Inquiring Minds Want To Know... What's Soft Touch has been up to lately?

Back around the year 2002, during one of the many dice workshops we would share together, Bill Burton, an accomplished dice instructor, gave me an autographed copy of his book, "Get the Edge At Low-Limit Texas Hold 'em," On the title page he wrote:  "Debbie, You will do well with this game as you are already a winning player.  Bill Burton." Hmm, I thought, what made him feel I would make a good poker player? All my energy had been devoted to playing craps and teaching students how to toss the dice.  When would I ever have the time to learn another game? 

Flattered that he would consider me having the potential to do well at a game outside of craps, I graciously accepted his book and placed it in my gaming library among all my craps books. Little did I know that a few years later I would be referring to his book and many others to learn theory and strategy to the game of No Limit Texas Hold 'em.

Well, remembering his words, I decided over a year ago, to seriously explore the game of Texas Hold 'em. During this past year, I made the decision to parlay my craps winnings into poker education and I immersed my self in the poker world to see what experiences I could create with the cards. And, to see what kind of interesting people I would meet as I played.

Over time, I devised a way to efficiently play craps to produce the winnings that would finance my buy-ins to the many poker tournaments and cash games I found myself playing.  When I needed a couple of hundred dollars, I'd find a craps pit, step up to an empty craps table, pick up the dice, run a quick betting regression and when my win limit was met, I would the put down the dice in mid roll, tip and thank the dealers and make a bee line to the poker room leaving the dice dealers wondering what the heck I was doing. 

My turn at the dice, in the box man's mind, had not ended.  But for me, my hand with the dice ended when I met my win goal and not when the seven made its appearance. I have to chuckle sometimes when I hear players state the seven will always be the last number you roll when your turn has ended with the dice.  Not for me, when I'm wishing to get into a poker game. Now, this is a different way of looking at dice control.  The dice game ends when I feel it ends because I've got a date with pocket aces in the poker room.

Serious play began with my entry into the 2006 World Series of Poker Women's event where I outlasted over half of the field and it continues to this present day as I follow all the WPT and WSOP circuit events through out our nation.  When it came to craps, I always considered myself a strictly Vegas girl, yet, my new relationship with the card game moved me out into different gaming venues like Iowa, Oklahoma, Mississippi and New Mexico.  And, if there was a craps table in that venue, the better for me, because I knew my trip would be easily financed by the dice.

While I still love and am dedicated to the game of craps and sharing my knowledge about he game with my fellow players as I help them along with their dice journeys, poker holds my interest for many reasons that I may share in subsequent writings in my corner.

So, that's what Soft Touch has been up to lately.

 PS.  A cute story about the picture.  I meet many celebrities and 
 legendary players of the game with my experiences in the poker
 rooms and felt the picture of Amarillo Slim would bring a smile to
 Dice Coach's face. Ask him about his experience with this
 granddaddy of poker.  During last year's World Series Of Poker
 Senior's event, the Dice Coach,  a serious poker player himself,
 entered and was knocked out by the legendary Amarillo Slim. 

 And, next year, Dice Coach and I will surely create a bit of buzz as
 we team up and both enter the WSOP senior's event.  I plan to wear a T-shirt stating "Yes, I Am" across the front or back of it. Those who have met me will know what I mean.

Soft Touch