satellites and cash games. Lot of action. I had brought 200 bucks, one hundred to play with and one hundred to stake Ellix. The waiting line to play the 4-8 game that I wanted was about 30 people long, so I put my name both on that list and on the 1-2 no limit game with a shorter list. I spent the next twenty minutes watching various pros who were intermingled throughout the field. It’s pretty amazing how the big stars of the poker world who are on TV all the time are so accessible. Example: Ellix Powers.

My name was called for no limit, and I sat down with 100 dollars in front of me. I folded about 20 straight hands and lost 5 dollars in blinds, so I was down to 95 bucks. I was on the dealer button and got an Ace-King of spades, with no one having raised. I made it ten dollars and everyone folded to a guy who had limped and now went all in. I called for the rest of my chips and he turned over two queens. Needless to say, my ace or king never showed and I was down 100 dollars after playing a total of one full hand. I got up from the table, and called back Ellix, who had called me about 3 times while I was sitting there to say that he was on his way. He said he and wheels should be there in about 10 minutes.

While I was waiting, they called my name for 4-8, and I figured what the hell. I sat down with my remaining 100 and when Ellix got there I was down another ten and sitting on 90 bucks. He said I should come over to the satellite section so we could discuss his strategy for making it into the 1500 dollar fixed limit event that he was on TV for the previous year. I played out a few more hands then walked over to where he and four or five of his cronies were sitting.

The first person he introduced me to was wheels, who was a late twenties preppy looking white guy in a wheelchair. Ellix said “This is my buddy wheels”, which brought a slight look of disgust from wheels. He put out his hand and said, “I’m Kevin, nice to meet you” to which I replied, “I’m Ed, nice to meet you wheels.” It was hard for me to keep from laughing given that he clearly didn’t like being called wheels and Ellix clearly didn’t know his name otherwise. Not only that, but he had called him Brian on the phone the day before. From there I was introduced to the rest of the crew, after which Ellix asked me if I had my three hundred.

I told him how I got busted out at no limit and how my friend was at work right now but when he got off he should be in for a hundred(a blatant lie). Ellix was clearly disappointed, but I went back to play, and I started doing well. I ended up winning 217 dollars at 4-8, so even with the 100 I dropped at no limit, I was still up 117 on the day, and I was ready to stake the 284th ranked poker player in the world at some satellites. He suggested we got outside the main room to a bench to discuss the details of my share.

We went through a negotiation that was too humorous for me to even try to play hardball, as ellix wrote what amounted to random numbers on a sheet of paper and started talking about all sorts of contingencies involving people backing him who likely don’t exist. A quote from the negotiation might have sounded something like “If I find Mickey, he’s big money, but he plays hardball, Id probably have to lower you down to 5% but I might just take 5% out of my cut and give it to you as well so you are guaranteed at least 15 percent even if Mickey backs me, but if its Lang then I think I can get you..” I just nodded as he drew lines between numbers and circled items he felt were important. From what I can tell, I was giving him 200 dollars and it entitled me to 20% of his winnings in the 1500 dollar fixed limit world series event, as well as an autographed hat.

As we finished talking a guy with a camera came over and asked Ellix, “should we have been filming this.” Ellix responded indignantly “Of course you should have, I don’t know where the hell you guys were” I told him I was fine with reenacting the event and they set up as ellix once again went over the numbers on the paper and I listened intently. I can imagine what the voice over will say during my section if the documentary ever actually comes to fruition “this na�ve college boy was duped into giving a bum two hundred dollars, only in America.”

The ongoing saga of Ellix Powers part 3

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