First Two Days in Vegas

I just got off the phone with Geek and Proud at the IP room we shared. I needed to notify him that I left my cell phone in the room and I needed him to send it to me. He sounded wide awake and I told him sorry for calling so early. Yet, since he sounded so wide awake I enquired about his session at the MGM that he was playing in when I left last night to come back to NYC. He proceeded to tell me that he had just gotten back from the session. I mentioned to him that I had already flown home (four hour flight), went to my apt. and dropped off my stuff, took a shower, and got to work during his session. I think it finally dawned on him how long he had been sitting there playing poker. And this is the best way to describe this weekend.

There is so much to write that I don’t even know where to start. Maybe I will do my highlights.

First Session at IP: Hear BG talk about the old man who looked at the guy with the mop by the urinal and told him, “Son, I can’t take a piss with you standing there looking at me.” For some reason the room had gone quite when BG said that to our table and everyone caught it at the surrounding tables and started to bust up. Without a doubt one of the funniest moments of the trip. Did I mention that BG got the hammer dropped on him two times within five deals…he wasn’t too pissed, but I did hear him talking to himself under his breath a bit.

Second Session at MGM: My first time playing at the MGM and take note of how big the poker room is. I sit and play with Maudie and Iggy at my table. Of course Iggy is bouncing around being the rock star celebrity (I don’t think he can sit at one table for more than one hour…too much party poker and multi-tabling). Maudie and I sit and play some tough poker against one another with neither of us backing down with some nice pots in front of us. Most people get out of our way and let us shoot it out. I win the first big one and Maudie wins the next two big pots. There was one point when I could tell that Maudie and I were just plain tired and needed to get away from the table. We went for a walk around the casino and took note to how big the place was. I wanted to start to play a stupid game of, “how much do you think this place brings in type of thing?” But that would have run too long. We get back to our table and Maudie is running hot. I’m up like 320.00 at the time and decide to call it quits.

From here everyone is off to Storm the Castle. I’m tired and go home.

Call at 9:00 am in the morning from F-Train. Where you at? We are here at the Castle drinking, you should stop by. I’m a bit thrown off. What? Iggy is still awake? Wait…he plays poker at the MGM, goes to the airport with Grub to pick-up Pauly, Derek and F-Train, now he’s still at the castle drinking. Oh my. I would tell you the jokes that were said with the four individuals at the bar…but umm…well let’s just say stuff shouldn’t be blogged. Here is some trivia for you…who is a blogger who holds a school record in a football category at a division II school? Tough one.

Third Session: F-Train is so high on tired that he can’t sleep. Thus, he agrees to hit The Orleans Tournament with me. I think he knew nobody was awake at 12:00 in the afternoon so why not join. He showed and it was Al, DonkeyPuncher, Drizz, and Al’s friend who kept raising me (I know the name…just can’t remember it…Ludlow?). In any case, I lasted third longest of our group. I played o.k. but I did play some bad hands here and there. Then I went and lost some money in the 2/4 game they were spreading there with F-Train who couldn’t get cards to save his life.

Third Session: Mixed games at the MGM went off smooth. This was a blogger convention and everyone showed which was nice. I also wanted to thank everyone who came and thanked me for setting these games up. There was a long list of bloggers who wanted to get on the list and I could see their names on the waiting list and it made me feel really happy to see so many people interested. Not to mention, I think the MGM was really surprised to see so many people wanting to play and the games were going on all night…well into the morning.

Forth Session: This is just an extension of the third session but at the 2/4 table where I was sitting next to this girl. It was late and low and behold!!! F-Train shows up to the table. He looks like he’s about to fall down and for some reason I think he has a prop bet with someone for the stay up longer bet. Sorry Aunt Maudie, this guy just won’t sleep. As he starts to fall asleep at the table we have this guy who yells hammer when he throws his cards down. I guess he was sitting with some bloggers and picked it up from Pauly. He’s from Canada and we have a discussion about the Canadian Hammer which is 8-2 off-suit (there was some discussion about if it was 8-2 off or 9-2 off). He kept the table going and there was banter all around for everyone. Bill Rini looks like he hasn’t slept in a bit either but he pulls up a seat next to me and we start to chat.

Con’t Forth Session: I think of Bill Rini as someone who always imparts good vibes. I know he can be a bulldog from time to time if you rip off his site without asking, but when you sit and talk to him you can really learn a lot. I love to sit and talk to Bill for 10 minutes and see where his game is and what he’s doing to bring it along. O.K. it always helps that he turned under 50.00 bucks into a nice amount at blackjack and I want that good card luck to rub off, but serious, I learn so much talking to Bill about his game and how he improves it mentally. He has this Zen quality when he talks about his game and I can just really get the points…they are simple, yet complex in thinking. If you have ever spoken with Bill about his game you will know what I mean. Last trip to Vegas him and Iggy were speaking about ramming and jamming at the 10-20 limit and I learned so damn much in that little chapter of conversation, I think I learned how to be aggressive from that conversation of those two cats.

My hand of the weekend: Bill and I move to the HORSE game that has now turned into triple-draw, Stud HI/LO, and Omaha O8. Triple draw on my third draw I get the nutz and want to yell…no cavities!! But I just spread it out and collect the pot. The dealers were really happy to be playing and dealing in that game, I can only imagine that hold’em gets boring to deal day after day.

In the cab with Bill we take note that we have to be up in two hours for the tournament on Sat. and this is where I’m going to end this post. The nuggets of information I steal from Bill that night are valuable and I will take them with me when I decide to play bigger limits in Texas Hold’em. I will hit you with more at a later on tomorrow. I’m dizzy trying to remember how things fell into order and stuff.

posted by Joaquin "The Rooster" Ochoa @ 7:52 AM