Okay so everyone now gets to see that my hot streak is over.  I just got back from Bay101 and realized that I walked out of there with 100 dollars less than when I walked in.  I don't know how that happened...maybe someone robbed me.  Or perhaps I decided to go ahead and try out my theory again.  Except this time I would play it exactly how I would play it before the theory.  Confused?  Basically I raised a lot more preflop with my premium cards...where as normally I would just limp in and see what develops.  Well I lost money.  So far my theory seems to work somewhat well...more testing will be done at the expense of my bankroll...since no one else seems to play.  Hehe.
 
So what made my barber so funny?  Why did the passing of my barber, Joe Love make me sad?  A tribute blog to the only person on this world who could cut my hair like no other.  (Yes that includes you to Reiko-chan)
 
1.  The first time I went in there I believe we found the place in the phone book.  We knew that the hairstyle I wanted had to be cut by a black person.  For all of you that go to some Fob...you don't even know what your missing.  Anyway, I walk into the barbershop with my dad and everyone in the shop kind of looks at us.  I just stepped into a black barbershop.  Of course when I was this young I didn't realize that a black barbershop was special.  I asked if I could get a haircut.  I think they all kind of laughed because I should have known to make an appointment...yet the woman who owned the shop, Belinda said that I should go talk to Mr. Joe Love.  About 20 minutes later I was sitting in his chair.  While sitting there I could remember being taken back by how everyone was talking and joking.  Jon will be happy to know that funk was surely being played that day.  This was the first memory I have of Joe Love.
 
2.  I still laugh at the fact that it took Joe about 6 months to realize that I wanted it shaved to the scalp.  Perhaps he didn't shave it to the scalp because he never cut an asian's hair and he thought it would look funny.  You could say that I should have just told him that I wanted it closer...more close...more close...until he got it right.  However, Joe had a funny way of talking...almost like Cedric in barbershop and everytime he asked me a question...for 6 months straight I had no fucking clue what he was saying.  He would say something...and this is how it sounded at the time, "yeeah dat hair is short, u wanna short'n up da fade or line up...damn I dunno bout dis right here...what u think'n young'n?"  I responded with, "..."  Joe responds with, "hey u listenin right?"  and I go "yeah that looks good".  He stands in front of me and says, "yeeah".  Before I knew it the neck apron was off and I was shoved out the door.  I didn't want them to think I was disrespecting them by not understanding what the hell they were all saying.  After 6 months I was fluent in black folk talk.  Haha.
 
3.  Before Joe had to go into the hospital for health reasons...for about four straight years he had to smoke 3 cigs while cutting my hair.  When I got into the chair he would go, "hold on 'dere", go outside...grunt and smoke and bring his butt right back into the store...after one side of my head was done...he breathed in heavily and went outside to smoke again...after he was done with my hair he would go outside and smoke another one.  Derek, another barber there, told me that I was the only one that caused him to smoke before, during and after cutting my hair.
 
4.  My hair is a bitch to cut.  My head is shaped funny.  He let me know it.  He asked why I had such a flat head and why my hair was so damn course.  One time he was cutting my hair and he stopped...he had to borrow Belinda's tweezers because he was getting hair stuck under his skin like splinters.  So one time he decided to try rubber gloves.  Everyone in the barbershop was laughing because they have never seen a brother cut hair with rubber gloves on.
 
5.  Again my hair was so thick that I ruined one his favorite clippers...he was just going up the side of my head when it basically choked.  I'll never forget that day because he got all pissed off because everyone was laughing at him because I guess he never liked to buy new equipment.  I found out the next time I visited that he cleaned the shit out of it and it still had life in it and he still wanted my business.  That right there speaks volume about his character.
 
6.  One time Derek and Joe were talking about dancing.  Derek was the youngest barber in the shop and he was asking Joe how he used to dance.  Joe straight up stopped cutting my hair and went in the backroom.  He put on some EWF and started dancing.  Yet he was dancing like I dance which is not that good and Derek told him he's gotta stop before he breaks a hip.  To prove everyone in the barbershop wrong, he kept on dancing while cutting my hair.  The energy in that shop was crazy.
 
7.  Again Derek and Joe were arguing about some sports something or other and Derek told Joe he needs to stop acting like he knows everything.  I can't remember what Joe said, but he went off on like a 5 minute lecture and at the end of it everyone in the barbershop just looked at him.  He kept on cutting my hair and another brother that was waiting for his turn was like, "what in the hell did you just say?"  And everyone started laughing because no one had the guts to say anything to him...I started laughing and my head jerked and he messed up my fade.  Joe said I deserved it for laughing...haha.
 
8.  By the time I was in highschool, my cousin Miya used to stay with us.  She was then the person to drive me to get a haircut.  Man, when I first took her in there...all the guys in there were like, "who's dat dere?"  "who that be?"  Ever since then and even up to the time of my last haircut, Joe would ask where his girl is at.  Miya really did brighten up their day when she dropped my ass off.
 
9.  I asked Joe if there was some way he could brush off the excess hair on my head because my hair was beginning to give me splinters in the back of my neck...he tried using the barber's brush, but the hair kept on sticking...Joe mumbled something and he brought in the vacuum cleaner from the back...he straight up took that vaccum to my head and caught my big ass ear in the pipe.  The funny thing besides that is that he didn't even apologize and said, "damn you got some big ass ears...never noticed that before".
 
These are just some of the memories I have of this barbershop and I'm hoping that Derek will take me in since Joe passed on.  There are way too many to write about...you have to realize that I got a haircut every two weeks.  Over a decade that is a lot of visits.  The dynamic energy they had in there will be something I will never forget.  When Miya went in there recently she said it was quiet than what she remembers.  Hopefully they'll get back to where they were.
 
The final thing I'd like to say about Joe Love is that he took me in and watched me grow up.  He would always shake my hand and always made sure I was doing good.  He always told me to come back soon and to take care.  He always asked about my family and how my directing was going.  When he cut my hair for prom he said not to make any babies because I got too much stuff to worry about.  He really did care about all his clients...knew them by name...hell knew them by voice.  I remember that he would be staring at my hair with the back toward the door and someone would walk in and say, "hello Mr. Love" and Joe would always respond without even looking...with their name and a genuine how's it going.
 
Joe didn't just cut my hair well.  He didn't squeeze in as many people as he could to make more money...he loved what he did, he loved the people and he loved his life.  You guys could say that it was just a barber, but for the first real time thinking about how I will never see him again...he was considered a closer friend than I ever gave him credit for.  Thank you Joe Love for the fades and the memories.

Again I apologize for writing about poker (however this blog by me will definetely be on a lot more serious subject), but I am always trying (believe it or not) to make better poker players out of my friends.  I think Jon once told me something along the lines that he would love all of us to go to Garden or Bay and all come up big winners in the same session.  I agree with this so I'm trying to give you more insight into the game based on my observations.
 
Obviously we all know that playing with the best hand and favorite hand (yes there is a difference...and I don't mean favorite as in J7offsuit hehe) is key in low limit games.  I mean most of the time we need to show the best hand at the end to win the pot so why should we not play only premium cards?  Well an interesting situation came up when I was playing at Bay a couple of days ago.  I was in the big blind and someone raised it.  Everyone else folded so we were in a heads up situation.  Now my cards were exactly good but they weren't too bad either.  56suited clubs.  Well any other time I would fold this hand if I was up against a raise.  Even more so, Jon will tell you that the pot odds weren't exactly spectacular holding that kind of hand.  Most of time with suited connectors you want a lot of callers to pay you off if you hit big.  Thinking quickly I realized that I'm putting out one small bet (because I was the big blind) to win 3 bets plus the small blind.  Even if I was the underdog in the hand I was getting profitable odds.
 
So what?  I'm protecting my big blind.  Well the second part of my thinking is this...if the flop came out all rags I would probably have a good chance to steal this pot.  So the flop came out and it was indeed rags HOWEVER I did pick up middle pair with a 5.  The board was a 5, 3, 8 rainbow.  Now realizing this guy was kind of ridiculous in his betting from past hands I decided to check it...he paused for a bit and bet.  Does this really look like a raiser's flop?  Like I said though this guy could be holding anything...so I called.  Right when I called I saw him chuckle a bit.  This made me realize something...
 
We always think it is hard to play against someone who has a big hand.  If we put someone on a big hand and we have a decent drawing hand it is tough to figure out what actions we want to take...HOWEVER it is equally hard for people to play against someone like me who shows a lot of the best hands and then I check/call the flop.  Now this guy was probably thinking, "shit...he could be holding anything and he is a bit of a tight player."  Then again he could have been thinking, "I should have stayed in the jungle where I belong."  Either way I thought of the chuckle as weak.
 
The flop came out a 2.  Thinking I have a gutshot I decided to try to get a free card and checked...he bet and I then realized that he might be trying to buy this pot.  I dunno...call me weird, but I just didn't think he could be holding anything...perhaps two overcards which leaves him with 6 outs...either way I decided to fuck it and raise.  He thought for a bit then threw his hand away.
 
No doubt I got lucky in him not having a legit hand after the flop.  Also the board did help my hand a bit so raising was exactly a total bluff...however it made me realize that perhaps a raise with 2 or less callers is worth me putting money in just to see the flop...not only because it was cheaper for me to do so when I'm on the blind, but because my opponents really have no fucking clue what I could be holding...and why would I call and raise with nothing in my hand when I've been showing them the best hands on the showdown?
 
On a more serious note my cousin Miya has just informed me that my barber that I have had for over a decade passed away about a year or so ago.  This came up out of the blue because Miya took someone to B-Pizzazz to get a haircut for my cousin's wedding about a month ago.  She used to take me to get my haircut when she lived with us and the barbers always loved it when my half black half japanese cousin came in to visit.  Anyway she went to the shop and asked where my barber, Joe Love was.  Another barber whom I have known since my first day going in there told her that he passed away right after I took a break from him because Ricki needed practice in cutting hair.  This just came out over dinner and my parents and I were like, "he did?!?"
 
So what is the big deal here?  Well I'm not exactly sure how many of you had a friendly relationship with your barbers (Jon you don't count because you cut it or your dad does), but Joe Love has watched me from middle school all the way up through last year.  I got a lot of memories from that barbershop and the conversations we used to have.  With all honestly that barbershop was A LOT more live than the barbershop movie.  On my next blog I'm going to go ahead and tell you about some of my memories because they in my mind pretty damn hilarious.