davidross
05-25-2004, 10:28 PM
Thursday
The day finally arrives, and of course there has to be problems. Two of my kids are sick. When I booked the trip we knew there was a bit of a problem with Thursday and Friday since my wife was booked to work those days. I had originally asked my mother to come visit and help out for those two days, but she and my wife decided it wasn’t really necessary. I could get them off to school on Thursday, My oldest daughter could watch them after school until my wife got home. Friday morning would be tougher since my wife leaves at 6:30 AM, so again my daughter was going to have to get the kids ready to go. Now with them home sick I didn’t know what to do. I asked my neighbor who runs a daycare in her home to keep an eye on them for me and she agreed to look in on them every hour. I left them (11 and 9 years old) my phone number and hers and headed for the airport.
I flew through Denver and switched planes. The flights were easy. I reread ‘Positively 5th street’ for inspiration. I had a window from Denver to Vegas and flying over the Rockies is breathtaking. It was night the last time I arrived in Vegas so to see it in the light of day was something new. It’s a pretty big place. I tend to think of it as just a resort, so to see the schools and parks etc. reminds me that people do live here.
I had just dropped my bags in my room at the Plaza when eMark phoned. He had already played a few tournies and was headed over to register for the 7:45 satellite. Sounded good to me and I met him in the lobby.
What a zoo at Binions. The casino is as unspectacular as everyone has told me it would be. I had to meet up with the Empire People to get my Entries. After 3 different stops I was finally just given $500 cash and a hat and t-shirt that they would like me to wear on Saturday for a photo shoot. First you have to stand in line to register and sign a waiver. That took around 30 minutes. Then we stood in another line to pay for the $225 satellite. Another 30 minutes. Then we had around an hour to wait for our tourney to start. We watched the final table of the Omaha event with Negreanu, Deeb and Lederer in it. Lots of celebrity sightings too. I guess the WPT has made these players celebrities. Chris Ferguson getting asked to pose for pictures, Daniel had a line up of girls looking for autographs every time he stepped away from the table. Oh yeah, silicon breasts everywhere.
These super sats run pretty quickly. 500 chips to start with blinds at 25/25 but going up fairly rapidly. The first hour is a rebuy period. I played 1 hand from my BB T6o, flopped a T and won a small pot, then just before the rebuy ended I found AA UTG. Blinds were 50/100 and I made it 200 to go. MP pushed all in, and LP did too. I willingly called, we all had almost the same stacks, I had them each covered by about 50. MP had 99, LP had KK and I tripled up. In a bit of a fluke eMark got moved to the seat on my right. As the antes started neither of us got any cards. eMark was pretty short stacked and managed to double up once, but on his second attempt he was gone. The blinds whittled my stack down, and then I made a too small raise with AJ, got called by the BB, and with an 8 high flop I got the rest of my stack in, and was called by the BB with an 8. IGHN.
I joined eMark in a 10/20 game at the Golden Nuggett. Much nicer poker room, only 3 weeks old they tell me. We had a nice time, each of us winning $200 or so, but he won the bragging rights when his K high flush beat my J high flush the only time we hooked up. Sobe Dude called me, he was in the $1000 super sat back at Binions and was doing well. I went back over there to sweat him a little. He was looking pretty good with only 60 left and 42 seats up for grabs, then he got it all in with JJ in the blind against a button AQ who had him covered. His J’s held up and now he was a lock to get in. They went to break with 50 left, and I went to bed, but he left me a message and I’m pretty sure he’s in. Maybe my turn Friday.
Friday
No World Series for me this year. I spent the day standing in line it seems, for no good reason. I got up around noon and headed over to Binions to see if any 2+2’ers showed up. I met Diplomat and a guy named Mike from Seattle who both had seats, and a young guy named Paul,(who’s posting name I forget) who has been in Vegas for over a month now. I also ran into SobeDude who was still glowing from earning his seat the night before. Afterwards I went to get in line to sign up for the 3:00 PM Super sat and found a line of several hundred people already. And it wasn’t moving. At 3:00 I was no where near the front and was just getting ready to leave when they announced they were delaying the start until 4:00. At 4:00 we could see the front of the line but were clearly not going to make it , but decided to stay in and buy an entry for the 7:45 tourney. Rumours were swirling that they were overbooked now and people would be playing only for alternate seats not actual seats meaning you wouldn’t get into the tournament until someone had busted out. At 4:45 we reached the front of the line and they asked if anyone still wanted in to the 4:00 Super. You would start almost an hour late, but still in the rebuy period. However leaving the line meant I would lose my chance to enter at 7:45 unless I got back in line after busting out. I decided to play anyway and forget any more supers. When I sat down I looked to my right and a couple of seats over sat Amarillo Slim himself. His trademark hat is gone, “Stolen in Calgary” he told me, and I felt ashamed to be Canadian. I didn’t get to play a hand before the 30 minute break where I rebought and added on. After the break I got to play 1 hand from the SB 86s, but got raised by the BB after I had completed behind a limper. Flop came out TT6 and I put all my chips in. The BB thought about it and folded, so did the other guy and I won a decent pot. No more hands for 2 rounds when in the SB again I got in cheap with Qd 9d. This time the flop came Kd Jc 4d and I checked. BB bet and the EP guy called and I pushed all in again. I guess I didn’t have enough chips to push anyone off, The BB had a K and the other guy had a J. My flush and my straight missed and I was out. With a huge lineup already for the last super at 9:00 that night I decided to pass, and play a single table qualifier for 1,025. 10 players and the winner takes all. Back into another lineup. They would just take people 10 at a time, and by counting backwards from the front of the line it looked like I would be on the 3rd table they called. I looked around at the people near me to see if I recognized anybody, but I didn’t. Except the guy behind me started talking to the guy in front of me, and I realized he was Chris Bigler, the Swiss who made at least 1 final table appearance on the WPT. 4 or 5 of the guys around me all joined in the conversation and it was clear they all played against each other a lot. I seriously considered just walking away from this imminent humiliation. But I decided to stick it out, after all I’m trying to qualify for the biggest tournament in the world. I’m going to have to beat good players at some point. One of the guys standing talking to Chris was a great big guy named Tony, who sure wanted everyone in the area to know what a good player he was. He mentioned that he was one of the top 50 or so players in the world, and you could ask Phil or Chris or Daniel. He didn’t need to win a seat, he explained, he was just going to pick up some easy cash. Daniel would give him $25,000 with no questions asked. Then he explained to me that Party poker was rigged so everyone would break even. He knew because he has played a lot of poker, and he recognized when things weren’t on the up and up. I really had a lot of respect for him after all that.
Anyway, they filled a table which included Chris Bigler as the last player, phew, and I was first in line for the next table, when Matt savage came and explained to us that he was canceling all remaining satellites, because he didn’t have seats for the winners. I took my $1,000 and put it back in my pocket. I’m counting that as the only thing I won trying to qualify. So instead, I went and put my name on the list at the nugget for 20/40, and sat down to play blackjack. After quickly dropping $300, Sobe dude wandered by and we went to hospitality suite put on by Party Poker. Talked to Linda Johnson, drank some free booze (imagine free booze in a casino) and ogled the Party poker girls. Every on linme presence seems to be trying to outdo the others with their scantily clad models. I really hated that.
Took about 2 hours to get a seat, but the game was good, and I managed to win $950. Met a Swede named Olaf, who made the 2nd last table in last years big one, and eMark said he’s a top tourney player at Poker Stars. Very aggressive and a little loose, but once I got used to his style I was able to win a few pots from him with turn raises when he folded pretty quickly. The players changed pretty often, it was almost like an online game, and the texture of the game changed a lot as a result. The room stayed busy, every table full, all night. I hear it’s the same in every room in the city.
Saturday.
Slept from 7:00 until noon, then met up with eMark and Scott for Breakfast/Lunch. We headed over to Binions to see the show, and what a zoo. Tables are squeezed in everywhere. As a spectator you can’t get anywhere near the action except for 1 or 2 tables. There are camera crews everywhere, so it’s easy to find the big names. Lots of attention around Moneymaker, Johnny Chan, and as we arrive, so does Phil Hellmuth, making his arrival around 90 minutes late. Upstairs on the TV table are John Hennigan and Men the Master. The atmosphere is pretty electric, but you really can’t tell what’s going on, so after about 20 minutes, we head off to Bellagio.
The wait lists are huge at Bellagio. We put our names down, but it seems clear that we’re hours from a seat. eMark wants to play in a tournament at the Orleans at 7:00, so we decide to split up. I’m going to meet eMark at the Orleans sometime this afternoon, and Sobe is going to stay at the Bellagio before meeting a friend of his who is arriving later in the evening. I head over to the shops at Caesars to shop for gifts for the kids, and a peace offering for my wife. Unfortunately the Fao Schwartz store I remember is under renovations, so I begin to wander all over the strip in search of a toy store. I picked up some diamond earings for my wife, there goes most of last nights winnings. I went into the Venetian, I had missed this my last visit, and it’s beautiful. I end up in the fashion mall before heading off to the Orleans.
eMark is already there playing 10/20 and I join him. We put our names on the tournament list, it’s a $125 no limit tourney with one $100 add on any time in the first hour. I lose $100 before the tournament starts, badly misplaying 2 hands. The first was a bad read. After flopping 2 pair with QT on the button, I am bet into and called, and I raise. The turn is a 2 that puts a possible flush on the board. Checked to me and I bet, and both called. River is a K, and now the 1st guy bets again, and the next guy raises. Faced with the 2 bets, and a possible raise I fold my 2 pair. The first guy calls. The raiser shows just a pair of Kings, with a J kicker and the bettor has Q2 for a worse 2 pair than mine.
Not long after the 2nd hand happens. I called a raise with 66 in MP. The table was pretty loose and I was confident we’d play multi-way. Sure enough, 5 of us see the flop. The flop is Q 5 4, not all that bad for me. Checked to the raiser, who bets, and I raise. I’m hoping that I’m best, and that I can get the 3 players between me and the raiser out. Unfortunately the button 3 bets, and 1 of the blinds calls too. The original raiser just calls, and convinced now that I’m behind I fold. The fold here is terrible. There are now 21 small bets in the pot. I have odds to draw to the 6 without even thinking about implied odds, or runner runner straight possibilities. Of course the 6 turned, and a 5 rivered, and the huge pot was won by a flush that hit when the 5 rivered. Doh!!.
The tournament was very well organized and run. Like everything else in Vegas this week they had way more people than they expected, so the floor staff was very stressed. This was the case everywhere we went this weekend. Pretty tough job when everyone in the room wants constant updates on where they are on the list. We got 500 chips for 125, and you added 1,000 more anytime in the first hour. I wasted a few chips on a blind defense, but won them back plus some more when I found AA in the small blind after 2 people had limped for 100, and another had raised to 400. I went all in for 1300 and got no callers. After the break was my usual story. A couple of all-in blind steals, that won the blinds, then after being moved to a new table and blinds picking up I tried it again from the button with KQs only to find AA in the SB. I went back to the 10/20 game while eMark played on for a couple more hours. He eventually busted out with 4 tables left I think, and I was up 200. We headed back to the Horseshoe to see the remaining players. We discover Moneymaker and Negreanu are out. Hellmuth appears to have a decent stack, and we hear someone has 120,000 chips.
Went back to the Nugget to play some 20/40 from midnight until 7:00 AM and I won another $950. I’m down around $1300 in Tourneys, and up 2300 in ring games. My hand of the trip happened on my very first hand at the Nugget. I took a lot of heat for it. I posted in the BB. There is a raise and at least 4 callers to me and I call with Ac 5c. The flop comes out As Ad 4s. I bet out and the Swede from the prior evening raises me. This raise means nothing. He could have anything, and the 2 other principals in this hand know that. I’ve also had a lot to drink and I am fearing nothing. I’m going to 3 bet his ass. Tight author from Toronto beats me to it. I met him the night before too and his 3 bet does mean something. I’m just not sure what. Now the Oriental guy from Ottawa, who has been whispering advice to me for 2 days including how you have to 3 bet the Swede every time, 4 bets. Whoa. How many aces in this deck? 3 bets cold back to me, and now I make the dubious call. I really haven’t figured out where I am. The swede folds, the author just calls. The turn is the beautiful 5s. I check, the author bets, the OG raises and I 3 bet. The author 4 bets, OG calls, and I cap. They both call. River is a 9, and praying A9 isn’t out there I bet. 2 calls and a $900 pot is mine.
An interesting side note. During the cab ride to Bellagio, Sobe was reading the new magazine “All-in” that has been on display at Binions. It’s a beautiful looking magazine, and a lot of the top players (Ivey, Lederer, Ferguson, Duke, Seidel, Juanda) seem to be involved in some manner. I had already browsed through it, but had put it in my bag to be read on the plane home. As we are driving along, Sobe lets out a loud guffaw. “Listen to this” he says and begins to read from an article on the boom in poker, that quotes online player David Ross. In fact I get quoted several times in the article. You can imagine I took a lot of ribbing for the rest of the weekend from those two. It actually makes me sound like someone who’s opinion was important. I remember doing an e-mail interview with the author, who had told me he would have some follow up questions, but I never heard anything more from him and had forgotten all about it.
Sunday
eMark woke me up with a call at 11:30. He goes to bed earlier then I do, and then keeps waking me up. Bastard. We decide to head over to the Mirage, there is a tournament he wants to play in. I agree, but I’m going to stick with cash games. I’m down $1300 in Supers and Tournaments, and up $2300 in cash games. I think I see a trend. I had promised Sobe though that I would take some pictures of him at his table. I decide to do that first before going to the mirage, so I head over to Binions first. I thought they were starting at 12:00, but they aren’t starting until 1:00, and I get there about 15 minutes before the cards go in the air. Sobe’s table is in the main room just a little away from the TV table. Today’s table has John Juanda and Sam Farha that I recognize. Jesse May is interviewing all the big name Brits as they arrive, and I see Norm MacDonald walking in. They won’t let us into the tournament room yet unless you are playing. I wait with the pokertropolis girls and a woman called pokergirl who is causing a bit of a sensation this week too. When I finally get in, I reaqlise I can’t get anywhere near Sobe’s table to get a photo. I ask a very nice looking british woman with a media badge if she’d go in and take a couple of pictures for me. It turns out her husband is at the same table and she takes my camera in for me. She comes back a second later and tells me she cant get to the side of the table I need to be on to get a picture, so she shows me where I can go. We walk in front of the bleachers set up to watch the TV table, and when we come out on the other side I have a perfect view of Sobe standing up and clutching his temples. I start snapping pictures and my new friends husband come rushing over. “She’s gone all in” he tells us. There is a lady in the 1 seat staring straight ahead. Sobe is just staring into space. I hear him announce his call, and seconds later he walks out of the area and heads straight for the washroom. The tournament is around 8 minutes old. I caught up to him and here is what happened. Blinds are 25/50. Lady in seat 1 raises to 150. Sobe has JJ and makes in 450 to go. The lady calls. Flop is KQJ. Lady checks, and Sobe bets 1,000. The lady pushes all in. That’s when he stood up and went into his think. It’s an 8500 call and he made it. She had AT, and the board didn’t pair. I told him I wouldn’t make the call, but to be fair, I told the story a lot during the day, and a lot of people say they would have called too. I think this is an online answer. In the internet tournies, there is a lot of bluffing, but I can’t imagine anyone making a 9500 chip bluff in the first orbit of the WSOP final.
We got to the Mirage around 2:30 and got seated almost right away in a 10/20 table that is just starting up. Our names are on the 20/40 list and it’s a good thing. The game is really tight. eMark manages to win a little, but I just tread water. The move to 20/40 is a welcome change. There are at least 2 weak loose players. eMark gets in the same game around 20 minutes later. Unfortunately it isn’t my day. We played for 17 hours, and I never see JJ or higher. I run into aces or kings 3 times while I’m holding AK. I have position on the worst players and I never get to take advantage of it. There is a very aggressive guy named Dan who plays at my table for almost the entire 17 hours. He changes seats often, always trying to get on the left of the weakest player at the table. He loves to play heads up and just makes isolation raise after isolation raise. I never get a hand I can 3 or 4 bet him with though. eMark does a few times, and takes some significant change from him. As his chip stack grows, mine keeps shrinking. I finally go on a rush at 6:00 AM and make back $700 to end up down $950. eMark looks to be up around $2K. I have 3 hours to catch a plane and we head back to the Plaza.
Monday
I packed up my bags, and had a shower. I’m a little afraid of long lines at the airport for security. My flight is at 10:20 so at 8:30 I catch a cab. I still need two presents for my older kids, so I’m quite relieved to find the lineups short. I settle on a cap for my son and a shirt for my daughter, and actually have time to eat. I haven’t slept, so my body is all screwed up. I have a burger and fries for breakfast. Meals and sleep have been afterthoughts this whole trip. A burger here, a hot dog there, and one of the best pizza’s I’ve ever tasted from the California pizza kitchen at the Mirage. Then my worst beat fo the weekend. They announce that due to fog in San Francisco we are going to be delayed. My return trip has me jumping to SF to transfer to a Toronto flight, but I have exactly 1 hour between flights and I have to change terminals in SF. Then it gets worse. There is a mechanical problem too and we’re delayed another 30 minutes. Now I’m dead for my transfer. I booked the trip myself online, and chose the journey based on price alone. The direct flights were sold out of the discount seats, but now I see why some people pay the premium. I got to SF 35 minutes after my plane had left to discover the next flight was the red eye leaving at 10:30 that evening. I had 8 hours to kill in SF, no suitcase and a pocketful of US currency. SO I called a cab and headed for Lucky chances. I had 1 hour of sleep o the plane and I was dragging. I got on the list for the 9/18 game and had to wait around 25 minutes for a new table to start up. This was a real eye opener. First of all I couldn’t figure out the drops and blinds. It’s a yellow $3 chip game. The small blind posts $3 and so does the button?? The players were awful, with everyone chasing pretty deep into the hand no matter what. I saw my stack shrink pretty quickly as I got run down again and again. But when your hands held up, wow the pots were big. I finally made some hands and built up a nice stack. Players were in and out so often though. They would sit down, play 5 hands and leave, or win a big pot, then get up and go. Everyone seemed more interested in the bad beat jackpot than anything else. They would chop, but not if they had a royal flush draw, because there was a prize for that too. I played for around 6 hours, and only at the end did I realize there was a 20/40 game going. You didn’t sign up for it at the same desk I went to. Damn!! Anyway I won $400 more before heading to the airport again, totally exhausted by now.
I used my $400 to buy two bottles of Dom Perignon at Duty Free. My sisters 40th birthday is coming up, and I’ve earmarked the bubbly for that. I did manage to sleep on the overnight flight, and then proceeded to sleep all day when I got home. I’m truly pokered out and glad to be home. But it’s back to the online life tonight. A guy has to make a living.
I had such a good time. I love Las Vegas. I got a great deal on the room, $33 for Thursday and Sunday, and $53 for Friday and Saturday. I never once turned on the TV, and I would guess I spent 14 hours in the room in 4 days. I won $1900 in ring games, and lost $1300 in tournaments. I blew $300 playing blackjack, and spent another $750 on gifts. Empire gave me $500 towards the tourneys. I spent very little on food, and nothing on drinks, although I drank more than I have since University days I’m sure. I can’t wait to go back.
eMark and I hit it off right away, as I knew we would. Both family men, glad to be on a fun trip, but always thinking about home. He’s fun to be with and a good poker player. Sobe dude is the guy we married men envy. He’s the bachelor living in South Beach, renting jet skis to the rich and famous. He’s the A type personality as opposed to eMark and my more laid back approach. But he’s a great guy and was on a major roll until that set of J’s ruined his weekend. I think all 3 of us have vowed to fine tune our tournament game and return next year and play.
I preferred playing at the Nugget best of all. I liked the space of the place, and although the staff was pretty new to poker they did an adequate job. I adore the Bellagio Hotel, and would love to stay there with my wife some day. I wish we had been able to play there. The Orleans had the system all computerized and I can’t imagine why the rest of them don’t do that. With screens overhead, everyone knows where they are on the list, you can cross reference players who are on other tables to find them quickly, and when a tournament is coming up the seated players have first chance to enter, without having to line up. It was very well run.
I gained a lot of confidence for my ring game play. I never felt outclassed and I thought I read opponents very well. My tournament play was another thing altogether. I never felt comfortable, and need a lot of work there. It’s kind of amusing now, 2 weeks ago I approached Fossilman for some lessons. He explained that he couldn’t even think about it until after the WSOP and I agreed to get back to him then. Obviously I know my stuff as he sits near the top of the leaderboard at the WSOP right now, but I guess I should have locked in a fixed price. Imagine what he could charge me as a WSOP champion.
Now it’s time to write my book. This was a nice finish to my first year of full time play. Recent results have me excited about this coming year. I met a lot of online players who recognized me when I told them I played as Bucephelus. One guy picked up his cell phone to call his buddy and tell him. That was kind of funny.
The day finally arrives, and of course there has to be problems. Two of my kids are sick. When I booked the trip we knew there was a bit of a problem with Thursday and Friday since my wife was booked to work those days. I had originally asked my mother to come visit and help out for those two days, but she and my wife decided it wasn’t really necessary. I could get them off to school on Thursday, My oldest daughter could watch them after school until my wife got home. Friday morning would be tougher since my wife leaves at 6:30 AM, so again my daughter was going to have to get the kids ready to go. Now with them home sick I didn’t know what to do. I asked my neighbor who runs a daycare in her home to keep an eye on them for me and she agreed to look in on them every hour. I left them (11 and 9 years old) my phone number and hers and headed for the airport.
I flew through Denver and switched planes. The flights were easy. I reread ‘Positively 5th street’ for inspiration. I had a window from Denver to Vegas and flying over the Rockies is breathtaking. It was night the last time I arrived in Vegas so to see it in the light of day was something new. It’s a pretty big place. I tend to think of it as just a resort, so to see the schools and parks etc. reminds me that people do live here.
I had just dropped my bags in my room at the Plaza when eMark phoned. He had already played a few tournies and was headed over to register for the 7:45 satellite. Sounded good to me and I met him in the lobby.
What a zoo at Binions. The casino is as unspectacular as everyone has told me it would be. I had to meet up with the Empire People to get my Entries. After 3 different stops I was finally just given $500 cash and a hat and t-shirt that they would like me to wear on Saturday for a photo shoot. First you have to stand in line to register and sign a waiver. That took around 30 minutes. Then we stood in another line to pay for the $225 satellite. Another 30 minutes. Then we had around an hour to wait for our tourney to start. We watched the final table of the Omaha event with Negreanu, Deeb and Lederer in it. Lots of celebrity sightings too. I guess the WPT has made these players celebrities. Chris Ferguson getting asked to pose for pictures, Daniel had a line up of girls looking for autographs every time he stepped away from the table. Oh yeah, silicon breasts everywhere.
These super sats run pretty quickly. 500 chips to start with blinds at 25/25 but going up fairly rapidly. The first hour is a rebuy period. I played 1 hand from my BB T6o, flopped a T and won a small pot, then just before the rebuy ended I found AA UTG. Blinds were 50/100 and I made it 200 to go. MP pushed all in, and LP did too. I willingly called, we all had almost the same stacks, I had them each covered by about 50. MP had 99, LP had KK and I tripled up. In a bit of a fluke eMark got moved to the seat on my right. As the antes started neither of us got any cards. eMark was pretty short stacked and managed to double up once, but on his second attempt he was gone. The blinds whittled my stack down, and then I made a too small raise with AJ, got called by the BB, and with an 8 high flop I got the rest of my stack in, and was called by the BB with an 8. IGHN.
I joined eMark in a 10/20 game at the Golden Nuggett. Much nicer poker room, only 3 weeks old they tell me. We had a nice time, each of us winning $200 or so, but he won the bragging rights when his K high flush beat my J high flush the only time we hooked up. Sobe Dude called me, he was in the $1000 super sat back at Binions and was doing well. I went back over there to sweat him a little. He was looking pretty good with only 60 left and 42 seats up for grabs, then he got it all in with JJ in the blind against a button AQ who had him covered. His J’s held up and now he was a lock to get in. They went to break with 50 left, and I went to bed, but he left me a message and I’m pretty sure he’s in. Maybe my turn Friday.
Friday
No World Series for me this year. I spent the day standing in line it seems, for no good reason. I got up around noon and headed over to Binions to see if any 2+2’ers showed up. I met Diplomat and a guy named Mike from Seattle who both had seats, and a young guy named Paul,(who’s posting name I forget) who has been in Vegas for over a month now. I also ran into SobeDude who was still glowing from earning his seat the night before. Afterwards I went to get in line to sign up for the 3:00 PM Super sat and found a line of several hundred people already. And it wasn’t moving. At 3:00 I was no where near the front and was just getting ready to leave when they announced they were delaying the start until 4:00. At 4:00 we could see the front of the line but were clearly not going to make it , but decided to stay in and buy an entry for the 7:45 tourney. Rumours were swirling that they were overbooked now and people would be playing only for alternate seats not actual seats meaning you wouldn’t get into the tournament until someone had busted out. At 4:45 we reached the front of the line and they asked if anyone still wanted in to the 4:00 Super. You would start almost an hour late, but still in the rebuy period. However leaving the line meant I would lose my chance to enter at 7:45 unless I got back in line after busting out. I decided to play anyway and forget any more supers. When I sat down I looked to my right and a couple of seats over sat Amarillo Slim himself. His trademark hat is gone, “Stolen in Calgary” he told me, and I felt ashamed to be Canadian. I didn’t get to play a hand before the 30 minute break where I rebought and added on. After the break I got to play 1 hand from the SB 86s, but got raised by the BB after I had completed behind a limper. Flop came out TT6 and I put all my chips in. The BB thought about it and folded, so did the other guy and I won a decent pot. No more hands for 2 rounds when in the SB again I got in cheap with Qd 9d. This time the flop came Kd Jc 4d and I checked. BB bet and the EP guy called and I pushed all in again. I guess I didn’t have enough chips to push anyone off, The BB had a K and the other guy had a J. My flush and my straight missed and I was out. With a huge lineup already for the last super at 9:00 that night I decided to pass, and play a single table qualifier for 1,025. 10 players and the winner takes all. Back into another lineup. They would just take people 10 at a time, and by counting backwards from the front of the line it looked like I would be on the 3rd table they called. I looked around at the people near me to see if I recognized anybody, but I didn’t. Except the guy behind me started talking to the guy in front of me, and I realized he was Chris Bigler, the Swiss who made at least 1 final table appearance on the WPT. 4 or 5 of the guys around me all joined in the conversation and it was clear they all played against each other a lot. I seriously considered just walking away from this imminent humiliation. But I decided to stick it out, after all I’m trying to qualify for the biggest tournament in the world. I’m going to have to beat good players at some point. One of the guys standing talking to Chris was a great big guy named Tony, who sure wanted everyone in the area to know what a good player he was. He mentioned that he was one of the top 50 or so players in the world, and you could ask Phil or Chris or Daniel. He didn’t need to win a seat, he explained, he was just going to pick up some easy cash. Daniel would give him $25,000 with no questions asked. Then he explained to me that Party poker was rigged so everyone would break even. He knew because he has played a lot of poker, and he recognized when things weren’t on the up and up. I really had a lot of respect for him after all that.
Anyway, they filled a table which included Chris Bigler as the last player, phew, and I was first in line for the next table, when Matt savage came and explained to us that he was canceling all remaining satellites, because he didn’t have seats for the winners. I took my $1,000 and put it back in my pocket. I’m counting that as the only thing I won trying to qualify. So instead, I went and put my name on the list at the nugget for 20/40, and sat down to play blackjack. After quickly dropping $300, Sobe dude wandered by and we went to hospitality suite put on by Party Poker. Talked to Linda Johnson, drank some free booze (imagine free booze in a casino) and ogled the Party poker girls. Every on linme presence seems to be trying to outdo the others with their scantily clad models. I really hated that.
Took about 2 hours to get a seat, but the game was good, and I managed to win $950. Met a Swede named Olaf, who made the 2nd last table in last years big one, and eMark said he’s a top tourney player at Poker Stars. Very aggressive and a little loose, but once I got used to his style I was able to win a few pots from him with turn raises when he folded pretty quickly. The players changed pretty often, it was almost like an online game, and the texture of the game changed a lot as a result. The room stayed busy, every table full, all night. I hear it’s the same in every room in the city.
Saturday.
Slept from 7:00 until noon, then met up with eMark and Scott for Breakfast/Lunch. We headed over to Binions to see the show, and what a zoo. Tables are squeezed in everywhere. As a spectator you can’t get anywhere near the action except for 1 or 2 tables. There are camera crews everywhere, so it’s easy to find the big names. Lots of attention around Moneymaker, Johnny Chan, and as we arrive, so does Phil Hellmuth, making his arrival around 90 minutes late. Upstairs on the TV table are John Hennigan and Men the Master. The atmosphere is pretty electric, but you really can’t tell what’s going on, so after about 20 minutes, we head off to Bellagio.
The wait lists are huge at Bellagio. We put our names down, but it seems clear that we’re hours from a seat. eMark wants to play in a tournament at the Orleans at 7:00, so we decide to split up. I’m going to meet eMark at the Orleans sometime this afternoon, and Sobe is going to stay at the Bellagio before meeting a friend of his who is arriving later in the evening. I head over to the shops at Caesars to shop for gifts for the kids, and a peace offering for my wife. Unfortunately the Fao Schwartz store I remember is under renovations, so I begin to wander all over the strip in search of a toy store. I picked up some diamond earings for my wife, there goes most of last nights winnings. I went into the Venetian, I had missed this my last visit, and it’s beautiful. I end up in the fashion mall before heading off to the Orleans.
eMark is already there playing 10/20 and I join him. We put our names on the tournament list, it’s a $125 no limit tourney with one $100 add on any time in the first hour. I lose $100 before the tournament starts, badly misplaying 2 hands. The first was a bad read. After flopping 2 pair with QT on the button, I am bet into and called, and I raise. The turn is a 2 that puts a possible flush on the board. Checked to me and I bet, and both called. River is a K, and now the 1st guy bets again, and the next guy raises. Faced with the 2 bets, and a possible raise I fold my 2 pair. The first guy calls. The raiser shows just a pair of Kings, with a J kicker and the bettor has Q2 for a worse 2 pair than mine.
Not long after the 2nd hand happens. I called a raise with 66 in MP. The table was pretty loose and I was confident we’d play multi-way. Sure enough, 5 of us see the flop. The flop is Q 5 4, not all that bad for me. Checked to the raiser, who bets, and I raise. I’m hoping that I’m best, and that I can get the 3 players between me and the raiser out. Unfortunately the button 3 bets, and 1 of the blinds calls too. The original raiser just calls, and convinced now that I’m behind I fold. The fold here is terrible. There are now 21 small bets in the pot. I have odds to draw to the 6 without even thinking about implied odds, or runner runner straight possibilities. Of course the 6 turned, and a 5 rivered, and the huge pot was won by a flush that hit when the 5 rivered. Doh!!.
The tournament was very well organized and run. Like everything else in Vegas this week they had way more people than they expected, so the floor staff was very stressed. This was the case everywhere we went this weekend. Pretty tough job when everyone in the room wants constant updates on where they are on the list. We got 500 chips for 125, and you added 1,000 more anytime in the first hour. I wasted a few chips on a blind defense, but won them back plus some more when I found AA in the small blind after 2 people had limped for 100, and another had raised to 400. I went all in for 1300 and got no callers. After the break was my usual story. A couple of all-in blind steals, that won the blinds, then after being moved to a new table and blinds picking up I tried it again from the button with KQs only to find AA in the SB. I went back to the 10/20 game while eMark played on for a couple more hours. He eventually busted out with 4 tables left I think, and I was up 200. We headed back to the Horseshoe to see the remaining players. We discover Moneymaker and Negreanu are out. Hellmuth appears to have a decent stack, and we hear someone has 120,000 chips.
Went back to the Nugget to play some 20/40 from midnight until 7:00 AM and I won another $950. I’m down around $1300 in Tourneys, and up 2300 in ring games. My hand of the trip happened on my very first hand at the Nugget. I took a lot of heat for it. I posted in the BB. There is a raise and at least 4 callers to me and I call with Ac 5c. The flop comes out As Ad 4s. I bet out and the Swede from the prior evening raises me. This raise means nothing. He could have anything, and the 2 other principals in this hand know that. I’ve also had a lot to drink and I am fearing nothing. I’m going to 3 bet his ass. Tight author from Toronto beats me to it. I met him the night before too and his 3 bet does mean something. I’m just not sure what. Now the Oriental guy from Ottawa, who has been whispering advice to me for 2 days including how you have to 3 bet the Swede every time, 4 bets. Whoa. How many aces in this deck? 3 bets cold back to me, and now I make the dubious call. I really haven’t figured out where I am. The swede folds, the author just calls. The turn is the beautiful 5s. I check, the author bets, the OG raises and I 3 bet. The author 4 bets, OG calls, and I cap. They both call. River is a 9, and praying A9 isn’t out there I bet. 2 calls and a $900 pot is mine.
An interesting side note. During the cab ride to Bellagio, Sobe was reading the new magazine “All-in” that has been on display at Binions. It’s a beautiful looking magazine, and a lot of the top players (Ivey, Lederer, Ferguson, Duke, Seidel, Juanda) seem to be involved in some manner. I had already browsed through it, but had put it in my bag to be read on the plane home. As we are driving along, Sobe lets out a loud guffaw. “Listen to this” he says and begins to read from an article on the boom in poker, that quotes online player David Ross. In fact I get quoted several times in the article. You can imagine I took a lot of ribbing for the rest of the weekend from those two. It actually makes me sound like someone who’s opinion was important. I remember doing an e-mail interview with the author, who had told me he would have some follow up questions, but I never heard anything more from him and had forgotten all about it.
Sunday
eMark woke me up with a call at 11:30. He goes to bed earlier then I do, and then keeps waking me up. Bastard. We decide to head over to the Mirage, there is a tournament he wants to play in. I agree, but I’m going to stick with cash games. I’m down $1300 in Supers and Tournaments, and up $2300 in cash games. I think I see a trend. I had promised Sobe though that I would take some pictures of him at his table. I decide to do that first before going to the mirage, so I head over to Binions first. I thought they were starting at 12:00, but they aren’t starting until 1:00, and I get there about 15 minutes before the cards go in the air. Sobe’s table is in the main room just a little away from the TV table. Today’s table has John Juanda and Sam Farha that I recognize. Jesse May is interviewing all the big name Brits as they arrive, and I see Norm MacDonald walking in. They won’t let us into the tournament room yet unless you are playing. I wait with the pokertropolis girls and a woman called pokergirl who is causing a bit of a sensation this week too. When I finally get in, I reaqlise I can’t get anywhere near Sobe’s table to get a photo. I ask a very nice looking british woman with a media badge if she’d go in and take a couple of pictures for me. It turns out her husband is at the same table and she takes my camera in for me. She comes back a second later and tells me she cant get to the side of the table I need to be on to get a picture, so she shows me where I can go. We walk in front of the bleachers set up to watch the TV table, and when we come out on the other side I have a perfect view of Sobe standing up and clutching his temples. I start snapping pictures and my new friends husband come rushing over. “She’s gone all in” he tells us. There is a lady in the 1 seat staring straight ahead. Sobe is just staring into space. I hear him announce his call, and seconds later he walks out of the area and heads straight for the washroom. The tournament is around 8 minutes old. I caught up to him and here is what happened. Blinds are 25/50. Lady in seat 1 raises to 150. Sobe has JJ and makes in 450 to go. The lady calls. Flop is KQJ. Lady checks, and Sobe bets 1,000. The lady pushes all in. That’s when he stood up and went into his think. It’s an 8500 call and he made it. She had AT, and the board didn’t pair. I told him I wouldn’t make the call, but to be fair, I told the story a lot during the day, and a lot of people say they would have called too. I think this is an online answer. In the internet tournies, there is a lot of bluffing, but I can’t imagine anyone making a 9500 chip bluff in the first orbit of the WSOP final.
We got to the Mirage around 2:30 and got seated almost right away in a 10/20 table that is just starting up. Our names are on the 20/40 list and it’s a good thing. The game is really tight. eMark manages to win a little, but I just tread water. The move to 20/40 is a welcome change. There are at least 2 weak loose players. eMark gets in the same game around 20 minutes later. Unfortunately it isn’t my day. We played for 17 hours, and I never see JJ or higher. I run into aces or kings 3 times while I’m holding AK. I have position on the worst players and I never get to take advantage of it. There is a very aggressive guy named Dan who plays at my table for almost the entire 17 hours. He changes seats often, always trying to get on the left of the weakest player at the table. He loves to play heads up and just makes isolation raise after isolation raise. I never get a hand I can 3 or 4 bet him with though. eMark does a few times, and takes some significant change from him. As his chip stack grows, mine keeps shrinking. I finally go on a rush at 6:00 AM and make back $700 to end up down $950. eMark looks to be up around $2K. I have 3 hours to catch a plane and we head back to the Plaza.
Monday
I packed up my bags, and had a shower. I’m a little afraid of long lines at the airport for security. My flight is at 10:20 so at 8:30 I catch a cab. I still need two presents for my older kids, so I’m quite relieved to find the lineups short. I settle on a cap for my son and a shirt for my daughter, and actually have time to eat. I haven’t slept, so my body is all screwed up. I have a burger and fries for breakfast. Meals and sleep have been afterthoughts this whole trip. A burger here, a hot dog there, and one of the best pizza’s I’ve ever tasted from the California pizza kitchen at the Mirage. Then my worst beat fo the weekend. They announce that due to fog in San Francisco we are going to be delayed. My return trip has me jumping to SF to transfer to a Toronto flight, but I have exactly 1 hour between flights and I have to change terminals in SF. Then it gets worse. There is a mechanical problem too and we’re delayed another 30 minutes. Now I’m dead for my transfer. I booked the trip myself online, and chose the journey based on price alone. The direct flights were sold out of the discount seats, but now I see why some people pay the premium. I got to SF 35 minutes after my plane had left to discover the next flight was the red eye leaving at 10:30 that evening. I had 8 hours to kill in SF, no suitcase and a pocketful of US currency. SO I called a cab and headed for Lucky chances. I had 1 hour of sleep o the plane and I was dragging. I got on the list for the 9/18 game and had to wait around 25 minutes for a new table to start up. This was a real eye opener. First of all I couldn’t figure out the drops and blinds. It’s a yellow $3 chip game. The small blind posts $3 and so does the button?? The players were awful, with everyone chasing pretty deep into the hand no matter what. I saw my stack shrink pretty quickly as I got run down again and again. But when your hands held up, wow the pots were big. I finally made some hands and built up a nice stack. Players were in and out so often though. They would sit down, play 5 hands and leave, or win a big pot, then get up and go. Everyone seemed more interested in the bad beat jackpot than anything else. They would chop, but not if they had a royal flush draw, because there was a prize for that too. I played for around 6 hours, and only at the end did I realize there was a 20/40 game going. You didn’t sign up for it at the same desk I went to. Damn!! Anyway I won $400 more before heading to the airport again, totally exhausted by now.
I used my $400 to buy two bottles of Dom Perignon at Duty Free. My sisters 40th birthday is coming up, and I’ve earmarked the bubbly for that. I did manage to sleep on the overnight flight, and then proceeded to sleep all day when I got home. I’m truly pokered out and glad to be home. But it’s back to the online life tonight. A guy has to make a living.
I had such a good time. I love Las Vegas. I got a great deal on the room, $33 for Thursday and Sunday, and $53 for Friday and Saturday. I never once turned on the TV, and I would guess I spent 14 hours in the room in 4 days. I won $1900 in ring games, and lost $1300 in tournaments. I blew $300 playing blackjack, and spent another $750 on gifts. Empire gave me $500 towards the tourneys. I spent very little on food, and nothing on drinks, although I drank more than I have since University days I’m sure. I can’t wait to go back.
eMark and I hit it off right away, as I knew we would. Both family men, glad to be on a fun trip, but always thinking about home. He’s fun to be with and a good poker player. Sobe dude is the guy we married men envy. He’s the bachelor living in South Beach, renting jet skis to the rich and famous. He’s the A type personality as opposed to eMark and my more laid back approach. But he’s a great guy and was on a major roll until that set of J’s ruined his weekend. I think all 3 of us have vowed to fine tune our tournament game and return next year and play.
I preferred playing at the Nugget best of all. I liked the space of the place, and although the staff was pretty new to poker they did an adequate job. I adore the Bellagio Hotel, and would love to stay there with my wife some day. I wish we had been able to play there. The Orleans had the system all computerized and I can’t imagine why the rest of them don’t do that. With screens overhead, everyone knows where they are on the list, you can cross reference players who are on other tables to find them quickly, and when a tournament is coming up the seated players have first chance to enter, without having to line up. It was very well run.
I gained a lot of confidence for my ring game play. I never felt outclassed and I thought I read opponents very well. My tournament play was another thing altogether. I never felt comfortable, and need a lot of work there. It’s kind of amusing now, 2 weeks ago I approached Fossilman for some lessons. He explained that he couldn’t even think about it until after the WSOP and I agreed to get back to him then. Obviously I know my stuff as he sits near the top of the leaderboard at the WSOP right now, but I guess I should have locked in a fixed price. Imagine what he could charge me as a WSOP champion.
Now it’s time to write my book. This was a nice finish to my first year of full time play. Recent results have me excited about this coming year. I met a lot of online players who recognized me when I told them I played as Bucephelus. One guy picked up his cell phone to call his buddy and tell him. That was kind of funny.