Vegas/wsop

[XX44466XX 0]

I wanted to share my recent experience in Las Vegas with y'all. I just got home and I'm a bit tired but here goes...Wednesday 10PM: Slot machines in the airport-what a town. Theresa and some other FCPers-Nikki, CrazyIvan, and GWCGWC-are on a table at Binion’s when I arrive. I walk into a ghetto-ass room, in the old section of the hotel. Whatever, that’s why it’s so cheap. We head over to the Rio; Johnny Chan is walking out as we are walking in. Meet up with Mike from FCP to pick up my gear. Thanks Matt-the button-down is smooth, lemme tell ya, and so is the polo! Enter the WSOP room and head over to the PL HE event going on, where we meet up with Pupsta and his AmazingWife. Freddy Deeb is standing behind us, talking to another fellow (wow, is he tiny). At the tables we see Mike Sexton, Kathy Liebert, and DANIEL!!! He gets up immediately at his first opportunity to come over and greet us. Ivan even snuck in a handshake before DN realized what he was doing! Daniel knows me by my screenname at FCP and my avatar (of bouncing breasts) and apparently his mom didn’t necessarily approve of such. Showed him the one-of-a-kind Oker hat. My first impression of Daniel in person is “what a nice guy.” Really. I mean, he is in the middle of a WSOP event but comes over to the rail to talk to us-repeatedly. I watch him for a few minutes when he goes back to his table and he keeps an eye on us, really giving me the feeling that he does genuinely care about his fans. Or he’s just making sure we’re not (real) crazies. You the man, Danny Boy. Glad to see you back at the Rio bruddah. Next stop, the Venetian. Meet up with Powerpoker. Grab some grub and open up a $3/6 Omaha 8/b table. Not my first choice but I go along. Play like a retarded monkey with a cash donation but at least it’s amongst friends. Worth seeing the one “outsider” who dared join us squirm in frustration in response to a lot of my stupid play though. And learn a whole new ballgame with the “Mississippi Straddle,” where the button raises in the dark and is a live straddle and the SB acts first. The rest of the crew calls it a night.Thursday 3AM: I switch rooms to the newer section. It’s like a whole different hotel on the other side-my new room is a deluxe suite compared to what they first tried to stick me in. Even got a little mini-fridge. Head back downstairs for some HOLD EM. 2 hours of short-handed $4/8 sticks me for a good beating, as I’m constantly run down: turn a flush, beat by the boat on the river; trip 6s, A kicker, beat by J6 when a Jack falls on the river. Or 3 players chop a huge pot with AK, the case K on the board. I am obviously weaker at Omaha Split, and just Limit games in general. Poker room rate ($30/50) for my hotel room at least and a comped breakfast in the café-thanks Benny. No Limit here on out.8AM: Head to the Rio again for some morning satellite action. Cabs suck out here BTW. 5th in a $125 10-way and 8th in a $175. Guy flops quad Aces in my 1st one (TG it was someone else in the pot and not me!)!!! Too fast of a structure for me-like a Turbo SNG-and a crapshoot at best. I decide to just buy-in directly tomorrow.WILL POST MORE AFTER REST...

[ONEgreatness08 0]

gl

[XX44466XX 0]

gl

Little late but thanks

[Dratj 0]

lol. Classic. I can't wait to hear the rest of your story.

[XX44466XX 0]

Quick note: KFL may come visit our forum; we sat at the same table for a while hamming it up. She's quite a ham.

[Golden 2]

Wish I could have been there - post the next part!

[xzanos 0]

Wish I could have been there - post the next part!

For real. You can't post 10 hours of stuff then stop!

[XX44466XX 0]

OK FOCKERS.Enough suspense I am being told.PART DEUXThursday 12N: Al Smooth and PrtyPSux are playing today, as are Shahmat and his brother, Robin. Meet up with Gilbertology somewhere in the afternoon. $5000 NL HE Short-handed event begins, Pros EVERYWHERE. It’s tougher to say who I didn’t see than who I did. Annie Duke and Kristy Gazes to Shannon Elizabeth and Jennifer Tilly. Evelyn Ng is Amazonian! Was gonna ask to get a photo with her but my face would be like even with her chest. And not like that’s a bad thing but it might make for a goofy picture. Tables of 6-one had Erik Seidel, Mark Seif, and Scott Fischman; another has Men Nguyen, Chris Ferguson, and Mimi Tran. Hellmuth enters in typically late fashion and is seated next to Chan. Gavin Smith and Griffin. Juanda and Huck Seed. Marcel Luske and his upside-down glasses and Phil Gordon. Watch "The Grinder" make some moves. Say hi to Carlos Mortensen and have a quick chat with Sheiky (who told you about this game Shawn?). Tony G. Devilfish passing out cards for his online site. The list goes on and on. Met Jennifer Leigh, aka Jennicide. Theresa got Norm MacDonald's autograph: "Don't Do Crack." Check out Ted Forrest and Mike Sexton at a ring game after they exit the event (got to meet him briefly earlier too!). Fidler gets busted early unfortunately. Robin gets sandwiched between Howard and Blair Rodman. He eliminates Rodman; earlier watch him raise Howard and Howard thinks for a few before moving all-in and Robin folds (I find out the next day that later in the day his AA eliminated Howard’s KK-from Howard). David Williams gets into some unfortunate circumstances as I watch him bully w/A8 on a JJ8 flop and J? calls and even rivers the case J (later, Williams is eliminated w/QQ by AQ when an Ace hits the board). Introduce myself to Rich Belsky of CardPlayer magazine, since he gave me a rep job, and he in turn introduces me to Jeff Shulman. Get caught mouth agape staring at Dolly I'm in such awe of the man.3PM: PL HE event from the day before continues play; Daniel, Matt Matros, and a friend of Daniel’s from Europe are still in the hunt. Get to briefly talk to DN again before the event re-starts. Al busts out after a roller-coaster ride but Shahmat, PrtyPSux, and Robin (who has a particularly good-sized stack) are still playing in the short-handed event. Head back to Binion’s, where Pogue and DNA have arrived with their respective others and are playing downstairs, as are Renae and Dolfan.6PM: $1/2 NL HE @ Binion’s. Live straddle of $2, I raise $30, SB and BB call, flop 762 w/2 clubs, SB checks, BB bets $30, I move over the top for another $130, SB folds, BB calls w/KQ of clubs, rivers a motherfucking King. Looking at it now, he had a lot of outs-any club, and any King or Queen as well. Still, fuck him. Actually, fuck me, because I’m now stuck pretty damn good.11PM: I’m going to sleep since I’ve been up since Wednesday around noon. And my event starts at noon tomorrow.These are the only photos that came out halfway decent; for some reason my camera decided to be a piece of shit while in Vegas.

[JaNnN 0]

Very nice man, i hope you wern't to much down on your trip. Can't wait for the part where you played the tourney.

[Golden 2]

Thanks for the pics! Keep the updates coming!

[SAM_Hard8 50]

It was good to meet you. BTW the $325 sats are much better!

[j2k99 0]

great update xx. gl in vegas and don't play the slots at the airport. like on-line poker, its rigged

[sloshr 0]

Nice read Ben, keep it coming. We want to know about your tourney.

[volcrazy 0]

awesome...keep it coming when you can.

[terradawg 0]

nice to meet you out there, albeit briefly. i'm curious to hear how your tourney went. i was at 4700 after two levels. sailed through level 3 with not much action. raised 4 pots in level 4 from late position after it folded around to me...3 times with AQ and once with 88. all 4 times there was a reraise and an all in behind me. all 4 times someone showed AA and two of those times there was also KK. i had to fold each time and lost half my stack without even seeing a flop. at this point, with no exaggeration, AA was shown on our table in 8 out of 10 hands. i've never seen anything like it in my life.a bit later i moved in from late position with A4 suited trying to pick up some blinds. called by A3 suited. flop 433. buh-bye. so frustrating to come crashing down like that after starting out so well....

[Dratj 0]

Cool, keep it coming.

[dna4ever 2]

Was good to meet you Ben.Not sure how you didnt make it in this picture, but here are some of the guys from this weekend's Army tripFront - Pupsta, Booyaga, Bleacherbum3, OzzyMiddle - ImmyFlow, Dms26, jhnyblz, DolfanBack - dna4ever, Chucksty, poguemahone68, Dave_Nicoson

[AcesUp46 0]

Quick note: KFL may come visit our forum; we sat at the same table for a while hamming it up. She's quite a ham.

What's this I hear about KFL?

[Vatche 0]

good post xx, sounds like you had a blast.

[XX44466XX 0]

Part Three-2006 WSOP Event 31 $2K NL HEFriday 8AM: Wake-up call, shower and shave (hah). Theresa rented a car because, personally, $60 for 2 cab rides so far blows ass. Breakfast at the Rio then head down to the Convention Center to register early for the tournament and beat the lines. Nervous but excited; this is my first major after all. Find out Robin placed 30th and made a little extra dough, Sol made it into the top 100 as well. Congrats Robin-you played great and it was exciting to rail you on the 1st day! Action Dan is in the house as are even more pros that I didn’t see the day before. Meet SamHard and his wonderful wife just prior to the start of the event.12N: Cards are in the air. Start off with $2K in chips, blinds are $25/25, 1 hour levels. There is one pro at my table, the young Asian guy who was on FSN’s Superstars II, can’t remember his name for the life of me though. 2nd hand in I look down at AK in the BB. Flat-call after the pro raises it up from middle position. Miss and fold when he bets on the flop. AJs a bit later I elect to raise a bit from UTG. Pro re-raises me, I decide to gamble a little, especially since he pushed me out of that last pot. Jack high flop, I check, he bets, I call, turn is a blank, I check again, he checks as well. At this point I should have put out a value bet on the river because my Jack is probably way good. But I don’t, I check, and so does he, and my hand is good. Another player’s 44 flops quads in the BB, UTG had QQ and didn’t once raise to try to protect his hand, the lock puts a little bet on the river is how we find all this out. My folds becomes monsters; J7s flops flush, K2 turns boat. The pro gets eliminated from our table as the remainder of his stack disappears into another player’s.Table change. 99 flops overs and I drop it. Limp w/66 in early position, raised behind me, 1 caller, I call as well. Flop A6x, I check, raiser bets, caller behind again, I push all-in. First AQ folds after deliberation, 2nd AQs calls. Turns the flush draw but bricks on the river and I gain a big piece of ground (the guy who called me someone said he was on TV before and I vaguely remember him but a name is way out of the question). A3 on the button, I limp to see a cheap flop with position on the one other limper who called before me, flop AAx, BB checks, early shoots, I call, 6 turn, shoots again, I call, blank on river, check, check, turns over 66 for a boat. I got off cheap on that one, it could have been real expensive for me but I probably could/should have pushed him out by raising the flop.Table change again. Get moved to Kathy Liebert’s table, she is 3 seats to my left. First thing she says after looking at my stack is that she can double through me, to which I reply that she’s welcome to try. She’s actually a lot of fun today. The guy behind me has a banana and offers it to Kathy (doesn't anybody else find that thoroughly amusing?). 88 I raise in early position, Banana re-raises behind me, I fold after thought (he tells me a little later he had TT). 88 again a bit later, I limp, Banana again raises me again but another player behind moves over the top for an easy fold for me. I look down at AA and raise it to no action. Short-stack moves all-in, folded to me in the BB w/AK-I call and lose to a 62 when a 6 hits the table.Moved again, this time to table 66, seat 6. Another AJs that misses the flop.Table change yet again. Brett “Gank” Jungblut is 2 to my left, John Bonetti and David Williams behind us. Gank is hassling Bonetti and Williams is chiming in. A KQ of spades takes down a big one, as I am UTG and take a flop with 2 players behind me, flop Txx, 2 spades. I check, 2nd to act bets, and I have already decided to check-raise all-in, so after 2nd moves, I start to push, saying "all-in" but the other player in the hand before hadn't folded, which I thought he did, and he was also about to do the same thing with a smaller stack but then he saw me start action and froze. A floorman is called over and tells the player that he must at least make the min raise as he was caught in a foreward motion with his chips. So he does, asking me if I got a set and I am now all-in over the top of both with a shrug. Both fold, original raiser said AT, the guy who was going to go all-in said QT and I take a nice pot. Gank gets called on a move pre-flop and busts out. An AQs gets nada so I toss it.The final #s for the event are: 2050 players, $3.7 million prize pool. I am not sure of my exact exit # but it was around 425, putting me in the top 25% of the field roughly.8:30 PM: After coming back from the dinner break the antes were up to 50 and the blinds were 200/400, making my M a nip over 4 (I will go a little more into detail later about my last 10 hands, because I welcome a discussion as to whether or not my play was correct). Suited 9T in the cut-off, folded around to me, I’m hoping to either take down a pot that will increase my stack by 1/5 without any confrontation, or if I get a call, at least I should have live cards. And that’s only if the button, the SB, or the BB wake up to a monster as it’s still a pretty solid raise. BB finds AK and calls from a big stack, K hits the board and it’s all over. All in all, I had a great time, it was a helluva experience-in fact I think this just became an annual outing for me. I outlasted many pros-Cloutier, Arieh, Chip Jett, “The Mouth,” Hellmuth, Huck Seed, Gavin Smith, “Bear,” Jennifer Harman (she is so cute!), “Fossilman,” Kenna James, and Kathy. (Post-note: Mike Caro and Jen Tilly made the top 200 in the money, Action Dan got as far as 23, and Justin Scott was the 1st place finisher, taking home $842,262)More to follow...

[XX44466XX 0]

Where's Waldo?

[gilbertology 0]

I thought you went out on 89 suited?? Nice meeting you in Vegas Ben, keep living the dream. What kind of reppin are you doing for Cardplayer? Oh, and you forgot to mention how hot you thought KFL was and your jealousy of her new bff Kenna James :Pedit - i wish it was you or theresa's turn to play me last week in hu, im sure id have better luck than against sloshr the undefeated. We couldve played true hu facing each other with laptop computers if we had found any computers with internet.

[XX44466XX 0]

I thought you went out on 89 suited?? Nice meeting you in Vegas Ben, keep living the dream. What kind of reppin are you doing for Cardplayer? Oh, and you forgot to mention how hot you thought KFL was and your jealousy of her new bff Kenna James :Pedit - i wish it was you or theresa's turn to play me last week in hu, im sure id have better luck than against sloshr the undefeated. We couldve played true hu facing each other with laptop computers if we had found any computers with internet.

Likewise. Just getting free stuff and attempting to hold a charity tourney at my school in the fall. Oh, about Scott...BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! GG.And it was KFL who thought I was hot, as she remembered my name, as clear proof.

[Smacciemac 3]

Ben is the man

[Awol77 0]

Do you remember what table you were on when you got knocked out? I was locked in dealing for quite some time during this event. I'm sure I dealt to you.