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#1
07-08-2005, 01:12 AM
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AAmaz0n WSOP trip report Day 0 (long)
I play on Friday, but some preliminary things about the trip.
The flight out was uneventful except for Denise letting me know just before we boarded that we could have upgraded to first class for just $50. I have never flown first class and reminded her that I want to do it just once, before I die. So if I expire during the WSOP due to some freak poker accident I hope that she can never live with herself that we didn't go for it. It's true that on a flight of less than an hour from SoCal to Vegas we would have difficulty consuming more than $50 worth of booze to make it +EV, but I was willing to give it a shot. We were told when we arrived to look for someone in the baggage claim with a Gaming Club sign. I didn't see that, but there was a well dressed limo driver holding up a sign with my name on it like I was some kind of rock star or something. Once I identified myself to him, he immediately proceeded to take our baggage claim checks, refused to let us touch our own bags, and carried all of them out to the car. It was a short limo ride out to the Rio, with the driver alerting the Gaming Club folks to our arrival. I figured that was just him checking in, but we were not our of the car before we were greeted by our hosts. These guys really were determined to make us feel like royalty, I had never been this glad handled in my life. We were ushered to the hotel desk, where the clerk had our reservation waiting. "Two Queens, non smoking?" she inquired. I thought that this was some vague reference to my West Hollywoood shirt that I had on, but actually referred to the fact that we have two queen size beds in our room. We really don't need two, at least not yet, but we have a week to work on that. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] The rooms in the Rio are all suites; 600 sq. ft minimum. It's almost as large as my apartment, but with far less clutter. We unpacked and already had a message waiting on the phone. I was wondering who I owed money to that had tracked me down that quickly, but it was just the Gaming Club hosts with a reminder that we were invited to dinner. We joined the other sponsered players and our hosts, which included Havana Banana on a cool party bus to the MGM. There were some jamming videos playing and the bus conveniently had two poles on either end, so I entertained the troops with a little pole dancing enroute. Dinner at SeaBlue @ the MGM was exquisite. We made up for all the drinks that we missed out on in first class and then some on our hosts tab and had a fabulous meal. Denise and I were both tipsy enough to think about wandering the strip a bit before heading back, but fortunately Havana recognized that we were not in any kind of mode to be making decisions like wandering in the desert heat unescorted and ushered us back on the party bus. After getting us back to the Rio, Havana Banana talked me into getting in some poker to warm up before I started the main event. I should have recognized that not being trusted with the decision to walk or not, but being asked to play cards for money were incongrious, but being the trout that I am, went "sure, why not!" We got into a 4/8 game together, with me having HB on my right. I foolishly thought that somehow this was an advantage. Oh no. He proceeded to pllay like some "tourist on tilt" and sucked out on me time after time. I knew he was g00t the first hand he played when he prefloped raised with 83o and hit a full house on the turn, but he was just getting warmed up. My chip stack rose and fell with regularlity, mostly falling when I got involved with HB. He cracked my QQ with 98, JTs hit two pair but ran into his 97o that rivered a straight, etc. I finally exhausted my chips and patience about the same time and decided to call it a night. Thursday morning I met up with the 2+2 crowd that was hanging out at Starbucks before the start of Day 1 of the main event. I don't recall all the names, but met some of the folks that I'd only read about online. I didn't recognize anyone, but fortunately Denise and I were wearing our Granny Mae shirts, so the other trout clocked us right away and made introductions. I want to thank Vinny again for the shirts; they have been a big hit. Folks who don't know what they are comment on how cool they are, and of course I'm getting the occasional "Sup Bro!" from 2+2 folks that I would otherwise walk right by because I don't know them on sight. We walked over to the tounament area around 11 for the start of play. Geez, the room is massive. Appropriately, the tourney is being played in the Amazon room (I know, they dont' spell it right, but I'll work on getting that fixed). It is simply an amazing sight to see 2000+ folks all playing in one room at one time. I had to walk around for a bit to take in the size of the place and the number of people playing. There is a convention of vendors next to the playing area, and Denise bought me the funkiest "lucky hat" that you ever want to see. I don't normally do hats, but this thing has the suit symbols on it and looks like something that a poker playing "mad hatter" from Alice in Wonderland would wear. I haven't been able to pull a rabbit out of it yet, but will see if I can fit some extra aces in there. There was a delay with the Gaming Club apparel, but it finally came in this afternoon. I figured that they would probably give me one shirt, and then if I survived day 1, they would spring for another. It was with some surprise that I received a whole shopping bag full of stuff from my Gaming Club hosts. Inside were enough shirts to last the entire contest in a couple different styles, all of which were embroidered with my name on the chest. I don't think that I've seen any of the other online sites personalize their gear that way and was quite impressed. Also included in the swag was a digital camera to help document the event. I'll make good use of that tomorrow as I get ready for day 1. I had a revelation just before I left for the event, and will close with that thought. I was trying to get new clothes, hair, makeup, shoes, etc. and didn't get all that done before I left and was frustrated about that. I wanted to cram Harrington's books and don't have time. I looked and looked for the "just perfect" blue faerie figurine to use as a card holder and never got it. So I'm here with just my usual simple makeup, my old broken but fun faerie card holder, and my game hasn't changed. I did get my hair done, but it doesn't look much differnet from the way I usually wear it. At some point it hit me; I'm not going to look like Angelina Joile or play like Gus Hansen between now and the cards hitting the air. I'm still going to look like and play like the AAmaz0n. But that's just going to have to be good enough. I've decided that it is g00t enought for me anyway. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] Wish me luck, I'll try to check in again soon. Shauna 
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#3
07-08-2005, 02:00 AM
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Re: AAmaz0n WSOP trip report Day 0 (long)
[ QUOTE ]
...limo... ...600 sq. ft minimum... ...pole dancing... [/ QUOTE ] Awesome. Good Luck, J
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#5
07-08-2005, 02:39 AM
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Re: AAmaz0n WSOP trip report Day 0 (long)
[ QUOTE ]
It's true that on a flight of less than an hour from SoCal to Vegas we would have difficulty consuming more than $50 worth of booze to make it +EV, but I was willing to give it a shot. [/ QUOTE ] Then you're just not trying hard enough. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] It can be done, a fact to which I can personally attest. GL on Day 1.
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#10
07-08-2005, 09:29 AM
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Re: AAmaz0n WSOP trip report Day 0 (long)
Great Report #1 of hopefully many! Kudos to TGC on treating you and the others like Wales.
ok, after 2 months on TGC wtf were you doing getting in hands vs. ToT? You know better!? You play like AAmaz0n ... you keep enjoying it! Keep us upadted. The Fish
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