Get ready for an onslaught of trip reports from the WPBT Las Vegas Holiday Classic. I'm simply the first one back, so you get me first. I didn't make it to work today because I've accumulated about 10 hours of sleep since 10am Friday morning.
There have been a few reports already from other bloggers and dozens more to come. It was a blast. It was more fun that I ever possibly could have imagined. The good news is that there will be a "next time" and you all must come.
If you didn't know, our WPBT event coincided with the National Rodeo Finals. That meant Vegas played host to the largest collection of cowboy hats and plastic breasts since the release of Western Barbie. That was my first thought as I arrived in Sin City...
I landed at about 7:10pm local time just itching to find a poker table. I can't believe I originally considered not coming. It took me a short time to find a shuttle to drop me at the Excalibur. I eventually hooked up with Otis, dropped my bags in our room and headed down to the tables.
The Excalibur has a pretty good sized poker room. It features $1-$3 and $2-$6 spread limit HE games and a $100 min/max NLHE game. Otis was playing $2-$6 and so I got my name on the list.
Unfortunately, they couldn't seat me with Otis right away, so I settled in to another table. It was a friendly enough table, but I wasn't seeing many cards and thus, I wasn't playing many hands. Thankfully, I was moved to Otis' table in short order.
That's where it started to get crazy.
Apparently, most of the poker blogger crew that had arrived before me had sampled much of Vegas' finest liquor. In fact, Bad Blood and Al Can't Hang were already in bed. Yes, read that again.
None of the other bloggers were at our table at that point, but it wasn't long before I was meeting Pauly and Maudie and HDouble and Boy Genius and others. We seemed to be everywhere.
The cards were working for me at the new table. I was catching hands and taking down pots. Soon, HDouble sat down with us and I think we began scaring the rest of the players. The Hammer was being played as often as rockets. It didn't take me long to drop one on the table.
HDouble began winning pot after pot with pretty marginal starting hands. He even began announcing that bad beats were on their way, but that didn't slow down anyone from giving him their money.
At one point, Otis took a pretty big pot off of me. I think I flopped a set of 8's but he caught the gutshot straight on the turn. It hurt, but at least it was Otis who took my money.
It didn't take long for me to get my money back. I'm dealt two black 6's and Otis raises in front of me. I call, hoping to catch a 6 on the flop. It didn't come, but it wasn't the worst flop ever: 2-3-5, all clubs. Otis checks, I bet out $6 and I believe Otis raised me. I was worried about a flush, but had to call.
The turn was the 4 of clubs. Jackpot. I've never had a straight flush at a B&M table before, but I think I hid it well. I was really hoping Otis didn't have the ace of clubs. That would be a hellish beat. He checked and I bet out.
"I can't call you," Otis told me. I said he could and that I wouldn't bet anymore. He paused, and then sheepishly turned over the Poker Bloggers favorite hand, the HAMMER. That's right, I cracked his HAMMER with a straight flush.
When I turned over my 6, the table erupted. It also meant I got to spin the Excalibur's money wheel that brought me an extra 20 dollars (and a really awful baseball cap).
My other big hand of the night came a few hands later, and it almost didn't happen. The dealer is tossing out the cards when an Ace of spades gets flipped in front of me, making it a dead card. I said, "Can't I check to see if I want it??" already knowing the answer.
When I peeked at my other card, I was crushed: the Ace of diamonds. The dealer just ruined my first pocket rockets of the weekend. I was crushed. I was already planning on how to bitch and moan about it. Then I peeked at my new card, and amazingly, it was the Ace of clubs.
I guess the bad news is that my chance of flopping a set diminished significantly. I raised anyway and got just two callers. The flop brought two hearts but nothing else that scared me. I bet out again and got one caller. The turn was a third heart, which didn't make me happy. I bet and got called again, putting a little more than $30 in the pot. The river was a fourth heart, ugh. I check as does the other player, but he flips the ten of hearts.
I'm not sure if he was playing for the four card flush or not, but he didn't exactly have the hand otherwise. And normally, I might be disappointed at having my Aces cracked, but I got to spin the wheel again and won $30, about the size of the pot I lost.
That was my last memorable hand of the night, and when I cashed out, I had won $38. If you don't count the wheel, I actually finished down $12, but I enjoyed playing, and it was just a few hours at the tables.
At one point, someone came over and started telling us how much they enjoyed Up For Poker. Otis and I had seen him playing with Pauly earlier and were trying to figure out who it was. HDouble was no help, so we figured him for a friend of Pauly's who just happens to read blogs. It didn't take long for the guy to break however, and tell us he was none other than the infamous Iggy, in the flesh.
That got us rowdy. We had no idea Iggy was going to make it, and most people didn't. Of course, HDouble knew Iggy and was playing dumb so he didn't ruin the surprise.
After poker, I joined Otis and his St. Louis crew at the Pai Gow tables for old time's sake. It was like a throwback to HeCon Vegas a few years back. I finished down about 5 dollars after a couple hours play... then I had to get some sleep.
Otis had already headed up to the room before me, or so I had thought. On my way up, I found out Iggy had stopped him at the bar. I had a feeling that was going to mean bad things. I tried to prod Otis to head up to bed, but it didn't work.
I took the key and got up there to find 5 people already asleep, four on the beds and one ond the floor. I found an open spot on the floor and settled in for as much sleep as I could get for the tournament. As it turned out, that meant just about an hour and half...
Then Day 2 began... and it was crazier than the first!
Coming Up:
Doubling Up on the Italian Pirate
Gawking at World Class Players
My Worst Beat and then Revenge
Sports Betting is Evil
The Aladdin: Bring Your Rod and Reel