I think this one is gone, but it would be great to know for future reference. Basically the app freezes, and when I restart it I can always find the tournaments, but never the sit and gos I played in as they aren't visible from the lobby.
Anyone familiar with this?

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Bovada Information:

Bovada Referral Link
Offers sports betting, online casino, online poker games.
USA only. Four states are excluded and those states are Delaware, Maryland, Nevada, and New Jersey. If you live in one of these four states, you can not play on Bovada. Same goes for players from other countries, you can not play on Bovada, try one of the sister sites and if you still cannot play, you are out of luck.

Sister Sites to Bovada and Referral Links:

Bovada Referral Links can be found in this post, as well as Bovada's sister sites.

Site Name	Games Offered	Countries Allowed	Referral Links
Bovada	Sports, Casino, Poker	USA sans DE, MD, NV, NJ	Referral Link
Ignition Casino	Casino, Poker, Virtual Sports	USA, Australia	Referral Link
Bodog EU	Sports, Casino, Poker	Canada	Referral Link
Bodog COM	Sports, Casino, Poker	AR, BO, BR, CL, EC, GT, HN, MX, NI, PE, PY, SV, VE	Referral Link
Slots LV	Casino	USA, Canada sans Quebec	Referral Link
Cafe Casino	Casino	USA	Referral Link
Joe Fortune	Casino	Australia	Referral Link

​

I would say that I'm relatively new to Reddit and the one thing that surprised me is the number of people that still play on Bovada, Ignition, Betonline, MyBookie, etc. Don't get me wrong, great sites for sports betting and poker, but absolutely horrendous when it comes to slots and live casino games.
Hitting 1,000x on a slot on Bovada is like a once in a lifetime achievement and the live dealer provider is... awful.
Over the past month or so, I have seen this Reddit flooded with random users promoting a bunch of shitty no-name crypto casinos that have been around for like 3 days. So I figured it was my duty, as somebody who has no ownership interests in any of these online crypto casinos, to share my thoughts regarding the ones that I believe are trustworthy. All of which is based on first-hand experience and countless hours of research.
First off, for those who aren't familiar with crypto casinos, the one thing that you need to know, as an American, is that you'll need to access these sites via a VPN. Personally, I use ExpressVPN and connect to Canada (or various other regions depending on which slot provider is available). The nice thing about ExpressVPN is that you can download the app and play on your phone. All of the casinos listed below allow VPN usage. Apparently NordVPN is pretty good too, but I cannot vouch for them personally.
Second thing, KYC is not required. Honestly haven't looked into this too much, but I can tell you from first-hand experience that KYC is not required in order to register or withdraw funds. All you have to do is confirm your email address. Some people have said you get KYC'd if you try to withdraw more than $2k, but again, I can confirm that it's not true (specifically for the casinos listed below). Just make sure that you only deposit/withdraw via crypto and you'll be fine. If you think this is sketchy, then please, continue making your credit card deposits at Bovada to random shell companies based out of China.
Also, DO NOT USE COINBASE TO TRANSFER TO AND FROM THE CASINO. They banned me. It hurt. Don't make the same mistake. I recommend using BRD as an intermediary between Coinbase and the casino. Since being banned from Coinbase, I have been using crypto.com to buy and sell crypto. Nothing but good things to say thus far.
Finally, I have wagered roughly $3.5MM in total across the sites below and have spent countless hours researching them, so I'd like to think that I somewhat know what I'm talking about. In no way am I an expert and in no way am I a high roller or a whale. Just a regular guy that enjoys gambling.
Now the common theme amongst the below casinos is that you have access to game providers such as Evolution (live games), Pragmatic, NetEnt, Thunderkick, Push, etc. that you'll never find on the casinos advertised as available to US players (such as Bovada). As I'm sure you know, Betsoft slots can get old after a while.
Just a few of my personal favorite games that I recommend you check out...
Live Games: Crazy Time, Monopoly, Evolution Blackjack and Evolution Speed Baccarat
Slots: Dead or Alive 2, Money Train 2, Lil' Devil, Sweet Bonanza and The Dog House
​
Site #1: Roobet.com (Best for casual gamblers)
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, generous rakeback system, instant bitcoin deposits (they will credit your account before receiving any confirmations-- this is really nice), every so often they'll run a 24 hour promotion where if you hit 100x on slot betting at least $1 you'll be "King Roo" (basically King of the Hill) and accumulate ~$20 per minute until you're dethroned
What I don't like: Rakeback system only allows you to collect every 24 hrs/1 week/1 month, no clarity surrounding VIP status (assuming you need to be a whale), there was one instance where I won $36k on a $40 bet playing Reactoonz and was told I can only withdraw $10k per day (this was 6 months ago and never had an issue withdrawing since), lack of sports betting
My largest withdrawal (at once): $9.9k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH
Referral link to enable rakeback system without having to wager a shitload: https://roobet.com/?ref=hkgambler13 (you can also use code "hkgambler13")
​
Site #2: Stake.com (Best for medium-high rollers)
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, incredible VIP and rakeback system (weekly/monthly bonuses, rakeback can be claimed whenever, daily/monthly challenges to earn extra cash), active and friendly chat community, multiple crytpo deposit options where your account is credited in that currency (meaning your balance equivalent in USD will swing with the market-- could be seen as a con), enjoyable "Stake Original" games that have a higher RTP than 3rd party slots, averages ~2k users online at any given time
What I don't like: Can be overwhelming for first time players (Roobet is much more straight forward and easy to use)
My largest withdrawal: $13.2k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH, LTC, DOGE, BCH, XRP (highly recommend-- cheap transfer fee, if any at all, and confirmed within seconds), TRX, EOS
Referral link to instantly enable 10% rakeback: https://stake.com/?c=6c2f1c60
​
Site #3: Gamdom.com (Best for gamers)
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, newly implemented rakeback system, constant "rains" in the chat (which is free money if you join in time), ability to instantly deposit and withdraw via Rust and TF2 items (could spend an hour talking about this-- generally caters to those who cannot get crypto or have to use a CC to buy crypto), averages ~1.5k users online at any given time
What I don't like: Prior to the newly implemented rakeback system rains and level-up chests were the only "rakeback", your balance is denominated in coins (1500 coins = $1 USD), browsing through their slot selection can be a pain in the ass
My largest withdrawal (at once): $7.4k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC
Referral link to receive a free chest that could be worth up to ~$53: https://gamdom.com/chase (you can also use code "chase")
​
Final parting words: PLEASE DO NOT GAMBLE WITH MONEY THAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE. Gambling is not a money making method and you will lose in the long run. The purpose of my post is to make those aware that other trustworthy online casinos are available for Americans that will (hopefully) make gambling online a bit more enjoyable!

I booted up my Galaxy J3, Galaxy Apps updated itself, and then apps silently installed such as Wish, News Break, Pandora, GSN Casino, and several others onto my phone. An ad for a sponsored app also appeared.
If you're wondering, DT Ignite is an app made by Digital Turbine that is installed on phones by carriers. It installs apps on your phone silently without consent, shows ads on your phone's notification center, uses data which could rack up data fees on limited data plans, and collects your data. It's basically a modern version of Carrier IQ.
AT&T calls it AT&T App Select, Verizon calls it Verizon App Manager, Tracfone calls it Mobile Services, and the generic name Digital Turbine gave it is Mobile Services Manager.
I went into App Info and they all said "App downloaded from Galaxy Apps".
You can't disable Galaxy Apps in the Settings app, but some carrier versions of DT Ignite can be disabled. I would highly recommend disabling it.

I would say that I'm relatively new to reddit and the one thing that surprised me is the number of people that still play on Bovada, Ignition, Betonline, MyBookie, etc. Don't get me wrong, great sites for sports betting and poker, but absolutely horrendous when it comes to slots and live casino games.
Hitting 1,000x on a slot on Bovada is like a once in a lifetime achievement and the live dealer provider is... awful.
Over the past month or so, I have seen this subreddit flooded with random users promoting a bunch of shitty no-name crypto casinos that have been around for like 3 days. So I figured it was my duty, as somebody who has no ownership interests in any of these online crypto casinos, to share my thoughts regarding the ones that I believe are trustworthy.
First off, for those who aren't familiar with crypto casinos, the one thing that you need to know, as an American, is that you'll need to access these sites via a VPN. Personally, I use ExpressVPN and connect to Canada (or various other regions depending on which slot provider is available). The nice thing about ExpressVPN is that you can download the app and play on your phone. All of the casinos listed below allow VPN usage.
Second thing, KYC is not required. Honestly haven't looked into this too much, but I can tell you from first-hand experience that KYC is not required in order to register or withdraw funds. Some people have said you get KYC'd if you try to withdraw more than $2k, but again, I can confirm that it's not true (specifically for the casinos listed below). Just make sure that you only deposit/withdraw via crypto and you'll be fine. If you think this is sketchy, then please, continue making your credit card deposits at Bovada to random shell companies based out of China.
Also, DO NOT USE COINBASE TO TRANSFER TO AND FROM THE CASINO. They banned me. It hurt. Don't make the same mistake. I recommend using BRD as an intermediary between Coinbase and the casino.
Finally, I have wagered roughly $3.5MM in total across the sites below and have spent countless hours researching them, so I'd like to think that I somewhat know what I'm talking about. In no way am I an expert and in no way am I a high roller or a whale. Just a regular guy that enjoys gambling.
Now the common theme amongst the below casinos is that you have access to game providers such as Evolution (live games), Pragmatic, NetEnt, Thunderkick, Push, etc. that you'll never find on the casinos advertised as available to US players (such as Bovada). As I'm sure you know, Betsoft slots can get old after a while.
Just a few of my personal favorite games that I recommend you check out...
Live Games: Crazy Time, Monopoly, Evolution Blackjack and Evolution Speed Baccarat
Slots: Dead or Alive 2, Money Train 2, Lil' Devil, Sweet Bonanza and Dog House
​
Site #1: Stake
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, incredible VIP and rakeback system (weekly/monthly bonuses, rakeback can be claimed whenever, daily/monthly challenges to earn extra cash), active and friendly chat community, multiple crytpo deposit options where your account is credited in that currency (meaning your balance equivalent in USD will swing with the market-- could be seen as a con), enjoyable "Stake Original" games that have a higher RTP than 3rd party slots, averages ~2k users online at any given time
What I don't like: Honestly I spent like 30 minutes trying to think of a con and nothing came to mind
My largest withdrawal: $13.2k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH, LTC, DOGE, BCH, XRP (highly recommend-- cheap transfer fee, if any at all, and confirmed within seconds), TRX, EOS
You might be able to enter my username to enable the10% rakeback: "hkgambler13" (been a while since I joined so I can't remember).
​
Site #2: Roobet
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, generous rakeback system, instant bitcoin deposits (they will credit your account before receiving any confirmations-- this is really nice), every so often they'll run a 24 hour promotion where if you hit 100x on slot betting at least $1 you'll be "King Roo" (basically King of the Hill) and accumulate ~$20 per minute until you're dethroned
What I don't like: Rakeback system only allows you to collect every 24 hrs/1 week/1 month, no clarity surrounding VIP status (assuming you need to be a whale), there was one instance where I won $36k on a $40 bet playing Reactoonz and was told I can only withdraw $10k per day (this was 9 months ago and never had an issue withdrawing since), lack of sports betting
My largest withdrawal: $9.9k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH
If you want to enable the rakeback system without having to wager a shitload, feel free to use my code "hkgambler13".
​
Site #3: Gamdom
What I like: Instant withdrawals, huge selection of slots and live games, newly implemented rakeback system, constant "rains" in the chat (which is free money if you join in time), ability to instantly deposit and withdraw via Rust and TF2 items (could spend an hour talking about this-- generally caters to those who cannot get crypto or have to use a CC to buy crypto), averages ~1.5k users online at any given time
What I don't like: Prior to the newly implemented rakeback system rains were the only "rakeback", your balance is denominated in coins (1500 coins = $1 USD), browsing through their slot selection can be a pain in the ass
My largest withdrawal: $7.4k
Deposit/Withdrawal Methods: BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC
If you use my code "chase" you'll get a free chest that could be worth up to ~$53.
​
Final parting words: PLEASE DO NOT GAMBLE WITH MONEY THAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE. Gambling is not a money making method and you will lose in the long run. The purpose of my post is to make those aware that other trustworthy online casinos are available for Americans that will (hopefully) make gambling online a bit more enjoyable.
Happy to answer any questions!

(This is part two of my sequel trilogy fix, there are elements in this that won’t make sense if you haven’t read part 1. This one is a lot longer than the last, and it’s the one I’m most proud of of these rewrites, so I hope people enjoy it)
Episode VII: https://www.reddit.com/usenamanhahaja/comments/ixcb8q/my_fix_of_star_wars_episode_vii/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Episode VIII
This movie will take place a little under a year after TFA, unlike the original movie.
The camera will open to an X-Wing flying through space, piloted by Poe Dameron. Around him, there will be a battle between the First Order and several Resistance ships, instead of just one. In this version part of the New Republic Fleet has escaped the destruction of Hosnian Prime and has joined the Resistance. The battle is more evenly matched at first than a standard Rebels vs Empire thing. One of the Resistance cruisers will be destroyed by the sheer firepower of the First Order, shocking the resistance. Poe will lead the same bombing run he did in the movie, with Paige Tico dying. However, in this version, the bombs will be rocket propelled instead of acting as if there is gravity in space.
The Resistance fleet will all jump into hyperspace, escaping the battle. The camera cuts to General Pryde, where he will get a communication from Snoke. Snoke will say that he is disappointed, and Pryde will reassure him that the Resistance cannot run for long. He will not be thrown down like Hux was, and he will not be made into comedic relief.
Finn will wake in a bacta tank, having been in a coma for several months from the injuries he sustained from his duel with Kylo. The medical droids will release him from the tank. Poe will then rush into the medical bay, to see the medical droids fitting Finn with a prosthetic arm. Their conversation will be the same as the actual movie, with Finn eventually asking where Rey is.
The camera cuts to Rey on Ach-To, running with Leia’s lightsaber in her hand. She is doing an obstacle course prepared by Luke Skywalker, jumping over boulders and deflecting blaster fire from training remotes. She will not be doing too well, getting nicked by a couple shots, but she will eventually finish it, making it to Luke’s domed Jedi temple. Luke is waiting there for her, where he smirks and says that she was sloppy. Rey looks disappointed and sighs.
In this version, Luke didn’t try to kill Kylo Ren, but he feels that both he and the Jedi as a whole are flawed due to his inability to stop Ben from turning to the dark side. Even though most of Luke’s students were killed, three of Luke’s students survived in this version, and are on Ach-To with him. In this scene, it is made clear that even though Luke has agreed to train Rey, he has done so very begrudgingly.
The camera cuts to Snokes throne room, where Kylo walks out of the elevator, with the Knights of Ren entering from behind him. Most of the conversation between Kylo and Snoke will go the same, with Snoke making fun of his mask and saying that Kylo has much of his father in him. Like in the movie, Kylo will say the he killed Han Solo, and Snoke will say that the act split Kylo to the bone. Snoke will reprimand him for “Believing that defeating a stormtrooper and a girl who had never held a lightsaber while letting Starkiller base crumble makes him comparable to Vader” and for failing to stop Rey from finding Luke. Kylo will angrily stand up to attack, Snoke blasting Kylo with force lightning remains the same. The praetorian guards will draw their weapons, and so will the Knights of Ren to protect Kylo, resulting in a standoff. I’m trying to have more of a rival general feel, than a master and apprentice feel. Even though Snoke is Kylo’s master, the Knights of Ren are loyal to Kylo, not Snoke. Snoke laughs and waves his hand, and the Praetorian guards will sheath their weapons. As Kylo gets to his feet, the Knights of Ren will do the same. Snoke will say to Kylo “You want to kill me. That is the way of the Sith, they killed their masters to gain power. But we are not Sith, and you are no Vader, just a child in mask”
Kylo destroying his mask in the elevator will remain the same. When the elevator doors open, Kylo and the Knights of Ren will enter the bridge. Kylo will say “Prepare our ships”
Cutting back to Ach To, Rey will be inside the library tree, reading through the ancient Jedi texts. Luke will walk in, and tell Rey that the Jedi failed. That the Jedi need to be moved on from, and stop trying to affect the galaxy, as every time they do, it just leads to more pain and destruction. Rey will protest, saying that the Jedi need to live on, as they inspire hope in the galaxy. Luke will then reply like he did in the actual movie, saying that the Jedis hubris was what allowed Darth Sidious to wipe them out and that it was a Jedi who was responsible for the creation of Darth Vader. Rey will reply like she did in the movie, saying “It was also a Jedi who redeemed him” before asking him, clearly not for the first time, to come with her to help the Resistance. Luke will be unable to respond to this, looking down and telling Rey that she’s had a hard day of training, and should go get some rest.
Rey and Luke will exit the ancient library. Luke goes to his domed temple and Rey will go down to the huts, where she will be greeted by Luke’s three surviving students. Rey has a disappointed look on her face, so they ask her what’s wrong. Rey says “Master Skywalker...what’s wrong with him? I’ve heard legends about him, I didn’t expect him to be like this” Lukes students will look saddened by this comment. One of them replies “He hasn’t been the same since that night. When Ben turned, we lost so many people...” He chokes up and trails off, and another one of Luke’s students puts her hand on his shoulder to comfort him, before she says to Rey “Master Skywalker blames himself for what happened to Ben” Rey turns and looks towards Luke’s temple, now beginning to understand why her comment about him redeeming Vader hurt him so much.
The camera cuts back to the remaining ships of the Resistance fleet. On the bridge of the Raddus, Finn and Poe will be standing with Leia. Admiral Akbar will sound the alarm and suddenly several Star Destroyers, including the Supremacy will come out of Hyperspace right behind the resistance fleet. As Kylo, the Knights of Ren and a few other TIE fighters fly towards the resistance fleet, General Pryde will order two Star Destroyers to flank the Raddus. The Raddus and the Star Destroyer open fire on each other, but due to the shielding on the Raddus, it takes only minimal damage while the Star Destroyer is destroyed. Poe and several resistance X-wings are engaged in a skirmish with the TIE fighters.
Kylo and the Knights of Ren fly out to the Raddus and stop in front of it. Leia senses what’s going to happen and moves to the front of the bridge. Like in the movie, Kylo cannot bring himself to fire on his mother. Three of the Knights of Ren however, fire torpedoes at the bridge of the Raddus. Leia holds out her hand and closes her eyes. The torpedos suddenly stop in place. As Leia exhales, she uses the force to launch the torpedoes towards one of the Star Destroyers, destroying it. Kylo’s eyes widen from his cockpit as he sees this, before General Pryde contacts him. He tells Kylo to fall back, Kylo and the Knights of Ren return to the Supremacy. The Supremacy opens fire on the last remaining New Republic ship, destroying it. Back on the bridge of the Raddus, Leia collapses, as she hasn’t used the force on that large a scale in a long time.
The camera then cuts to Luke watching Rey as she and one of Luke’s other students practice their lightsaber skills in a sparring match against each other with wooden staffs. Luke then drops to his knees, holding his chest in pain. Rey and the other student rush over to Luke, asking if he’s alright. He simply mutters “Leia...”
Back on the Raddus, Admiral Ackbar says that General Organa is stable but unconscious, so he will have to take control of the fleet until she wakes up. Poe walks up confused, and asks why there is no plan. Akbar pulls him aside and tells him that he suspects there is a mole passing information to the First Order, as that is the only way they could’ve tracked them through light speed.
The camera cuts to Rey and Chewie sitting outside the falcon at night, huddled around a campfire. Behind them, a hooded figure will sneak past them and enter the Falcon. Chewie will turn and roar, recognising Luke’s footsteps. Rey will simply sigh and say “He’s been going in there every night since we arrived” Inside the bridge of the Falcon, Luke will sit down on the cockpit chair and grab the dice belonging to Han Solo. Luke holds the dice close to his face as a tear rolls down his cheek. We never got to see Luke mourning Han in the original movie, so I really wanted to add a scene like this in. As he gets up and goes to get out, he is intercepted by R2, and we will get the same reunion scene between them, with Leia’s message from Episode IV, and Luke saying “That's a cheap move” before once again refusing to go help the Resistance.
Everything with Rose and Finn at this point of the movie remains the same, except Finn isn’t trying to run away, he is trying to find Rey and warn her about the First Order. After Rose tases him, he reveals that there is no mole, and that the First Order has light speed tracking. They tell Poe, and contact Maz Kanata, who tells them there is someone on Canto Bight that can help them. They inform admiral Akbar, and he then sends Finn, Poe and Rose to Canto Bight. Akbar tells them that if they don’t come back in time, he will have to resort to a contingency plan.
The camera cuts to Rey waking up in one of the huts. She sees Kylo Ren standing in front of her. This first force bond scene goes exactly the same as the actual movie. When Rey lies to Luke that her blaster just went off, he tells her to come with him. The scene of Luke teaching Rey to meditate and feel the force goes exactly the same as the movie. Luke is shocked when Rey goes straight to the dark. He tells her that there is a cave strong in the dark side on this island, and that Rey must go in there to confront her deepest fears and inner darkness. When Rey goes towards the cave, Luke tells her she will not need her weapons. When she asks why, he smirks and says she needs to trust him on this, referencing Luke’s own training in ESB. Rey drops her staff on the floor and leaves her belt with her blaster and lightsaber behind.
As Rey walks in, she immediately has a vision of herself as an old woman on Jakku, scavenging for parts. The vision then changes to a view of Kylo swinging his lightsaber towards Finn's neck. Rey cries out and falls backwards, out of the cave. Luke will help her up and tell her that she has been in there for hours, even though it only felt like a few seconds. In her second attempt, she goes to the mirror room, which goes down the same way it did in the actual movie. She will walk to the end and ask who her parents are, and the cave will show her an image of her parents. However, as neither she nor the audience recognise the son of Palpatine and his wife, both Rey and the audience will assume that they are nobodies. Rey will look at them and walk past them. As she moves on, she no longer feels afraid of what will happen to her, or her friends and she no longer cares about her lineage, as she knows that she is a Jedi. She calmly walks out of the cave and Luke puts a hand on her shoulder.
Next, we cut to Canto Bight. It is controlled by the Hutts in this version, and we will see a Hutt lording over the casino. It makes perfect sense for the Hutts to make money by selling weapons to both sides of the war. There are no slave children or space horses, I want to trim down this scene to focus more on the scenes that actually matter.
On the Raddus, Leia will wake up in the medical bay after Luke reaches out to her through the force, just like she did in the actual movie. Luke will pause for a moment, deep in thought, before standing up and running towards the huts.
Instead of DJ, Finn, Rose and Poe meet Lando. Lando agrees to go with them, but then security walks up to him and says that he has an outstanding debt with the house. There is a bit of a chase scene, and they eventually get to their ship and get off the planet.
We cut back to Ach-To, where Kylo and Rey are speaking through a force bond in one of the huts. This one is more deep, where Kylo reveals a lot about his past, and his struggle with the dark side. As they talk, Rey realises that Kylo is not completely consumed by the dark side. Even though he has enough hate and pain to corrupt a Kyber crystal, there is still good in him. They will both touch hands, and then we will hear Luke’s voice from a distance. After having reached out to Leia, Luke has changed his mind. He says “Rey, I was wrong, I will come with you to help the Resist-“ As he enters the hut he cuts himself off upon seeing Rey and Kylo touching hands. He then cuts their force connection and blows apart the hut like he did in the actual movie.
Luke then storms away from Rey, as she follows him into the rain. Rey grabs Luke’s shoulder and turns him around. She says that there is still good in Ben Solo, and that with Luke’s help, she knows she can redeem him. Luke will say that Ben’s turn was all his fault, that he saw the darkness in Ben from a young age, and that he tried to help him but failed. Luke trusted Ben, and had faith that he would overcome his darkness, until one day Luke went off on a mission to another planet with a handful of his students. While Luke was away, something happened that made Ben snap. Luke came back to find his Jedi academy in flames and most of his students dead. Luke looks at Rey, his eyes filled with sorrow and regret, and he says that he cannot lose her the way he lost Ben. At this point, all the noise and commotion has woken up Luke’s three remaining students. They are all standing around, watching this conversation unfold. Rey takes Leia’s lightsaber from her belt and holds it out towards Luke, silently begging him to come with her. Luke just looks down in shame and says nothing. Rey angrily scoffs before clipping the lightsaber to her belt and going to the Falcon and leaving the planet.
Finn, Poe, Rose and Lando will board the supremacy, where they will be caught and arrested by stormtroopers, except that Lando will obviously not betray them like DJ did. Finn talks to the stormtroopers, as he knows them, and tries to convince them that what the First Order is doing is wrong. He will use his trauma and his experience with the Resistance to try to get through to the other stormtroopers, giving a moving and heartfelt speech. He manages to get through to them a little, but they still take him to Phasma and General Pryde to be executed, though they clearly aren’t happy about it.
After having woken up, Leia will then go to the bridge of the Raddus, where Admiral Akbar will tell her that Finn, Rose and Poe have failed to stop the light speed tracking, Leia sighs and says they must fall back onto their last resort contingency plan. The resistance troops all go down to the docking bay of the Raddus, where the Tantive IV is being held. Leia orders them all to enter her ship. The Tantive IV takes off and heads towards Crait, while the Raddus, now only piloted by Admiral Akbar, continues flying at a slow pace to distract the First Order.
Back on Ach-To, Luke goes to burn the tree with the sacred Jedi texts and the exact scene from the movie with the force ghost of Yoda happens. It is a beautiful scene, and I wouldn’t change a moment of it.
On board the Supremacy, the scene with Snoke, Rey and Kylo will go mostly the same. However, instead of saying that he bridged Rey and Kylo’s minds, Snoke will reveal that they are a dyad in the force.
Snokes death and Rey and Kylo’s fight against the Praetorian guards will remain almost exactly the same. The only differences are that Snoke will be killed by Leia’s lightsaber instead of Anakin’s, and that Kylo’s unstable crossguard lightsaber will be destroyed by the last Praetorian Guard. As the guard is strangling him, Kylo will draw Anakin’s lightsaber from his belt, which he corrupted and made the blade red in the last movie, and stab it through the guards face. It’s sad that I have to say this, but the editing and choreography in this fight will be better. Rey and Kylo’s conversation after the fight will be exactly the same. When Rey refuses to join him, he reaches for Anakin’s corrupted lightsaber, but Rey grabs it with the force, and they both battle over the saber with the force. Except it is not destroyed, as Admiral Akbar sacrifices himself in the same way Holdo did before it can be.
Much like in the actual movie, Akbar’s sacrifice will allow Finn, Poe, Rose and Lando to escape being executed and fight back. A shootout will occur and Finn will fight Phasma. As in this version, Finn fought Phasma in the last movie and lost, this is a rematch. Phasma will eventually disarm Finn, but as she goes for the killing blow, Finns blocks the swing by grabbing her wrist with his metal arm. As they struggle, one of the stormtroopers Finn spoke to earlier will shoot Phasma in the back, distracting her. Using the mechanical strength of the prosthetic, Finn throws Phasma back into a chasm that has opened up from the destruction of the ship. Phasma is hanging onto the edge for her life. Finn tries to save Phasma by holding out his hand for her to grab onto, but she snarls “Rebel scum!” And let’s go, letting herself fall to her death. Finn, Rose, Poe and Lando will then come face to face the stormtroopers that first arrested them. However, as Finn got through to them earlier, they lower their blasters and allow our heroes to escape.
On Crait, things will go similar to the actual movie, with the battle going south for the Resistance. The Resistance docks the Tantive IV inside the abandoned Rebel Base. Finn, Poe, Rose and Lando will arrive in Snokes shuttle and join the battle, but will eventually hide in the abandoned rebel base with the rest of the resistance. Rose will still stop Finn's attempted sacrifice because she can’t lose another friend the way she lost her sister, but there will be no forced romance between Finn and Rose.
This is when Luke Skywalker will show up. His interactions with Leia, C3PO and the rest of the Resistance will go exactly the same. He will then walk out of the hole that was blasted in the base. Rey and Chewie have arrived in the Falcon at this point and are taking on TIE fighters like they did in the actual movie. Kylo will tell everyone to fire on Luke. A key difference in this version is that Luke’s force projection will actually be able to interact with the world around it, which explains why it is taxing enough on Luke to be able to kill him, to be able to almost teleport himself across the galaxy while not being there.
When the AT-M6s open fire on Luke, he holds out his hand and all the blasts hit an invisible wall in front of him, similar to how Cere Junda deflected Vader’s lightsaber in Jedi:Fallen Order, but on a much larger scale. When the AT-M6s stop firing, Luke will brush his shoulder sarcastically like he did in the actual movie. He then reaches out with both hands and closes his eyes. Through the force, Luke pulls the AT-M6s to the ground. In their shuttle, both Kylo and General Pryde watch in shock as the walkers come crashing to the ground.
Kylo then lands his shuttle in front of Luke and steps out. When Kylo says “Are you here to redeem me, to save my soul?” Luke will reply “The only person who can do that is you, but I am here to help guide you down the right path. I won’t leave you Ben, not this time” Kylo snarls in rage before taking off his cloak and igniting Anakin’s corrupted red lightsaber. Luke sighs with regret and ignites his green lightsaber. The duel between Luke and Kylo will remain mostly the same, with the samurai style camerawork, the close ups of their faces and subtle changes in their stances. Much like in the movie, Luke will fight purely defensively, easily dodging all of Kylo’s strikes. Kylo eventually gets frustrated and angrily calls Luke a coward. Luke replies with “I failed you Ben, I’m sorry” Their dialogue from here goes on exactly the same as the movie. When Kylo goes to kill Luke, his lightsaber goes right through Luke as if he wasn’t even there. As Kylo realises what is going on, and prods Luke’s image with his lightsaber, Luke’s image starts to slowly fade away. “See ya around kid” he says before vanishing.
The camera cuts to Luke hovering in mid air while meditating in his temple, overlooking the sunset on Ach-To. He collapses from exhaustion. Before Luke dies, we hear a voice belonging to Obi-Wan Kenobi, telling Luke to let go and that he can finally rest now. Luke Skywalker fades away and becomes one with the force as the sun sets.
After Luke vanishes, Kylo screaming in rage will remain the same. Rey lifting the rocks with the force and the Resistance escaping from Crait goes exactly the same as the original movie. When Kylo storms the rebel base, we will see the Knights of Ren cut down a few Resistance troops to make them more of a credible threat. Kylo finding Han Solo’s dice, which fade away in his hand will remain the same.
The Falcon and the Tantive IV dock to each other in space. Rey telling Leia that she sensed that Luke died with peace and purpose remains the same. Everyone celebrates their survival, however they all then hear a raspy and cold voice echo through the air, the voice of Palpatine speaking to everyone through the force:
”At last the work of generations is complete, the great error is corrected. The day of reckoning is at hand, the day of revenge, the day of the Sith!”
Everyone is shocked and terrified, asking what just happened, and what they are meant to do. Rey, Leia, Finn and Poe will calm everyone down, telling them that they must fight on. Both ships go into hyperspace, and the credits roll.
(I’d love to hear people’s criticism and feedback in the comments)

‘Where can I play online poker in the USA?’
There has been an enormous influx of people asking where to play poker online over the last few months. There has also been a massive influx of people advertising poker app clubs on this subreddit (we remove these posts otherwise the top 20 posts on the sub would be spam for clubs). Before the quarantine, it was mainly just Americans asking where to play, but now that live poker has shutdown worldwide there are people all over the world asking where to play poker. Our policy so far has been to remove the ‘come play on my club’ spam and to direct everyone to the quarantine mega thread. Despite this I know users are being spammed with offers to play on ‘Super Big Action Gamble Bluff Special’ club (in part because I get these same PMs).
So generally the answer to ‘where can I play online poker in the USA’ has been ‘IDK maybe play on ignition or global poker or ACR, or try some pp poker club that a friend of a friend is an agent for.’
If someone asks ‘which app poker club should I play on’ the current policy is ‘we won’t answer that question’. Some users then give up, but I think the vast majority just ask elsewhere (or are messaged) and find a club to play on. Some of these people are playing on incredibly sketchy clubs where they have no clue who is running the club and they get scammed in various ways.
I know a bunch of people both online and IRL from the London poker scene who are either playing in these clubs, running clubs or acting as agents for these clubs. The main benefits are the ability to play from any country in the world, the ease of moving money around, and the soft player pools.
Reddit poker has two options at the moment regarding the club situation:
1) Ban promotion of all app clubs. If someone comes to the sub asking where to play we just ban anyone who comments with an answer. This is what we are doing at the moment. 2) We could start our own club. I am making this post to gently float the idea of starting a club for reddit poker users. This is absolutely NOT a diktat where I tell the sub that you should all play here, this is me offering an idea and seeing what the community thinks.
There are a few things that a lot of the clubs get wrong
1) They don’t protect the player funds. 2) They don’t care about running a fair game. 3) They ban winners simply for winning. 4) They take ages to withdraw money. 5) They extend credit to players, which inevitably causes problems when people don’t pay up. 6) They rake a ton. 7) They are run by people who have no clue how poker works and are just trying to make quick $. 8) They get involved in unions which causes inevitable problems. 9) The club manager is isolated from the players. You cannot contact them and have to deal with them through a network of agents and subagents.
Most of these things are easily remedied:
1) There has to be a trusted person running the club who safeguards the player funds. 2) This person should be experienced in both live and online poker. 3) The in app settings to prevent cheating and collusion should be used. Allegations of cheating or collusion should be investigated and dealt with appropriately. 4) All player types should be catered for. 5) Nobody should get credit. If you want to play in the game, you have to have the funds on deposit. 6) The rake should be reasonable. 7) There should be a way to directly get into contact with the person running the club. 8) Eliminate agents as far as possible. 9) The club should be standalone and not become involved in unions.
I think I would be able to provide this and I will go ahead if I have the backing of poker
Wait, didn’t we have an Poker mod set up a club before? How did that go?
Yes back in the day a fellow mod named Stixx set up a club and it did not end well.
I have never met Stixx, we aren't friends on FB and until the club he was involved in tanked I had messaged him maybe twice lifetime to clear up minor mod issues. I never played on his club or had any involvement in it whatsoever. When Stixx set up his club back in the day that was him running on his own. He did a few things that I think were awful mistakes. He essentially speculated with depositor funds on crypto and lied about it, which is a terrible terrible decision. I cannot really stress enough how stupid this was. Also when crypto dropped he just decided to delete his accounts, cease contact and bounce, which isn’t the GTO approach. He also was shy about telling people who he was, so you were dealing with a SN instead of a human.
Who are you and why should we trust you $?
You might ask, ‘Why should you run this club, what makes you special?’
Below is all my personal and poker info, so you would know you are are dealing with at the source.
Here is a link so you know who you are dealing with:
My name is Conor Nocher aka myimportantthoughts. I play on PS as ‘TheRedRascal’. I play on Sky as ‘EmmaWatson’. Here is my Hendon Mob page with my name and picture so you know who you are dealing with: https://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=700945
I am a professional poker player based in London. I am 26 years old. I have played thousands of hours of live poker in London, mainly at Empire where I am very well known. I have played live poker, online poker, app poker, private games, casino poker and homegames at everything from 0.01/0.02 up to 10/20. I have coached people playing microstakes online and ½ live. I have done business with various people including buying and selling action, buying packages, swapping currencies etc. and I have never had any issues with anyone.
I have blogged for Grosvenor, which is the biggest UK casino brand (it owns the Vic Casino in London). Before I got into poker I studied management at the London School of Economics. This reddit account is 7 years old and I have moderated /poker for years and made 0000s of comments and posts over the years.
I am posting all of this information not because I am trying to be famous but so that everyone knows who they are dealing with. If you think a random newly created account that messages you asking for $ is a better bet, by all means hop into their club.
Wouldn’t a reddit poker club be super tough?
Would a reddit poker club be insanely tough and full of sickos? I know everyone in this thread is basically a GTO bot who beasts 5KNL and is taking lobbies off Linus, but we get quite a few posts on this sub with some guy asking why his 22 lost to A3 on TT994. Further, the number of visitors /poker is getting has more than doubled over the quarantine period and I think it is likely that this mostly represents more casual players. So I think there will be value.
Conclusion In summary: For Americans, we could offer a club that gives them the freedom to sit at home in their underpants playing online poker, just as the founding fathers intended. For players in the rest of the world we could offer a club where the majority of the playerpool are Americans sitting at home in their underpants.
Let me know what you guys think about this. If you like this idea then I will get the ball rolling, if not I will just scrap it and the current policy on app clubs stands.

This is the second part of my sequel trilogy rewrite. I am trying to keep the main plot and themes mostly intact, while making the movies flow a little better and making the movie more accurate to the lore and previously established characters. This is a part two, so you haven’t read part one, here’s the link:
Episode VII: https://www.reddit.com/StarWarsFanFiction/comments/j8vl4c/my_rewrite_of_episodes_vii/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Episode VIII
This movie will take place a little under a year after TFA, unlike the original movie.
The camera will open to an X-Wing flying through space, piloted by Poe Dameron. Around him, there will be a battle between the First Order and several Resistance ships, instead of just one. In this version part of the New Republic Fleet has escaped the destruction of Hosnian Prime and has joined the Resistance. The battle is more evenly matched at first than a standard Rebels vs Empire thing. One of the Resistance cruisers will be destroyed by the sheer firepower of the First Order, shocking the resistance. Poe will lead the same bombing run he did in the movie, with Paige Tico dying. However, in this version, the bombs will be rocket propelled instead of acting as if there is gravity in space.
The Resistance fleet will all jump into hyperspace, escaping the battle. The camera cuts to General Pryde, where he will get a communication from Snoke. Snoke will say that he is disappointed, and Pryde will reassure him that the Resistance cannot run for long. He will not be thrown down like Hux was, and he will not be made into comedic relief.
Finn will wake in a bacta tank, having been in a coma for several months from the injuries he sustained from his duel with Kylo. The medical droids will release him from the tank. Poe will then rush into the medical bay, to see the medical droids fitting Finn with a prosthetic arm. Their conversation will be the same as the actual movie, with Finn eventually asking where Rey is.
The camera cuts to Rey on Ach-To, running with Leia’s lightsaber in her hand. She is doing an obstacle course prepared by Luke Skywalker, jumping over boulders and deflecting blaster fire from training remotes. She will not be doing too well, getting nicked by a couple shots, but she will eventually finish it, making it to Luke’s domed Jedi temple. Luke is waiting there for her, where he smirks and says that she was sloppy. Rey looks disappointed and sighs.
In this version, Luke didn’t try to kill Kylo Ren, but he feels that both he and the Jedi as a whole are flawed due to his inability to stop Ben from turning to the dark side. Even though most of Luke’s students were killed, three of Luke’s students survived in this version, and are on Ach-To with him. In this scene, it is made clear that even though Luke has agreed to train Rey, he has done so very begrudgingly. Rey will ask Luke, clearly not for the first time to come with her and help the Resistance. Like in the movie, Luke will refuse. With a sad look in his eyes, Luke will tell Rey not to believe all the stories about him that she has heard.
The camera cuts to Snokes throne room, where Kylo walks out of the elevator, with the Knights of Ren entering from behind him. Most of the conversation between Kylo and Snoke will go the same, with Snoke making fun of his mask and saying that Kylo has much of his father in him. Like in the movie, Kylo will say that he killed Han Solo, and Snoke will say that the act split Kylo to the bone. Snoke will reprimand him for “Believing that defeating a stormtrooper and a girl who had never held a lightsaber while letting Starkiller Base crumble makes him comparable to Vader” and for failing to stop Rey from finding Luke. Kylo will angrily stand up to attack, Snoke blasting Kylo with force lightning remains the same. The Praetorian guards will draw their weapons, and so will the Knights of Ren to protect Kylo, resulting in a standoff. I’m trying to have more of a rival general feel, than a master and apprentice feel. Even though Snoke is Kylo’s master, the Knights of Ren are loyal to Kylo, not Snoke. Snoke laughs and waves his hand, and the Praetorian guards will sheath their weapons. As Kylo gets to his feet, the Knights of Ren will do the same. Snoke will say to Kylo “You want to kill me. That is the way of the Sith, they killed their masters to gain power. But we are not Sith, and you are no Vader, just a child in mask”
Kylo destroying his mask in the elevator will remain the same. When the elevator doors open, Kylo and the Knights of Ren will enter the bridge. Kylo will say “Prepare our ships”
Cutting back to Ach To, Rey will be inside the library tree, reading through the ancient Jedi texts. Luke will walk in, and tell Rey that the Jedi failed. That the Jedi need to be moved on from, and stop trying to affect the galaxy, as every time they do, it just leads to more pain and destruction. Rey will protest, saying that the Jedi need to live on, as they inspire hope in the galaxy. Luke will then reply like he did in the actual movie, saying that the Jedis hubris was what allowed Darth Sidious to wipe them out and that it was a Jedi who was responsible for the creation of Darth Vader. Rey will reply like she did in the movie, saying “It was also a Jedi who redeemed him” Luke will be unable to respond to this, looking down and telling Rey that she’s had a hard day of training, and should go get some rest.
Rey and Luke will exit the ancient library. Luke goes to his domed temple and Rey will go down to the huts, where she will be greeted by Luke’s three surviving students. Rey has a disappointed look on her face, so they ask her what’s wrong. Rey says “Master Skywalker...what’s wrong with him? I’ve heard legends about him, I didn’t expect him to be like this” Lukes students will look saddened by this comment. One of them replies “He hasn’t been the same since that night. When Ben turned, we lost so many people...” He chokes up and trails off, and another one of Luke’s students puts her hand on his shoulder to comfort him, before she says to Rey “Master Skywalker blames himself for what happened to Ben” Rey turns and looks towards Luke’s temple, now beginning to understand why her comment about him redeeming Vader hurt him so much.
The camera cuts back to the remaining ships of the Resistance fleet. On the bridge of the Raddus, Finn and Poe will be standing with Leia. Admiral Akbar will sound the alarm and suddenly several Star Destroyers, including the Supremacy will come out of Hyperspace right behind the resistance fleet. As Kylo, the Knights of Ren and a few other TIE fighters fly towards the resistance fleet, General Pryde will order two Star Destroyers to flank the Raddus. The Raddus and the Star Destroyer open fire on each other, but due to the shielding on the Raddus, it takes only minimal damage while the Star Destroyer is destroyed. Poe and several Resistance X-wings are engaged in a skirmish with the TIE fighters.
Kylo and the Knights of Ren fly out to the Raddus and stop in front of it. Leia senses what’s going to happen and moves to the front of the bridge. Like in the movie, Kylo cannot bring himself to fire on his mother. Three of the Knights of Ren however, fire torpedoes at the bridge of the Raddus. Leia holds out her hand and closes her eyes. As Leia exhales, she uses the force to redirect the torpedoes, launching them towards one of the Star Destroyers, destroying it. Kylo’s eyes widen from his cockpit as he sees this, before General Pryde contacts him. He tells Kylo to fall back, Kylo and the Knights of Ren return to the Supremacy. The Supremacy opens fire on the last remaining New Republic ship, destroying it. Back on the bridge of the Raddus, Leia collapses, as she hasn’t used the force on that large a scale in a long time.
The camera then cuts to Luke watching Rey as she and one of Luke’s other students practice their lightsaber skills in a sparring match against each other with wooden staffs. Luke then drops to his knees, holding his chest in pain. Rey and the other student rush over to Luke, asking if he’s alright. He simply mutters “Leia...”
Back on the Raddus, Admiral Ackbar says that General Organa is stable but unconscious, so he will have to take control of the fleet until she wakes up. Poe walks up confused, and asks why there is no plan. Akbar pulls him aside and tells him that he suspects there is a mole passing information to the First Order, as that is the only way they could’ve tracked them through light speed.
The camera cuts to Rey and Chewie sitting outside the falcon at night, huddled around a campfire. Behind them, a hooded figure will sneak past them and enter the Falcon. Chewie will turn and roar, recognising Luke’s footsteps. Rey will simply sigh and say “He’s been going in there every night since we arrived” Inside the bridge of the Falcon, Luke will sit down on the cockpit chair and grab the dice belonging to Han Solo. Luke holds the dice close to his face as a tear rolls down his cheek. We never got to see Luke mourning Han in the original movie, so I really wanted to add a scene like this in. As he gets up and goes to get out, he is intercepted by R2, and we will get the same reunion scene between them, with Leia’s message from Episode IV, and Luke saying “That's a cheap move” before once again refusing to go help the Resistance.
Everything with Rose and Finn at this point of the movie remains the same, except Finn isn’t trying to run away, he is trying to find Rey and warn her about the First Order. After Rose tases him, he reveals that there is no mole, and that the First Order has light speed tracking. They tell Poe, and contact Maz Kanata, who tells them there is someone on Canto Bight that can help them. They inform admiral Akbar, and he then sends Finn, Poe and Rose to Canto Bight. Akbar tells them that if they don’t come back in time, he will have to resort to a contingency plan.
The camera cuts to Rey waking up in one of the huts. She sees Kylo Ren standing in front of her. This first force bond scene goes exactly the same as the actual movie. When Rey lies to Luke that her blaster just went off, he tells her to come with him. The scene of Luke teaching Rey to meditate and feel the force goes exactly the same as the movie. Luke is shocked when Rey goes straight to the dark. He tells her that there is a cave strong in the dark side on this island, and that Rey must go in there to confront her deepest fears and inner darkness. When Rey goes towards the cave, Luke tells her she will not need her weapons. When she asks why, he smirks and says she needs to trust him on this, referencing Luke’s own training in ESB. Rey drops her staff on the floor and leaves her belt with her blaster and lightsaber behind.
As Rey walks in, she immediately has a vision of herself as an old woman on Jakku, scavenging for parts. The vision then changes to a view of Kylo swinging his lightsaber towards Finn's neck. Rey cries out and falls backwards, out of the cave. Luke will help her up and tell her that she has been in there for hours, even though it only felt like a few seconds. In her second attempt, she goes to the mirror room, which goes down the same way it did in the actual movie. She will walk to the end and ask who her parents are, and the cave will show her an image of her parents. However, as neither she nor the audience recognise the son of Palpatine and his wife, both Rey and the audience will assume that they are nobodies. Rey will look at them and walk past them. As she moves on, she no longer feels afraid of what will happen to her, or her friends and she no longer cares about her lineage, as she knows that she is a Jedi. She calmly walks out of the cave and Luke puts a hand on her shoulder, seeming actually proud of Rey for the first time in the film.
Next, we cut to Canto Bight. It is controlled by the Hutts in this version, and we will see a Hutt lording over the casino. It makes perfect sense for the Hutts to make money by selling weapons to both sides of the war. There are no slave children or space horses, I want to trim down this scene to focus more on the scenes that actually matter.
On the Raddus, Leia will wake up in the medical bay after Luke reaches out to her through the force, just like she did in the actual movie. Luke will pause for a moment, deep in thought, before standing up and running towards the huts.
Instead of DJ, Finn, Rose and Poe meet Lando. Lando agrees to go with them, but then security walks up to him and says that he has an outstanding debt with the house. There is a bit of a chase scene, and they eventually get to their ship and get off the planet.
We cut back to Ach-To, where Kylo and Rey are speaking through a force bond in one of the huts. This one is more deep, where Kylo reveals a lot about his past, and his struggle with the dark side. As they talk, Rey realises that Kylo is not completely consumed by the dark side. Even though he has enough hate and pain to corrupt a Kyber crystal, there is still good in him. They will both touch hands, and then we will hear Luke’s voice from a distance. After having reached out to Leia, Luke has changed his mind. He says “Rey, I was wrong, I will come with you to help the Resist-“ As he enters the hut he cuts himself off upon seeing Rey and Kylo touching hands. He then cuts their force connection and blows apart the hut like he did in the actual movie.
Luke then storms away from Rey, as she follows him into the rain. Rey grabs Luke’s shoulder and turns him around. She says that there is still good in Ben Solo, and that with Luke’s help, she knows she can redeem him. Luke will say that Ben’s turn was all his fault, that he saw the darkness in Ben from a young age, and that he tried to help him but failed. Luke trusted Ben, and had faith that he would overcome his darkness, until one day Luke went off on a mission to another planet with a handful of his students. While Luke was away, something happened that made Ben snap. Luke came back to find his Jedi academy in flames and most of his students dead. Luke looks at Rey, his eyes filled with sorrow and regret, and he says that he cannot lose her the way he lost Ben. At this point, all the noise and commotion has woken up Luke’s three remaining students. They are all standing around, watching this conversation unfold. Rey takes Leia’s lightsaber from her belt and holds it out towards Luke, silently begging him to come with her. Luke just looks down in shame and says nothing. Rey angrily scoffs before clipping the lightsaber to her belt and going to the Falcon and leaving the planet.
Finn, Poe, Rose and Lando will board the supremacy, where they will be caught and arrested by stormtroopers, except that Lando will obviously not betray them like DJ did. Finn talks to the stormtroopers, as he knows them, and tries to convince them that what the First Order is doing is wrong. He will use his trauma and his experience with the Resistance to try to get through to the other stormtroopers, giving a moving and heartfelt speech. He manages to get through to them a little, but they still take him to Phasma and General Pryde to be executed, though they clearly aren’t happy about it.
After having woken up, Leia will then go to the bridge of the Raddus, where Admiral Akbar will tell her that Finn, Rose and Poe have failed to stop the light speed tracking, Leia sighs and says they must fall back onto their last resort contingency plan. The resistance troops all go down to the docking bay of the Raddus, where the Tantive IV is being held. Leia orders them all to enter her ship. The Tantive IV takes off and heads towards Crait, while the Raddus, now only piloted by Admiral Akbar, continues flying at a slow pace to distract the First Order.
Back on Ach-To, Luke goes to burn the tree with the sacred Jedi texts and the exact scene from the movie with the force ghost of Yoda happens. It is a beautiful scene, and I wouldn’t change a moment of it.
On board the Supremacy, the scene with Snoke, Rey and Kylo will go mostly the same. However, instead of saying that he bridged Rey and Kylo’s minds, Snoke will reveal that they are a dyad in the force.
Snokes death and Rey and Kylo’s fight against the Praetorian guards will remain almost exactly the same. The only differences are that Snoke will be killed by Leia’s lightsaber instead of Anakin’s, and that Kylo’s unstable crossguard lightsaber will be destroyed by the last Praetorian Guard. As the guard is strangling him, Kylo will draw Anakin’s lightsaber from his belt, which he corrupted and made the blade red in the last movie, and stab it through the guards face. It’s sad that I have to say this, but the editing and choreography in this fight will be better. Rey and Kylo’s conversation after the fight will be exactly the same. When Rey refuses to join him, he reaches for Anakin’s corrupted lightsaber, but Rey grabs it with the force, and they both battle over the saber with the force. Except it is not destroyed, as Admiral Akbar sacrifices himself in the same way Holdo did before it can be.
Much like in the actual movie, Akbar’s sacrifice will allow Finn, Poe, Rose and Lando to escape being executed and fight back. A shootout will occur and Finn will fight Phasma. As in this version, Finn fought Phasma in the last movie and lost, this is a rematch. Phasma will eventually disarm Finn, but as she goes for the killing blow, Finns blocks the swing by grabbing her wrist with his metal arm. As they struggle, one of the stormtroopers Finn spoke to earlier will shoot Phasma in the back, distracting her. Using the mechanical strength of the prosthetic, Finn throws Phasma back into a chasm that has opened up from the destruction of the ship. Phasma is hanging onto the edge for her life. Finn tries to save Phasma by holding out his hand for her to grab onto, but she snarls “Rebel scum!” And let’s go, letting herself fall to her death. Finn, Rose, Poe and Lando will then come face to face with the stormtroopers that first arrested them. However, as Finn got through to them earlier, they will lower their blasters and help our heroes to escape.
On Crait, things will go similar to the actual movie, with the battle going south for the Resistance. The Resistance docks the Tantive IV inside the abandoned Rebel Base. Finn, Poe, Rose, Lando and a handful of redeemed stormtroopers will arrive in Snokes shuttle and join the battle, but will eventually hide in the abandoned Rebel base with the rest of the resistance. Rose will still stop Finn's attempted sacrifice because she can’t lose another friend the way she lost her sister, but there will be no forced romance between Finn and Rose.
This is when Luke Skywalker will show up. His interactions with Leia, C-3PO and the rest of the Resistance will go exactly the same. He will then walk out of the hole that was blasted in the base. Rey and Chewie have arrived in the Falcon at this point and are taking on TIE fighters like they did in the actual movie. Kylo will tell everyone to fire on Luke. A key difference in this version is that Luke’s force projection will actually be able to interact with the world around it, which explains why it is taxing enough on Luke to be able to kill him, to be able to almost teleport himself across the galaxy while not being there.
When the AT-M6s open fire on Luke, he closes his eyes and reaches out with one hand. All of the blasts hit an invisible wall in front of Luke, similar to how Cere Junda deflected Vader’s lightsaber in Jedi: Fallen Order, but on a much larger scale. When the AT-M6s stop firing, Luke will brush his shoulder sarcastically like he did in the actual movie. In their shuttle, both Kylo and General Pryde watch in shock at this tremendous display of power.
Kylo then lands his shuttle in front of Luke and steps out. When Kylo says “Are you here to redeem me, to save my soul?” Luke will reply “The only person who can do that is you, but I am here to help guide you down the right path. I won’t leave you Ben, not this time” Kylo snarls in rage before taking off his cloak and igniting Anakin’s corrupted red lightsaber. Luke sighs with regret and ignites his green lightsaber. The duel between Luke and Kylo will remain mostly the same, with the samurai style camerawork, the close ups of their faces and subtle changes in their stances. Much like in the movie, Luke will fight purely defensively, easily dodging all of Kylo’s strikes. During a pause in the duel, Luke says “I failed you Ben, I’m sorry” Their dialogue from here goes on exactly the same as the movie. When Kylo goes to kill Luke, his lightsaber goes right through Luke as if he wasn’t even there. As Kylo realises what is going on, and prods Luke’s image with his lightsaber, Luke’s image starts to slowly fade away. “See ya around kid” he says before vanishing.
The camera cuts to Luke hovering in mid air while meditating in his temple, overlooking the sunset on Ach-To. He collapses from exhaustion. Before Luke dies, we hear a voice belonging to Obi-Wan Kenobi, telling Luke to let go and that he can finally rest now. Luke Skywalker fades away and becomes one with the force as the sun sets.
After Luke vanishes, Kylo screaming in rage will remain the same. Rey lifting the rocks with the force and the Resistance escaping from Crait goes exactly the same as the original movie. When Kylo storms the Rebel base, we will see the Knights of Ren cut down a few Resistance troops to show them as a credible threat. Kylo finding Han Solo’s dice, which fade away in his hand will remain the same.
The Falcon and the Tantive IV dock to each other in space. Rey telling Leia that she sensed that Luke died with peace and purpose remains the same. Everyone celebrates their survival, however they all then hear a raspy and cold voice echo through the air, the voice of Palpatine speaking to everyone through the force:
”At last the work of generations is complete, the great error is corrected. The day of reckoning is at hand, the day of revenge, the day of the Sith!”
Everyone is shocked and terrified, asking what just happened, and what they are meant to do. Rey, Leia, Finn and Poe will calm everyone down, telling them that they must fight on. Both ships go into hyperspace, and the credits roll.
(I would love to hear people’s criticism and feedback in the comments)
Here’s the link for my Episode IX: rewrite: https://www.reddit.com/StarWarsFanFiction/comments/j8w0xc/my_rewrite_of_episode_ix/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

As the above states, I just played my first online cash game. I got into poker about 1yr ago on a drunken night in Vegas. I’ve played around with apps and such to kill time and always thought it was fun and knew the basis of the game, but never played for real money. I sat down at a $2/$5 table with 3 “poker player” friends and a deep table of probably 8 people at least. I came to Vegas knowing I had about $1000 to blow gambling and was scoring luck on slots and a roulette, so I just popped into a cash-live game about 3-4am in some casino. I sat down at the table, and for my first time, had some decent beginners luck, as well as some “bluffing” because everyone at the table knew I was new I think because I couldn’t keep track of the chips and was definitely playing “fishy” (as now I know). But, I walked out of there +$457 and pissed a few people off apparently as I found out later when my friends were still at the table and I moved to blackjack.
Thus my poker obsession started. I wanted to learn everything about this game, I love being able to mind-fuck with people, I love adrenaline rushes, and for someone who comes from nothing but adrenaline filled jobs where I gamble with my life at times, this started another sort of addiction. The swings of a game are many, and I love the feeling of being on top, but the lows do crush and I’m learning from them.
I walked into another casino a few months later after doing some studying, learning, reading, obsessing about the game. Was doing fairly well, until I went all-in and walked out with nothing, where originally starting with $200. I played off luck on that last hand. So I started to keep learning the actual game, and not deviate too much from the math aspect, and not “I feel lucky” and have been doing fairly well again, routinely coming up positive in my bank roll. I play with +$200 every 2 weeks, and once I lose the money, I just walk out of my local casino, or I play for a couple hours and will walk out regardless if I break-even or am up or down. I have a positive bankroll overall of $4,035 and am loving it all.
So, with quarantine, obviously I can’t play games, hard to get friends to play online for more than $20, it’s fun, but I do miss playing quads slow, to shove on the river and trap for someone who’s been 3/4 betting me on pocket queens since the flop as I pulled trips with just my pocket 3’s on the flop and they pull nothing up on a flat board. The mental aspect of the game is so fun. Today I signed up after much research of a reputable online site, with ignition poker, and it has been fun to say the least, but definitely fell into my old ways, but it brings me back to the math strictly portion of the game. Being able to label a NIT, or a FISH, and mentally set his/her ranges, 3-bet, to realize a NIT is calling, so they must have AKs, or AA or TPTK. online I feel brings all the math back, and after some mistakes about being down $233 in the first 2hrs. I can honestly say, I’ve learned even more with the game now. Since I can’t talk, can’t fiddle, I must play to the statistics of the game, probability of it a lot more than I did, and I think with this quarantine I will have sharpened my skills even more, now bringing the mental aspect, but continuing to build more of the mathematical side of the game.
I just wrote this to say I love poker, glad I found the game at 29, and for anyone on the fence about online, give it a go, I read a lot of reviews and it seemed ignition is the most fair. Random players, so they can’t build off whatever reputation you built for yourself.
Happy playing all.

Hello,
I've signed up to Ignition Casino, been playing there for almost a week now, I really dig the app and the UI of the game, however, one thing bothers the living hell out of me...it might be something small, but its really messing with me
Player names....where are they? On every poker site I play, I keep notes on player names, how they play, what they do, I literally end up having an entire document on players after a while..But on the Ignition poker, everyone is anonymous...Player1, Player2,Player3...
Is there any way to see peoples names? Is it intentional like that? What do you guys feel about it?
Help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

My story. 41 yo male living with my 37 yo gf and mother of our 6 month old son. I am the breadwinner and work full time while she stays home with baby. My drug of choice has been blackjack tables at my 2 local casinos. It has not just caused me financial issues but has givin me too much anxiety and depression and even when i am winning big i cannot stop. As i was soaking in the hot tub this morning from my comp room night i had some deep soul searching and am no longer going to gamble. Its not who i am.
My ignition into the gambling world started in 2014 when a friend of mine invited me to laughlin nevada for a gambling trip at the tropicana hotel. I mainly just played the slots there. By share fluke i made $500 on one lucky spin. I got that first taste of that rush and excitment to chase more wins and tried roulette and bombed horribly bring me form 575 bank roll to 325. Fortunatly it was a short stay and drove home. From 2014-2017 i took about 3 more trips there and that was all the gambling i did.
Then on my birthday 2018 my new gf at the time took me to my local casino for my birthday and gave me 100$ gambling money which i took to the BJ table and burned thru it horribly, although I was not very preoccupided with gamblng that day because i was having drinks with her and we had other fesivities going on.
But a couple months later i started to read up on blackjack and memorized basic stratagy 100% by playing apps on my phone and then realized i could go back to that casino with much better odds. I went back and won big. close to $1,000. Then the chase for that high never went away, gambling has been a big roller coaster of Happy cheering winning moments, to very stressful and anxiety racking losing moments.
Since then ive been secretly taking trips there 1x 2x per week and secretly withdrawing money (and depositing winnings) into my bank acct which affect my family. Ive gambled away money that was needed to pay important bills. Even now the electric bill and car insurance are late. Ive used any lie or excuse to get there. Most commonly secret vacation hours used while she thought i was at work and BS OT on my day off. While i have had some really nice big wins ive lost lots of money too. I really cant take not just the guilt anymore but the psychological anxiety and stress gambling has put me through. One night as I was rocking my son to sleep after having lost $600 that day I actually cried thinking about stuff that our son needed such as diapers toys Etc, in the wave of guilt an emotion that my bank account was drained and I couldn't provide for him was the worst feeling in the world. I am too addicted. When i play BJ i am at the table all day. I cant handle it as just entertainment. Last night after coming up $800 only to dwindle it all away then being down By 150, I realize I have a big problem Its gone too far. .i am quitting for good and am so ashamed of myself. I have no one to talk to about this.
I want to quit and i don't want to ever visit a casino again. I am no longer a gambler. But my heart is hurting right now, $800 that I won and woulda helped my family and then to lose it all and become 150 down really hurt my family, theres hardly any money to buy groceries this week because of my stupidity. As I'm typing this story I am severely depressed, ashamed, but wanting to be a better person, someone who doesn't Gamble. But now my girlfriend has started to catch on to me and is disgusted and angry with me. She hates me. All I can do is try to be honest that's her, things are not well. I am so ashamed to have gotten addicted to Blackjack. I know i may get impulses to try it again after today, but I must delay and distract, I must remind myself how unhealthy of a habit it is and how it's destroying my life with my family, and wrecking my mental health. how it's making me so irresponsible with money.. I must take up new hobbies and interests. I need all the support I can get.

Part 8 (has access to parts 1-7 in it)
For some reason it would not post the last day or so.
It is early 2017. I have been carrying on my usual playing 10-20 hours a week to survive. Still lethargic is best term I suppose. I just dont get excited to play anymore. I consider getting a job to remind me how shitty working is so it gives me a kick in the teeth to play poker. Then it dawns on me, I hate playing poker now.
Poker has been tainted. Everything bad that happened to me I can associate with poker. The rise and fall was poker (the fall part). The oxycontin started as a performance enhancer to log more hours. Everything I consider to be wrong in my life I trace back to poker essentially, even if just a butterfly affect reason that had I done something else I wouldnt be here.
Hating poker is not the greatest realization considering its my only means to income outside of grunt labor. I seek a job in a couple places to no avail which was fine, I didnt wanna do that either.
Several months earlier I had started playing on SWC (bitcoin site) and became familiarized with bitcoin. Thought nothing of it, it was just the currency I was winning or losing. I dont read a thing about it, I learn nothing of it. I wasnt playing a ton or even big stakes, my intention for playing online was to just stay sharp in case it ever comes back full fledge. I have 5-6 btc on this site at the most (2-3k) and I flush it playing plo and big o not thinking much of it.
Back to 2017. Its March/April~ of 2017. I am playing cards one night dicking around probably had a couple drinks and was needling the usuals etc. A guy I do not know is in the game. Looks Russian. I bet he interfered in our election... fucking commies. I dont remember how I got to talking to him but crypto had been brought up. I talk about SWC. Tell him I had a few btc but not anymore. The only other thing I remember well from the conversation was bitching about going from an iphone4 (yes I had an iphone4 from 2010-17, the same one. It barely worked. Many oxycontins snorted off the back of that phone, texts dating back to when I got it in 2010) to the 6 or 7 or wtfever I have now, which is bigger and its harder to text and drive. He just responds by saying “first world problems are the worst”. Amen brother, those Africans and Venezuelans have no clue of our struggle.
I end up talking to him a bit and it turns out he mines crypto. Has a website that sells mining equipment. He has a hell of a back story too. I tell him I am interested in mining. I have about 20k to my name at this time and I realized recently that I dont like playing poker so why not? He eventually tells me not to do it. Regardless we become friends and he is ultimately the most important friend I have ever made. I have made more positive strides mentally since meeting him (mostly work ethic, realizations, reality checks and aspirations) As silly as it sounds, when he told me “first world problems are the worst” it stuck with me. He was saying it as a joke but jokes are funniest when true. He is genuinely the smartest guy I have ever associated with also. If you run into him at a poker table youd think he was a high functioning autist. Then you talk to him and go “ohhh hes just one of those Einstein type geniuses”. His hair is usually a mess, he cuts his own hair for or has his girlfriend do it. He wears cheap clothing usually since it all covers your ass or nipples I suppose. He virtually never instigates conversation with people he doesnt know. He is really deliberate with his actions. Talks really calmly and knows exactly what he is saying. He is just on the same level at all times it seems.
Meeting him has definitely changed my life for the better. We become friends pretty quickly. I know I went on a downer after meeting him because I couldnt afford to buy mining stuff and remember wanting to (again, he told me not to do it eventually anyways).
Which will lead me to another good friend to have. Between 2015 and this point in 2017 I have shot myself in the foot not logging hours a couple times. A friend has bailed me out with a loan or short term stake a few times. He is a well off restaurant owner who loves poker more than just about anything not related to him. Every time I see him we talk about hands he played and he just eats it up, has photographic memory and never butchers a hand history which is nice. He is as good hearted of a guy as I have ever met. (Sorry if this is getting long winded giving praise to people close to me, I intend on sharing with a few people and would like them to know what they mean to me as corny as that is because I suck at doing it in real life. Plus it is kinda gay to get mushy sounding in real life, but I digress. Theyve heard virtually none of the content of this whole thread either, a ton of this stuff I have never shared) In fact he is too kind hearted. He has helped people who wouldnt piss on him if he was on fire, and people have burned him on many occasions. My only complaint about this person is he never kicked my ass and told me to log more hours or fuck off. I needed it. If I just logged hours I wouldnt need the help. Its as simple as that. I have no leaks other than the unwillingness to play (leaks as in drugs/pit games/strippers/wtf ever else) and it has hindered me immensely over the these last couple years. (Ok I do have one embarrassing leak that has been fixed for a year and change, mobile games... I have spent like 30,000$ on mobile games between late 2016 and late 2018, Lords Mobile specifically clocked me for 20k. This definitely hindered my ability to build a roll and got me into a few jams. When youre not logging hours playing youre sitting around gaming and these games arent cheap obviously)
It is around May now and my friend who messes with crypto tells me that Bitcoin is going to 10,000$. Its like 800$ at the time iirc. I own a couple from Ignition cashouts. I kind of trust him. I cant argue him on it as I have literally no mental fortitude on the subject, but I essentially shrug it off. I start watching the price on poloniex and am watching prices jump like crazy. Light bulb in head! I can buy the dips sell the peaks and have more BTC! Lets load the 2.5btc I have onto poloniex! Sell peak but it keeps climbing... “FUCK! gotta get it back before it goes to 10k! Whew. Still have 2.45 BTC. FUCK! Its dropping! Get it out before it goes to zero!”
Yea I turned that 2.5 BTC into .4 BTC. No joke. I think I ended up throwing it onto SWC and losing it once it was almost gone. I honestly forget. I had nothing when it finally hit 20k other than some shit alts worth about 800$ at most (worth 35$ now but they still reside in my locked poloniex account, maybe I will give poloniex my ID if they ever become worth more than 1k)
So I am now annoyed I didnt turn every free dollar I had into BTC. I didnt trust the guy enough and to be fair I would have been using the money I play with. Had I met the guy a year earlier (know what I know of him now) I would probably have just locked it all up and sat around waiting.
I never really get my act together in 2017. I continuously log just enough hours to get by. I just dont care. I just want a way out of this. I catch myself saying “I hate playing poker” and sometime around the end of 17 or early 2018 I start trying to censor myself and quit saying that. Saying it will only make it fester deeper. I have to retrain myself to love poker. I remember the days of playing 18-24 hours straight because I love playing. I love watching for everything I can find to get an edge. I love a situation to present itself where I can step out of line. But now I just sit down and count the minutes before I can tell myself “way to go! You put in an 8 hour shift lets pack it in!” I leave good games often times. I celebrate when games break. This is where I am mentally while I play. I cant break out of it.
Late in 2017 a close friend of mine passes away. Will call him J. He was the guy who gave me a place to stay after the shutdown in Joplin. I was still doing oxy and he never once touched the stuff knowing what has happened to me. He doesnt judge me, he is somewhat of an enabler I suppose. He just drinks does shitty coke sometimes and has a script of adderol and xanax. Literally never once does he do any with me (ive warned him xanax and opiates will kill you if you mix, which is likely part of the reason he never did it) He was a marginal poker player (relative to modern game, he was just good enough to beat the rake live but he had too many pit leaks) and took great pride in being my friend (I was the slayer in the area for years leading up to this, anyone considered the best in their area can relate, you just have the respect of the local poker community). One of my earlier live poker memories involved him. I am like 18 or 19 playing a 1-2 game at a small casino and he was there with a friend. They were the good players in the game at the time. They were having a few drinks eating nice food and laughing having a good time. I remember thinking that I want this lifestyle. Care free gambling fast paced lifestyle. I had told him this story years later and he just ate it up, constantly tried to get me to rebound, but as I have stated many many times in the last few of these I have basically waved my white flag and accepted the result of my fall.
Anyhow after living with him we always talk every few months at minimal and have something to eat when we see each other at the casino. He was somewhat disingenuous sounding he was so nice and honestly it got to a point it started rubbing me the wrong way. I still talk to him of course but less frequently. In December of 2017 I get a phone call from my friend who owns the restaurant and he is distraught. He has been at the hospital and J has passed away. The back story on this is he had gotten a phone call from old friend who was getting out of prison in Arizona with no where to go (a female). J being as nice a guy as he is drives the 20+ hours to get her and gives her a place to stay. Well shes a junky and actually convinces J to do opiates/heroin. He overdoses and dies. I hadnt talked to him in a few months. I regret it. Had I known I would have beaten him senseless and got him to quit before things actually get bad.
Going to his funeral hit me up side the head too. The way I started feeling he was disingenuous just got destroyed. I cant fathom as many people showing up to my funeral with as nice of things to say. I wrote something to say but opt out after a few people say everything I had written (except better). I regret not saying them anyways. I think I still have what I wrote tucked away with the card and his money clip that made its way to me. I stumbled across his casino players card in a box one day and it resides in my wallet ever since. This was the first close friend that has passed away in my life, knock on wood. It woke me up a bit and caused a lot of self reflection because I felt I had let him down. I lived a few miles from him and didnt drop in to see him, didnt stay in contact as well as I should have. All because I felt he was disingenuously nice when he was actually just nice, which is actually because I am a cynical hermit who hates social life these days. That was the real reason I didnt stay closer. Him being too nice was just my excuse to blow him off essentially.
Only other thing I can add is that chick he helped out didnt even go to his funeral and on top of that had tried to take his truck and clean his house out. Junkies are the worst. I was a junky but I proudly say I never robbed anyone or cost anyone anything other than emotional distress, which isnt much of a brag obviously.
2018 starts and I have been decreasing my methadone every week for about 3-4 months now. I am on a low dose. Makes sleeping at night hard (get restless legs and sneezy). So I am having a few drinks any time I am at the casino playing (still just two days a week for the most part) to help get through those late night sessions when its worn off and I feel crummy. I get down to 15mg then 10mg and in March of 2018 I get asked if I wanna work for a week with my crypto friend. His friend is setting up a farm with 500 miners and needs help. I agree. The pay is in excess of the work (in my opinion) at 3k and I have no expenses, but I dont argue obviously. Before we leave town I have to pick up my week of methadone (at 4mg now) and so I do that. I never take any of them, I have the box still. Never opened it. They remain at my apartment as a reminder, the box carrying the 6 doses and a stack of receipts for every 75$ week that I kept in the box, several years worth, at least 9-10k worth of receipts, and that shits CHEAP compared to oxy. So I am finally off of opiates. I take kratom still but its essentially non addictive in comparison. Ill cede that I am reliant on kratom but if it disappeared tomorrow I wouldnt panic, I would be fine.
So I fly to Denver with my friend and meet his friends half brother who was instructed to rent a box truck and the three of us were to drive from Denver to Washington carrying like half a million dollars worth of hardware. Its early March, the roads arent exactly great. Half brother of his friend rents a truck with no middle seat though. Its absolutely miserable. Whoever sat middle was sitting like a fem boy legs closed and knees up high from the drive shaft hump. It was un fucking real how uncomfortable the middle was. So like I stated the roads were not great, we drove on ice for 5-6 hours straight (while my crypto friend did about 30 minutes of it before I decided I value my life and banned him from driving, he was literally doing over 70 on this ice sheet when I checked the gauge. I forget what he said, I will fail to make it sound as good but he said that he is protected and can not die, if we wreck he wont get hurt because of some universe stipulation that protects him. He said we would get hurt but he wouldnt. *** Ok here is what he said.
“quantum immortality. if i die in this universe, my conciousness will shift to others where i am still alive”
He just couldnt assure us ours would.
I end up driving like 18 of the 24 (one shot) hours it took as letting crypto friend drive was out. We make it set up a farm over a couple days then we go to Vegas. Not only do we go to Vegas but we fly a private jet. Not only do we take a private jet but his buddy has all four of us our own room at the Bellagio for 5-6 days. I remember having a 4500$ win at Bellagios 500$ cap 2-5 game... ran pretty salty. I only remember one hand worth bringing up, but I closed action and called 400$ pre with 67o with 3 others all in. Just flop 77X and send me the money. (Was drinking, gamble gamble). I cold called that also, some fish had opened massive and a 300$ stack just ripped a 400$ stack rejammed and I had called out of bb knowing fish will call off his 400~. This is actually a leak I have in poker. I will go over it because it has history.
Dating back to online my biggest leak was playing vs short stacks. Everyones biggest leak obv (6m setting). There were a few min buyers on Carbon and I got to the point I put them in pre every time they opened my bb from button, so long as they opened 75%+ from button or close to it. This has carried with me live, if I can gamble 3-4 ways (4 specifically) I will basically do it any time its 100bb~ or less with about 40% of hands if I can close action safely. I am a bit of a degenerate in this sense. I will flip for 1k if I have 10k to my name. It mostly came as a way to loosen up tables (the flipping blind preflop) at my local casino with players who give action. I am pretty snug in general but I cant refuse a flip when it presents itself and I cant refuse a fun gamble with short stacks.
I spend the month in Vegas during WSOP and run absurdly bad. Lose every big pot I play it seems. Switch to PLO the last half of the month and go a week straight without tripling my buy in up at any point. Just insane. Looking back I play rather poorly in PLO. I have been spoiled with my PLO games back home (which have been dead for about a year) and could get away with playing 50% of hands and no one ever bet big draws or anything not the nuts basically. I didnt adjust at all is what the issue was. Was just a frustrating month.
So I return and take a stake from a friend. I barely play still. Same ole same ole.
The last thing I will cover for this section is an incident late in 2018. One of the girls who is the floor at my local casino takes kratom also, we talk about it a fair amount. She has some 10mg percocets (mini oxycontins essentially) she gives me two of them. I havent had one in several years. I have been off methadone for 6-8 months at the time. I am eager to feel what I felt all those years ago, having no tolerance. So I take them home even though I know I shouldnt.
I get home and take both of them. What transpires is almost depressing. It frustrates me to no end that I realized that I have no desire for these. It affirms that all the money I flushed wasnt about the high, it was about the not withdrawing. I basically stated this in an earlier post but this is the event that I learned this from. I dont even enjoy it. I just sink knowing that I gave my life away for these. I have never recovered thanks to pain killers. Never once after 2011 have I ever looked in the mirror and said “finally, I have finally recovered what I fucked off”.
I am going to finish this thread off on the next post most likely. It will likely be long and take me a while to compose as it will cover my current year, and put a bow on it. The story basically climaxes a couple posts back, these surely have slowly lost their luster but I will finish them anyways. Nothing exciting about hearing about a guy who can beat games but wont sit in the chair to do it. Its a bit more upbeat in 2019 though andd I feel my future is bright and redemption nears though. I dont think I would have written these if not for a change of mentality recently, so look forward to a positive summary next post.

My take
I own several percentages of various gambling dApps and I have a long-term investment horizon. I see the entire online gambling industry — someday — operating on blockchain technology. Much to the dismay of many people, I don't think gambling dApps are going away... My rationale being that people are not going to stop gambling any time soon and ever since blockchain happened, we now have a way of creating the first actually trustworthy gambling platforms. We can now make online casinos that are demonstrably, provably (with cryptography and open-source software) not cheating. By some estimations, the global online gambling and betting market will surpass US$ 123.5 billion by 2026. Imagine that kind of money, even half of it, flowing into crypto. If you own a single percentage of a popular online gambling platform (and if you're smart enough to not actually gambling all of it way, instead, reinvesting it in the market.) it will be lucrative. In the future, you could potentially live off of the dividends.
Let's talk investment strategies and diversification.
I am not only diversifying in terms of having money in the bank, in various stocks, in cash, and in crypto... I am also looking at my investment strategy and the overall frame of mind from which I am investing. Let me elaborate on that. A lot of people will look at the stock market and start investing from a point of view of altruism and high optimism about the world and its future development. Many doing so have invested in various renewable energy companies. Many have lost incredible amounts of money doing so. I have actually owned stock in First Solar and SunPower, on and off. I believe it's all about timing and a lot of the people investing in solar companies in the nineties and noughties actually had the right idea, but simply mistimed it. Once there is an energy revolution, once we stop using coal and oil all-together, then the alternative energy companies will thrive and stocks will go up in value.
Investment in the EOS ecosystem of dApps with an altruistic strategy:

• Karma - making a social network themed around and influencing more charitable acts.
• Metal Packaging Token (MPT) - Incentivizing the packaging industry to use less plastic.
• Crypto Peso (PSO) - Fixing the horrible economic problems in Venezuela.

Literally, anything that wants to make a positive impact on the world.

There is a case to make for altruistic investment strategies, if the world is actually moving in that direction, at that time.
Hedge your altruism
Oppositely, you can hedge your bets on the altruism by investing in any (well-run) company that fit into the 7 Deadly Sins (7DS) framework.

1. Lust
2. Gluttony
3. Greed - guess where gambling dApps are located.
4. Sloth
5. Wrath
6. Envy
7. Pride

Whereas gambling dApps actually can have a noble cause or two, (giving to charity, giving transparency to an otherwise black-boxed industry) the gambling and association to addiction and people destroying their lives... that rubs off and makes them seem "dirty". In the same way that many people wouldn't want to wear a sweater if told Hitler used to own it.
Recession-proof?
Some refer to these as the "sinful industries" of which several actually thrive during a recession. People seem to go a little crazy once recession hits. Well, they definitely don't cut back on tobacco, alcohol, fast-food, etc. instead, they get more frivolous and approach life with a "fuck it" attitude. Spending less on big things and in turn spending more on smaller products that momentarily numb them from experiencing the harsh reality; giving into their vices. Interestingly, regular casinos do seem to suffer, even greatly so, under a recession... [link] but the online casinos don't seem to suffer at all. [link]
Summary
Maybe you believe we are heading into a recession, even a global panic. We have seen the craziness in Venezuela... We have a huge amount of political turmoil that some people believe could even ignite something akin to a civil war in America. One can easily make the case that perhaps the world is going to get worse before it gets better. Let's hope not... but let's at least make a profit if the world does go to shit. Hedge your altruism by investing in the guilty pleasures.
Change my mind. Who cares, EOS is going to the moon baby! I'm rich! Parsl 4 life! https://www.parsl.co/s/Parsl-Whitepaper-v2.pdf

I'm having issues transferring bitcoin from ignition casino account to my CashApp bitcoin wallet. When putting my wallet address (cashapp) in it says address already used on blockchain. Please help.

Part 8 (has link to all before it, part 7 link has each individual link)
I expect this one to be the least popular one. Just wanted to be a cynic to open it up. I have been busy and this ones prob a bit sloppy, I didnt really proof read it or clean it up. The next one will likely be my last and hopefully the best one.
It is early 2017. I have been carrying on my usual playing 10-20 hours a week to survive. Still lethargic is best term I suppose. I just dont get excited to play anymore. I consider getting a job to remind me how shitty working is so it gives me a kick in the teeth to play poker. Then it dawns on me, I hate playing poker now.
Poker has been tainted. Everything bad that happened to me I can associate with poker. The rise and fall was poker (the fall part). The oxycontin started as a performance enhancer to log more hours. Everything I consider to be wrong in my life I trace back to poker essentially, even if just a butterfly affect reason that had I done something else I wouldnt be here.
Hating poker is not the greatest realization considering its my only means to income outside of grunt labor. I seek a job in a couple places to no avail which was fine, I didnt wanna do that either.
Several months earlier I had started playing on SWC (bitcoin site) and became familiarized with bitcoin. Thought nothing of it, it was just the currency I was winning or losing. I dont read a thing about it, I learn nothing of it. I wasnt playing a ton or even big stakes, my intention for playing online was to just stay sharp in case it ever comes back full fledge. I have 5-6 btc on this site at the most (2-3k) and I flush it playing plo and big o not thinking much of it.
Back to 2017. Its March/April~ of 2017. I am playing cards one night dicking around probably had a couple drinks and was needling the usuals etc. A guy I do not know is in the game. Looks Russian. I bet he interfered in our election... fucking commies. I dont remember how I got to talking to him but crypto had been brought up. I talk about SWC. Tell him I had a few btc but not anymore. The only other thing I remember well from the conversation was bitching about going from an iphone4 (yes I had an iphone4 from 2010-17, the same one. It barely worked. Many oxycontins snorted off the back of that phone, texts dating back to when I got it in 2010) to the 6 or 7 or wtfever I have now, which is bigger and its harder to text and drive. He just responds by saying “first world problems are the worst”. Amen brother, those Africans and Venezuelans have no clue of our struggle.
I end up talking to him a bit and it turns out he mines crypto. Has a website that sells mining equipment. He has a hell of a back story too. I tell him I am interested in mining. I have about 20k to my name at this time and I realized recently that I dont like playing poker so why not? He eventually tells me not to do it. Regardless we become friends and he is ultimately the most important friend I have ever made. I have made more positive strides mentally since meeting him (mostly work ethic, realizations, reality checks and aspirations) As silly as it sounds, when he told me “first world problems are the worst” it stuck with me. He was saying it as a joke but jokes are funniest when true. He is genuinely the smartest guy I have ever associated with also. If you run into him at a poker table youd think he was a high functioning autist. Then you talk to him and go “ohhh hes just one of those Einstein type geniuses”. His hair is usually a mess, he cuts his own hair for or has his girlfriend do it. He wears cheap clothing usually since it all covers your ass or nipples I suppose. He virtually never instigates conversation with people he doesnt know. He is really deliberate with his actions. Talks really calmly and knows exactly what he is saying. He is just on the same level at all times it seems.
Meeting him has definitely changed my life for the better. We become friends pretty quickly. I know I went on a downer after meeting him because I couldnt afford to buy mining stuff and remember wanting to (again, he told me not to do it eventually anyways).
Which will lead me to another good friend to have. Between 2015 and this point in 2017 I have shot myself in the foot not logging hours a couple times. A friend has bailed me out with a loan or short term stake a few times. He is a well off restaurant owner who loves poker more than just about anything not related to him. Every time I see him we talk about hands he played and he just eats it up, has photographic memory and never butchers a hand history which is nice. He is as good hearted of a guy as I have ever met. (Sorry if this is getting long winded giving praise to people close to me, I intend on sharing with a few people and would like them to know what they mean to me as corny as that is because I suck at doing it in real life. Plus it is kinda gay to get mushy sounding in real life, but I digress. Theyve heard virtually none of the content of this whole thread either, a ton of this stuff I have never shared) In fact he is too kind hearted. He has helped people who wouldnt piss on him if he was on fire, and people have burned him on many occasions. My only complaint about this person is he never kicked my ass and told me to log more hours or fuck off. I needed it. If I just logged hours I wouldnt need the help. Its as simple as that. I have no leaks other than the unwillingness to play (leaks as in drugs/pit games/strippers/wtf ever else) and it has hindered me immensely over the these last couple years. (Ok I do have one embarrassing leak that has been fixed for a year and change, mobile games... I have spent like 30,000$ on mobile games between late 2016 and late 2018, Lords Mobile specifically clocked me for 20k. This definitely hindered my ability to build a roll and got me into a few jams. When youre not logging hours playing youre sitting around gaming and these games arent cheap obviously)
It is around May now and my friend who messes with crypto tells me that Bitcoin is going to 10,000$. Its like 800$ at the time iirc. I own a couple from Ignition cashouts. I kind of trust him. I cant argue him on it as I have literally no mental fortitude on the subject, but I essentially shrug it off. I start watching the price on poloniex and am watching prices jump like crazy. Light bulb in head! I can buy the dips sell the peaks and have more BTC! Lets load the 2.5btc I have onto poloniex! Sell peak but it keeps climbing... “FUCK! gotta get it back before it goes to 10k! Whew. Still have 2.45 BTC. FUCK! Its dropping! Get it out before it goes to zero!”
Yea I turned that 2.5 BTC into .4 BTC. No joke. I think I ended up throwing it onto SWC and losing it once it was almost gone. I honestly forget. I had nothing when it finally hit 20k other than some shit alts worth about 800$ at most (worth 35$ now but they still reside in my locked poloniex account, maybe I will give poloniex my ID if they ever become worth more than 1k)
So I am now annoyed I didnt turn every free dollar I had into BTC. I didnt trust the guy enough and to be fair I would have been using the money I play with. Had I met the guy a year earlier (know what I know of him now) I would probably have just locked it all up and sat around waiting.
I never really get my act together in 2017. I continuously log just enough hours to get by. I just dont care. I just want a way out of this. I catch myself saying “I hate playing poker” and sometime around the end of 17 or early 2018 I start trying to censor myself and quit saying that. Saying it will only make it fester deeper. I have to retrain myself to love poker. I remember the days of playing 18-24 hours straight because I love playing. I love watching for everything I can find to get an edge. I love a situation to present itself where I can step out of line. But now I just sit down and count the minutes before I can tell myself “way to go! You put in an 8 hour shift lets pack it in!” I leave good games often times. I celebrate when games break. This is where I am mentally while I play. I cant break out of it.
Late in 2017 a close friend of mine passes away. Will call him J. He was the guy who gave me a place to stay after the shutdown in Joplin. I was still doing oxy and he never once touched the stuff knowing what has happened to me. He doesnt judge me, he is somewhat of an enabler I suppose. He just drinks does shitty coke sometimes and has a script of adderol and xanax. Literally never once does he do any with me (ive warned him xanax and opiates will kill you if you mix, which is likely part of the reason he never did it) He was a marginal poker player (relative to modern game, he was just good enough to beat the rake live but he had too many pit leaks) and took great pride in being my friend (I was the slayer in the area for years leading up to this, anyone considered the best in their area can relate, you just have the respect of the local poker community). One of my earlier live poker memories involved him. I am like 18 or 19 playing a 1-2 game at a small casino and he was there with a friend. They were the good players in the game at the time. They were having a few drinks eating nice food and laughing having a good time. I remember thinking that I want this lifestyle. Care free gambling fast paced lifestyle. I had told him this story years later and he just ate it up, constantly tried to get me to rebound, but as I have stated many many times in the last few of these I have basically waved my white flag and accepted the result of my fall.
Anyhow after living with him we always talk every few months at minimal and have something to eat when we see each other at the casino. He was somewhat disingenuous sounding he was so nice and honestly it got to a point it started rubbing me the wrong way. I still talk to him of course but less frequently. In December of 2017 I get a phone call from my friend who owns the restaurant and he is distraught. He has been at the hospital and J has passed away. The back story on this is he had gotten a phone call from old friend who was getting out of prison in Arizona with no where to go (a female). J being as nice a guy as he is drives the 20+ hours to get her and gives her a place to stay. Well shes a junky and actually convinces J to do opiates/heroin. He overdoses and dies. I hadnt talked to him in a few months. I regret it. Had I known I would have beaten him senseless and got him to quit before things actually get bad.
Going to his funeral hit me up side the head too. The way I started feeling he was disingenuous just got destroyed. I cant fathom as many people showing up to my funeral with as nice of things to say. I wrote something to say but opt out after a few people say everything I had written (except better). I regret not saying them anyways. I think I still have what I wrote tucked away with the card and his money clip that made its way to me. I stumbled across his casino players card in a box one day and it resides in my wallet ever since. This was the first close friend that has passed away in my life, knock on wood. It woke me up a bit and caused a lot of self reflection because I felt I had let him down. I lived a few miles from him and didnt drop in to see him, didnt stay in contact as well as I should have. All because I felt he was disingenuously nice when he was actually just nice, which is actually because I am a cynical hermit who hates social life these days. That was the real reason I didnt stay closer. Him being too nice was just my excuse to blow him off essentially.
Only other thing I can add is that chick he helped out didnt even go to his funeral and on top of that had tried to take his truck and clean his house out. Junkies are the worst. I was a junky but I proudly say I never robbed anyone or cost anyone anything other than emotional distress.
2018 starts and I have been decreasing my methadone every week for about 3-4 months now. I am on a low dose. Makes sleeping at night hard (get restless legs and sneezy). So I am having a few drinks any time I am at the casino playing (still just two days a week for the most part) to help get through those late night sessions when its worn off and I feel crummy. I get down to 15mg then 10mg and in March of 2018 I get asked if I wanna work for a week with my crypto friend. His friend is setting up a farm with 500 miners and needs help. I agree. The pay is in excess of the work (in my opinion) at 3k and I have no expenses, but I dont argue obviously. Before we leave town I have to pick up my week of methadone (at 4mg now) and so I do that. I never take any of them, I have the box still. Never opened it. They remain at my apartment as a reminder, the box carrying the 6 doses and a stack of receipts for every 75$ week that I kept in the box, several years worth, at least 9-10k worth of receipts, and that shits CHEAP compared to oxy. So I am finally off of opiates. I take kratom still but its essentially non addictive in comparison. Ill cede that I am reliant on kratom but if it disappeared tomorrow I wouldnt panic, I would be fine.
So I fly to Denver with my friend and meet his friends half brother who was instructed to rent a box truck and the three of us were to drive from Denver to Washington carrying like half a million dollars worth of hardware. Its early March, the roads arent exactly great. Half brother of his friend rents a truck with no middle seat though. Its absolutely miserable. Whoever sat middle was sitting like a fem boy legs closed and knees up high from the drive shaft hump. It was un fucking real how uncomfortable the middle was. So like I stated the roads were not great, we drove on ice for 5-6 hours straight (while my crypto friend did about 30 minutes of it before I decided I value my life and banned him from driving, he was literally doing over 70 on this ice sheet when I checked the gauge. I forget what he said, I will fail to make it sound as good but he said that he is protected and can not die, if we wreck he wont get hurt because of some universe stipulation that protects him. He said we would get hurt but he wouldnt. (I will have him tell me this stuff again and leave it in comments, it was pretty funny and I kinda want to think he believes what he said as it was clearly not something he just came up with).
I end up driving like 18 of the 24 (one shot) hours it took as letting crypto friend drive was out. We make it set up a farm over a couple days then we go to Vegas. Not only do we go to Vegas but we fly a private jet. Not only do we take a private jet but his buddy has all four of us our own room at the Bellagio for 5-6 days. I remember having a 4500$ win at Bellagios 500$ cap 2-5 game... ran pretty salty. I only remember one hand worth bringing up, but I closed action and called 400$ pre with 67o with 3 others all in. Just flop 77X and send me the money. (Was drinking, gamble gamble). I cold called that also, some fish had opened massive and a 300$ stack just ripped a 400$ stack rejammed and I had called out of bb knowing fish will call off his 400~. This is actually a leak I have in poker. I will go over it because it has history.
Dating back to online my biggest leak was playing vs short stacks. Everyones biggest leak obv (6m setting). There were a few min buyers on Carbon and I got to the point I put them in pre every time they opened my bb from button, so long as they opened 75%+ from button or close to it. This has carried with me live, if I can gamble 3-4 ways (4 specifically) I will basically do it any time its 100bb~ or less with about 40% of hands if I can close action safely. I am a bit of a degenerate in this sense. I will flip for 1k if I have 10k to my name. It mostly came as a way to loosen up tables (the flipping blind preflop) at my local casino with players who give action. I am pretty snug in general but I cant refuse a flip when it presents itself and I cant refuse a fun gamble with short stacks.
I spend the month in Vegas during WSOP and run absurdly bad. Lose every big pot I play it seems. Switch to PLO the last half of the month and go a week straight without tripling my buy in up at any point. Just insane. Looking back I play rather poorly in PLO. I have been spoiled with my PLO games back home (which have been dead for about a year) and could get away with playing 50% of hands and no one ever bet big draws or anything not the nuts basically. I didnt adjust at all is what the issue was. Was just a frustrating month.
So I return and take a stake from a friend. I barely play still. Same ole same ole.
The last thing I will cover for this section is an incident late in 2018. One of the girls who is the floor at my local casino takes kratom also, we talk about it a fair amount. She has some 10mg percocets (mini oxycontins essentially) she gives me two of them. I havent had one in several years. I have been off methadone for 6-8 months at the time. I am eager to feel what I felt all those years ago, having no tolerance. So I take them home even though I know I shouldnt.
I get home and take both of them. What transpires is almost depressing. It frustrates me to no end that I realized that I have no desire for these. It affirms that all the money I flushed wasnt about the high, it was about the not withdrawing. I basically stated this in an earlier post but this is the event that I learned this from. I dont even enjoy it. I just sink knowing that I gave my life away for these. I have never recovered thanks to pain killers. Never once after 2011 have I ever looked in the mirror and said “finally, I have finally recovered what I fucked off”.
I am going to finish this thread off on the next post most likely. It will likely be long and take me a while to compose as it will cover my current year, and put a bow on it. The story basically climaxes a couple posts back, these surely have slowly lost their luster but I will finish them anyways. Nothing exciting about hearing about a guy who can beat games but wont sit in the chair to do it. Its a bit more upbeat in 2019 though and I feel my future is bright and redemption nears though. I dont think I would have written these if not for a change of mentality recently, so look forward to a positive summary next post.

I had booked the cheapest flight on the cheapest airline I could find and I was already paying the consequences. Delays and transfers ate into whatever meager budget I had left, but the final nail in the coffin was the mass overbooking of my last connecting flight. Since my ticket was the lowest of low priority seating from a deep discount booking app, I was bumped. I would have to wait hours, if not another full day, to get a flight.
You were getting married back east in Massachusetts, I was stuck at O’Hare International Airport, and since I had flown in from Las Vegas, I was low on funds and luck. I’d meant for it to be a surprise. I was invited, but nobody expected me to come except you. Even when I lied and told you I couldn’t make it, you saw right through me.
You were the one that always saw something good in me. You were the only family back home that still kept in touch. Professional gambler really wasn’t the type of thing a parent would want to see their son go into, even when it paid the bills. Or at least, it did when it used to.
I thought I could use my talents to give you a nice little wedding present, and show my kid sis my worth as a big brother. It made me forget my own system. If you want money, you’ll never win it. I was playing with my heart instead of my head and almost lost it all. I had enough sense to leave while I still had my phone, a cheap suit, and a pocket full of maxed out credit cards, but that was it. There was nothing left for a train ticket, let alone a rental car.
Late afternoon in that airport was still a zoo, and the people working at the airline were less than sympathetic. They quickly kicked me out of the departure lounge and into the wild. I pulled out my phone and wandered around until I could find a signal. I sat back on a plastic bench, picked up a quarter on the ground, and rolled it through my fingers.
I needed to think with my head. I was close to a casino, but I didn’t have the focus, buy-in, or clout for any real local action. I wasn’t above begging, but the people around me didn’t strike me as the charitable sort. I’d been in cold spots before, and bounced back from worse. I just needed to get the ball rolling again. I should’ve learned my lesson with technology, but instead I flipped through the gig app on my phone to see if I could find any local day jobs to help me on my way.
Nothing struck me as particularly useful for my current situation. Dog walking, delivering food, holding signs, artistic modeling, and other menial work wouldn’t get me the money I needed to get out of town in time. I was starting to lose hope when I saw a posting for a delivery.
They were looking for a discreet individual to drive a delivery truck from Chicago to some town a few hundred miles north of New York City. Payment was contingent on reaching the destination before sundown the next day. Proof of valid driver’s license required. No highways. No tolls. No questions.
I checked the directions on Google Maps. It would be about twenty hours and in spitting distance of the wedding. There were even a couple casinos I could hit up if I had the time. I knew I might have the money by then.
It was sketchy. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t have been the sketchiest thing I’d ever done, so I figured why not try my luck. I put in what I thought was an absurdly high bid, and kept scrolling. More food delivery and thinly veiled escort offers populated my feed. I kept swiping until my phone chimed. My bid was accepted and less than a minute later, the call came in.
“Hello,” I said.
“Is this Jason?” a light Eastern European voice asked.
“Yeah, that’s me.” I tried to sound more confident than I was. “This about the gig?”
“Gig?” He sounded confused.
“The job. The delivery?”
“Yes,” he said. There was a glimmer of recognition. “Yes, the cargo. You can drive a van, yes?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s good, bro.” He was getting more excited. “Do you need me to come and get you?”
I did the mental math. Cab ride or strange pick up? I could only afford one. “O’Hare International. I’ll meet you at the curb. What should I look for?”
“Black car. Sweet ride. You’ll know,” he said. “See you soon, Jason.”
The phone went silent.
I walked to the curb and watched the cars come and go. A black Mercedes pulled up to me. The car shook with the bass, and the passenger window slid down. A fragrant smoke poured out, and once it cleared, I saw a kid in a sweatshirt and track pants. He looked at his phone and he looked at me.
“Jason?” a familiar voice asked.
“Yeah.”
“Mani,” he said. He leaned over awkwardly and opened the door. “Get in. I’ll take you to the place.”
He took one last long drag from his cigarillo before he put it out and turned down the music. I closed the door behind me and buckled up. The car peeled out and he took me to who knows where.
Mani was a lot more talkative than I expected. He talked about everything except the job. He rambled about where to get what he thought was the best food, women, and drugs. He asked if I was cool to party, and why I was dressed like I was going to a funeral. He was excited and despite the accent, very American. It was disarming and dull. I was zoning out before he got more serious.
“So, my dad is like, ‘No, Mani, you can’t do it. We can find someone else to do it.’” He alternated between his own voice and a mocking sing-song. “And I was like, ‘No, Dad, I can do it,’ and he was like, ‘No, Mani, you have no head for business.’ And I was like, ‘I’m gonna outsource this shit. Technology, bro!’” He hit the steering wheel. “You ever do this type of shit before, bro?”
“Drive a van? Sure, why not.”
“Seriously, bro,” he said. “Don’t fuck me on this. Can you do this?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I can do the job.”
“Shit, bro. I wouldn’t. I mean, I totally could, but twenty fucking hours? Respect.”
“What am I hauling—”
He cut me off with a imitated buzzer noise. “No questions,” he chuckled to himself. “You are hauling whatever the fuck we need you to haul.”
After twenty or so minutes of one-sided conversation, we pulled into a small industrial park, drove behind a chain link fence, and passed an empty security booth. White vans and light trucks lined the back of a long white building. A group of men were chatting and smoking cigars by one of the few open bay doors. One man motioned to the car and an older man wearing a brown windbreaker and jeans in the center of the group turned to look.
The car rolled to a stop and Mani turned off the engine. I unbuckled my seatbelt and reached for the door.
“Stay in the car, bro,” Mani said. “I got this.”
I leaned back as Mani got out and walked up confidently to the older man. I could only hear murmurs through the glass, but thankfully Mani talked a lot with his arms and hands. The older man nodded and thought about whatever he heard for a moment. Mani’s energy went down and it looked like he was begging. The man tossed his cigar onto the ground, and backhanded Mani hard. He fell to the ground and his leg slipped when he tried to get back up.
The older man waved two fingers towards me and two men from the group followed him to my side of the car. He lifted up his windbreaker and pulled a gun from his belt. My eyes went wide and my body froze.
The door opened.
The older man was strong. He grabbed me by the collar with his free hand and ripped me out of my seat. I fell onto my back and he kicked me in the stomach.
“Pick him up,” he shouted. His voice was deep and his accent was thick.
The two men that followed him each picked an arm and hoisted me up to eye level with their boss.
“Who the fuck are you?” the man said as he waved the gun around me.
“Jason,” I said. I looked him in the eyes with cold focus, but in my mind behind that steel gaze, I was quivering and on the verge of pissing my pants. I was desperately trying not to show my hand. I had to bluff. I needed to bluff.
He pressed the gun into my forehead. “And who the fuck is Jason?”
I gritted my teeth. I felt a squirt go, and thanked God for dark pants. “Just a guy looking for some extra cash,” I said calmly.
The man removed the gun from my forehead and looked at me with curiosity. He hooked me in the ribs and I coughed. The pain radiated outward and the shock momentarily shook me out of my fear.
“Do you want to die, Jason?” He hit the same spot again and it knocked the wind out of me. My side burned.
“No,” I sputtered before catching my breath. “Not if I can help it.”
He came closer and looked me in the eyes. I tried not to blink. My life depended on it. He turned and lowered the gun. I quickly blinked to wet my dried corneas, and resumed my poker face.
“Maybe my pussy of a son was on to something. We do need a delivery, and I cannot use my own men for this.” He laid the gun to the side of his head and he tapped his fingers.
I stayed silent. The men holding me said nothing, and Mani and the remaining workers looked on in interest.
“Yes, this will work,” he finally said, still waving the gun. “Do you know who I am?”
“No,” I said.
“Good,” he said. He holstered his gun back behind his belt, waved two fingers to the ground, and the men dropped me. “What did my pussy of a son tell you?”
“Nothing other than the job and the rough location.”
He started walking and I scrambled to my feet to follow. He pulled another cigar from his coat with one hand, bit the top off with two teeth, spat, and lit the end of it with a lighter in his other hand.
“Tell me,” he said again.
“I need to drive a van somewhere in New York. No highways. No tolls. No questions.”
He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. The note had a more specific hand-written address. Smoke rolled out of his mouth. “This is all you will know. Now, get into the fucking van, Jason.”
I walked faster towards the building and some of the underlings gave me a helpful nod to the vehicle I was supposed to drive. It was bigger than what I thought was a van, like something you would rent to move out of a house. It stunk of diesel, but I didn’t dare ask if something was lost in translation. The men stood back and I waited by the driver’s side door.
He walked slowly back, savoring his cigar. He made a ‘come here’ motion with his hand, and someone handed him a set of keys.
“If you fuck me, I will fuck you,” he said matter-of-factly. “You understand this, yes?”
I nodded. Mani was standing in the background looking at his shoes.
“Good.” He handed me the keys. “Drive safe, Jason. We’ll know if you don’t get there.”
I didn’t know what else to say, so I got in, looked ahead, turned on the ignition, and drove out of the industrial park and into the night.
Something chimed. “Continue straight to stay on US-30 East,” a soft female voice said. I looked around and the screen on my phone glowed. It was background noise, and I was on autopilot. “Continue straight to stay on US-30 East,” the voice said again.
I saw the road signs and I was already crossing into Indiana. I looked down and my knuckles were white as they gripped the steering wheel. I knew this might’ve been careless, but I didn’t expect it to be this reckless. I loosened my grip and tried to calm down. I kept telling myself that this was worth it. This was important to me. You are important to me.
I glanced around the cabin. It was clean and empty without a trace of personality. There was no cash, no map, and no trash. I looked back to my phone and the map app said to keep driving. There was a lot of stopping and starting at first, past chain restaurants and the eventual suburbs that followed it, but once I hit farmland, it was a much smoother drive.
It was after ten or maybe after eleven. The van’s radio and my phone couldn’t agree. I was normally a night owl, but I was so tired. Between the flight, the threat on my life, and the focus on getting as far from Chicago as fast as I could, I was exhausted.
“You should pull over and rest your eyes,” a female voice whispered.
It startled me, and I snapped back to attention. The screen lit the cabin. I looked at my phone and I waited for it to repeat.
“Turn left onto Indiana-205 North,” the voice said. It must have been my imagination.
I looked back at the road and almost missed my turn. I saw a car behind me riding my bumper as I overcorrected the wheel. A car behind them sped past both of us and down the road. I needed to get it together if I was going to make it through the night. I powered on the AC and directed it towards my face. It woke me up and I kept driving.
The voice on the app told me which turns to make and how much longer I had. It was well into the wee hours of the morning and the temperature finally dropped enough that I had to turn on the defroster.
I wasn’t sure if I was making good time. It was hard to tell. Taking the side roads was much slower and more prone to stoppage even at the hour I was driving. The schedule was getting tight. I didn’t take into account how long the drop off would take or how long it would take to cross over from New York to Western Mass. I thought that even if I missed the service, I could still probably make it to the reception.
“Turn right onto Ohio-199 South.”
Navigating that van was like driving a boat. I turned the wheel slowly but the voice still repeated, “Turn right onto Ohio-199 South.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said in frustration. The cabin was warming up and it felt like a soft blanket.
“You’ll never make it. You should just pull over.” I looked at my phone and the screen was black. The voice was the same, but less mechanical and much softer. I looked around the cabin. “You should just stop, Jason.”
“Hello?” I said. The outside world looked so much darker. I leaned to look for a speaker other than the radio.
“Pull over, Jason.” The voice was calm and seductive. “It’s what’s best.”
My hands were off center and I was rapidly drifting to the shoulder. The gravel kicked up and ricocheted like buckshot in the tire well. I jerked the steering wheel and moved the van back on the road. The car behind me braked hard and almost hit me.
I scolded myself. I could not afford to fall asleep at the wheel. My heart was racing. I rolled down the windows and it was loud and cold. It kept me focused enough to make it to the next gas station.
The lights were bright and the parking lot was mostly empty. I rifled through my pockets and found a little more than a dollar in loose change. It might’ve been enough to buy a bad energy drink or at least worse coffee. I got out of the van, double-checked to make sure everything was locked, and went inside. I bought the remnants of yesterday’s coffee and dumped in a handful of sugar packets. I slugged back the lukewarm beverage, threw out the cup, and walked past a guy going inside on my way back to the van.
I heard a sound coming from the windowless storage compartment, faint and without rhythm. I started toward the back, but turned around before I could even look at the rear door. A black Mercedes with Illinois plates was parked several yards away from me. A man in track pants and a sweatshirt was filling up the car. Another man in jeans came out of the store with some drinks and a bag of jerky. I got into the van and started it up. It jerked to life and I sped down the road. I looked into my side mirror and after a few minutes I could see the Mercedes following me.
They kept their distance, but now I knew they were there. I didn’t understand why they were willing to follow me, but unwilling to drive their own delivery. Maybe it was for plausible deniability, get some schmuck to take the fall if their van got pulled over, or maybe what I was carrying was more dangerous than I thought.
“Turn left onto US-20 East.”
I wanted to throw my phone across the cabin, but if I did, what would the men following me do to me if I went off course?
“Turn left onto US-20 East.” The screen went black as I turned. “They’ll kill you anyway. You’ll never make it.”
I was more awake now. I wasn’t hallucinating. I wasn’t dreaming. I wasn’t trying to convince myself everything was okay anymore. I felt shivers crawl up the back of my neck and the hair on my head scrunched together.
“You should just pull over, Jason.”
“Stop it,” I said out loud. “Whatever you are, stop it!”
The cabin went silent for several minutes. I took a long blink and when I opened my eyes, I could see someone sitting next to me out of the corner of my eye. No one was really there, I knew that in my bones, but God help me, it felt like something was there.
I turned to look over at a women in a white dress. The face was scrambling together in peach-colored blurs until it looked like a replica of you. She looked just like you. Lace grew on the dress and a veil spread from her blonde hair. I hadn’t seen you yet, but it was exactly as I imagined.
“Hey Jay, I can’t wait to see you.” She smiled and looked at her engagement ring. “I knew my big bro wouldn’t let me down.”
“What the fuck is this?” I said.
“Thanks for taking me to my big day. The church is right up here.” She pointed out the window. It was still night but somehow we were driving towards the sunlit Catholic church from our hometown. A shimmering group of people were gathered around. If I thought about who would be there, their face suddenly appeared in the crowd. My hands started drifting again, but I held firm and stayed on the road.
“You’re not my Jean.” I focused hard on the last word.
“It’s me, Jay. Jeanie. Who else would it be?”
“Alex,” I said. “My sister’s name is Alex.”
The patch of sun washed away into the night, and not-you frowned. Her image flickered for a moment before flashing back into existence. I needed to make it to your wedding. That was the only thing that mattered to me. Her image flashed again and came back even more confused.
“You are a surprisingly strong willed young man,” she said. “Is this all you really want?”
“Yeah,” I said back. “She’s the only thing left that matters to me.”
“I understand,” she sighed. “I had a family once too, so I am sorry for what has to happen next.”
I turned to look and she was gone. I looked back over the steering wheel and someone was standing in the middle of the road. I slammed on the brakes before I could even think about it. The body disappeared like mist as it hit the engine compartment and rolled off the cabin into the air. The van stopped and less than a second later, I felt everything lurch forward again as a car slammed into me.
I heard the metal doors burst open and something landed on their car. I heard the shattering of glass and the sounds of screams and gunfire. I looked out at my side mirror. A petite woman with dark curly hair, metal cuffs, and a hospital gown was covered in blood. Her eyes were jet black and her panting mouth was lined with canines. Our eyes met in the reflection, and she smiled a toothy grin before running off into the woods.
I put my foot down to the mat and gunned it. The smashed Mercedes behind me disappeared from view, and I kept driving until I hit the next gas station. Most of what wasn’t bolted down fell onto the road as I fled, so the storage compartment was mostly empty. The gas station attendant was kind enough to give me an old bungee cord to tie together the doors. I didn’t know what else to do, so I just kept driving. Once I hit Pennsylvania, I snapped my phone in half and just followed the signs until I got to more familiar territory.
I ditched the van on the outskirts of town and since people’s hearts really open up when you say you’re trying to make it your sister’s wedding, I was able to hitchhike the rest of the way and slip into the service before it ended.
It was all worth it, though, to see you up there. And when you saw me and your face lit up, my heart melted.
You hugged me long and hard and we both held up the receiving line. You told me you were worried when you didn’t hear anything and I just had to tell you how I made it. I wanted to tell you then, but numerous shoulder jabs from disapproving aunts and uncles pushed me out the door.
So here I am, scrambling to get this written down after the reception in the hotel’s business center. It’s the only gift I have for you right now, and I don’t know if or when you’ll read this, or if you’d ever believe it, but I do hope you know this:
Even if you don’t see me for a while, I’ll come running for you anytime. I’d do anything for you, kid. Enjoy your special day.
Love, your big brother, Jason.
MxHoehn

Part 8 (has link to all before it, part 7 link has each individual link)
I expect this one to be the least popular one. Just wanted to be a cynic to open it up. I have been busy and this ones prob a bit sloppy, I didnt really proof read it or clean it up. The next one will likely be my last and hopefully the best one.
It is early 2017. I have been carrying on my usual playing 10-20 hours a week to survive. Still lethargic is best term I suppose. I just dont get excited to play anymore. I consider getting a job to remind me how shitty working is so it gives me a kick in the teeth to play poker. Then it dawns on me, I hate playing poker now.
Poker has been tainted. Everything bad that happened to me I can associate with poker. The rise and fall was poker (the fall part). The oxycontin started as a performance enhancer to log more hours. Everything I consider to be wrong in my life I trace back to poker essentially, even if just a butterfly affect reason that had I done something else I wouldnt be here.
Hating poker is not the greatest realization considering its my only means to income outside of grunt labor. I seek a job in a couple places to no avail which was fine, I didnt wanna do that either.
Several months earlier I had started playing on SWC (bitcoin site) and became familiarized with bitcoin. Thought nothing of it, it was just the currency I was winning or losing. I dont read a thing about it, I learn nothing of it. I wasnt playing a ton or even big stakes, my intention for playing online was to just stay sharp in case it ever comes back full fledge. I have 5-6 btc on this site at the most (2-3k) and I flush it playing plo and big o not thinking much of it.
Back to 2017. Its March/April~ of 2017. I am playing cards one night dicking around probably had a couple drinks and was needling the usuals etc. A guy I do not know is in the game. Looks Russian. I bet he interfered in our election... fucking commies. I dont remember how I got to talking to him but crypto had been brought up. I talk about SWC. Tell him I had a few btc but not anymore. The only other thing I remember well from the conversation was bitching about going from an iphone4 (yes I had an iphone4 from 2010-17, the same one. It barely worked. Many oxycontins snorted off the back of that phone, texts dating back to when I got it in 2010) to the 6 or 7 or wtfever I have now, which is bigger and its harder to text and drive. He just responds by saying “first world problems are the worst”. Amen brother, those Africans and Venezuelans have no clue of our struggle.
I end up talking to him a bit and it turns out he mines crypto. Has a website that sells mining equipment. He has a hell of a back story too. I tell him I am interested in mining. I have about 20k to my name at this time and I realized recently that I dont like playing poker so why not? He eventually tells me not to do it. Regardless we become friends and he is ultimately the most important friend I have ever made. I have made more positive strides mentally since meeting him (mostly work ethic, realizations, reality checks and aspirations) As silly as it sounds, when he told me “first world problems are the worst” it stuck with me. He was saying it as a joke but jokes are funniest when true. He is genuinely the smartest guy I have ever associated with also. If you run into him at a poker table youd think he was a high functioning autist. Then you talk to him and go “ohhh hes just one of those Einstein type geniuses”. His hair is usually a mess, he cuts his own hair for or has his girlfriend do it. He wears cheap clothing usually since it all covers your ass or nipples I suppose. He virtually never instigates conversation with people he doesnt know. He is really deliberate with his actions. Talks really calmly and knows exactly what he is saying. He is just on the same level at all times it seems.
Meeting him has definitely changed my life for the better. We become friends pretty quickly. I know I went on a downer after meeting him because I couldnt afford to buy mining stuff and remember wanting to (again, he told me not to do it eventually anyways).
Which will lead me to another good friend to have. Between 2015 and this point in 2017 I have shot myself in the foot not logging hours a couple times. A friend has bailed me out with a loan or short term stake a few times. He is a well off restaurant owner who loves poker more than just about anything not related to him. Every time I see him we talk about hands he played and he just eats it up, has photographic memory and never butchers a hand history which is nice. He is as good hearted of a guy as I have ever met. (Sorry if this is getting long winded giving praise to people close to me, I intend on sharing with a few people and would like them to know what they mean to me as corny as that is because I suck at doing it in real life. Plus it is kinda gay to get mushy sounding in real life, but I digress. Theyve heard virtually none of the content of this whole thread either, a ton of this stuff I have never shared) In fact he is too kind hearted. He has helped people who wouldnt piss on him if he was on fire, and people have burned him on many occasions. My only complaint about this person is he never kicked my ass and told me to log more hours or fuck off. I needed it. If I just logged hours I wouldnt need the help. Its as simple as that. I have no leaks other than the unwillingness to play (leaks as in drugs/pit games/strippers/wtf ever else) and it has hindered me immensely over the these last couple years. (Ok I do have one embarrassing leak that has been fixed for a year and change, mobile games... I have spent like 30,000$ on mobile games between late 2016 and late 2018, Lords Mobile specifically clocked me for 20k. This definitely hindered my ability to build a roll and got me into a few jams. When youre not logging hours playing youre sitting around gaming and these games arent cheap obviously)
It is around May now and my friend who messes with crypto tells me that Bitcoin is going to 10,000$. Its like 800$ at the time iirc. I own a couple from Ignition cashouts. I kind of trust him. I cant argue him on it as I have literally no mental fortitude on the subject, but I essentially shrug it off. I start watching the price on poloniex and am watching prices jump like crazy. Light bulb in head! I can buy the dips sell the peaks and have more BTC! Lets load the 2.5btc I have onto poloniex! Sell peak but it keeps climbing... “FUCK! gotta get it back before it goes to 10k! Whew. Still have 2.45 BTC. FUCK! Its dropping! Get it out before it goes to zero!”
Yea I turned that 2.5 BTC into .4 BTC. No joke. I think I ended up throwing it onto SWC and losing it once it was almost gone. I honestly forget. I had nothing when it finally hit 20k other than some shit alts worth about 800$ at most (worth 35$ now but they still reside in my locked poloniex account, maybe I will give poloniex my ID if they ever become worth more than 1k)
So I am now annoyed I didnt turn every free dollar I had into BTC. I didnt trust the guy enough and to be fair I would have been using the money I play with. Had I met the guy a year earlier (know what I know of him now) I would probably have just locked it all up and sat around waiting.
I never really get my act together in 2017. I continuously log just enough hours to get by. I just dont care. I just want a way out of this. I catch myself saying “I hate playing poker” and sometime around the end of 17 or early 2018 I start trying to censor myself and quit saying that. Saying it will only make it fester deeper. I have to retrain myself to love poker. I remember the days of playing 18-24 hours straight because I love playing. I love watching for everything I can find to get an edge. I love a situation to present itself where I can step out of line. But now I just sit down and count the minutes before I can tell myself “way to go! You put in an 8 hour shift lets pack it in!” I leave good games often times. I celebrate when games break. This is where I am mentally while I play. I cant break out of it.
Late in 2017 a close friend of mine passes away. Will call him J. He was the guy who gave me a place to stay after the shutdown in Joplin. I was still doing oxy and he never once touched the stuff knowing what has happened to me. He doesnt judge me, he is somewhat of an enabler I suppose. He just drinks does shitty coke sometimes and has a script of adderol and xanax. Literally never once does he do any with me (ive warned him xanax and opiates will kill you if you mix, which is likely part of the reason he never did it) He was a marginal poker player (relative to modern game, he was just good enough to beat the rake live but he had too many pit leaks) and took great pride in being my friend (I was the slayer in the area for years leading up to this, anyone considered the best in their area can relate, you just have the respect of the local poker community). One of my earlier live poker memories involved him. I am like 18 or 19 playing a 1-2 game at a small casino and he was there with a friend. They were the good players in the game at the time. They were having a few drinks eating nice food and laughing having a good time. I remember thinking that I want this lifestyle. Care free gambling fast paced lifestyle. I had told him this story years later and he just ate it up, constantly tried to get me to rebound, but as I have stated many many times in the last few of these I have basically waved my white flag and accepted the result of my fall.
Anyhow after living with him we always talk every few months at minimal and have something to eat when we see each other at the casino. He was somewhat disingenuous sounding he was so nice and honestly it got to a point it started rubbing me the wrong way. I still talk to him of course but less frequently. In December of 2017 I get a phone call from my friend who owns the restaurant and he is distraught. He has been at the hospital and J has passed away. The back story on this is he had gotten a phone call from old friend who was getting out of prison in Arizona with no where to go (a female). J being as nice a guy as he is drives the 20+ hours to get her and gives her a place to stay. Well shes a junky and actually convinces J to do opiates/heroin. He overdoses and dies. I hadnt talked to him in a few months. I regret it. Had I known I would have beaten him senseless and got him to quit before things actually get bad.
Going to his funeral hit me up side the head too. The way I started feeling he was disingenuous just got destroyed. I cant fathom as many people showing up to my funeral with as nice of things to say. I wrote something to say but opt out after a few people say everything I had written (except better). I regret not saying them anyways. I think I still have what I wrote tucked away with the card and his money clip that made its way to me. I stumbled across his casino players card in a box one day and it resides in my wallet ever since. This was the first close friend that has passed away in my life, knock on wood. It woke me up a bit and caused a lot of self reflection because I felt I had let him down. I lived a few miles from him and didnt drop in to see him, didnt stay in contact as well as I should have. All because I felt he was disingenuously nice when he was actually just nice, which is actually because I am a cynical hermit who hates social life these days. That was the real reason I didnt stay closer. Him being too nice was just my excuse to blow him off essentially.
Only other thing I can add is that chick he helped out didnt even go to his funeral and on top of that had tried to take his truck and clean his house out. Junkies are the worst. I was a junky but I proudly say I never robbed anyone or cost anyone anything other than emotional distress.
2018 starts and I have been decreasing my methadone every week for about 3-4 months now. I am on a low dose. Makes sleeping at night hard (get restless legs and sneezy). So I am having a few drinks any time I am at the casino playing (still just two days a week for the most part) to help get through those late night sessions when its worn off and I feel crummy. I get down to 15mg then 10mg and in March of 2018 I get asked if I wanna work for a week with my crypto friend. His friend is setting up a farm with 500 miners and needs help. I agree. The pay is in excess of the work (in my opinion) at 3k and I have no expenses, but I dont argue obviously. Before we leave town I have to pick up my week of methadone (at 4mg now) and so I do that. I never take any of them, I have the box still. Never opened it. They remain at my apartment as a reminder, the box carrying the 6 doses and a stack of receipts for every 75$ week that I kept in the box, several years worth, at least 9-10k worth of receipts, and that shits CHEAP compared to oxy. So I am finally off of opiates. I take kratom still but its essentially non addictive in comparison. Ill cede that I am reliant on kratom but if it disappeared tomorrow I wouldnt panic, I would be fine.
So I fly to Denver with my friend and meet his friends half brother who was instructed to rent a box truck and the three of us were to drive from Denver to Washington carrying like half a million dollars worth of hardware. Its early March, the roads arent exactly great. Half brother of his friend rents a truck with no middle seat though. Its absolutely miserable. Whoever sat middle was sitting like a fem boy legs closed and knees up high from the drive shaft hump. It was un fucking real how uncomfortable the middle was. So like I stated the roads were not great, we drove on ice for 5-6 hours straight (while my crypto friend did about 30 minutes of it before I decided I value my life and banned him from driving, he was literally doing over 70 on this ice sheet when I checked the gauge. I forget what he said, I will fail to make it sound as good but he said that he is protected and can not die, if we wreck he wont get hurt because of some universe stipulation that protects him. He said we would get hurt but he wouldnt. (I will have him tell me this stuff again and leave it in comments, it was pretty funny and I kinda want to think he believes what he said as it was clearly not something he just came up with).
I end up driving like 18 of the 24 (one shot) hours it took as letting crypto friend drive was out. We make it set up a farm over a couple days then we go to Vegas. Not only do we go to Vegas but we fly a private jet. Not only do we take a private jet but his buddy has all four of us our own room at the Bellagio for 5-6 days. I remember having a 4500$ win at Bellagios 500$ cap 2-5 game... ran pretty salty. I only remember one hand worth bringing up, but I closed action and called 400$ pre with 67o with 3 others all in. Just flop 77X and send me the money. (Was drinking, gamble gamble). I cold called that also, some fish had opened massive and a 300$ stack just ripped a 400$ stack rejammed and I had called out of bb knowing fish will call off his 400~. This is actually a leak I have in poker. I will go over it because it has history.
Dating back to online my biggest leak was playing vs short stacks. Everyones biggest leak obv (6m setting). There were a few min buyers on Carbon and I got to the point I put them in pre every time they opened my bb from button, so long as they opened 75%+ from button or close to it. This has carried with me live, if I can gamble 3-4 ways (4 specifically) I will basically do it any time its 100bb~ or less with about 40% of hands if I can close action safely. I am a bit of a degenerate in this sense. I will flip for 1k if I have 10k to my name. It mostly came as a way to loosen up tables (the flipping blind preflop) at my local casino with players who give action. I am pretty snug in general but I cant refuse a flip when it presents itself and I cant refuse a fun gamble with short stacks.
I spend the month in Vegas during WSOP and run absurdly bad. Lose every big pot I play it seems. Switch to PLO the last half of the month and go a week straight without tripling my buy in up at any point. Just insane. Looking back I play rather poorly in PLO. I have been spoiled with my PLO games back home (which have been dead for about a year) and could get away with playing 50% of hands and no one ever bet big draws or anything not the nuts basically. I didnt adjust at all is what the issue was. Was just a frustrating month.
So I return and take a stake from a friend. I barely play still. Same ole same ole.
The last thing I will cover for this section is an incident late in 2018. One of the girls who is the floor at my local casino takes kratom also, we talk about it a fair amount. She has some 10mg percocets (mini oxycontins essentially) she gives me two of them. I havent had one in several years. I have been off methadone for 6-8 months at the time. I am eager to feel what I felt all those years ago, having no tolerance. So I take them home even though I know I shouldnt.
I get home and take both of them. What transpires is almost depressing. It frustrates me to no end that I realized that I have no desire for these. It affirms that all the money I flushed wasnt about the high, it was about the not withdrawing. I basically stated this in an earlier post but this is the event that I learned this from. I dont even enjoy it. I just sink knowing that I gave my life away for these. I have never recovered thanks to pain killers. Never once after 2011 have I ever looked in the mirror and said “finally, I have finally recovered what I fucked off”.
I am going to finish this thread off on the next post most likely. It will likely be long and take me a while to compose as it will cover my current year, and put a bow on it. The story basically climaxes a couple posts back, these surely have slowly lost their luster but I will finish them anyways. Nothing exciting about hearing about a guy who can beat games but wont sit in the chair to do it. Its a bit more upbeat in 2019 though and I feel my future is bright and redemption nears though. I dont think I would have written these if not for a change of mentality recently, so look forward to a positive summary next post.