Being Andrew’s assistant, sometimes his poker player friends will call on me to help them with things too. Andrew has a very good friend who he has known for about 6 years now and his name is Alec Torelli. He is also a very successful poker player. When Alec comes in town he generally stays with Andrew for the whole time he is Vegas. I see Alec the most during the summer for the World Series of Poker, or sometimes Andrew will go out to California to play at Commerce Casino and if needed I’ll tag along to help them both out while we’re there. Besides assisting Andrew, I’d say I help Alec out the most compared to the rest of the guys.
 
I am sort of a morning person, and Andrew is defnitely not. Sometimes I will wake up and want to go do some work early so its done, so I will sneak in and out of his place while he sleeps. I knew Mr. Torelli was going to be quite the character when one morning last summer I was strolling up to Andrew’s door and normally I would be extremely quiet going in, do what I have to do and slip out, but before I could even open the door I heard a strange ruckus. I had no clue what it could be but it sounded like a small battle and a music video could both be taking place inside his condo if I dared to even enter. Well I am just too curious I had to find out what was going on. I opened the door slowly and peeked through, and to my surprise I saw Alec sweating it out hardcore to a Billy Blanks Tae Bo video. He saw me come around the corner and I swear I have never seen anyone so focused in my life, maybe in the gym but not in a living room. He didnt even skip a beat. He was kicking and punching away like a mad man. I swear I felt sorry for anyone he faced at the poker table later that day. A few minutes later, after the video ended, he began a stretching and yoga routine, out of breath he struggled to say “Hey Linz”. I couldnt help but laugh and actually my first thought was “all of these mornings, I sneak in and out so quietly, trying not to wake Andrew and here was his good buddy beating the crap out of his air enemy as music blared and a big black man in spendex was shouting out commands”.
 
Andrew shocks me with requests sometimes but Alec definitely takes the cake. I remember one time that same summer I came over after the gym and Alec, Andrew and a few friends were sitting around the room debating what to do that day. Alec thought it would be a great idea to go for a nice jog on the strip. I actually thought that sounded like a pleasant idea. What I found not-so-pleasant was his next request. He asked if I would borrow my gym shoes (the ones I had on my feet) to one of their girl friends they had over so she could go running too. Her and I both looked at each other with disgust. Now, nobody wants to borrow someone else’s sweaty gym shoes and quite frankly I didnt want her running in my gym shoes either. Not sure if this is a “guy thing” or just an “Alec Torelli thing”. Either way… borrowing gym shoes is just not okay. Sorry Alec!
 
Alec also almost bought a puppy last summer, he said he wanted one really bad but he wanted to know if I would take care of it 75% of the time. I dont know about you but I believe that adopting a puppy is not a good idea if you only want it 25% of the time! He is so funny, he is one of my favorite people that comes in town for poker. Alec is such a great guy and such an interesting person, I just love hearing his funny stories. He uses silly abreviations like instead of saying the word “obviously” he’ll just say “yeah obv Linz!” I remember one time at the Bellagio shortly after I met him I gave him a hug and I said “Hey Alec! How are you?” and his response was “Hey Linz! I’m on serious life tilt right now” It was one of those moments where you just smile and nod. Now after hanging around these guys for so long, I obv realize that serious life tilt is not a good thing. Sometimes now I even say it to my girlfriends and they just look at me like “what the %*@#?”
 
The latest thing I helped Alec with was quite amusing. I was laying on my couch when I received about 8 life tilt text messages from Alec very late at night, he proceeded to tell me that his car had been impounded for no insurance and not renewing his registration. He was playing in the series but his registration absolutely had to be renewed in California, and he had about $670 in fines and late fees. So Alec paid me to find the closest city in California from Las Vegas and drive there. Well that city (if you want to call it that) is Needles, California. No offense to anyone from Needles but that drive and that place seriously reminds me of the movie “The Hills Have Eyes”. I was so praying my car would not break down otherwise I was to be mutilated by a scary psycho path in some old deserted barn. Well I made it there and back just fine. The DMV was the smallest and slowest DMV I have ever experienced with one creepy old man working the counter. I was in and out of there in no time. I conjured up a story that it was my fault that I didnt remind Alec to renew so the fees were coming out of my pay, and he waived all the fees! Holler!
 
Working for Andrew, Alec and some of the other guys has been so much fun. Sometimes I wonder how I am going to handle some of the situations they get in, but I always find a way. Alec is definitely an interesting character, and I look forward to him coming in town because I know it will be a good time with crazy stories, new adventures, lots of laughs and a shopping list that consists of a bike pump, tomatoes and 300 tennis balls.