Tuesday, April 01, 2003

The Poker Room is starting to rip apart at the seams. The Bellagio Five Diamond Poker Classic kicks off tomorrow. The original plan was to take two tables out of the 30 table room, bringing it down to 28 tables, and putting those two tables out into the pit area with 12 others which would make up the satellite/tournament area. The room still has 30 tables and 12 have been added in the pit area next to the Sports Book and Poker Room.

Regular players that come in every few months, along with players that haven’t been in the room in over a year are arriving en masse. Along with the players, we also have new dealers hired for the tournament overflow…a lot of those are familiar faces also. The next few months should prove interesting as the WSOP begins right after our tournament We get all of the live action on swing shift. Plus…there are always rumors that the “Shoe” will lose the WSOP.

The WPT aired on Sunday night, the 31st. It was the first tournament filmed and it was filmed at Bellagio. It represents poker in a very glamorous, pleasant atmosphere. Extremely well done with explanations of poker jargon and showing the player’s hole cards and play, it will bring a flood of people that want to learn to play poker. Salute!!!! The more the merrier.

The finale of the WPT’S first year will be the last tournament of The Bellagio Five Diamond Poker Classic, $25,000 buy-in No Limit Holdem, and begins on April 14th, 03. As of this date, there are 47 registered entrants into that tournament. The final table will be taped and added to the WPT televised events.

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A few fun things from the green felt:

One night in a $30-$60 Holdem game, when A-A bit the dust on the River, the player with the losing hand, said, “Eight times, pocket Aces tonight. Never any good.”

Lee, a friend/player, looked at me and said, “No times pocket Aces, Linda!”

He pointed at his short stack of chips. We both busted up.

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$15-$30 Holdem, every time his blind got raised, the 6s would look at me, fold, and say, “Pocket Jacks! Never any good, Linda!” We both laughed.

Just before the end of my down, he said the hand I was dealing would be his last hand…he was one out of the blind and it was time to go.

I said, “Don’t get trapped now.”

He looked at his hole cards and raised. We both made eye contact and both laughed.

I said, “Uh-oh!”

He got two callers. The flop was A-?-?…he checked, a bet and a call. He showed me J-J, started laughing as he pitched them, and picked up his chips. I knew that’s what he had when he raised.

The player in the 10s, said, “Wow! He had them in the blind twice before.”

That really made me laugh. No way in hell he would’ve pitched them if he’d had them in the blind.

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Steve W. – playing $30-$60 Holdem…he’s a rammer jammer, major chip slammer, blames the dealers for his losses but damn I like him a game…never get a chance to watch paint dry when he’s in there…it’s always action, action, action.

He raised on the button with 7-3 OS. Felice, in the big blind, raised. Steve called heads up. He flopped a 3, bottom pair, and they went to war. She finally gave up and just called after six bets went in.

The turn was a 7. More war.

She checked the River, he bet, and she paid him off. He showed her the hand and she almost choked. She never showed her hand but she told the table that she was putting a $1,000 bounty out on Steve. Anyone in that game, playing during the time she was at the table, she would give $1,000 if they broke him. She was dead serious.

They did a little squabbling back and forth about the other person making comments and needling each other after a beat, then it blew over.

They went to war later in $80-$160. They were still slamming when I left the game so I don’t know the result. The bounty wasn’t in effect after the $30-$60 any way. Would she have paid someone the $1,000? Umhhh!

Steve was playing $4-$8 Holdem tonight…wonder what happened there?