Well for those of you who dont know, I was in Vegas for the WSOP from May 18-29. Let me say one thing first... WoW. Absolutely unbelievable. The place was an absolute zoo. And I cant wait to go back next year.
So everyone can catch up, a buddy of mine and I decided to fly out about 3 days before we left, on the 15th. Another friend of mine who was already in town decided we should stay with him, so as far as lodging was concerned, we were golden. The funny thing is though, I didnt even know where we were staying until we got there. The Las Vegas club. Fuck. Oh well. $39 a night split three ways is a damn good price, and its location is ideal for the WSOP. (Right across from Binions)
So here I am, in WASHINGTON, and I cant believe I only brought $2900 with me to fucking Vegas. What was I gonna play? Well as soon as we land I am in a casino. On the Strip, at the Mirage. The only game I'm interested in is the $20-$40 game, and I immediately sit down. I start off pretty hot, and have the game beat for around $700, before I give it all back plus $300, and for my fist 3 hours in Vegas, I am already stuck. So fuck the $20-$40 at the Mirage. We go to Binions.
So what to play? What to play? Hmmm.... Well my options are pretty limited, (more on this later) I finally decide to play in a $525 satellite. This is when I meet Patty Gallagher. What a firecracker she is. (For those who dont know, Patty took 3rd in the $5000 Limit Hold Em' event and when busted promptly gave each of the two remaining players the bird) Anyways, she gets busted with 2c3c and I make it to the final three. All about even in chips, I get my money in with AK vs. KT and get relieved of my chips when the Ts hits the flop. And now I'm stuck $800.
Well Fuck me.
The next day I play in a $5-$10 NL game, and wouldn't you know it, Puggy Pearson sits into the game. (He's on the $50-$100 stud hi/lo list, so he doesn't play long) However, I do play an interesting hand with him. In MP Puggy raises to $50, and with 2 cold callers in front of me, I call with the two Black 8's on the button. The flop [8h-8d-9d] is pretty good... and he bets $75. Both players call so I flat-call on the button with quads. The turn card [7s] gets checked around, and on the river [4s] Puggy bets $150. The two cold callers fold, and I raise to $300. He calls me with AK, and gives me a quick glance as I turn my hand over. Nice.
Ok Ok so I am going nowhere here I know. But I was having fun. I played some $40-$80 at the Mirage with Gavin Griffin. (If he is reading this, I am the guy who flat called 4 bets cold with an open ender in the pot that got chopped 4 ways. And I was REALLY short stacked, so I was looking for something to happen) And I played some PLO with O' Neil Longston. Let me say this, $5-$10-$20 PLO is one helluva game. And was my most profitable for the trip.
In the PLO game above, the $20 refers to the winner of the previous pot, who has to post a forced $20 blind no matter where he is in relation to the button. It creates a lot of action. Anyways, I pick up AhKd8d8s and call a $60 raise in the BB. The flop of [Kc-8h-7h] is pretty good for my hand, and with about $2000 in front of me, I am looking to win a decent sized pot, but am worried about the potential draws out there. The SB checks, I check, and a Very good player, bets the pot. The player on his immediate left re-raises the pot from the cutoff seat, and it is folded to me. I think for awhile (I think the re-raiser has a wrap draw to the staright with a shitty heart draw, since I have the Ah and a K, I'm not worried about set over set) I re-raise the pot and me and the Cutoff seat get All-In. He shows 5s6h7cKh. (In PLO, when two players are all in, you can decide to run the turn and river cards twice, thus producing two seperate outcomes. In order to scoop the pot, you must win both times. If you win one and lose one, you split, and if you lose lose, you get scooped) With his heart draw and open ender against my set, it is a good time to run it twice, we do, and my set of eights hold up both times. Nice little double up eh?
Ok ok so I am rambling. Let me tell you some of the Fun Facts about the trip.
#1) Watched Phil Ivey play heads up $30,000-$60,000 and $50,000-$100,000. He had four racks of $25,000 chips in front of him, and one rack of $5000 chips. Thats right.... do the math.... 10.5 mil.
#2) Talked to Chip Reese for a while at the Golden Nugget. He was playing the $4000-$8000 mixed games, and we ran into eachother on the way to the bathroom and chatted awhile. (He asked how I was doing? I'm playing 1/2 PLO-1/2 PLH, he's playing $4000-$8000, he really cares?...lol)
#3) Sweated Mike Matusow the whole first day of the WSOP. He was telling me about some of his hand, and what he was thinking, he started on what was easily the worst table to start on, they only lost one player all day. But he did say that had I shopwed up just a day earlier, he would have put me in the WSOP, if only he could have...
#4) Watched Sammy Farha (whose girl is unbelievable) play heads up PLO against Bobby Baldwin. With a twist. With $2000-$4000 blinds, Sammy gave Bobby the button on EVERY hand. And Bobby had to give him 20% of his money back if Farha lost. And lost he did. $500,000 the first night. Ouch.
#5) Met PokerAngel. That was neat. Didn't get a chance to talk much, but he was a nice guy. Also, he was flawless at the final table. I was proud to say I knew him. (think parents at a junior high basketball game screaling "thats my kid!")
#6) Tried to talk Johnny Chan into playing the $20-$40 game I was playing at the Nugget. To no avail, however.
Well anyways, skip ahead to the last day I was there, I go to the Bellagio with my buddy and the girl who won the WPO 2004 Stud Hi/Lo event and I play in the $80-$160 game and for as long as I played, I didn't do very good. In 5 hours. I made a whopping $180. How does Ben Stein say it? Wow.
So I make about $5000 for the trip, which all in all, was not too bad. I will be going to Commerce soon, for the Cal. St. Poker Championships, and I can't wait. Hopefully can do more than $5000 though.
And please, Fossilman, take off those stupid glasses. But great playing. And congrats.
