I'm Outtie

Well, Carl busted out of the tournament early yesterday so I'm going to be driving back to Carlsbad tonight. I've had a lot of fun during this trip to Vegas and I only lost a little bit of money. My poker game needs a ton of work and I'll be practicing a lot over the next couple of weeks.

I forgot to give an important shoutout last time. The Grossmont Griffins, my roommate's brother Matt's team, won the California State Title and were named JuCo National Champs. Matt's ordering a t-shirt for me and he's really excited about winning the championship. I think it's pretty damn cool.

On Monday, I got a late start but got to the Bellagio in time to watch Carl play in the main event for a while. They ended play at 9 PM so Carl, John and I went to the Bellagio Cafe for some dinner. The food was really good but the service was atrocious. If you ever eat at the Bellagio Cafe and get server by a gay 50 year-old, ask for a table change. It was really, really bad and we left a really small tip. I'm a huge tipper 99% of the time but I feel like a tip should mean something and I refuse to leae a big tip for poor service. I'm a 20-25% type guy for average-good service and a <10% guy if I get totally ignored during my meal. Oh well, the New York Strip was good, as were the green beans and mashed potatoes. Afterwards, we went to the Bellagio Sports Bar and had a few drinks, talking about poker and sports and poker. It was good to chill with Carl because I never seem to be able to meet up with him when I travel to Seattle. I think it's because I secretly hate him for his poker success but don't tell him that. After Carl left I played a little $30/60 but left around 1:30 AM, calling it an early night.

The next day I got a voicemail from Carl at 12:45, saying that he was out of the tournament. That's always bad news but I was able to chill at Christy's mom's house for a longer time and did't really get rolling until 5 PM when I went to the airport to pick up Steve and Sarah. I dropped them off at the Mandalay Bay and headed to the Bellagio to check out the tournament action. I ran into Noah who was sweating his friend, Patrik Antonius. He had one of the sickest piles of chips I've ever seen and was in total control. He's won millions of dollars over the last few years playing $200/400 heads up no-limit and has exploded onto the tournament scene this year, winning an EPT event in Austria, winning the Scandanavian Poker Championships, and finishing 3rd in another EPT event in Barcelona. He also models in Scandanavia in his free time. Yeah, it's good to be Patrik Antonius. He's still in the top 5 in chips and I'd like to see a Doyle Brunson-Patrik Antonius head-up match with deep stacks.

Steve and Sarah called me around 9 PM and we headed to the same Soprts Bar that I was at the night before. We hung out with Jen Leo and Steve Caldwell for a while before Jen hit the wall of drunkenness and had to call it a night. Steve, Sarah and I headed to the Casino Royale for some $2 craps with Pauly and ended up going on a good run. Steve was the hottest shooter and ended up getting everyone unstuck. He was betting more than the rest of us so he ended up winning $500 while I won $275. Not too shabby, especially when I consider playing craps flushing $100 down the drain in the name of degeneracy. THe Casino Royale is ridiculously ghetto and the drinks were awful. Steve ordered a Corona and was told that they only had Bud Light and Killians and when they brought his Killians, it was in a 10 ounce cocktail class. GHETTO! It was fun seeing Pauly and Derek and their friend, Spaceman, I don't even know his real name but he seemed to know a lot about Craps. He bet on the Don't Pass line twice, after people threw the dice over the rail, and was right both times. We quit around 1:30 AM and headed out to the stip to look for a decent meal. We found a cafe open at the Flamingo and it looked ok. Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving and the food was absolutely horrendous. If you're ever in the area late at night, please take the time to cross the street and head to the Bellagio Cafe. It's not much more expensive and the food is waaaaay better. Just make sure you don't get served by a gay 50 year-old man.

Seve and Sarah went to bed after our dinner/breakfast but I headed to the Wynn to play $10/20 mixed with Carl and our friend from 2+2, Bugstud. I ran well and played like a donkey and ended up winning $630 for the night. Including the craps, I was up $900 for the night, always a fun result. Carl and I ended up leaving at 5:30 in the morning and I didn't get back to Christy's mom's until 6. At noon, I was supposed to go check out the house that we're staying at during the World Series but I oviously slept through that one. Steve called me later and said that it was pretty cool but a little outdated. It should be fun living in an 80's mansion for a month and I can't wait. There are 6 rooms in the house and Carl, Steve and a bunch of other really good poker players will be staying there during the World Series. It should be a good environment for us to be in and will definitely be +EV. It will be awesome to hae good players to talk things over with and discuss strategies. I'm really looking forward to it.

I guess that catches you up to what I'm doing now, sitting in the living room in my boxers typing on my laptop. I'm going to get out of here soon and see if Carl wants to have dinner before I drive back home. I'm flying up to Seattle in 2 days and I can't wait. Friday night it's PAAAAAARTAY TIME. You'll probably want to hide the children again.