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All in at the OK Corral

“All is flux, nothing stays still.”
–Heraclitus
A week after the poker blogger gathering and 2005 World Series of Poker opening, I’m still recovering. I wish I could say I was resting up from a 72 hour party, but the truth is, I’ve been fighting off the flu all week and trying to coax my immune system into battle.
As StudioGlyphic pointed out, I always seem to get sick in Vegas. Unfortunately, it’s not just Vegas: I always seem to get sick on any type of vacation, as whenever I get a chance to relax, my immune system lets its guard down and I end up spending the vacation fighting off the flu. The second day in Vegas I felt it coming on, and spent most of the weekend in Zombie mode. I wish I could say I felt like a 21st century Doc Holliday, but I was a lot closer to Tutankhamen’s mummy.
Which is a shame since there were so many great people I met and I wish I could have been more coherent to enjoy their company a little more. I guess there’s always a next time.
In lieu of a real trip report, which I don’t have the energy or memory to do justice to, I give you my trip highlights and lowlights:

Highlights

  • Watching LA blogger domination in the Aladdin tourney, as longtime bud M shed his “Bad Luck Shleprock” name in his 3rd place finish and Bill Rini took the trophy home for Team LA
  • Clubbing with an Ex World Champion
  • Watching Iggy simultaneously tilt both the Plaza Dealer and The Fat Guy in the $1-2 NL Game

    • This was also the table where I learned that young Ignatious could be a real prick when he wants to be. For some reason, the man went on an insult tear and ended up tilting the dealer, of all people. Suffice to say, I didn’t get it AT ALL, and it made me uncomfortable, and that’s a tough thing to do. I’m chalking it up to too much grog (either on his part, or my part for my uber-sensitivity), but I never want to sit through that kind of thing again.

  • Rivering 2 pair on a flush board and losing to Otis in the Sherwood Forest Game
  • Driving off a cliff-like curb with Grubby in an attempt to find a parking spot
  • Making mental flashcards with Grubby to remember who’s who among new bloggers

Lowlights

  • Getting Sick
  • Not getting to play a WSOP event– I was excited for Friday’s event, but upon looking back, maybe it’s for the best. I ended up sick the next day so it wouldn’t have been much fun. I may sneak in one of the remaining events, it just seems like too much fun to miss out on.
  • Poorly played on all streets– One of the first hands I played in the blogger tourney was one of my worst played hands ever. I flopped top pair-weak kicker in the Big Blind and correctly put Otis on a draw, bet out half the pot and got called by the superb writer of trip reports. I inexplicably give him a free card, and the flush doesn’t hit on the river, but the straight does. He throws in his last chip and I think there’s a reasonable chance he’s missed his flush draw, and I’m getting about 3:1 on my call, so I call. But it turns out that the chip was a 1K chip and not a 500 chip, so when he shows the straight I’m appalled to learn that I just blew 1/3rd of my stack. Luckily I was able to play great poker to work my way back up to 4K and then lose most of my money with the following hand: AQ vs T9 (Obie) and T8 (Drizz in the BB). The blinds had forced everybody to gamble, and I got my money in as a 65% favorite, so I’m happy with that. Thanks to CJ for setting it up.
  • Getting stonewalled by the line at Club Pure– I’ll let FHWRDH tell this one…
  • Not spinning the wheel after playing at the Excalibur (my first time missing the spin)
  • Paying $6 for the Plaza buffet, watching them take the last of the breakfast food away at 11:59, and snagging a biscuit as the chef did his best to wheel the breakfast cart away from a sick and tilted man. Worst $6 biscuit I’ve ever had.

I’m off to nurse my cold with some green tea and a little bit of sweat. Specifically, sweating the final table play of Full Tilt Poker lead programmer Perry Friedman, who is playing some ridiculously good poker, at least according to Poker Wire and Crime Dog McGrupp. He may be a bit strange, but that man can play:

Perry Friedman has little “faces” drawn on his two hands, so he can talk to them (and they can talk to the hole cams) while he plays. Apparently, one of the hands is “evil,” while the other is “good.” It’ll be interesting to see which hand gives him better advice at the final table.

And some guy named “Seidel” is playing pretty well at the final table too.
Man I wish I was in Vegas.

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June 12, 2005 118 Comments

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