TonyG

Friday

Wake up in pain because I took a softball to the face the night before. My nose got busted open and there is some swelling. Other than that, life is good cause it’s Vegas time. Byron and I get on our plane and say goodbye to the money in our pockets and bank accounts.

We land in Vegas, catch a cab to Caesars and attempt to check in. We are told our room isn’t ready so Byron and I grab lunch while playing Keno. “Playing Keno” is kind of a stretch. It’s pretty much like bingo and i lost interest by the second game.

After lunch, Byron takes our bags up to the room and I headed over to the Rio to register for the $1500 NLHE on Saturday. I figured I could walk to the Rio from Caesars. I had been on a plane and needed the exercise. So there I am, with $2500 in my pocket, walking half a mile over the highway in 110 degree heat. Shady people walking around me pounding malt liquor and all I can think about is getting mugged. I make it to the Rio unscathed and find my way to the registration area. After dodging TJ Cloutier and his motor scooter (guy drives like a maniac), i find the line for registration. I soon find out I have to get a Rio Players Card before I can register. Sigh. Why do people make it so hard for me to give them my money? It’s like waiting in line to get beer tickets and then having to wait in another line to get the actual beer.

After registering, Byron and I met Joe Tall from DeucesCracked for dinner at The Mesa Grill in Casears. The food was awesome and finally meeting Joe in person was a great experience. Joe has been a staple in the poker world for a long time and hearing his insight on the industry was extremely beneficial. DC has been a partner and friend of PAS for many years. Seeing DC grow into one of the most popular brands in online poker has been really cool for the PAS team.

After dinner, we headed over to the Rio with Joe to sweat DC coach Chris Vitch (Deathdonkey) in the 1500 LHE Shootout. Chris busted shortly after we arrived so we railed the $50k HORSE event. Seeing Ivey, Doyle, and the other big name pros was pretty sweet.

Saturday

I woke up at 10am, ate some breakfast and headed over to the Rio. My starting table was pretty good. Two capable online guys and 7 tourists or recreational players. I doubled my stack by level two and was feeling good about my position at the table and the weak tight play of the players around me. At the end of level 3, professional MTT player Byran Devonshire (Devo) got moved to my table. I spent the next two levels chatting with him about poker, life, and Minnesota. He used to live up here and we laughed about how his marriage ended due to the terrible winters in Minnesota.

I eventually went card dead and ended up having a terrible seat. Both of the players to my left were short stacked and shove happy, so it wasn’t optimal to be raising pre flop with light holdings. Right before dinner break I decided it was time to make a move. I had about 20 big blinds and a fairly tight image. The last hand before break seemed fitting so I squeezed a fish and old life nit. I shoved QJo from the Big Blind and got two folds. Since there were antes at this point in the tourney, the squeeze increased my stack by 20%. Old live nit told me at break he folded 99.

I come back from break to find out our table is moving to Brasilia. However, half the table was told by the dealer we were moving to a different room. Result: we started level 7 15 minutes and I lost valuable time with the blinds at a reasonable size in comparison to my stack. 5 hands into level 7 i call an allin by a short stack and lose A10<KJ. I gring my way through the next two levels, shoving over loose players and playing really tight in early position. I kept on getting hands I could raise if I were in late position when I was in early position. Raising 89cc under the gun 30bb deep just isn’t’ optimal. I eventually got all in versus the fish in the hand before dinner break. He 4x raised from the CO and I shoved 22 big blinds with 88. He fist pump calls and says “Sorry man, I have to call, I have a big hand”. I am hoping I have more than two outs and he flips over A10o. He binks a 10 on the turn and my WSOP adventure comes to an end. I ended up finishing 615 out of 2800 (280 made the money). I was completely exhausted and could have slept for a day. Playing 9 hours of live poker with a lot of money at stake took the wind out of my sails.

After busting, I grab a cab back to Caesars and met Byron at the poker room. We played for a few hours and I got an amazing massage. While finishing out of the money was disappointing I think I played really good and went about as far as I could with the hands that were dealt to me.

Sunday

We woke up and met PAS Publisher Ryan Dodge at the Bellagio for brunch. Ryan owns a Heads Up Sit and Go Training Site. He just finished college and is enjoying the results of his successes in business and poker. After brunch we hit up the Caesars poker room for an afternoon of gamble.

Ryan, Byron, and I sat at the same table and bedlam ensued. We were raising tons of hands and causing all sorts of shenanigans. Byron kept on screaming “I’m All In!!!! ” at the top of his lungs and I was paying the dealer a dollar per request to scream “WHOA” (Joey Lawrence’s famous expression on Blossom). Then, Ryan check raised me on the river with K high in a huge pot. It was one of those “he can never be bluffing spots” and I dreaded calling with my straight on a flush board. I called, he obviously showed K high and our relationship has changed every since (for the better). It was a sick spot to bluff and I can see how Ryan has made a good living for himself playing poker professionally.

At 8pm, we met Akim from Raketracker.ru at Nero’s in Caesars. I thought the steaks were ok but not worth the price. We talked with Akim about the state of poker in Russia. As you may or may not know, Russian shut down casinos last week. These casinos will be reopened as poker rooms as poker is now an official sport in Russia. Akim is PAS’s oldest publisher so it was great getting his opinion on the current product/service we are providing.

After dinner with Akim, we met back up with Ryan to play poker. He invited a few of his friends from the poker world to play at out table. So there I was, sitting a table with some of the most talented poker players in the world. Not exactly great table selection but I had a blast.

Monday

Woke up, crushed another Bellagio Cafe breakfast, and headed to the blackjack table. I lost my soul and my monies to a great man named Belmonte. Belmonte was an acrobat in the circus before becoming a BJ dealer. He entertained us with stories of the road and his random/scary knowledge of the Mafia. My last hand I split two aces, grabbed all the cash i had in my pocket and drew a 6 and a 5. My man Belmonte hit flipped over blackjack and I wept like a schoolboy.

Next, we headed to the piano bar at Bellagio to meet Fred and Julia from Power Poker. We had a great chat about the industry and how things have changed over the years. Fred used to be our AM at Absolute and Julia has been in gaming for 7 years. They showed us pictures of their beautiful office in Guatemala. I envy people who take chances in life. I am such a nit I couldn’t imagine moving my business and family to a third world country. I hope to one day do something like that. I don’t want to go into detail yet, but we chatted about a few amazing promotion ideas for PAS players and publishers. Julia and Fred understand the rakeback industry and that to compete, you have to add value.

Finally, we finished off the day at a party thrown by Karim from RakeTheRake at the XS Nightclub at Encore. I certainly had too much fun in my early 20’s but had never been to a place like this. I was always a dive bar kind of guy and XS is the polar opposite. Byron and I got lost in a pool of graphic tees, plastic, bros, and jazziness. We finally decided this place wasn’t our scene and split after saying hello to Karim. We were beat and had a flight at 9am the next morning.

Tuesday

We got to the airport early and had breakfast. Catching flights out of Vegas is probably one of the most depressing events a man can experience. All I could think about on our ride to the airport was the $500k I could have won in my WSOP event. We made our way to our gate and found out the flight had been delayed 3 hours. Apparently Northwest was “waiting on a part”. I was too tired to care about my safety on the ensuing flight so I laid on the tile floor and slept.

I was abruptly woken up by the “Wheel….Of…..Fortune!” slot machine and announcement at our gate: “We will be boarding in 20 minutes”. I questioned a gentlemen sitting next me (who eventually became known as “The Advanced Scout”). He said our flight was in fact leaving 2 hours early (i had only been asleep for an hour). Then I heard “ladies and gentlemen, we have bypassed the part needed and have decided to take off before it arrives…thank you for flying Northwest”. Soooo…don’t we need that part to fly safely? Again, I was too miserable to care so I followed the heard onto the plane. Right before take off, The Advanced Scout spotted a dent on the wing outside his window. He called said dent to the attention of the stewardess who then notified the pilot. Pilot comes running back to the wing area and looks at the phone. I ask Byron..”Um, why can’t he just go outside on the wing and get a better look. How good are the images on your iPhone? Are we going to die?” The pilot then gets on the intercom and tells us the maintenance crew is going to have to “work on” the dent. Sigh. The next hour all I hear is a hack saw.

Finally, we start moving again. THEN, the pilot comes on the intercom and says the fuel is too hot due to us being on the runway for weeks and we have to get towed back to the gate. “We are going to exchange the hot fuel for cooler fuel folks. After that, we should be good to go”. Eventually the geniuses at Northwest decided it would be best to delay the flight until 7 am the next morning.

Northwest “hooks us up” with a sick room at the Hampton Inn across from In and Out Burger. Not only that, but they were kind enough to give us $75 in food vouchers. Except the Hampton Inn doesn’t have a restaurant. Byron and I made lemon out of lemonade and bought up half the snack shop. We grabbed a few hours of sleep, showered, made some calls and caught a cab to The Mirage. The Mirage, like myself, is stuck in 1986. However, they do have a Carnegie Deli. After our matza ball soup and corn beef sammys we headed to the poker room. We stayed until 4am and I lost two buy ins. Ran KK into quads.

Wednesday

I wake up and have no idea who I am or where I am currently located. I don’t drink so this episode can only be due to pure insanity. We grab the shuttle to the airport, grab breakfeast, and post up shop in front of gate. Problem: there isn’t anyone from Northwest at out gate. Our pilots were there but a gate attendant was no where to be found. I cry a bit inside and try to sleep. We finally board the plane at 9am (for a 7am flight). Keep in mind this was the same flight number we were supposed to leave on the day before. About half of the original flight chose to avoid the death trap with wings so there were plenty of empty seats/rows. I grabbed a row and and slept laying down the entire flight.

I woke up to sickness and a collective exhale from my flight mates. We made it safe and sound.

Both Byron and I got sick after our trip. No, not that “What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas” kinda sick. Just head colds. Overall, the trip was a blast. My WSOP experience was amazing and I am planning to ship a bracelet next year. Meeting up with PAS Publishers was priceless. Putting a face to a name/email/IM was a really cool experience for me (Joe Tall is in fact…tall). I absolutely love working with our publishers. The Publishers we met up with are extremely talented webmasters but more importantly really good people. Great food, great people, and great gamble. All in all, an awesome trip.

Tony