Saturday, July 4, 2009

The WSOP Event That Never Was

Maybe one person out there thought I fell off the face of the Earth, but I assure you loyal reader the reports of my demise are sorely mistaken.

So I made it out to Vegas on Thurs the 25th and the first thing I did after checking in to my IP room was to obv go play poker. I met up with Tuscaloosa John and SmBoatDrinks (Mike) downstairs in the IP poker room where the blogger mixed game was supposed to happen. It did not, so we decided to move on and we ended up going to the Venetian to play. We didn't wait long as a 6/12 HORSE game was starting up and with us 3 added we completed the 8 person table.
Hung around for 2 hours and I ended up only losing $37, not bad.

After that I dropped my phone off in my hotel room to charge, and I met John downstairs and we headed over to Ceasar's poker room where Mike was sweatin his buddy who was in a tourney. After that we headed over to the Rio....

My whole plan was to register early for event 51 because I knew it was the last big donkament before the ME (there ws one on Monday but the weekend events usually draw pretty big.)
Before I did that of course I had to see IT. IT being the Amazon room, the place I've seen in my dreams and on TV, IT did not disappoint. Right off the bat I brushed by Chris Ferguson who was signing some autographs for fans. Also got to see Allen Cunningham sitting directly to the left of Barry Greenstein. Hevad Khan walked up and stood right next to me (all my mind kept thinking was "BULLDOZER", like Im sure he doesnt get that a lot) dude is a lot taller than I thought he'd be. Say the main man himself, Hellmuth, smiling and getting a massage. Looked like he was doing well in the O8 tourney he was in. I don't get starstruck, but this was about close to the pros as I have gotten in my 7 year poker obsession.

Then it came time to register which I did and had no trouble doing, and after that I was super tired and left John and Mike to go get some sleep.

Friday, I got my AA cracked at the IP poker room which was good for 100, then I met up with my buddy Eric and his girlfriend Hope, or rather they met up with me at the craps table and we headed off to get some lunch and walk around the Strip a lil bit. Around 4pm Hope took off to some class and me and E went to play some blackjack at O'Sheas. I will note that BJ is a lot different in CT than it is in Vegas. A lot of places pay 6 to 5 for a blackjack and a bunch use automated shufflers, which I absolutely detest, and finally soft 17s seem to always be hittable. I did not do well at this adventure, but O'Sheas did have a good cover band that played while we were losing money. After that we headed to Outback for dinner, Hope got sick and went back to their room and me and E played some more BJ at the IP.

Saturday (A day that shall live in infamy) was THE day. Naturally I couldn't sleep very well the night before but unexpectedly I was wide awake. I headed over to the Rio early (like 8-9amish) with the intention of getting in line for Brunson & Caro's seminar but instead I was drawn into actually playing a Rio 2-5NL cash game. I got seated with a lively bunch, consisting of 3 Scotsmen, a Fillipeno, and by the looks of it some tired Americans.
I spent the first 30-45 minutes folding and watching how this game shook out. The Euros were loose and crazy as was the Fillipeno, and the Americans were tight. I decided the first hand I actually raised and played with had to be sub-par for fear of getting no action. So I got J-8 on the button and I raised 3x BB and picked up one caller a crazy scotsman. Flop was A-J-x and I led out into it maintaining my tight image of only playing the nuts. Scotsman called and we checked the turn & river. I showed my J and he mucked. Won my first pot. Later on got the Fillipeno to fold a K on a A-K-x board with my pocket Js. I was up a good 200 before I gave it all back and then some, mostly on a hand where I had QQ with a raiser in front of me I bumped to 150 and got 4 callers. Folded when someone pushed on a A-K-Xhh flop and someone called. Flush draw vs top pair, flush got there when the Qh hit on the turn, and my quads would have come in with a Q also on the river.
Ended up my cash game session 200 down but feeling very confident about my Hold'em playing, then Event 51 started....

To be continued....

3 comments:

Jordan said...

I'm also not one to get starstruck, but when I dealt a charity poker event hosted by Hellmuth with Ivey and Annie Duke in attendance, I practically creamed in my pants. Go figure.

lightning36 said...

O'Shea's is best for watching beer pong and catching fast food late at night.

Hammer Player a.k.a Hoyazo said...

So when do we get to hear the rest of the story? I'm just glad you got to play in WSOP #51 to begin with, I thought by getting there way early for the event I would ensure being there in time to register, only to find out that the event sold out a good 36 hours prior to start time.

So let's go already with the updates!!