This will be an attempt to finish my WPBT report…but don’t hold your breath as I’m not holding mine. If you visit the first pages I put up, there are a few corrections with pictures and names and blog urls attached – instead of unknowns. Thanks everyone for sending me an email. During the coming weeks I may post a picture and if one of you knows the mystery blogger, please send me the name and URL. And if your picture is up, and your eye color isn’t exactly as you remember it was when you looked in the mirror this morning, it’s because you had major red eye in the picture I have of you and I ‘touched’ it up. Live with it…ok?
So…on with the update. Somewhere in the early afternoon, when Jason and I had waltzed around each other taking pictures, I left him with my camera and raced down the hall. I asked him to shoot whatever he wanted. When I returned, I even took a break from ‘picturing ‘ for a while and left it up to him. Finally I took back my camera so I could save a picture of the world in a time frame that I could relate to. I drifted around for a bit, laughing with people, snapping pictures, grabbing a brew here and there, and then Jason, Ron, Michael Craig, and me thought we’d take a seat in a $2-4 H game. I went across the hall and put our names on the list. Tanya was in a game and making a lot of racket, like, “SEND IT!” and a variety of other noises that one makes when having fun at the table. She wanted to come to our table and play when we got in a game…
The house started a new $2-4 H game. I took the 9s, Jason took the 8, Ron took the 7, Kristin in the 6, and Mike (what the hell is your URL???) in the 5. Michael Craig told me that he and Amy Calisitri were going for food and asked me if I wanted to go. I told him I’d plant my butt in the poker game and see him when he got back. I could have sworn I took pictures of the kids in my game but what the hell do I know. I can’t find them so I must not have.
I prodded Jason into the first ‘live’ straddle. I did the second one. Ron, Jason, and me had a thing going on with the straddles for quite a few rounds of the table. I won all of mine for the first four or five rounds. Unfortunately I snapped off Kristin and Ron with them. They were good sports about the whole thing. We kept trying to talk the 10s seat into putting the ‘live blind’ on it when it came to him and by God…he finally did about five or six rounds later.
I was on a crazy run with the cards. I looked at a deuce and raised it, flopped a deuce and turned Trips. I ran over the game. And of course I enjoyed every second of it. I jumped back and forth so I could cruise the tournament room and keep track of how the tables were breaking down.
I’m sure Gracie hated me. I walked up behind her at least three to four times, touched her arm to get her attention and did the ‘omnnnnhhhhh’ thing as I sent my arm straight out like I was opening up the horizon, telling her to concentrate and just open up. She was kewl with it. She’d do an ‘s’ form wave with her hand and nodded each time. Hell something worked there…she took 2nd didn’t she? *laughing*
Tanya kept threatening to come to our $2-4 table but she never did. Maudie got in the game that Tanya finally left. Maudie wanted to transfer to our $2-4 game but she never did. Umhnnnhhh!
I picked up 7-2 and raised it pre-flop, by this time we had another blogger in the 1s (sorry but I can’t remember your name) and he came into the pot with a raise. I called. Flop 2-2-K. I bet, he raised, I raised. The Turn was a blank and I bet. He finally folded. I turned it up and started an extremely loud, “H-A-M-M-E-R… H-A-M-M-E-R!” Jason jumped into the chant with me. Everyone in the room roared. My opponent held Q-Q. He figured I either had a King or ‘the hammer’.
Somewhere in here was where Alcanthang came out and tried to ask Evacanhang to marry him again (in yesterday’s report). Michael Craig came back from lunch and got into our game. He wanted a Blogger Hat and I raced into the tournament area to buy one for him…they were an order type of thing. I got one for him and me…besides the damn light over the table was so bright I felt like I was under the operating lights…no…NO…don’t take out my poker brain…please God…don’t let them take that away from me… *slap – smack – wake up Linda!* Whew! It was only a hypnotic trance caused by the bright lights.
I had a couple of Bailey’s and coffee. Man were they dreamy tasting, wonderfully yummy. Somewhere in here, the dealer thought he had to call for a decision. He did a feeble, “I need a floor over here,” a couple of times.
I fixed it for him by belting out, “Decision Table??”
Kee-rist! You’d of thought I was trying to operate on someone with a spoon. The Floor Woman magically appeared and glared at me, “I’m here!”
Did she know we were just having a good time? I apologized to her later for seeming ignorance and noise. She took it pretty well then.
Our buddy Jason threw his cards at the dealer. Why? Can’t even remember. Then he went into the lifetime of apologies. Every five minutes, he apologized, until I wanted to smack him.
I told the story of dealing in MT.
*Begin story*
A guy came in and jumped onto the chair in a $2-3 Five Card Stud game. After I dealt the first hand, he looked at me and said, “I really like your necklace and your tits too.”
If I’d been anywhere else in the world, I would’ve looked down at my chest and asked, “What tits?”
But since I wasn’t in the mood to continue the conversation any further, and there were other women in the game, I simply said, “Sir, if I worked in an office, you wouldn’t come in and make that statement. Just because I work in a bar doesn’t give you the right to make that statement either.”
He said he was sorry. That was the problem. He apologized every five minutes for the next six hours…
*End story*
Having said that, I slapped Jason on the arm and told him to QUIT APOLOGIZING. He over toked each time he apologized, and he told the dealer that he had a dealer friend that would get really upset with him for throwing the cards.
Somewhere in all this noise and fun, GPO (Greg) came to find me. He’s a reader here and we met last year when he was in town. He walked up, said hello, and then “You don’t remember me do you?”
Yikes! No! He was cool about it. We visited briefly, he sends in the player reports when he has a home game and a trip report. I think it’s really neat that he takes the time and energy to do the write up and then send them in to me. Thanks for stopping, Greg.
Jason cashed shortly after that. His little lady was out of the tournament and he had a win and was ready to go. We said our Goodbyes.
Maudie wanted me to let her know when the tournament was down to heads-up. I went back to the tournament area. It was three handed now. I went back to Maudie. We all gathered around for the last few minutes of the tournament, picture taking, noise, and lots more.
Here are some pictures of some of the group – the ones that I know what picture belongs to what name:
Byron he was in the 7s in the $2-4 H game I played in.
But who is this princess? She looks like her fairy prince really was a big disgusting toad? I found out her name is Heather.
This kid ended up being the UTG Bubble! I asked him if he wanted to smile and he said, “No.” He won one Daniel Negreanu’s gifts. Franklin Henderson.
Here’s that cute kid, Joseph Smith, the Poker Prof himself:
And that always on the move, all around blogger, knows what’s happening before it happens kind of guy, Pauly:
And what are these two so busy talking about? Secrets are oft shared in the poker arena. Joaquin and Grubby:
Jeff Willis (Brad’s bro) was the bubbler in the tournament. He received one of Daniel Negreanu’s gifts for his finish:
CJ – AKA the Luck Box:
After the last hand was played in the tournament, people were milling everywhere, I was ready for the road. Almost 10 straight hours of people, noise, and confusion, and I was up when the sun was out. Holy Crap! What I go through to meet with my fellow blogging buds. I went back to the poker room, cashed out my chips *flashing lights, triumphant music* and went back to the tournament area to say goodbye to people. My camera was ready to flash its last flash; the battery was running low.
Group shot! Everyone milled towards the wall. Iggy and I stood together and the group formed in front of us. Not that he’s a dwarf or anything *snicker* but I knew we’d never be seen. I yelled, “Come on!”
He followed me to the front of the crowd. I set my beer and bottle of water on the floor and sprawled on my side, demanding that he do the same thing. He did, we were head to head…I told him it was only fitting since I was the ‘blog mother’ and he was the ‘blog father’. More people raced in and did what we did. Copy cats! We did it first…just like blogging. I was blogging before it was ‘kewl’. (sorry…I couldn’t resist that little dig)
Goodbye all…loved every second of it, can’t wait for next year. I stopped by the rest room, hung my camera over the toilet paper holder, sat down my bottle of water (I lost the beer a few minutes before), used the facilities and was wading through the labyrinth to the elevator, down to the casino floor, heading through the casino when I saw the ‘dealertainers’. One was up on a small stage, surrounded by a small blackjack pit in which other dealers dealt and sang along with the main singer. One of the blackjack dealers was dressed a lot like – and resembled a large size – Dolly Parton. She was singing her little lips off, gyrating and bouncing to the music, lots of cleavage showing, and I reached for my camera. OMG!!! I’d left it hanging over the TP roll in the bathroom on the third floor.
Major race back to the elevator, through the labyrinth, race into the bathroom and bless my lucky stars and jump up and down, the stall was open and my camera was hanging right where I left it! Thank you, GOD! This time when I hit the casino floor and saw the ‘dealertainers’, I had no desire to take a picture. I was ready to go. Keeping with the IP’s true form of a crazy jumble of doors and entries and taped off construction areas, it took me a week to find the parking garage…the one I was in anyway. Brutal. And then backing the truck out and around all those little teeny cars…WOW! I was finally on my way home. *Heavy sigh*
I met my buds, I talked the talk, I got all kinds of hugs, tons of memories, loads of pictures, and won money too. It just don’t get any better than this. See you all next year…or before if you can make it!