First I have to say thank you to Ausbrooks for introducing me to the game of NL Hold'em. However this entire story and the ones to follow are because of Steve and Cheryl, without them I would not even know what was going on in my new city.
Day 1
So I moved to Vegas on 6/30 for work, but enough about that. Steve, Cheryl and I had planned to meet on their way thru from NM to Sac. Before they arrive I was asked if I had been to the Rio, um no, for Poker, bigger no! LOL I never go into the Poker rooms.
DUH the Fricken WSOP has been there since may and I have been sitting around at home doing not a damn thing and they were just 15 miles away!!! (moving on)
So after reviewing our options for dinner the best placed seemed to be were the poker signs were pointing. Smart move!
While standing in line we saw Scotty Nguyen. Steve and I were able to get pictures with him. Dinner went by in a flurry of bit, chew, follow the crowd, check the crowd, "is that?" , no its not, oh yeah swallow. Lucky for us we were sitting right on the aisle by the walk way.
While we waited we saw tons of people and more I am sure we should have recognized, but they were moving pretty damn fast. We did see Helmuth, tried to talk to him, yes he is an ass! In my business fans, whether they are for or against you are still fans and you should acknowledge that. Enough about him.
We all (Steve, Cheryl, Maria and I) registered to win a seat in the Europe WSOP I believe. There was a mini cooper full of poker chips...we took a good guess so we will see.
By registering we were able to go into one of the lounges and they have this new heads up poker machine that is pretty cool. While playing Cheryl came to get Steve and I to let us know Daniel Negreanu was right outside. We missed the signing but got some "I MET" shirts.
Finally we entered the tournament rooms. First stop was a satellite room. Pretty cool, but we didn't stay long. Then we entered the NL Tournament room. If you love Poker you understand, if you don't, well you don't. For me it was like front row at a MB concert, amazing!
We saw Joe Hachem playing at one of the feature tables. At the ESPN feature table Mike Matusow. However my two favorite players are Carlos Mortensen and John (Steve was right) D'Agostino.
In our last lap around the room before leaving we debated for a long time on if we were seeing Carlos or not. Finally someone was nice enough to tell us it was him, but in fact it was John. So I got to see one of my favorites. One down one to go!
Day 2
I woke up early, yup me, to get to the Rio. I got there about 1:30, there was no way I was making noon. Anyhow we couldn't get in right away so I went wandering around the gaming expo. Well Joe Hachem was signing and taking pictures. I didn't have anything for him to sign, but he was so nice in taking a pic with me. (You will read me saying nothing but nice things about ALL of them so settle in).
Being by myself I has to ask lots of people to take pics, and I hate pictures, but this was so worth it!
So I wandered some more and the ever popular and such an amazingly outgoing personality Scotty Nguyen was signing autographs. Since he is my moms favorite I had him sign the pics he was giving out to her, she can't wait to see it.
Take 1
Take 2
While on my great wandering I saw Greg "Fossilman" Raymer and snapped a few candids.
Eventually Chris Moneymaker was signing where I had previously saw Greg. However he had complete lost his voice. On a notepad he had written that he lost his voice, but was still in the tournament. Hopefully he will have recovered by tomorrow or Wednesday.
OK into the Poker room! Absolutely crazy in there! I made my way to the back hoping for a glance at John, because obviously I had my camera today. Nope, however I realized I was standing within 5 feet of Doyle Brunson. His back was to me so I only have this side shot, but still!
Way over in the back was Jennifer Tilly, but again its a shot of the back of her head. That's here with the red hair and the hat.
I finally made my way over to the ESPN feature table, where Helmuth was playing. Hmm, no pics of that.
I went to the other feature table and was about 10-15 feet from Phil Ivey!
I was able to make my way towards the front where I met and spoke to the nicest lady. I don't know there names but you always see them when you see Phil. I was able to get a couple decent shots before he was eliminated. I really like Phil so it sucked to see him go. He caught a bad beat and never recovered :-(
I ended up making my home by Jean-Robert. If you watched Survivor you know who he is. However it was the most entertaining table! Jean Robert was half sleep, but still managing to do some damage. Let's just say if the man ever ask you for coffee its 5 creams, 7 sugars and don't you dare try to change it for sweet and low! So I spent the rest of the sessions at their table and had an amazing time watching the game and hearing the players, well be players.
That's him on the right in the hat and smiling, LOL!
He was playing against the Iceman Teddy Monroe. I will admit to be unaware of who he was in the beginning, but by the end of the night I had done some homework. Such a nice guy. "Bobby" as Iceman kept calling Jean Robert kept talking about how he went to China and came back to find iceman was famous. LOL I had actually went over to watch him play, but because a fan of the Iceman while there.
When the dinner break came I thought I might be able to get some food. WHATEVER! However I did make it back to see Daniel again and finally get a picture.
While waiting to go in I FINALLY saw Carlos Mortensen. Actually he walked right in front of me, looked straight at me and I froze, or had a famous Paul moment. However I was able to snap out of it enough to walks briskly after him and ask for his autograph and a picture. I did apologize for disturbing him, but he was really great about it and I DIDN'T fall down!
The Prized Photo....
I stuck around way longer than I should have and spent the night listening to Iceman and Jean Robert go at each other and the guy from London, who name I am completely forgetting (SORRY), sit in what he called Hell for hours. Whenever someone new came to the table he told them they had no clue what they were in for and they should just run now. LMAO and don't even try and complain because he had "been there for 10 hours and you were only there for a minute" so he felt no sympathy for you what so ever! OMG it was hilarious.
All in all I had a great time. I got in at 1:30 in the morning and attempted work, badly....so now I am going to sleep at almost 9pm so that I can make it for the after dinner sessions tomorrow night.
Even though I never got to talk to John Robert, Iceman was nice enough to take a pic with me during the last break. Keep an eye on him, he is a really good player.
Guess I need to start playing online again. BTW, vacation next year is in Vegas...WSOP anyone?
Until tomorrow!
1 comment:
your blog is feel good......
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