Las Vegas - Day 4 & 5

Las Vegas - Day 4
Monday, December 13, 2004
The Aladdin Tourney

I was well rested come Monday morning. I woke up with the NL tourney on my mind. BG came over to our room for some early morning partying. We eventually got hungry and went to the diner for some grub. I had some French Onion soup and Chicken fingers. I think BG was impressed with my choice for breakfast. He had a chicken fried steak which looked great. I forget what Paul had. Bob wasn't there. He didn't eat with us. He was downtown on Freemont Street playing blackjack. We were going to meet him later at the Aladdin. While we chowed down, BG couldn't resist playing keno! He lost of course but we were well fed.

After our meal, we took a cab to the casino. We walked around while waiting for the tourney to start. We saw Otis' brother and Martin leaving the poker room. They played in the early morning tourney. We soon met Edna. She's the poker room manager at the Aladdin. We chatted with her for awhile. She helped set up the next live blogger event for us with CJ. Edna talked about Doyle Brunson a little. She mentioned a few things about his private gambling room which was cool.

Grubby was supposed to meet us there but he hadn't showed up yet. -EV and his girlfriend were there and they were going to play too. I was pumped to play. We got a Howard Lederer DVD called Howard Lederer Tells All. The coolest thing about the DVD is seeing Linda from Poker Works in it! She's dealing in a few of the scenes. Nice. So there was about 60 players in the tourney. I got seated at my table and looked over to my left and saw Grubby sitting 2 seats away. Grubby made it at the last second and he was at my table! There was one rebuy allowed. Here's my recap of the tourney.

Early on in the tourney, I was dealt AKs in EP. I raised the pot. The guy on the button reraised me. He wasn't even paying attention to who raised when he bet. He thought the guy next to me in the BB (the shortstack) made the raise. He got a little nervous when he realized it was me who raised. He mentioned that he would've just called if he knew it wasn't the shortstack who bet. I couldn't believe he said that out loud. We had about the same stack size, only he had me slightly covered. I called and the flop came down 2-3-5. I bet and got raised again. I thought forever because I didn't want to get KO'd so early. I looked over at Grubby and realized I had too much money in the pot to fold. I obviously had an overcard and a decent draw. I moved all in. He got antsy and mentioned that he might've made a mistake and walked into a monster hand. That made me feel better and I thought he was going to fold. But he didn't. He called and flipped over JJ. So, it was AK vs JJ and I was in bad shape. I don't remember the turn but the river was a K. I got lucky and took the chip lead at my table. I was also one of the leaders overall. Boy, was lady luck on my shoulders. Whew. Grubby looked more relieved than I felt. lol.

Grubby KO'd that same guy on the very next hand. He was pissed and walked away dejected. Grubby and I ran over our table in the first few levels. In Level 3, -EV's girfriend got KO'd and finished in 44th place. In Level 4, BG became the first blogger to get KO'd. He finished in 20th place. His 88 lost to someone's AK. By this time, Grubby's and my table got split up. The funny thing was that I got put at the same table as Bob. -EV sat down shortly after I did. He was next blogger to go. He was in a preflop raising war with 2 other players. He had the Hilton Sisters. They lost to KJ. Ouch. In Level 6, Bob got KO'd.

While at Bob's table, I laid another bad beat on someone. This guy had the second biggest stack at the table. I had AJ on the button. I raised to all limps. Everyone folded but one guy. He reraised all in and I called. He had QQ. Damn. I thought I was toast. The flop was rags. The turn was a T and an A fell on the river. Wow! I sucked out on the river again to double up. Boy was I lucky in this tourney.

In Level 7, I got KO'd. I lost over T10,000 in chips in 2 hands. Ouch! I finished in 16th place out of about 60 people. I got AQs UTG and moved all in. This old guy in the BB called. He had KTo. The flop was J-Q-9. Fuck!! The turn was a 2 and the river was a Q (insult to injury). Damn!! I lost to a straight and was shortstacked. In the very next hand, I was dealt QQ. I pushed and the same old guy called. He had AA. I ran into a monster hand. What sucks is this guy got KO'd a few hands later. He wasted my chips. lol.

Paul did well but he got KO'd shortly after I did. He came in 11th place. Grubby was still alive though. He won the $50 blogger pool. He was at my table when I got KO'd. Grubby kept plugging away and made the final table.

BG and Bob had jumped on a limit table and were playing their last bit of poker before they left for the airport and ended their Vegas holiday. Paul and I sweated Grubby at the final table. We talked to Edna again. Grubby eventually busted out. Edna brought out some great cookies for everyone to eat. The top 8 players got paid and Grubby took home $186 for 6th place. Nice job Grubby!

We chatted with Edna some more. She hooked up Grubby with a buffet comp. The buffet at the Aladdin is regarded as one of the best on the strip. Nice, I was hungry!! We headed down stairs and Grubby picked up the tab for us. We pigged out. The Aladdin Buffet was awesome. Grubby threw down a lot of food. Man, that boy can eat! Paul and I hung out with Grubby for the rest of the day and night. We had alot of fun. Grubby is funny as shit!! We eventually made our way back to the Excalibur. We hung out in our room talking for a while.

Our trip was close to ending so we headed down to the poker room for a late night session. The three of us signed up to play. We all got seated at different tables. I got AA dealt to me early in the session. Guess what? My AA was cracked by a set of 2's (quack quack). Damn. At least I got a chance to spin the wheel to win some money back. I spun the wheel and won the same amount that I lost. Nice!! I love that wheel!!

Shortly after I spun the wheel, the Brawl occurred. Grubby and Paul were sitting at tables right next to each other. I was by the front of the poker room next to the rail. It was crazy. I heard some noise coming from Paul's table. I looked back and saw some guys fighting and rolling around on a poker table. I jumped up to see if it was Paul or Grubby. It was two retards and our heros were safe. Security showed up pretty fast. Some married guy was pissed off at some guy for talking shit to his wife. I overheard the husband lying to security. He said the redneck grabbed his wife and he had to defend her honor. What a retard!! Didn't he realize that the cameras would show that his wife wasn't grabbed. Plus, the dealer and witnesses had a different story. Wow, I still can't believe the fight happened at Paul's table while he was in the hand with the redneck who got beat up. Paul had the nuts too!! lol. What a wild day!!

Grubby and I moved over to the brawl table. We played for a while and Otis joined us. Some old lady hit a straight flush and didn't even tip the dealer. There was a hooker at the table and Paul sat next to her all night. She was a horrible player. She just threw away her john's money and kept going back for more. Paul took most of it too!! I couldn't believe the bad streak I was on during this trip. The Excalibur poker room killed me. I even lost my buy in at the brawl table. I couldn't believe it. I ran into a string of vicious bad beats. Damn. It was the worst live session that I've ever had. I was pissed. Oh well. It was time for a Krispy Kreme run. Paul, Grubby and I went back upstairs to hang out. Grubby and Paul both passed out. Grubby eventually left around 4am and drove off in his car. Our last night in Vegas was a blast. It was just like all the others. Very memorable.

Las Vegas - Day 5
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Last Day

Day 5 was despressing. We had a great trip and day 4 rocked but it was time to leave Vegas. Paul and I woke up and ate at the diner for our last meal. I had a Blackened Chicken sandwich with fries. It was great! I wanted a full stomach for the plane ride home. We walked around for awhile before we headed to the airport. I'm looking forward to the next blogger trip to Vegas in June. More people will be there which is great.

My biggest regret for the December trip was that I didn't get to spend enough quality time with every blogger. Paul and I had fun hanging out with Grubby at the Aladdin and Excalibur. We got to talk about alot of random stuff. I wish I could have spent an entire day with everyone and played at the same table as them. There's always next time! I also wish I had more time to spend at Sam's Town. I would have loved to have played a few hours of poker there after the blogger tourney but I was hungry and tired. I didn't do much gambling my last day though the slots at the airport were slightly tempting for the first time. lol. Next up is the June WPBT event.