Early Doors
It’s day 3 over here now and I’m averaging a comp a day with two or three hours of early morning $2-5. Typically, when at home with the boys waking us at around 6am I dream of a week away with uninterrupted sleep…once away though it never seems to work out - too much excitement I guess.
I haven’t even played at the Rio yet and already it’s winding me up. A simple $17k wire transfer that has left its English account remains unfindable in the chaos that is the registration desk. I’ve already been down there twice which involved four taxis and an hour of queuing and the best they can do is give me a phone number of the woman who can sort it out, the only problem is she doesn’t want to answer her phone.
It gets worse; Nick Gibson told me about the $5k omaha with re-buys that he played on Monday. They took 6% of every re-buy and the blinds started at 100/200 - mind bogglingly stupid.
I got a result in the daily $1000 at the Bellagio yesterday which rather frustratingly just keeps me even on the trip. I played well but the final was a flat affair for me and I eventually went out eighth calling Martin Green’s push with 7-7. We were both low with 25k at 1500/3000/500 and I guess I knew I was racing…I was and he went on to get second with Rob Sherwood squeaking into sixth.
During the comp I was reminded what it is that I love about the game:
Four tables out I’m running well with 30k, double average. New guy sits on my left with 30k, brash, talking it up, mirrored sunglasses, raises the first two pots at the table and then it’s his BB, my SB.
One limper for 600, I make it up with A-10, he checks. I check the K,10,6 flop, he leads for 2k, limper passes I call.
I check the 8 on the turn, he pushes in 7k. I call.
River comes a 9, I check, he pushes 20k all-in, stares hard at me and gets up and leaves the table. The dealer calls him back, I comment that he can only make that move with the nuts and he immediately calls a clock. There’s a little bit of a commotion when I complain that I haven’t even had a minute yet and then when I ask the guy if he’s gonna whoop it up if he wins, Thang the floor man tells me I can’t talk during the hand.
Of course I did call and he flipped up a J-6. So sweet, it felt like the whole table wanted to shake my hand.
The Venetian are also running a very nice festival with good chips - I played the six hundred runner $340 on Monday and four hours in two thirds of the field had gone, but my inability to chuck A-Q meant the winners $52k wasn’t gonna be in my back pocket.
Food-wise I haven’t crossed any joints off my list yet, but it was an off-strip steak at Del Frisco’s with Iwan and big Trev on Monday (good wine, but walker crisps with onions on wouldn’t be my favourite side dish with a $40 filet) and then much merriment was had at the Bellagio’s pan-asian Sensi last night with Channing, Sherwood, Green, Frode and Muzza, the Green/Channing combo then costing me a further $200 when we spotted TJ on the dice tables…