So the next day arrived and it was final table time. I went through my normal routine of getting to the Rio about 45 minutes prior to kick off to get a turkey and cheese sandwich followed by a Red Bull. I was in good spirits about my chances, but was obviously a realist and thought that my inexperience at live final tables may tell. Aaron 'The Baron' had come down to rail me in the final as well as geeforce who I had travelled with from the UK. This tournament wasn't on the ESPN schedule so I will have to wait a little longer before making my TV debut, lol.Things started slowly until I got involved in a hand with Erik Lindgren, I raised him on the turn and fired on the river when he checked to me and he called me with 3rd pair, unfortunately i had nothing. This took away all my creative room and essentially had to wait for good cards or good opportunities. These didn't arrive and I soon found myself in the precarious position of 8 big blinds. UTG I look at 6-8 off-suit and, in my opinion, I have to push here in order to make calling my bet a decision for the other players rather than mandatory due to pot odds. I found a caller in the form of A-J and a Jack on the flop sealed my fate, no miracle runner runner and it was time to go celebrate. All in all I was delighted with how I played throughout the tournament and it was a much needed boost of confidence in my ability to play live poker and not just on the Internet. It took around 70 minutes for me to receive payment and then I dropped that off at the hotel and let the drinking commence.
We headed to the Voodoo Lounge at the summit of the Rio and for those that haven't been, it's a rooftop bar with spectacular views of Vegas. Aaron and friends already seemed well lubricated after taking advantage of the waitress service available to final table spectators. At around 10pm, the Voodoo Lounge becomes a more exclusive establishment and basically charged you $500 just to sit down as they were all bottle service. This wasn't appealing to the majority of the group so on we went to the Tilted Kilt, finally ending up on the now infamous 'purple highway'The following night, a very hungover me, Aaron and Dave headed down to the Orleans' poker room to play some 1/2nl whilst carrying on where we left off with the drinking. It all got a bit silly but was great fun even though I managed to lose around $1200 in a 1/2 game. I will share some of my plays that were instrumental in me making the WSOP final table the previous day. Managed to get all-in preflop with 9-4 suited vs A-K and that was beat. On another hand I had reraised to $60 preflop and found 1 caller in the form of Aaron the Fish. I was confident my 8-2 could do the business and decided the best course of action was to bet $100 in the dark. Aaron took a quick peek at the 2-4-5 flop and announced all-in. I had to pass and he showed a gut shot straight flush draw. I still can't believe he made the preflop call, what a mug! lol.
Since then, we have had a few more drunken 1/2 sessions but I've managed to win most of my money back since, so its all gravy, Nothing much planned for my final few days in Vegas, about to embark on the Jonathan Raab gambling challenge today by spinning up the small sum of $200 into a small fortune, details to follow...