Even God Took a Day Off
Holy hell, I just had a day off. It's over now, but that kicked ass! It was my second day off so far, excluding the half day I took Monday when I was sick. Like the type of sick you go to the hospital for. But I'm better now, and I actually got to enjoy my Sabbath.
I tried to get to bed at a reasonable hour last night to ensure maximum enjoyment today. I had been covering the Event #16 - $2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event final table, and we finished up around 2:00am, I guess. Incidentally, (brief diversion coming:) that final table was an absolute poker clinic by young gun Andrew Brown. He sat more or less patiently for the first six hours or so before turning up the heat and charging his way to the top. He finally got heads up with Ted Forrest for the bracelet at about midnight.
If you had to make a list of the top three poker players you would not want to face heads up for a bracelet in any given game, Ted Forrest would probably have to be at the very top, closely trailed by Barry Greenstein and Phil Ivey (in my book, anyways). He has racked up five bracelets in four different games: Seven-Card Stud (2), No-Limit Hold'em, Omaha Hi/Lo, and Razz. Forrest is simply a master all-around player. And not only that, but he's from Syracuse too.
But this kid, Andrew Brown, made all the right moves. He was oddly enough, the more confident-looking player at the table, and he played quite convincingly as well. He bet and raised liberally and with determination, and was in control of the entire two-hour duel. Forrest, meanwhile, was slouched back in his chair, triple-checking his hole cards, cringing at the board, and reacting to every lost pot with shrugs and sighs. Finally, Brown was able to topple the pro, sending Forrest off looking awfully disappointed, and earning himself over $200,000 and something money can't buy: a WSOP gold bracelet. It was really something to behold. I can only imagine the feeling of sitting across the table from Ted Forrest, playing heads up for a bracelet.
So yes, that wasn't my day off though. Today was my day off. Back on track here. I was planning on playing the $225 Mega Stack at Caesars Palace, but I found out this morning that those are two-day events, and I have to work tomorrow. So no dice on that. Instead, I went and grinded some 1/2 at another hotel/casino I had yet to visit, The Venetian. I know "grinded" isn't a word, but "ground" doesn't work either. Anyways, that place is nuts on the decor front. And the cocktail waitresses have ginormous jugs. I'll try and snap some pics next time back. Of the decor.
I was pretty pushy for most of the session, on and off at least. The table was awfully tight, and nobody really wanted to splash around, so I just beefed it up a little and skimmed some freebie pots off the top. I ended up +170 in about eight hours. So how do I come back home tonight down $30? Pai Gow poker at Binion's. Don't want to talk about it. I hate that damn game.
It was a blast though. Don and Slippers, the roommates, are good fun, and Aussie Tim was there as well. All-in-all, it was good entertainment, even if it did scratch my profit from earlier in the day. It was also the first time I had made it down to Freemont Street, which is just a ludicrous ordeal entirely. I didn't explore too much, but it's a bunch of casinos joined together in the middle with an outside-inside sort of walkway/common area. Kind of like an open-air mall, I guess, but with casinos instead of department stores. That part of town definitely has a different feel to it, more like old-school, golden glittering mobby Vegas than the much more snobbish new sleek southern mega-resort complexes. They each have their unique charms, but I definitely was glad to find that part of the city.
Now, I'm back in my bed, ready to call it a night. I begin the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha half-and-half tournament tomorrow, Event #24. It's one of only two events that begin tomorrow, and I was lucky enough to draw the late one, and don't have to start until 5:00pm. So, it's still early relative to that, but I'm out of things to say, and would rather be sleeping under the covers than staring at the screen, obv.
Oh yeah! One more thing. I learned an Aussie expression tonight that baffled me. I have heard more than one of my Australian workmates use it now. When you hit it off with someone you've just met, then the two of you "get on like a house on fire." You figure it out, I've tried.
That is all. Buonanotte.
I tried to get to bed at a reasonable hour last night to ensure maximum enjoyment today. I had been covering the Event #16 - $2,000 Omaha Hi/Lo event final table, and we finished up around 2:00am, I guess. Incidentally, (brief diversion coming:) that final table was an absolute poker clinic by young gun Andrew Brown. He sat more or less patiently for the first six hours or so before turning up the heat and charging his way to the top. He finally got heads up with Ted Forrest for the bracelet at about midnight.
If you had to make a list of the top three poker players you would not want to face heads up for a bracelet in any given game, Ted Forrest would probably have to be at the very top, closely trailed by Barry Greenstein and Phil Ivey (in my book, anyways). He has racked up five bracelets in four different games: Seven-Card Stud (2), No-Limit Hold'em, Omaha Hi/Lo, and Razz. Forrest is simply a master all-around player. And not only that, but he's from Syracuse too.
But this kid, Andrew Brown, made all the right moves. He was oddly enough, the more confident-looking player at the table, and he played quite convincingly as well. He bet and raised liberally and with determination, and was in control of the entire two-hour duel. Forrest, meanwhile, was slouched back in his chair, triple-checking his hole cards, cringing at the board, and reacting to every lost pot with shrugs and sighs. Finally, Brown was able to topple the pro, sending Forrest off looking awfully disappointed, and earning himself over $200,000 and something money can't buy: a WSOP gold bracelet. It was really something to behold. I can only imagine the feeling of sitting across the table from Ted Forrest, playing heads up for a bracelet.
So yes, that wasn't my day off though. Today was my day off. Back on track here. I was planning on playing the $225 Mega Stack at Caesars Palace, but I found out this morning that those are two-day events, and I have to work tomorrow. So no dice on that. Instead, I went and grinded some 1/2 at another hotel/casino I had yet to visit, The Venetian. I know "grinded" isn't a word, but "ground" doesn't work either. Anyways, that place is nuts on the decor front. And the cocktail waitresses have ginormous jugs. I'll try and snap some pics next time back. Of the decor.
I was pretty pushy for most of the session, on and off at least. The table was awfully tight, and nobody really wanted to splash around, so I just beefed it up a little and skimmed some freebie pots off the top. I ended up +170 in about eight hours. So how do I come back home tonight down $30? Pai Gow poker at Binion's. Don't want to talk about it. I hate that damn game.
It was a blast though. Don and Slippers, the roommates, are good fun, and Aussie Tim was there as well. All-in-all, it was good entertainment, even if it did scratch my profit from earlier in the day. It was also the first time I had made it down to Freemont Street, which is just a ludicrous ordeal entirely. I didn't explore too much, but it's a bunch of casinos joined together in the middle with an outside-inside sort of walkway/common area. Kind of like an open-air mall, I guess, but with casinos instead of department stores. That part of town definitely has a different feel to it, more like old-school, golden glittering mobby Vegas than the much more snobbish new sleek southern mega-resort complexes. They each have their unique charms, but I definitely was glad to find that part of the city.
Now, I'm back in my bed, ready to call it a night. I begin the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha half-and-half tournament tomorrow, Event #24. It's one of only two events that begin tomorrow, and I was lucky enough to draw the late one, and don't have to start until 5:00pm. So, it's still early relative to that, but I'm out of things to say, and would rather be sleeping under the covers than staring at the screen, obv.
Oh yeah! One more thing. I learned an Aussie expression tonight that baffled me. I have heard more than one of my Australian workmates use it now. When you hit it off with someone you've just met, then the two of you "get on like a house on fire." You figure it out, I've tried.
That is all. Buonanotte.
posted by Eric at
7:15 AM
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