Friday, August 04, 2006
Blog, Blog, Blog
Never mind the post time. My computer is still on Houston time. It's actually 1:10 am in the morning of Friday, August 4th here in Las Vegas as begin this blog.
I am sitting here listening to the alarm clock going off in the next room. It's been sounding off ever since I returned to my room about 25 minutes ago. I've been down in the Amazon room playing cash $2/$5 No Limit Texas Hold'em since about 8:30 pm Thursday evening. I played about 3 1/2 hours until 11:45 pm and then got a bite to eat before coming back to my "home" of the last 11 days on the 15th floor of the Ipanema towers at the Rio.
I keep a record of every game I play in: type, beginning and ending time, amount won or lost, etc. I put it in a spreadsheet for later analysis. I am averaging playing a little over 5 hours a day since I got here. Since I won $455 in this latest session of cash hold'em, I am a couple of hundred dollars ahead at the cash games in 11 sessions, having bought in for a total of about $6,100 and cashed out for about $6,300 in those 11 sessions. I usually buy in for the $500 max at $2/$5 NL. Since I haven't cashed in a tournament yet, I have spent about 4 grand on the 14 tournaments I have played (not counting the $10,000 main event, since I won that entry). I won a couple of single table satellites, but those got me seats in larger tournaments and not cash (a small amount of cash, $50, did come with the seats).
But what a fun experience!!! I was walking by the Sao Paulo restaurant which is open to the walkway down to the Amazon room this afternoon and Joe Hachem was sitting with a couple of friends at a table talking. I almost expect him to know and recognize me now I have seen him so many times here and there. In the tournament I played in today, John Juanda walked by going to his table. Phil Helmuth lasted a short while in the tournament. I lasted much longer. Maybe he should stick to playing the top 10 hands. :)
Tonight, I met Men "The Master" Nguyen - fearsome on TV - but quite personable tonight. He signed a picture of himself for me. "To James. Men "Master" Nice Hand Sir." and told me that is what I should say to him when we play together. Quite the card. He played for a short time at a $5/$10 NL game at a table next to mine.
It is so funny that anywhere in or around the Convention Center where the Amazon room is (where all the WSOP events are being held), you constantly here the chatter of hold'em hands being discussed. "And then there were two queens in the flop", "and the turn was a club", "and he got his flush on the river to beat my set", etc. etc. etc. You hear it frequently throughout the hotel and casino, in the restaurants and elevators, but anywhere near the Amazon room it is constant. They are standing and telling the stories of the hands to each other and on their cell phones. It never ends, 24 hours a day, it is poker, poker, poker.
I had a wonderful meal of Jamaican spiced scallops and Chilean Sea Bass with mushrooms, miso sauce and seafood ravioli last night in Buzio's, an upscale seafood restaurant also located on the way to the Amazon room. I sat at the bar to eat, because the tables were all reserved for poker players. The main event was rolling and I was there during the dinner break. I got to talk to several players still in during their 2nd day of play. I heard the strategies, the bad beats, and the chip counts. What a growth experience this is for an amateur player like myself. I am soaking it up like a sponge. I love just being immersed in this iconic event.
There's the old joke about getting suited Aces, etc., but tonight, there was talk of the suited pairs that were dealt in the main event. Apparently, suited Kings and suited Sixes were both dealt during day 1D. The decks of cards they are using are almost identical on the backs except for some lettering in the center that is red on one deck and black on the other. I can see where if a card got mixed into the wrong deck, it would be hard to detect from the backs. Anyway, when the suited pairs are discovered, the hand is declared dead and everyone's chips are returned.
There is much talk about the snafus that have occurred in the running of the WSOP this year. Apparently, all the dealers almost walked out and hundreds quit over the way they are being paid and how the tips are being handled. Supposedly, they turned away 400 people from the tournament today because they did not have enough chips (because of the number of chips bagged for main event players) but the dealer at my table tonight said it was actually because of the shortage of dealers since so many quit. I do know they capped the entries at 1100. (I finished about 370th at around 4:00 pm today. They were just into the money at 99th place about 10:30 pm while I was down there playing cash NL.) This is approximate.
It's now almost 2:00 am and I'm about to wrap this up and hit the sack. I have to be over at the Wynn this morning around 9:30 am to play a satellite for the $500 Noon tournament there. Then Saturday, I begin the 2-day WSOP $1500 event. It will be the 4th WSOP bracelet event I play in. It would sure be nice to cash even if I don't get the bracelet. After that one, I just have two more attempts at a WSOP bracelet. I'll never catch Phil and the others who have ten if I don't soon get my first one.
I'll close by mentioning one of the favorite T-shirts of many at this event. I got a picture of Jack in one. It says on the front "Money won't change me" and on the back "much". There's a variant that says "Winning a million dollars won't change me . . .much." I'd like to see if that's true for me.
Good night from this student and lover of Hold'em. May all your cards be live.
I am sitting here listening to the alarm clock going off in the next room. It's been sounding off ever since I returned to my room about 25 minutes ago. I've been down in the Amazon room playing cash $2/$5 No Limit Texas Hold'em since about 8:30 pm Thursday evening. I played about 3 1/2 hours until 11:45 pm and then got a bite to eat before coming back to my "home" of the last 11 days on the 15th floor of the Ipanema towers at the Rio.
I keep a record of every game I play in: type, beginning and ending time, amount won or lost, etc. I put it in a spreadsheet for later analysis. I am averaging playing a little over 5 hours a day since I got here. Since I won $455 in this latest session of cash hold'em, I am a couple of hundred dollars ahead at the cash games in 11 sessions, having bought in for a total of about $6,100 and cashed out for about $6,300 in those 11 sessions. I usually buy in for the $500 max at $2/$5 NL. Since I haven't cashed in a tournament yet, I have spent about 4 grand on the 14 tournaments I have played (not counting the $10,000 main event, since I won that entry). I won a couple of single table satellites, but those got me seats in larger tournaments and not cash (a small amount of cash, $50, did come with the seats).
But what a fun experience!!! I was walking by the Sao Paulo restaurant which is open to the walkway down to the Amazon room this afternoon and Joe Hachem was sitting with a couple of friends at a table talking. I almost expect him to know and recognize me now I have seen him so many times here and there. In the tournament I played in today, John Juanda walked by going to his table. Phil Helmuth lasted a short while in the tournament. I lasted much longer. Maybe he should stick to playing the top 10 hands. :)
Tonight, I met Men "The Master" Nguyen - fearsome on TV - but quite personable tonight. He signed a picture of himself for me. "To James. Men "Master" Nice Hand Sir." and told me that is what I should say to him when we play together. Quite the card. He played for a short time at a $5/$10 NL game at a table next to mine.
It is so funny that anywhere in or around the Convention Center where the Amazon room is (where all the WSOP events are being held), you constantly here the chatter of hold'em hands being discussed. "And then there were two queens in the flop", "and the turn was a club", "and he got his flush on the river to beat my set", etc. etc. etc. You hear it frequently throughout the hotel and casino, in the restaurants and elevators, but anywhere near the Amazon room it is constant. They are standing and telling the stories of the hands to each other and on their cell phones. It never ends, 24 hours a day, it is poker, poker, poker.
I had a wonderful meal of Jamaican spiced scallops and Chilean Sea Bass with mushrooms, miso sauce and seafood ravioli last night in Buzio's, an upscale seafood restaurant also located on the way to the Amazon room. I sat at the bar to eat, because the tables were all reserved for poker players. The main event was rolling and I was there during the dinner break. I got to talk to several players still in during their 2nd day of play. I heard the strategies, the bad beats, and the chip counts. What a growth experience this is for an amateur player like myself. I am soaking it up like a sponge. I love just being immersed in this iconic event.
There's the old joke about getting suited Aces, etc., but tonight, there was talk of the suited pairs that were dealt in the main event. Apparently, suited Kings and suited Sixes were both dealt during day 1D. The decks of cards they are using are almost identical on the backs except for some lettering in the center that is red on one deck and black on the other. I can see where if a card got mixed into the wrong deck, it would be hard to detect from the backs. Anyway, when the suited pairs are discovered, the hand is declared dead and everyone's chips are returned.
There is much talk about the snafus that have occurred in the running of the WSOP this year. Apparently, all the dealers almost walked out and hundreds quit over the way they are being paid and how the tips are being handled. Supposedly, they turned away 400 people from the tournament today because they did not have enough chips (because of the number of chips bagged for main event players) but the dealer at my table tonight said it was actually because of the shortage of dealers since so many quit. I do know they capped the entries at 1100. (I finished about 370th at around 4:00 pm today. They were just into the money at 99th place about 10:30 pm while I was down there playing cash NL.) This is approximate.
It's now almost 2:00 am and I'm about to wrap this up and hit the sack. I have to be over at the Wynn this morning around 9:30 am to play a satellite for the $500 Noon tournament there. Then Saturday, I begin the 2-day WSOP $1500 event. It will be the 4th WSOP bracelet event I play in. It would sure be nice to cash even if I don't get the bracelet. After that one, I just have two more attempts at a WSOP bracelet. I'll never catch Phil and the others who have ten if I don't soon get my first one.
I'll close by mentioning one of the favorite T-shirts of many at this event. I got a picture of Jack in one. It says on the front "Money won't change me" and on the back "much". There's a variant that says "Winning a million dollars won't change me . . .much." I'd like to see if that's true for me.
Good night from this student and lover of Hold'em. May all your cards be live.
