wow. Looking at the timeline of events, this hits me even harder. I "met" Shronk on another , much smaller, poker forum. I stumbled upon poker road when my car was in the shop and the rental had no satellite radio so I downloaded every poker podcast I could find. I found the poker road shows and fell in love. When I came to poker road, I saw Shronk and thought it might be the same guy I knew. I pmed him Friday and confirmed it was him, and we got to talking.
I told him how much I loved poker road radio, and how I was very jealous of his job as I have always had love for radio and a love for poker. He started telling me about the shows and sending me links to the best shows, including telling me about big poker sunday. He started that thread to find the best shows to recommend to me.
We imed for hours. We shot the ****, he told me about what he had been up to and we made plans to play a home game next time he was in town (his family lives about ten miles from me).
One thing I expressed to him was that finding poker road had renewed my passion for the game. He thanked me and told me that my enthusiasm for the things he had been working on had renewed his passion for his work, which he loved.
We talked about the wsop internship which I had expressed interest in. Again with great passion he described the work he had done and how much he loved it.
We talked until about two in the morning before I had to sign off. Learning that likely passed away that night has me even more broken up
I think my conversation with Shronk is so poignant now in retrospect because it just typified so much about such a great guy.
He was easy to talk to and so approachable. I am a poker fanboy and would love to be involved in poker the way he was. Despite reaching a certain level of success in the poker industry he didn't hesitate to talk to someone like me. Not only would he talk to you, he really cared and it meant something to him. He really wanted to help and he wanted you to share his passion. In that conversation, I felt his passion, and it was contagious. He absolutely loved his work, he loved poker and he wanted everyone else to share that love. He was a lucky one in that he went to work every day thankful that he was doing the job be had.
Beyond the passion for his work, he just wanted to be helpful. I wasn't family. He'll, I wasn't a "friend" so much as I was an Internet acquaintance. That didn't matter. He took hours out of his day Friday to find me good shows to download for my long drive the next day. We made plans to talk later in the weekend.
I know I am rambling a bit but I want people to know that your experience with Shronk was the same as everyone's. That is to say he was a happy, talented, helpful guy who loved what he did and wanted to share his passion with everyone.
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