Las Vegas trip report Part I - Dec 2009

Work had been getting extremely stressful. Some side domestic issues had been wearing me down. And it was time to go to Las Vegas.

This trip to my second home would be quite different than most others. I am usually in pretty good shape when I make these trips. This time, however, I felt like I was burned out beyond belief. Tired. Worn out. Tapped. Yet, this trip would be there to help bring me back to being a regular person.

This was also going to be my first trip to the annual poker bloggers gathering. I was looking forward to meeting some of the people with whom I've jousted at the virtual tables. However, this would also mean using the trip in a different way. I usually go to Las Vegas solo or with one of my brothers. I use it to get away from my people-intensive job and spend countless hours at the poker tables. Before I played poker and went to Las Vegas for the slot action, I had trips where I rarely spoke for three days. This would be different.

After catching the puddle jumper from my town to Chicago on Thursday, I was disappointed to see that I would be flying to Las Vegas on a Boeing 737 . Six seats across with a narrow aisle in between. Even the first class seats looked small. Very uncomfortable ride.

When I got to my hotel for the first three days of the trip, the Imperial Palace, I was able to pull out a little prank that I had thought about for a few weeks. I was hoping that AlCantHang would already be at the bar beginning the festivities. He was. I bought a shot of SoCo away from the beginning bloggers who had gathered and stepped in between them. I put the glass on the bar in front of Al and said, "Do you think you guys could watch my drink for a bit?" Someone spied it carefully and said "What is it?" I replied "Southern Comfort." There was a chuckle and someone said something like "It won't last in front of that guy." I then just turned away and headed toward the elevators. Al yells out "That's got to be a blogger. Who are you?" I just kept walking. After unpacking my clothes and getting settled, I headed back to the Geisha Bar. I outted myself and Al bought me my first Jager bomb of the trip. "Well played, sir," he said. Quite.

After hanging around for a bit, I headed to my LV home poker room, Ballys. I made either a soul read or a donkey call just after getting there. I checked with top pair, top kicker after the flop and then heard "all in" by someone in late position. I figured him to be on somekind of draw and decided to call. I was right. He had a lot of outs but I faded them all. Ding.

It was just one of those nights where you hit every flop, make all the right decisions, and at showdown, always have a hand at least a little better than anyone else. The stack kept growing, and eventually I had over a grand in front of me. I even hit a Royal flush, which was cool. I had the nut flush on the turn when a guy pushed all in. I upgraded to the Royal on the river. I kept getting text messages from OhCaptain to come back to the IP, but I stayed until I seemed to start slowing down. Nice first session.

At the IP, I was able to meet a whole bunch of bloggers for the first time. The funny thing was, everyone was just about how I thought they would be. I played Let It Ride for the first time and was at the table when Drizz hit quad 3's for a big score. Yowsa!

It was interesting being at my first blogger gathering. I was like the guy who married into the big family that was having its annual reunion. There were obviously a lot of strong friendships among many of the bloggers. It was like a bloggers all star game with all the old and big name bloggers in attendance. Quite a site to see.

My weary body just could not make it out of bed Friday morning. All the burn out from work was catching up with me. On top of that, I developed a jock itch type rash on the plane trip in. Yeah -- it was fun walking around Vegas this trip!

On Friday afternoon, I headed toward the pawn shop that is the basis for the Histroy Channel show Pawn Stars. Much to my delight, an epidode was being filmed. The scene I witnesses should be shown in the new episode this coming Monday night. After the filming was finished, I was able to meet Richard (The Old Man), Rick, and Chumlee. Chumlee was, of course, the fan favorite. I was able to have a nice chat with Richard. Quite a lucky day.

Later on I went to MGM and decided to catch a quick snack with OhCaptain . As we were heading away from MGM, I tripped and made this spectacular tumble. Funny shit, I imagine, but I found out later that my big toe was all purple. I felt like I was right in the middle of Midnight Cowboy -- "I'm fallin' apart here."


We decided to give Fatburger a try. Loud rap music combined with an average hamburger. Meh.

We went back to MGM, watched the now famous Table 16, and waited for the start of the mixed games. I decided to make a quick treck to Ballys to see if my luck would hold up. Unfortunately, I got engrossed in the game and totally forgot about the Steel Panther concert. I went back to MGM after people already left for the concert and played a little mixed game action. Being used to playing HORSE online, I had quite a funny time trying to keep straight the amounts of bring ins, antes, and bets.

Saturday was the big event -- the WPBT Winter Classic. I had breakfast at Bellagio with OhCaptain, jjok, Katitude, Astin, and Astin's friend. Great time, great conversation. On to the tournament ...

Prior to the tournament starting, I wanted to meet Waffles. I saw him sitting by himself at a table. I walked up and whispered in his ear "Hi -- aren't you the guy I had sex with on my last trip here?" Hmmm ... I guess he didn't think it was as funnny as I did. Muhaha.

My starting table had some interesting players -- Jordan, Schaubs, StB, pokerpeaker, and Carmen's mother. Let the games begin!