[pig4bill]

According to the paper the next day, the woman didn't shoot anyone. She fired two rounds. One into the trunk of her own Jag (nobody in it) and who knows where the other round went.

My plan was to get up early and try to satellite into the Venetian noon tournament. I want to try a deep-stack event but I suck at tournaments and don't want to just throw away $540 with almost no chance at cashing. I've had moderate success at SNG's though because you only need to get lucky for a few key hands and hope to hold on for a chop. I get a late start because of last night's chase for food, and get to the Venetian around 9:45. I need to check out today, but for some reason I thought I could go to the Venetian, win a seat, and be back in time to check out, and head back for the noon tournament. What was I thinking? I am a moron.

I sign up #8 on the list and #2 on the 1/2 NL list. Neither list moves for 10 minutes. I still haven't eaten anything besides half a bag of Doritos and a few pieces of beef jerky since Thursday night. The poker room menu sucks, and is expensive. I mention how that contrasts with the Cali food service and the floor guy says put 40 other poker rooms next door and see what they offer. They just don't get it. Casino management sees any player benefits as reward for the undeserving. They need to see perks as incentive for players to give their casino their business. Anyway, I figure I can zip over to the food court just a hundred feet away and grab something quick. Seven minutes later I return to see my name off the 1/2 list and the SNG under way. Arggh. I sign up for both again.

I'm not expecting to win any money in the 1/2, just keep myself from going stir-crazy waiting for the satellite. Unfortunately I pick up a lot of AK, AJ type of hands that miss the flop completely, and I have to give up in the face of strong betting. Then I pick up KK and a guy in front of me raises and gets called. I push and both call. The kings hold up and I'm freerolling into the satellite. WooHoo! A couple hands later the SNG is called and I get to hit and run with a great excuse. I cash out for $161 profit in 20 minutes of play. The sat is $130 so I'm +31 even after that.

The sat starts at around 10:30. Top two finishers get a seat in the $540 at noon. A guy I suspect is LasVegasMichael is sitting in seat 2, and a talkative older guy to his left. It's not mean-spirited or obnoxious talk, he's just talking a lot about poker theory. I don't know if he's a good player or not, but he's catching a lot of nice cards. Somewhere along the line I catch AA and it holds up (now 2 for 5). A few guys bust out and Hispanic Guy in seat 6 is getting close to the felt. Talky Guy has been catching hand after hand and is dominant chip leader. Hispanic Guy and Talky Guy get involved in an all-in and I'm hoping for another bust to make it three left to go. Instead, Hispanic Guy doubles up and this seems to be the turning point for him. I'm getting close to the felt and have to push with QJ of diamonds. Talky and Hispanic both call, and the flop comes three diamonds. It's ironic because Talky has just been lecturing on the foolhardiness of assigning extra value to suited cards. I hope that no more diamonds arrive, both guys check it down, and I triple up. I think Suspected LasVegasMichael busts out around here and we are down to bubbling. Talky keeps grousing that Hispanic and I aren't getting into a confrontation so he can bust me, and I say the same to Talky. By now, Hispanic Guy has played some good hands and taken the chip lead. Meanwhile, the big noon tourney has started. Thank goodness for deep stacks. They could blind us off for two hours and it wouldn't hurt. Then a pivotal hand takes place. Talky raises on the button, and I find A7d in the BB. Suited ace seems like a monster to me 3 handed, so I push and am called by Talky, who ironically had just been re-lecturing us on suited cards. I can't remember what he has but I end up flushing, and he's down to T400 with the blinds at 400/800. He doubles up the next hand with a pocket pair. And again the next hand with AK. Did I mention he's catching some nice cards? A couple more double-ups and he's right back in the mix. Arggh. Finally, Hispanic Guy takes him out and I am in the big noon tournament at the Venetian!

BTW, I see lots of displays for Chinese New Year - the year of the Pig. Cool, I can use a good year.

Dealing with the results of my stupidity.

I'm loving this deep stack stuff! I'm making calls that I probably should always make, but have been afraid to in the past. I take a couple chances that I'm not really priced into making, and they pay off with straights and flushes. I'd rather pick up all these great cards late instead of early, but I don't mind too much. I still have to check out from Bally's and I decide to take my shot 20 minutes before the break. Traffic is Ridiculous, I decide to walk back from Bally's, threading through dozens of gangsta-looking folk with my bag and two or three grand in my pockets. Yikes. Total round-trip time is 65 minutes. Even with missing blinds and antes, my stack still has over T11,000. Did I mention how I love this deep stack stuff?

They break our table and the new one is a whole different kettle of fish (although only 1 fish at this table). No pot goes unraised. Cutoff or button always bumps it if nobody else does first. The first table had it's share of limped pots. I get a number of hands that keep missing the flop, and I'm getting short. Average stack is T17,000 and I'm down to T8500. Blinds are 300/600 50 ante, so I can't even try a steal without doing serious damage to my stack. Not that it matters because it's getting raised every time I'm in steal position. Pushbot mode. Finally, with 7 minutes before the level change, I get two red 7's in the BB. UTG raises to 1900 and I push and he instacalls with AA. I have four hearts on the turn and nearly suck out on him, but bust out around 50th out of 109 entries. This was a fun tournament, with much better players than I usually play in tourneys, and it didn't hurt that it was a freeroll for me.

Getting home was a nightmare. Quicky version is two hours before flight time is not enough to get to the airport with the huge crowd in town even with the Mad Ukranian cab driver. Settle for Oakland and take a $75 shuttle to the San Jose airport where my car is parked.

The trip was a disappointment on one level because I was hoping to play some NBA donators, but I'm not an NBA fanboy by any means, so not seeing any pro athletes was no big deal at all. Also, I could not have asked for better results anyway, as I got very, very lucky to win what I did in the time played. The only difference would have been that I would have been playing higher stakes.