Long days (that were often times nights), short nights (that were typically days), questionable (at best) eating habits and diametrically different temperatures made up my two-week World Series of Poker experience with, oh, a few thousand hands thrown in here
Long days (that were often times nights), short nights (that were typically days), questionable (at best) eating habits and diametrically different temperatures made up my two-week World Series of Poker experience with, oh, a few thousand hands thrown in here and there. The swings can be difficult to handle, but I really did love every second of my stay in Las Vegas.
Anyone who plans to head out to the WSOP should first and foremost understand one thing: It’s freezing. I know that Vegas in June and July doesn’t carry many chilly connotations, but I would estimate the room temperature inside the Rio Pavilion Room to be around 17 degrees, maybe dipping down into the single digits during the wee morning hours when there are only a couple hundred, rather than a couple thousand people moving around. I admit I’m not a meteorologist and my estimation skills are usually lacking, but it’s like an enormous meat locker. I wore long sleeves, a hoodie, pants, shoes and socks and a winter hat every day in there and I was still shivering 90 percent of the time. In fact, a few of the women floor managers started calling me “beanie baby” for my headgear.
I’ve been called worse.
I was scheduled to leave Vegas early Monday morning, but I actually called a late audible. My Sunday night went pretty well and I acquired some “lammers” through a couple single-table satellites. Those tournament buy-in chips are not redeemable for cash, but players often exchange them between one another if one is going to be entering tournaments anyway. Once I were to get on an airplane, they would essentially lose all monetary value and become nothing more than expensive paper weights. So I moved my flight back a day to allow myself enough time to sell off all my lammers and played in my second bracelet event of the Series.
It was a No-Limit Hold Em Turbo event, meaning the levels were shorter and the blinds go up much faster. I usually like Turbo events in online poker because you can pick up chips quickly and get into the most interesting portions of the tournament sooner. But my event Monday didn’t go particularly well. I was playing fine and chipping up nicely before losing one pot that knocked me back down to below the starting stack. When one player raised from early position and it folded to me on the button, I looked down at ace-ten suited. With only about 23 big blinds, my options were basically either fold or move all-in to try to pick up the pot and add about 15 percent to my stack. So I shoved my chips into the pot. It took my opponent roughly 0.2 seconds to announce “call” and flip over his pocket aces.
Oops.
The board didn’t provide any sweat whatsoever and my Turbo event was over in level three. I played a few small events the rest of the day, hung out with some folks who have become friends, sold off my lammers and hopped on a plane early Tuesday morning. I’ll be heading back just before the Main Event, but I didn’t reach my dream goal of earning a seat into that $10,000 buy-in tournament.
Yet?
And I must commend someone I already wrote about earlier this week. Shaun Tobin, of Princeville, was one of the three Kauai poker players to make the money in the Seniors Event. He then followed up that performance with a very deep run in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold Em event that started the same day he busted out of the Seniors. He reached Day 2 and went out in 47th place among the monster field of 2,086 players. That’s an exceptional back-to-back showing.
For now, Vegas is in the rear view, but I’m sure the cards will still be dealt in my dreams as they have been for the past two weeks. A Hui Hou, Sin City!
