I entered the UltimateBet satellite tonight for the upcoming $15,300 event at Bellagio and, lo and behold, I topped the field of 99 to win the entry plus $700 for travel expenses. The entry fee was $320 so I'm freerolling the main event next month. Everything went right tonight. I won most of my coin flips, cracked Aces, made my flush draws, and got the cards when it came down to heads-up play. Winning is nice.
At the suggestion of Avi "Two Cokes" Freedman I spent the next two days in a high-limit mixed game, a combination of Hold 'Em and Omaha Hi/Lo with a betting structure of $300/$600. This game was referred to as "300/600 HO." There were acronyms for just about every combination of games and most of the big action tended to be in the mixed games. I did pretty well in this game, winning nicely on Friday and losing about half back on Saturday, although I still wasn't really sure I know how to play limit Hold 'Em. It was fun playing with all those big chips; that was for sure. Foxwoods was a rather unpleasant place to play, although like most modern card rooms there was no smoking allowed. The cocktail service typically took 10-15 minutes to retrieve an order. There were no comps to speak of and they had a no cell-phone policy, not just at the tables but anywhere in the poker room. I asked a floorperson about it and he said someone had used a camera phone to take pictures of the players and posted them on the Internet so they banned cell phones. I didn't bother to point out that anyone taking a picture would take it before they could yell at him and the people they were yelling at, talking on the phones, were not taking pictures. He went on to say they wanted to ban food from the poker room because it made a mess. Those darned customers, always making things inconvenient for the employees.
I left the game early on Friday to go to the Full Tilt Poker dinner they were putting on for the winners of their on-line satellites. One of the guys had bought in for $4.40 and made it all the way to the big event. We all wished him luck. Dinner was at the award-winning Boom restaurant in nearby Stonington, CT. The place was owned by Erik "Rounders" Seidel's sister-in-law and she rolled out the red carpet for the guests. I probably could have finagled an invitation from Full Tilt since many of my friends were affiliated with the site but I ended up going as Avi Two-Cokes' brother Noam's date. They brought around huge plates of delicious hors d'oeuvres and poured a yummy little California Cabernet, which I drank too much of so I was glad I had the day off tomorrow. Among the Tilters present were Erik, Andy "The Rock" Bloch, Howard "Bub" (The Professor) Lederer, John "JJ" Juanda, Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Melissa Hayden, and Jennifer Harman. I was also pleased to meet Thomas "Raze It" Giorgi, one of the best players on Full Tilt. The steak I had for the entrée was world class. I had come over on the bus but snuck into the VIP limo for the ride home.
I spent Saturday recovering from the wine while the first half of the 674 entrants played. My turn came Sunday. I drew table 10, seat eight. There was no one at the table I recognized but I just got no cards all day. Eventually former WSOP champ Huck Seed came and sat on my left but he busted out quickly. Finally I gambled on a pair of Nines in early position and called a reraise all in by an unpredictable player on the small blind. He had Jacks. I didn't improve and I was out of the contest early. I went up to the VIP lounge and found WPT finalists Matt Matros and Russell Rosenblum commiserating. We were all exhausted and about to leave when Erin Ness, the girl from Maxim magazine who got a lot of TV time in this year's World Series main event, walked in. All of a sudden everyone had plenty of energy and we hung around talking to Erin for a couple hours.
I had already booked my return flight for Monday in anticipation of busting out the first day. Andy "The Rock" Bloch busted soon after I did and we made plans to drive up to Boston together to catch our flights. We used some wampum to buy gas and headed up about four hours before flight time, leaving us plenty of room for error and traffic. It was a good thing, too, because the Neverlost, for some reason, took us through scenic Rhode Island surface streets instead of taking the Mass Pike. We saved $6.10 in tolls and got to the airport on time anyway.
The evening Alaska flight left punctually and I watched a couple movies on the digEplayer while downing scotch and soda. I enjoyed I, Robot, a Will Smith sci-fi flick only loosely based on Asimov's book of the same name. Then I watched Around the World in 80 Days, a children's adventure movie that I picked just because Jackie Chan was in it. Both movies entertained but didn't make my list of all-time greats.
Shortstack picked me up in the black T-Bird and whisked us back to Kirkland, home of Costco and us. My next tournament series was at Bellagio in December.
The Professional Poker Tour, a series of five $500,000 freerolls for top poker pros, was launching its first event just prior to the Foxwoods WPT tournament so I booked a nonstop on Alaska Airlines to Boston, rented a Hertz car with Neverlost, and set the controls for the heart of the Sun—Mohegan Sun. I had booked a room at Mohegan Sun, a somewhat nicer hotel and casino than Foxwoods, deciding the ten-minute commute through scenic New England countryside was worth it. I got a Sky Suite overlooking the Thames River, imported at great expense from England. All the rooms at both hotels had complimentary high-speed Internet access so I plugged in my Airport Express and got wireless throughout the suite. I drove over to Foxwoods to check out the action over there and then headed back to Mohegan to get a good night's sleep before the tournament.
We started with 134 players out of the 200 or so who qualified, many of the pros still in Monte Carlo for the event there. I drew table four, seat four, and as expected it was a rogue's gallery of scary opponents. Tony Cousineau has seat one; James Hoeppner seat two; Mirage WPT champ Eli Elezra seat three; the highly respected Lee Watkinson seat six; long-time pro Mickey Appleton seat seven; WPT commentator and long-time pro Mike Sexton seat eight; and WPT finalist Mohammed Ibraham seat nine. The seat to my left started empty, giving me a slight advantage as the vacant chip stack got blinded off.
Foxwoods had ordered special playing cards for the tournament series but unfortunately someone lost sight of one of the important qualities of playing cards: you shouldn't be able to tell which card it is by looking at the back. These decks had large areas of solid red and black on the backs and the black especially got scuffed and marked almost instantaneously. When "Minneapolis" Jim Meehan moved into the seat to my left about an hour into the event, he ordered a shot and a beer and said, "On the first hand I saw the Ace of Hearts and the King of Diamonds. They're both marked on the back and I've memorized them. On the next hand I got the Ace of Diamonds and that one's marked too. Pretty soon I'll have the whole deck memorized. Now I don't care if you want to keep playing with them but I just thought you should know." We asked for a new deck. Meanwhile I got nothing and was down to 9625 at the first break and 7225 at the second break.
Mohammed got knocked out and was replaced briefly by Chip Jett, who also busted and was replaced by Chau Giang. Tony C busted as well but the chips weren't going to me as I continued getting a rare decent starting hand and no action on it when I did. Finally with the blinds 150/300 and a 50 ante, Minneapolis Jim, well into his fourth shot-and-beer at this table, opened under the gun for a tiny raise to 625. Eli called on the small blind and I called on the big with Ten-Seven of Clubs. The flop came Eight-Six-Four with two Clubs, giving me a monster draw. I decided to check-raise Minneapolis all in but he pre-empted me by moving in himself. Eli thought a long time then folded. I called immediately and was happy when Jim turned over Pocket Kings because I didn't want to see Ace-King of Clubs. I hit my Nine on the river and Jim went into a drunken tirade about how I could be happy he had Kings. A couple others at the table tried to tell him I was actually a favorite with my 15 outs but I knew he knew that and it was all an act. Jim was an attorney, had a mind for math, and figured to gain an advantage by pretending to be a drunken idiot. Not that he wasn't drunk, but he wasn't an idiot. I was back up to 9550, almost my starting stack. Erik "Rounders" Seidel took Tony C's seat one and I bullied him a little, going to the next break with 10,450. I was playing against the top players in the world and I was up 450!
Immediately after the break they broke our table and I moved to table eight, seat nine. Karina Jett, Chip's wife, had seat one; Hoyt Corkins seat two; Minh Nguyen seat four; the very feared John "JJ" Juanda seat five; Kenna James seat six; Lee Watkinson seat seven; and Farzad Bonyadi seat eight on my right. Farzad had raised the 300/600 blinds to 1800 in early position and I saw pocket Aces. I decided to take a chance and slow-play them, hoping one of the aggressive players such as Juanda would reraise, so I just called. Minh called on the button and the flop came Eight-Five-Trey rainbow, a pretty safe flop for me unless Minh had made a set. Farzad bet out 4500. I decided to put my remaining few chips in so I made it 7325. Minh reluctantly folded and Farzad very reluctantly called the few more chips with pocket Nines. Minh said he also had Nines so Farzad was dead to a runner-runner Straight, which didn't come—in fact I made a runner-runner wheel I didn't need—and my patience paid off as I was up to 18,000.
Two hands later they moved me to balance tables and sent me over to the featured table; however, the camera crew had gone home so no TV time for me tonight. I was in seat eight. Robert Turner was in seat nine; Chris Bigler seat one; Josh Arieh seat three; Joe Cassidy seat four; Brian Haveson seat five; 2002 WSOP Champ Robert Varkonyi seat six; and Hoyt Corkins seat seven. On the first hand I limped early with pocket Fours and Robert on my left moved all in. I decided he had a big pair and mucked. He showed Aces. I had 15,625 at the break.
With the camera crew gone they moved us en bloc to a more comfortable table. Kathy "Pokerkat:" Liebert took the empty seat two; Barry Shulman took seat four after Joe Cassidy busted; and when Robert Turner went broke on my left he was replaced by Marsha Waggoner. I went card dead again and got cut off on my steal attempts, getting down to 6600 when I reraised the bullying Josh Arieh all in with Ace-Eight of Diamonds, figuring to gamble with slightly the best of it as I knew he would call. He did and showed Jack-Four of Diamonds, making me almost a two-to-one favorite. The flush came and I was up to 18,000. Kathy Liebert busted and my nemesis Can Kim Hua came into Brian's seat five when he went broke. At the end of the day there were only 39 left out of the starting 134. I had 13,400, a profit to be sure but somewhat short-stacked against the average of 34,360. I would be coming out firing tomorrow.
We had redrawn for seats last night. I drew table five, seat four. Jennifer Harman had seat one; Eli Elezra seat two; former WSOP champ Brad Dougherty seat three; Dewey Tomko seat five; Card Player publisher Barry Shulman seat six; John Phan seat eight; and Randy Holland seat nine. The very first hand, John Phan, with a big stack, raised my big blind and the short-stacked Brad Dougherty moved all in for more than I had. I looked down and saw Ace-Queen offsuit. With all the money in the pot I decided to call and try to triple or quadruple up; as long as nobody had Aces or Ace-King I was in OK shape. John mucked and Brad turned over the same hand as me. We chopped the pot and I was up to 18,000. John Phan lost a couple big pots and was out. Then I raised with Ace-Jack under the gun. Dewey moved all in for not much more and I called after it folded around to me. He had pocket Eights but my Ace flopped and Dewey was out. Robert Varkonyi came into the empty seat seven and Barry "Spock" Greenstein took seat eight. Barry moved in on my big blind and, having played with him in this situation before, when I saw Ace-Seven of Clubs I figured I was about even money and with the blinds and antes in the pot I called. He turned over King-Queen offsuit and somehow my brain froze because I thought I needed a pair to win the hand. I kept shouting, "Ace," and when none came, I patted the table but Barry was getting up and I realized I had won the hand. I apologized and saw Jennifer giving me a Mona Lisa smile. I said, "I don't know how I can be so smart and then be a complete space cadet in a situation like that." She said, "You're a poker player." The space cadet-poker player was now up to 41,000.
Eli was having trouble pronouncing Brad Dougherty's name and kept calling him "Dorothy." Finally I asked if he was needling him or really couldn't pronounce his name. Eli said he really thought that was how it was pronounced. I turned to Brad and said, "If you're not lucky, that nickname will stick."
I took a small pot from Varkonyi and with 48,000 chips I was now above average for the first time since the tournament started. Then Jennifer, short stacked, moved in on my big blind from the cutoff. I had Queen-Jack offsuit and decided three-to-two pot odds were good enough to call with the range of hands she might have. She had Ace-King, which wasn't too bad for me, making me a two-to-one dog, and the flop came Ace-Queen-Jack, putting me ahead. But she turned a Ten for the Straight and an unneeded Ace came on the river and I had doubled up a dangerous player. I had 33,800 at the break.
Phi Nguyen came in to seat five and they decided to move us en bloc to the featured table. That meant hanging out with Kay Han, the Shana Hiatt of the PPT. Kay was extremely friendly and personable and a good choice for someone whose job it was to interview players who've just lost their shot at half a million bucks. They miked us up, told us how to use the hole-card cameras and we were underway. Barry Shulman, who was down to the felt, was second to act when he moved in for less than three times the big blind. Since it wasn't much more to call, I did, with Seven-Five offsuit. Barry had King-Eight but I made a pair and he was out of the contest. Ted "Teddy Bear" Forrest took his seat and Dan Heimiller took seat eight. They moved Brad "Dorothy" to balance the tables and I was down to 23,600 at the break.
I had only 20,800 when with 18 players left we redrew for seats. I got the non-featured table, seat five, with Teddy Bear in seat one, Thor Hansen in seat two, Casey Kastle in seat three, John "JJ" Juanda in seat four, Dan Heimiller in seat six, Brad Dougherty in seat seven, "Action" Dan Harrington in seat eight, and Jennifer Harman in seat nine. I was down to 18,200 when we colored up the black chips. They moved Dan Heimiller to the featured table for balancing. I won some blinds and antes and by the dinner break I was up to 28,000.
I had dinner in the very mediocre buffet with Hoyt, Shawn "West Texas Man" Rice, Aaron "Iowa" Loew, and a couple others. It killed me to pay $13.99 for it. Your best bet for having dinner at Foxwoods was to drive to Mohegan Sun.
When we got back I was looking for opportunities to come over the top of Ted Forrest, playing his big stack aggressively as he should. I called one raise on the big blind and moved in when I got a piece of the flop. He folded and that brought me up to 46,000. You didn't have to win too many pots at this level to get chips. Then, with 38,000, Casey Kastle made it 8000 to go. I called with King-Queen offsuit on the button, hoping to see a flop with position on him, but Action Dan moved all in on the big blind. Casey took a few minutes and then folded. I started talking to Dan, trying to get a read on him, but then I said, "There's no way I'm ever going to get a tell from you, is there?" I figured it was equally likely he was making a move or he had a big hand. I was in big trouble against Aces or Kings and not too happy with Ace-King or Queens. Finally I decided that since I was getting no callers when I was moving in that I would wait for a better spot and I folded.
I was down to 22,000 when Teddy Bear raised my small blind and I saw Ace-Jack. I figured I had him beat and pushed in, but Dorothy moved in right behind me. Ted took a little time and then folded and Brad turned over pocket Tens. With my overcards I had a 43% chance of winning the pot, which now had 62,000 in it, but alas, my cards didn't come and I had to surrender to Dorothy. I was out of the contest in 12th place, my best finish ever in a televised event but only the top six got paid.
Immediately after I busted out, Ron Rose noticed that with the cheap paper cards Foxwoods was using players could see the reflections of the card faces in the illuminated Plexiglas around the rim of the featured table. The crew spent two hours sanding it down before they continued but I just went back to the Mohegan and crashed. The main event was in two days.
Bellagio was hosting the third annual "Festa al Lago" series and I wasn't quite sure how I could have attended three annual events when I'd only been playing poker a year and four months but I flew down to Vegas anyway in an attempt to boost my Player of the Year standings. The first event was a $1060 No-Limit Hold 'Em tournament that drew a whopping 367 entrants. I drew table 44, seat nine. The only familiar face was Tommy Vu in seat four. I played a lot of hands but won few pots and was down from the starting 2000 to 1100 at the first break. Things improved, though, and I worked my way up to 6300 by winning a lot of small pots and winning some coin flips with short stacks. I doubled through Asher Derai, a top tournament pro, when seat eight opened for 1200 of his 3200 and I smooth-called with pocket Queens. Asher moved all in with a big stack. Seat eight folded and I called. Asher showed Ace-Queen suited but got no help and I won the nice pot, bringing me up to 19,500. With that many chips I started bullying and worked my way up to 30,300 at the next break. I bled off a little but then someone picked the wrong time to take a stand against me and came over the top with pocket Eights. Unfortunately for him I had Rockets and busted one more player. I had 33,600 when it came time to race off the green chips, although it wasn't much of a race as only one player at the table had any. With 36 remaining we redrew for seats and I got table 46, seat nine. I won a few small pots and had 48,500 at the dinner break.
After dinner we quickly got down to 27, meaning we had made the money! We redrew once again and I got table 47, seat seven. World Champion Carlos Mortensen had seat nine. I traded a few chips back and forth with Carlos but he got busted by "Syracuse" Chris Tsiprailidis. With the blinds and antes rising and no cards coming my way my stack quickly dwindled. When we finally got down to nine I had only 14,000 left but both Syracuse Chris and Phil Siegel had even less. We would return tomorrow for the final table. It was 2:30 a.m.
I slept as well as I could but ended up getting less than six hours. When we resumed, the blinds were 2000/4000 with a 1000 ante. One player had already been eliminated when on the third hand it folded to me and I saw King-Queen offsuit. I shoved my remaining 12,000 in and got a call from both blinds: Tuan Le in the small and Michel Abecassis in the big. The flop came Deuce-Deuce-Trey. They checked and the turn brought a Four. Now there were two Clubs and two Diamonds on the board. Tuan bet 30,000 into the dry side pot and I figured I was sunk. Michel reraised all in. Tuan called and turned over Six-Five for a Straight. Michel had Ten-Four and what he was doing in the pot I couldn't tell you. I was drawing dead and, as tournament director Jack McClelland said, "Michel needs to catch a Four or a Deuce and Richard needs to catch…a bus home." I was out of the contest in eighth place, cashing for a big $6,610 and catapulting me into the top 1000 in the standings.
I missed event two, a $1570 buy-in, because of my five minutes of play at the final table of event one. Event three was a $2080 buy-in No-Limit Hold 'Em tourney with 155 entrants. I drew table 40, seat three, and this time there were plenty of familiar faces at my table. Meng La had seat five; Billy Baxter seat seven; Chris Hinchcliffe seat eight; "Action" Dan Harrington seat nine, and Magic (his real name) Epstein on my right in seat two. I didn't want to be at a table with any of these tough players let alone all of them. I played one big pot where I got outkicked with Trip Tens, seat six's Nine beating my Eight kicker. I was down to 1000 from my starting 4000 when they broke the table.
The new table wasn't much better. I got table 32, seat three. John Nguyen had seat seven, Chip Jett had seat eight, Jennifer Harman seat nine, Jim Miller seat 10, and Kenna James seat two on my right. I doubled through Jim Miller on a coin flip and had an unimpressive 1550 at the break. I pushed in again with King-Queen and fared better than last night, doubling through John Nguyen when a King came to beat his Ace-Nine suited. The third time was the curse, though, when John called my last 1350 and beat my Ace-Five of hearts with pocket Eights. I was out in 102nd place.
Today's event was a $2600 buy-in with 134 entrants. I started at table 45, the one used as the final table, and the only familiar faces were two Nguyens, Van and Scotty, both excellent players. I won a few pots early and then I limped in early position with pocket Eights. Seat five also limped and the big blind checked. The flop came Jack-Five-Four rainbow and it checked around. The turn was another Five and I figured my Eights were good so I bet them and seat five called. At that point I wasn't putting another dime into the pot except the river was an Eight, giving me a Full House. I bet the size of the pot and seat five reraised the minimum. That was usually a warning sign but I had a huge and unexpected hand so I wasn't too worried. I figured he probably didn't have Jacks or he would have raised preflop so I put him on slow-playing pocket Fours or something like Six-Five. I move in and he calls. "You're not going to be happy," he says, and before he showed it I knew he was going to turn over Presto for Four Fives. I had him well covered so I was actually only slightly below my starting stack of 5000. They broke the table just a couple hands too late.
My new assignment was table 33, seat nine. Kenna James was once again on my right and Sammy Farha, famous for dangling an unlit cigarette between his lips while finishing second in the 2003 World Series to Chris Moneymaker, had seat three. I won a preflop all-in with Aces against Ace-Queen and that brought me up to 8800. Sammy busted out, as did his replacement, and then a short-stacked Erik Seidel sat down in the unlucky seat. As for me, I lost every pot after that and eventually lost a desperation all-in to finish 58th.
The series reset back to $1060 and attendance rose back to 328. I got a table full of strangers, table 32 seat three, and worked my stack up to 6300 before losing a bunch of pots and going back down to 2425 at the break. The blinds increased and I eventually lost a coin flip with Ace-Queen of Hearts to pocket Sixes. I was out 143rd.
Today's contest was for $1570 and attracted 234 players. I got table 41, seat three. Top pro Tony Cousineau had seat eight. Early on I got Aces in middle position and Tony called my raise to 125 on the big blind. The flop came three Queens. We checked the flop and Tony called my 200 on the turn. I check-called 300 more on the river and Tony of course turned over Ace-Queen for quads, the second time in the series my Full House lost to Four of a Kind. I was happy only to lose 625 on the hand. Later I got a free flop with Queen-Seven on the big blind. The flop came Queen-Queen-Ace and I doubled up against someone overplaying an Ace. Fred Berger came and sat in seat seven and when seat one busted it was David "The Dragon" Pham who took the spot. I had exactly 4000 at the break, up from 3000 to start.
With the blinds now at 100/200 I limped under the gun with pocket Jacks. David The Dragon pushed in all his chips in the small blind and I called. He turned over Eight-Five of Hearts, a decided dog to my Overpair, and I busted him, bringing me up to 7025. I made a good call with Ace-Queen of Hearts against a short stack moving in with King-Jack but he won the decision and I was down to 2825 at the next break.
Gavin Smith and Sammy Farha sat down and Gavin immediately moved all in on me. I called with Ace-Jack and he turned over Presto but its magic didn't work and I doubled up. Then Allen "Double OJ" Kessler sat down in seat seven. I didn't get to play a hand with him, though, as Sammy was raising almost every pot and I chose the wrong time to come over the top with King-Nine. He studied for a long time, trying to engage me in conversation while I mentally replayed Shana Hiatt attaching her wireless mike to her bikini top in Aruba last year. "I know you have a big hand, Richard," Sammy said, "but I'm gonna pay to see it." He called and turned over pocket Tens, showing genuine surprise when I turned over my one overcard. "Richard!" Sammy said. "King-Nine?" My King came on the river but it made him a Straight to beat me and I was out of the contest 39th. So close and yet so far. If they paid for making the final 25% I'd be way ahead.
We were back up to $2080 for today's contest with an impressive 219 entrants. I drew table 40, seat six and recognized Dr. Scott "River Otter" Aigner in seat four and Dustin Sitar, who always wore a green visor, in seat two. I doubled up right away when I limped late in a multiway pot with Ace-Jack and the flop came Ace-Ace-Jack. Otter busted soon after and I had 6075 at the first break, up from the starting 4000. I busted the short stack in seat one with Presto against his Ace-Ten and got back up to 7500 when Thor Hansen and Melissa Hayden sat down in seats one and five. I bullied a bit and got up to 9450 when they broke the table and I moved to table 44, seat six. This was a nice table full of strangers except for the shaved-headed guy on my left who I recognized but whose name I didn't know. I limped under the gun with pocket Tens and he limped behind me. The short stack on the small blind shoved all in and I thought about what to do, the most attractive choices being calling and raising. Finally I decided to move all in myself, hoping the guy on my left would lay down overcards. Turned out he had pocket Aces, though, and the small blind's King-Queen and my Tens were toast. I was out in 77th place.
The stakes went up to $2600 for the penultimate warm-up event. I drew table 33, seat one, in spitting distance of our favorite celebrity poker player, Tobey "Spiderman" Maguire in seat three. Tom McCormick sat between Tobey and me in seat two. David "Harpo" Levy, with whom I had tangled quite a bit, had seat four. Rollo Johnson was in seat six and Minh Nguyen was in seat eight. I completed the small blind with Eight-Seven offsuit in a family pot and the flop came Nine-Six-Five, two Hearts. I check-raised seat five and he called. The turn paired the Five, meaning if he had flopped a Set he now had a Full House and if he had Presto he now had quads. I bet 2500 and he called. I was frightened. Very frightened. The river brought the Jack of Hearts, so now if he had been on a Flush draw he just made it. I checked and he turned over Nine-Seven of Diamonds. This questionable play by seat five cost him almost all his chips and brought me up to 10,000 from my starting 5000.
WPT champ Ron Rose sat down in seat seven and then Spidey raised under the gun. Rollo called and I saw pocket Kings on the small blind and made it 1300. Spidey thought a bit and called, as did Rollo. The flop came Ace-Queen-Five and we checked around The turn was a Six. I checked and Tobey bet 2000. Rollo mucked and I went into the tank. I turned on my Spidey-sense and decided he had pocket Aces. I reluctantly mucked as Harpo chided me, "Pocket Kings no good!" I was down to 5575 at the break.
When we got back I reraised Ron Rose's early opener all in with Ace-King of Hearts and he called with yet another Pair of Aces. This time I escaped, though, when the board made a Straight to split the pot. Ron complained that I never gave him enough respect. "It's your loose image," I said. "What loose image?" he cried.
Harpo lost most of his chips to Tobey and then I finished him off with Ten-Ten against Nine-Nine. He stood up and told a friend, shrugging, "Spiderman got me." I had 7250, which was blinded down to 6450 at the break. They broke our table and I went to table 40, seat eight for five minutes then got moved to table 43, seat nine for balancing. Thor Hansen was in seat three, Young Phan in seat six, and Ralph Levine, one of the friendliest guys on the tour, in seat 10. Three of us went all in before the flop, myself and one other with Ace-King and the third with pocket Queens. The remaining two Kings hit the board and I was up to 8000. Then I did something I very rarely do: I limped with Ace-Eight on the button in a five-way pot. The flop came Ace high and it checked around to me so I put all my chips in and got trapped by a guy who thought his Ace-Jack was big hand that he'd slow-play it. I was out of the contest in 56th Place.
It was $3100 to buy into the last warm-up event of the Festa al Lago but a nice 174 players ponied up for it. I got table 31, seat one, and had Tommy Franklin on my left in seat two, David Baker, a good player I had tangled with before, in seat three, Paul "Pretty Boy" Phillips, one of the most entertaining people in poker, in seat four, and "Miami" John Cernuto in seat nine. The fireworks started early when Paul limped under the gun. Seat five raised the 100 blind to 250 and several other players followed suit, including me on the button with something marginal and Tommy on the small blind. The flop came Nine-Six-Trey rainbow, missing me completely but four players got all their money in. The original raiser had Aces; the next guy to act had top Set with pocket Nines; Tommy had Seven-Five of Clubs for a double-gutshot Straight draw with a backdoor Flush possibility, and Paul had Eight-Seven of Diamonds for an open-ender. Tommy's Eight came on the river and as it turned out he had everyone covered by 75 chips and busted three players. I never get to spend enough time with Paul.
I worked my way up slightly from the starting 6000 to 6400 at the first break. Then I limped on the button with Eight-Six in a multiway pot. The flop came Jack-Eight-Six. Someone bet 1500 and I raised all in. He called with King-Jack. I made a Full House on the river and was up to 12,600. By the next break I had worked it up to 14,075 and I was feeling good. The cards dried up for me, though, and I missed every flop and got blinded off to the point of desperation. When it finally folded to me in late position I decided to push in with Six-Five and my tight table image but I got a reluctant call on the big blind from Vince Van Patten's favorite hand, Jack-Ten suited. I flopped a Straight and was drawing dead to a runner-runner chop as the board came Nine-Eight-Seven. I wished everybody luck and packed it in, finishing 47th.
I played the super satellite for $1060. The highlight was sitting at the table with Chad Layne, a great player and a very nice guy. I had a few second-bests and was out quickly.
Finally the day came for the culmination of the Festa al Lago: The World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson North American Championship. There were 322 entrants, which was great for an event scheduled at the last minute such as this one. I drew table 36, seat one and had a lineup of luminaries across the table from me: John "World" Hennigan in seat five, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson in seat six wearing his black cowboy hat over his trademark long hair and beard, and between them the man himself: hall-of-famer, world champion Doyle Brunson. He was wearing a Stetson custom embroidered with the name of his new on-line poker site "DoylesRoom.Com." He had been playing poker for about 40 years before anyone ever heard of the Internet. A player I recognized was in seat seven. He turned out to be J.C. Tran, a well-thought-of young tournament player who would figure prominently in today's proceedings. Prominently.
Johnny World was giving everybody action in level one but nothing much happened for me until the second level when J.C. Tran raised the 200 blind to 600 from early position. I saw Pocket Rockets and made it 2100, a pot-sized raise. He just called, making me think he had Queens or Ace-King. The flop came a King and two small Hearts. J.C. bet 1000 into the 4500 pot, which was definitely a red flag. Now as it turned out there was no way I wasn't going to go broke on this hand, but there was a right way and a wrong way to go broke. I did it the wrong way, overplaying my Aces right there in front of Doyle, who wrote in his bible Super System that he slow-plays Aces after the flop more than any other hand. Here's why. I made it 7500, still putting him on Ace-King or Queen-Queen. Now he raised 7000 more and I have 12,000 left. Having got myself into that predicament, I should have laid it down right there but instead I moved all in. He called and it wasn't till then that I was willing to believe he had pocket Kings. I cast an apologetic glance toward Doyle, who gave me his best aw-bad-luck-but-you-really-are-a-fish look.
Now here's how I should have gone broke on the hand. I should have called his 1000 bet on the flop, because the Ace of Spades came on the turn and at that point we would have got it all in for sure. Then, when the fourth King came on the river, like it did, at least it would have been him getting all his money in as a 43-to-one dog. Sure, I was broke either way, but the way I played it all I could do was slink off. Even without anyone knowing it was the third time in the series I'd lost with a Full House to quads, word spread quickly of my Aces Full being busted by Four Kings and I got many words of consolation but only Shawn "West Texas Man" Rice was willing to take me to task for overplaying the Aces. "Dude, that's one Pair," he said. One Pair. He was right. Bad beats didn't bother me nearly as much as bad play on my part. Regardless, I was out of the contest 280th and all the footage WPT cameraman Paul Hannum had taken of me was gathering cobwebs in the corner of Steve Lipscomb's basement. I didn't even stay to say hi to Shana.
Next up: Foxwoods.
The World Poker Tour Aruba event conflicted with a small series of Hold 'Em tournaments in Las Vegas so I decided to play in the "Hold 'Em at the Horseshoe" series rather than take the long, expensive trip to the island recently beset by hurricanes and giant mosquitoes. Instead I took the usual two-hour hop on Alaska Airlines to Sin City and hunkered down for 10 days of heated tourney action. They were charging eight percent juice, including three percent in lieu of dealer tips, on all but the final $5000 event. I thought it was high but decided to play anyway for the practice.
The first event was a $500 buy-in with a nice field of 208. The tournament was held all downstairs rather than up in the main World Series area. I drew table 43, seat eight and had tournament regular James Hoeppner on my left. He gambled early with some marginal hands and went out when he moved in with Queen-Eight of Hearts against my pocket Kings. James was replaced by another experienced pro, Tommy Vu. We didn't tangle and I had upped my starting 1500 to 2475 at the break. Soon after, I found the pocket Kings again and an early-position raiser called my reraise. Two Tens and a low card flopped. We got it all in and he turned over Jack-Ten, which most players wouldn't have called a reraise with until Vince Van Patten revealed what a powerful holding it was. I didn't catch my two outs so I was out of the contest, finishing 90th.
The next day's event jumped to $2000 and only attracted 52 players. This time I drew table 49, seat six. There were some good players at this table: "Big" Billy Duarte had seat two, Ngoc "Jimmy" Tran had seat three, and Steve Goldberg, whose wife had hit the Wheel of Fortune slot machine for $11 million last year, was nestled into seat four. I had pocket Queens the first hand but didn't get any action and won the blinds. I got no cards for almost two hours and then found pocket Queens once again when Billy Duarte raised my small blind. I moved in on him and he called with Ace-Ten of Hearts, not giving me the proper respect, but two Aces flopped and I was out of the contest, finishing 27th.
I was out in time to head over to Bellagio to play in their regular $1060 Friday tournament. They got 95 players. The third hand I picked up pocket Kings on the button and made a healthy raise that got out all but one limper. The flop came King high, but all Clubs. He check-raised me all in and I called with a sigh as he turned over the nut flush, Ace-Nine of Clubs. I was still only a two-to-one dog but I didn't help and I was out of the contest practically before it started.
Shortstack arrived that evening and we had a nice dinner at Les Artistes steakhouse at Paris, naughtily washing down our French-themed food with a 1998 Chianti. We sure missed the '97s.
Saturday's tournament was for a dime, $1000, and drew a healthy field of 124. I didn't recognize anybody at my table, which was good, and I doubled up early when my pocket Aces held up against pocket Kings. By the first break I had taken my starting 1500 to 3775. I got frisky and won some small pots and knocked out a couple players and by dinner I was all the way up to 11,775. I didn't feel like eating downtown so I walked around for an hour and psyched myself up for making the final table. I worked it up to 15,000 and stayed at that level from when it was twice the average stack to just average. Soon we were playing hand for hand, waiting for the 10th player to bust out, and it happened. I had made the final table. We redrew for seats and got started right away. The shortstacked Lonnie Alexander two to my right kept doubling up with unlikely hands, including beating my Ace-King with Queen-Four suited all in before the flop. I called his all-in a second time with Ace-King and he had the same hand for a split pot. Finally I moved my remaining chips all in on the button with Ace-Ten. The big blind called with pocket Kings, though, and they held up so I was out of the contest in eighth place, cashing for $3272. That was almost enough to get me even for the series. Lonnie's luck held up and he won the tourney, having won back-to back events at the Bellagio the week before. Nice rush!
The price dropped back down to $500 on Sunday but still only 50 people showed up. WSOP bracelet holder Gavin Griffin sat to my left, playing his tough game as usual. He blew me off a couple pots and then I reraised a loose player all in with Ace-King. He called with pocket Sixes, which held up, and I was out of the contest, finishing 36th. I asked the tournament director how much I won but there was no answer.
Shortstack and I had a nice dinner at Ah Sin, the pan-Asian restaurant at Paris, washed down with lychee martinis. The lamb satay was particularly yummy.
Attendance was dwindling at the Horseshoe and I figured they wouldn't get many for the $3000 event scheduled so Monday I headed over to the Orleans for the opener of the new World Poker Players Association series. This was a $1000 buy-in event with seven percent juice. I bought in and dribbled away my stack, never hitting a flop and finishing 36th out of 62 although I outlasted the great TJ Cloutier at my table. The WPPA was one of several efforts to organize poker players and get more of the TV money in our pockets. Sounded good to me.
Tuesday was another $1000 event at the Horseshoe on Tuesday that drew 90 players so I bought in and drew table 48, seat five. There was no one I recognized at the table but I lost half of my stack when I had to lay down top Pair after I got played back at. Then I raised in late position with Ace-Ten and liked the Ten-Five-Five flop with two Hearts. I put in the rest of my chips, 575, but the guy on my left thought it was only 175 and put in that many chips. He grabbed them out when he saw his mistake but I asked for a decision and of course the floorperson made him leave the chips in the pot and let him decide whether to call or fold. He decided to call with a Flush draw and lo and behold came the Heart on the turn and I was out of the contest early, finishing 80th.
I got called away on a family emergency so I had to cut short my play at the series. I did enter a $1000 Omaha Hi/Lo Limit event at the Orleans and never hit a hand, busting out halfway through the field. I entered the Bellagio Friday tourney for $1060 and hoped I would last longer than last week. It was not to be, however. After losing 2/3 of my stack overplaying pocket Tens, I went all in before the flop with pocket Kings and got called by King-Queen. Two Queens dutifully came and I was once again out in time for dinner, which was at Les Artistes with pro Russ Floyd, whom I had met in Atlantic City with "Oregon" Dave Lilie. I had my usual bone-in filet but Russ didn't like bones so he got it without and added some crabmeat and a lobster tail. We washed it down with a nice little 2000 Bordeaux.
I had a flight booked back to Vegas next week for another series of No-Limit tournaments, this one at the Bellagio.
With most of the month of August off and a conflict keeping me from competing in the World Poker Tour season-three opener at the Bicycle Club, I had plenty of time to practice my No-Limit Hold ‘Em with small on-line cash games. After a year I felt like I knew less about the game than when I started: I was learning one poker trick at a time but there were 1000 of them and I was only up to about 87. Still, I was ready to do better at the Borg than last year when I gave Bobby Thompson a free card to fill up his Set and beat my flopped Straight. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
I cleaned out all but 47 miles of my US Airways balance with an award ticket to Philadelphia in preparation for them going out of business. They were still too broke to serve drinks in real glasses in First Class and the food tasted like it was right out of a microwaved Budget Gourmet. Staff was apathetic and service minimal. The movie was Raising Helen with Kate Hudson, an entertaining if minor party-girl-turned-mom flick. We landed a bit late and a Ford Taurus from Avis got me to Atlantic City.
I had made reservations for a late dinner at the Old Homestead steakhouse with “Oregon” Dave Lilie, Kim “Tiltmom” Scheinberg, and Bruce Hayek, chief trip reporter for the Tiltboys. Oregon Dave tried to order a Bombay Sapphire martini but I made him drink Tanqueray Ten instead. He enjoyed the drink but hated me with a fiery hate because, he said, I had ruined him for Bombay Sapphire for life. Oregon Dave, who could pass for George Costanza’s twin brother, got his nickname years ago when he visited friends in the Northwest and they locked him in the refrigerated beer-storage closet of a convenience store until he agreed to stop pronouncing their State “ORE-uh-gone.”
He was in there for nine hours.
We all had the Gotham Rib Steak except for Bruce, who had a soft-boiled egg. Like Prime at the Bellagio, the food was deliicious and the service mediocre.
The Borgata management thought it best to open tournament registration at eight in the morning rather than the day before so when I got up around 10 I called Oregon Dave and registered both of us for today’s $1500+80 No-Limit warm-up tourney. There were 346 entrants in today’s event and I got table 15, seat six. WPT season-one finalist Stan Goldstein was in seat one and Davin “Typo” Anderson, who got lots of air time at this year’s World Series, had seat 10. Stan tried to run over me repeatedly but I was on to his bamboozlement so between bluffing and trapping him I increased my stack from the starting 4000 to 7425 after the first three levels, mostly at his expense. I picked up pocket Aces and picked off an all-in with Ace-King after the break, giving me 11,000. My luck turned south, though, and I dwindled to 7175 by the dinner break. My $80 entry fee was good for a buffet comp providing I lasted that long so Oregon Dave and I feasted on some soft-shell crab before the event resumed. I didn’t last long after dinner. With the blinds skyrocketing I took a coin-flip with pocket Eights versus King-Jack suited and lost it, finishing 97th.
Oregon Dave talked me into playing $40/80 Hold ‘Em at a very loose table. There was one woman, in fact, who didn’t seem to have ever played the game before. She played every hand and stayed in with anything at all. I played one big pot in four hours and finished $350 up.
I had to get up early again to register for the next day’s tournament, a $2500+100 No-Limit Hold ‘Em event. This one got 327 entrants. My table was in an overflow area known as the Motor Coach Lobby, a fancy name for bus station. I got table 10, seat one, a very weak table but I didn’t hit many flops and had only increased my stack from 6000 to 7900 when they broke the table. Now I was at table two, seat nine, with champion “Action” Dan Harrington in seat one and Jersey native Mike Sica, who won the $3000 No-Limit Hold ‘Em event at this year’s World Series, in seat seven. I chased a couple draws that didn’t hit, took a bad beat, and then foolishly moved in for my last 2000 with Ace-Nine, getting called by an under-the-gun limper with Ace-King. I didn’t hit my 26% equity and I was out of the contest early.
Oregon Dave didn’t play in this one so we got in the Taurus and drove around to some of the other casinos. Our first stop was Harrah’s because it was one place I’d never been to. When we looked around we decided there hadn’t been much reason to go there after all. We got in the elevator to the parking garage with a distinguished gentleman whose name tag had the title “Investigation Supervisor.” I asked how the investigating was going and he said his life would be easier if people would just learn how to drive. I wished him good luck as we exited on level three but he seemed to be going the same way we were. He matched us step for step and when we got to the red Taurus there was a security guard, an abashed 72-year-old man, and a big dent in the left rear bumper. After another hour the police had come and gone, all the reports were done, and we drove to the Boardwalk to have dinner and watch the Miss America parade. Miss Vermont smiled and waved at me but after what happened with Shana I didn’t want to get another young girl hopelessly hooked on me so I shooed Dave into Caesars, where we had a nice dinner of lamb chops washed down with the 1999 Joseph Phelps Insignia. We walked back along the boardwalk and drove the wounded car back to the Borgata, where I discovered my laptop’s hard drive had crashed. I went to bed.
The next day was a $200 rebuy super satellite. I decided to play it and ended up spending $800. I was the fourth caller in a raised pot with Six-Trey of Hearts in late position when the flop came Six-Trey-Trey. I got action from two players and wasn’t too happy to see another Six on the Turn. A very inexperienced player was on my right and I milked him for most of his chips with the flopped Boat. I took some more from an impatient Stud player on my left with Two Pair versus his weak Ace and at the end of the rebuy period I had increased the 6000 chips I had bought to 10,125. Most everyone took the discounted double add-on of $200 for 4000 more chips. They broke the table and plonked me down right next to Oregon Dave, also known as “Not Trump” and “The Fish.” With The Fish on my right I had the advantage over him and picked off a blind-steal with the blinds shooting quickly through the roof. I lost a couple coin flips and was in serious trouble when Dave reraised a loose opener all in on the button. I looked down and saw Ace-King on the small blind. Getting almost three-to-one on my remaining 8800 chips I decided to call but Dave had the rockets and with the opener calling with Ace-Queen I was practically dead, needing a miracle Straight or four Flush cards to my Ace. They didn’t come and I was out of the contest.
Dinner was at Steve and Cookie’s steakhouse with a big group including Erik “Rounders” Seidel, John “JJ” Juanda, Kim “Tiltmom” Scheinberg, Steve “Suitcase” Brecher, and my new best friend Steve “Ice” Eisenstein, who bought a few bottles of the 1999 Nickel & Nickel for the table. A waiter overheard my raving about the John C. Sullinger vineyard and brought a bottle of it over to our end of the table. The food and service were good but the company was better.
Borgata Management had finally relented and allowed registration the day before for the main event. I bought a seat from one of the satellite winners and I was happy to see Oregon Dave had won a seat also. The inexperienced staff took an hour to get through a line of 15 people, filling out endless forms and stapling sheets of paper together. I got to bed around two.
The whole tournament was in the main room today since only a disappointing 312 people entered. I had a tough table but none of the superaggressive superstars was there. Seat one was Andrew Miller. Seat two was Mimi Tran. Seat three had Jimmy “Jimmy Jimmy” Cha, who had finished fourth in the $2500 two days before. I was in seat four. On my left were John Myung in seat five, Mark Dickstein in seat six, and Nick “The Beef” Hanna in seat seven. Seat eight was an unknown and seat nine was empty until they broke a table and put WPT finalist Abe Mosseri there.
The tournament was short but sweet for me. I called an early-position raise by Jimmy Jimmy with pocket Tens. The flop came Ten high, two Spades. He check-raised me all in with Ace-Nine of Spades. I called instantly, a three-to-one favorite with top Set, but Spades came on the Turn and the River and I was out of the contest. I can’t mind getting it in with a 75% chance to double up but the cards didn’t fall my way.
With my ‘puter dead I called US Airways to change my flight and then spent the evening drinking Tanqueray Ten martinis and watching Paul “Pretty Boy” Phillips play a mixed $400/800 limit game with David “Oppy” Oppenheim, John “J-Dags” D’Agostino, and an Internet player known as Lucky777. It was a year ago at this time I first met Shana Hiatt and the trip wouldn’t have been complete without seeing her in the B-Bar, where she was chatting with two older women as drooling men lined the walls trying to make eye contact with the Playboy cover girl. I’m pretty sure she winked at me but I pretended not to see as I didn’t want all the men In the room to get jealous. I got to bed around five.
I slept in till one, took care of the bill, and then drove the Taurus back to Philadelphia airport to await my flight. US Airways saw no need to give its First Class passengers a preferred security line so I waited 45 minutes and got to the gate shortly before boarding. Dinner was embarrassing and the service was nonexistent. I slept as much as I could. When I got back to Seattle my Shortstack pulled up in the black T-Bird to take me home. I was going back to Vegas in a couple days for almost daily tournaments for the next few weeks. I was nothing if not persistent.
Though they don't like to talk about it, I'm pretty sure The Mirage was the first
The $2000+80 tournament the next day drew 247 entries. I got table 32, seat three. This time I wasn't so lucky with my draw: Barry "Spock" Greenstein was two to my left in seat five. I tried telling him I was his worst nightmare but he just shrugged. Erik "Rounders" Seidel, who had bullied me mercilessly at Turning Stone, was across the table in seat eight and Ken Goldstein, another good player, was at Erik's left in seat nine. After seat 10 busted out WPT finalist James Hoeppner sat down. I got strung along on a draw in a pot with the kid in seat one, making an open-ended Straight draw on the flop and adding a Flush draw on the turn. I opted not to semi-bluff all in on
Now David Chiu, another top player, sat down when Seidel busted someone and the table was getting worse and worse. Spock busted out but was replaced by another tough player, Billy Baxter. Dan Alspach took seat one and it looked like a TV final table. I was short on chips and finally pushed in with a marginal hand and lost. I made it not quite through half the field, finishing 127th.
Today was a $1000+60 super-satellite, paying as many $10,200 entries as possible into the main event. We ended up with 252 starters so there were 23 entries and a consolation prize of over $9800 for the 24th spot after the 3% in lieu of tips was taken out. I drew the same table as yesterday, 32, but seat six this time. There were a lot of familiar faces at the table but fortunately three of them were casino executives rather than top players: Jim Miller, a tournament director, had seat one. Alan Feiner of the Bellagio poker room had seat two. Rich Korbin of PokerStars had seat three. On my left were three good players: Dan Dumont in seat seven, Jason Eakes in seat eight, and Charlie Townsend in seat 10. Between getting frisky and getting hit with the deck I chipped up to 10,750 at the break from the starting 3000, busting Jason in the process when he moved in on my Aces with pocket Nines. I got Aces again and hit a lot of flops and by the second break I was up to 14,975, half of what would be the average stack when it was all over. I kept getting cards and playing strong, mercilessly bullying "Captain" Tom Franklin, who sat down at my left when Dan Dumont busted, and Tomer Benvisitsi, who took Jason's seat. By the next break I had 45,400 and was ready to coast to victory. I couldn't help reraising the bully on my right all in when I picked up my third Pair of Kings and he mucked, knowing I wouldn't do it without a big hand. When we redrew seats with 27 left I had 60,000 even. Other than some very cautious blind limps that were almost always checked down, I didn't play another hand even though I picked up Ace-Queen on the button. Soon it was all over and I had won my entry into the main event. For the day's work I had saved $9140 off the entry price. I hoped the cards would continue to come.
Dinner was at Craftsteak with Steve "Brec" Brecher. Brec, a healthy guy, ordered half a dozen of chef Tom Colicchio's famous vegetable dishes. I had my usual Kobe Flatiron steak, washed down with a yummy 1996 Lewis Cabernet.
The 281 starters created a $2.7 million prize pool, laughably average in today's environment, after the 3% collected in lieu of tips. I drew table 34, seat 10 for this one. The wild Randy Jensen, WPT Tunica finalist, was two to my left in seat two. Old-school pro Pat Callahan had seat three. Top player Chau Giang, who had recently broadened his career from high-stakes cash games to tournaments because his children asked him why if he was such a great player they never saw him on TV, had seat four. High-stakes pro Tommy Vu, famous for a real-estate infomercial he did years ago in which he was flanked by two beautiful girls on a yacht, had seat five and a stunning young blonde wearing a French-cut tee that read "dirty blonde" was on the rail watching him the whole time. My friend Erik "Rounders" Seidel had seat six and I promised to raise his blind mercilessly. Erik always had kind of a hang-dog, beleaguered look so you never expected him to come over the top or flip over the nuts and take all your chips. Richard Tatalovich, a limit Hold 'Em specialist who had won many tournaments, had seat seven. A relative unknown, David Taylor, who had won not one but two super satellites to qualify for this event, had seat eight. Tomer Benvisitsi was on my right in seat nine. I wasn't real happy with the draw but I held my own and I was about even at 19,200 at the first break.
Soon after we returned, Randy busted Pat Callahan and then "
The blinds were up to 300-600 with a 50 ante now so it was costing me 1400 a round just to sit. I raised Minneapolis Jim's blind one more time with King-Queen, making it 1800 and he called. The flop came King-Eight-Six with the King and Six of Hearts. Jim immediately put me all in for my last 12,700. I determined he must have been on a draw, something like Ace-Eight of Hearts, meaning with 13 or 14 outs it was almost a coin flip. Add to that the 4400 already in the pot and the chance he might be bluffing and since I needed chips I decided to call. He was indeed on a draw, the best one possible: Seven-Five of Hearts. "You've got the best hand right now," he said, stumbling through the words in his drunken manner, but I disagreed: with 15 outs, his hand was a four-to-three favorite. If I could get past the next card I'd be a big favorite but the Three of Hearts came on the turn, taking away all the drama. I was out of the contest around 180th place. Still in the hunt were many of the top players along with celebrities Toby "Spiderman" Maguire and Gabe "Kotter" Kaplan. It looked like a fun tournament. I wished I was still in it.
I changed my Alaska Airlines flight to come home early on the last flight of the night but Don Rickles went out and removed the sparkplugs on the plane so I had to spend one more night in Vegas before returning home to my Shortstack.
