Well, this Vegas Death Flu (courtesy of Gracie) just won’t let go of me. Still very low energy and enjoying regular hacking coughs. But, I really need to get my Vegas recap up before the holidays swallow even more of my time. I’m not going to make the mistake of trying to write an epic saga about my adventures this time, but even a summary may require a passel of words. The intention is to bang everything out in one post but it’s possible I may lose steam before I get all the way through.
But let’s get the important things out of the way up front. Thanks to Bill Rini for organizing the whole thing (and anyone else who gave him a hand). Thanks to the Imperial Palace for running a awesome tournament. It exceeded all expectations. Hell, who would think they’d be stupid enough to have an open bar for bloggers for *seven* hours. Thanks to Barry Greenstein, Charlie Shoten and Michael Craig for speaking at the event. Pokerstars hooked us up not only with a ton of great swag but an extra $2000 in the prize pool. For that I am extremely grateful. And thanks to Full Tilt for contributing some free merchandise themselves.
Thursday
I arrive in Vegas at about 11:30pm Thursday night and being unable to raise anyone on the phone I decide to check out the Imperial Palace poker room. I play only one hand before my cellphone rings. It’s Gracie.
“*crackle* … can’t hear … *crackle* … Excalibur … *crackle*”
Good enough. I cash out and hop on the monorail. When I arrive at the MGM I bump into Joaquin, looking a little worse for wear, heading back to the hotel. He tells me that everyone is at the Aladdin. I am skeptical.
“Yeah, they are storming the Aladdin … wait, that’s not right.”
“Excalibur, maybe?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” And with that he lurched into the open monorail car.
At the Excalibur I meet up with a bunch of bloggers and end up at a table with Pauly, Gracie, Derek and Otis‘s brother Jeff. Despite the blogger-heavy table, there were plenty of dead money at the table. Unfortunately the fish would just not take the hook and despite the fact I was able to take some money from the table, the suckouts were frustrating. But the company more than made up for. More bloggers than I could possibly remember dropped by to say hello to Pauly, but I didn’t take enough notes (a theme that ran through the weekend). It was nice to see old friends and new.
I’m pretty sure the night ends with Grubby, Derek, Pauly and myself up at the McDonald’s for some food before heading back to the hotel. The chicken mcnuggets I got were better than they had any right to be. Grubby was even kind enough to give us a lift back to the hotel.
Friday
When I get up shortly after noon I take advantage of my first free buffet coupon. (Thanks again for setting everything up, Bill) It’s not great, but it’s food and it’s free. Afterwards I spot Pablo and Gracie in the poker room and after confirming arrangements for the dorky excursion later that afternoon I find a seat at a 3/6 table. Once again, I find myself ahead after a few hours. This will not be a theme repeated throughout the weekend.
The dorky excursion was fun and a great chance to chat with some bloggers away from the table. I don’t want to out everyone, but scaring Maudie in the first ride was one of the highlights of my weekend, though I did feel very bad about it afterwards. The rides were actually a bit better than I remembered, but that might have been because I was with a bunch of people enjoying themselves. And I’m glad I wasn’t the only one geeky enough to answer most of the trivia questions while we were waiting in line.
After that it was off to the MGM in anticipation of the mixed games set up by Joaquin later that night. Unfortunately I got stuck in a 3/6 game away from all the bloggers and didn’t get the notice when the mixed games opened. I got on the list soon after but was 20 spots down. I was not pleased. Being down in my 3/6 game wasn’t helping either. Bad luck and then a bit of tilt combined to take a large chunk of my buy-in.
Of course, my money lasted a lot longer there than it did when I finally got into the HORSE game. I was at a table with Pauly, Derek, Gracie, Daddy, Al and … ah, and here is where the memory and notes run a little thin. Of course, it didn’t help that drink service at the MGM was constant. I was pretty wasted and only barely remember buying an extra hundred in chips from Gracie at the table. Someone told me the next day that I was playing with an EPT champ but really, I can’t be sure. But it’s a damn good excuse for losing more money. So yeah, there was an EPT champ at my table. And forget the people who said he was playing like a donkey. Donkeys quarter pots, which I can assure you I didn’t do … more than once … or twice. Definitely not more than twice.
Hmmm…this post is already starting to go on. I think I may save my recounting of Saturday and the prolonged blur that was Sunday and Monday for another post.
If I don’t get back here before then, I hope that all three readers have a very Merry Christmas. Or an enjoyable holiday or your choice.