Celtic & Chompy's Vegas Extravaganza II

[celtic]

Vegas: 10th June 2008.

Fk me it's hot!!!!

Arrived safely, picked up by 77dave as promised. (cheers Jim & Nancy) driven to the hotel where after much begging in reception i relented and allowed dulux (the sicilian) to share a room with me. It's never good to see a 40 something crying in the middle of a busy hotel reception so i agreed just to save\him from further embarrasment!!

Dropped the suitcase in and went down to the poker room, where i met chompy, pokermuppet, joe grech & 77dave again. Also Luton regular dave johnson was there having just bust out of the ceasers comp.

Done all the registering bit then went for dinner at the cafe lux with Rob, Kev & dulux (cheers kev) and i'm now contemplating playing the evening comp at the venetian or save myself for tomorrow. Such tough choices we face in life eh?

Ok gotta go for now.

[celtic]

play the $180 comp or sleep? .......

sleeping is for wimps imo!!

120 runners or so, manage to luckbox my way to 4th $1411, should have won it to be honest, i'm no great player but ffs this was a dreadful standard.

chompy suffered another bad beat... he will be on later no doubt to tell you all about it. Was obvious tho that he was gonna lose to the biggest fish on the table but he still managed a creditable 6th. Well done mate.

Pictures will def follow shortly of vegas and other attractions.

must go now to prepare for the afternoon deepstack.

[TightEnd]

Well done guys, great start Vinny!

[Snatiramas]

Debbie does Dallas

but

Luton does Vegas

well done mate

[Dingdell]

play the $180 comp or sleep? .......

sleeping is for wimps imo!!

120 runners or so, manage to luckbox my way to 4th $1411, should have won it to be honest, i'm no great player but ffs this was a dreadful standard.

chompy suffered another bad beat... he will be on later no doubt to tell you all about it. Was obvious tho that he was gonna lose to the biggest fish on the table but he still managed a creditable 6th. Well done mate.

Pictures will def follow shortly of vegas and other attractions.

must go now to prepare for the afternoon deepstack.

Arrggghhh - have agreat time - not jealous AT ALL. l

[Chompy]

A good opening effort from Celtic to finish fourth (still wide awake when I left at 4am, amazing stamina), although the good-looking guy he knocked out in seventh (not sixth) would have to feel aggrieved at having his aces cracked by the A10 of an inferior player. Had had way too much merlot by that point anyway and a stonking headache to go with it.
Fancy the final table of today's Venetian $300 will contain the same pair plus R.Garfield, K.O'Leary and D.Morris. That would be fun.
Early night will follow that, getting ready for the Rio tomorrow. Haven't played one there for the best part of a week now and itching to get back.

[Chompy]

Yesterday was a bit of a blank all round. Not sure how many played the Venetian $300 but I'm guessing around 500 and, just by way of a change, I made the top 20% and had around the average when I ran KK into AA.
Myself, Evil Edna, Rob G, Kevin O'Leary, plus Celtic and The Sicilian (same table) were all within shouting distance of each other and I fancied somebody to go deep but the rest were all out within a couple of hours, as was Steve Kirk I believe.
I was hungover and just listening to the iPod most of the time, nothing to play with on a well above-average table by Vegas standards, and just sat there with around 8,000 of the opening 12,000 for the best part of three hours. I'll never be beaten for patience imo.
The blinds hit 400-800 (75), I pushed on the button with 89, the BB called with 78. That was one double up. Not long after, the most serious looking asian girl I've ever seen raised early with AJ, I pushed with AK. That was double up number two.
Then I moved table. Had worked my way up to around 45,000 and picked up KK in the SB, blinds 1000-2000. UTG made it 7,000, next door pushed for around 50,000 and I had no option. One more time, the key hand to put myself in position to go deep and...aaaah bollocks.
Don't know what became of the Luton mob in last night's $180 here, I retired early for a 12-hour sleep marathon and no sign of any of them as yet.
Off to the Rio now for the $2,000, here we go again...

[MissCeltic]

Good luck Celtic in your competition tonight, you can do it I know u can.

We are both missing u lots so get the updates going!

xxxxx

[celtic]

Good luck Celtic in your competition tonight, you can do it I know u can.

We are both missing u lots so get the updates going!

xxxxx

Thank you, missing you both too xx


Right update time.

Since my opening night 4th i have played 4 tournies, probably too much but i dont know when or if i will be coming back to vegas so doing the sleep for 5 hours play for 15 crap. Started of with the $340 deepstack yesterday 12000 chips 40 minute clock, nice and steady, nothing silly etc. Lasted to level 3!!!. Played like a complete idiot, no excuses. Sat round the pool for an hour or so contemplating where i went wrong etc, decided on a better strategy i.e get an early night, have breakfast turn up feeling relaxed. In theory it was a great idea, in  reality it worked out like this, played the $180 evening comp, got knocked out fairly deep, played cash for 4 hours whilst struggling to stay awake, went to sleep at 5.30am, woke up at 12.15pm for a 12.00 start, ate chinese at the table, not totally sure what meat it was but my money was on alsation and rottweiller, and got knocked in Level 4!! was unlucky tho to be fair. check raised the table maniac & another player who aspired to be the table maniac all in with  on a       flop, turn was  , river  , 1st guy gleefully turns over  thinking he has it won whilst the maniac turns over  for the nuts!! hand plays itself to be fair given the the players involved so no complaints. Just got knocked out the evening $180 comp as well so  finally i hsve come back to my usual level after the euphoria of a 4th in the first comp.

Tomorrow i move onto ceasers for the first time, in fact it will be the first time out the venetian since i arrived, hopefully a change of venue will bring a change of luck and better standard of play from myself.

Chompy was doing ok in the $2k at the rio with average chips at the dinner break so good luck to him.

Early night for me if i can drown out the noise of the sicilian snoring ffs.

[tikay]

Loving this, guys, keep it a-coming, I'm as jealous as hell!

How long you there for? I'm hoping we can all hook up out there.

[MissCeltic]

Following a phone call from Celtic this afternoon I can confirm that he managed to make it out of his pit at 7:30am this morning (A reason to celebrate  as this is a world record for Celtic who normally doesn't surface from his pit until at least after 12pm....)
Must be the heat going to his head.

Here's hoping that Caesars does bring you some new luck as my holiday depends on it!  (No pressure then!)

Good luck as always, I too am very very jealous....  Look forward to the next update.

P.s now you know what it feels like sharing a room with you!!xx

[Chompy]

Still in the Rio $2,000 but not in the cash yet, they're only paying the top 99 and we have around 130 left.
My final table contained Neil Channing, Roberto Romanello (both now departed) and another English fella, David Gent, plus an American guy I recognised (think he went deep in the main event a few years ago) but couldn't put a name to.
Had to feel sorry for David Gent. He played fantastic stuff to get up to around 120,000, then had KK v QQ all in on a AKQ flop, only for the Aussie, who's now chip leader, to hit running diamonds for the flush. Next hand he was rivered by another decent stack and that was that. Poor guy looked devastated.
A chimp could have played the way I did yesterday (some would say etc etc). I had no decisions all day, never really had enough chips to make a move without committing myself and literally never saw those sort of hands. I just relied on sticking around and doubling up when the chances came around.
Went from 4000 to 2700 at the first break, was at 14000 at dinner and finished the day on 20700. No messing about when I return, not too bothered about making the lower cash positions, so it will be shove time.
Going to play the Caesers midday for an hour and a half first to get myself warmed up. If there is a weakness in my game, which strikes me as unlikely (rofl), it's that I sometimes need half an hour or so to get into the rhythm of things. Hopefully I'll get a table with some weak players (Celtic, The Sicilian) to get me going. Need another wake-up jobbie after some sleep-defying Scotchman rang this morning at some ungodly hour.
Been told by a respected diary reader to stop whinging on here and put in some more non-poker stuff but not sure how to go about this. The only non-poker stuff I've done the last couple of days is sleep and brush my teeth, carefully avoiding the luminous-white temporary filling.
If and when I get dumped out of the Rio extravaganza I'll probably take the afternoon/early evening off and have a wander up to the cinema to watch M.Knight Shamalamalamalam's first R-rated film.

[Chompy]

Well, where to start is the question. I can only be happy with 22nd overall as I got lucky on day one, hitting a 5%er on the river and just scrambling my way up to 20,700, but this could easily have been my first WSOP final table. Still that's three cashes from five series events now and I can't complain at that.
The first hand I played yesterday was 88 in the BB to a button raise, I called and pushed the 23Q flop. He eventually called with 66 and that put me around 35,000.
By the dinner break I was up to around 70,000 and, not long after that, on around 140,000, with the average around 190,000. That was when I had my all-in moment with QQ v the A10 shove UTG, ace on the flop.
By this time, Dhlan (pronounced Dylan), arguably the biggest idiot on the planet, was starting to feel the effects of his brandy onslaught and was annoying everyone at the table. We'd have words soon after and, within another half hour, he'd be handed a ten-minute penalty for directing the 'F word' at the dealer. Apparently I now have a bullseye on my back for 'busting his balls' but I'll live (fingers crossed).
That defeat knocked me down to 11,000 with the blinds at 4000-8000 (500), so I pushed blind with 79. The big stack next door raised with A9 and I turned a seven. Lucky enough there.
The next hand was the one that triggered Dhlan into a frenzy. It was my BB so I was shoving any two cards with less than 30,000 back.
Cutoff, who was to Dhlan's left and had been taken under his wing, raised to 20,000. I shoved with Q5 and he, of course, called with 22. Dhlan couldn't believe it when I turned my hand over, jumped out of his chair and started shouting well-worn cliches. My exact words were 'Could you just be quiet for one minute'. Mistake...
Anyway the flop came 4 7 8 two hearts, I had the queen of hearts, and the turn was another 4. At that stage I was big favourite and rivered a 6 for the straight. This was too much for Dhlan, who was up and down the room shouting "Aah man, that's just f***ing sick, what the f*** that dude doing with queen f***ing five man?"
So, on to the hand that finished me. The same guy who'd shoved with A10 and beat me earlier shoved again for 139,000 (he had 88), I went all-in in mid position with 10 10 and the BB called with AQ.
The flop contained an 8 and that was it.
I was actually fine with it and walked out none too bothered but then it suddenly hit me when I was in the taxi back to the Venetian. I'd rather not experience that emotion again but something tells me I probably will.

[MissCeltic]

HAPPY FATHERS DAY CELTIC!!

Hope your play/luck has improved a bit now. I have to say your updates haven't!  Not even 1 pic after begging me to take my camera with you....  I mean honestly anyone would think you were there just to play poker, eat & sleep...

Unfortunately we are unable to get a present to you as you are so many miles away!!  So Holly & I had agreed to send you a pic (unfortunately it was too big and I can't attach it!)  so I've tried to send it to your e-mail instead.) If you can call that a present?!

Anyway as we celebrated Fathers Day with you last weekend you can't be too greedy!

Happy Fathers Day to all other Blondes.

Look forward to some more updates.  Love from us both.xxx

 

[Chompy]

I played like an idiot in yesterday's $1,500 WSOP'er, no complaints, so have decided to take today off, no poker at all. Not that there's a lot of the day left, I didn't wake up until 3pm.
Just hit the Grand Lux Cafe for a bowl of cheesy pasta and was given a table two away from Celtic, who's feeling rough after his fried egg sandwich/three beers (steady on!) last night. Fried egg sandwich? You can take the man out of Scotchland but you can't take the Scotchland out of the man.
He got a result in the Venetian evening tournament, though, picking up $2,000 in the chop.
Me old mucker Dominic Kay was also at the final table and was massive chip leader when the chop was agreed, so picked up $3,500. Well done to both. Don't know whether Dom managed his obligatory table argument with random Yank but I'll assume he did until informed otherwise.
Back to yesterday's Rio experience, I soon dropped from 3000 to 850, but managed to get up to 7000 before playing AK in pathetic style against an Aussie girl, Sarah, who I'd played with in the six-handed. Enough said about that. Will be back there this week for four or five more cracks though.
Cinema now, then will check out this much-touted Indian restaurant at the Rio before taking in Penn & Teller at the same venue.
Hope they've finally changed their show. Saw them three years ago and know they were still doing the same routine last October. Should probably check before I head over there but probably won't.