Leaving Las Vegas...out of the money

Well, I played in my first WSOP, and even though I played for almost 6 hours, and still finished only 485th out of 1119 on Sunday, Day 1B (Saturday was Day 1A - total players for Event #36 - 3,102), I can truly say that I had a great time. My brother and I flew in last Thursday evening, and Friday we went to the Rio to sign in. Man, what a shock. Try to imagine as many poker tables as you can all in 1 room, then add, oh, maybe 150 more tables in the other room. 10 players to a table, that comes out to around 4500 people playing poker. That's a lot of poker players!! (I actually paced off the Pavillion Room where I played. It is 100 yards from end to end. That is a football field long folks!). It was a little overwhelming when they started, but after a few hands, it was easy to imagine that it was just another tourney. I just tried to keep my head down and play my table. Picked off a couple of bluffs. Was likewise picked off a few times myself. But after 6 hours, and about the same chip stack that I started with, I could feel myself starting to lose some patience and push some things that I shouldn't have. Ended up calling a raise from the BB with A5 suited, then went all in when the board came out AK6. I was called with AQ, and the turn and river didn't help, so I was out. If I can offer any advice to anyone who goes to play, one word: PATIENCE.

We also played the Deep Stack tourneys, as well as a few others around town. Poker pretty much 24/7. I was absolutely ready to come home and see my family. One funny story about the Deep Stack. I was playing on Saturday with my brother railing me. I was getting fairly short stacked, when in the big blind I looked down at two BEEUTIFUL black aces. Someone raised, and I pushed all in for my last 7K. He called and showed pocket 3's. He hit a 3 on the flop, and I was out. When I was leaving, Paul pulled me aside and SWORE that he was praying, "two black aces, two black aces, two black aces". I think he just about fainted when he saw my cards. Poker is a strange thing!

The Saint (my wife) has told me I am free to play again next year as long as I start saving now. The Senior event had only 3,142 players. I'll be over 50 then, and who knows, with one WSOP under my belt, I may do a little better.

A Special Shout Out to Bruce Allen Bruce finished 149th in the Senior Event, and I really enjoyed railing him. (Bruce is a very good local player here, and a member of the local card group that I have attached myself to.) Way to go, Bruce!! We are all proud of you!!!!

WSOP Bound

As I have posted previously (and what should be abundantly clear), I have always enjoyed a good poker game. I, along with millions of other poker players, have watched the World Series of Poker grow at a phenomenal rate since amateur Chris Moneymaker won the whole thing in 2003, winning his seat through a $40 buy in tournament through PokerStars.

Ever since then, I have watched the coverage every year on ESPN, envious of the people that got a chance to go play in the biggest poker tournament in the world. Well, now I have my chance.

My wife, the saint, who has indulged my poker playing these last few years, gave me a choice for my 50th birthday. I could go play golf at Pebble Beach, or play at the World Series of Poker. It was a harder choice to make than you might imagine. After all, this is a POKER blog, not a golf blog. I mean, my two favorite hobbies are golf and poker. The more I though about it, I decided to play the WSOP, for a couple of reasons. One, no one could afford to go with me to Pebble Beach, and I didn't want to spend my birthday alone. Second, there is a decent chance that my wife would go with me to Pebble Beach in several years after the kids move out and go to college. There is NO way my wife will ever go to a poker tournament with me. I think she would rather have her wisdom teeth taken out than play poker. So that left me with the WSOP.

My brother and I head out to Las Vegas next Thursday, and I am playing in the $1000 buy in bracelet event #36. I also have a lot of friends here in the Dallas area that are going as well. I hope that I have a lot of good news to report when I get back. Who knows, maybe I might win the darn thing.