World Series and Vegas recap
I went to Vegas last month for the series. For the past year, I have been working on building up a roll to be able to play in a bunch of events, but after the Neteller fiasco, I wasn't sure if my roll could handle it. I don't play poker for a living, or as a supplemental income. I play for fun, and the profits tend to go towards a few nice things here and there (vacations, HD TV, etc). So, I figured I would chase the dream and go blow my roll at the series.
Jocelyn came out with me and we were going to go to the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park after a week in Vegas. The flight was a breeze; we paid a little bit more for a direct flight. I will never again fly to Vegas via O’Hare. Picked up the rental car and headed over to our hotel Mandalay Bay. It was expensive, but very nice. Their newly remodeled rooms and pool areas are fantastic. My first impression of the poker room at Mandalay was not the greatest. It was small (6 tables or so) and sparsely populated. Oh well, that action should be at the Rio anyway.
After settling in, I headed over to the Rio to register for the next day's event, Event 27, $1500 NLHE. It wasn't the first time I had been to the series, but it was the first time I was going to play. I figured I should play a few satellites and get comfortable in the room. I registered for a $120 single table sat, and got seated in seat 1. I played pretty well and got heads-up against a real donk who accumulated chips early on some really bad plays. On top of that this guy was pissing off the whole table by not acting on his turn and spending lots of time talking about how great is was to be in Vegas instead of playing the game. The binds were pretty high and we were about even in chips and I asked him for a chop. He denied, because he though he was unstoppable, paying no attention to the fact that with the each of us having an M of < 5, it was a total crapshoot. He won of course, and then complained that he was paid in tournament chips and not cash.
Partially pissed off, and partially elated at the realization that there were so many retards here to have their money taken, I signed up for another sat. Seat 1 again, and some more solid play. This one went a bit faster and I was able to exploit much tight/weak play at the table. Heads up again, this time against a 20ish latin guy who also would not chop or deal. He had me 3-2 in chips and we both had M's over 15. I offered a 70/30 split. No dice. When I evened up in chips I offered a 50/50 split. No dice. Got all in with KK vs. his 77 and he flopped a set to win. Oh well, I was playing pretty well and felt good anyway. Paid for my buy-into event 27 and headed back to Mandalay for the night to get some good sleep before my big day.
More to come....
