Thank you sir, may I have another?

I've been meaning to write about LV for quite some time. I was there for a 4 night weekend with old College friends (some I hadn't seen in 15 years) and a fantasy football draft. I wanted to get my gamble on, to assure I keep my free rooms, but my friends aren't quite as gambling inclined.

However, I did manage to play a lot of blackjack and video poker between the socializing. Live poker was too tough to schedule. After the draft on Sat, I didn't want to hit the clubs, so I put in a 17 hour marathon session of BJ at Harrah's. No, I lost big...all of it in the last 4 hours. I should have played poker, but no points to be gained there....

As a result of my all nighter, I was knackered the next day and spent Sunday in hibernation after transferring my gear to the MGM. After awaking from a 18hr slumber, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed for Monday morning. Real early.

Thankfully, I still had a friend or two in town. I decided to play the 11am $65 freezeout at MGM to start my day. My friend Scott G was itching to play, as he'd never played in a tournament before and he's only played $2/4 limit live. I was up so early that I did brekkie, read the paper, and played some VP while waiting for Scott.

The MGM $65 am tourney is a $50 entry freezout with $10 for the house (huge cut) and $5 extra for the dealers to get additional chips (400 more). I believe I started with 1200 chips and 25/50 blinds with rounds of 20 minutes so it is a bit of a crapshoot and I expected it to be an all-in fest accoring to the Harrington books as I had an "M" of 16 from the start. There is a 60 player cap, but there is a waiting list for the 1st level. So, if there is no waiting list, it is like a rebuy tournament without an add-on. Scott and I were seated at separate tables.

So there I sit, sober, with a 20oz diet coke in-between my legs since it won't fit int he cupholder. It's 11am, and no, I'm not drinking. I'll try to remember the hands to the best of my ability...

I fold the 1st four hands. On my 5th hand, I pick up AQo in EP. The table has folded to initial raises so far, so I raise to 150 and get called in two spots, including the SB. The flop comes Q75r and I bet out 400 into a pot of about 450 with my top pair top kicker (TPTK). The next player folds and I get minraised by the SB.

Now I'm thinking that I should have bet a smaller fraction of the pot on the flop, but I did only get minraised here. The board isn't too drawy (no 86 or 64 likely) so I decide to go all in (yes on the 1st hand) since I would have had only 650 by folding and 250 left if I simply called. The SB called and I thought I was in trouble until he flips over the 88. For one pair.

One pair? An underpair? "Yes!" I say under my breath as I know I have him dead to 2 outs or running cards to make a straight.

The turn. WHAM. An 8. I was an 88-12 favorite on the flop. Good night ladies, I busted out on my first hand. No sympathy for me, I take the walk of shame, as the SECOND (thankfully not first) person to bust out of the tournament.

I walk over to my friend Scott, who knows I play incessantly online and live, who is raking a humongous pot. He's stunned, but of course, he doesn't care.

F-this, I think...I'll go wager more on one blackjack hand than on that entire tournament (nice thinking Caz).

I play blackjack and win a few hundred back from my overnight stand a few days ago.

A few HOURS later, my friend comes over to me, and shows me three $500 white chips and a few others....he WON his 1st tournament he ever played in for an $1800 score!

Of course I'm happy for him, but I'm also reeling that I busted out on the 1st hand. He's never seen me play and I'm sure my good friend thinks I'm full of crap.

The only thing I can think to say is...."so are we playing the 7pm $150 tonight?"

The answer was yes....so a better story awaits.

Welcome back Sick Boy

It's been over a month since I posted something. Not to make excuses, I was on vacation for a week and then I got slammed at work (oh yeah, and it's football season - fantasy football is a time sucker). Nevertheless, there are things I've been wanting to get down....Vegas, Pennsylvania, the Giants, poker, etc.

At least I've started. The title of this post is intentional from watching the premiere of the new TV show Smith, on CBS. Ray Liotta stars in this over-hyped show as the leader of a high-profile team of theives that executes fantastic international crimes. The cast includes Virginia Madsen, and a very familiar face.....which I finally found out to be an aged Sick Boy from the movie Trainspotting, John Lee Miller. It took me the better part of an hour to figure this out (and thank goodness for IMDB for confirmation). Minus the blond hair (or much hair at all), the Scottish brogue, and the propensity for speaking like Sean Connery, I don't think I've seen Sick Boy for many years. If you look up his bio on IMDB, you'll see he was once married to Angelina Jolie? OK, Sick Boy, props for you.