A middle manager in a successful organisation, I’ve had the privilege of significant worldwide travel over the last few years. In fact, I’ve drafted this first post after a few glasses of wine, while sitting 38,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean on one such return journey from Houston. What does this have to do with wanting to qualify for the WSOP I hear you ask? Well, stop asking so many questions; I was just coming to that.
A minor league amateur poker player, primarily online, my only exposure to live poker has been a few tournaments at my local Rendezvous Casino. While online I’ve had the odd $2-3k tournament win, the pinnacle of my bricks and mortar career has been grinding 6 hours to make £70 for an 8th place tourney finish. It barely covered the buy-in, alcohol and petrol costs but, hey, a cash is a cash….right?
You are now probably wondering now what gives me the right to be talking about the WSOP, let alone aiming to qualify for it. Well, as with so many stories, it all starts with a giant replica pyramid and sphinx. Top marks for those who guessed that, yes, I was at the Luxor in Las Vegas before moving on to Houston. Having booked a long weekend in Vegas with a like minded friend, I strongly suspected that it would be my kind of town. I wasn’t wrong.
For prosperity, here is the (slightly abridged) diary I sent to a select few during the trip…
Thursday
- Arrive after 11hr flight
- Take a good hour to get through customs
- Arrive at Luxor Hotel - very impressive!
- Hit Tacos & Tequilas. Indulge in both.
- Severely jet lagged, make the ill conceived decision to hit the blackjack tables and promptly lose $100.
- Severely jet lagged, make the ill conceived decision to watch Criss Angel's Believe and promptly fall asleep.
Friday
- Win $50 back on the blackjack table
- Enter poker tournament @ 10.30am & win it for a $300 payout. Oddly aided by the 5 complimentary White Russian cocktails drank during the tournament. Yes, at 10.30am.
- Walk 8 hours from one side of the strip to the other.....during this time though we visit an oxygen bar, see the Bellagio fountain show, see the Sirens of Treasure Island show, drink too much, eat too much at the Sahara buffet, go up the top of the Stratosphere and wimp out of going on any of the rides...
- Enter poker tournament @ midnight and finish in last four (prize money chopped) for $270 payout. Similarly aided by the further 4 free White Russian cocktails drank during the tournament.
Saturday
- Wake up after 4 hours sleep to be greeted by my poker winnings spread across the floor (evidently, I'd been counting it the night before), hooker call cards (everywhere we go, we are handed them - apparently some people try to collect the whole set..) and 2 unfinished cocktails on the table.
- Have bath to try and relieve hangover.
- Lose money on the blackjack table & slot machines (what is the point of them anyway!)
- Put £10 on Liverpool to be ahead at HT/FT against Man United - pick up £85.
- Enter poker tournament at midday, knocked out quickly. Reality bites.
- Have a champagne brunch buffet. Eat ridiculous amount of food. Mix chinese, pizza & breakfast stuff all on one plate.
- Get patronising text message from Andy telling me not to lose all my money.
- Shocked to hear that Palace beat Swansea away - even I wouldn't have been stupid enough to bet on that one!
- Enter next poker tournament at 2pm, finish in top three (prize money chopped) for $120 payout.
- Have meal in Hooters (neither of us have ever been their before). Odd to see elderly couples and families eating there.
- Find MMA shop in Vegas (Tito Ortiz's Punishment!) and spend $160 on clothing.
- Buy tickets for X Burlesque show at 10pm
- Fall asleep at 6.30pm and don't wake up until 10.10pm. Nat doing same in his room. Frantically call Nat and decide to get up and hit casino to make pennance. Fall asleep again and don't wake up until 5am in the morning. Suitably ashamed.
- Wake up at 5.30am after a ridiculous 11 hours of sleep.
- Watch the Chelsea/Man City & Villa/Spurs games in the company of some Starbucks coffee and a couple of bets. Lose all the money I had previously won on the Liverpool game. Doh.
- Enjoy breakfast buffet - eat way too much.
- Enter 10.30am poker tournament. Go out on second hand. Nat goes on to finish second for his first (& only) poker cash.
- Decide to take a break from poker.
- Play in the 4pm poker tournament. Go out in fourth, just one place outside of the money in the most ridiculous circumstances ever (a story for another day….)
- Decide to take a break from poker again.
- Book Grand Canyon helicopter tour for next day.
- Ride the New York, New York roller coaster (great fun!)
- Play in the 8.30pm bounty poker tournament ($25 for everyone you knock out + prize money for first four). Finish second & knock out 6 people for a total of $375 prize money.
- Fall back in love with poker again.
Monday
- Get woken up at 9am by Nat making sure I am up and will be ready for 10am pick up from hotel.
- Go back to bed until 9.30am.
- Get picked up for Grand Canyon helicopter tour.
- Minibus driver seems to be in competition with coach driver. Hollers and whoops when he beats him to the meeting point. Odd.
- Once down in canyon, get warned by pilot about the potential for rattlesnakes. Spend next twenty minutes watching the ground.
- Inadvertently pour water all over self while taking pictures at canyon.
- Amazing experience, possibly the best $300 I've ever spent.
- Enter 4pm poker tournament, destroy the field for another $320.
- Go to Coyote Ugly bar, leave after 15 minutes. Come to the conclusion that I’m at least 10 years old for the “SPRING BREAK!!!” frivolity occurring.
- Go to Cathouse Bar in hotel, leave at 8.30pm to go to bed.
Tuesday
- Woken up by alarm clock at 4am.
- Curse the alarm clock. The alarm clock appears unfazed.
- Leave the hotel at 4.45am to go to Houston.
- Leave Vegas with over $300 in my pocket. Result!
Wow, you cashed in a few tournaments, I hear you mock. Having researched online, I’ve seen many references to the aquatic quality of the average player of the Luxor and I can’t deny that I saw some things that surprised me (all in with Q-9 offsuit on an A-J flop, all in with 9-2 preflop…) Despite this, it was the ease of some of the cashes that surprised me. With over $800 profit from tournaments (if it wasn’t for the pesky blackjack & slots…), I literally knew I would reach the money in some of the games. I didn’t just think I would, I knew I would. And in only one of the games, did I stick all of my chips in with a worse hand than my opponent. Cashing with such relative ease was a new experience for me and opened my eyes to the fact that maybe, just maybe, I’m actually a half decent live player.
So, after much thought while in Houston, I decided to set a goal for myself. Qualify for the WSOP in 2009 (any event) or, if unsuccessful, buy in to a $1,500 tournament in 2010. So that’s the challenge, either qualify online this year or buy in next year.
Why? Well, the money and bracelet would be nice for sure. But more than that, I want to challenge myself against the best. I want Hellmuth to chew me out for hitting my two outer on the river. I want to see Ivey sitting nonchalantly opposite me, trying to work out if I caught anything on the flop. I want durrr to issue me with a ‘best out of 50 billion hand’ challenge. And all the time, I want to drink my White Russian(s) and enjoy every moment of it.
So, how will I go about qualifying? Well, my initial deposits won’t be huge. By the time you read this, I will have deposited £60 into my Pokerstars account and £60 into my Bet365 one. Which will probably be worth about $70 each with the damn exchange rate at present….
Let the games begin!
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