[rageotones]

part 9

saturday

the alarm on my phone wakes me up at 9:45, and i'm miserably tired. i have no desire to get out of bed, so i snooze for 10 mins. i finally get up around 10:15, and since i have to be at harrah's by 10:45, i'm running short on time. i hop in the shower, and head over to harrah's. i'm like jogging down the strip part of the way b/c it's like 5 til 11 at this point, and the tournament starts at 11. of course, this is the one time that i'm having trouble finding the right elevator in harrah's. casinos piss me off when i get lost in them.

so i make it up to the room where they're holding the tournament. they're drawing names of everyone who got busted out for 9 or 10 seats in today's tournament. since you have to be present to win, all the halls and everything are overflowing with people. the room is even worse. there are around 600 people sitting at all the tables, and probably another 1000 standing around. it was kind of fun having to fight through the crowd though since i had to say, "excuse me, i have to go to my table..."

i get to my table and count out my chips. sweet, t5k to start today vs. the 1500 we had yesterday. this is gonna be great.

...oh wait a sec, we don't have any t25 chips. uh oh.

yeah, so they start the tournament with t5000 chips and blinds of 100-200 for 20 min rounds. what a joke. our dealer was nice at least.

someone asked her about dealing the wsop, and she made a few comments about it. somehow, the talk of tipping came up, and she dogged jamie gold for not giving anything. i asked about hachem, b/c i'd heard that he didn't tip either. i'd never heard this, but she was saying that in australia, they're not supposed to tip like that after tournaments, so he didn't know he was supposed to. then, way later, he came back and tried to tip, but there was no way to get it to the dealers and what not. i'm not sure the validity of all of that, but interesting none the less.

she also told us of the dumbest question she'd ever gotten from someone at the wsop.

dumb person says, "why do you wear so much jewelry, aren't you afraid someone's going to see the cards in the reflection of your rings and stuff?"
hmmmmmm

anyway, on to poker.

i'm treating this like a turbo mtt, b/c the blind structure is so ridiculous. the first hand comes up when i limp KQ in MP.

flop comes K73, and an aggressive guy bets out 800. i raise to 2200. it folds back to him, and he thinks for a second and calls. the turn comes a blank, he checks, and i go all in for my last 2600 or so. he goes into the tank. starts making random comments like, "i made 2 pair on you," and "well, i guess you got it," but not actually mucking his cards yet. after a while, he shows KQ and mucks. awesome.

the next hand happens when i have 92s in the sb. a few people limp, so i complete. i'll complete with any two in the sb if there have been limpers. i like to get myself into tough spots with marginal holdings so i can lose as much as possible post flop.

i flop a flush draw and it checks to MP who bets out 600. i'm the only one who calls, and i miss on the turn. i check and he goes all in for like 3k.

after the blinds go up to 200/400, i lose a quick 1k when i try to steal the bb from the sb with K8 after it's folded to me. he reraises to 2k, and i fold like a hallmark card. he says he had AK.

the next hand comes when the guy UTG raises to 1500. i look down at 88 and push. it folds back to him, and he calls w/KK. i don't improve, and i'm down to t100. oh well. i had about 5k at that point, but i don't really regret the decision. i'd probably do it again.

i bust out the next hand, and viola, i look down and it's only 11:35.

i make it out to the strip thinking about getting something to eat. i look at my watch again, and only 11:40 at this point.

wait a sec

I HAVE TIME TO MAKE THE CAESAR'S NOON!

i hustle across the street and get in line to buy in.