After a very long eleven hour flight, we got a ride to the house, dumped our gear and headed straight to the Rio, buying into most of the events which got rid of most of the cash.
Five or six of the big online cardrooms have ‘player lounges’ and we popped into the Full Tilt one to see what was on offer. Once we realised that there were no free snacks or beverages we did a U-turn but not before one of the dolly birds pointed out to us that we could get our pictures taken with our favourite Full Tilt players in the lounge at the back; I popped my head in and got to see the lone figure of Andy Bloch, slumped in a chair, head in hands. I wasn’t tempted.
We ended up at the Rio’s American Diner with Ian Woodley, Mad Turk, Denis O’Mahoney and Kerry Taylor. Denis chose some very fine Texan red and a jumbo shrimp cocktail, and mini rack of ribs later we really felt we’d arrived.
Late nights and odd sleeping routines mean that most poker players are pretty adept at warding off jet lag and I was very pleased with the nine hour sleep I managed last night. Our house is right at the foot of the hills behind the city and Ariston and myself nipped out to find a local shop for some milk and coffee. Luckily we set off early as it ended up a near 3 mile hike - 3 miles in this heat is a mighty achievement and luckily we did eventually manage to find a cab to get back.
All that walking in the morning sun took its toll though; bracelet fever took hold and against my better judgement I decided to play the 12pm $1500PL Omaha which lasted all of 20 minutes; the less said the better, but for the record and the sake of accuracy it’s only fair to point out that Ariston lasted just 15 minutes.
But this is Vegas and I saw a way out of it, immediately heading over to the Bellagio for the 2pm $1000 NL. I lasted an hour in that one so the first Day has been far from successful, but hey, we’re talking tournament poker here so I’m far from despondent.
I bluffed off 2/3’s of my chips and whilst I have no regrets about the play, the size of my bet on the river may well have cost me the pot:
We started with 5000 chips and at the end of Level 1 I called a 600 re-raise with A-Qs from the BB. We both checked the ten high flop and I felt obliged to fire out for 1000 when a blank hit on the turn. The re-raiser mulled this over and eventually called. He had 2500 left and I had him covered by about 2000. The river was a blank and for some reason I elected to bet 2000. He thought for a good while though and eventually made a nice read, calling with A-K. What I should have done was either bet about 1250 which really does look like I want the call or bet the full 2500. In hindsight the 2000 is a fishy looking bet and there’s just too good a chance that the 500 I left him with if he was wrong might have swayed his decision towards a call.
We’re taking it easy this evening, it’s holdem all the way now and tomorrow we all play the $1500 NL.
