[MtSmalls]

Thursday: (Caesars)
We get up at a reasonable hour, shower, chat with my aunt a little more and head out the door. Breakfast at IHOP is on the menu this morning and with more than 2 hours until the Noon tourney we think we have plenty of time. I failed to factor into my plans that Dan eats like an Ethiopian refugee and breakfast takes longer than anticipated. We get to Caesars around 11:30. Hustling through the sports book and into the poker room we are dismayed to find out we are forced onto the alternate list for the tourney, which is capped at 72 players, as the tournament room has been converted into a VIP room for the NCAA tournament. By the time the Alternate list gets to us, the tournament is well into the second level, and we decide to pass, thinking we could play Fri or Sat. We both get seated in about 20 minutes, Dan into the 1-3NL and I into the 4-8 limit. Over the course of the next two hours I get up $250, Dan is doing relatively well too. Unfortunately I hit a bad string of cards, the usual 4-8 suckouts and some lapsed concentration/bonehead plays. I give my win back and a small portion of my original buy-in.

About the room: Caesars only serves well drinks in the poker room. No call liquor at all. Not even for sale. But you can get single malt scotch for playing the penny slots. Also no Red Bull, only SoBe. Boo. The chairs are comfortable, the tables are decent, and the player’s aren’t. And if you take a beat and want to get away from the table, well just wander back out to the main casino, take a left and wander over to the Pussycat Dolls area of the casino. There the dealers at all the table games are hot, hot women wearing a bra/panties/garters set. Good Googamooga… I have a hard enough time counting cards when playing blackjack, but this distraction (along with the two ladies dancing in the suspended cages) would make it impossible.


Dan and I decide to play in the 11pm tourney, which has a similar structure to the Noon, though smaller starting stacks. Nothing too exciting in the tourney. Dan runs AK into AA and is out relatively early. I make a few moves, get a few decent hands, and make the final two tables, though as one of the two or three smallest stacks. With an M of 2 I push with QJs after the 2 seat’s fifth consecutive pre-flop all-in. Of course, THIS time he has AA and not junk, and although I flop both and OESD and flush draw, the turn and river are blanks and I finish 15th. Not too bad for my first live tournament. I get back into the 4-8 game and bleed off the remainder of my original buy-in over the next four hours. We finally decide to call it a night at 6am.
Thurs: 18 hours of poker, I’m down $200, Dan breaks exactly even, less the tournament fee.

Cliffs Notes: I do well in Caesars 11pm tournament, but not well enough. Nice room, but they need to serve the booze. Lots of skin in the PCD pit area.