WSOP weekend trip report

[2Tone]

Granted, I’m somewhat obsessive/overzealous about Vegas. But after another great trip, I’ve got plenty of good reason to be. Even if nobody seems to want to play limit anymore.

Touched down early Friday. Wanting to stick to my traditional weekend kick-off, I hit the Excalibur poker room, where I was disappointed to find their poker room is being renovated. The temporary make-shift room consists of a bunch of tables in the middle of the casino floor. Worse yet, they weren’t spreading any limit games – it was all 1/2 NL, $200 max buy-in Fine.

But wait. That’s right, I remember now. I’m a lousy NL cash game player. Down $160 after my Ace high flush draw failed to get there, I head over to the Rio.

Jesus. It’s difficult to describe the scope of the World Series. The main event room was the size of a football field, with each player at each table representing $10k. Friday during the day, it wasn’t terribly crowded, and spectators were free to roam up and down the aisles, watching the action. One table right on the rail featured Gus Hansen, who appeared to be doing well. There was one featured TV table with seating that was elevated and removed from the rest of the floor. Otherwise, you could roam around at will.

Meawhile, the Expo was a blast. All the sites had massive booths/set-ups. Pros were everywhere – I saw Doyle, Johnny Chan, Hachem, Raymer and Annie Duke, all signing autographs and talking with fans. There were gimmicks and give-aways everywhere – I won’t need to buy another T-shirt for years. One of the sports sites had NBA-ers Robert Horry and Nick Van Excel playing SNGs with fans. But the most popular and elaborate was Bodog, who had the people lined up for a videotaped pillow fights with lingerie-clad models.

I went to the free Poker Players Alliance cocktail party, where Jesus, Raymer and Lederer were hanging out, and food and beer were on the house. Met up TP and lightfungus, plenty of beer and good conversation – a big thanks to both. TP, next year it’s my turn to pick up the tab.

While those guys hit the NL cash games at the Rio, I stuck with the 4/8 game. It was kick to be playing in the same room as the Main Event, with cards marked World Series of poker.

Late Friday night, connect with a friend, and lose more cash playing NL (no limit game available) at the Tropicana til 4 a.m. Deep in the red for the trip so far.

Hit the expo again on Saturday. Saw 49ers legend Joe Montana signing autographs, picked up more free stuff. Getting into the main event room was much more crowded, but I made it, where I watched porn legend Ron Jeremy donk off nearly 500 chips calling with middle pair. Phil H. was at the featured TV table.

Saturday night we played the $180 Saturday night tourney at the Venetian. It is good tourney – half hour levels, decent number of starting chips, skilled dealers, beautiful room. Three players at my table are in the main event, and there were few if any fish to feed on. I believe there were 110 players or so, and I finished in the top 40, but well out of the money. My bud did slightly better.

From there it was on to Tao, the nightclub at the Venetian. $40 to the bouncer skips the two hour plus line. It’s an excellent space, but was massively crowded. You literally couldn’t move on the dance floor. Left relatively early. The local paper reports that Britney Spears and Shannon Elizabeth were there, but I didn't see either.

Sunday a.m., over to Mandalay Bay, licking my chops at the thought of a nice 4/8 game. Instead, they have three tables of NL, and a 4/8 interest list. Arg. NL it is, and I actually do well, helped by my Aces holding up, and make back close to $100 of the losses. Caught a cab at noon to the Hard Rock for the Rehab pool party.

The Hard Rock pool is god’s gift to guys. Cons: Massive lines to get in (requiring more bouncer grease), and the ratio wasn’t great – lots and lots of dudes. But the chicks who were there were hot and ready to party. In the course of a few hours, there were lost bikini tops, thong-clad hotties making out in line at the bar, and impromptu ass-shaking contests. The crowd was young, fun, and very high energy. Highly recommended. Check out (NSFW) for pics on what I experienced in person.

Back in Seattle Sunday night.