WSOP Trip Report #4

What weekly trip report would be complete without the appearance of The Drunk Lady?

So I headed to Vegas Thursday night, wasn't planning on going until Friday AM, but our dinner plans had changed and Bill, being the kind, loving soul that he is could see I was itching to leave and said Get the Hell out of here.

I arrived in Vegas around 10:30pm, and jumped into the 11pm Last Chance Tourney. I'm playing, and I hear my name called from behind my back. It's Kram!! (A friend from www.pokerclan.com) I had never met him in person and he recognized me (from what, I don't know, maybe I was just being loud and obnoxious and that gave it away...) so we chatted up a bit, and then he left (ok, BUSTED OUT) to play some cash games while I continued on in the tourney. We decided to meet up after I busted out or won, with the hopes (???) of me busting out with time to head to Binion's for the 2 AM tourney.

Of course, it happened, right around 1:30am, and about 40th place, my best Last Chance showing. So we head over to Binions and enter, about 4 tables. This time, I'm the one busting out early and I decide to sit and play some 2/4 and drink it up while he's playing.

WOW....Hello Drunk Lady! It's those Kamikaze shots, they get me every time! It doesn't help when I can get 3-4 at my table to drink with me, AND 2-3 from the NL table behind our table. Anywhoo, I don't specifically recall what words I may have said, but I was pulled aside by the floorman and asked to "Watch my language, or you will be asked to leave". I replied, "You have to be shitting me!!" (J/K!) However, I did get offended as I am NOT sitting in church here, I'm at a casino...in a poker room....please pardon me if I happen to say "Damn". I KNOW I didn't drop any F-bombs as I have trained myself to not say that word anywhere NEAR a poker table due to the strict F-bomb rules at WSOP. Kram (Mark) busted out right on the bubble (poor bubble boy) and we left (partially due to my being offended at the floorperson, and I'll be damned if I give him any more of MY rake).

For reasons I can't remember, we ended up back at the RIO, although I can't remember what we did there. I DO remember that he got lost on the way there. I was kind of guiding him from downtown to RIO from a constant state of consciousness and drunken stupor, and next thing I know, I'm hearing, "Tanya, Wake up, Tanya....you HAVE to wake up, I'm lost". I wake up (I nodded off briefly, just to clear the head a little bit) and I find that we are in the middle of the industrial center which is south of RIO, but has no street that goes through to get to RIO, even though we can see it looming ahead of us, and it seems like it's RIGHT THERE, but we just can't get there. So I keep giving him directions, because believe it or not, I had been in this particular scenario before last year (just not drunk) and I remembered that all the streets are dead ends. So we finally go 2-3 miles west, in order to go back east onto Rio.

Cash games? Satellite? Don't recall. OH WAIT, I just remembered. I jumped into a 4/8 cash game, and he jumped into his NL game (he was the designated driver and doesn't really like alcohol, so he just let me drink and took care of me!) Anyways, you will all be very happy to know that despite my aversion to ring games, and the admittance of being a loser there, I won at both places! At Binion's, I took my last $40 and parlayed it into $110, and then at RIO, bought in for $100 and left with (??) more than that. (lol). (It was my last $40 due to not having my bankroll with me, but more on that later)

I think around 7-8am, we decided that we were hungry and some players at our table had warned us that they had ordered food to be delivered and that was well over an hour ago. So I pull Mark away and we decide to eat at the cafe. I remember I ordered an omelet and I ate 1/2...the hashbrowns were GOOD. I am so wasted at this point, so we decide it's time to crash, but first I HAVE to go to the bank. Because of my earlier then expected departure from home, I hadn't had time to go to the bank and gather my poker bankroll, so he FOUND his way to the bank (all by himself, as I'm snoozing again. He may call it "passed out" but I know I was just sleeping). I do my business, and then I take him home and at this point, due to eating and the nap I took in the car, I am sober enough to drop him off and drive myself home since he is staying so close to where I'm staying.

On to Friday: I wake up around 1-2 pm and head over to RIO. On this day, I randomly travel between the poker room and the casino and have a very good day with hitting 4 aces on the video poker, then 4 kings, then 4 3's...I just couldn't NOT hit this day. Unfortunately, as a video poker player, we all strive to hit the "big one" and so gave a lot of it right back in the quest for the Royal Flush. Ah well. I did play 3 satellites and I chopped two of them, so 2/3 ain't so bad if you ask me. GOOD DAY.

I enter the 11pm tourney again, and this night I meet an old timer RGP'r....he doesn't post much anymore (which old timers do??) although I recognized the names of some RGP'rs that he threw out at me and we talked about BARGE and how I can't go this year due to my family cruise being the EXACT same week (major bummer). We have since exchanged emails since meeting, and I think that Adam will be an excellent poker friend. After I bust out early this night, I call Kram and we decide to head over to Binions again for the 2AM tourney. I, of course, am drinking again, but for some reason, the drinks are hitting me as hard this night and I don't get "drunk". I am buzzing, and I feel good, but no matter what I'm drinking...I'm just not getting "there". I bust out early (notice a pattern?) and I go onto gamble while I wait for them. I refuse to play in the ring games due to the floorman and I just spend time on video poker. I hit 4 of a kind 3 times and have to wait for them to fill my machine all 3 times. Mark busts out and his friend (Michael? Anthony? Damn, can't remember his name) ends up chopping 4 ways for a cool $700, so his treat as we head to the cafe for some breakfast. The omelet here SUCKS and the hashbrowns are nothing to talk about either. Icky.

This is when we have our very, VERY interesting conversation, and for the life of me I STILL don't know if they were serious or not, if they were pulling my leg and just teasing me or serious, but Mark....I STILL don't know, I'm such a clueless babe. (Only he will understand this paragraph and that's the way I meant for it to be, kind of a test to see if he REALLY reads my blog or if he is just a natural born bullshitter).

Saturday I had planned on attending a 10am Ladies Freeroll, held at Binions, for a chance to win a seat into the Sunday Ladies Event. Now, I already had my seat, and I figured I would just play and take the cash. But since we got done with breakfast at around 7am, I would still have to take Mark home and then I really wouldn't have time to sleep. If I simply stayed up and played the tourney, then I would have to sleep afterwards, and then I would miss all the juicy women's satellites running at RIO throughout the day. What to do, what to do?? I bailed. I skipped the freeroll and headed home and slept until 1pm, then headed back to RIO to play in satellites.

I did well, taking one down alone, and then the WEIRDEST THING happened. (Felicia, you'll enjoy this one).

I'm playing a women's satellite and it gets heads-up. I am chip leader, and I know that I can outplay her, so I don't offer a save or anykind of chop and she doesn't ask, so I'm thinking she is really green, and I can tell that she's not that experienced. Then the unthinkable happens, I double her up...losing a critical hand to her suckout and next thing I know, I have 1K in chips and she has 9K. Her husband had been sweating her, comes up to her, whispers something in her ear, and she then asks me;

"Wanna Chop?"
"An even chop?" I ask (I KNOW, I KNOWWWW...but she did say "chop")
"Yes"

I about fall out of my chair rushing to agree, but manage to stay cool and suave enough to say "Well, I normally chop, so sure". Next thing I know, I'm being handed an orange $500 chip. If she had said No to the even chop, then I would have said No and played on as I knew I could outplay her, would just have to hope for the luck of the cards. But to offer me and EVEN chop with a 9:1 chip lead...how lucky can I be and how stupid could she be? Ahhh...I love ladies weekend.

Saturday night....I didn't drink as I knew that I would be playing the next day so I just played the 11pm Last Chance, then went to bed after busting out. One of these nights, I will cash in these damn things! However, I love playing them as the entry fee is 200/25, but you can play a 50 satellite and get a ticket into the event, and those 50 satellites are EASY as hell as both 1st and 2nd get the slip.

Sunday: The Ladies $1K NLHE Event.

I had asked Bill earlier in the week if he would come out and watch me, sweat me a little and bring his cameras to take some pictures of me in play. I had been trying to get the WSOP staff photographers to get some decent pictures that I could purchase, but you've all seen the ones they've taken and I'm not about to shell out money for those icky things. I knew that the only way I could get GREAT pictures was to have Bill come take them. Not many know, but Bill went with me last year to the final day of the final table and took some awesome photos. There were so good, that Bluff Magazine published his work in their first issue. If you look in the credits, you'll see "Bill Peck of PecksWeb.com" for photos. I will post that link and the link to this weekends photos later.

So Bill arrived around 11:10am, I had failed to realize that the event started at 11, since all other events started at 12, so I just hung around the casino and waited for him, showing up 20 mins late for the tournament. Setting up a table image is key, right?? I love showing up late and it's the only thing I give credit to Phil Hellmuth for, although I don't know if I would be comfortable showing up an hour or more late. Thanks so much to Pauly for showing Bill around, letting him drop his photo equipment off at the press table, and even offering his press pass up to Bill, if needed. Bill did get chased out of the area a few times for not having a pass, but he has always had a knack for getting in and getting great pictures that no one else can. I am so looking forward to seeing the photos, and I can't wait to get the link. (Hurry up, honey!!)

You've all read my previous post on the actual event, so I'll leave it at that.

After the tourney, I sent Bill home and promised to be home that night. Since I was playing awesome poker and felt I was "in the zone" I played 3 satellites, and then promptly lost them all. I realized then, that I wasn't in the zone, I was still emotionally on tilt. So I went out to the casino, gambled for a few hours, then was planning on heading home when I decided to try "one more" satellite since I was feeling much better, emotionally.

I entered a $500/30 and proceeded to make a miraculous come back and chop 3 ways with 3rd getting 1K, I got $1800, and other guy got $2300 when his pair of 8's hit quads on the flop. It was a great tourney though, as our heads up play lasted LONGER then the actual tournament with 8 other players. I felt good, I was playing good again, and I got his respect. I don't remember his name, but he is a tournament regular, I had seen him before and now, because of him, I say "Alljin" instead of "All In". We had fun heads up, we played seriously but still joked around even after negotiations failed 4 times in the 1-2 hours of heads up play until I finally relented when the quads came. He gave me a huge bear hug, and we parted good friends.

I then headed home, arriving around 2:30 am and DAMN those long drives. All they do is give you time to think...and think...and I couldn't help but repeat the ladies event over and over in my head. It really hit me hard at around 5 am, sitting in front of my computer. I gave in and felt sorry for myself, then immediantly felt better. Humans need to release emotion, why keep it bottled inside to churn inside your stomach and cause ulcers? Anyways, I spoke with Felicia later today and she gave a great pep talk and told me something that Barry G. told her, which REALLY made me feel MUCH better, so Felicia, I thank you!

I am headed to Vegas tomorrow and will be taking my daughter with me to drop off at the airport. She is flying to Phoenix to stay with my sister for a week or so, but we're leaving early so that I can take her to RIO and show her "where mommy plays" and hopefully run into Chris F. as he is the only player that she truly would LOVE to meet in person. (Besides Toby McGuire, if you consider him a player, ha ha ha). Then, it's onto Razz on Wednesday. Thanks again to Russ G. of RGP for backing me in this event, I plan on doing him proud as he has already declared his intentions of backing me in other events if I cash.

Thanks for reading, and I will give Razz report upon return!!