Vegas trip report 7/1-7/7 -- WSOP satellites, etc. (long)

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The most important thing to take away from this long and probably boring trip report: GO TO THE WSOP NEXT YEAR. Even if you're not in the main event. Even if you don't have a ton of money to gamble with. It's a blast just hanging around in the room and playing some of the single-table satellites -- and it can be profitable, too.

As I told a friend, it's the most glorious poker orgy I've ever seen.

Anyway, we stayed at the Monte Carlo. Room was fine, although there were a bunch of hairs all over the place (sink, toilet, tub) when we got there, so they cleaned it up and gave us a $50 restaurant comp.

I really enjoyed the MC's on-site brewpub. The beers were good and the food was OK. It's a little pricey at $4.50 a beer (especially since you can get them for free when you're gambling), but the only real drawback I noticed is that they play the music too loud at night. I don't mind loud music if I'm there to listen to music, but when I want to talk to friends at a brewpub and I have to shout, it's a bit much.

Saturday
Checked out the Monte Carlo poker room, which was small but nice. The staff was friendly and I generally liked the dealers. I only played 2-4 and 3-6 and found that the players were mostly either brand-new to casino poker or old Vegas rocks. The MC does high-hand jackpots for quads or better. Thank God. I didn't do well at the 2-4 or the 3-6, but hit quad 3s for $430. They also spread 4-8 and a 1-2 NL with $100 min buyin and $200 max.

Saturday night we had dinner at Commander's Palace at the Aladdin. I cannot recommend this place highly enough. Creole food at its finest. The service is spectacular and the food is incredible. Be prepared to spend about $150 for two people (with appetizers, drinks and tip), but it's worth it. My wife had turtle soup and loved it. I had the Commander's platter, which has homemade sausage, filet mignon and something else I can't remember because the other two things were so damn good.

After dinner, we played craps at the Aladdin and Paris. I did not fare well. I must stop playing craps.

Sunday
Three words: Spice Market Buffet. We had dinner there (at the Aladdin) and it was worth every penny of the $29.99. From king crab legs to wonderful Mediterranean food, they've got a little bit of everything. Or actually, a lot of everything. I kept walking by people who were eating bread and salad and thinking, "What are you doing filling up with that? There are CRAB LEGS to be had!" Two plates -- no dessert -- and I was done. But very satisfied.

After dinner we went to the Amazing Johnathan show at the Sahara. He's a comedian/magician who has appeared on Letterman, Comedy Central, etc. I suppose it depends on what kind of humor you like, but I find him hilarious. What I did NOT find hilarious was the fact that we paid about $15 extra for Golden Circle seats, tipped the maitre'd $20 and STILL got a crappy table on the side of the stage. We couldn't even see a couple of the bits in the act because the setup of the stage blocked us. I'll be bitching to the Sahara about that -- I talked to the Amazing Johnathan's manager after the show, and he offered us a comp to the next night's show, but I didn't want to go back again after having just seen the show (and heard the parts we couldn't see). I just think it's crappy that I paid more for premium seats and then got stuck with worse seats than people who paid less. But enough bitching.

After the show we took the monorail over to Harrah's and walked to the Wynn. Wow. What a place. I won't go into detail because it's been done here already, but it's pretty amazing. Very similar to the Bellagio, though, I thought.

Tuesday
After my wife flew home in the morning, I headed over to the Rio to check out the WSOP satellites. The room is huge, and the amount of activity was staggering. I can only imagine what it's like now, during the main event. But I was very pleased to find out that they do all kinds of satellites -- not just the $225 supers and $1,000 single-tables.

Before I even really knew what was going on (these smaller satellites aren't scheduled; they're SNGs, so there's no master listing or anything), I sat down at a $125 10-person satellite. The winner of the $125s gets two $500 tournament entry chips and $120 in cash. The chips can be used to enter other satelittle or bracelet events, or they can be sold quite easily at face value to others who are entering events.

I played very tight for the first half-hour or so; I was nervous and I'm sure it showed. But I held on and made it to heads-up, then cut a deal with the guy (we were about even in chips): We each would get a $500 chip and play for the $120 in cash. About 10 minutes later, I had the $120 and a $500 chip, which I promptly sold. I was thrilled.

I then played in two $50 SNGs. These have two winners -- the last two standing each get a $200 voucher to one of the super satellites and $25 in cash. At least, I think that's what they get. I sucked in both of these and didn't finish higher than sixth.

I stopped playing for the day after this and instead checked out the WSOP store. There was some decent stuff and the prices seemed pretty reasonable to me.

Wednesday
Played in three $65 SNGs. The winner gets a $500 chip plus $70 in cash. In the first one, a guy was down to his last T200 and was all-in in the big blind. The small blind, who was the chip leader by a long shot, folded rather than calling the extra $100, keeping the all-in guy alive. That looks like a big mistake now, as four suckouts later, the all-in guy was about even in chips with him. A few hands later, the former leader was out. After I got heads-up with the all-in guy, I made an idiot play, pushing with ace-high on a queen-high flop. He called immediately, showed a queen and had me outchipped 7-to-1. He was so thrilled to be in the lead that I made him an offer: "Hey, why don't you give me my money back and you can have the $500 chip?" I was stunned when he accepted, but I think he had sucked out so many times that he knew I could pull the same comeback if I got lucky. I was very happy to get my $65 back.

After blowing my second $65 of the day, I finally made some money on my third one -- though it required some suckouts on my part. With three players left and me on the short stack, I pushed with A-4, got called by A-10 and survived when the board double-paired for a very lucky chop. I was able to make the final two, and we cut a deal where we each were guaranteed $125 and played for the rest, which I won.

Finally, I played in one more $125 tourney and finished third.

Also on Wednesday, they opened the "World Series of Poker Lifestyles Show" which is like a big poker convention. It was pretty cool, and they gave out a ton of free stuff. Companies from Poker Stars to Bodog to guys who make dealer buttons with marijuana leaves on them had booths, and it was cool to just walk around. Full Tilt had Jesus signing autographs, and Doyle's Room had Doyle signing. I won a hardcover, signed copy of Super System 2. That was nice.

Well, I've probably already bored everyone to death, but to say it again, it's worth going to the World Series even if you aren't a high roller and even if you don't already have a seat to play in the main event. The atmosphere is great, I met some cool people and had a great time playing in the little satellites. It's almost like an amusement park ride: You get done with a $65 satellite, you get up from the table and go get back in line for another one. It's a hell of a lot of fun. And you can, of course, still win your way into the main event.

Well, that's it for me. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.