Well well! I returned home from Vegas last night--the coldest night of the winter in Toronto. Perfect timing.

First of all, a hearty congratulations goes out to Mike Watson from Waterloo for his 10th place finish at the LAPC today. This is a pretty big accomplishment. I'm a fan of his blog, so if you'd like to check it out:

www.sirwatts.blogspot.com

I guess I should get right to this entry, because I already know it's going to be ridiculously long. There are tons of notes on hands on my blackberry. I was told by the first dealer at the Venetian on my first day there that I couldn't type anything on my blackberry at the table. For a couple of hours after that I'd stand up and move away to type anything. Then I started just moving my chair back from the table. By the dinner break I was typing away at the table again, and nobody said anything to me about it for the entire rest of the trip.

If it seems like it's just hand history after hand history, don't worry, I got lazy as the trip went on.

DAY ONE

I learned something about US Customs at Pearson: the last thing you want to see during your little interview with the customs guy is a yellow clipboard, because you'll be taking that yellow clipboard with you into the next level of customs for further interrogation/searching. When he asked how much cash I was travelling with, and I told him about 9K or so, he made me read and initial the section on the customs card about how you can't bring more than 10K USD with you without declaring it. I did so, and then he handed me the clipboard, and I went to the waiting room with the rest of the suspected terrorists, drug dealers, etc. to speak to the next level of security. They took digital fingerprints of me, and a photo.

They were processing people based on their departure times it seemed. Basically, this meant that if a suspected terrorist/drug dealer arrived in the holding room after I did, but had a flight that was leaving before mine was, they would be interviewed first. I felt it was a little unfair that I was being punished for being early for my flight in this way, but such is life. (Hayley got through customs no problem btw... they didn't ask her how much money she was travelling with. In fact, they didn't really ask her anything.)

The next level of interrogation was a very nice young woman who seemed embarrassed to be putting me through this process, although I'm sure they've all been trained in various ways of getting people to let their guard down. She asked if I was a professional poker player, asked how often I go to the States to play poker, and looked at my wad of $100's but didn't count it. She went through my stuff in a fairly cursory way... not looking in half the pockets of my carry-on or suitcase. She apologized for undoing my tidy packing job.

I asked if it would help if I brought traveller's cheques next time, instead of cash, but she said it doesn't really matter; sometimes the customs officers just want to verify that you're carrying what you say you're carrying. I wonder, though, because this is the first time I've been across the border since the Seneca win. Getting back from that trip, I had to tell Canada Customs that I had over 10K in cash on me, and I had to fill out a form. Maybe I've been flagged, and maybe I'll be searched on a semi-regular basis everytime I cross the border. They're not going to find anything though... I've been honest every time and I'm not about to start cutting corners now.

Hayley refers to me as "her fugitive boyfriend" for a couple of hours. This is, by the way, her very first trip to Vegas, so we're both pretty excited about that.

After plane de-icing, and then dropping off our luggage at the MGM in Vegas, I end up missing all of two hands of the Venetian 1K Deep Stack event.




Venetian Deep Stack Extravagaza, 1K buy-in, 230-ish players, pays 18 places, 1st gets 66K. One hour levels.

I appear to start with 11K in chips. I was pretty sure (and confirmed later) that with the dealer bonus, players were to start with 10K in chips. I didn't say anything.

25/50, 11K

EP makes it 150, MP calls, I raise to 500 in LP with AsKs. They both call.

Flop: QJx rainbow. Not really a great flop to bluff at, but I bet 1250 when it's checked to me and win.

I then bleed off a bit seeing relatively cheap flops with small pairs and suited connectors, missing, and folding.

I am EP with QTo and raise to 150. I get 3 callers.

Flop: KJx rainbow. I bet 400 and get 1 caller (the big blind).
Turn: brick. I check behind.
River: Ace, giving me the nuts. I bet but don't get called.

50/100, no notes on my stack but it's probably close to what I started with.

I fold 22 UTG, nobody raises, I would have flopped a set against the biggest spewbox at the table, who picked it up with a bet on the flop.

I go to the washroom, and the guy in the stall next to me is snoring, loudly. I can see his feet under the divider... he has nice shoes and well-tailored pants. He's not homeless, just probably still drunk from the night before and passed out while sitting on the toilet.

I get back to my table and everyone is gone. Apparently they broke my table, and the dealer tells me where my chips went.

One limper, I call from the SB for 50 more with 2d5d. The BB checks.

Flop: 652 with 2 spades, one club. I bet 250, the BB folds, and the limper makes it 1K with about 4K behind. I'm fairly new at this table, but I've seen enough hands to know that I'm definitely good against this guy. I make it 3K total, he shoves, and I call.

He has 6c8c for top pair, no kicker. The turn is a sick card: the 9c, giving him a straight draw and a flush draw. The river is a miracle brick, though, and I win a nice pot.

100/200, 16K, 219 players remaining.

UTG + 1 open limps, and I make it 700 to go right next to him with KJo. LP calls, and he calls as well.

Flop: KQJ rainbow. UTG + 1 checks, I bet 1650, and both of my opponents fold.

I am MP with QhTh and open-raise to 700. SB calls, heads-up to the flop.

Flop: 789, 2 clubs, one heart. Check check.
Turn: 2h. SB bets 500, I call.
River pairs the 8, and doesn't give me my flush. SB checks, I check, and he takes it down with 67o.

I played this hand pretty poorly, but from a strictly results-oriented point of view, I'd have to put some serious pressure on him to get him off his hand. (Of course I didn't know that at the time...) Fairly early in a tournament, I'd rather not be making large bets when I'm on a draw. Later is a different story.

I open limp 7d8d in EP, 2 other players limp as well and the BB checks.

Flop: 332 rainbow. Checked around.
Turn: 5. BB checks, I bet 1K and win.

100/200 a25, 18K, comfortably above-average stack.

I have AsKs and open-raise to 750 in MP. LP calls, as does the BB.

Flop: A97 rainbow, one spade. BB checks, I bet 1650, LP calls and BB folds.
Turn: 2s giving me the nut flush draw to go along with TPTK. I bet 2800, LP shoves for 3500 or so more. I call and beat his AQ.

140 or so left, average is 16K, I have 26K.

UTG (just moved to the table) limps, the button makes it 800, I'm an idiot and flat call from the SB with AKo, UTG now makes it 2700 after limping, and the button and I fold. I should always re-raise with AK. I mean always. There are very few situations where I think it's a good idea to limp, or just call a raise, with AK. Fold, raise, or re-raise... that should be it for me and AK I think. I admit that I hate playing AK/AQ from the blinds, but f that. Anyway, UTG probably had aces there so I probably saved myself a lot of chips but who knows/cares.

MP open-raises to 650, I am next to act and make it 1600 with red aces. He calls.

Flop: 3 low cards, 2 spades. He checks, I bet 2400, he raises to 5400, I shove, and he folds. (QQ, he says).

32K-ish.




200/400 a25, 31,700, average 18,500.

I lose like 3K with AsJs after flopping a jack, but folding to a 5K bet when a queen comes on the turn. I don't have specifics, probably because I played this hand terribly.

I wrote that I'm card dead at this level. In general, I hate reading that I'm card dead, because it shouldn't matter: I should be able to accumulate chips without good cards. I wrote that I slowly "bled off some chips here but it's OK". It's not.

300/600 a50, 28,500

I open-raise to 1700 in MP with 9sTs. SB calls and has me covered.

Flop: J93, one spade. He checks, I bet 2600, he raises to 7600, and I call.
Turn: Red ace, check check. (If I bet here I win, obv. He was just trying to see if I had anything on the flop.)
River: brick. He bets 5K, I fold. I play so bad sometimes, it's sick.

18K or so now.

I am MP with AKo. UTG limps, UTG + 1 raises to 3K. I re-raise (thank God) to 7K, and they both fold.

Next hand I have QJo and limp after UTG limps. 4 players.

Flop: KK2. Checked around.
Turn: 9. Checked to me, I bet 2200 and win.

I fold 55 in EP, ends up no raise preflop, I would have made quads.

I am EP with 88, raise, and get one caller.

Flop: J52. He checks, I bet, I win.

27K, 100 players left, average is 22K.

Don't have the details for this hand but here's the gist: there is a raise preflop and I call along with a couple of others, holding AJ. Flop is KJx and is checked around. Turn is x, I bet 4K and get called, heads-up to the river which is also x, check check, I beat QJ. I have a lot of chips now, until:

I am BB with TT. Folded to the button who has about 6K (10 X BB), and he shoves. SB folds, I call. Button has AT and wins by rivering a gutshot obv.

30K.

34K after a couple of small pots won with 66 and AK.

400/800 a75, 33K, 79 players remaining, average is 28,100.

EP limps, I raise to 3K with 99 in MP, LP calls and EP calls.

Flop: AQ4. EP checks, I bet 4500, LP folds, EP shoves, and I fold. EP shows pocket fours.

25K, I am below average now.




EP (fairly shortstacked) limps. Button raises, I call in SB with JJ. EP shoves, button folds, and I call because players who do the UTG limp/re-raise don't always have aces. In fact, in my experience, they don't have aces more often than they do. This time, though, he had aces.

13K.

600/1200 a100, 11K, 64 players remaining, average is way more chips than I have.

It's folded to me on the button and I shove AQo for 11K even. BB calls with 66, and I don't win. Busto after 8 hours or so of play, plus breaks. I'm not going to go on and on about how that was a pretty bad call from the BB as he is a coin flip at best, and he had a stack of about 22K which isn't great but isn't too bad, and my raise represented about 40% or so of his chips so it's a pretty easy fold with 66. I won't go on and on about that.

Anyway, I rarely win races in Vegas so I'm not surprised. I finish in 60th place.

We check into our room at the MGM Grand. If you've ever been to the hotel there, you'll know what I mean when I say that the hallways are pretty trippy. They have like 1,000,000 rooms, so when you get off the elevator, you're looking at four or five different hallways, each going off in a different direction from the elevator, and each going on so far that you can't see the horizon. Just door after door after door, into infinity.



DAY TWO

We are woken up at the ungodly hour of 8am, because we've been given a room that has one of those adjacent-room-doors; fittingly, a door within the hotel room that leads to the room that is adjacent to the room in question. I didn't even notice it when we checked in the night before, but that's probably because the people next to us were asleep when we arrived. Well, they weren't asleep at 8 in the morning... they were up, and full of piss and vinegar: yelling to each other from the bathroom, etc. We could hear every word as if they were talking to each other in our room. I'm not really a morning person, so when one of the women finished her inane sentence, I said in a very clear and loud voice: "REALLY." There was a pause in their conversation for a moment as they processed the fact that someone was listening to them and not very happy about it, and then carried on as they were.

I called the front desk, and asked to be moved to an adjacent door-less room, ASAP. This is how that conversation went:

Me: Hi, I was wondering if I could get a room change. There's a door to the next room here, and you can hear every word the people next door are saying. They just woke us up.

Her: OK no problem. The room will be ready this afternoon. You just have to leave your bags at the bell desk and come back this afternoon to get the new room.

Me: Thanks. There's just a small problem though... we're not going to be around this afternoon. Any chance we could just move now?

Her: No, that's impossible, no rooms are available right now. You'll have to wait until people check out, and then for the room to be made up.

Me: OK. So we just leave our bags at the bell desk when we leave later this morning, and then tonight when we get back here we can have the new room.

Her: No sir. You have to come back this afternoon to get the room, not tonight.

Me: What's the difference? Can't we just get the new room later tonight?

Her: No. You have to get it this afternoon.

Me: OK, here's the problem. We have plans for the entire afternoon. We're leaving the hotel at around 11 this morning, and we can't return until later tonight. We won't be present at all this afternoon.

Her: OK sir, I understand. And who gave it to you?

Me: Pardon?

Her: Who gave it to you?

Me: Who gave what to me?

Her: The present.

Me: (...)

Me: No, nobody gave me a present. I said we're not going to BE present this afternoon.

She wasn't joking, either. She was dead serious, and really dumb. Upon hearing me say that last line over the phone, Hayley started cracking up, and I ended the call quickly. I called back 3 minutes later, got somebody else, and we immediately moved into a room that was all made up, empty, and adjacent door-less.

While I was busy losing 1K the night before, Hayley won her way into today's event, which we both played, and therefore traded 10%.

$500 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza, 357 entrants, pays 38 spots, 1st gets 53K.

This tournament has the same structure as yesterday's event, but with 40 minutes/level instead of 60.

I sit down and start listening to music. I'd forgotten my headphones for my blackberry the day before, and had regretted it. I remembered them this time, though, and was digging some music when some grumpy old fuck at the other end of the table told the dealer to call the floor. The floor arrived, and the guy pointed at me and said: "He's not allowed to do that with a blackberry". The guy didn't even bother talking to me about it... just called the floor and pointed. What a moron. Some people, man... don't get me started. People like this guy are most of the reason why I listen to music during poker tournaments: I would like to believe that people aren't generally know-nothing arrogant pricks, but I've been proven wrong so many times that I need to tune them out.

The floor guy told me that I couldn't be using the blackberry because it's a communication device. I put the blackberry in my pocket but kept the headphones in. This satisfied the floor guy, but not numbnuts in the three seat. Too bad... as soon as I put it in my pocket the floor guy nodded and walked off.

25/50, 10K.

I am SB with 33. Folded to MP who makes it 200, I call. Heads-up.

Flop: KT3, 2 spades. I check, she bets 600, I raise to 1600, and she folds.

I am LP with 77. EP raises, and I call. Heads-up.

Flop: 886. He checks, I bet, he calls.
Turn: 2. I think something is up, and check behind when he checks to me again.
River: 8. He makes a sizeable bet, and I have to call. I lose to AA.

I think I played this hand pretty well, actually. It's tough to get away from 77 on a 88628 board, and I probably lost the least I could.

I am BB with Kd2d. MP min-raises, LP calls, SB calls, I call.

Flop: K93, checked to raiser who makes a very small bet. LP calls, I call.
Turn: 8. Checked around.
River: 5. I bet because I think I must be good given the action. MP now folds, but LP calls with KsTs (even picked up a spade draw on the turn) and wins.

A couple of players limp, I call from SB with A7o, BB raise to 250. I call. Heads-up.

Flop: K86. I lead out 400, and he folds AQ face up.

50/100, 8K, average probably 10.2K.

I limp with 5h7h, SB raises to 400, I call, miss, fold. Weak.

I write that I am playing bad, but don't have any more notes from this level.

100/200, 7300.

I am MP with TsJs and limp. LP raises to 625, and I call. Heads-up.

Flop: KT7 rainbow, no spades. I check, he bets 750, and I call.
Turn: 7. I check, he checks.
River: 7. I check, he checks, and I beat his AQ.

I am LP with ATo and open-raise to 600. BB calls.

Flop: AA6. He bets 600, I call.
Turn: T. He checks, I check.
River: Q. He checks, I bet 1K, he folds.



(Yes, I'm a professional television camera operator and no, I didn't use the right flash setting for that picture.)

Folded to me in LP with Jc8c and I raise to 600. The button and SB call.

Flop: 863 rainbow. SB checks, I bet 1300, the button calls, and SB check-raises to 4300. We both fold, and he wins. He could have easily been running a squeeze here, but I resigned myself to folding because when you raise with a hand like Jc8c, you're not really looking to flop one pair. You want two pair, trips, a draw, or nothing. And I'm certainly not going to stack off with TPNK, even though I probably folded the best hand here like a donkey.

100/200 a25, 7300, average 12,400.

I am MP with Jd9d and raise to 500. The button (SB from the last hand who was probably squeezing) calls. Heads-up.

Flop: 9TQ, one diamond. That's the kind of flop I'm looking for. I bet 700, he calls.
Turn: 7d. I bet 1500, he calls.
River: Ad. I bet 2K (half my remaining stack), and he says "I had you until that card", and folds. He's obviously right, which bothers me a bit, even though he probably thinks I hit the ace and not the flush.

10K now.

EP raises to 525, and I call in the CO with KhTh. Heads-up.

Flop: AK4, with two hearts. Pretty. He bets 700, I call.
Turn: Offsuit 2. Check check.
River: Offsuit 4. Check check. He has TT and I win with my kings. You know, for a limit hold'em player I should really know how to value bet more often, but that K2 vs KT hand from earlier in this tournament (where I bet the river and was sure that my top pair must have been good given the action, but was actually out-kicked) had me a little gunshy I guess.

11,700.

I am MP with KQo and open-raise to 600. My nemesis (squeeze/"I had you until that card" guy) calls. Heads-up.

Flop: K64, 2 diamonds. I bet 1K and win.

I call a raise multiway with AQo, miss, fold.

I raise 99 after one limper but have to fold preflop due to heavy action. (AA vs KK, as it turned out).

200/400 a25, 10,500.

I bluff off some chips and am down to 7300.

Folded to me in the CO, I raise to 1200 with Td7d. Button calls, heads-up.

Flop: AAQ, I check and fold to his 1200 bet.

5400, and I wrote "Lol I hate Vegas". Lol.

300/600 a50, 4500

I get it all-in with AK vs AK preflop, end up freerolling a flush but miss.

UTG opens to 1400, I shove 77, he says AJ and folds. 7700 now.

I call a raise with AJ, miss, fold.

Hayley is busto.

400/800 a75, 5100, 198 players remain, average is 18K.

Hayley keeps getting excited because some guy from Rent is playing in these events. (I saw the movie once a long time ago, but totally forget it because I found it to be totally forgettable. If you're a fan, the guy playing in these tournaments was "the guy with the camera" in the movie.) Her conversation with him:

Her: Are you the guy from Rent?

Him: Yes.

Her: You're awesome.

I open-shove JQo in MP, no callers.

Folded to me in SB, I shove Q6o, BB folds.

7K

5400

A waitress asks an older guy at the table how the tournament is going for him. He says: "I've got a long way to go and a short stack to get there", which cracks me up because he's cleverly reworked the signature line from the song "Eastbound and Down" from Smokey and the Bandit. The original line is: "We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there".

4800, I can't wait much longer, and there are no more good spots to shove. Every pot is raised by the time it gets to me, and if there's a limper, I don't have enough chips to get him to fold.

I eventually have to shove Ks6s from the SB after it's folded to the button who raises with what I think is probably a weak hand. He has A6o, and I can't win obv so I go busto.

I lose $50 at blackjack, and then I lose $150 at blackjack. So far this trip isn't going well at all. In fact, now seems like a decent time to point out that I've been running pretty bad at tournaments in Vegas since the WSOP final table in 2005. I think I've been there twice (?) since then (not counting this trip) and have monied in precisely zero events. Including these two events, that makes like 14 Vegas tournaments in a row I've missed the money in. How depressing. My spirits weren't all that great, because I could see this trip going like the one I took with my brother at this time last year (the Wynn Classic series). That wasn't fun.

To further complicate things, in 12 hours I would be faced with a big decision: do I really want to spend $2600 on the Main Event? I can't even smell money in Vegas since '05... why on earth would I want to play the biggest tournament of my life in a room where I've been running so bad?

Fortunately for me, I'd busted out of the $500 event just in time to play the $225 + rebuy super satellite into the following day's main event. At the end of the rebuy period, I had worked my 1500 starting stack up to about 7200--well above average--without rebuying at all. This may seem kind of sad, and it probably is kind of sad, but I felt like I'd won already. To clarify: I'd been running so bad in Vegas that NOT LOSING VERY MUCH was like WINNING. How sad is that? I didn't take the add-on ($200, just like each rebuy) and was exhilarated that I'd spend the absolute minimum ($225) on a satellite in which others were in for 1K+.

Of course I didn't win a seat, but it felt like I did, because I didn't lose very much. So sick.

I didn't really take notes on the super satellite (thank God, right?) but here's what I do have:

The guy to my left, after winning a couple of pots in the first ten minutes, says that he knows for certain how everybody at the table plays. I say: "table change". The guy across from me doesn't take this guy's comment very lightly though, and starts to get into it with him in a big way. The two oldest guys at the table, about to throw down, tossing out 10K prop bet challenges to each other trying to prove who has the biggest dick. Kind of sad really, and again, that's why I like listening to music.

The guy to my left (Mr. "I know how everybody plays") later tells me that he thinks I'm the second-best player at the table, and that I'd be the best if I had as many chips as he did. Now I like him, and listen to everything he says. He tells me, incidentally, that he is a professional poker player, and travels the world playing big buy-in tournaments. He tells me that he won over a million dollars last year, including a first-place finish at the EPT France event. I didn't recognize him, and didn't bother asking his name. He ended the rebuy period as the monster stack of the satellite... the guy who could sit out and quite possibly win a seat.. but donked it all off with marginal hands in about half an hour.

It occurs to me that with 1500 chips to start and 20-minute levels it's no wonder I'm doing well, as all I've been playing lately are speed SNG's at Party.

Two guys at the other end of the table play a pot together. The first one bets the ace-high flop, wins, and mucks his hand. A few moments later he leans over to the second guy like he's going to whisper some secret info about something, but he ends up screaming "I HAD ACE KING" because he's wearing noise-cancelling headphones with music playing at maximum volume. The table cracks up. A guy near me screams "I HAD A ROYAL FLUSH", but it goes unnoticed by headphones guy.

All I wrote about how I busted from this event was that I lost a flip and it hurt. If I remember correctly, the blinds were going up pretty fast, and I got it all-in preflop by pushing overtop of a shorter stack's all-in with TT. Everyone else folded, but I couldn't beat AJo (of course, of course) and that crippled me.

I play a $265 single-table satellite to the main event, and lose. I didn't write this one down either, but I remember it: fast structure, get 'em in when you can. Maybe the second level, I check-raised all-in with QJo on a Qd7c8d flop. The original bettor insta-called (and had me covered) with 6d9d for a monster draw. He hit his flush on the turn, right away, no delay, and I lost again.

Great trip so far, huh? It gets worse, don't worry.

This guy who busted me from the single-table satellite was talking about how, during a tournament, he threw his cards after taking a beat. They landed four tables away from him, and lightly brushed a guy's arm as they were falling. The staff asked the guy who got hit with the cards if he needed medical assistance as a result of the cards hitting his arm. Both the guy who threw the cards and the guy who got hit by them had to sign medical releases. No joke.

Off to the Bellagio we go for the first time. The home of limit hold'em cash games, from low stakes to really, really high stakes, all the time. I love that place. I get on the $15/$30 and $30/$60 lists. I look in Bobby's Room (the super high-stakes glassed-in room where Doyle, Jennifer, Eli, Gus, Sammy, etc etc etc usually play) and it's empty. I assumed it was because everyone was at the LAPC main event, but later learned that it's been empty since Chip Reese, a regular player in the Big Game, passed away. It's a sign of respect to him that the room has been dormant for a while, but I had to laugh when I thought to myself: "Chip must have been the donator, and that's why the game has broken". LOL, I'm going to hell. Obviously he wasn't the donator... the guy was a monster cash game player by all accounts.

I play $30/$60 for a while, and win $300. Woo freakin' hoo.

DAY THREE

$2600 Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza Main Event, 222 entrants. First place gets around 150K, 22 places pay.

Well, obviously I decided to buy my way into this event. That being said, I have no idea how people enter 10K events. After putting 26 $100 bills on the tournament registration desk and receiving a white seating card in return, I actually laughed out loud. The guy who sold me the ticket gave me a strange look.

TJ Cloutier is playing in this event, and is at the table next to mine. The structure for the tournament is amazing of course. Same increases as the other two events I've described, but with one hour levels and a whopping 15K starting stack.

25/50, 15K

I bluff off 500 with 4s5s.

I call a 500 river bet on a 467QQ board with pocket fives and win.

I limp Jc6c after a bunch of limpers, bet a flush draw, and win.

I limp/call a small raise with 5d7d, miss, fold.

I am BB with 79o. UTG raises to only 125, gets 3 callers, so I call.

Flop: 78T rainbow. Checked around.
Turn: 8, and puts a flush draw out there. I bet 350, UTG and one other player both fold, MP raises to 1K, and I fold. UTG said he folded AA? He checked the flop and then folded to my single bet on the turn? I don't think so, but he said he hated that flop for aces, which is true, but still... Anyway, I was going to call the 650 raise on the turn, but I decided that I could easily be drawing slim to dead... paired board, flush draw out there, and I'm drawing to a non-nut straight? No thanks.

I call a raise multiway with 77, miss, fold.

I call a raise with 33, miss, fold.

14,250.

I wasn't involved in this hand:

EP limps, MP raises to 325 with what turned out to be 25o, BB flat calls with what turned out to be QQ, and EP folds. Flop came 259, they got it all in, and QQ is busto. I note that this is a dangerous table, really. Also, remember this hand, because Mr. 25o will come up in a significant hand against me later.

50/100, 14K

MP limps, SB completes, and I check in the BB with J8o.

Flop: J64 rainbow. SB bets 200, I raise to 600, MP calls, and SB calls.
Turn: 8. Checked around. I do not think my hand is good.
River: 2. SB bets 1300, I fold, and MP calls. SB has 57 and beats MP's KJ with a straight.

13,350

Folded to me in CO and I raise with As6s. BB calls. Heads-up.

Flop: 7s9sTs. I like it. He bets 400, I raise to 1100, he calls.
Turn: 9c. Not my favourite card, but I think I'm still good. He bets 1K, I raise to 2500, he calls.
River: 8s, giving me a straight flush. I can only lose to the Js. He bets 1K, I raise to 4K, he thinks forever and eventually calls. I win, he mucks. I have no idea what he had. This leaves him with 3K or so, and if he'd been deeper I'd have played it differently.

21,600

I play bad:

UTG raises to 350, I call in MP with AdKc (fuk), and both blinds call. A re-raise right here would have won the pot, I'm sure.

Flop: KJ3, 2 diamonds. UTG checks, I bet 1K, SB folds, BB calls, UTG folds.
Turn: Td, giving me TPTK, the nut flush draw, a gutshot straight draw, and a gutshot royal flush draw. He bets 2K, and I freeze up. I immediately put him on a flush, so dumb, and just call. If there's one hand that proves that the buy-in was effecting my play, it's this one.
River: Offsuit queen, giving me the straight. He instabets 3500, I stick to my read that he has the flush, and I fold. So very very bad. He says something like "whew" as he stacks the chips, as though he's bluffed me, which he very well may have done.

Looking at this hand a little more closely, it's pretty obvious that he could easily play a hand like KQ or JQ this way. People rarely bet out when they make their flush, although it's possible, but I really think he had a pair and an open-ended straight draw on the turn, and two pair on the river. I was probably ahead on every single street. What was influencing my decision, though, was the 15K starting stack. After winning that pot with the straight flush, I was well ahead of that 15K. If I called his river bet, it wouldn't have crippled me by any means, but it would have put me below 15K by a bit. I didn't want to be below the starting stack heading into the first break. It was some imaginary barrier that I'd set for myself, probably because I was concerned about the $2600 buy-in. As a result, I played this hand absolutely terribly. But enough about that... gotta move past the mistakes, as I kept telling myself during the break. I resolved to forget about that hand and just try to play my game moving forward, which I think I did, for a while anyway.

18K.

I see a guy go busto with A6 vs 88 on a A8A8T board.

100/200, 18K, 200 remain, average is 16,500.

During the break, I glance to the guy on my right 2 urinals over, and I see that he is making expressions of what can only be described as ecstacy. It's a pretty weird bathroom I guess.

UTG raises to 600, and I call in MP with AhQh. Heads-up.

Flop: KQ4, 2 clubs. He bets 1K, and I call.
Turn: Offsuit 9. Check check.
River: Offsuit 6. Check check. He has 4c5c, and I win.

20K.

I recognize a player who is moved to my table, but I can't remember his name. At any rate, he brings a little plate of sunflower seeds with him. His thing is to suck on a seed, and then to spit the shell into a cup that he has in front of him. This isn't all that bad, I guess, but it's the way he spits out the seed that bugs me. He doesn't bring the cup to his mouth, and he doesn't bring his mouth to the cup. He just kind of drops the seed out of his mouth, and it does a long-distance fall into the cup. Sometimes listening to music just isn't enough.

I am EP with QcQs and raise to 600. 2 callers.

Flop: AJ6 all diamonds. Lol. Checked around.
Turn: A low black card, I bet 1500 and win.

20,500

I lose 1600 after I call a small-ish preflop raise with Qs9s, missing, bluffing, and getting called.

18,600

Folded to me in MP, I raise to 600 with AdTd. I get 2 callers.

Flop: 852, none of my suit. I bet 1500, 1 player folds, the other raises to 4K, and I fold.

The next hand, EP limps, and I raise to 800 with QsQh. Both blinds and the limper call.

Flop: K76, two spades. Checked around.
Turn: 9 spades. BB bets 1800, I call. Heads-up.
River: Offsuit ten. BB bets 3500, I call and beat his AJ (no spades).

100/200 a25, I have about 22K, average is probably around 18K or so.

OK, here's the hand of the tournament for me. I'm going to spend a long time on it, because basically I was on super monkey tilt after it. I can come back from a lot of things, but to have this go down in the biggest buy-in event of my life... well, I guess I'm not good enough to fade that, as you will see.

UTG (the guy who raised 25o after a limper earlier, wasn't re-raised, and then flopped two pair and felted the guy with with the pocket queens) raises UTG to 900. He starts this hand with about 10K, I start with about 22K. Folded to me in BB with QQ. I re-raise to 3200 total. He shoves for 7K more, and I call.

He has 4d5d.

Flop: K98 rainbow, no diamonds. I am a 97% favourite to win this hand.
Turn: 7
River: 6

I lose to his straight. Instead of having about 33K, I am left with 10,500 after this hand.

I really can't describe to you the feeling I had after losing that pot, but if you play poker, you already know what I'm talking about. I've felt it before, but never like that, and I think it's due to the $2600 buy-in. I simply can't handle losing to such a terrible play/beat at buy-in levels that I care about. The $2600 isn't going to make or break me... I am up about 25K so far in 2008, not bragging, not bragging, just trying to put it into perspective... but I take the money I win in poker seriously. Some people don't treat their winnings with respect. They look at it as other people's money/money they wouldn't have had anyway, etc. So they piss it away. Not me. I look at it as MY money the second I win it, and I try my damndest to hold onto it, and to make it grow.

With this in mind, losing that pot was probably about the worst I've ever felt playing poker. And it was at that moment that I decided that tournament buy-in's of over $1500 are just not for me. Not yet, and maybe not ever. I'll try to satellite my way into big events, sure, but I'm not shelling out over 2K so some donk can make a terrible, terrible play and hit his miracle cards on me. On that note, let's talk about why his shove was so bad:

I don't mind shoving with hands like 4d5d, if the conditions are right. In my opinion, this is when it's not terrible to make the big all-in bluff with a trash hand:

1) You are shortstacked, and your opponent is not.
2) You have a lot of chips, and your opponent does not, but is not shortstacked.
3) You have a solid table image.
4) You are against a player who has been fairly significantly out of line.
5) Your shove is big enough, relative to the pot size and to your opponent's stack, to get your opponent to fold a wide range of hands, including a few of the big ones (TT to QQ, AJ, AQ)
6) There are more conditions, but those are the big ones IMO.

His shove was terrible, for a whole bunch of reasons. He had a terrible table image. He wasn't shortstacked at all relative to the blinds, having 10K and playing 100/200 a25. I had a fairly tight image, despite a couple of small-ish moves. I was re-raising out of the blinds against a UTG raiser. His shove was about 7K more to me to call, and the pot was about 6400 when I was faced with that decision. Given my stack size (double his), I call even if I'm bizarrely making a move with air in this spot. I call with TJo, but it's highly unlikely I'm trying a re-steal, from the blinds, against a UTG raiser, after effectively committing myself to call his shove by re-raising to 3200. In short, this is about the worst all-in play I've ever seen, which makes the beat that much sicker.

I'm sorry. I've been whining. I'm sorry. But I feel better.

Anyway, I didn't say anything to him. The table went a little crazy after the river came a six, I just got up and walked away and left the dealer to pay him off out of my stack.

When I return, I play this hand. I guess my walk wasn't long enough:

Folded to me in the CO with Jh5h, and I raise to 700. The button calls. Heads-up.

Flop: JT7 with 2 diamonds. I bet 1200, and he calls.
Turn: 9 diamonds. Check check.
River: Offsuit four. I check, he shoves for about 7K which is a pretty huge overbet, and I call. Yep, you read that right. Any 8 beats me. Any flush obviously beats me. Two pair, even one pair with a better kicker, etc. etc. It was the worst call I've ever made. My opponent had KQ obviously and won.

I was seriously considering changing some of the details about that hand, because I'm that embarrassed about it. Obviously I was tilted beyond belief. I never play hands THAT bad. Pretty bad sometimes, yeah, but not that bad. I decided to write the hand as it happened because I haven't lied in this blog about anything yet. No reason to start now. If you think less of me, oh well... I beat myself up pretty bad about it. That 4d5d hand had me absolutely dizzy, and I just couldn't control myself.

To make matters worse, I called because some sick part of me knew I was beat and just wanted to leave, but his shove LEFT ME WITH ONE 1K CHIP. If I'd known I'd have to sit there with one freakin' chip after the hand, there's no way I call, tilted or not, because the only thing worse than being tilted is being tilted and really really embarrassed, which is the unfortunate situation I was now in.

1K. (One chip. I can't even shuffle until they break it down for the ante).

I triple up with QQ lol just kill me pls.

4500.

I open raise to 700 with 8d9d, get re-raised, and fold. By this point I wanted to see if I could come back from one single chip, and was playing well again.

EP raises to 700, 2 players call, I call on the button with Ac9c, and the BB calls as well.

Flop: AK3 one club. Everyone checks to me, and I figure someone is probably trapping but I have to shove. Miraculously, everyone folds.

200/400 a25. 7K.

A player gets disqualified from the tournament for the following reason: his table was broken up, and instead of carrying his chips in a rack to his new table, he decided to carry them to the washroom or whatever first. You're not allowed to leave the tournament area with your chips.

I chop AK vs. AK, all-in preflop.

EP raises, MP calls, LP re-raises, and I decide to fold 88 in the BB. Would have missed completely.

Folded to the button who raises to 1600. I shove JJ from the BB for 7K and win.

8500.

Folded to me in LP, I fail to notice that the BB has 1300 in total, and I raise to 1400 with QTo. He calls for less, has K9o, but I win.

10K.

I raise to 1400 with JJ in EP. A terrible player who has been calling all-in bets for significant portions of his stack with hands like QJo preflop shoves for 5500 more. I call and lose to his KQo. Terrible play sir. You open-shove KQo at 10 X BB or less IMO. You don't shove all-in for 17 or so BB's after a shortstack raises from EP.

Somebody at the table says that it was a pretty brutal shove with KQo, and although I've been pretty quiet about everything, I do say that I have been getting outplayed a lot at that table.

300/600 a50, 3600

UTG I look at an ace and shove 6 X BB without looking at my other card. Folded to the BB who bizarrely calls with 69o. It just doesn't stop. Turns out I had AQo, and I somehow win.

7900.

LP raises to 2K, I shove 6K total from the SB with AJo, and LP folds what must have been total air.

9K.

I have AdTd in MP and raise to 2K. A player goes all-in for much less (175 in total, this is the guy who shoves KQo vs my JJ, whose stack has since been decimated obv). A big stack in LP calls the 2K.

Flop: 753, 2 clubs. Check check.
Turn: Jc. I shove 7K, he thinks forever and folds. I win the bulk of the chips right then, and win the main when the all-in player mucks his hand on the river.

12,500

From 1K, that's not too bad, especially after running it up to 10K, and then back down to 3600.

400/800 a75, 11K. 112 players remaining, average is 30K.

I have been shortstacked to crippled for 3 of the 6 hours I've been in this event.

I get moved to a new table. First hand there, it's folded to me in MP with 88. I shove, get called by JJ, and I'm done.

Hayley and I go to Ellis Island for their world-famous ribs, which are really and truly delicious. While waiting for our table, we sit at the bar drinking and playing low-stakes video poker. I win $40.

After dinner we go downtown to the old strip, where Hayley is introduced to the Fremont Street Experience for the first time.




Lol. I love that picture. It was the third picture in a row I'd taken of her in that spot, but I wasn't happy with the exposure or framing or something, so she made a face to show her displeasure. It's my favourite one. Anyway, we had a great time that night. I gotta say, I really am pretty good about not letting a bad result in poker effect my personal life. Some of my ex-girlfriends from 2002-2004 might not agree, but it took some time to get to this point.

Hayley and I also checked out the poker hall of fame at Binion's. So romantic.

DAY FOUR

OK, the entries should get a lot shorter now. I think I stopped taking so many damn notes on my blackberry.

I win $225 at blackjack.

We go to the Bellagio for breakfast, and it is amazing.

I win $400 playing $15/$30 with Hayley at the Bellagio. I was playing well, building an image by raising with hands like T4 and 56 (and going to showdown) and then getting paid off nicely when I had a real hand. Then I played the 2:00 $540 tournament there, which only starts you with 3K chips, playing 40 minute levels. Quite a departure from the deep stack tournaments I'd gotten used to.

I start by losing 1400 chips with QT vs KT on a ten-high rainbow board. Wheee!

The short version:

I have 5K playing 100/200 a25. MP opens to 600, and I call in the BB with KdJd.

Flop: 652, 2 diamonds. I check, he bets 900, I raise to 2700 which puts him all-in exactly. He calls with 6s9s, which makes me the statistical favourite at that point, but I don't really hit anything in these situations in Vegas so I lose.

1700

2 hands later I shove AhJh after it's folded to me in LP. BB calls with AK and that's it.

Over to the the $30/$60 game, where I win $625. Interesting hand:

I have just sat down, won two small pots without showdown, and folded the other 18 or so hands. Villain has bet TT the whole way on a jack high board and won in the one hand I've seen him play.

I am UTG with QQ and raise. Folded to villain in SB who 3-bets. I four-bet (not a cap... it's five bets in Vegas), and villain just calls.

Flop: J67 rainbow. He checks, I bet, he check-raises, I three-bet, and he calls.
Turn: 3. He checks, I bet, he check-raises again, and I muck.

Hmm. Anyway it made me think. I thought I was beat then, and I think I was beat now.

After walking away from this session + $625, and the $15/$30 session +$400, and the $30/$60 from the other night +$300, it occurs to me that I haven't had a single losing cash game session. I've lost a ridiculous amount of money in tournaments, sure, but so far cash games have been going really, really well. I ask if they have a $40/$80, $50/$100, or $60/$120, but no, it goes from $30/#60 to $100/$200. All or nothing, no middle ground. So much for taking a shot.

I decide to call the Venetian to see if they're running their regular nightly $180 event for Hayley and I. The pit boss tells me I can just use the phone in Bobby's Room, which I am amazed about. I walk into the room, and it's just me in there... the biggest cash game room in any casino in the world. Two tables, a lounge, plasmas, even a CORDLESS phone! The placard on one of the tables next to the empty dealer tray tells me what the last game in that room was: $1000/$2000 blinds NLHE, minimum $100,000 buy-in.

The next night, I needed to make a phone call at the Bellagio again, so I just walked into Bobby's Room to use the same phone. When I left the room, a different pit boss came over and started giving me shit about being in that room. I said that the pit boss the night before told me to use it, but he didn't believe me. He said there was private stuff in that room, and that it's not open to the public. Oops.

I mess around in the $15/$30 with Hayley for a while before we head to the Venetian. I win $80. The cash game streak continues.

We play in the $180 Venetian event. No good. We head back to the Bellagio, where I end the night by playing in the $30/$60 and winning a whopping $55. No great shakes, but the streak is alive. A guy comes up to the table and starts talking to a friend who says he hasn't seen him there in a while. The guy says that he won't play at the Bellagio anymore because of the ten-handed tables. He'll only play at the Mirage in the 9-handed games. I'm thinking this guy is my new hero if he's making significant adjustments to his game between ten- and nine-handed play. I'm about to tell him as much when he says that he doesn't play the ten-handed games because he's too fat--he doesn't physically fit at the table, and therefore is restricted to the nine-handed games at the Mirage. Lol. The guy probably usually plays in the $30/$60 at the Bellagio, but after one too many cheeseburgers, he has to grind it out in the $10/$20 at the Mirage.

Hayley and I grab a late-night snack in the nice cafe at the Bellagio before returning to the MGM. Incidentally, we have used the MGM as a place to sleep, and that's it. We haven't given them any action. Their poker room is terrible IMO, because it only offers super low-stakes games. OK, that doesn't make it terrible in and of itself, but it's right out on the gaming floor, next to the slot machines. Maybe that's not altogether terrible either, but it's also right next to the night club in the MGM, which means that loud thumping awful dance music leaks out of the club and into the poker area, as the players try and ignore their surroundings while they check-raise their opponents two bucks at a time.

Back at the restaurant in the Bellagio, a woman comes stumbling up to our table from out of nowhere. She had no intention of talking to us for any reason, she was just hammered and almost walked into us. Because of this, and because of her general appearance (mid-forties, kinda sloppy, tiny dress, clownish make-up that needed to be touched up or washed off about four hours ago, tiny heels she can't walk in, etc.) I really can't help but stare into her face which is about 3 feet away from mine now. She's dragging her reluctant (and new, IMO) husband behind her, and she says to me in a gushing voice: "My hussssband" while smiling and gesturing to the sober, stoic, and unimpressed man behind her. I say, with genuine enthusiasm: "VERY nice!". She says: "Yessss... I'm very luckyyyyy....", and they stagger off to the washrooms.

At this point I stop paying attention to them, but five minutes later I notice that she is sitting outside the washroom, waiting for her husband to come out. 15 minutes later she's still waiting. I have to use the can, and on my way in, she asks me to check if he's in there. I have a look around, and he's long gone. She looks sad, and goes wandering off to find him. He's not in the restaurant at all, it's kinda sad actually.




I know it's blurry but I like it.

DAY FIVE

Breakfast at the Bellagio again (yummm!) and then I play the daily 2:00 $540 tournament again while Hayley tears up the $8/$16.

Early in the event, the tightest player at the table raises in EP. I re-raise with KK, she calls. Flop comes ace-high obv, check check. Turn is something, she bets, and I fold the kings face-up. She shows me AQ. I'm playing well but I'm starting this thing shortstacked again.

I'll just cut to the chase here: I ended up winning this tournament. We made a deal, and there were only 42 entrants so the money isn't exciting, but I'll get to that in a moment. Right now I want to say that I don't have any notes for this event on my blackberry. I know what you're thinking: "Isn't that convenient. The one tournament he wins, and he has no notes whatsoever. Suuuuuuuure he won it." Well, I did, and I have a withholding tax form to prove it.

5 spots paid, but when we got to the final table of ten, we agreed to take $100 from each place to give to 6th. With 9 left I might have been the chipleader, but it was pretty close. I had about 30K playing 400/800 a50, which isn't exactly a monster stack.

With ten left, I folded QJ on a QJ9 flop against a player who started the hand with the same number of chips as me. A bunch of limpers preflop, he bet the flop, I raised, he re-raised a large amount that would commit me to the hand. With a lot of chips and ten players left, I folded QJ face-up, and he kindly showed me KT. I lost the absolute minimum amount of chips necessary to find out where I was at in that hand.

At four left we made a deal by chip count, leaving 2K to give to first in addition to their guaranteed money. One of my opponents was Italian, and didn't speak any English. He was a decent player, though, and had certainly played enough to understand the concept of a deal, and how deals are usually made. Super nice guy, too, always smiling, just happy to be there. I used a pen and paper to write out the terms of the proposed deal, adding "-$500" from each place, and then writing "+$2000" next to "1st". He understood perfectly, and the deal was made:

Original payouts:

1st: $9385
2nd: $5215
3rd: $3130
4th: $2080

Deal payouts:

41,500 chips: $5785
32,300 chips: $4955
27,700 chips (me): $4545
27,500 chips: $4525

From those numbers though, you had to leave $500 in cash on the table after you busted out.

I eliminated the fourth place player after he lost a big pot, and then pushed all in from the SB against me in the BB. After his raise, there was 8K in the pot, and it was 4K to me to call. I had quite a few chips, and was obviously playing for 1st place as it was the only thing that paid after the deal, so I called with 58o and beat his A4o. He would have had a pretty tough time getting back in it anyway, but I felt bad about busting him like that. I felt even worse when I had to remind him to leave $500 on the table. LOL.

The Italian guy was next to fall. I crippled him in this hand: we're playing 2K/4K with an ante (I think). The button folds, I call in the SB with 56o, and the Italian guy checks the BB.

Flop: 456, all spades. I bet 7500, he calls. The turn is a red ace. I shove. He has me covered by 10K or so, not a whole lot. He calls, and flips over 37 for the straight. I laugh, and he laughs, and I get up from the table, happy with my performance. I am drawing to four outs, WHICH I FREAKIN' HIT ON THE RIVER when a six comes off, filling me up. This NEVER happens to me, and I actually did a happy dance kind of a jig thing. I never do that, either, but the three of us were all pretty much laughing about everything by this point anyway, including beats and bad plays, and we were drinking. This jig attracted some attention, but I didn't care.

That left him very shortstacked, and that left me with a sizeable chip lead. Before I busted the Italian guy, though, I doubled up the other guy when we both made a flush on the river. (Board 3c 8d Jh 8c 2c, I held Qc7c, he had Kc4c, we got it all-in on the river). We all laughed about that, too, as I shipped him a significant number of the chips I'd just won from the Italian, making him the chip leader by a little bit.

The next hand after that the button folded, I raised from SB with KK, the Italian shoved from the BB with Ad6d, and of course I called. My hand held up, and he was busto. Now I was going to REALLY find out if he understood the terms of the deal, but he immediately dropped $500 on the table and shook our hands, so there was nothing to worry about.

After that pot, I had the chip lead again by a very tiny bit. There was 1K in the other player's money sitting in front of us. I could try and win the $1500, and keep the $500 in my pocket, by beating this guy. But if I failed, I would have to take $500 out of my pocket, in addition to obviously surrendering the money that was on the table. I asked him if he just wanted to pocket $500 each of the other guy's cash and walk away. He agreed immediately, and that was that.

When it was all said and done, then, I won $5045. Not a huge sum by any means, but let me tell you: after getting my ass handed to me in all three of the Venetian events, breaking even never felt so good. We got paid, and tipped the dealers. Of course, they kept 30% of my winnings for withholding tax, which means I now have another form to add to the one from Seneca. The tournament director gave me the name and number of a good guy in Toronto who gets the money back... apparently he sends this guy a lot of business from the Bellagio, and gives the players a good return. I am going to check that out. But check THIS out:




After the other remaining player collected his money and left the room, the tournament director said: "And here's your trophy". WHAT??? SWEEET!!!! I had no idea there was a trophy, and neither did anyone else. There was no mention of it. I randomly happened to propose that we end the thing when I was ahead by like 2 big blinds, not knowing that those 2 big blinds would secure me this awesome trophy. It's about 10 inches high, and heavy as hell. The TD said that he's seen people offer to give up 1K in prize money if they can have the trophy. It's never sold. I mean, I'm sorry to go on and on about this trophy, but you have no idea how excited I was/am. A 5K score, big freakin' deal, but, ahem, this beautiful looking thing says, if you look closely:




That's right. Sure, I have to get it engraved myself (which I will do, with my name and the date of the tournament on it) but that's no big deal. I'm serious. I love it.

Hayley and I went to celebrate:




And that about does it for the Vegas trip. Between this score and my cash game results, I won about $6500. I spent $5500 or so on tournament entries, though, and there was food, cab rides, etc etc. You have no idea how close to even that makes me. If I was a professional poker player, I'd have to factor in travel and hotel. I'd be sorely disappointed with my results. But I'm not a pro, so I look at this as a vacation. And I came home with a hell of a souvenir.

BONUS FOOTAGE

OK, that's really where this ends, on a nice happy note all tied up with a bow, but there are a couple of other things I want to write down so they don't disappear.

While waiting for my opponents to return from break at the final table, the dealer told me some stories about the high-stakes games there at the Bellagio. Apparently people try to steal 10K chips from other players in the cash games on a semi-regular basis. Some of the NLHE games are BIG, even outside of Bobby's Room. 25K chips are not rarely seen on the tables. The biggest single chip the Bellagio has is worth 100K. The night before, some guy was screaming about how someone had swiped a 10K chip from him, but they couldn't find anything on the cameras. If I'm ever playing in a game that big (not likely), I think I'd rather have a bunch of 1K chips. If one gets stolen somehow, I don't lose as much. The dealer recommended always putting your biggest-denomination chips on the bottom of one of your stacks before you leave the table, be it in a tournament, or in a cash game.

Apparently a massage therapist took 4 10K chips from the guy she was massaging in the Bellagio poker room. Everyone was certain she'd done it, including the dealer, but the camera couldn't find the angle on the 1, 2, 9, and 10 seats. There was no proof, and therefore nothing they could do except ban her from the Bellagio for life.

While dealing in the big game in Bobby's Room, Sam Farha accused the woman who was telling me this story of stealing one of his 1K chips. He put $1100 into the pot, but there was only a single $100 chip in front of him. He insisted that she'd taken it, and she insisted that she hadn't. She offered to bet Sammy 10K that she hadn't taken the 1K chip. Doyle egged him on, telling him to bet the 10K with her, but her resolve was pretty strong at that point so Sammy backed off. They went to the cameras, and Sam had just forgotten to put the chip in.

In the airport on the way home, I'm waiting at the terminal in Vegas as passengers are exiting the plane I'm about to board. Who walks off the plane but my buddy Kim, who plays guitar in my band, and his wife. Each of us had no idea that the other was going to be in Vegas, and he treated it so casually, like "Hey, Devo, what's up?" as he walked up to me... the last person I expected to see there, if I was expecting to see anyone.

And finally a general note about the $30/$60 limit hold'em cash game at the Bellagio. I've writted about this a bit before, but I want to really hammer it home. It's full of professionals, and I have no idea how they make a living. They all know each other, and they all know the floor staff, and they're all there every night, playing against each other. They usually occupy eight of the ten seats at the table. The other two seats are occupied by tourists, and the eight of them hope the