[midas]

Arrive at FW Sunday around 11:00 a.m. realizing that the WSOP is in town and I may have to wait an hour for a 4-8 or 5-10 table. No problem, I'm staying overnight so an hour won't make any difference - what an understatement!

Problem #1. As I walk in the room is packed and in chaos - half the cash game tables are being used by the $500 buy-in tournament and there are hundreds of people milling around waiting for a table.

Problem #2. I think a 1/2 hour before I arrive, the new computerized board crashed and the guys who are running the boards are completely clueless on what to do - there was no contigency plan for a crash. Any one who had their name in before the crash thinks their name has been lost and are crowding the sign-up area. Around 11:30, tempers are starting to get heated as seats are opening up and the floors aren't seating anyone unitl the computer is back online - I'm thinking pepper spray could help right about now. Around 11:30, they start talking down names on paper and start calling names from a screen that was frozen with an on-screen list. At 12:30 the computer is back up and now people are waiting on line to see if their name is on the list and to sign up for games. The projected video screen shows only the next 20 people on the list but as I approach the board, I ask for a total count on the list - around 12:45 there are 105 people waiting for 2 5-10 tables and about 80+ waiting for 4 2-4 and 4 4-8 tables. Realizing that 5-10 is not in my immediate future - I put my name on everything from 2-4 thru 10-20 (the computer make this very easy). Around 1:30, most of the tournament tables upstairs break and they start opening 4-8 tables and I get seated at 2:00 (2 names have moved on the 5-10 list).

While I am a big fan of technology, I really don't see the improvement with this new computerized system. There is no labor savings and the only advantage is that a person with normal eyesight can read the board from anywhere in the poker room.

All in all, once I was seated everything was fine and poker took my attention way from a dismal Patriots game. Ended-up +$150 after taking a bad beat on a monster pot near the end of the night playing 5-10 - when the BB calls my KK preflop raise with K6 off - flop is 6 rag rag. He's betting, I'm raising and he's calling. Turn rag. River a friggin 6 [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] Wanted to stay and play with this guy all night but he drags the monster and bolts. C'est la Vie in the cheap seats.