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August 3, 2006
WSOP Days Off
It's just occurred to me that I haven't blogged about most of my non-poker adventures yet on this trip. So here's what's been going on.
For one I seem to be pretty good at credit card roulette. I lost the first time and it cost me $30, but I've won every time since and it's saved me hundreds. It's actually a profitable game for me, as I have a tendency to just have the waiter put the bottle of wine on my bill and with credit card roulette it's effectively evenly split amongst everyone at the table.
On the day I landed in Vegas, which I think was July 26th (I've lost track of time), I hopped off the plane, grabbed my rental car (free upgrade to a convertible, first good beat of the trip), and went straight over to Caesars where Richard had had my name added to the guest list for the Full Tilt party. He had left by the time I had gotten there. It was loud and though I ran into a few people I knew (I can't walk ten feet in any gathering of poker players without that) none of my good friends were there. I did bump into Daniel Negreanu and bitched to him about his people spamming me. He seemed annoyed that I was bothering him at a club about it, so I figure I'll do it five times a day for the next two months and we'll be even.
After that I called up Matros and we decided to check out VooDoo Louge over at the Rio. Unfortunately it was closed so instead we just went back to his room and read passages from a god awful book out loud and laughed ourselves silly. You'd really have to read this thing to understand just how bad it is.
The next day started with a party in the Full Tilt suite by the poker room. It was for everyone who had qualified on Full Tilt, but Richard told the bouncers I was a "world famous poker author and good friend of Full Tilt," and to let me in at any time. I think he had to tell them that 3 more times before it stuck, and some of them still give me crap when I go into the back room (they're just employees of some third party company who don't know about my world-famousness so I don't get too angry with them) but I think they know me now.
At the party the pros gave all the qualifiers some advice that we found particularly amusing. I believe Howard Lederer's exact quote was "Ace-King is almost muckable under the gun," with which Gavin Smith wholeheartedly agreed. I don't know how Howard plays, but for me "almost muckable" in early position is something more like 8-7 suited, and I do know how Gavin plays and for him it's more like 8-4 suited. I realize they both knew better and were really just trying to get all of the random Full Tilt qualifiers to play tight, but the quote just cracks me up.
He also gave them some great advice, such as stay up late to ensure you don't wake up until 11 a.m., only focus on your table, pretend it's just a cash game, etc. Stuff that really makes a difference and that most of those people probably wouldn't know. So as long as they didn't start folding A-K too liberally I think the advice was probably of great help to many.
After that was the World Series of Barbecue, the annual bash thrown by Howard Lederer and Steve Zolotow. I rode with Richard, Matt Matros, and Clonie Gowen. This year they moved it from Z's house to a Greek restaurant due to the heat, and from what I hear it was more fun last year. The only bracelet this year was a karaoke one, for which Matros was in contention (remind me after the WSOP to post the video of him singing on YouTube). Someone got a slightly higher score than him and we were all getting bored (I was debating doing something like "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" but decided that would take more alcohol than I was willing to imbibe the day before I had to play) so we left, only to find out later that there was a playoff at the end for which Matros would have qualified.
We went back to Rio where one of the poker sites was having some sort of party. I don't remember which site, but it was actually fun. Matt and I pretty much mingled with the degenerates and the employees for a couple hours. Then I went to bed early and woke up ready for day 1.
I played out that day and went back to the house, where I helped convince my friend Andy to buy in. He's been beating the $10/$20 NL games on Party for a good rate over a good period of time, so he's bankrolled to where he can afford it and has enough skill to have a tremendous edge in the field. Anyone who is a winning player and can afford to buy into this event but doesn't is insane. I bought a little chunk of him and he ended up being an alternate on day 4. He's still in with I think 57k in chips.
The next day I met up with a long time reader, Joe L. (I think he's commented under the handle "craniac" on here) at Jet, a club at the Mirage. It was a little too clubby for me, and I was still fatigued from the previous day, but it was fun meeting Joe, his friend Matt, and Matt's girlfriend Rose.
The next day I got a room over at the Rio, since I want to be able to sleep in later. I wish I could find out in advance exactly how long the days are going to be so I could time my sleep schedule perfectly, but as it is I think I'm going to get up at 10:30 tomorrow, which will have me going to bed some time around 2. I woke up at 11 again on day 2 and still felt a little groggy in the beginning, and given how short the day was I could easily have gotten away with waking up at 10.
The night before day 2 I spent the evening with Richard, Michael Craig (author of "The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King"), and one of Michael's friends on the balcony of Richard's Palazzo Suite. He has a room that most people would normally only see on the Travel Channel or some program with Robin Leech in it. It's far nicer than the million dollar condos I've seen on The Strip and I think he said that, for those of us who don't gamble much, it could be rented for $3,000 a night. I wonder if there is a poker rate.
Other than that the time has just been spent relaxing with friends, eating, talking to the dozens of people I know in the poker room, and the like. The trip has been a blast and even if I go busto in round one tomorrow I'll be thankful for the experience. I haven't been bored for one minute the entire time I've been here (I've always said that if you can't be happy in Vegas you might as well just commit suicide) and I've gotten a much needed boost of confidence. Hopefully I'll get a boost of bankroll too.
Today I'm just taking it easy. I'm going out of my way to avoid any sort of poker. I'll be catching up on TV shows I've missed since I've been away and watching some Family Guy DVDs. I might go down to Fashion Show Mall and walk around a bit just for exercise. Maybe I'll even do a little shopping. I might do dinner with a few friends, but other than that I think I'm just going to have a low key evening by myself.
I feel pretty good about tomorrow. It sucks that I landed at a table with two people who have bigger stacks than me. I'm 32nd in chips and there are almost 120 tables, so I'm a huge favorite to be the chip lead at a random table draw. And both of those players I hear are fairly aggressive.
But oh well, I'm not too worried about it. I'll probably have to play tighter on day 3 than I did previously, but I can do that. I still feel great and will be playing better than any of my opponents could ever even dream of. I'm in great shape and will come out of day 3 in even better position. Wish me luck.
Posted by themaroon at August 3, 2006 9:10 PM
Comments
good luck tomorrow. Hopefully your table will break earlier or you will get moved.
Posted by: Brandon at August 3, 2006 9:33 PM
"I feel pretty good about tomorrow. It sucks that I landed at a table with two people who have bigger stacks than me. I'm 32nd in chips and there are almost 120 tables, so I'm a huge favorite to be the chip lead at a random table draw."
The actual count is 116 tables remaining, so you're 32nd out of 1,159 players.
I crunched some numbers in Excel. Your table has the third-largest average starting stack with $122,300. Your table trails only:
--Table 135 (Average $129,760), headed by 3rd-place John Lave ($405,400) and featuring the ridiculously good Allen Cunningham ($172,900).
--Table 11 (Average $129,310), headed by Daniel Negreanu's 6th-place stack of $331,000.
The average stack is $76,008, giving you more than 2.5 times the average stack. You are in better shape when we look at the median stack (half above, half below), which is $64,100, giving you in excess of three times the median stack.
Looking forward to crunching more numbers Saturday morning as we track your progress. Give 'em hell tomorrow, Matt.
Posted by: fun160 at August 4, 2006 12:20 AM
I assume that I am not the only regular reader living vicariously through your posts and kicking myself for not buying shares of your action.
Enjoy the ride. And thanks for taking us along.
Posted by: unkletony at August 4, 2006 4:15 AM
"read passages from a god awful book out loud and laughed ourselves silly. You'd really have to read this thing to understand just how bad it is." Let me guess...it was your book??
Posted by: Matt at August 4, 2006 9:24 AM
"I assume that I am not the only regular reader living vicariously through your posts and kicking myself for not buying shares of your action."
Don't get me started! When Matt made the offer my entire bankroll was still in Eurobet limbo.
Posted by: fun160 at August 4, 2006 9:24 AM
"We just went back to his room and read passages from a god awful book out loud and laughed ourselves silly. You'd really have to read this thing to understand just how bad it is."
What's the title of the book?
Posted by: fun160 at August 4, 2006 1:34 PM
I'm sure you are already on the floor, but good luck.
And I too would be interested in knowing the title of the book.
Posted by: Jeff D at August 4, 2006 3:00 PM
Maroon takes a big hit to his stack. Down to aprox. 161K.
Posted by: The Isle of Crete at August 4, 2006 4:10 PM
Any info on the big hit hand? Anyone out there now, sweating him? I wanna watch so badly!
Posted by: Grant at August 4, 2006 6:15 PM
Congratulations on a great run Matt and your first WSOP cash. What a hand to go out on as well.
Posted by: Joe G at August 4, 2006 10:10 PM
Just read in card player that you busted out. Sorry , man. I know how much you were hoping to make it further.
mike
Posted by: mike h at August 4, 2006 10:25 PM
Saw you finished in the money, Matt. I know you wanted it to go better, but nice job anyway. Good luck in the future.
Posted by: seed at August 5, 2006 12:53 AM