AimlesslyChasingAmy

It was a bloggers’ day off of sorts.  Thursday, the WSOP main event was on a one day hiatus before Friday’s combined field of Day Three kicked off.  While Harrah’s did hold Day One of a $1000 NLHE bracelet event Thursday, most media decided to have a day of calm before the storm.  Admittedly, what defines a day of calm for poker bloggers probably defies the norm.

It started off slowly enough.  Jen the Poker Shrink and I realized that we’d never get our shit together fast enough to make the 9:30 am tournament at Paris, even if free crepes were involved.  We opted for the MGM 11:00 am instead.  A computer snafu had people in a sign-up line for an hour, but eventually they did seat 9 tables with 24 alternates.  I was the second person out.  In the sb, I flopped a straight.  The man to my left hit a runner runner boat with an overpair.  I hate when it takes me longer to register than to play.

I checked out the lions while Jen and Poker Shrink made short work of busting out.  It was probably after noon (somewhere) when drunken pai gow became the vice of choice.  Poker Shrink went on a tear, again pulling down a three digit pai gow victory.  I lost exactly $2.50 - but was up 2 Debonairs.

We staggered over to the Venetian to meet up with Jay Greenspan (pictured with Elizabeth from ESPN at the bodog party) and Tuscaloosa Johnny.  Johnny (Kampis) had successfully negotiated his way through Day Two of the Main Event and was looking for a day of diversion before Day Three.  We tried to hook up a cheap mixed game at the Venetian, but found better luck at Caesars.  Caesars was willing to set up, lock up, and spread a 3/6 mixed game with whatever games we wanted.  The blogger alert went out and we headed over to the Palace.

Caesars did a really nice job with the WPBT Summer Classic.  And they were just peachy to deal with on the mixed games.  Of course it probably helped that any dealer at our table made more in tips than any other in the room. 

Until the rest of the blogger fare turned up, it was just the five of us…that is until Michael from Florida couldn’t resist the loose action and was allowed to sit in.  We liked Mike from the start.  He immediately asked if it was OK if he didn’t look at his cards.  He was the king of straddle and a blind re-raiser.  At one point he exposed all his cards in Omaha 8 pre-flop and played the hand that way to the river, for all to see.  Another nice moment came when he was about to call a bet when someone pointed out that the hand had been raised.  He said, “That’s not a raise.  That’s an invitation.” 

All in all, Mike was a great fluffer, cranking us up for the arrival of rest of the bloggers. And sure enough, with the bait of a looser-than-loose low limit mixed game, they came.  CJ and Otis (also blogging for PokerStars), Wil Wheaton, Bad Blood, and Ryan (also taking a day off before the WSOP Day Three) came pouring in.  Coincidently, the raises, noise level, laughter, and bad beats seemed to increase exponentially with their participation.

Wil brings his monkey with him wherever he plays.  If the monkey’s job is to keep Wil from tilting, he had the toughest job at the table that night.  The implied tilt odds on Wil were so high that it got to the point where it was correct for me to play any three or four cards (stud hi/lo, crazy pineapple, and omaha hi/lo) when Wil was in the pot.  Wil actually started offering up pieces of his tilt action.

CJ definitely dealt out the worst bad beat of the night by catching a one outer on seventh street in stud hi/lo.  He also is the first person I know of to discard to keep the hammer in crazy pineapple  - and then (of course) goes on to catch a winning runner runner straight with it.  The table went wild.

Poker Shrink scored back-to-back two outer bad beats.  His defense (and this will stand up in court) was that because of the capped pre-flop action (all blind), he was actually getting the right odds for a two outer.  We did the math.  It’s close…very close.

Jen was the best sport of all as she had to be taught both stud hi/lo and Omaha hi/lo.  My favorite quote from Jen came on the turn in Omaha hi/lo when she said, “I’m beat by the board, but there’s still one more card to come.”  With Omaha hi/lo, there’s always hope until the river.  Jay had to keep advising Jen NOT to bet or call with her hand in O8.  In one hand, Jen showed Jay her hand after the flop.  Jay’s response, “For the love of god, put money in the pot.”  Most people agreed that was a tell.

And I never realized what a delicious sense of humor Bad Blood has.  He actually made me snort - which I haven’t done since PocketRocket and his wife were here.  I wish I could remember the line that had me doing the Miss Piggy.  At some point, there was some discussion revolving around time.  Bad Blood made a comment that it must be Meridian.  Someone misunderstood the reference more than once and finally had to ask what it meant.  BB’s deadpan response: It’s Latin for ‘I’m an idiot’.      

Some of the bloggers played the 7:00 pm at Caesars, which has a great structure.  The rest of us went down to Casa Don Juan for a great Mexican meal.

And where was Pauly in all this?  Hopefully getting a real day off.