“I went to a party last Saturday night, I didn’t get laid I got in a fight…uh-huh…it ain’t no big thing….” Lita Ford

I did go to a party but it wasn’t on Saturday night – Kiss me Deadlywasn’t the main theme of the party either.

Now I sound like a name dropper – I was invited to CELEBRATE – 4th Annual New Year’s Eve “Suzie’s Rules” No Limit Hold’em Tournament, at Suzie and Howard Lederer’s place.

I invited my buddy Wayne and we made arrangements to show our faces at the super shindig of the year or the final super shindig of the year. As all things even out, Wayne had to work the dayshift at the Palms; I was off for the night. All I can say is WOO HOO! I hate New Year’s Eve on the Strip. There are only 1.5M people that come to town from Christmas to New years. Most of them are in ‘party mode’ and have no intention of doing anything but party. That means the entire Strip is closed down around 6 PMish to 3 AMish and nothing moves other than several hundred thousand people that come to town to PARTY! If I were in dealer garb and clocked in, I’d be locked into Bellagio for a lot of hours. *pain*

We rode together, and according to the guard at the community entrance”…take the first left, and the next left.” We didn’t see a street sign and we did take the first and the second left. We interrupted some nice guy that was watching tv and did not have a party going on…same street address…wrong street. He’d been hiking all day…sheesh…I need to hang out with this guy and his friends to dislodge all of my baby fat that’s accumulated this last year. Another time though -there was a party to attend.

Without further adieu, let me throw in a picture of the hostess with the mostest…she never slows down, running hither and yon in her cute little bedroom slips (oh woe, why didn’t I get a picture of those feet), she must have bumped butts with me 30 times as she sped past me on her way to take care of people, the tournament, life, hellos, and anything else that might need tending. Ladies and Gentlemen…drum roll…Suzie Lederer:

The place was jammed. There were people I’d never seen before – and people I knew. I’d heard a rumor that Howard Lederer had to stay in Ireland and couldn’t return to the US because of his connection with FullTilt…not so. He said he does spend about a week a month there on business. So much for rumors kids. I also managed a visit with Andy Bloch which was very nice. We chatted about the UIGEA and what was going on. I don’t want to try and remember all of it or even act like I do.A few moments of his time is greatly appreciated by me -Andy is a very personable, great guy.

And don’t let me leave out what I looked like – damn it! I love this hat – that and the camera is what found the next person showing off for a photo shoot.

As I drifted around through the crowd, taking pictures, visiting with Wayne, drinking a bit of wine, a great looking gal started primping and fawning to get me to take a picture of her. I did!

I don’t even know if she knew the guy she was standing over. I certainly didn’t know who she was until a minute later when she came up, “Hi! I’m Brandi Rose.”

I introduced myself. She loved my hat! I love it too! I got a kick out of her. So she’s smeared all over two+two and other forums but I don’t care, she’s got PERSONALITY, MOXY, and CONFIDENCE. Here’s another shot of her:

Most of my time spent at the party was drifting around and taking pictures. I didn’t want to play poker, just hang out, that’s what I did. Mike Matusow came in with his girlfriend, Jessica. She’s a beauty. Mike graciously gave a moment of his time for a picture. So did she!

If I’m table counting correctly, there werenine tables set up – all in various parts of the house and one outside. At first Wayne stated he would like to deal the final table – Suzie said, “Great!” That was about an hour before he did the stumble thing. He drank too much. In a way it was kind of funny. I can’t ever recall seeing him quite like that. He took the Professor’s seat for a moment.

More celebrities arrived and cruised in and out. One of my favorites is Cal Dykes. Although a lot of people may not know him as a celebrity, he’s a pretty special person. We attended a screen writing class at UNLV together about five years ago and spent a little time getting into each other’s head as we tossed around subjects and ideas for screenplays. He also took 2nd place in the Reno Hilton World Poker Challenge – Season I of the World Poker Tour in 2003. He’s a long time player in Vegas, a dentist, an all around fun loving character that’s always got a smile and an easy laugh.Carmen was behind him trying to grab his ‘tah-tahs’. Carmen’s daughter Jackie on the right.

So now that I’m doing the ‘name dropping thang’ let me get right in to it. David Singer appeared:

Allen Cunningham and Melissa Hayden showed:

Erik Seidel and his wife – and I have no idea how to spell her name so I ain’t even gonna try.

Erik and one of my dealer buddettes – Sipu -at a tournamenttable together:

How do bras always get into the picture, late night, party time? This one definitely didn’t fit this chick, I sort of talked her into holding it up for a picture…but where did it come from? Maybe it was a bounty at one of the tournament tables.

Matt Savage and wife – sorry I don’t know her name:

While everyone was milling, munching, imbibing, and poker was afoot in every room of the house, two of Suzie’s kids were hanging out looking for a handout or two…or maybe they were just trying to figure out WTF was going on and where the people explosion came from.

If these girls aren’t famous, they should be. But who did they belong to? And where did they come from? One of them told me she didn’t want her picture taken because she wasn’t invited and I told her that was why I had to take her picture so Suzie would know next year that she was a ‘crasher’. *big laughs* Kee-rist! They look all of 15 years old.

Any Two’ll Do Sue was at a tournament table with Howard. She’s famous too. She took 2nd place in a WSOP event a few years ago, I believe it was Limit Holdem and Ted Forrest took first in that tourney. She used to deal with me at Bellagio. And believe me, she earned the reputation of ‘any two’ll do’. We always have a minute to visit when we see each other now…good vibes.

This kid was unreal. I have no idea who he is, where he came from, who he belongs to/with but I almost couldn’t bring up the camera without him hamming for me, no matter how far away or close, he went camera crazy. In this shot, he was giving the ‘I’m too sexy to be myself’ look as he did a bump and grind for me.

And here’s a couple more of those should be famous cuties:

Pam showed up in saran wrap – colored and clear. Don’t ask me – I was just thereto socialize andhang out.

I found Suzie’s other kid ambling around trying to figure out what was going on – probably wandering if the whole world had gone bat shit.

Somehow it magically became midnight. Cases of Dom Perignon were cracked open and glasses filled more than once. I was hanging out in the kitchen with Carmen when the once a year event brought the close of another chapter in time. Within another hour I was toast – or was Wayne toast? Goodnights were said and we were out the door.

What a great time. Goodbye 2006!