WSOP
2003 Day 20 & 21
I Never Promised You A Rose Garden
Yesterday
was the seniors (50+) $1,000 No Limit,
this is the one where they have ten minute
rounds with 60 minute nap breaks. I didn't
play, one because I've been telling everyone
I won't be eligible for another 11 years,
and two because I had an invite to the
hottest ticket in town. I was invited
to the garden party, apparently held every
year for the last few years at the home
of Maureen and Bob, two of the nicest
people in poker and out of poker. The
house is a mansion, with one huge separate
area of the already huge garden dedicated
to an incredible rose garden (Maureen's
English, used to live only a few miles
from me in England, English people like
roses, I think it's a gene thing, along
with bangers, warm beer and pot limit).
With a great band playing all day, fantastic
food, flowing wine (way too much flowing
wine in my case), perfect weather, superb
hosts, and a whole bunch of interesting
people made this one of the nicest days
I can remember. One very entertaining
guy I met is a vet to the stars, he gets
to clean tiger teeth (still attached to
the tigers), operates on fish! (he should
pop down to Binion's, he'd be working
all month), and has an upcoming Animal
Planet show. All the who's who of poker
were there, but thankfully poker wasn't
the main topic of conversation, well it
might have been, my recollections of the
day are somewhat foggy.
Some
of us later met up at the coffee shop,
then I dived into a late night $175 satellite
($1,600 prize). We usually get 600 chips
for this, tonight we got 1,000. I thought
I'd lucked into a colorblind dealer, but
it turns out they have a graveyard special
where they give extra chips, still starting
with a 10-15 blind, so the amount of play
is tremendous. This allowed me to get
maximum value before busting out.
The $50 sats to the super sats are still
going strong. Two seats given away, you
have to play in that day's super, so if
it ends before 4 p.m.. you have to play
in the 4 p.m. one, then they run more
until it would be too late to get into
the 8:45 one (if it runs over they let
you play the next day). These sats are
away from the main satellite area, over
by the deli. I haven't played one yet,
maybe tomorrow I'll plonk down $50 and
brisket.
Today I picked up my best friend from
the airport, he's in town for a couple
of days and will be winning the 1.5K No
Limit tomorrow. I've had 4 hours sleep
and have to do some work now, then a nap
so we can go party tonight, it's a hard
life.
Paul Westley
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