Just a fun day. I found out yesterday that I had my name drawn (along with 99 other people) by absolute poker to get a key and see if it started a Dodge truck. Long story short, I didnt win, but I did get to meet Michael Mizrachi!

I saw Mike again this morning and he gave me the update on his first day. Hes a crazy man, he only slept a couple of hours after playing for 16hours and was off to play some cash games!!!! Im sure hes crashing by now tho.

We did another run around the expo center. I got to see Phil Hellmuth and give him a piece of my mind!! He was a really good sport, I was pretty tough on him and he took it all in stride. I guess hes an OK guy after all. As I was leaving I said, "Oh, by the way, I STILL HAVE CHIPS" Hes like "Get back over here!" and he signed a pic (of himself of course) that says "go get em in Day 2!". GG Phil.

I met Antonio Esfandiari as well and had him call Sheila, as she loves him. It was hilarious, and he did a great job. Another stand up guy.

I got picks with Toto Leonidas, saw Gavin Smith again, got tons more free schwag.

Im pretty exhausted so excuse my lame post today, well not that any of mine are that great so I guess youre used to it :)

I decided to save money we would get an all day bus pass for $2.50 BAD IDEA. It was hell and thats why Im so exhausted. We ended up riding the bus half way, after waiting for an hour, and then walking for at least 45 mins. But I did get to see the Flamingo and the Wynn in the process.

I figured out how to eat cheap in Vegas. You dont eat till youre starving, hit the buffet and youre full the rest of the day. Food all day costs $20. WOOT.

Then I came back in the room to just relax and catch up with friends. Oh I got to talk to my girls today too. I miss them so much. I cried after I got off the phone. I wish I could do all this and get to go home at the end of the day too :(

So Ive got all my lucky stuff ready for tomorrow. The good luck charm Lillian sent me, my girls pictures, Im gonna wear my suckout on Leukemia tshirt. So, Im ready for my double up so I can win this thing already!!!

I start at noon PST tomorrow so I should know soon enough! I have about an orbit and a half to get a hand to double with and then Ill be good to go! Either that or have everyone fold to me 4 or 5 times when I push in.

WOOOOOT. Im excited and in good spirits. Either way Ill never forget this.

<3 you all.

Well first I wanna make a couple notes about day two, things I noticed while playing. First, I wasnt nervous at all. Strangely, since Ive seen the WSOP on tv so many times I felt like Id been there before, played with these players. Especially after the first round too, because I realized I play with players as good or better than these every day.

Another thing is the bag n tag at the end of the day. This was a freaking mess. Here we have played for 16 hours and we have to wait around another hour for 1000 idiot men (no offense guys) to try to follow instructions. Of course I was about to pee my pants and had my chips done in approx 5 mins. The rest of the time I was tortured by watching a room full of grown men try and figure out how to close a bag. Them,"Do we put the blue card in the bag?" Me, "Ya, he said it like 4 times, put it in the bag with your chips then close it" Another guy,"No, you keep your blue card" Me, "vv/e we are gonna be here all damn night" they all close their bags WITHOUT the blue card, turney director walks around ... Them, "Excuse me sir, are we supposed to put the blue card in the bag? TD "YES, I SAID IT ALMOST TEN TIMES GUYS, PUT THE DAMN BLUE CARD IN YOUR BAG......." idiots.

Ok so Sunday... I woke up about 11am after getting to sleep around 5am. I wasnt happy about this, nor did I want to get up, but as usual I dont have control over it. Dave was still asleep so I decided to go grab some coffee and post in my blog (see last post)). I finally got Dave to pull his ass out of bed around 4pm. We were gonna head over to Bellagio for the buffet then over to Rio to check on Mike and meet up with Dewey.

We ended up changing plans and heading straight over to Rio instead. We walked around the booths and loaded up on free schwag again, then walked around to get more pics and see more people. I got pics with Louie Anderson, Gavin Smith, Humberto brenes, Todd Brunson and the mecca of all pics..... JEAN ROBERT BELLANDE! All 4 guys were super nice, specially Gavin and Jean.

I tried to get a pic with TJ Cloutier, but hes an ASSSS! Hes on my bad list now.

Then I met up with Dekker and we all went to the Rio Buffet. I had never seen anything like this in my entire life!! I mean, this wasnt just a buffet, this was a food museum, that you get to eat. Ive never seen so much food. And it was delicious. So we pigged out then went to check on Mike Six over at the turney, he had doubled up off of pokerho and I was pleased!!! He was sitting at 19k and we wanted to stick around for more but the observer situation just really sucks at the Rio.

So we headed to the Bellagio. This was an impressive place. We got there just in time to see the fountains, then went inside. A total ZOO and definitely the biggest casino Ive seen so far. I have no words to describe it, but I can see why its considered the "mecca" of all casinos. Of course I bee lined straight back to the poker room and you wont believe who was playing
Table 1- Chip Reese, Phil Ivey, Sammy Farha, Gus Hansen and Eli Elezra.
Table 2 - David Oppenheim, Phil Hellmuth, Chiau Giang, Ming Le, Barry Greenstein.
I almost fainted. Phil had his wife sitting right next to him, it was kinda cute! So we headed out to the bar to be nosy and get free drinks and play video blackjack.

We saw Chau Giang and Ming Le come out to smoke, I said hi to Ming, then Phil Hellmuth walks out. We were about ten feet from him and my brother and I both said "HI PHIL!" He glanced at us and half waved. I was already out of my seat to go say hello, he had a guy with him who looked like his agent or something, Phil had started to walk away and his agent was looking at me and asked Phil to come back and say hello to us. Phil said NO! What a jerk off.

We finished up our drinks, headed out of the bellagio and my bro took a few pics of Dekker and I at the Bellagio. What an experience, Im definitely going back before I leave!!! Dekk headed over to the Alladin which is just across the street and Dave and I headed for a cab. The line was too long so I suggested we walk across the street to the Paris and get a cab there. We walked thru the Paris casino first, it was really nice. These casinos are amazing. Then we headed home. When we got back to the hotel and paid the cabby Dave asked me for $7 to go buy cigarettes and the cabby says "dont pay $7 for smokes, Ill drive you around the corner for free and you can buy them there" we thought that was pretty cool of him until we got to the destination. Seedy at best and for a second our ghetto instincts kicked in and we thought we were getting swindled, but we came out alive.

What a great day!!! One more day till I get to double up!

My first day of play...

I took notes all day and I will share them with you!

Men the Master is at my table, and another guy I recognize but dont know his name. I found out later his name is Victor Vellereal (sp of last name?). He was a very nice guy.

Guy to my right is a DONKEY.. heehaw.. and when I say donkey I mean the guy really didnt know how to play the game.

Men started off playing alot of pots.

I got K8c OTB and called a limped pot, limper tried to bet into it, I called, he checked turn so I bet and took it away.

First idiot mistake I made, donkey on right limps into pot (blinds 25/50) but he threw in one black chip (100) I look down and AQh and wanted to raise it up, glanced at his black chip and made it 350 to go!! LOL the two pros looked at me funny, but I didnt wanna let on that I had made a mistake and everone folded. It was Mens BB.

Theres something about MM folding his BB to your raise, its envigorating!

This is what I mean by donkeys at the table... Victor had been playing really solid, anyone paying attention would know that. He raises pf to 4.5x and gets one caller. To make a long story short there was a lot of betting and raising... this dude that called him had 23o and was just trying to run a bluff I suppose, but the board was fugly for that.


I folded the panger twice.

Victor and donkey got in a hand, they both checked the flop, donkey checked turn and victor bet big, donkey calls, this is where I got my first read, Victor swallowed soooo big! he was not happy. they both ended up checking the river and the donkey won, of course.

ESPN cams come over to film Men, its weird when they do this cause they just stand there. I told Men "They are waiting for you to say something funny" and he gave me a dirty look.

There were 3 donkeys at my table, and of course they were lucky as hell, about 8 times between them they rivered sets, calling down boards full of overcards. It was sick. Men and Victor were very vocal about it.

There were 5 strong players at my table. Myself (seat 8) a hottie brit (10) Victor (1) Men (3) and a young guy in seat 5. The Donkeys were in seat 6, 7 and 9. Thats right, two to my right and one to my left. It was a good feeling to get respect from the better players at the table.

At one point the donkey on my right who was the worst of them, had riverd a set of 9s against victor, the next hand men pwned him on this hand...





I checed T8c in the bb and tried to take it on flop.. didnt work.

Seat 4 was an average player, he was too predictable is why I call him average. He was a cont better, so I could usually call his flop bet and take it away on the turn, I did this several times.

This player raised it up in the co and the donk in the bb calls. the flop comes 822, he bets, donk raises, he goes all in, donk calls. He has A2 donk has K2... and 8 came on river to chop the pot.

Men made fun of me taking notes "What you writing over there? He has a 6, he has a 3?" I said "You should see what I wrote about you... good shit" he laughed.

I laid 77 utg.

Played KTo in postition w a small pot. I took it down on turn to same cont bet guy. Cept this time when I went to call his bet on flop, I acted like I was getting out more chips for a raise, and then just called it!.. that was fun.

my first cbl.. utg +1.. i folded it.

Small pot w QJd, raised it up in MP and took it down.

Folded KQd utg.

Folded J8o in MP to a raise. The raiser ended up having AA and Victore played the pot. The pot got really big and I woulda flopped the nut straight.. grrr.

I limped into a pot after 3 other limpers w JTs, and didnt hit.

I went into first break with about 10,250, more chips than both pros.

2nd round...

i came back a little late from break, I get to my seat and youll never guess who is standing at my chair watching my table... NORMAN FUCKING CHAD. I couldnt get to my seat so I come up behind him and say "Its your third ex wife, now get out of my seat" he laughed and turned around and said "you had me worried for a second" I sat down and said "you have no idea how much fun we have making fun of you, but its all in good fun" he laughed and started a little small talk asking if it was my first ME and such. LOL norman chad.. what a db.

I folded 66 oop to Mens raise, flop came AA9, Men bet and showed his Ace.

I folded da panger, board came Q22T9.

AT in CO, lost the pot.

Donk raised and I looked down and KK. I pry made a mistake here, but I just flat called. My plan was to suck him in and win a big hand. The flop came A high all clubs. I had the K of clubs. He only bet out 200 chips so I called. Turn came a blank, he checked I bet, he called. Flop came a blank, I knew this guy wouldnt lay down his Ace so I checked and he took it w his AJ.

I went really card dead for awhile.

Then I got AsAh in mp. The donkey to my right limped in as usual. I raised 3x, it folded back around to the donkey and he called. Flop came K high with 3 spades (K53) He checked I bet, he called. Turn came 4c. He checked I bet he called. River came 2c. He checked I bet, he called. He had K4d for two pair. I had made the wheel on river. 2k pot. He was all upset, I said "Thats what K4 sooooted will do to ya"

Omg there goes Gavin Smith!

3rd round...

Funny hand, I called a raise w AKo, 4 players to the flop, checked to the river and I won!

I made a mistake shortly after and raised a pot w AJo out of position. I lost the pot.

Then came Mens KK hand and he busts a player that moves all in on him w flush draw. I was glad to see this kid go, he was a good player.

I checked J8d in the BB when donk on right limped in his sb. Flop came 6c7h8c, he check I bet , he calls of coz. Turn came 9c. He bet I folded.

Called otb two hands later with T7o against same guy and took it down with a check raise when I flopped top pair and donkey bet.

Men came over and took my napkin!

I got a read on MM for anyone who is interested. Watch him from now on. When he raises he does one of two things, looks around the room, or watches each player. He looks around the room when he has a strong hand.

We have 2 new ppl at the table, one gal in a Party poker shirt and a young guy that looks like wil wheaton.

Chirs Ferguson just sat down behind me.

Im still card dead so I steal with THE HAMMER 72s.

The guy to my left is a dickhead old guy. He keeps pushing on my hands when Im looking at my cards telling me I dont have my blind out or something and hes always wrong. I told him to keep his hands to himself.

One guy limps and I look down at 3Jd, raise it up and take it down!! Thats for all you effers.

I go into break with 10,750. I had a lil over 11k as they called for dinner break and I was in the BB. People start folding and getting up when the button raises and I look down at 55 and call. Flop comes KJJ he bets I fold. grr.

On dinner break I met up with Dekker. Great guy. Dave and I were eating and he came over and we chatted and hit starbucks after.

4th round...

They started side games at the empty tables.

The strong players at my table started out stealing after break, we each took a turn. I had 39o on my turn.

The donk on my right kept limping utg and in ep. He started getting mad as we took turns re raising him. It was funny.

Men the masta was starting to get pissed at these guys.

TABLE CHANGE!! 47 SEAT 8

I didnt like my new table at first, I got re raised my first to raise attempts. So an orbit later I decided to make a stand when I flopped bottom pair out of my BB. I bet out and got raised, so I re raised and took it down.

This is when my card rush started. Not that I had that great of hands, but it was just workin out. AJ otb, took it. AQ in the CO, took it. (antes had started so this was a good deal) Then guy two seats to my right raises it up to 1k. Blinds were 100/200 ante 25. I look down at AA. I knew people would think I was crazy after winning 3 hands in a row so I raised 3x, everyone folded but raiser who called. Flop came all low. He checked to me and I bet 4k, he had about 7k left. He thought and thought and thought and thought and finally pushed in with JJ. I was up to 26k.

After this the table wasnt happy with me and I felt attacked again. I raised with QK and got re raised, then I raised with 78c and got re raised. I laid it down both times, altho the 78c I think was a mistake because I thought the raiser was on the button. Bad thing about live play, its not always clear, altho the button looked to be in front of him it wasnt and I would of had postioin here, had I realize this I would have called.

I watched them drag out a drunk player.

I went into break with about 24k. I was thrilled about this. My goal for the day was to double up, but there was still a long way to go. 2 rounds, 4 hours.

5th round...

I went into this round planning on making a bit of a stand to this guy that kept re raising me. Unfortunately I had bad timing. I woke up with TT first hand back and raised, fully intending on calling a re raise from him. Which he did and I did. I think this was a mistake on my part, because now I was only thinking of what I had and not putting him on any kind of hand.

The board came all low, I had an overpair, I checked hoping to checkraise but he checked behind me. The blinds were 150/300 ante 25, I had raised to 1k and he reraised to 3k so the pot was around 6700. The turn came another low card and I bet out 4k. He thinks and tinks and thinks and calls. The river came another nothing, I think it put a str8 on the board but I wasnt really worried about it. The pot was not 13700, and I bet out 6k. I really thought I had the best hand here, but he thought for over a minute and called with QQ. So I lost a big pot here and was down to around 11k.

The next hand the same guy calls someones allin on an A high flop with A5. Alliner had AK and dude got lucky to split the pot. sigh.

Theres a dickhead two seats to my left. An older guy that thinks hes smarter than everyone else. He keeps bitching bout how Im stacking my chips and how Im placing my bets out on the table. vv/e db.

I folded alot after this, got down to under 10k. I raised w 33 and took the blinds/antes. Then went card dead for over an hour. When there are blinds and antes and Im getting played back at every hand I try to play I decided to be conservative and let these guys make new enemies.

At one point I raised w 55 and got one caller, a novice player. Flop came A high and I threw out a cont bet, he raised, i folded. I was down to 6200.

I picked up KK with mr re raise in the bb. I was excited hoping hed go over the top and the FUCKER FOLDED! 6800

I checked A8s in the BB after a few limpers and the flop came A high I check raised it and took it down. 7850

I raised with AJo to 1100. The dickhead that was giving me a hard time bout my chips called me. I flopped top 2 and checked it to him, he bet 2k and I pushed in. 11,500.

Heres a hand of note I wasnt in, just to show you how the play was .. how bad it was. There was a young kid sitting in seat 2. Cute kid that was a solid player. If you were paying attn at all you knew he was only playing class 1 and 2 hands. 3 players to flop, it came A high all hearts. Agg guy to my right bets, novice in seat one calls, and kid in seat 2 raises. Agg guy thinks and thinks and thinks then calls, seat one calls. turn comes a blank. Agg guy bets again! Stupid guy in seat one calls AGAIN! and kid in seat two pushes in! OK, it was obvious this kid had the flush. And the agg player thinks and thinks and thinks for about 2-3 minutes and folds. The novice in 1 calls and turns up two pair A6 (top and bottom) kid turns up KQh.. duh!!

I went into break with 11,500, not great but I was ok with it.

6th round...

I didnt realize what a big factor exhaustion would play into this thing. I totally underestimated it. Its a huge factor. By the 6th round the entire room is yawning and ppl are falling asleep at the table. I was glad I had my sunglasses on, as my eyes were shutting quite a bit.

Blinds 200/400 antes 50

I was in the sb, when meanie raised UTG to 2400, it folded to me and I had AKc. I started to raise and realized a 3x raise was most of my stack so I pushed in. He folded JJ face up. Dumbass.

Raised UTG w AQ.. took it.

And this was the big hand that sent me under...

Agg kid raises his button, Im in bb with KdQs and I call. Flop comes AdJd9h. I check, he checks. Turn comes 7d. Now, this kid is an agg player, I know if he had the flush draw he would of bet it. So, I have the nut flush draw and 10 for broadway so I decide to bet it. The pot was 3100 and I bet 2k. He raises me for 2k more. Now the pot is 7k, and I have to call a 2k raise. Im getting 3.5 to 1 on my call and I have approx 12 outs so I call. Not to mention I KNEW he didnt have the flush, I figured he had A high and was trying to see where he was. This is where exhaustion came into play for me. Dekker and I discussed it, and we both thought that pushing in here instead of calling was the right play for me. Since I knew 100% this guy did NOT have the flush, it would have been a tough call for him to make. I flat called thinking Id take it away from him on river. Of course I hit a blank on river and bet 6k, could only win if I bet since I had him on the A. He fucking called me with A5. It was sick and I was down to 4300 AIOF.

Pushed w Q8 out of sb. 4200
Pushed w ATo in co. 5075
Limped out of sb after two limpers w the panger and she was no good to me.
Folded ATo OTB to a tight raiser.
KQ utg +1 took it 4800
Checked my BB flop came Q99 and A high took the pot, I should have taken it as an omen on the flop and bet it!

So I ended the day with 4050 in chips. Severely short stacked as blinds will be up on Tuesday.
I have some more details about turney Id like to talk about, but Im still exhausted and need a nap!!

TTFN

Sorry for not posting this last night guys, I was just so tired when I got back to the room! I actually started to type and realized what a horrid post it would have been so I stopped... damn I must really like you guys!

Also, internet access costs $10.99 per day, and I wont be buying that again pry. There is a restaurant down stairs with free wifi, I just dont know how often Ill be able to get down there, but I will update as much as I can!

*note: I have already posted some pictures on the forum, but Ill be posting new ones here..

We arrived in Vegas around 9am, after getting our bags and riding a shuttle with a crazy lady as our driver (altho shes predicting I win so she cant be that bad), we end up at Treasure Island around a little after 10am. We got checked in, even though the bell boy said they wouldnt let us, dropped our bags in the room and headed down to the Poker stars suite in our hotel to pick up my swag!



We drop that off at the room and wanted to get over to the Rio for the opening of the wsop. The cab ride over costs $10!! And Im lucky cause I get to split the costs of that with my brother. On the mornings people play, pokerstars runs a shuttle to the Rio at 8am and 10:30am, so usually we will be able to take that. The Rio is freaking HUGE, I mean the part we are playing in isnt even the casino or hotel, this place is just ginormous.

They have security guards blocking off the main hallway, making you go thru a separate room before entering the poker hallway. Of course this room is a football field full of poker displays, anything and everything you could think of! From poker sites, to poker clothes, chips, mouse pads, the new electronic tables (which I saw Sol from the Daniel Negreanu Protoge thing playing at one) and scantily dressed women everywhwere. The poker stars booth even had playboy bunnies, and together these people were giving away more free stuff than my house is worth im sure! I mean even Cardplayer, Bluff, HighRoller magazines that sell for $10 a pop just lying around... totally unreal. I wasnt prepared for all of this so we decided that we will go back on one of my days off to really stock up on free shit! Ill have plenty of stuff for the next forum raffle!

We walk into a sea of people, including huge lines going into the poker room. It was 11:30am when we got there so I figured these were spectators trying to get in... but NOO OOO OOO they hadnt let the players in yet! I stood in line to get my wsop player card and get registered (table 169 seat 8) and then we walked around as much as we could. We hit some of the poker sites suites, Full Tilt, bodog, doyles room, ultimatebet... they are alright, I probably like UBs the best. They all had internet hookups where you could play on their site, litte snacks and free tshirts for if you had an account or just signed up for one. I was a little disappointed with the full tilt suite as the pros sat in a room where you could see them but wouldnt wave or acknowledge anyone was there, and the people guarding their room were really rude. but vv/e.

I saw alot of pros...Eli Elezera, he was walking towards me in the hallway and I couldnt think of his name!! I dont know what got into me, or else Id have got this photo. Joe Hachem, he was standing in front of ESPN booth having his photo w someone, I was next up when ESPN grabbed him for an interview, he seemed like a nice guy. My brother snapped a pic but its all blurry. Perry Friedman, he ran into me in the poker room when things were starting, he would of knocked me over but hes fucking TINY! Andy Bloch, Clonie Gowen and Lee Watkinson were all in the Full Tilt Suite. I saw the kid that plays Shaggy in the Scooby Doo films in the Bodog suite and another actor there as well whos name I dont know, I remember him from CPS. Kenna James, I saw him from afar taking his WSOP seat which was very close to where I was sitting the next day.

Then we got to watch the opening...

As you can see we found out here that all my schwag is useless as it has the .com name on it. After yesterday I am not impressed with Poker Stars at all, as they do NOT have their act together. One, the swag is all guys stuff, what about us ladies? Not to mention a mens XL size is huge on top and barely squeaks over my ass, we arent shaped like men damn it! Then they dont have their Poker Stars suite set up yet!!! The players are supposed to be eating breakfast there every day and its not even set up! Get with the program PS, we are nervous enough, I dont need to be worrying about getting tape over my .com.

So we headed back to TI, ate, found a poker tourney for later that night, and came back to the room so dave could have a nap. I didnt wanna nap so I unpacked my bags and got online for a bit. When he woke up we decided to ride the tram over to the Mirage and check it out before our turney started.

The Mirage was pretty cool, and had a HUGE poker room, but their turneys were all over $300 which is a bit out of my price range. We were also gonna check out Sigfried and Roys animals but they charged $15 to see em! So we passed. We ended up at the bar putting $10 in the video poker machines to get free drinks. I didnt win anything, but the 3 drinks woulda cost me more than $10 so I didnt mind.

When we got back for our turney the TI poker room was FULL! And they ended up cancelling our turney. I was totally bummed, it was a $60 turney, and you started with 2k chips blinds going up every 20 mins, so was a decent structure. My brother said there was one over at the Luxor at 8pm so we headed over there (my FOURTH casino for the day!) We buy in and had some extra time and headed to the bar again. The Luxor SUCKS! I wont be going back, the video poker is rigged and they make you bet more than the minimum to get free drinks. Then when we sat down for the turney, blinds were 15/25 and you had THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY CHIPS! Looking back I should of gotten up right then and there in stead of playing. What a total bs structure.. I even tripled up to 1k in chips in the first 15 minutes only to have my flopped nut flushed re raised all in by two pair who hit a boat on da river. F this place.

So we got back to the hotel, grabbed something to eat and CRASHED! I was exhausted. While I was in the cab on the way home I got a msg on my phone from Dekker saying he had made it and was in town, so I look forward to seeing him and Pred today!

I slept pretty good last night. Im pumped up and ready to go! Altho about 2am our neighbors started extreme wresting next door and it was so lound I had to call the desk. Im also awake pre alarm clock and thats the only reason I had time to write this post!

Funny story, I woke this morning thinking to myself 'ok this wsop stuff is going way too smoothly, Im leaving today and nothing has gone wrong, I bet we get a storm and the Ferry sinks and I cant get across to the mainland, or we sink in the Erie, or my car breaks down'. But no, its a cruel world and I made it home in one piece. I was even ready and at the airport on time, checked in on time and headed to my gate.

Ya the airport did a number on me today. Flight delayed, you can still get there, wait no, wait you can get on this other flight, oh fuck it, youre not going anywhere.

GG tornados in Chicago.

So Im back home, due to leave Dayton at 5am, arrive in Vegas at 9:10am, connecting in Denver.

Fulltiltforum.com Chicago Gathering July 2006 - For all of you that didn`t make it to Chicago, this is what I look like drunk.. ish....

I made great time to Chicago. But as usual, it takes 4 hours to get TO Chicago and 2 hours to get to where I’m going IN Chicago. Its times like these I’m glad I don’t live in a big city! I’ve already got the phone call from Sheila; she’s checked in, always ahead of the game that woman. She tells me John (sly) and his wife, Dawn, are only about 20 minutes behind me coming in thru the same grotesque traffic.

After I arrive (thank the heavens for GPS) we decide to wait for John and Dawn and see if they are ready for some dinner. The rest of the Friday night crew probably wouldn’t be around till later, so might as well kill time drinking and eating!

Of course it was NO surprise that John and Dawn were just lovely people. He has the same quiet and fierce humor he does online, and these two were just making me sick they were so damned cute! They are absolutely perfect for each other, so it doesn’t surprise me they have been married 22 years. Completely laid back, easy to make conversation with, fun and hell he paid for dinner, so how cant you like the guy?! And Dawn was a total pleasure to meet, what a great gal, she is someone I`d like to be able to call my friend, fo sho.

When we get back to the hotel we got to meet Mike (eriver). I hadn’t played or chatted with Mike much but he fit right in! He brought pictures of his Safari trip in Africa that I never got to finish, but the ones I went thru were FABULOUS! He had just gotten back from a trip with his wife, who is an analyst of some sort, and she was doing a conference there. I was totally jealous right from the git go!

I wanted to go change clothes before the games that night so I headed over to our room. The phone rang and there was a strange voice on the other end “Where’s the poker room” he asked. I said “Bill?” the voice replied “No.”. “John?” I said in wonderment, “No.” said the mysterious voice. “Well who the hell is it then?? Frank? Mike?” I had finally had enough of these shenanigans. “No, just tell me where the poker room is” “I think its 311, wait that’s our room, no its 312, well I think it is (Sheila walks in the room thank goodness because I have no idea what I’m talking about) hold on Ill ask Sheila”. Of course Ms. Nosy can’t stand the suspense and takes that phone call over!! I was glad, I felt awkward talking to someone in my bra. I stood in the background “ASK IF ITS JEFF (zerbet)!” I had suspicions that he might be showing up unannounced, “Its either Jeff or Tom” I said. Then I heard Sheila say “Well how bout I head down there and you head down there and we will just see who you are”. Sounds good to me, and we head over to the poker room (313 just for verification). And what do you know… IT WAS JEFF!!! THE ZERB! What a great surprise! Sheila, Zerb and I (I’m sorry but calling him Jeff is hard still) talk regularly, or I should say, he cracks us up on a daily basis as we are home most of the day and he’s well “at work” as he calls it. I donut know exactly how much work is involved tho.. NTTAWWT.

Anyhow, shortly after, the culprit to the surprise, Bill and his wife Beth arrive, I’ve met Bill several times and just played poker with him the week before actually, but I hadn’t seen Beth for several months and she had become pregnant since I had last seen her so it was nice to be able to congratulate her.

Soon Dan the Man showed up. This was the biggest surprise of them all. I’m not sure what I was expecting… ok I lie... I was expecting some gnarly teenager that wouldn’t know how to open the front door without asking first. Dan must put on some persona on the forum, or maybe we just don’t get his sense of humor, but this kid is awesome. Not only is he absolutely adorable, but he’s smart, funny and not the least bit obnoxious! Maybe he was toned down in front of a bunch of people that reminded him of his parents, but the entire weekend I didn’t see a glimpse of stupidity. (and no he wasnt drinking any of that)

We started off the poker with a $5 sng. Sheila didn’t miss her opportunity to introduce everyone to the four color deck. Bill started the night off right with his re raising with the HAMMER! Shortly after he busted me out first when his A2 took down my 77. Gotta love the 3 outer. And the butt head even said “But it was sooooted!”. vv/e

Huck showed up a little bit later. I had never met him before, although I chat and play with him often and consider him a good friend. He soon had us convinced to start a cash game. I think his $60 was burning a hole in his pocket and he just couldn’t stand it anymore! REBUY! Although I did lose about half my buy in to him in one hand where I called his raise with A9 sooooooooted. I wouldn’t normally do this sort of thing, but all of you that have played with huck online know when Hucks raising every pot ya gotta get in while the gettins good. I was unfortunate to have an A flop and he just happened to have AJ. YOU DONKEY!

By the way, Huck is a great guy, but I knew that already. However, I did not know how studly he looks in his work clothes. NH huckles.

Shortly after that my KK ran into Dans AA… live poker is so rigged. REBUY!

All kinds of crazy things were happening, Zerb flopped QUAD QUEENS, outdraws galore. It was JUST like sitting at the forum table on a Friday night when everyone shows up. We end up taking each others money. At one point I suggested we pull in a few strangers to prey upon!

By 2am we were all toasted and ready for a rest.

The next morning we were planning on going to IKEA, but when I was SO RUDELY awoken by my roommate *cough*Sheila*cough* at 7:30 AM I was in no condition. We grabbed the free breakfast and I hit the showers to wake myself up. Then I decided to wake everyone else up for some more POKER! “Good morning, get your ass up; I need to break even today”.

We played two sngs before going to lunch, with golf on the TV in the background at the old men’s request! I made $5 between the two so I was already on my comeback! I lost in one to Zerb when we got HU. I made a FANTABLULOUS call on the flop when zerb pushed all in with bottom pair. I took a bit to think about it, did the right thing, and like the good pokerslut I am, got skrewed by the deck.

Then it was off to lunch at Portillo`s, a Chicago Beef place that Bill wanted us all to try. I was all for it as I had tasted Beth’s recipe at home and was ready to taste the real thing. I was NOT disappointed. It was eeeeexcelent!

But once I got back to the room I was ready for my nap. It wasn’t long till it was 5pm and we couldn’t believe we had slept that long! So we suited up and headed out to run an errand and then back to the poker room!

Tonight Dan the Man brought a friend he called “Asian”, a little NON PC but hey, it’s his friend. Turns out his name is Jon and I prefer to stick with that! Another nice guy who played very well for a “newbie”. I think DTM may have been trying to swindle us!! Especially when Jon showed the powers of CBL to take down QQ!!! I mean this guy is no amateur.

Also, tonight two other forumers decided to join us, Firsttimer (Frank) and Maffia (Melvin or Jr.). And all I have to say is Melvin likes da ladies, or is it Sigmund and Roy.. We weren’t sure where he stood at the end of the night, NTTAWWT. But seriously, Frank and Melvin are roommates and both stand up guys, and it wouldn’t have been as much fun without them. I hope to get to know both of them better.

Then to top it all off, icing on the cake, Rev (Rob) and his girlfriend Tina got in! They came in from Indy and I’ve played with them before in Indy last year. I’ve always liked these two, I mean how many people do you know would spend their Saturday night at a hotel with two chicks they barely know playing poker, just the 4 of us???? NOT MANY! I especially like playing with them, Tina is a total hoot and I love the way she calls down Rob on his BS. Of course they didn’t come empty handed, Rob rolled in a big ol cooler and Tina had a blender… these two are my kind of people!!! Especially when they started passing out Daiquiris and Mud Slides… you missed your calling Rob, dem drinks was good!

The poker on this night was intense. I mean Rob had these glasses on that made him look SKEERY, in fact I’ve decided to wear sunglasses at the WSOP because of it. I realized I couldn’t see where he was looking but he could see where I’m looking... kind of a weird feeling. So, although I don’t usually wear em, I’m gonna have em close by. Anyhoo… Rob luckboxed his way into 1^st in the first turney where he took down Bill HU by sucking out with TEN EIGHT!!!

He and I split (although I had the chip lead*cough*) in the 2^nd. I had to get lucky SEVERAL times in this game tho, the most memorable being this hand where my KK ended up hitting trips on the turn VS A2 who flopped the Ace! So, overall I was able to actually come out ahead for the weekend as far as poker goes!

Oh and BTW does Rob look like Hoyt Corkins or WHAT!?!?!

We ended up with enough people to have two tables going. I can’t even tell you how much fun I had. I told my husband on the way home that I hadn’t had that much fun since high school, I mean seriously thanks guys, it was a freakin blast and I hope all the gatherings to come are as much fun! I also got pretty liquored up, so that may have skewed my opinion.. maybe. That could also be why we forgot to take a full group photo the 2nd night and we are missing Bill in this photo, so here`s a lil pic of him pwning instead!