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Thursday, December 15, 2005

Vegas!

Before I start… I can’t get away from the hammer:

I finally arrived at McCaran at 1pm Friday afternoon, only 14 hours late, and 10 hours later than if I had driven. The reason I didn’t fly out Thursday night: news article. Miraculously, my checked bag with my bowling balls (which I never used) was waiting at the American counter, even though I had flown American from SBA->LAX and then America West from LAX->LAS. I also only had to wait ten minutes in the cab line and was on my way to the Imperial Palace.

My plan initially was to check in, drop my stuff off, and head over to the Aladdin, because I knew some bloggers would be playing in their noon tournament. I got quickly sidetracked running into Gracie, Pablo, Maudie, .. and others, not ten feet into the hotel. They were headed up to the IP’s poker room, and told me how to get there after I checked in. So that’s where I went.

When I got there, I waited a little while for a seat, and sat down at 3/6, with several other bloggers. I tried to straddle right away, but a player returned to the table before the deal so I was no longer UTG and had to pull my six chips back. I look down at two black kings and raise it up anyway. I take down a nice pot on on my first hand when I flop a king and end up with kings full of sevens. The rest of the session is a blur. (I need to start taking notes.) What I do know is that I left +$161 in an hour and forty five minutes. (Thanks, Poker Journal!)

From there, it was off to the Hilton for an unmentionable geek thing with a bunch of bloggers. I don’t remember everyone who went (I need to start taking notes). It was fun, as expected. I’ve done it before, and actually was more impressed with the new one than I was the first time I went. The older one is still better, though. That’s all that will be said about that.

I can’t believe we spent so much time there that it was right to the MGM next, but I can’t think of anything else we did in between. The next thing I remember is sitting in a 4/8 half kill game there. I know there were bloggers at the table. I know it was a great game, and we were having tons of fun. I don’t remember who most of them were. From reading other reports, I can piece together that the following people were at the table at some point: Chad, Shelly, CJ, Dr. Jeff, and Pablo. (I need to start taking notes.) I also know that I beat that game for $94 in exactly an hour, and then another $93 in two hours after four hours of HORSEP (thanks, Joaquin!). The HORSEP game was great, and it was fun just donking off money to fellow bloggers. I only remember two significant hands: I got AA6s playing (regular) pineapple. I raised preflop, got callers, and threw away the 6. The flop was 45x, and CJ either raised my bet or checkraised me. I don’t remember which. I mucked my aces, and he showed his 54 (sooooted!). The other hand was O8. I hate O8. I had A224 with the ace suited. There was little action preflop, and the flop came down 25T. Checked around. Bottom set is bad. The turn was another ten, giving me deuces full, and then there’s a bet and a raise in front of me. I flash my hand to people sitting next to me and fold. My high was no good, never draw at the low. Right? Case deuce on the river. I stood up and punched a wall. It hurt. (As it turned out, I was right to fold: I was behind to 55xx. It still sucks.) With laydowns like those, how the hell did I donk off $124 in that game? I have no clue.

Memory is fuzzy from here (I need to start taking notes). I think I finally left the 4/8 game and walked back to the IP from the MGM with Jeff and someone else, to get some sleep before the tournament. (Edit: This walk back to the IP may have been after Storming the Castle the next day, not the games at the MGM. I really can’t remember. Edit again: Nope, it was from the MGM. I remember taking a cab back from the Excal, only because I remember not remembering who was in it the next day.) Why does the monorail stop running at 2am? Dammit.

…more to come…