Entourage, Binger-style (Vegas trip report/final table sweat)

[bdk3clash]

I was lucky enough to be able to be in Vegas for Michael Binger's World Series of Poker main event final table. Binger has been a friend of 2+2er turnipmonster (Paul) since childhood. I met Binger and became friends with him through his visits to NYC and his attendance at Paul’s bachelor party in Vegas last summer.

I was madly refreshing the CardPlayer.com updates until about 5:00 am (Eastern time) Wednesday morning to see if Binger would make the final table–Paul was hounding me to come out to Vegas anyway since he had made it so far and was a guaranteed million-dollar winner, but I kind of came to the conclusion that I’d book a flight if he made the final table. Giving the players Wednesday off and having the final table take place Thursday made this plan tenable.

I woke up at 10:00 AM (Eastern time), saw that Binger had made the final table, and booked a flight on Orbitz for later that afternoon. The last few times I’ve been to Vegas I have flown JetBlue from JFK which is great, but tickets at that point were in the $800 range so I went with a cheaper United flight (around $350) through Denver on the way out and Chicago (where I’m typing this trip report) on the way back. Oh yeah, it was also from and to Newark. Blecch.

On the flight from Denver to Vegas I happened to be sitting next to a friend of Paul Wasicka’s, who probably though I was a total weirdo because I was reading “Meditation Training for Practical People” by Charles Tart.

Anyway, I got into Vegas around 10:30 PM, took a cab to the Rio, and met up with Paul, Paul’s wife, Michael Binger and his numerous family members and friends. Paul and his wife were nice enough to let me sleep in their room (Binger had booked a crapload of rooms for his family and friends.) Sadly, there were two queen-sized beds avaiable instead of one king-sized bed, as I had hoped.

On the day of the final table I went with Paul’s wife to get in line to make sure we’d be able to get seats to watch. As it turns out the TV seating area isn’t really the best place to follow the action and the Rio set up plenty of chairs and huge LCD monitors (which I assume were carrying the live PPV feed) in the convention center/makeshift poker room so that was well handled. I ran into Joe Tall, who is apparently much younger and less crotchety than Paul expected. I was only in the stands once it got 3-handed and might be seen yelling “No deuce no seven!” when Michael gets all his money in on his bustout hand when it airs on ESPN.

It’s pretty interesting to see how much like an Internet poker industry convention the WSOP has become. Every major site (and some not-so-major ones) had booth babes, giveaways, signups, etc. I kind of wish I had been a schwag whore and snagged some t-shirts but I like to travel light so I passed on the many, many opportunities for free clothing.

I’m purposefully avoiding analysis of any specific hands or overall play, mainly because I don’t play no limit or tournaments and would have no idea what I am talking about. I can say that Jamie Gold is nowhere near as big a prick as people have been making him out to be and the entire final table seemed very cordial and unabrasive. It’s interesting to note that the clock was not called on once at the final table.

Gold himself obviously overestimates how well he played relative to his opponents but hey, can you blame him? He clearly doesn’t have a ton of experience playing poker so it’s natural that he would have such a high opinion of himself given his results. As we all know the short-term can play tricks on you and ignorance is bliss–more power to him. Congratulations from me are in order for the entire final table and especially 2+2's own technologic (nice job!), and Doug Kim since he’s a Duke grad. And Richard Lee because he has 3 hot daughters.

Binger was nice enough to treat the whole crew to dinner at Fuzio’s (Rio’s seafood restaurant) during the final table’s dinner break.I had the lobster linguini with black truffle sauce which was very good. Chris, the bartender there, was really good and somehow managed to wait on an entire bar full of people ordering full meals.

I was curious what kind of mood Binger would be in if he finished in any place other than first. I figured that at some point he’d have to go through the whole range of disappointment at not winning, elation at the amount of money he won, regrets about how much he could have won if he had finished higher, etc. I know that the only thing that would probably have really disappointed him and messed with his head would be busting out on a hand where he got his money in without the best of it, but that didn’t happen so I think he was able to enjoy himself somewhat immediately after the event. The hand he busted on was interesting to me because it’s the kind of hand we all go through on a stunningly routine basis. Get your money in as a 2:1 favorite and lose. It’s poker, it happens, but it’s pretty surreal to think of it as a potential $8,000,000 hand.

Binger was definitely dead-tired after busting out and filling out paperwork, granting interviews, etc., and turned in “early” (around 5 AM) that night.

Friday Binger’s entourage (around 20 strong) gathered for some pool-side relaxation, dinner at Rio’s Voodoo Lounge (I had the seared Ahi tuna which was excellent), and then the show Ka at MGM Grand, which really is amazing. I’m still not the biggest Vegas fan but it really is mind-boggling what goes on in that city on any given night.

All in all the experience was pretty surreal. I’m incredibly thankful that I was able to be a part of it and am very, very thankful to Paul and his wife for being such good friends, and to Michael Binger and his family and friends for welcoming me (a relative stranger, given how long many of them have known one another) into their cirlce. And hey, it’s probably the only time I’ll get to hold a hundred thousand dollars in cash in my hands, even if it was just a loan that lasted long enough to take a photo. Thanks, Mike.

-Brad

PS–The only poker I played was a hour and a half of $4/8 (the only limit game Rio had) when I had an hour and a half to kill. Other than that I really didn’t have any free time to head to Bellagio to play $30/60 or Mirage to play $40/80. And if you were sitting at my table, you’re welcome.

[SA125]

I'll give you a shout out Brad. I play with a nice guy who was Gold's roommate in college and says he's a good guy. Coincidently, this same guy (Eric) grew up with the creator of Entourage. The characters names are like Kramer in Seinfeld, based on real ones. Even Turtle. No BS.

[bdk3clash]

It has come to my attention that technologic, is, in fact, Doug Kim, and that my brain is pretty fried right now.