June 30th and July 1st in vegas

June 30th
Our stupid fcuking flight (superbad Reference) out of San Jose was about an hour late. We had to fly to Salt Lake City, switch flights, then head to Vegas. Our layover was 30 minutes, so I was thinking we would miss our next flight, however, for some reason, we were only 15 minutes late or so. So we rush to our next gate and make it there with 2 minutes to spare, so far, running good.

Some key dates so far are July 3rd and July 1st. July 3rd is a big UFC fight at the MGM Grand with Brock Lesnar. Therefore, I really want to be there all day on the 3rd because the amount of people there is going to be way above average. Also, today (June 30th), one of the most anticipated WSOP events takes place. It’s a $25,000 buy in six-handed NL Hold’em event. I’ve never been to the RIO, so I’m pretty excited to see all the chaos. The tournament should be stacked with big-name pros, so I’ll probably get really star-struck.

I literally packed like I was visiting Minnesota (I think it’s cold there) or something. I have 3 pairs of jeans and probably 4 sweatshirts. I seriously get so damn cold in poker rooms. I literally start to shiver sometimes because it’s so cold, and because I’m a little nervous/excited at the very beginning.

So, we get to Vegas safely, and check into the Stratosphere and everything.
Steve was tired so he took a nap in the room. I wasn’t so tired, and decided to check out the casino. First of all, the sportsbook is so ghetto. All the lines are written on a whiteboard (in very nice hand writing however). I checked out the poker room and decided to start this Vegas trip off.

My starting hands were great. I played for about an hour, and was dealt 88 88 1010 jj kk kk aa. However, they didn’t exactly ship any money.
I raised 1010 to $10 from early position and I got one caller from the small blind. He had just mentioned that he was going to switch tables and that this was his last hand. The flop came down Axx, and he shoved his last $50 or so in, I paused then folded. He said he had AK, I believed him.

I get KK, there is a limp in front of me, I raise to $12, I get 3 callers including the limper. The flop came down Axx, the small blind bets out 10, limper folds, I fold, button calls. They end up showing down and one guy has A5 and the other guy has Aq. Blah

I get JJ, and raise to $10 straight in early position, I get one caller right behind and one in the small blind. Flop comes like 762 all spades (I have black jacks), I bet $16 into $32 I think. They both fold, finally I win.
I get AA, guy limps in front of me, I make it $10, he is the only caller. Flop is JJ7, I bet $12. He pauses, calls, then sighs when he turns to look at the televisions. I kind of smile because I think he’s doing the old 50-year-old-guy-act-weak routine. Turn is 8, no flush, he checks I check. River is 7 and he instantly bets $30. I pause and pause, but I just assume he is an old nit who does not bluff and I eventually fold. It was a close spot, but I just felt the sigh made him seem very strong. Oh well.

So I am in the big blind with j2 off, it folds to the small blind, and he makes it $4 to go, I don’t want to look like a giant nit, so I call. Flop is 955, He quickly bets $10, I don’t think he has anything, so I raise to $25, he instant shoves his stack of $100 in, I pause then fold, and tell him ‘nh’.

A few hands later, I pick up black Kings under the gun, I make it $10, I get a caller on the button, and the j2 guy makes it $30 to go, I pause, and shove my $120 stack or so in and I get one fold, then the j2 guy insta calls. We don’t say what we have. But he picks up his cards and shows the other side of the table like he has aces. So I say to him “you got kings?” and he ignores me. The Board runs out 666xx, and he shows 99, I show KK, and say “suck it”. No, not really. But I end up winning $44 for the session, and quickly quit lol.

The table was full of old nits. It was crazy, no aggression unless they had a strong hand. Lots of limpers. So, all in all, the competition doesn’t seem too strong.
I walk around after this, and find a Subway about 5 minutes away, sweet! I also see a REDBox outside of it, so If I ever get bored, I’ll just rent a movie and watch it on my laptop.

I played later that night and lost $84, so -40 on the first day. oops


July 1st.
We went to the gym at around 11 and stayed there for probably 45 minutes, it’s def nothing special, but at least it will keep us active for the next month. After this, we had Subway (my 2nd in 2 days so far) and took a taxi to the RIO. I’ve wanted to come to the rio during the wsop for the past 5 years or so. I was super excited. I walked around for about 30 minutes and was more star-struck as I have ever been (except when I saw Lebron). I saw probably 50 big-name pros that I recognized. The most notable were Gavin smith ( I congratulated him on his WSOP bracelet), Jeff Madsen (ucsb gaucho), Durrrr, Maria Ho (uggs), Kara Scott (looks much better in real life), Phil OMGCLayaiken Galfond, Leo Margets (the best looking female poker player), Greg Raymer, Ivey, Negreanu, and every other big name pro you can think of EXCEPT my fanboy crush, Mr. Antonius. There was also day 1 of the 10k plo tournament where all the big name pros come out, I probably recognized 3 or 4 players from every single table, it was cool to see CTS (another crush of mine), David Benyamine, the Grinder, Seidel, Barry Greenstein, Brandon Cantu, Teddy the Iceman lol, Chino Rheem.

Funny stories: It was currently day 2 of the $25,000 6-max event, probably one of the strongest fields in all of the WSOP events this year. I was on the rail, and I could see Phil Ivey’s name on one of the chip bags. So, I waited there right behind the bag. 5 minutes before play was about to start, he walked up and I am in complete star-struck mode, so I whip out my camera and take a picture of him, bang, flash! He looks up at me and says, “man, no flash, it’s too early, hurting my eyes man”
Holy shit, Phil Ivey just talked to me, and I pissed him off. I looked down, and said Sorry Phil. And he quickly sat down, I almost wanted to cry and just say “sorry Phil, I’m really sorry”. So that didn’t go so well. Lol but I watched him for the next hour or so. My impressions were that he is a great guy. On tv, they always show him being stoic and not very talkative at the tables, but he was exactly the opposite. He was talking to the players on his right and left, making them laugh and whatnot. But, let’s be real, Ivey doesn’t even have to be funny for him to make people laugh, he’s fcuking Phil Ivey. I mean, if he said “damn, it’s hot outside”. I’d be like, “haha, you’re right Phil, it is fcuking hot”

Anyway, before the tournament started, I was at the secondary TV table, I asked the dealer who was at this table, he said John Juanda and Erick Lindgren. Cool. So I walk around for a bit and see Juanda looking for his seat, so in complete stalker mode, I walk toward the rail to where he was at, and yelled “john” about 5 times before he looked at me, I told him he was at the TV table, and he said thanks. He really does have buy-eyes at all times, it’s kind of creepy.

And lastly, probably the coolest poker experience of my life. It was about 2 AM, and Daniel Negreanu was at the tv table where there are seats and camera coverage (for ESPN3). I sat down in the first row to watch, there were probably 100 people watching, but lots of empty seats. Then, Jennifer Harman (Daniel’s friend and high-stakes regular) walks in and sits 2 seats next to me. Cool. But then, they were playing hand-for-hand because they were 1 off the money bubble. So there were lots of mini breaks, and on those breaks, Daniel would come sit next to Jen (so he was 1 seat away from me) and talk about whatever. It was so surreal. And let me just say, Daniel is exactly how it is portrayed on tv shows. I kind of thought that he acted and talked the way he did because of the tv cameras. But, he was so genuine and funny. He was talking about the blind structuers being bad, he was talking about his prop bets with Doyle, and he was talking about how good p90x really is. He was really entertaining to listen to. After every hand, he would come to Jen and talk about what he just had and his thoughts about the other 5 players. I couldn’t believe it, it was definitely a very memorable experience. I’m back on the Daniel bandwagon, I used to not like him at all, but am a very big fan now.

Then, in an all-in hand, jenn and I walked up to the table and watched the hand be dealt out. When we went back to our seats, she was sitting in my seat. I looked for my backpack and yes, it was my seat. I said “I think that’s my seat” and she replied “Oh, that’s how tired I am, sorry about that”. Cool! I’m a loser. She is so tiny, probably 4 11’.

The cash games were pretty juicy too, I managed to book a $214 win and was happy about it, but a few unfortunate hands cost me a bigger day.
Some notable hands:
There was a Mississippi straddle, I have AQ in the cut off, lots of limpers, I raise to $25, I get 3 other callers, flop is A78, I bet 45, and old guy to my right calls (he had exactly 45), and turn is x, and river is 8, I saw I have a good ace, he says he hit the 8. That woud’ve been a nice $190, but I was a little steamed, then I ate dinner.
I had QQ in the Small blind, Early position (he just re-bought) opened to 15, I smooth (I’m having trouble 3-betting JJ QQ KK, I don’t know why but I’m just afraid of cooler situations, but I need to grow some balls and 3-bet), anyway, flop comes j108, I check, he bets 30, I don’t really care for the flop, aa kk jj 1010 all beat me, I call. Turn is offsuit 3, I check, he bets 90. Fcuk me, but I briefly contemplate folding, but he could be tilted, he could have nothing, he could have a Jack. Instead of shoving all in, I just called. I just called because if he does have AA or KK, and the river is a scare card like a 9 or Q (completing a one card straight), I could shove, and he might fold. So either way, I was shoving any river card. So I call on the turn, the river is a 6. So I went with my original plan, and I shove about 90 more. He contemplates for about 2 minutes. I’m not sure what I want him to do, but I think he would have called already with KK or AA and definitely a set. He eventually calls, and I table my QQ, he mucks and walks off.

Another hand I have AQ Under the gun, I open to $10, and get 2 callers, one from an Asian guy on the button ( I hate hate HATE playing out of position), flop is q104, I bet 20, he calls (but then sighs pretty obviously), so that kind of scares me. The turn is a 3, I bet $42 and am ready to fold to a raise because of the “sigh” and the fact that old people never bluff. He calls, River is a 7, and what I should have done was bet/fold. Knowing that he will never bluff me, I missed value from weaker Queens. I had no balls and checked, he paused and checked, I showed, and he mucked. I missed some definite value there.

Next hand, I have AA in the big blind, 5 limpers, I make it $20 to go. Asian guy calls. Flop is rags, I pause for 10 seconds, and he just mucks, thank you sir.
To my right, there was this old guy, the same guy from the previous hands. But anyway, he was the nicest old guy I’ve met so far, he was very talkative and gracious even when he got unlucky in a few spots. But anyway, this Indian guy raises to 13, old guys calls, I call with KQ offsuit (no diamond), 2 more calls. Flop is 10jQ (with 2 diamonds), old guy bets 27, I just flat call because I don’t want to raise and see one of the other players have a set or a straight. But everyone folds. So it’s me and the old guy, turn is a 2 of diamonds, he has exactly a $100 left. He throws it out and says $30, I shove, he eventually folds, and shows KQ no diamond, I muck and say I had QJ.

Just a note on the Rio cash games, it was 10-handed, the raked a max of $5 (other rooms are $4) and did not have automatic shufflers. OH, and it was $1-3 blinds, $300 max.
Steve played til way late in the morning, and he won about $600-700.