Yesterday I thought I'd ease myself gently into the swing of things by having a crack at the Orleans opening festival event, a $240 NLH, on my own dime, just to make sure I hadn't forgotten how you're supposed to play poker tournaments. I'm not a fan of the long drawn out tales of woe as many people know, so suffice to say that I hadn't forgotten how to play. People hadn't forgotten how to call in a bad spot, and the dealer had forgotten how to give me an Ace, a King, a Ten or a diamond when it really mattered. Good luck everybody, and out the door after getting through half the field, then playing a pot for all the marbles. Welcome to tournaments.
Today I was giving some very serious thought to playing 1B of my first Venetian event, a $400 with 4 day ones and a $200k guarantee. I may be busy on Saturday morning which is flight 1D so I thought about shifting my plans for maybe firing at 1b/1C. Then sitting in the tub at 10.30 am I had a revelation.
"Start doing sit-ups and stop eating at 3am if you actually want your love handles to vanish".
After that handy thought, I also mused that maybe not firing a potential 2 bullets in the very first event, or even having the mindset to do that, was such a smart move. 7 weeks is a long time here, and there's certainly no shortage of things to play in the upcoming weeks. I'd already made peace with myself and shareholders, and expressed that if I need a re-entry in something I might take it, and I'm still OK with that. I just think that going into event one with that thought might be a bit flawed. If I have (approximately) $9k to spend on non-series events, then maybe $800 of it on the first outing isn't so smart. Also if I'm going to re-enter, it might be much better served in say, the $565 Colussus with a $5m guarantee, or maybe in the PH series, where the prize pools will be huge. So I sacked off today, decided to do some errands, and get myself ready for 1C tomorrow instead. What happens will happen but I'm OK with the gameplan.
Part of the errands was to rid myself of $3565 at the Rio buying in for the first 3 WSOP events in my schedule, and $400 for tomorrow's Venetian tournament. I've plenty of safe places for the loot, and I have no qualms at all about my own willpower if I just happen to be walking around Sin City with $5k in my pocket, but from a practical viewpoint, buying in early for these events simply makes more sense. No long-assed lines to stand in on the day or the night before, (also far less poker stories to have to listen to in the aforementioned line), one less job to do when I might be pushed for time at a later date, and the buy-in money now being safer than safe, in the form of a receipt. Obviously sometimes schedules can change, but to me this always is the smarter move. Buy in. Turn up the next day or whenever, and play. Simple.
The Rio was eerily quiet, since they haven't even set up any tables or the tournament registration cage yet. In a weeks time this place will be rammed to capacity with the great unwashed, and the halls will be ringing with the sounds of how unlucky someone was in a pot. However for now at least, it was a quick chat with Jack Effel, the WSOP TD, then over to the main cage, and hand over a chunk of money to secure my seats. Who says I'm no good at admin?
My guys at the rental car office are always really good to me, but when I rolled up the other day upon arrival, they gave me the Buick you see above due to stock limitations. It was fine to drive, and was still a far cry from the sewing machine I was actually supposed to be driving, but I had far greater aspirations, so I popped back to see them today for a chat. They responded accordingly...
I've always been a creature of habit and driven a Ford Mustang when I'm in LV. The convertible aspect is always nice in a car, but is often a bit redundant during the day, when you can pretty much boil away into nothingness in the desert heat without the relief of air-con and having the roof up. On downcast days however or a bit later in the evening, it's very nice indeed to have the top down, especially if like me you tend to go out for long drives into the desert, to contemplate your life, the future, or maybe why somebody couldn't fold J8 for their tournament life, thus ending yours in the process. My rental guys all know me pretty well, and so seeing me as being one of the nicer (blush) non-Americans that they encounter, they always try to look after me when possible. I was offered the alternative choice of a Chevy Camaro this time, and in the spirit of being a bit more flexible in life I thought I'd give it a spin, literally. It's certainly pretty enough to look at, is ffun to drive, and I rarely need more than 2 seats whenever I'm here, so I'll smoke it around and see how it goes for a few days.
I did the rounds and went to the Venetian and the Wynn, caught up with some old friends and made a few new ones. Secured my buy-in at the V for tomorrow's $400 event, and then headed back home to update the site and catch up on other bits and bobs that were outstanding.
Tonight I'm headed off to Yard House in Town Square. Meeting up with a very good pal for dinner at a classic American bar/restaurant. This trip is work for me sure, but a big part of it is also doing nice stuff, seeing my friends and getting my head right before I suit up tomorrow for hopefully 12 hours or more of atricion. I think pacing myself on this trip is of the utmost importance, and in the past I've let my Las Vegas friends down by just being full on with the poker(sometimes understandably, and they never make it an issue), and spent less time hanging with good people whose company I greatly enjoy. This I think is just what's needed for me right now, since although I've got friends here, it's also very easy to feel completely alone and get low. I'll just be sure to go easy on the cocktails. Next update will be the Venetian $400 tomorrow.
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