The ongoing Ellix Powers saga part 7

I met up with Ellix a couple days back to drive him to the Rio, but then I had to run some other errands. He started talking the second he got in the car and didn’t stop until he got out. I was able to get a word in edgewise to say I won 400 bucks in an online tournament, but that only led to this exchange.

Me – “Have you ever played online”

Ellix – “No, I don’t mess with that. Its a god thing for me.”

Me – “What do you mean a god thing?”

Ellix – “I don’t want to incite Satan. I already do enough to incite Satan, I don’t need to go adding anything to the list. I stay out of that whole thing, I know computers can be used for good and all, but I stay away.”

“I didn’t eat nothing at the Rio. They charge an arm and a leg over there. 4 dollars for a hot dog. 6 dollars for a fucking hamburger, and it don’t even got no cheese on it. Shit, I just eat the tomatoes. Tomatoes are good for you. Over in the full tilt area they got radishes too.”

“I don’t need much to get me drunk, just three shots of tequila and IM done. I just use it to help me sleep. Then if I wake up early, I might have another beer to catch another hour.”

I talked back and forth with him after that, including receiving a message that just said “Ed, what’s up man, IM at the Rio man, come hollar at me man, my boy Mickey is here, so I’m in pretty good action, so when you gonna come holler at me man? Alright I don’t know if I’m gonna be in tomorrow, see ya”

Today I finally met up with him, when I went to the Rio to play 4-8. I was also there to look in on a buddy of mine from Vegas who was in the event, and he when I left for the day he was sitting with a bunch of chips. The original table he was seated at included professional gambler “Miami” John Sununu. This man is the kind of degenerate gambler that even I could never compare to. He had bought in to this event for 2500 dollars, and got up from the table to sit at another table and bet horses over his cell phone. As hands were being dealt and his hand was automatically folded he sat there going through his racing forum getting the scratches for the day and placing his exactas. You have to love the horse betters.

Meanwhile, I got hot at the 4-8 game. I turned 100 bucks into 420, as ellix watched my meteoric rise and coached me. It had to be kind of intimidating for the other players at the table, who asked me if he was the guy from TV. I bullied the shit out of all of them, and tore through them like Moulton through chocolate pudding.

I told Ellix I would give him 80 bucks to buy in to a limit game. He said he would, took the money, and started walking out of the convention center. I was like “yo, where are you going”, he said “I just gotta meet this guy in the parking lot real quick, Ill be back”. He took off, and I stayed pretty much even, when he got back he explained to me that he didn’t want to sit at a 4-8 game, said it just frustrated him. I said that was cool, but maybe he should give me the money back then. He asked me who I liked in the basketball game and I told him whoever the home team is, and he said maybe he would take the spurs and the under for 20 and if it hit he’d get 72, he explained that those were the kind of moves we had to make. I again asked for my money back. He explained he was just kidding and that he had a guy getting him money on Monday so he would pay me back then. Being up 320, some of which was attributable directly to ellixs advice on tells and his intimidating presence, I decided I could afford to toss the guy the 80 bucks, and be happy on the day.

We headed back towards my car to drop ellix back downtown, when he started telling me that he wasn’t taking the bus back to LA to give a talk he was scheduled for. “What the fuck do I want to go all the way back there for, I’m at the world series. They were supposed to open this school two months ago, I went back for the opening, but come on man, this is the world series.” I started talking to him about potentially getting in touch with some local poker schools on his behalf and setting up lecture dates. He said that was cool with him, and that his usual rate he was looking for was 100 dollars an hour. But he also put in that he didn’t want to live in Vegas. “Naw man, this city is for the kids, like you. Fast women, shit. I’m fifty years old now, I need to retire. I’m looking to retire in the next couple years, maybe go to Reno or Memphis. I already done my partying. I probably partied away millions of dollars.”

I informed him that me and my boy mikey had gone with the wake and bake that morning, so I had no fucking idea where my car was. He responded, “Ha, that’s rich. No idea. I heard of forgetting what section your in, but you got no motherfucking idea where the thing is. That’s rich. I smoked some weed back in the day, shit I smoked some weed. But that was a long time ago.” Me – “You still smoke now?” Ellix – “Shit, Ill take a hit here or there, but I’m past that. I need to start thinking about my retirement.”

I dropped him off at his hotel, and we agreed to meet up again tomorrow at the Rio. He’s pushing me to get in some bigger games, and damnit, it might be time.

The ongoing Ellix Powers saga part 7

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