The best seat in the house is the view from the couch

2008 WSoP Post 1 - So far so good…

It’s amazing – three years ago, I was so much more anxious and less confident about playing in a World Series of Poker event than I am today. Back in 2005, I couldn’t sleep consistently the night before I was scheduled to play, grabbing short 30 minute naps throughout the night. I doubt that was what doomed me to a 9-hour stay in a 10-day tournament, but I’m sure it didn’t help.

Last night, after passing out at about 9:30 local time here in Vegas (though I’d been up since 4am EST), I didn’t really wake up until about 7am this morning, and even then I was able to roll over and pass out again for another couple hours. This is a good sign – I’m relaxed. I’m ready. And I’m confident as all hell.

Which means I’ll probably last 10 hours this time. J

A couple of quick thoughts from my first day/night in Vegas this time around:

- Stupid me… I scheduled a nice 8am non-stop flight from Boston to Vegas thinking I’d be able to get a four or five hour nap on the flight, plus it wasn’t all that expensive. Then I got to Logan International Airport early enough to catch a 7am direct flight (for the low low fee of $25) and decided to grab it. Naturally, we hit more turbulence than I’ve ever hit on my way into Vegas, and I slept for about 30 minutes. Nice.

- I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing when, at 9pm last night a carful of elderly British tourists stopped in a parking lot I was walking through asking for directions to the “Tuscany Suites” – an off-strip hotel – and I was able to direct them there with no problems. I can’t direct people around the City of Boston without using T-stops, and even then I’m spotty at best. But Las Vegas? Pfff…kid stuff.

- Not surprisingly, there aren’t many (if any) of the “recognizable” pros walking around the Strip yet. I’m sure there will be some in my field later today, since last year a pro won this event (Hoyt Corkins, winning his first WSoP bracelet), but most of them aren’t going to show up until the Main Event on July 3, or else they’re only playing in the $5000+ events throughout the entire World Series.

- Tiger Woods is ridiculous. The putt on the 18^th (72^nd) hole of the US Open yesterday looked like it had absolutely no chance to drop… until it dropped to force today’s playoff. Rocco Mediate was a +300 to Tiger’s -380 on the board last night… I almost talked myself into a bet on Rocco. Almost.

- The Celtics had absolutely no business being as close as they were throughout last night’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Which makes me pretty confident that they’re not losing a game at home, and the NBA Season should be over on Tuesday night. Also, I’ve said it plenty of times, but the WEEI Webstream is a Godsend when travelling.

- Watched the game from the MGM poker room/sports book last night. Pretty interesting – every basket, every foul, pretty much every play drew a huge response from about ½ of the crowd, either way. With LA just four hours West of here there were decidedly more Lakers fans than Celtics, but the Boston fans were just a bit louder. Shockingly.

- I’ve done a great job of staying away from all non-poker-related activities so far (i.e. I’m not wasting time at a blackjack or craps table). Although I did manage to talk myself into sitting at a 2-4 limit game last night at the MGM, justifying it by the fact that there was a big-screen plasma directly in front of me, and it was a pretty cheap table with open seating as opposed to waiting in line. Meh. Nothing major to report.

Finally, here’s my strategy for today’s event (Event #31): Be patient, stay focused, play my cards, and trust my instincts. I’ll report back tomorrow on my progress.

Lata.

Labels: Gambling, Las Vegas, poker, World Series, WSOP

posted by Big D @ 12:25 PM