Monte Carlo High Rollers and Bellagio Junk Kickers

Congrats again to Shirley who won the Omaha 8 event at the Bike the other night. The last time I spoke to her earlier this week, she said she was due for a big win! Max Shapiro wrote a recap of the event. Take a peek.

My brother Derek has been running hot at Party Poker. He won two seats to satellites in the past 24 hours. He played in the Aussie Million satellite today and took 16th out 101. Not too shabby, bro!

I bought my latest plane ticket. I'm found a $217 roundtrip flight from NYC to Las Vegas in October via Jet Blue, the official airline of the Tao of Poker. I'll be here in Las Vegas for 16 days in October and three more weeks in December, both for WPT Bellagio events. When I get back to NYC, I'm gonna book my flight to Amsterdam and Barcelona for mid-September. I'll be covering a European Poker Tour event at Barcelona. Also in late September, I'll be in Atlantic City covering the WPT Borgata Open and making a token appearance at the Bash at the Boathouse. In November, I'll be at Foxwoods Casino covering another WPT event. Yeah, my schedule is filling up for the rest of the year. Looks like I'll be on the road a lot over the next 8-10 months.

Grubby and I checked into the Monte Carlo on Thursday afternoon. Grubby got three nights... comped. He also got two free buffets, two trips to the spa, and two tickets to Lance Burton... all free. My main man Grubby is a high fuckin roller. They treated him like a God among peasants today. And I got to ride on his coat tails. He's trying to trade his Lance Burton tickets for a ticket to see Avril LaVigne at Hard Rock Casino.

We went over to the Bellagio to play poker after an early dinner at the Monte Carlo buffet. The Bellagio was a awful experience. We should have just stood on Las Vegas Blvd. and charged tourists $5 each to kick us in the balls. At least we would have made some money.

I sat down at a $8/16 table. It was shorthanded and I lost a pot in the first orbit when I flopped two pair and a smug, pink J. Crew shirt wearing, sunglasses sporting motherfucker caught a runner runner flush on me. Five minutes later, I got my pocket Aces cracked by Q-J. Ouch, ouch, ouch. I was down $220 in 10 fucking minutes. My balls swelled up to the size of grapefruits as I contemplated the quickest rebuy in the history of the Tao of Poker.

Oh well. I just smiled and massaged my crotch under the table. I made an amazing comeback two hours later and found myself down $50. That comeback was short lived after I flopped a straight and was rivered again when the board paired and someone caught their full house. Oh well. Grubby didn't do well either at his table.

I spotted some big names playing in Bobby's Room. My table was right in front of Bobby's Room so I could see inside. Jen Harman, Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein (sporting a beard), Minh Ly, Chau Giang, Lyle Berman, and Chip Reese were all there at some point. I also thought I saw David Grey in there. Damn. Talk about one powerful late afternoon poker game.

From my room at the Monte Carlo, I have a view of... the Redneck Riviera as I write this. It's really weird to see where I used to live.

I leave for Denver and Boulder in a few hours. The last time I was in Colorado was a few months before 9.11 with Senor. We saw Phil Lesh and friends at Red Rocks. The Disco Biscuits opened. Getting pumped to see Trey and STS9.

I'm starting my first day off from blogging since May, right.... now.

****** ******

You should be reading... the April Twins: April and April.