Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Goodbye Card Club

Saturday, August 26th, 2006

I still living in exile but I needed to make a post this weekend to congratulate Sean, Brent and the boys on a great 84 episode run on Card Club on Lord Admiral Radio, one of the best poker podcasts out there. They are putting out their last episode this weekend before going into retirement and I just wanted to thank them for all their hand work over the past two years putting together quality poker radio. They will be missed.

No WPBT Summer Classic For Me

Thursday, July 6th, 2006

Wow, look at all the dust that’s collected on this thing. Even I wasn’t sure that I would be able to stay away, but it seems that life has kept me pretty busy.

Unfortunately, this post is not the start of a return for me but merely a notice to some of the few people who are still subscribed to my feed that I’m not going to be attending the WPBT Summer Classic this year. I had the time booked off and was planning on going, but things are just too crazy at work at the moment for me to get away. We landed a rather significant client with a rather tight timeline so I’m stuck here.

Since I’ve mostly fallen off the poker bandwagon I’m not going to miss Vegas too much (though I have been reading WSOP coverage avidly) but I do regret that I’m not going to get a chance to reconnect with some of the friends I made on previous trips.

Have fun guys!

Throwing in the towel

Sunday, February 5th, 2006

Well, there are probably few who actually still visit this dusty little corner of the web, but for the few who do, I just wanted to let you know I’m officially calling it quits. I started this blog up because when I started getting more and more into poker as a hobby. I discovered a great little of community of poker bloggers – and back then, it could actually be called a “little” community, though it was growing fast – and I wanted to be a part of. I had also been looking for an outlet for my writing for some time and I thought a blog might get me over the hump of trying to write a little something every day. For a while it did. Poker and blogging occupied nearly all of my free time for most of a year. But then things started to slow down. There were other demands on my time and I grew a bit weary of poker. I joined my fellow poker bloggers in Vegas last June and again in December and both times it renewed my determination to post here more and play more poker. Unfortunately, each time that drive petered out. The last time I got out only two posts before losing steam. And that was even after one of the craziest days of poker that I’ve ever spent. Rendered delirious by lack of sleep and a quickly worsening flu I cracked king with the hammer, played craps for the first time, cracked Pauly’s QQ playing blind and even wore a bathrobe I won at the Imperial Palace at the poker table. All with some of the best people the poker blogging world has to offer. And somehow I couldn’t get myself to finish writing up the story. (For some of the details and a glory shot of me in the bathrobe (fully clothed underneath, don’t worry) go check out Pauly’s account. Actually, check out this post as well to hear the story of our craps play and 5am poker table mastery)

That should have been my first hint. If I can’t turn out a decent tale after something like that then my heart obviously isn’t in it anymore. I’ve felt guilty about not writing it up just about every day since I came back from that trip. I’ve got this great stuff in my head just waiting to be transcribed but somehow it just never came out. I’ve even got a few sentences that I love in a partially written post, but I can’t seem to find the energy to finish it. I convinced myself it was because I came down with the Gracie Death Flu when I came back and by the time I got better I was just too far removed to write about it properly.

But I was reminding again this past week that while an interesting event in my life will immediately get me thinking about trying to capture it in a post, the follow-through doesn’t come. This past week I got sucker-punched in a bar (don’t worry, I’m fine, though sporting a nice bruise) after little to no provocation. In fact, I couldn’t quite believe I had been struck, though I did have to scramble to retrieve my glasses from the floor. And I never even saw the guy who hit me, before or afterwards. I had this grand story of confusion, careful detective work and finally revenge but when I got to Sunday night without capturing any of it in physical (or digital) words on the page, I realized I’ve moved past this outlet I’ve maintained for the past two years.

Some people will probably say “Duh! He’s written a bare handful of posts in the past year.” And others, though perhaps less sarcastic, will have come to much the same conclusion. I have no plans to tear the site down, so it will likely stay here for at least another year and I’ll likely keep it tucked away somewhere on the web for perpetuity when I get around to finding it a more permanent home. Who knows, I may even follow in the footsteps in bloggers greater than I and resume after a bit of an official hiatus (don’t count on it). And I don’t plan to abandon poker either, though it will continue to be sporadic. I also have no plans to completely severe my ties to the poker blogging community. I’d love to attend the odd poker tournament here and there if they’ll still have an alumni member. And I’ll definitely keep reading them and try to keep in touch with some of the friends I’ve made.

So, thanks to Iggy for pointing people at my blog back in the day. Thank you to Pauly for always being supportive and being friendly even when it’s a chore. Thanks to Hank and Felicia for being so welcoming to a newbie way back in the day. Thanks to Poker Grub, Mean Gene, Joe Speaker and Pauly again for giving me aspirations to write better. Thanks to Gracie and Pablo for being far and away the two coolest people I met on my Vegas trips. And that’s saying something, because I met a lot of exceedingly interesting individuals. And thanks to more poker bloggers than I can properly mention without leaving someone off. Al, Joe … crap, actually it really is impossible to mention them all. Suffice to say, if you remember me you can be sure I remember you and I’m thinking fondly on those memories right now.

And most importantly, I’d like to thank you each and every person who’s ever stopped by here to read a post. Blogs are one of the stranger things to come out of this interweb thingie and it constantly amazes me that anyone has any interest at all in reading anything I have to say. See you around.

Goodbye Las Vegas

Tuesday, December 13th, 2005

Ha, my firefox autocomplete remembered the title of my post from the last time I left Vegas. God bless wireless access in Macarran International Airport.

The weekend was a roaring success despite the horrible illness that is now incubating in me courtesy of Gracie . She thinks it is Avian Bird Flu but I suspect it is something even more horrible. I just hope that I don’t infect the entire plane.

I think I will avoid the grand mult-post saga that I attempted last time I partied with the bloggers in Vegas, but even still, more information is going to have wait until I am a tad more coherent. But I promise I will tell the tale of the bathrobe. Maybe after I sleep for 48 hours.

Vegas Ho!

Thursday, December 8th, 2005

No, I’m not pointing out one of Vegas’ many ladies of the evening but instead expressing my excitement for my pending trip to Vegas. I’m looking forward to seeing some “old” friends again and making some new ones. I’m looking less forward to trying to not embarrass myself in the actual tournament, but the slate of events Bill Rini and company have set up for us going to be a blast. And I’m hoping that my seat at the mixed games Friday night will have a siteline to a TV showing hockey. I can think of nothing better than being able to fold to the maniacs at my table and then catch a bit of my beloved Sens on the TV.

The thing I am least looking forward to is showing off my lovely new mustache. I got roped into joining the Mustaches For Kids Toronto campaign by a co-workers and have been devoting all my follicular might to growing a sweet stache … for the kids! Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to raise a lot money so far, so my embarrassment has largely been in vain. But I shall persevere, despite being an easy target for drunken ridicule.

While I’m talking about charities, I should probably mention one of my favourite charity’s at this time of the year. Three years ago, the two guys responsible for Penny Arcade started the Child’s Play charity aimed at supporting children’s hospitals across the United States – and this year Canada and the UK. It all boils down to is … actually, why don’t I just use their own words to describe it for you.

For two years now we’ve set up and organized a charity called Child’s Play. We set it up because we were angry the media decided to blame all the world’s problems on games and gamers. Basically they said that gamers were bad people, and we thought that wasn’t right. Apparently, you guys agreed: through Child’s Play you sent nearly a million dollars in toys, games, and cash to the sick kids in Children’s Hospitals around the nation.

That was awesome. You guys have proven over and over again that you are an overwhelming force, and you really came through and made a real difference to the millions of kids that Children’s Hospitals care for each year. So we’re doing it again this year, only this time we’ve expanded Child’s Play to more hospitals around the U.S. and even some across the globe so you can send toys to a hospital a little closer to home.

Child’s Play works the same as last year. With the help of hospital staff we’ve set up Amazon Wish Lists full of video games, toys, and movies. You can go to each hospital’s list and buy a toy, and that toy will be sent to the hospital. Some of these kids are in pretty bad shape. imagine being stuck alone in a hospital over the holidays–so getting something from a fellow gamer would really raise their spirits. Some of the stuff the hospital will give away for kids to keep, while other gifts (like consoles) will be kept by the hospital for patients to use throughout the year.

I have been a gamer my whole life and have always been a big believer in the value of play in the life of kids (and adults) so this charity has a special place in my heart. I’ve already made my donation to the local Toronto Sick Kids’ Hospital. I know there are a lot of charities out there who need your money (particularly at this time of the year) so I’m not saying that this charity deserves your money any more than any other. But I would ask that you think about all the blessings that you have in your life and try to pass some of that on to those that may not be as fortunate.

What’s new

Tuesday, November 15th, 2005

I am a very, very bad blogger. It’s actually not been as long as I thought since my last post, but it has still been pretty sparse here. Of course, just because I’m a lazy blogger, that doesn’t mean I’m going to miss the WPBT event in December. I’m scheduled to arrive around 11pm Thursday night and will be leaving Monday night. That should give me lots of time to make up for my recent poker drought. I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the folks from the June get-together again.

Unfortunately, I’m going to look a little bit different than I did last year. Against my better judgment I have agreed to participate in the Moustache for Kids 2005 campaign to raise money for the Make-a-Wish foundation. What that means is that, starting this past Friday, I will be growing a mustache for five whole weeks (and accepting donations to the Make-a-Wish foundation to help offset some of the embarrassment). That will put the Vegas trip at about week four. It’s going to be mortifying, but I just have to keep telling myself “It’s for the Kids”. Of course, I am much less worried about my week-four mustache than I was about my week-zero clean shave. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been devoid of facial hair and it makes me look about half my age.

And in addition to my plentiful embarrassment, there was a kick-off event at a local pub this past Friday. Not only was a mortified to be in public with my bare face, a local news crew was also there doing a puff piece on the campaign (which runs in multiple cities across North America and has raised over $75,000 for charity) so I ran the risk of being on the local news. I commented that they were probably going to have a shot of me eating dinner. The coverage did end up in that evening’s news and while the focus of the piece ended up being on one woman who will be wearing a fake moustache every Friday throughout the campaign (and 24/7 if she raises more than $1000), they did feature some shots of the other participants, including a closing shot of me…stuffing my face. *sigh* And apparently it was repeated a couple times on the local 24-hour news station. I haven’t seen the footage yet, but as soon as one of my co-workers gets it copied off his PVR, I fear the worst.

Update

Monday, October 17th, 2005

This blog is usually about poker, but gaming is on of my other hobbies and I have been enjoying The Escapist for weeks now. Their recent article, Conquest of Origin, about the trials and tribulations of the once great game development house Origin, was excellent.

Caught with my pants down

Wednesday, September 21st, 2005

There’s nothing like getting a kind mention on your favourite podcast (thanks Sean!) when you haven’t posted to your blog in over a month. So, at the prompting of the Lord Admiral boys, Gracie and my very own mother, I am working on getting a decent post together. I have a half written tale from the felt sitting in the queue that I’m going to finish off.

Gracie wants…

Wednesday, August 10th, 2005

Gracie told me to do it. I can only obey. Simply put “Your Name is” into Google and see what comes up.

Travis is where French people learn to play the blues.
Travis is not really an expected name.
Travis is six and has been unable to eat.
Travis is noted for producing good numbers of largemouth bass.
Travis is all up tempo stuff.
Travis Is Arrested.
Travis is shown in Western buckskins.

Of course, I should be finishing the two three posts I have in my queue instead of a post like this, but this is easy and the results too bizarre. In fact, I’ll throw in a few wants as well:

Travis Wants to Help Storm Victims.
Travis wants nothing to do with the States or his father.
Travis wants to know: “Is the ground that I walk on holy all the time, or just
when God appears there?”
Travis wants to make her his mistress and put a price on their relationship.

Day 4 – Finally a Win!

Sunday, July 17th, 2005

First, a disclaimer before you read this post. Yes, I am a geek. I’ve never hid the fact and if you saw me in Vegas you might have seen me involved in a passionate debate with Pablo about comics. I am not a hardcore Trekkie (or Trekker, see I don’t know what to call it). But I enjoyed watching Next Gen on Saturday nights with my parents when I was younger. I followed some of the subsequent series and actually enjoyed the latter parts of DS9 and Voyager. But, ever since I first read about the Star Trek Experience opening in Vegas, I’ve wanted to check it out. And Wil Wheaton‘s account of his experience in his book Dancing Barefoot, I was even more determined to visit.

So on Sunday morning, that is just what Benjy and I did. We took a cab out to the Las Vegas Hilton and, with some trepidation, sought out the promenade. The first thing we did was take a tour of the free part of the ‘experience’, checking out some of the memorabilia offered in the gift shops, that were all made to appear as part of the DS9 station. It was interesting enough that we decided that we’d fork over some money to check out the museum and some rides.

The museum was actually pretty interesting. They had a timeline of all the events in Star Trek contuity, as well as various props and artifacts representing those times. Many of the plastic replicas were less impressive than expected, but there was enough there to impress this sci-fi fan. And reading through some of the timeline rekindled my interest in watching the show. While I am a sci-fi fan in general, I am a particular sucker for continuity and world building, as subject I actually wrote about in university.

The first ride we went on was the new Borg Assimilation ride. There were a few neat things in it, but it felt slightly cheesy. I don’t want to give any of the tricks away, as even people with a passing interest of Trek should check out the ‘Experience’. After that was over we circled back to try the original ‘Klingon Attack’ ride. From the opening ‘conceit’ of the experience to the end of the ride, I really enjoyed this one. Somehow they avoided the camp that is almost inevitable for something like this and I was able to forget the real world for a few minutes.

The most amusing part of the whole experience was an actor dressed up as a Ferengi who would harass the tourists. He seemed to relish his role and it was fun to watch him heckle the crowd. He even gave Benjy and I some personal grief when he got us sitting on the floor waiting to get into the Klingon Attack ride. He didn’t seem to consider us particularly fearsome foes for the Klingons.

We tried to eat at Quark’s restuarant, but we didn’t actually get to sit in at the bar, the prices were ridiculous, and there was nothing on the menu for a vegetarian, so we ended passing on that part and headed back to the Plaza.

When we got there Gracie and Pablo strongly urged me to join them at a particularly juicy $3/6 table.

And boy were they right. I’d sat at some weak tables over the course of the weekend, but never like this. It took me a few orbits to get comfortable, but once I did, I started opening my starting hand requirements quite a bit. In one particular hand I was ready to throw my hand away after missing my draws on the turn and river but I saw that both my opponents were holding their cards out like they were ready to fold, so I bet and took the pot with nothing but king high (which was probably the best hand, given the play of those opponents). Not all the tells were quite this obvious, but most of my opponents were pretty transparent. And even though Gracie and Pablo are better poker players than I am, I had played many hours with them already and could spot situations where I should avoid them and when I could push them out with a raise. I felt a somewhat badly when I pushed Pablo off a winning hand based on my read of the other player in the pot, but I don’t ever want anyone soft-playing against me, so I’ll be damned if I am going to do it myself. And I won the pot in the end, so it’s tough to feel that bad.

The highlight of the evening was when I ended up capping nearly every street with AK with an ace hit on the flop. I’d already seen the gentleman I was in a raising war demonstrate his inability to realize that his good hand is second or third best. And with a poor old lady, who claimed she was new to poker, caught between us calling every bet with her draw, there was just too much equity involved for me to worry about him having hit a huge hand. On the river he started getting concerned and it wasn’t capped. He was quite pissed when he flipped his AQ to my AK. I would have had a hard time getting away from the hand too, but I certainly would not have kept reraising it.

When I got up to join my friend for dinner, I was up $100, which was a pretty good score for a couple hours at a 3/6 table. It hurt to leave, but I had spent $100+ bucks on my ticket to see ‘O’, and owed my friend at least some time away from the poker tables. But at least I finally validated my positive feelings about my play all weekend. And if it hadn’t been for the ill-advised session at the blogger NL table and the tournament, I’d actually be showing a profit from my poker play. Alas, that first evening left me in the red for my gambling. Still, my loss was only a 5th of what I was willing to drop at the tables, so I really couldn’t complain. Ok, I could and I did, but I had no right to.

next: dinner and a show

O, Canada
Here are some numbers for you. The total area of Canada is 9 984 670 square kilometres. Of this, 9 093 507 square kilometres is land and 891 163 square kilometres is fresh water. Canada’s area is the second largest in the world (after Russia which has a total area of 17 075 000 square kilometres). On Canadian territory, the longest distance North to South (on land) is 4 634 kilometres from Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island, Nunavut to Middle Island in Lake Erie, Ontario. The longest distance East to West is 5 514 kilometres from Cape Spear, Newfoundland and Labrador , to the Yukon Territory – Alaska boundary. The total length of the Canada-United States boundary is 8890 kilometres.

The Las Vegas series:
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 1)
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 2)
Day 1 – Sunrise at The Plaza
Day 2 – I … See … Famous People
Day 2 – Storming the Castle
Day 3 – The Main Event
Day 3 – A Bucket of Nickels and the Shrimp Sundae
Day 3 – Nugget Poker
Day 4 – Finally, A Win!
Day 4 – Komol O
Day 4 – A Night in ‘The Suite’
Day 5 – Goodbye Las Vegas

Day 3 – Golden Nugget

Sunday, July 10th, 2005

Wow, if I keep up the pace of one post a week, I may get this done before the end of the summer. But, I digress. On with the story.

At the Golden Nugget we discover that they’ve already obliged a group of blogger by spreading a rollicking mixed-game table. There’s only one seat left and Pablo takes it. Gracie, April, John and I all get seats at a 4/8 table. It doesn’t take long for us to determine whether the money is going to come from at this table and we settle in, hoping to find the cards to take advantage. While we wait, Gracie, April and I gossip about the bloggers we met like we’re still in high school.

Unfortunately, the waiting is not producing any results. I watch John work his way through his buy-in with his usual ram and jam tactics and decide that it’s going to be too tough to push anyone off a hand at this table, so I’ll need some cards to work with. The players at the table are emminently readable (and I’m not even a great reader of tells) so it’s easy to minimize the losses. It’s just a matter of finding the opportunity to maximize the wins. Eventually I get a little impatient and start being aggressive in a few hands. One of the players comments that I must have something since I’ve been playing so tight, but he still calls me. I fold on a terrible flop and he shows down his marginal pre-flop hand to take the pot from the other gentleman who stayed in. So I know that I’m going to get paid off when I hit something.

Of course, I don’t get anything. Hand after hand I am dealt terrible cards. Not even anything I can be creative with. I limp into a few hands with some marginal cards, but I can see in my opponent’s faces that they’ve hit the flop that has managed to miss me completely, again. I feel the frustration building and try to remain on an even keel. The mixed-game breaks up and Gracie leaves the table (we a nice stack of winnings) to head back to the Plaza with Pablo. The rest of us decide to stick around for just a little while longer, hoping to hit something big. But nothing emerges. Eventually John busts and April stacks up her chips. I don’t want to leave as I know the game is good, but I decide that maybe I am trying just a little too hard.

When I do get up and cash in my chips (down one big bet, including all the tips and dealer tokes) I let out a deep breath and realize just how tightly I was wound up. I was nearly on tilt and I hadn’t even taken a bad beat. It was probably a very good thing I got up from the table as I was on the verge of pushing one of my marginal hands too hard and losing a chunk of my stack. I’ve been frustrated with cold cards before, but I don’t think I was ever steaming quite as badly as I was right then.

When I get back to the Plaza, it’s time to unwind and I decide to find out how far I can stretch my video poker winnings. I find a quarter Deuces Wild machine and slide in a five. Ten minutes later I’m cashing in my bucket of quarters for $11. That makes a nice 1200% return on my initial investment of $1. Now if only my poker was showing that rate of return.

There weren’t many bloggers left on the floor of the casino (we learned the next day that everyone was up in “The Suite” playing poker) but I settled down at an abandoned poker table with Bill Rini and Grubby. This was probably the only poker discussion I had all weekend. And even then, it was a less of a discussion than advice that Bill was sharing with us about his recent coaching and heads-up play. I was a little more helpful as we tried to explain RSS aggregators and in particular Bloglines to Grubby. How anyone is still individually visiting every single site on their blogroll is beyond me. I have everything set up in Bloglines and there are still blogs that I don’t subscribe to because I just don’t have the time. Regardless, it was great to sit with some of the bloggers I’d read for a long time and shoot the shit. Grubby even gave us some Vegas tips and though I wasn’t sold on the Golden Gate shrimp cocktail, I will have to take advantage of some of the others I remember the next time I’m in Vegas. Eventually April stopped by and convinced me that we should play a little blackjack to pass the time.

I am a little wary as I had intended to stay away from the -EV games. Though I suppose I sat at the NL blogger table, so I’d obviously broken that vow already. After a bit of hemming and hawwing I agree and we head over to one of the Plaza’s blackjack tables, where I buy in for $100 and April for $20, under the careful watch of Grubby. I am feeling unaccountably nervous as we place our $5 bets and the cards are dealt. Blackjack is not a complicated game and I had refreshed my knowledge before I left for Vegas. She ends up with a 10 and I a 9 against a dealer 3. She hits and stays and I look to Grubby to confirm that I should double down. I do so and the dealer busts and I’ve won my first hand of casino blackjack.

But as with any blackjack player can tell you, the rush didn’t last long and in short order April busted out. I was hovering at about my initial $100, winning and losing hands. April and Grubby wander over to watch Mike try out his baccarat strategy. I start varying the size of my bets, pretending that I know what I am doing. Now, you have to understand, I’m not a big gambler. I play poker because I have an edge. I have a math degree and cannot deny the realities of -EV games in the long term. I can recognize the entertainment value but often I cannot block out the fact that it is a losing proposition. So when I started doubling my bets after each loss and end up risking $50 on one hand, I’m well out of my comfort zone. Dropping $100 bucks in 15 minutes will get me in a pretty foul mood. So when I end up with 9-4 versus a dealer 10, I am not a happy camper. I hit and make 16. Strategy says I should hit here, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. I hold my breath as the dealer flips his down card but it is a beautiful 5, followed by a J and I’m back up to even. Plus that extra $10 I won on my first hand. I decide that it’s time to call it, tip the dealer, and rejoin the other bloggers.

I don’t want the night to end but I realize that I am virtually comatose at the table. I head up to my room and fall asleep writing my notes by the light of the rising sun.

next: I prove that I can actually play poker!

O, Canada
Fewer and fewer things are jumping immediately to mind when I go to write these, so I thought I’d take this post off and use the CIA’s capsule summary of Canada (from http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ca.html):

A land of vast distances and rich natural resources, Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 while retaining ties to the British crown. Economically and technologically the nation has developed in parallel with the US, its neighbor to the south across an unfortified border. Canada’s paramount political problem is meeting public demands for quality improvements in health care and education services after a decade of budget cuts. The issue of reconciling Quebec’s francophone heritage with the majority anglophone Canadian population has moved to the back burner in recent years; support for separatism abated after the Quebec government’s referendum on independence failed to pass in October of 1995.

The Las Vegas series:
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 1)
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 2)
Day 1 – Sunrise at The Plaza
Day 2 – I … See … Famous People
Day 2 – Storming the Castle
Day 3 – The Main Event
Day 3 – A Bucket of Nickels and the Shrimp Sundae
Day 3 – Nugget Poker
Day 4 – Finally, A Win!
Day 4 – Komol O
Day 4 – A Night in ‘The Suite’
Day 5 – Goodbye Las Vegas

Day 3 – A Bucket of Nickels and a Shrimp Sundae

Sunday, July 3rd, 2005

I told myself I would get back on these things and try to get these last few trip reports out quickly but that hasn’t really worked out for me. I think the biggest stumbling block is the fact that this post probably constitutes my favourite part of the trip and I really wanted to do it justice. I’m not sure that I did, but more time can only make it worse.

Surprisingly, the La Salsa party was the least memorable part of the evening. After spending the afternoon with my buddy – including a surreal trip through the M&Ms store – I arrived at La Salsa right at 5pm, but the party had obviously been hopping for some time prior to that. Everyone was half-ripped and I got into the spirit by ordering a yard of margarita. Coming late, I found it difficult to insert myself into many of the conversations. I did get to spend a little time discussing politics with the Prof and chatted with blogger consorts Pablo and John. It didn’t take long for us to decide that we needed to get some food and find our way back to a poker table so a group of us headed back to The Plaza.

When we got back to The Plaza there was a debate between those who just wanted to grab something quick so they could get to the tables and those that wanted to actually sit down for a bit. But not before we took a pull at the oversized slot machine that had been installed in front of the casino since we’d left in the morning. No one won anything, but Gracie captured some great pictures of our attempts. This sort of set the tone for the wackiness to ensue. Eventually we decided to eat across the road at the Golden Gate. I’d heard so much about the $0.99 shrimp cocktail that I just had to try one. Even when we were told there’d be a 15 minute wait for a table, we would not be deterred. Besides, everyone – which at this point was Gracie, Pablo, Nancy, April, John and Benjy – had already placed a drink order.

Unfortunately I’d arrived late from a quick pitstop in my room and I missed ordering. So I was left looking for some other way to pass the time. What do we have here? A bank of video poker machines. I hadn’t played a single -EV game so far on my trip (well, aside from the blogger tables) and I had a dollar in my pocket, so nickel slots seemed like a grand idea. I fed my bill into the first open machine, sat on the handy stool and started slapping buttons.

Bingo! Five of a kind! Sure, it’s a Deuces Wild machine, but that doesn’t stop me from cashing out with a good win. Like a good little -EV soldier, I decide to take my profit and run. Of course, we still have another ten minutes to wait. And like any bad little -EV soldier, after a couple minutes I sat down at the next machine (Jacks or Better). This time I had a couple railbirds as a pushed buttons like a madman. Best I could manage this time was a full house, but I quickly cashed out – in my fancy little Golden Gate coin bucket – and moved to the next machine.

By this point we were about to be seated but I would not be deterred from grinding out another win. Unfortunately my luck was fading and I only pulled a few extra nickels out of the machine when I realized my dinner companions were nowhere to be seen. I eventually tracked them down inside the restaurant and after some prompting from my tablemates, I started counting out the spoils.

The tally came out to $6.25, which besides being a 525% return on my investment, seemed a perfect amount to serve as ammunition in an impromptu poker game at the dinner table. Pablo pulled out a deck of cards while I distributed the coins and the game was on. Even the arrival of the starter salads was insufficient to stop the game, though sugar packets and creamers had been added to the mix as different players busted out (some repeatedly). Maybe people weren’t taking it seriously. All I know is that I played the hammer fast and furious and was rewarded with two pair on the turn and river for a sizable pot. But between the poker and the banter, people could hardly get food into their mouths without laughing.

Now, I do have to admit a certain disappointment in the 99-cent shrimp cocktail here. First, I was charged $1.99 for it, which I guess is the price in the restaurant, and it was really more of a shrimp sundae than a shrimp cocktail. Examine a sundae glass full of baby shrimp with cocktail sauce drizzled over it like fudge on an ice cream sundae and you’ll get an idea of what I’m talking about. You even eat it the same way, with a spoon. Not quite what I was expecting, but I guess for the price I can’t complain.

I also couldn’t complain about my six dollar prime rib. It was actually pretty tasty and came with a couple sides. Though I’d advise not using the horseradish on the baked potato, as someone at the table did. We decided to call break the poker game so that people could enjoy their food, but the jokes never slowed, including many digs at the Canadians at the table. Still, the shared meal stands as the highlight of my Vegas trip and the people there as my favourite of those I met. It is impossible for me to capture in words the hilarity of the night.

Everyone is still giggling about the nickels and they all decide that I should leave the bucket of nickels as our tip. As a polite Canadian, I cannot in good conscience do so and I appeal to their poker spirit, arguing that I didn’t want the bad karma at the tables. After hitting quads the previous night after treating Pablo and Iggy, I was starting to become a believer in cosmic balance. I did eventually agree to suggest to the cashier that I wanted to pay the bill in nickels and Gracie captured a terrific picture of her reaction (that I’ve borrowed). Once I told the cashier I was joking she smiled and starting chuckling to herself. As we were leaving, the stragglers heard her telling the story to her co-workers, so I was satisfied that my karmic balance remained undisturbed.

We decided to walk down Fremont St. to take in the downtown sites and to see some fancy drink makers someone had seen a few blocks down. We were (un)lucky enough to see The Fremont Street Experience as we walked and I’ve got to say that while the overhead screens are somewhat neat, the “Experience” is pretty lame. The atmosphere of being downtown is enough to make it interesting. And the “Cocktail” style drinkmakers were impressive as they made John a bubbling blue concoction. But by this point everyone was starting to go through withdrawal so we decided to hit up the Golden Nugget for a little poker action.

next: tilting, blackjack and bloggers talking poker

O, Canada
Despite the regular jokes by various members of the blogger community, the Canadian dollar is worth
$0.81 of an American dollar and an American dollar will buy you $1.22 Canadian. It is sometimes inconvenient, but as most prices for goods and services here are roughly equivalent to prices in the States, without the conversion, it can be a pretty good deal. Also, because every dollar I win at an online poker site is an American dollar, it’s worth that much more when I cash out.

The Las Vegas series:
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 1)
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 2)
Day 1 – Sunrise at The Plaza
Day 2 – I … See … Famous People
Day 2 – Storming the Castle
Day 3 – The Main Event
Day 3 – A Bucket of Nickels and the Shrimp Sundae
Day 3 – Nugget Poker
Day 4 – Finally, A Win!
Day 4 – Komol O
Day 4 – A Night in ‘The Suite’
Day 5 – Goodbye Las Vegas

Day 3 – The Main Event

Sunday, June 26th, 2005

Wow, this is turning out to take quite some time to get finished. I’m only just getting past the halfway point now and it’s been three weeks. I already have some ideas for some post-Vegas discussion, but I want to get this finished first. So, soldiering on…

There was no answer when I tried to arrange a wake-up call the night before but thankfully the alarm on my cellphone was enough to wake me up. I got showered and dressed and then prodded my roommate to see if he was going to join me. He grunted and waved me off. I wandered downstairs, wolfed down some McDonald’s and ended up with in a cab to the Aladdin with Joaquin, Joe Speaker and Mike.

We found a bunch of bloggers milling around the room and bought in. I knew I was in trouble when I discovered that Otis was sitting to my left. My outlook didn’t get any better when I sat down with the rest of my tablemates and saw another shark at the far end of the table. The line-up looked like this:
Seat 1: Chilly
Seat 2: Scurvy Dog
Seat 3: Hank
Seat 4: Shane
Seat 5: Obie
Seat 6: Ryan
Seat 7: Al
Seat 8: Mike
Seat 9: Yours truly
Seat 10: Otis
(thanks CJ for filling in the blanks). At least Al would keep it entertaining.

The first hand I play is Q5 offsuit from the big blind. The flop is QT4 and I decide to check with my miserable kicker. It’s checked all the way around behind me – four or five players, if I recall correctly. When the turn is a blank, I decide that maybe I have the best hand and bet out for 150 into a similarly sized pot. I’m called by one player who I put on second or third pair. I bet another 300 on the river and am called. I was hoping to take the pot, but still figured I was good. He shows Q9o and takes down the pot. I certainly wasn’t expecting a hand like that to be played from middle position or to be passively check with only two players to act behind him on the flop. Of course, I discovered later that he was a non-blogger and somehow found his way into the tournament, so I guess that explains it. Or I’m just no good at poker. Either was, I’m now down T500 from my initial T2000 stack.

I take another hit when I raise pre-flop with AKo, get one caller and then fold to a bet into a JT9 board. There’s just too many ways for me to be behind there.

With the rapidly escalating blinds at 50/100 and T1075 left in my stack in early position, I am ready to fold to a raise in front of me. But I peek to see AKs and have to reconsider that decision. The table has been playing pretty tight and I may actually be facing KK or AA. But I can’t really fold in this spot. And I was out of position – though I had position on the raiser – so a call was no good. And there was no raise I could make without putting up more than half my chips. So it’s time to push all-in. But the big is surprise is when I am called by the same individual who won the pot off me earlier with Q9. He’s got my covered, but not by much. The original raiser thinks about it for a while, but eventually folds his small pocket pair – the hand I put him on when I raised.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t so lucky with the call as he turned over KK. Oh boy, I’m in bad shape. In fact, in as bad as shape as Pauly was when he was almost made Gigli with the same cards against Chris Halverson. Fortunately, I managed to follow Pauly’s example and escaped an early exit by catching an ace on the flop.

Unfortunately, the ridiculously fast structure was eating up my stack at a rapid pace. And with someone at the table going all-in nearly every hand, there weren’t any chances to speculate with mediocre hands. In the end I called PokerProf‘s all-in bet without looking for the big blind. I had less than three bets left, including the blind, so I had to call with pretty much anything. Unfortunately my T3o is pretty much nothing and never caught to get ahead of Prof’s hand. I was out in 37th and quickly headed to the bar to join Al for my first SoCo shot of the weekend.

After rinsing the bad taste of the tournament from my mouth, I signed up to play a little 3/6. As usual, I broke just about even at the end of the session, but I did have the privilege of finally meeting JP, my fellow Canadian down in Vegas. I just wish I could have spent a bit more time chatting with him, particularly since I was dealt KK just after he visited. I limped from early position and had a large field stick around for the KQQ flop. Bingo! I was able to slowplay this into a decent sized pot by getting in some late raises and re-raises against the fish at the table. Unfortunately, she bolted after the hand ended, pretty upset about being beat out of such a large pot. Of course, those extra chips just encouraged me to speculate in a few more of the large family pots but I wasn’t able to take advantage of the pretty juicy table. I do know that John (April‘s friend was having a fairly decent run and I think that continued after I had to head out with my buddy for a rather disappointing meal out on the cobblestones of the Aladdin’s Desert Passage, the faux outdoors market lined with shops and restaurant. At least the surreal painted sky and contornist show added some amusement.

Next: nickels, nickels and more nickels!

O, Canada
So far in this year’s World Series of Poker, 6 Canadians have made it to the final table of an evet, earning a combined $318,005. Of course, this counts only the poker players who still count Canada as their permanent residence, and since there’s little action here for pros, most have moved down to Vegas. It also doesn’t help that three of the most prominent Canadian poker players, Evelyn Ng, Isabelle Mercier and last year’s Player of the Tournament, Daniel Negreau have failed to make a final table this year. They have cashed in some events, but nothing too significant…yet.

The Las Vegas series:
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 1)
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 2)
Day 1 – Sunrise at The Plaza
Day 2 – I … See … Famous People
Day 2 – Storming the Castle
Day 3 – The Main Event
Day 3 – A Bucket of Nickels and the Shrimp Sundae
Day 3 – Nugget Poker
Day 4 – Finally, A Win!
Day 4 – Komol O
Day 4 – A Night in ‘The Suite’
Day 5 – Goodbye Las Vegas

Day 2 – Storming the Castle

Monday, June 20th, 2005

I apologize for the delay in the continuation of the Vegas epic, but a combination of this cold and a busy schedule has kept me from the keyboard. But I’m here now to give you, the faithful reader, the next installment. I’m halfway there now, just six posts to go.

When we arrived at the Excalibur, the first thing on my mind was getting some food. So Pablo and I stopped at the Sherwood Forest for a little grub. A few minutes later, we were joined by the blogfather himself, who, frankly, looked rather the worse for wear. But he was hoping that some food might keep him going. Dinner was the standard burger fare, but it was nice to relax for a bit and chat with Pablo and Iggy, even if Iggy was barely coherent. I decided to pay for dinner and would later reap the karmic rewards.

With the meal done, it was time to head to the poker room. Iggy was able to snag the last seat at a blogger infested table, but Pablo and I ended up playing beside each other at a 2/6 spread limit game. We may not have had many bloggers at the table to chat with, but that meant we had that many more people to win money from. And as most of the other players were rife with tells that Pablo and I analyzed all night, there were many opportunites to amass some chips.

My first opportunity came in a heads-up, capped pre-flop hand. I have KK and was pretty sure my opponent doesn’t have aces. Of course, I have a hard time being sure in these situations. I have the habit of assigning players bigger hands than they actually have, so I was trying to make a concious decision not to assume the worst. The flop comes T high and I feel pretty good about my chances. Unfortunately, my bet is raised and now I’m concerned about facing those aces. But, the pot is already pretty big, so I decide I have to call him down. No big cards on the turn or river and I discover that he has pocket tens and hit a set on the flop. Now, I liked getting a $50 pot built pre-flop with a 4-1 edge, but I just couldn’t see how I could get away from the hand with no ace and no straight or flush possibilities after the flop. So instead of winning a nice little pot, I’ve dug myself a nice little hole.

I win a few small pots, taking advantage of some good reads on a few players. The next big hand comes with JJ in the big blind. With six players in the pot ahead of me, I decide not to raise, wanting to see how the flop comes. It comes KKx and I’m not terrible happy with it. The man to my left bets out and it’s folded around to me. Somehow I convince myself that it may be a bluff attempt and I raise. He calls and I have to believe that he actually has a king, if a weak one. But the turn is a beautiful J and light-bulbs are going off in my head. I bet, he raises and I re-raise. He just calls. Can he really have matched his second card? The river was an ace, I believe, and I was a little concerned about AK. I check the river, he bets and I call. He did in fact have the king, but he also had the case jack to have a better full house. And another big pot is being pushed away from me. When he didn’t cap the turn, I was feeling pretty good about my hand but somehow on the river I could sense my impending doom. Of course, I shouldn’t have played the hand the way I did on the flop, but it still stung to view my depleted stacks.

But the card gods had not completely abandoned me. I limp into another hand with 99, hoping to hit a set and pull some money off the relatively juicy table. There are a few other limpers as well and I have my fingers crossed. The flop turns over in slow motion, 9, 8, 9. Bingo! My eyes do a full-on cartoon bulge and I subtly try to show Pablo my good fortune. Thankfully, the rest of the table is completely oblivious and there is actually a bet and a call in front of me. I call myself and hope for continued betting on the later streets. Of course, I’m panicking because I don’t know if it will count as a high hand if everyone else folds. So, I check on the turn and river because I may make another $20-30 from my opponents, but I stand to make more if I get to spin the wheel. I gleefully flip my cards over and pull in a small pot.

But now I am facing the wheel. Dollar signs are flashing in my head as I hope to follow up the success of two other bloggers who have already hit quads that night at the Excalibur. Most of the prizes are weighted towards the low end (20-40) but there are a few $100 and double and triple spots. I heaved the wheel around and watched it tick down to a lovely $100 payday. Suddenly my bad session has been erased and I can enjoy my table of easily read players. But first I needed to come down from my gambler’s high, which took about 5 minutes, when I suddenly remembered to tip the dealer, who not only dealt me the cards but helped me set up the spin. I tracked him down and slipped him a red chip.

Unfortunately, that was the last exciting moment of the night. I played for a few more hours, and had April and her friend John join our table towards the end, but I was only involved in a few pots and won only the small ones. Eventually most of the bloggers started filtering out and I joined a Pauly-led quest for Krispy Kreme. As the adreneliene from the quads had faded, the sugary goodness was a nice boost to help get me back to The Plaza.

next: the Main Event, a fellow Canadian, my first Vegas SoCo

O, Canada
Despite many things we do have to pay tax on, Canadians do not have to pay any taxes on our gambling winnings, unless they constitute our primary form of income. So that means we can make a few grand (or a few dozen grand) on the side playing poker and do not owe the government a single cent.

The Las Vegas series:
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 1)
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 2)
Day 1 – Sunrise at The Plaza
Day 2 – I … See … Famous People
Day 2 – Storming the Castle
Day 3 – The Main Event
Day 3 – A Bucket of Nickels and the Shrimp Sundae
Day 3 – Nugget Poker
Day 4 – Finally, A Win!
Day 4 – Komol O
Day 4 – A Night in ‘The Suite’
Day 5 – Goodbye Las Vegas

Day 2 – I … See … Famous People

Tuesday, June 14th, 2005

Still no air conditioning here and my place and I’m still feeling like death warmed over (pun intended). But, I was back in the office today, so I suppose I can finish off a post here before I collapse.

After not getting to bed until about 10am, I knew I wasn’t going to make the start of the 2nd World Series of Poker event like I planned. I decided I’d sleep as long as a needed and I’d catch up to people after that. For better or worse, my body decided that three and a half hours was plenty of sleep, at least in Vegas, and I woke up with a mild hangover that actually got fairly painful before I got some food into me.

As for the food, my buddy and I went back to the MGM to eat at the Grand Wok. My friend is vegetarian, so he thought we’d be safe at an Asian restaurant and while they didn’t have many options, he was able to get some decent food. A nice big bowl of pho was a good cure for my hangover and I was soon ready to hit the strip. To reduce cabfare I decided we’d walk up to Flamingo St. and then hop the cab out to the Rio. It took a lot longer than I expected, but I did manage to wander around New York, New York and the Bellagio for a while. The Bellagio poker room was hopping and we spent a bit of time watching the 30/60 games. I could actually pick out a few tells on the players at the table, but I don’t really think I’d be calm enougha t those stakes to take advantage.

But looking in at the big games at the Bellagio just whet my appetite for the bigger games happening at the Rio. We found a cab and headed on out to the Rio.

The first thing that strikes you about the event …oh wait…where is the event? Oh, there’s a sign. Let’s head that way. Hmmm…there’s another sign. There’s a sign every 20 feet on the ten minute trek to get to the room where they are hosting the event. But once you get there, it is a marvel to behold. Two hundred plus tables are packed into a cavernous convention room and every where you look is green felt. And everywhere you look is a famous poker player. I’d recommend taking a look at the excellent photo gallery at lasvegasvegas.com to get an idea of what it is like.

Two tables from the entrance was Greg Raymer, sitting at a table and chatting on his cellphone. I explained to my friend that this was the world champion and he went over to sweat him for a little bit. I continued my journey through the wonderland of poker to see who else I could spot. There’s Matusow, looks like he’s in pre-meltdown mode. Oh, that looks like Scott Fischman, he’s smaller than he looks on TV. And David Williams, yeah, he’s still in it too.

Of course, it was almost 6pm so many players had long busted out, and I was a bit disappointed to hear that I’d missed Negreanu, who is a bit of a hometown hero for me. But, Toronto was still represented, as I spotted – ok, maybe oogled – Evelyn Ng seated at a tournament table. She probably had one of the larger crowds around her table and I felt bad with all the picture taking she had to endure. I’m sure few of the pro players had it much better. But she wasn’t paying them much mind, actually pulling a magazine and reading at the table – while listening to her iPod, no less. Of course, she never lost focus on the game and used her big stack to accumulate more chips. I was a bit astounded when she started applying her makeup at the table, shortly before the dinner break. I guess she knew she would be mobbed when the tables broke and she wanted to look her best.

After sweating Evelyn for a little bit, I finished my lap of the room, spotting Howard Lederer and Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot in the process. I watched for a while as the ESPN crew set up the final table for the next day’s play. But, I was still trying to find the bloggers. I was hoping that at least one of them was still in this thing.

And there was, but only one. I eventually ran into Pablo and he showed me where Otis was sitting. I met a few other bloggers and chatted for a bit, but Otis was the real show, even though he was short stacked and folding most hands. I saw he win a couple hands, but it wasn’t too long before his table was broken up and he was moved elsewhere. The blogger gallery followed – after a short detour to see Phil Hellmuth – and we got to watch Otis struggle against the rising blinds.

The Rio was also running a significant number of side games as well (and began announcing a mega-satellite for the main event) and some of the bloggers decide to go see if we could watch one of the no limit tables. The Rio was organized enough to have all the games listed on a giant screen, so it wasn’t too hard to find. But after watching thousands of dollars change owners all in the space of a few hands, we decided that watching Otis might actually be a bit less stressful.

On the way back we passed James Woods chatting a mile a minute on his cellphone. A few people stopped to talk poker with him and it was great to see just how enthusiastic he is about the game. I’d apparently missed Tobey Maguire earlier and he was not nearly as outgoing. Woods wasn’t the only famous grey-haired railbird I saw either, as TJ Cloutier passed by Otis’ table a little bit earlier

Unfortunately, all the blogger support wouldn’t save Otis. He ended up all-in with AK vs. TT and got no help flop, turn or river. Still, from all that I saw, Otis played a great tournament and can hold his head up high after lasting longer than 80% of the field.

But that was enough spectating for us. The collected bloggers decided it was time to head to the Excalibur a little early to try to find us a poker game.

Next: dinner with a midget, spinning the wheel, mmm…donuts

O, Canada
Canada has no dollar bill but instead has one dollar and two dollar coins in regular circulation, called the loonie and the toonie respective – there is an image of a loon on the dollar coin and we weren’t all that creative when the two dollar coin was introduced. On my first night playing at The Plaza, I was confused to see a Canadian dollar at the table. Apparently one of the bloggers met a couple of Canadians in a game in Atlantic City that were having a great old time and he ended up buying a loonie from them to use as a chip protector. At the time I was extremely confused as I tried to figure out how I dropped a dollar on the table after being relatively certain I’d left all my Canadian money in my bags.

The Las Vegas series:
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 1)
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 2)
Day 1 – Sunrise at The Plaza
Day 2 – I … See … Famous People
Day 2 – Storming the Castle
Day 3 – The Main Event
Day 3 – A Bucket of Nickels and the Shrimp Sundae
Day 3 – Nugget Poker
Day 4 – Finally, A Win!
Day 4 – Komol O
Day 4 – A Night in ‘The Suite’
Day 5 – Goodbye Las Vegas

Laid out

Friday, June 10th, 2005

Ugh…I have to say that my return from Vegas has not been a good one. First off, my air conditioning is busted and it’s been 30+ degrees (90+ farenheit, for my American readers) every day since I’ve got back. I’m on the 28th floor of my apartment building and there is absolutely no airflow, so it has been misery.

On top of that, I started developing a cold yesterday and today was knocked completely on my ass. Of course, rest has been made increasingly difficult today as the temperature has risen and it’s not particularly easy to find the focus at my computer to try to get some work done. And now to top it all off I’ve finally gotten the management office of my building to give me a response (after showing up in person and repeated phone calls) and they are definitely not going to get to my apartment today. The best I can hope for is AC repairs Monday or Tuesday. I am not a happy camper right now.

Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 2)

Wednesday, June 8th, 2005

Wow, *I* even got a mention on Card Club in the PokerProf segment, as a Canadian blogger down in Vegas. Of course, they forgot to mention that JP from Vancouver was also there. And he finished higher than I did. He went out 25th, if I recall correctly. And just to set the record straight, I went out in 37th and was actually knocked out by the Prof himself. At least, I think it was the Prof. And I left my bounty for him, so I better be correct. Of course, I went straight to the SoCo after the tournament, so things got slightly blurry. I will try to piece it all together when I get to that post.

Where was I? Oh yes, I was just going up to introduce myself to Pauly. Of course, I couldn’t have picked a better person. Pauly greeted me like an old friend and introduced me to a few of the other bloggers that were standing around. After a bit of chatting he explained that the bloggers had a private table upstairs and the game we were witnessing on the floor was just overflow. Well, a crazy straddling, blind raising overflow. helixx was heading upstairs, so I tagged along with him.

Now, half the people reading this were actually up in that room at some point, but for the rest of you, I will try to describe it. It was up the stairs from the poker room and sat overlooking the sportsbook. This gave us a great view of the casino – including the wall of television screens showing sporting events – while no one could really see our game. It also made us “cool”. I’m not sure who managed to secure such a nice spot for a private 2/4 mixed game, but it was a coup. I don’t imagine I’ll get many chances to sit at such a well situated table.

As I walk in the door, the first thing I see is a blond haired lady lecturing the table on the finer points of poker. This must be the infamous Felicia. I wait for her to finish her rant and walk up to introduce myself. I get the initial blank look that would become all too familar over the weekend, but as soon as the name clicks she gets up and greets me warmly. And yes, who would have expected warmth from Felicia. ;) She is kind enough to introduce me to Bill Rini who was sitting beside her and whose belly I had observed at work earlier in the day. But I’m still so nervous that I’m almost shaking (god I hope it was almost). I decide to watch the game a little bit and just try to calm myself.

Of course, Felica will have none of that and she tells me to get in the game and perhaps sensing my reticence, she introduces me to the table. I order a beer, in the hopes taking a little bit of the edge. I take a few sips and start feeling appreciably better. In fact, I’m thinking that it might be time for me to sit down and play a little poker.

Now, at this point I am going to have to make a confession. I have never hidden the fact that I was a Vegas virgin going into this trip. But I was also essentially a casino poker newbie. I played four hours last year at the temporary casino at the CNE and had got a bit of live game exposure at the Red Hot Poker Tour in early May, but, beyond that, all my poker experience came from home games and online. So I was expecting to be quick outclassed at the Vegas tables. Particularly with all the veteran bloggers playing.

I end up sitting down between Pablo – a friend of Gracie’s (she-verb) – and PokerProf. A quick round of introductions at the table reveals Steve (Beer City Poker), Gracie, Mrs. Can Hang, the afore-mentioned Mr. Rini and Felicia, and someone in the nine seat that I can’t recall…

This will probably be a common occurrence in my posts. Please don’t be offended if I’ve forgotten you were at the table. I tried to take notes, but I didn’t get a chance to do so until I got back to my room at night. So it was inevitable that I would miss some names. My apologies for that. If you remember that you were supposed to be in the report, please drop me a line and I’ll add you right in. In fact, through reading other people’s posts, I’ve recalled that the forgotten player was pokernerd.

Names weren’t the only thing I forgot. I can’t remember how much of the action went. I do know that I was there for rounds of Omaha 8, Stud and Stud 8. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to play Razz, which I’ve grown quite found of, in a perverse sense. I know I played pretty tight.

I do remember taking my first live casino hand (though I forget what my cards were or if I even went to showdown).
I do recall bluffing Pablo off a hand with a re-raise, which gave me some confidence that I wasn’t playing too far over my head.
I remember chatting with PokerProf about Vegas and his Lord Admiral Radio reports. I tried to convince him he was becoming a cult figure in Canada, but he would have none of it. He was in pretty rough shape and I could tell it had already been a rough night.
I remember talking with a barely concious Beer City.
I remember Pauly coming by and playing Rini’s chips. I remember the great Al himself joining the game. He was a drunken maniac and was all over the place.
And I remember voices yelling up at us from the sportsbook below. Turns out some bloggers at the bar there were giving us a piece of their minds.

But like all good things, the table eventually came to an end. Players were reaching the end of their stamina and pulling out. And unfortunately we couldn’t find anyone to fill their seats. I had only been there for a couple hours but could see that people had been partying hard for some time. We thank the dealer and head down to cash out. I meet CJ in passing and thank him for organizing everything. I’m walking with Felicia and Al, trying to find everyone else. It looks like they’ve already left. Felicia says that Glenn should be arriving soon and he’ll be able to drive us back to the plaza. But Al is determined to find his wife, so we begin the search.

We end up outside the back entrance of the casino, at the opposite end from the taxi stand. Felicia is trying to explain to Al that we could get a ride when Glenn arrives, but Al is on a mission. We acquiesce and agree to take a cab back to the Plaza. Felicia decides to leave a message with the poker room to have Glenn join us there. So, we begin the walk around the casino, but Al insists on trying to wave every cab down, insisting that his wife is in one of them. Felicia and I try to tell him that they are long gone and attempty to ensure that he doesn’t wander out into traffic. But he seems content to wave his arms and scream from the curb. Eventually we make it around to the cab stand and catch a lift back downtown.

Now, it turns out that some people in his wife’s cab did see him stumbling along the sidewalk, but as their cab was full, saw no reason to stop. I guess Al was still more aware than I gave him credit for.

Next: the smell of downtown, negative EV, why is it light out?

O, Canada
I’ll go with a simple one this time. Canada has ten provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland) and three territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut). Provinces are largely equivalent to states while territories are controlled mostly by the federal government.
Another bit of advice. If you are arguing over the number of provinces with a Canadian (*cough*, John – April‘s friend, not the other John), it is probably a good idea to concede the point to the Canadian. It’s entirely possible he is more familar with the issue.

The Las Vegas series:
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 1)
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 2)
Day 1 – Sunrise at The Plaza
Day 2 – I … See … Famous People
Day 2 – Storming the Castle
Day 3 – The Main Event
Day 3 – A Bucket of Nickels and the Shrimp Sundae
Day 3 – Nugget Poker
Day 4 – Finally, A Win!
Day 4 – Komol O
Day 4 – A Night in ‘The Suite’
Day 5 – Goodbye Las Vegas

Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time

Tuesday, June 7th, 2005

Where to begin? I’m facing a pad full of notes and I’m finding the prospect of getting them all written down rather daunting. And there is the huge number of posts from other people to catch up on, and I think that the flood has barely begun there. I just broke things out myself and it looks like I have material for about ten posts. At least I have the latest episode of Card Club to listen to while I write this up.

I guess the key is to start from the beginning. Getting to Vegas went pretty smoothly. In fact, it was probably the quickest I’ve ever been able to get on a plane at Pearson. The flight was not so smooth, as we encountered a lot of turbulence about an hour out of Vegas, but I discovered that turbulence doesn’t bother me too much. I could also see a raging thunderstorm outside the right hand windows, but fortunately it never got too close. In fact, it was probably one of the most beautiful natural sights that I’ve ever seen.

We landed in Vegas at about 11:30 local time and got shovelled into one of the airport shuttles. Not a good idea. Sure it was cheap, but if you are going downtown, you’ll be on the shuttle for a good long time as he drops everyone and their dog off before you. And it hurt to see us go right by the MGM Grand immediately upon leaving the airport, knowing that I would have to make my way back as soon as I checked in. It was after midnight by the time we got to the Plaza and I was getting a bit frustrated. But we got checked in quickly, dropped off the bags and hopped a cab for the return trip to the strip. Actually, we got in the taxi line and waited for five minutes without a single cab arriving. Then we were accosted by another shuttle driver who was promising another cheap ($5) ride back to the strip. This time there only four people though, and we convinced the two LA natives who got in with us that they wanted to go to the MGM.

Now, when we were driving up the strip on the way to the hotel, my friend and I were marvelling at the size and number of hotels. But I don’t think it was until I stepped into the MGM Grand that I really got an idea for a scope of Vegas. Banks of slot machines stretched out as far as the eye could see. And then when we started walking down towards the poker room, we realized it was even bigger than first expected. There were multiple sections with table games, a handful of bars and a different restaurant every thirty feet. Then you consider that this is duplicated in the dozens of big casinos along the strip and you finally get an idea of just how many people come to Vegas every day.

After ten minutes of walking, we finally get to the poker room and sportsbook. My friend takes off to continue his tour of the strip. And here is where the nerves start to kick in. I do pretty well in a group of people, but I have a bit more difficulty when walking into a room full of strangers. And while I’ve chatted with a few of the bloggers who were going to be there, I hadn’t met a single one of them in person. So it was with no small amount of trepidation that I walked into the MGM poker room. Actually, I had a hard time recognizing anyone when I first walked in, but then I spotted the unmistakeable locks of Al Can’t Hang. I take a deep breath and then march over the table to say “Hi, I’m a complete stranger and it’s nice to meet you” or some variation thereof. Then I spot Dr. Pauly standing over nearer to the bar and decide he’ll be an easier target. Funnily enough, as I write this, Pauly is giving his update from the Aladdin on Card Club Radio.

I’m going to have to take a break here. I’ve been blogging and chatting for three hours, ever since I woke up. But I’m starving now and need to get some grub. I will continue this post later this evening.

Next up: Meeting Pauly and the game upstairs

O, Canada
With each Vegas post I’ll include a little fact about Canada, to help educate everyone who was giving me a hard time because of my nation of birth. First fact, when I got back to Toronto, I saw on the news that there was a heat warning for Monday, and while I didn’t see the exact temperature, it certainly felt hotter when I got off the plane than when I got on it. So Iggy, that is why I wear short sleeves. I realize that many of the comments were made in jest, but I still thought I would put together this short educational series.

The Las Vegas series:
Day 1 – A Grand Ol’ Time (part 2)
Day 1 – Sunrise at The Plaza
Day 2 – I … See … Famous People
Day 2 – Storming the Castle
Day 3 – The Main Event
Day 3 – A Bucket of Nickels and the Shrimp Sundae
Day 3 – Nugget Poker
Day 4 – Finally, A Win!
Day 4 – Komol O
Day 4 – A Night in ‘The Suite’
Day 5 – Goodbye Las Vegas

Ambitious, eh?

Goodbye Las Vegas

Monday, June 6th, 2005

I’m sitting here at McCarran airport writing my first (of many) trip report for the latest blogger gathering. I have over a dozen pages of notes that I’ll need to write up when I get back to Toronto, but this is the first opportunity I’ve had all trip to connect to the internet. Not that I’ve been looking too hard prior to now. There has been no shortage of things to do inVegas. And I’m going to be ignoring the “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” adage and wrting up all my adventures.

But, I’ve only got a few minutes before my flight, so I’ll just cover the basics. I met probably 40-50 of the bloggers in attendance and managed to get in some decent conversations with haf of those. I finished down $50 at the poker tables, not counting the blogger tournament (which was a crapshoot, not to take anything from Bill Rini). If I disregard the 1/2 no-limit table I played through the night Thursday, then I’d actually have turned a profit. In fact, if Derek hadn’t hit his 4-outer to bust me, I’d have been in good shape. The -EV games were kind to me, showing a small profit even though I didn’t play for very long. Or perhaps because I didn’t play them for very long. I bet $50 on a hand of blackjack. I played in five different poker rooms. I partook of the Al Can’t Hang Experience and lived to tell the tale. And I saw the sunrise three out of four nights.

But, my flight is boarding now, so I’ll have to elaborate at another time.

In the off chance that anyone still in town is reading this, it seems I forgot to grab a dollar chip from The Plaza. If you are still there and grab me a chip, please do so and leave a comment. I’ll arrange to get it from you later. Of course, if no one does that, well, then I’ll just have to come back some time.

It’s me

Wednesday, June 1st, 2005

I expect to be surprised by many bloggers not being what I expected them to be this weekend, but I thought I would dispel at least part of the mystery, courtesy of this self portrait snapped with my new cellphone.

Me

Don’t cellphones take just the most flattering pictures ever? I promise, I do have a neck in real life.