Vegas Trip Report...(long)

...At least...that's how it feels.


Met a bunch of new people over the last few days. Its cool how the seminar brought together so many prominent forum posters.


I ambitiously start the day by sleeping in. Gonna take the day off from playing. I get up, eat some Rice Krispies, shower, change and I am off to the seminar. Bright eyed and bushytailed, yessiree!


I pick up Larry f. at the Horseshoe and head over to the Mirage. The room is packed to the gills. I quickly spot my buddy D. Andrew and chill with him for a few minutes. He is happy that I dressed as the Clarkmeister today, what with wearing my Illinios cap and all. Dynasty walks up and points out Mike l. to me. He is sitting at a tightish 20-40 game. I don't get to watch him play any hands, but I vow to catch the forum maniac in the act before he leaves town.


Three o'the clock rolls around and Larry f. and I are walking into the standing room only meeting room. I'd estimate between 110-150 people in attendance.


Mason is talking about bankroll requirements to start off the Seminar. Two highlights from this part:


First, he has to carefully explain to someone how if you are a losing player, there are no bankroll requirements since no amount of bankroll is sufficient.


Second, he mentions how if you lose half your bankroll, it helps to be willing to step down a limit. He makes a point of mentioning that when you are stuck, you do NOT want to move up in limit. Vince Lepore, notorious for his practice of chasing session losses by moving up, loudly asks: "Who would ever do something like that?"


The crowd roundly laughed in appreciation.


We listened to a ton of tournament questions as well as some rehash of topics covered in detail in the 2+2 books. The most interesting part of the Q&A was listening to David elaborate on "The System" for no limit tournament play.


I asked David what types of hands he was willing to defend heads up in the BB against a solid EP raiser. His deadpan response included the classic line: "Well, defending with 9Ts is nice in case the flop is A67"


The room erupted in laughter. Obviously, there was a large contingent of forum posters/lurkers in the room to get that inside joke. David kind of winked in Jim Brier's direction.


I give Mason a ton of credit for telling an audience member that half of Linda Johnson's stud book is total garbage.


Oh, did I mention Linda was in the front row?


Jim Brier was also in attendance, and Mason reiterated that while he hadn't finished reading Middle Limit Holdem, Bob Ciaffonne's books were the best non-2+2 books on the market.


I got to renew ties with Alan Schoonmaker, whom I had previously met when Dave in Cali was in town. What a super nice guy.


Vince Lepore shaved his head. No more Mr. Hyde, but now he looks like Mr. Clean. [img]/images/wink.gif[/img]


3-Bet Brett made the roadie. Was glad to meet this guy. Was fun listening to him giving Mike l. the lowdown on who to play with and who to stay away from in the Commerce 40-80 games. This guy is the real deal.


I met Bob Morgan also. Pokerbabe loves this guy and it easy to see why. I'm guessing thats a Louisiana accent he is sporting. I wish we could get him to post more hands because he pushes edges in territory where most of us don't dare to tread.


The HDPM, High Desert Poker Man made the trip from Idaho. While I didn't know there was any damn desert in Idaho, he was a pleasure to chat with.


Of course, the Vegas crew of Dynasty, Clarkie, Pokerbabe, and D. Andrew were all there.


Tommy Angelo made the meeting as well. For those of you who haven't met Tommy, let me tell you that this dude is as awesome in person as he is on the forum. Don't know what else to say except this guy is simply the best. As genuine as they come.


Got to introduce myself to Mason. I never bothered before because whenever I saw him, he was in a game. I told him that the Forum had some of the best information available anywhere, and that included books. He agreed, and mentioned how amazing it was to him that the information on the forum consistently stayed at such a high level. He also thanked me for participating on the forums, which was very nice.


So the meeting broke. We all chit-chat for a while and it is off to the cardroom for Clarkie. I tell Tommy I'll be around when he's done with dinner, so I get in the 6-12 game. I talk the High Desert Poker Man into "playing over" one of the absent players. He wins the only hand he is involved in, for an astounding hourly rate of like $60 an hour. You da man, John!


I lose my playover spot and walk around for a bit. I watch Dynasty's 10-20 Stud game for a while. I give play-by-play on several hands in a row. He more or less agrees with my suggested plays. Hmmmmm, maybe I have a stud future after all!


Larry's sister-in-law Paula forgets to put me on the 10-20 holdem list, so I settle for the 6-12 and don't re-sign up for the 10. Heck, I wasn't supposed to play at all today anyways, right? Right. This is just to relax and hang with the boys tonight.


At my table is Jeremy, a local Vegasite who lurks but doesn't post. Also, Tom from Phoenix (another lurker) is there. Met him on my Phoenix roadie last month, and lo and behold, here he is! Sweet. So the 3 of us have fun bullshitting and playing for about 4 hours or so.


I walk back and forth between my table, and Tommy & Mike l.'s 20-40 game. Great conversation, I really clicked with these guys. Got to see Mike steal some blinds with QTo from MP. Ni Han Sur. Also got to see Tommy make a nice defense of his BB with AJo, flopping top two pair and taking down a nice pot. Well done gentlemen!


Back to the 6-12 game, I have one funny hand involving Tom. He limps in EP. I tell him he must have garbage since he couldn't raise. 4 of us take a J84 rainbow flop. I checkraise the button from the BB with J2 and Tom calls 2 cold. I tell him that his 9Ts isn't any good yet. The river is a Q and I go "OOOPS!, it's good now" and check. He goes all in for his last 4 dollars. I muck.


He has, of course, 9Ts.


Eventually, I get tired and decide to head home. Got to meet a ton of new people today, as well as renew some acquaintances. Poker is a people game, and nothing makes that strike home more than meeting the people behind the names that we see here every day.


Hopefully, I'll see you all again before next year's seminar!