Now that I’ve got a little more time, I’ll fill you in on a few more poker-related stories from the trip.
Satellites
The night before the 3rd tourney, Robyn and I each played 2 $75 buy-in satellites into the $560 events. We each lost our first one, and each won our second one. Robyn won hers outright, whereas I chopped mine 50/50 with the 2nd place player. When we got to heads up, there were 10,000 chips on the table. I had 5050, he had 4950. So, chopping seemed like the right thing to do.
With 4 of us left, there was a key hand that made it so I only had 1/2 the chips, and it typifies some of the crazy play we saw while we were there. I’m table chip leader, with a little over 1/3 of the chips in play. The blinds are not yet outrageous, and the UTG player raises 3x the BB. The button folds, and the small blind calls. I have A9s, and I decide to put some pressure on, so I move all in. The UTG player pretty quickly says “well, I think I have to call here”, so he’s all in. The small blind thinks for a little while and says “I guess I’ll gamble at this late hour. I call” before turning over 67s. It turns out UTG had AQo. The small blind made a straight, and I paired my 9, knocking out the UTG player and leaving me a little short. Thankfully, mister 67 continued to play in that style, and it didn’t take long for the other guy and me to pick him apart. But, if he hadn’t called there, I would have taken out UTG and been too healthy to honor the chop request. (I’m confident in my heads up play. I would have played it out.)
Management and BBQ
The management of this tourney was excellent. The structure was chosen by Harrah’s Atlantic City Poker Room Manager, John Arthur. It was very player friendly, giving plenty of time to maneuver. I watched John make several decisions, and wasn’t disappointed with any of them. He also ended up comping our rooms for 4 nights after chatting with him over the difference between the “poker rate” and the rate Robyn and I were each quoted for rooms, so for that, we are grateful.
Overall Director of Poker Operations for Harrah’s, Jack Effel, was in attendance as well. Jack was very friendly and handled all kinds of situations with a very cool head. He was always nice, and never leveled blame at a dealer for something gone wrong at a table.
It turns out Jack is from Dallas, having moved away from here 10 years ago. He recommended the world’s best BBQ restaurant to me, and I promised to bring him some to the main WSOP in July, but after a Google search, it looks like they’re no longer in business.
Brush with Greatness
On our 4th day in town, Robyn and I were both pretty deep into our bankrolls, and we were looking for a non-gambling-related distraction. My vote was to find some internet access so I could shop for Christmas presents (amazon.com, of course), and she opted for some nearby brick-and-mortar shopping. She went to the concierge desk to get information on shopping, and was waiting in line behind a man that was taking a while. Ever the friendly smartass, she says to his turned back “Are you hogging the concierge?” The man turns around, smiles, and says “yes I am.”
It was Phil Gordon, in early so he could give a seminar before the main event. He was very friendly and accepted her stunned gushing praise for his books very graciously. I had just bought his Little Blue Book the day before (while we were out at lunch), and she asked if he’d sign it for me if we bumped into him again. He agreed. Unfortunately, we never saw him again. I assume he spent his time at the Borgata where the real cash games are, and we (finally!) left before his seminar. At least Robyn got to chat with one of our mutual heros. I pretty much missed the whole thing.
