World
Series of Poker T-2
I
think this is the start of a trip report,
although it could just be the insane ramblings
of a person with sleep deprivation, I
doubt you will see the difference.
Why
am I here?:
That
age old question, but in my case it's
because they are running my tournament
clock at WSOP so I am here for FIVE WEEKS!
aiyah! I drove last night, the winds were
so strong that soon after I got through
the Altamont Pass they closed it down
because the trucks were falling over.
In Las Vegas they recorded winds of 90
mph! It took me 8.5 hours from San Francisco,
just me and six gazillion trucks on the
road (with scary rest areas where thousands
of trucks congregated, it could have been
a Hitchcock sequel to "The Birds", although
I don't think "The Articulated Lorries"
has quite the same ring to it), arriving
at 4:15am, just 15 short minutes after
Binion's brings their computers down for
3 hours every night. I had my room confirmed,
but with no computer they didn't know
which room, and if I took another room
I'd have to move out at noon into my real
room, not a good idea given my zombie
like state. No options looked good, so
I somehow stayed awake until 7am, getting
a yummy 99 cent shrimp cocktail at Golden
Gate, then later on a ham steak and eggs
breakfast for $3.49, another good deal.
At 7am I checked in to Binion's with no
problems, then SLEPT until 3pm. I am on
one the top floors, it's a long drop.
I am living in a small room that probably
looked very nice 30 years ago, with a
loud Fremont Street Experience (FSE) going
on every night to add to the ambiance.
The TV has cable, 12 stations in all.
It's no Venetian, but it's OK.
The
Clock:
It's going to be on big screen TVs in
the main tourney area, plus another one
for the final table area, and maybe one
downstairs for the super-sats. I'm spending
the next couple of days working with the
techie guys to get it all set up, and
with Matt Savage, Steve Morrow and Dave
Lamb (the tournament directors) to get
the structures, payouts, and clock the
way they want it. So far so good. I may
even get to play in the employee event
if I get my pass in time.
Gossip!:
Being
in the tourney office I get to hear lots
of juicy gossip, maybe I'll auction off
some secrets on EBay, or maybe I won't
and just stay alive. One interesting issue
that is being discussed is how to handle
deals, this comes from the newsgroup discussion
on real versus official payouts, and from
something I had not heard before, a situation
in Costa Rica where a deal was made, then
the eventual winner refused to distribute
the first place money claiming he had
never signed anything! Should be interesting
to see if that has repercussions throughout
the tourney world.
The
Casino:
Is
hopping! There are tons of live games
going (I don't know which ones yet, too
sleepy to play), and the Super-Satellite
today had at least 4 tables (down to 3
when I got down there) with some big names
already here. I spotted Phil Ivey in the
super sat tonight. The main tourney area
is still being set up and is locked off
right now. The coffee shop is now back
downstairs where it used to be, the buffet
is now just the buffet. This is actually
a bit of a pain because last year the
coffee shop was sharing the buffet room
so was a much more convenient location
for the tourney. They have the same registration
process as last year, first stop should
be to get your card (upstairs, to the
right of the tourney room) as you need
the card to enter a tourney and to get
comps.
A
Tip:
I
have Pacbell DSL at home, they have 'local'
dial-up access included which includes
Reno, but not Vegas which is considered
a 'roaming' location, if I want to dial
out from Vegas it's 4 cents a minute,
not good. So I just signed up for Access4less.net,
I got to it via this:
https://www.ibilling.org/a4l/flspecial.htm
Which
gets me unlimited hours for $5.95 a month,
and with the URL above with no setup fee.
I signed up, got instant access, and am
using it right now. So far so good.
Paul
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