RIP Rodster
Yesterday the Free Poker Network lost one of our most instrumental poker league reps since the beginning after a long battle against cancer. Rod "The Rodster" Lovig (50) from Norfolk, NE was one of the most avid players, friend, and poker enthusiast the game has ever seen. Since the beginning days of the Nebraska Poker League Rod was a huge success all over the state in signing up new bars and making friends along the way with anyone who had a passion for sitting at the tables. He traveled across the state including SD and Iowa to expand the league and the game as best he could. He would constantly be at every league game he could making sure bars were promoting the game correctly and making sure players knew when and where to be. He would pile players into his car and drive 50 miles just to play in a league game.
Rod was at every NE state championship and would meet the FPN crew with a smile on his face ready to help out. He made sure everything was perfect ready to go so when noon came around and the cards were the in the air he could concentrate to make it to Vegas. He would go deep in every state championship qualifying for Vegas a handful of times in which we would party even more in Vegas. Rod would drive out to Las Vegas with no return date in mind. As long as the cash games and tournaments were going good, he wasn't going anywhere. One time from the office we called him a month after Nationals to ask a question about a certain league. "It sounds loud in there Rod are you at the Horseshoe in Iowa (which was another common place to find him)? No, man I'm still in Vegas, running good, why should I leave?"
There were plenty of other times he should have been in Vegas as he got known for getting some of the craziest suck outs on him of all time. One hand in particular he had the absolute nuts against Glenn Neighbors. We were down to less then 20 people and both Rod and Glenn had all the chips in the middle. Glenn was for all intense purposes out. Glenn went runner-runner diamonds to his a gut shot straight flush on the river. Glenn was down to 1 out on the river the 10 of diamonds. After that hand Glenn went on to win the state championship. If you are ever at a Nebraska state tournament that hand is a folklore/legend status and gets brought up every time.
Rodster you will be forever missed around the tables, regionals, state championships, and nationals. We hope the cards are coming your way now and you won't laugh at us from up above when we misplay our hands like the donkeys you always said we were :)
Sincerely,
The whole FPN crew