Life can be very cruel. The striking down Wednesday of David 'Lou Pinella' Doerr in his prime as a father, husband and provider was indeed a cruel blow. He was a strong man who walked to the beat of his own drum.

I felt a certain closeness to him because we shared some similarities:

- He was my age
- He had suffered from severe back problems that were eventually solved by surgery
- He was a devoted family man
- He marveled at these young studs of poker (the early CR crew)
- He was passionate about sports and poker, especially youth basketball.
- He was so proud and involved with his son Davis
- He lived and loved the Pacific Northwest (he in Seattle, me in Portland).
- He had an acerbic wit and great sense of humor.
- He was a man of principle who liked to mentor those younger than him.

We also had a number of differences.

- He was fearless at the poker table. He would raise 5 2 off suit and triple barrel any flop if he thought he could take it down.
- He loved to play heads up for hours grinding huge wins and losses with his high variance style of play
- He relied on psychology, aggression and intuition rather than math.
- He understood that losing was as much a part of poker as winning.
- He was tall and good looking
- He was from Nebraska and had some particular Midwest sensibilities.
- He never held back his opinion about anything and could be quite feisty and obstinate.

I will share one story of 'Lou Pinella' from 2-3 years ago. I always enjoyed watching 'Lou Pinella' play because you were guaranteed lots of action and many swings. The chat dialogue could be quite entertaining if he or his opponent started tilting. Most of his time playing was spent grinding long low stakes HU matches against all comers on UB. He would change names periodically because he had trouble finding action due to his reputation.

On this particular occasion, he was playing out one of his many rushes, both up and down, moving from $.50-1 to $5-10 in a matter of days. He feared no one and when he was ready to take his shot at $5-10 he sat with a strong regular $5-10 player named jcada99. He proceeded to take thousands from this player and then quit him. He shared his excitement and pride at outplaying and badly beating a top regular. In the following weeks, when he was losing at lower stakes, he would return again to play this player and defeat him in shortish HU sessions always seeming to have his number.

That player was none other than 2009 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Cada, who used to beat the games on UB for a nice clip.

'Lou Pinella' did one other thing that I'll never forget. When I left CR, he offered to never return again because he felt so strongly that I had been wronged. I talked him out of that, but he was a man of principle who had had my back.

Thank you, David. We met in person only once, although we had numerous contacts online. Come Monday, I will be there to honor you and pay my respects to recognize you for the man you were; fearless, funny and a great family man!