Poker Gods Smile Upon Me

Yesterday turned out to be a very good day for me. I got the message that no skeletons were found in my closet, and therefore I was cleared for hire. I talked to the new boss about what shift I'll be starting on and such - it's a large telecommunications company, so they have support needs around the clock and I noted my preference for the night shift, as that's when my buddy works. There's also obviously less pressure from the hecticness of normal business hours, and it'll be an easier commute for me during those off hours (and it will be quite the commute). But it sounds like I'll be starting a 1p-9p swing shift for my training, and then I'll get placed more permanently after a few weeks.

So I let the news slip to two of my current coworkers, and they were excited for me. I've only been here for 2 years, but they're certified lifers at over 6 years each, and I guess I gave them a glimmer of hope and allowed them to live vicariously through me! A lot of discussion at lunch time about the various ways I can break the news to the higher-ups, ranging from giving the classic "Take this job and shove it," speech to just going AWOL. As upstanding as I'd like to try and be, the question "What have THEY done for ME lately?" keeps coming up. Well, other than provide me a job and steady paycheck... but you get my drift. So I've plotted and timed out my escape route, and it may cause a bit of a scramble but I think it'll be a fair proposition for all parties involved.

Obviously, morale isn't at a high point, and I'm not concerned about burning bridges. I started here as a temp, and it was only supposed to be a temporary blip on the radar; it's absolutely nowhere near to close to the career path I want to be on. I've made some good friends, learned a few things, and can drive a mean forklift now... but somehow I don't think: "Able to crossdock 20-feet beams of lumber through an 8 foot bay door" as a skill on the resumé would really impress any IT recruiters.

And there'll be no more of having to deal with this...


So I'm obviously thrilled about this new opportunity, and I really owe it all to the Poker Gods. Huh? How's that? A few months back, I got a call from a friend to meet him for a low buy-in Poker tourney after work. And while I busted out early because of a silly chip miscalculation; I got to hang out with my buddy - the one that told me about the job opening and put in a good word for me during the interview process! So even though I didn't cash on that particular day, it's turned out to be my most profitable Poker tourney yet!

I'm not sure exactly what I did to curry the Gods' favor yesterday, but boy, did they shower me with it. After everything that went on during the day, I spent the evening partying it up on Party Poker. I actually didn't fare too well in the cash games... I blew a buy-in at the PLO table when I accidentally clicked "RAISE ALL-IN $12.86" on the River when I was trying to switch windows. Of course, I had missed all of my draws and my nemesis just had to call with his Full House.

It was okay though. The $20 I lost there was more than worth the price of where the night was headed. The window that popped up that made me misclick was the beginning of the 3:50 AM (EST) WSOP FreeRoll Qualifier. The one that had about 2100 entrants in it. The one that found me tripling up early on. The one that I flopped Quads twice and got paid off. The one that I ended up on a table with no other live players (everyone was away) so I chipped up quickly by raising every hand. Just how lucky was I? One person whose blind put him all-in had AA against my J9. I rivered Trip 9's on him.

Yes, the Gods were smiling upon me. It took four hours, and lots of folding folding raising folding to work my way down to the last 80 or so - that's about where I dozed off after raising pre-flop with AJ and woke up to Party's warning bell just in time to bet my TPTK. Then I got a really good wake-up jolt when my Pocket Queens held up against AK, giving me enough chips to glide into the top 50 and into the Saturday WSOP Freeroll Satellite.

Wish me luck, and pray for the Poker Deities to keep an eye on me for just a few more days, so that I can escape unscathed from my current cubicle and freeroll my way into the WSOP. :)