He made so many people feel special knowing that he was there for them and could always be counted on to help. Unselfish, giving with his time and his talent, supportive, encouraging, passionate, and so very smart. That so many people could retell so many similar stories of having gotten their start from Lou, or getting that little encouragement when they needed it, or that extra help that made a huge difference. The word mentor seems inadequate to describe someone who took so many people under his wing and made each feel as if they were the most important personal connection he had.
My story with Lou was not that unusual. I pestered him for months for a writing job
and he worked his magic to find a place for me.
He supported and encouraged my writing and made me think I was far
better than I was. He always looked for
other opportunities for me and brought me onboard whatever projects he could.
Our working relationship quickly turned into a friendship as we would spend
hours on the phone talking about everything under the sun – often forgetting
all about poker. Eventually Lou asked me
to be his cohost on his poker radio show Keep Flopping Aces and though I have stage fright, I couldn’t say no
to him. And the last year and nine
months has been an absolute blast, from our planning sessions at the beginning
of each week to the show each Thursday to the post show recap. We had a great routine. It is devastating to see it come to an end.
Lou was born Roger Lubin and lived an entire life -- I recently discovered two folk songs Lou had contributed to a record in 1962! Check it out here -- before adopting the Lou Krieger pen name and becoming the "poker guru" -- author of best-selling poker books and hundreds of poker articles, poker coach, editor, radio host and ambassador of the game. There is not one person in the poker world who doesn't admire, respect and like Lou Krieger -- and this is a group of people I doubt I could get to agree that the sky is blue.
Following the announcement of Lou's death, first on Facebook by his family and then relayed through Twitter, the reaction was a mix of shock and deep sadness. But since so many of Lou's poker friends are writers, many took to their computers to put into words a little of what they were feeling. Please take the time to read these terrific tributes from Nolan Dalla, Martin "Short-Stacked Shamus" Harris, Haley Hintze, Earl Burton, Dan Katz, and yours truly. In addition, the poker media shared the sad news, and you can read what PokerNews, CardPlayer, Betfair, PokerFuse, PokerBlog, BluffEurope, RuffPoker, and members of the 2+2 Forums had to say about Lou.
Thought Lou was my editor as well as "project director" for a number of writing assignments, my favorite part of our working relationship was doing the radio show. It was another example of Lou being Lou. He invited me to be his co-host and always propped me up and sang my praises and made sure to make me an equal partner even though, of course, he was the draw! Last week instead of the show I expected to do for that Thursday and hundreds of Thursdays to come, we instead put together a tribute show for Lou. We invited some of his friends to come and share stories and it was a great chance to share our grief over his loss as well as our joy in getting to know him at all.
I know of no one who was as encouraging and supportive of other writers as Lou. So many of us wouldn't be doing what we do if it weren't for Lou Krieger. He went to bat for his friends and was loyal in the extreme. I'm going to miss our talks and how riled up he'd get when the discussions turned to certain topics! He had such a passion and love for life; he was simply the best there was and there won't be another like him. But I'm comforted knowing that the good that was Lou will live on.
pay day now just a memory, I closed out my PokerStars account today. Since Black Friday the status of US players’ funds held by the big three poker sites has been in question. While no one ever came right out and said the money would be long gone, that was the fear at first. With a 52-page federal indictment and criminal counts seeking up to 30 years in jail, it would not be unrealistic to assume the sites and/or their payment processors had absconded with our money.
. And it’s somewhere between $1 (under which PS explicitly will not reimburse you) and number that requires a comma to be written out properly. In other words, it’s not a huge deal.
was already able to process payments is a positive development. While it does nothing to resolve the question of why the Justice Department thinks the most important thing on its plate is stopping people from playing poker on their computers, it at least demonstrates that what seemed like the worst day in the history of US poker may not be a complete disaster.
was willing, so soon after declaring the poker sites Public Enemies #1-3, to enter into an agreement returning their domain names is possibly a sign that the Justice Department is not as up for the fight as their initial salvo would indicate.