Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Peace


Poem for Drew

No one knew the torment,
That you were going through;
We only kept on seeing
What we really wanted to.

We saw the outward smile,
But not your inner pain;
We never really dreamt,
That you would never smile again.

Forgive us if we failed to see,
What we could do to aid;
Or if we failed to comprehend,
How much you were afraid.

We pray your mental anguish,
Will now forever cease;
And that your deep anxieties,
Will be replaced by peace.

We know your pain invaded,
Every single thought you had;
It made you cry internally,
And deeply, deeply sad.

But we in turn remember,
The good times, not the bad;
We remember when you smiled at us,
And not when you were sad.

So when we think about your life,
We won't dwell upon its close;
We'll remember all the good times,
And forget about life's blows.

We'll remember all the happiness,
The joy and not the tears;
The assurance and the confidence,
And not irrational fears.

Our lives have all been better,
Because you have been there;
So now we leave your memory,
In God's all-loving care.

© 2008 Dick Underwood. Copied from www.funeral-poems.net website with permission.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Please share your thoughts....

This site was created as a place where family and friends can come to remember Drew.   Please click on comments and tell us about a special memory, wishes, and good-byes....
Drew in the Hamptons at his father's wedding.

High School days with pals

Most beautiful blue eyes...

Drew with attitude


This is Drew's first Christmas in California at my mother's house.  This picture is with my sister Melissa.  I just love his smile here. 

Recent Photos

The pictures below were taken in July 8, 2011.

Drew and Jackie
Drew in Sunny California



Photo's below from Cathy & Jack's Wedding (Drew's father) - September 2010


Drew and Brother Jaime




Drew and his Dad

Jaime, Jack, and Drew

Drew's Favorite's

Drew was great with computers.  When he was in high school he hacked into the school computer.   One of his favorite movies was "Hackers" - below in 2005 he mentioned renting this movie to watch while he played an MTT online. 

Tuesday, November 15, 2005


Plans

"I will be playing in the Wednesday 6:15pm No Limit Hold'em $20+$2 10 5,000 chips, 30 minute blinds @ Poker Stars.

And renting the dvd Hackers from Blockbuster to watch during what I expect to be a 10+ hour tournament."

He also enjoyed the song Heaven Knows by Squeeze from this movie.  The post below from March of 2006 references this song.


" I chose this piece because it's the theme
   song for the movie Hackers, which
   was my favorite movie as a kid (and still is)." - Drew Picone posted on WiredPairs blog

Drew's favorite Starbucks -

"Can i get a Triple Grande Soy Mocha w/ just two pumps of Mocha, & espresso shots @ 150° cuz' i don't like that shit too hot; i wanna drink that shit right away.  oh, take the change as a tip yo THANKS."

Video - July 7 with Jackie's Family at California Pizza Kitchen

Dream Team Event - March 2009

Drew and I had a great time at the Poker Dream Team Event in 2009 - I posted about it on my blog if you want to read about the event.  Our team mate Masih, made the final table and finished in 10th place.  We got to meet many of Poker's best players, even got photos with a few as shown below.

Drew with Jaime Gold above.  Jaime and his really cute young girlfriend won the team event.


Drew with Phil Hellmuth - 11-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner.

Drew and Kristy Gazes poker pro for Full Tilt.
The Poker Poison Team

"I still remember driving to Vegas with you and Jackie like it was yesterday. What I remember most about you was your passion for the game of poker." - Moss Bahadori (on left in picture above)

The Wall of Jersey's

When Drew was at Boston University

This was a post Drew had made to his blog on Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Boston University
I arrived at BU about 9 days ago and have been pretty busy so I haven't been able to post much. I've played a few poker games, during which I learned a few simple caveats:

Simply put, if you hold top pair on the flop, you're going to want to "protect" your hand with one possible exception: if you hold aces and want to risk slowplaying until the turn to throw your opponent off. What I did learn is that while your ego may tell you otherwise, it's simply not worth risking large sums of chips (relative to your stack, in the case of a tournament) on a top pair that is lower than Jacks. Betting too much on small top pairs on the flop (even with ace kicker) was the only mistake I made the past few games. And when I say betting too much, I mean going all in or something similiar when your initial raise is reraised on the flop -- you can bet a sizable amount but don't count on your hand holding up in the face of major resistance.

Anyway, I'll update more often once I play in some games and have time...

Drew's Poker Passion

Drew enjoyed chatting online with poker friends.  One of his favorite blogger's was the infamous Waffles (sirfwalgman).  Below is a chat that he had previously posted on his WiredPairs blog.

Monday, February 27, 2006


fluxer2k: i am going to change the name of my blog
fluxer2k: to : "the poorest and most unlucky gambler and poker player in the universe"
sirfwalgman: lol
sirfwalgman: Poor Kids Bad Luck Blog
sirfwalgman: Unemployed Bums Unlucky Poker Stories
sirfwalgman: The Unlucky 400/NL on a $500 bankroll Player
sirfwalgman: The My Lucks Worse than Your Luck Blog
fluxer2k: i would do that again in an instant, with only that money on the table
sirfwalgman: what number 3?
fluxer2k: no, the $400 nl hand i lost to runner runner
sirfwalgman: I totally agree with you
sirfwalgman: thats why good players like us will never win, because we never learn to not put the money in with monster advantages
fluxer2k: lol
fluxer2k: ok this is getting copied and pasted into my blog
fluxer2k: if that's ok with you
sirfwalgman: no problemo

Drew and I shared a passion for Poker.  We first met online through Poker blogger friends.  I will take full credit for improving his Heads Up skills.  Below is a posting from my blog about one of our online matches.  Drew's poker name was Fluxer.

Leaving Him Dissatisfied Again

After beating me in the first Heads Up match tonight Fluxer still wanted more.

Ever try to connect in a HU match on Poker Stars? A bit of a pain.

On our first attempt, Fluxer accidently got into a Heads Up match with another player. He was so anxious to play me, he kept going all in trying to lose. It was funny. He was trying to lose and was having a hard time doing it. At one point he even typed on the chat "I can't lose". I thought I was on a limited schedule and he didn't want to miss the opportunity to play me. Am I that fun to play Heads Up?...lol..

Then he had to wait again when I accidently ended up with someone else. I lost..boo hoo.

So we finally play. I think he thought he could take me down twice in one night. "Thought" being the key word here. We went for about 50 hands. I was having fun. It is pretty cool to be on voice chat with the person you are playing HU. Adds a whole new element of excitement! Flux was not getting cards in this match. On a few hands, he was trying to make a move with a bet and I would reraise (a few times with nothing). I would make a point of telling him I was bluffing. Cause that is just sooo fun. So when I flopped a Full House and he landed a straight, I was able to trap him quite nicely. I got extra amusement out of gloating when the match was finished. He is a good sport about my taunting or I might not.

So when we were wrapping up the chat, I asked him why he wanted to play Heads Up with me tonight. He said that losing the first match with AA left him dissatisfied. And now again he was dissatisfied with a score of 1 win and 2 loses vs Veneno.

So there it is...I left Fluxer dissatisfied...sorry pal..but thats what happens when you mess with the Poison! Till next time Flux...

Oh, can you tell I am having fun with poker again....how can I leave this behind?

Hasta luego...

A posting to his blog about his first live multi table tournament


Monday, August 09, 2004

First live multi table tournament experience
For my first time in a live tournament I did fairly well. There were 59 people total and I beat my table of 8 and went on to the final table to finish in 5th place. Out of the 8 in the final table, I expected to place better than 5th but I unfortunately flopped two pair and called an all in when my opponent had a straight. There wasn't much money in the pot and I was very aware of the straight possibility so I should have just folded because it didn't feel right -- next time. Honestly, I thought that if he did actually have the straight, he would try and slowplay it to milk everyone for their money; however, that was not the case. I took a big chance and it did not pay off -- I definitely wont be making the same mistake again at any final table or at any poker game at all; after all, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. The good thing is that I made the final table and still beat three people out to finish in the money.

While the action was still going on at the final table, the tournament director set up a losers game with two tables of 8 each. I placed 3rd out of 18 in that after another unfortunate all in for myself. I began the hand with J4o and I limped in on the small blind. There was AX4 rainbow on the flop. Everyone checked and the turn came 4. At this point I had three of a kind fours with jack kicker. Now my hand was looking pretty good, especially after everyone checked, even if someone was slowplaying the aces on the flop. So what I did next was bet. The person to my left folded and the person on the button called. The river was insignificant and there was no flush or straight possible given the current board. I bet a sizable amount and my opponent raised about double. I called the double raise and reraised about triple. My opponent called and to my surprise went all in with his remaning five dollars or so. Remember the board had an Ace on it? My opponent had a full house with pocket aces. The only thing that I did incorrectly with that hand was to call the all in since I somehow knew my opponent had a full house since he tried some bad acting moves etc. I will never call such large bets again if I think the other person has better.

Later that night I came in second out of four in a small game. I lost after going all in with pocket jacks on a flop of 74T rainbow. My opponent had 74. That wasn't too bad of a loss since my opponent got a lucky flop. In the future I will maybe consider if my opponent has two pair, especially if they limp in or check post flop and are tight players. I always though of all in as the ultimate bluff but most people often use that to their advantage when they have a monster hand. The truth is that most of the time when players go all in, they have the nuts. If you fold to most all ins with big pots unless you have the nuts, then you will fold the winning hand sometimes but its not worth it considering you'll lose everything most of the time. The only exception is if your opponent is short stacked and it doesn't cost you much to call. Also, chances are you'll win in that situation since the short stacks are usually more aggressive than they should be.