WSOP
2004
T10-T15: Just How Long Is "The Long
Run"?
If
satellites were a WSOP event I'd have
a bracelet by now. In satellites I can
do no wrong, of my last four I chopped
three 50-50; that doesn't say much for
my confidence in my heads up play, but
I prefer that rather than risking it all.
I also played a couple of the evening
events, out early both times, once with
KK vs AJ, the other with AQ Vs 86.
And
then there was the $50 satellite to get
into a super, out first hand with AA.
And then there was the 2K Limit Holdem,
it started off so promisingly with my
having built up to 3,000 chips after about
thirty minutes, then my recurring nightmare
ended all of that when I got KK four times,
count 'em, in under two hours, one of
them held up. In No Limit I would have
been OK, but in the early rounds of Limit
it's not so easy to get players to lay
down bad hands.
It wasn't any better for my friend Diego
today either, I sweated him at the final
table of the Limit Holdem, he may well
pay me next time to just stay far away;
he was out in no time flat when every
one of his big hands ran into bigger hands,
and to cap it off for his final hand he
flopped a straight against a set, and
the runner runner pair ended it.
If
there's a moral in any of this, I guess
it's that all you can do is play the best
you can, knowing that in the long run
you should come out ahead. My fear is
that the long run is 50 years.
The
buffet continues to be pretty decent,
not Bellagio decent, but good enough,
and the service is very good to excellent.
The coffee shop continues to consistently
have very good food, service from mediocre
to excellent, but the wait to get the
meal from the kitchen can sometimes be
very long, maybe they don't even have
a kitchen and are ordering take-out from
some other place.
The
other night a bunch of us had a very fun
time at an English pub, The Crown and
Anchor, on Tropicana at Maryland. Good
food, good beer, and a Liar's Poker competition
that proved I'm not a very good liar.
For some reason we ended up eating again
later at the Upper Deck at Las Vegas Club,
a late night steak and eggs special for
about $3 was confirmation that downtown
isn't without its pluses.
My
new home away from home when I'm not playing
poker is at The California across the
street from the Horseshoe, I go there
mainly because it is one of the very last
casinos in town to have full pay deuces
video poker. I don't know why it's called
the California, there's no room for Californians,
it's completely filled with Hawaiians.
When I enter I am immediately escorted
by security over to the Haole section.
This
weekend I'm playing the PartyPoker semi
finals for the cruise, then on Monday
it's the 2K Pot Limit Holdem, Tuesday
is bad beat story day.
Paul Westley
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