I’ve been staying at the Plaza Hotel in downtown Vegas, and it’s been a perfectly fine place to stay except that I can’t seem to get an internet connection. I don’t really need one; there isn’t any email or anything that I need to get to, but it does mean that I won’t be able to update my blog unless I stop by a Starbucks or wait until I check into the Rio on Monday.
But I did want to put my initial thoughts down and some experiences, even though I’ll be uploading this later.
First, here’s a question for you: One of the following statements I just made up; the other three actually happened. Which is which?
1. (1) I saw Andy Bloch and Brandon Adams wandering the halls at the Rio…while I was wandering the halls at the Rio.
2. (2) Two people came up to me, thinking that I was Tom McEvoy, and asked me for my autograph.
3. (3) While standing in line to pay my $10,000 entry fee, I found myself directly behind William Rockwell. He was featured in an ESPN WSOP piece; he’s the guy who lost the use of his arms in a motorcycle accident and plays poker using just his feet to move the cards. (He’s a really friendly guy.)
4. (4)While standing in line to pay my $10,000 entry fee, I found myself directly ahead of Raymond Rahme. Rahme is the South African pro who made the final table last year. After waiting a short time, he became impatient; he pushed himself to the front of the line and demanded to buy his entry fee right then.
I haven’t left downtown since I checked into the hotel; most the poker I’ve been playing has been at the Golden Nugget and Binion’s. I played at the Binion’s Classic but finished far out of the money. I made a huge bluff against a guy I read as weak, right before the break. He turned a three-of-a-kind and I lost way too many chips. My last hand was a pair of tens against Ace/King; the King on the turn sent me to the rail. I hope that I got my donkey play out of my system!
My first WSOP day is Saturday, which means that my second day is Wednesday. Then, every day until I leave is just poker (either at the WSOP or, if I get kicked out, at the side games).
The WSOP environment itself is pretty extraordinary. An entire wing of the Rio is given over to it – the whole convention center, in fact. They have mixed the cash games with the tournaments in the same room, an immense room that seems to stretch beyond the horizon. In the hallways are various booths for vendors. Smaller convention rooms are lounges for VIPs and contest winners. They’ve set up a temporary building out back where you can buy some food – pizza and sandwiches and such.
The line to buy-in to the Main Event took nearly two hours to negotiate. (By the way, the false statement above is the second one, about Tom McEvoy.) Even though it was a slow line, it wasn’t a long line; there were probably only 30-40 people ahead of me when I started.
I wasn’t sure how to get my $10,000 to Las Vegas. I didn’t want to stuff that much cash into my pocket and wander around with it in Seattle and the airports. I considered waiting until I got to Vegas and then cashing a check at the bank, but I really wanted to get it over with and by the time I got to town it was evening and the banks were closed. So I ended up buying $10,000 in traveler’s checks in Seattle, then cashing them at the Rio.
Unfortunately, the only traveler’s checks my bank had were $100 denomination checks! So I had to sign up for 100 checks, and then cash each of them separately at the Rio (which required me to sign each one – that’s 100 signatures!) After waiting an hour and a half in line, it took me another half-hour to sign the damn checks. The cashier was very pleasant (and patient) but upon further reflection, I think I would have been okay just taking the cash.
Other than my donkey tournament performance, I’ve been holding my own quite well in the cash games. The locals are really good – scary good – and the tourists are complete fish. I’ll write more about it later but I think that’s enough for now.
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