concentrate on anything else but poker when he becomes fully engulfed
in the poker world. Unfortunately, I have seen many friends and family
members suffer from a poker player's confusion on the important things
in his or her life.
This is not the case in talking about one Howard "Tahoe" Andrew. Ever
since my husband has been involved in tournament poker, Tahoe's name
has been a recognized and popular name in poker circles. He has been
playing for 45 years and my husband always says, "Howard really loves
playing poker!" This may be true, but it was not his first love. Howard
"always" put his love for his mother first.
Vince and I had the privilege of meeting Tahoe's mother, Sibyl Fisher, on
one of our first poker cruises about ten years ago. Sibyl was in her
mid-eighties at the time, but only those closest to her knew her real age.
She was smart, funny, and very active (a lot more active than Howard
ever was). In her younger years, she had been Miss Berkeley andfirst
runner-up to Miss California.
When Tahoe wanted to cruise and play poker, he brought along Sibyl.
He was able to blend his two loves but never forgetting which one had
the greater importance. Sibyl went on every poker cruise that we went
on for the past ten years.
Often, Howard would "let" us take and pick up, he and his mother from
the airport, to go on one of our cruises. Now Howard loved his mother,
but they always came to blows when we got to the ship terminal
entrance. He would always insist she get in a wheel chair so we could
get on without waiting in line. She fought with him every time he would
propose this plan. On our last cruise together to Mexico in November
1999, Sibyl made Howard get in the wheelchair. She said she didn't
need one. How foolish Howard was--she was only 94!
Howard, as I said, loves to play poker, especially poker tournaments. He
would often fly to Los Angeles and Las Vegas from his home in Walnut
Creek, California to play. Southwest Airline flight attendants know him
by his first name because he would often return home after a day or two
just to check on Sibyl, and then fly right back. It wasn't unusual for him
to fly back and forth several times in one week, just in case Sibyl might
need him.
Whenever Vince went to the Bay area to play in a poker tournament he
would usually stay with Howard. He always enjoyed watching Howard
make his mom's favorite chicken salad sandwiches and cutting up her
fruit for her, the way she liked it. Sibyl once told me, "Howard wants me
to eat healthy and then he turns around and eats ice cream every day."
Just to clear the air, we shared many a meal with Sibyl on our cruises.
Howard would let her have dessert every night, and Sibyl never failed to
remind him that he didn't need the "two" desserts, that he had ordered.
Several years ago, Howard decided that he needed to be even closer to
Sibyl in her later years, so he bought an attached single-family home for
them in Walnut Creek. There they shared custody of "K.C." their lovable
black Schnauzer with whom, according to Sibyl, Howard shared his ice
cream. (That was confirmed by Vince.)
Sibyl used to walk around the neighborhood three times a week, an hour
each time, and once I asked her why Howard didn't join her. She said,
"He can't keep up." Sibyl passed away on April 25th of this year and all
of us who knew her and cruised with her, knew what a treasure she
was. Tahoe is probably one of the luckiest poker players around. He is
a poker player who has his priorities in order. He had a wonderful mom
whom he loved, appreciated, and cared for until the very end.
All mothers should be so lucky in their life as Sibyl was, to have a son like
Howard. He was a champion to his mother, and what I call a true winner.
For what it's worth ...
