Being a jet-setting world traveler is not easy, but that was my role over the weekend.
I have been in the Seattle area for the past 10 days presenting training to my colleagues. The weekend before the assignment was spent with the wife. She loves to go to major league baseball games. We had not been to Safeco Field where the Mariners play, so she came along, we went to the game and she went back to North Carolina on Sunday. So that was the first weekend of the trip.
When I found out that the second weekend was the summer edition of the World Poker Blogger Tournament in Las Vegas, I couldn’t resist making my reservation and getting my butt to Vegas. Unfortunately, airline tickets are expensive. The cheapest tickets from Seattle to Vegas were running in the $400 range. US Airways was no help with their lack of frequent flyer seats for the entire month. I was able to find an awards ticket of Southwest Air, but only for arrival Saturday morning and departure on Sunday morning. In other words, I would only be in Vegas about 22 hours. Well, 22 hours is better than nothing, so I was off.
The trip down was very smooth. The plane left right on time and arrived early. I got right into a cab to the Orleans and actually arrived before my flight was scheduled to land. I gave Falstaff a quick call and the poker was on.
I donked around with some $1-2 NL for a couple hours and decided to break for lunch when I got back to even. The bloggers really started to gather at TGI Friday’s around noon. It was good to see some old, familiar faces like Badblood, Dr. Pauley, Mr. and Mrs. Spaceman, and Zeem in addition to getting to know some new faces like Irongirl, Waffles, and Carmen. There was also the added pleasure of seeing M who I knew through Falstaff’s home game before she moved out to LA.
The tournament was not good. The Orleans really shafted us by jacking the buy-in, skipping levels, shortening levels, and generally treating us as a nuisance instead of paying customers. Maybe it was just the ass-clown of a poker room director, but it reflected on the Orleans. I’ll probably never set foot in the Orleans again.
I think I played well. I busted out 19th out of 45 or so after seeing only one quality hand in 2 hours. Congratulations to Mrs. Spaceman on her big win.
After the tourney, it was time to get out of the Orleans as quickly as possible. I jumped into the car with Carmen and Waffles and we headed for the MGM poker room, the just barely unofficial home of poker blogger cash games.
I sat at another $1-2 NL table and proceeded to get nothing for an hour and a half. I don’t think I saw a better hand than 3-3 the whole time. I busted out of my $100 and decided to just hang out the 30 minutes that remained until Falstaff, T and the rest of the gang caught up.
Dinner was great with a ton of conversation. Rock and roll and WWE style wrestling dominate my memory of the conversation, but I’m sure there was much more. The cost of dinner was steep, but that’s the way it is in Vegas. The food was great, so it worked out.
After dinner it was back to the poker room for more poker action. This time T and I sat at a $2-4 limit table. I had a really good run that saw me turn several boats and my share of other strong hands. One hand in particular that I remember had me flopping two pair with Js and 7s. The 9 on the turn hit my opponent’s pocket pair of 9s and the river J gave me a really big pot. It made for good TV I’m sure.
We played until about 3 am when T and Falstaff had to go. I left for the airport around 4 and made my way back to my hotel room in Seattle. I got there about 11 am on Sunday. Let me tell you, it is really painful waiting to get on a plane after being up all night. You want to sleep, but can’t. Once you get on and sit down, you want to lean back and sack out, but they don’t let you until you are airborne. The process feels like it takes hours.
Once back in Seattle (Issaquah, actually), I lay down for a real rest and end up sleeping until 6 pm. I ate dinner, did some work, and watched some TV until about midnight. 7:30 on Monday came and I was good to go.
The trip wasn’t easy and I ended spending $80 more on poker than I won. It was still a good time. Vegas almost always is a good time.
2 comments:
The trip was a blast. I'm glad you were able to hop over and join us. It was great hanging out with you. Hopefully you and Tracey will both be able to come to the Winter Classic in December!!
I wish you were here too!!!! The problem wasn't so much that I was stranded and nobody would come get me, it was that my cell phone was almost dead and I couldn't get a hold of anyone. I had the Sears Automotive place check the alternator and they said it's good to go thankfully.
I'm so glad that I was able to help you save your marriage with my dancing with the stars. That was awesome.
When you coming back to Vegas????
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