WSOP Update #4 -- Saturday morning (a day of rest)
WSOP Update Number 4 – Saturday morning
I have having the standard “Sleeping in Las Vegas†problem. I went to bed last night at about 1:00 AM. I woke up, dark room, some light peeking through the curtains. And, I played “Guess what time it is?†I figured 9:00 AM. Nope. It’s 7. Dang. This might become a problem. But, I usually operate on about 6 hours of sleep so it’s not critical. Yet.
After getting up I went for a 30 minute run in the Rio Spa. And, had a one hour “deep tissue†massage with Dan. Thanks Dan, great job. I am definitely feeling ready to go for tomorrow. After, of course, another relaxing day today.
What follows are some random observations, mostly about the tournament and my day of rest yesterday.
Where’s the beaver!
After my day one I went and had a beer with Lou Gazzola. Lou and I were witness to the most impressive display of butt crack that I have ever laid eyes on. You will see the odd quarter slot peaking out of a persons pants now and again, especially with low rise being “in.†But, there was a woman seated beside us at the bar who had so much crack showing I would have put a $1 bill in the slot… vertically. It was… well, I don’t know what it was other than memorable. At 4:30 AM I finally get to bed. I wake up at 9 AM. I am fuzzy headed, I am dopey, through the fog comes this slow worry, “Did I leave my beaver at the bar?†The moment the thought occurs to me I leap out of bed and run to my jacket to find the beaver. He is there. He is safe. But, now I can’t get back to sleep.
The $100 Tip
The first $100 tip of the trip has been handed out. Sitting at the bar after the tournament Lou calls to the bartender: “Hey, buddy.†Adrian the bartender saunters over, looks at Lou, and says, “My name is not buddy. It’s pal.†I thought it was funny. He got a $100 tip. Then, I left $95 in credits in the video poker game when I left. Sigh.
Never all in
So far, so good. I was never all in on day one. Close a couple of times. But, never all in.
Spot the Uber Nerd
Bob took me to Fry’s. It is… well… breathtaking. Talk about your uber-nerd stores. Everything electronic you can imagine. It’s like Future Shop, Staples, and Chapters and double the size and under one roof. It’s a electronics Xanadu. Bob bought a notebook for his daughter. I couldn’t leave this heaven-on-earth without buying something. And, since I was away from the adult supervision of my wife, I bought a label maker. I have always wanted a label maker so that I can, you know, label things. But, it always felt like a ridiculous purchase. Until Fry’s that is. I saved $10 buying a factory-reconditioned model.
Bob has an EXCELLENT technique when shopping for things in stores in which there are lots of sales people who are, obviously, on commission. He uses a technique I call “Sales Staff Shopping.†Our first sales person was showing me little digital camcorders. When I would ask “What is the difference between X and Y†he would read the card. Translation, he doesn’t have any idea what the difference it. All he knows is which one has the biggest commission. Discard sales staff number one. Sales staff number two is showing Bob the laptops. He keeps steering Bob away from the ones that had red tags. That’s bad. And he often says things like “Yeah, these batteries are pretty good.†Discard sales staff number two. Then, luck delivered us Luke. Like is not a sales guy. Luke is a computer nerd who got into Fry’s so that he could hang around computers, not so that he could sell them. At least, that’s the feeling Luke gave us. We like Luke. Luke is very helpful. He, unwittingly, up sells Bob on a machine that’s $1000 more than he wanted to spend, but we like Luke. And, he sells me speakers for my iPod mini. We like Luke. Thanks, Luke.
Dine and dash
I have a fear. On the night of my arrival I had a glass of beer at the bar in the seafood restaurant at the Rio. Then, I dined and dashed. I didn’t pay. Now my fear is that I will be handcuffed when I make the final table and dragged away. So, I am going to go there today and try and settle up. It’s really bugging me. They have probably written it off long ago, but you never know.
There is a heartbeat
It’s hard to explain the heart beat of a poker game, but there is one. There is a rhythm. Perhaps, because I play a lot of hands, I tend to cause the rhythm. What I mean is that players, many anyway, sort of reach a boiling point. You poke them and poke them and poke them and, eventually, they bust out of their shell and do something out of character. Sometimes, if I am playing well, I have a good sense of this rhythm. And, it’s important to keep abreast of it since there are times when you WANT to take a player out of his zone and there are other times when you want to leave him there. If you have a very tight rock who will give you his blinds a lot, then every now and then you have to let him up for air. Otherwise, he will eventually snap and play back at you. Your pleasant little chip farm will evaporate. On the other hand, sometimes you can set the trap by pushing him out of his zone when you have a hand. This is “sort of†what happened yesterday when I called almost all my chips with 6-6. I figured he was out of his zone. 6-6 was a marginal call in this spot to be sure, but I thought that the rhythm of the game was such that I had to call.
Dinner
Lou and I had dinner at the Italian restaurant in New York New York yesterday (great meal) and then just walked the strip. It was fun for me because even though I have been to Vegas 10 times, I have absolutely no picture of the layout. It’s just a big place with various casinos connected by taxis. Lou almost got us killed jay walking Las Vegas Blvrd (12 lanes) so we could see the Belagio water show. He won the toss for supper. I won the toss for giant souvenir cups at Caesar’s Palace.
Free shot of testosterone
Vegas makes young males feel like a million bucks. Next time you are here, watch for the “pack of males†phenomenon: Young males, puffed out chests, a lot of back slapping, manly hand shaking, and cigars.
I have having the standard “Sleeping in Las Vegas†problem. I went to bed last night at about 1:00 AM. I woke up, dark room, some light peeking through the curtains. And, I played “Guess what time it is?†I figured 9:00 AM. Nope. It’s 7. Dang. This might become a problem. But, I usually operate on about 6 hours of sleep so it’s not critical. Yet.
After getting up I went for a 30 minute run in the Rio Spa. And, had a one hour “deep tissue†massage with Dan. Thanks Dan, great job. I am definitely feeling ready to go for tomorrow. After, of course, another relaxing day today.
What follows are some random observations, mostly about the tournament and my day of rest yesterday.
Where’s the beaver!
After my day one I went and had a beer with Lou Gazzola. Lou and I were witness to the most impressive display of butt crack that I have ever laid eyes on. You will see the odd quarter slot peaking out of a persons pants now and again, especially with low rise being “in.†But, there was a woman seated beside us at the bar who had so much crack showing I would have put a $1 bill in the slot… vertically. It was… well, I don’t know what it was other than memorable. At 4:30 AM I finally get to bed. I wake up at 9 AM. I am fuzzy headed, I am dopey, through the fog comes this slow worry, “Did I leave my beaver at the bar?†The moment the thought occurs to me I leap out of bed and run to my jacket to find the beaver. He is there. He is safe. But, now I can’t get back to sleep.
The $100 Tip
The first $100 tip of the trip has been handed out. Sitting at the bar after the tournament Lou calls to the bartender: “Hey, buddy.†Adrian the bartender saunters over, looks at Lou, and says, “My name is not buddy. It’s pal.†I thought it was funny. He got a $100 tip. Then, I left $95 in credits in the video poker game when I left. Sigh.
Never all in
So far, so good. I was never all in on day one. Close a couple of times. But, never all in.
Spot the Uber Nerd
Bob took me to Fry’s. It is… well… breathtaking. Talk about your uber-nerd stores. Everything electronic you can imagine. It’s like Future Shop, Staples, and Chapters and double the size and under one roof. It’s a electronics Xanadu. Bob bought a notebook for his daughter. I couldn’t leave this heaven-on-earth without buying something. And, since I was away from the adult supervision of my wife, I bought a label maker. I have always wanted a label maker so that I can, you know, label things. But, it always felt like a ridiculous purchase. Until Fry’s that is. I saved $10 buying a factory-reconditioned model.
Bob has an EXCELLENT technique when shopping for things in stores in which there are lots of sales people who are, obviously, on commission. He uses a technique I call “Sales Staff Shopping.†Our first sales person was showing me little digital camcorders. When I would ask “What is the difference between X and Y†he would read the card. Translation, he doesn’t have any idea what the difference it. All he knows is which one has the biggest commission. Discard sales staff number one. Sales staff number two is showing Bob the laptops. He keeps steering Bob away from the ones that had red tags. That’s bad. And he often says things like “Yeah, these batteries are pretty good.†Discard sales staff number two. Then, luck delivered us Luke. Like is not a sales guy. Luke is a computer nerd who got into Fry’s so that he could hang around computers, not so that he could sell them. At least, that’s the feeling Luke gave us. We like Luke. Luke is very helpful. He, unwittingly, up sells Bob on a machine that’s $1000 more than he wanted to spend, but we like Luke. And, he sells me speakers for my iPod mini. We like Luke. Thanks, Luke.
Dine and dash
I have a fear. On the night of my arrival I had a glass of beer at the bar in the seafood restaurant at the Rio. Then, I dined and dashed. I didn’t pay. Now my fear is that I will be handcuffed when I make the final table and dragged away. So, I am going to go there today and try and settle up. It’s really bugging me. They have probably written it off long ago, but you never know.
There is a heartbeat
It’s hard to explain the heart beat of a poker game, but there is one. There is a rhythm. Perhaps, because I play a lot of hands, I tend to cause the rhythm. What I mean is that players, many anyway, sort of reach a boiling point. You poke them and poke them and poke them and, eventually, they bust out of their shell and do something out of character. Sometimes, if I am playing well, I have a good sense of this rhythm. And, it’s important to keep abreast of it since there are times when you WANT to take a player out of his zone and there are other times when you want to leave him there. If you have a very tight rock who will give you his blinds a lot, then every now and then you have to let him up for air. Otherwise, he will eventually snap and play back at you. Your pleasant little chip farm will evaporate. On the other hand, sometimes you can set the trap by pushing him out of his zone when you have a hand. This is “sort of†what happened yesterday when I called almost all my chips with 6-6. I figured he was out of his zone. 6-6 was a marginal call in this spot to be sure, but I thought that the rhythm of the game was such that I had to call.
Dinner
Lou and I had dinner at the Italian restaurant in New York New York yesterday (great meal) and then just walked the strip. It was fun for me because even though I have been to Vegas 10 times, I have absolutely no picture of the layout. It’s just a big place with various casinos connected by taxis. Lou almost got us killed jay walking Las Vegas Blvrd (12 lanes) so we could see the Belagio water show. He won the toss for supper. I won the toss for giant souvenir cups at Caesar’s Palace.
Free shot of testosterone
Vegas makes young males feel like a million bucks. Next time you are here, watch for the “pack of males†phenomenon: Young males, puffed out chests, a lot of back slapping, manly hand shaking, and cigars.
Comments
I must say, you shouldn't be going back for fear of being caught. Its the waitress who served you that ends up paying your bill.