Yes, I played Golf!

My old poker buddy, Jim, from Michigan showed up with his son to play in one of the No Limit Hold'em tournaments in the Series. No luck as they both went deep into the tournament but couldn't last to the money.

We had dinner at Harrah's steak house on the strip called "The Range". Great restaurant, great meals overlooking the Strip.

The Venetian runs daily Poker Tournaments with modest buy-ins and regularly attracts a good field. At dinner we agreed to buy a third of each other's action so that if any of us cashed, we would all share in the profits. Turns out that the field was over 200 and while I might have won the bragging rights by lasting longest, I missed the money bubble by busting out in 28th place - some 8 places short of making the money.

We took a stroll up the Strip and stopped at Casino Royale for a little $3 Craps. Craps is fun. It is a much more "social" game than say, Blackjack or playing the slots. There is a lot more interaction between the players and certainly there is a lot more cheering as the dice roll down the table and high fives when good numbers hit and payoff.

We played golf at Bear's Best, a course where they recreate some of the best holes from golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus around the world. The course is kept in beautiful condition and is a real treat to play. Pictured above is Jim and I and also a shot of Jim and his son, Chris.

Lakers Win in OT

NBA Finals. LA Lakers versus the Orlando Magic, game 4 in Orlando. You think Jerry Buss, the owner of the Lakers, was in Orlando? Nope. He was right here in the Rio's Brasilia room for Day One of the WSOP 7 Card Stud / Omaha 8 Hi-Lo Poker Tournament on Table 230 Seat 7.

I pushed into Table 230 just as the last quarter of the basketball game was winding down. Jerry was to my right and to my left was a big screen TV monitor silently showing the game. Just after Fisher made the three pointer to tie it up the screen went blank. It came back on, then when it went into overtime the screen went blank again, but returned after a few minutes. Jerry was getting pretty excited. At one point he even said that sometimes being there live was just too much to take because of getting so wrapped up in the game.

Sorry to say that my shift ended at that table during the overtime so I had to leave and miss Jerry's reaction to the Lakers winning the game.

Ladies' World Championship!

In an effort to broaden the appeal of Poker to the gentler gender the World Series of Poker holds a Ladies only tournament every year. Word on the street is that the Amazon Room smells so much better during the ladies' event.

The event lasted three days. Day three is the final table of nine players.

I started work at 1:00, the ladies' final table was scheduled for 2:00. Along with some twenty other dealers I didn't catch a table assignment immediately and had to sit and see what opened up. Half an hour later our Dealer Coordinator was heading toward the Dealer Break room and spotted my friend Barry and I. When she mentioned the ladies' final table Barry jumped right on it, "Let me and Buz do it!" The DC needed one more volunteer and Rusty put his hand up.

Final tables for the larger events are played out either on the ESPN Stage or the Featured Table Stage. This one was on the Featured Table Stage. No ESPN tournament coverage and the players were not set up with microphones but there were a lot of cameras and the hand held ESPN camera did shoot some background footage. Also, a video shot looking down at the table shows the crowd the board, the chips and the dealer's hands on four big screen monitors above. Was I nervous when I got in the box with cheering crowds in the bleachers all around me and every move of my hands displayed on the big screens? You betcha!

Stressful? Yes. Nerve wracking? Yes, but pretty cool have been in the middle of it all as a dealer at the 2009 Ladies' No Limit Hold'em World Championship!

Some final tables last well into the night. This one was exceptional for its brevity. The hands that were dealt out were just amazing. Kim Rios looked like she was going to run over the table when Barry dealt her pocket Aces on the last hand of his down. I replaced him and dealt her pocket Aces on the very next hand! After that, with Lisa Parsons all in, she caught the case nine on the last card to make a larger Full House and eliminate Lisa. It seemed that every few hands not only were the players all in but the hands were huge. Sets of Kings, Full Houses, Nut Flushes. Hand after hand huge pots and huge stacks of chips moving from one player to another.

When it got down to heads up Lisa Hamilton and Lori Bender were playing for the bracelet and the $75,000 difference between first and second place money. It lasted exactly two hands when Lori Bender's pair of eights with a nine was outkicked by Lisa Hamilton's eights with a queen kicker. The heads up session was so quick that it played out while I was escorting Mari Lou Morelli, the third place finisher, to the payout clerk. By the time I returned, just a few minutes later, all the chips were in the middle and the last card was being dealt. Less than three and a half hours and it was all over. My first final table.

Daniel's comeback

After being nearly eliminated from the tournament at my table, Daniel Negreanu placed fourth when it was all over. He received over $130,000 for his efforts. Another Daniel, Daniel Alaei won this Omaha 8 event and was paid $445,898 in cash plus the elusive gold and diamond bracelet.

Omaha

The World Championship of Limit Omaha High - Low 8 or Better, day two played out yesterday. 179 players put up the $10,000 entry fee. For any unfamiliar with the game, each player is dealt four cards, there is a flop/turn/river for five community cards and the winner(s) must use exactly two cards from their hand and three from the board to make winning hands. The perfect low is A-2-3-4-5 because straights and flushes do not count on the low side. The "8 or Better" rule makes things interesting in that in order to qualify to win the low half of the split pot the player must make at least an 8 low or better, otherwise, the entire pot goes to the high hand.

The field had begun with 179 players and by late afternoon there were about 70 players left. I pushed into a table that included Daniel Negreanu (pictured). Daniel was quite short stacked. He played a few hands I dealt but having missed his draw, he had to fold leaving him with just $4700 in chips when the average at that point was over $70,000. Everyone had begun the tournament with $30,000 in tournament chips. Next hand, with all of his chips in the middle, Daniel won three quarters of a four way pot by winning the high hand and splitting (tying) the low half. This gave him $17,000, a better position but still very low. The money starts when 18 players remain and Daniel was very much at risk of busting out way short of the money.

By the end of the night, Daniel had scooped several large pots, quadroupling up his stack twice along the way and with only 17 players left in the field Daniel survived with over $100,000 and made the money.

The remaining 17 players will reconvene after a night's sleep to decide a winner. Making the money in this event is worth $26,921 (for 16th, 17th or 18th place) and the winner gets the gold bracelet along with $445,898.

Me and Mike

Mike Matusow signs his book for me.

Rather than a "How to play Poker" book, his is an autobiography and an interesting look at life as a Poker pro - a hard way to make an easy living.

It's gonna be big!

So many players entered the $1000 No Limit Hold'em tournament that two days were needed to hold a "Day One". By the end of day 1b something like 6012 players had entered the tournament. That means that the prize pool was $5.4 million and the winner got some $770,000.

Despite the seemingly easy pickings with so many amateurs in the field, not many recognizable names were in the field. It seems that the big name pros prefer the higher buy-in events because the starting chip stacks are so much larger. This provides a lot more "play" and postpones the "All In before the flop" races to much later in the proceedings. The larger chip stacks mean that decisions will need to be made on every betting round and the more decisions that are forced, the more the results are dependant on skill rather than luck. Obviously, that will favor the pros over the weekend players.

Although not many pros were in this event, they can be seen all around and in other events such as the special 40th Anniversary tournament that had a $40,000 buy-in and the Champions Invitational that provided a restored classic 1970 Corvette to the winner.

Mike Matusow wrote a book and set up a booth to sell autograph copies. I couldn't resist.