Hello there blogisphere!

WSOP update:

My flight out here was uneventful.  My rungood started just after I touched down, at Enterprise Rent-A-Car.  Despite reserving the economy shitbox, I was granted a free upgrade to a much-nicer Hyundai something-or-other.  So instead of manual doorlocks and windows that you have to “roll down,” I have a baller’s car that comes equipped with XM Radio and even an iPod jack.  By the way, once automatic windows replace that spinning knobby crank thing in even the crappiest cars, do you think the term “roll down the window” will fade into extinction?  Will my grandchildren snicker at me when I ask them to roll down the window the way I laughed at mine for using words like “mimeograph” and “Fridgedaire?”

So my first order of business in Las Vegas—obviously—was to purchase a bowling ball.  This I accomplished yesterday before the start of the 1k event at Venetian.  Before the tournament I made a beeline to the pro shop at the Gold Coast to engage in the serious business of bowling ball shopping.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I remembered the answers to the store manager’s esoteric queries about my bowling DNA.  Ball speed, revs, track location, span, grip type.  It all came back to me and I am now the proud owner of a tailor-made, custom-fitted Ebonite Evolve.  This purple bomber will henceforth reside in Jon’s guest room closet and will be my Las Vegas bowling ball.  Look out.

I made Day 2 of the first tourney I played, a Venetian 1k, but brought back only 16 big blinds and busted less than ten minutes into the second day.  At one point on Day 1 I had a big stack, but I dusted most of it doing something super spastic.  It unfolded as follows:

I was humming along nicely then got moved to a new table.  I had about 80k, which was well above average.  I was feeling kind of bossy.  On the second hand at my new table, at 400-800/75a, a kid in his early 20’s opened UTG +1 to 2025.  We had roughly the same amount of chips.  The kid was wearing a hoodie, had on a pair of Monster™ headphones, and had his hair arranged in a purposefully messed-up bedhead ‘do.  He flipped in the chips nonchalantly.  My read:  aggro internet dude.  Opening light.  Poop on him. He got flatted by a tight guy in middle position with 25k and then it’s folded to me in the cutoff.  I had Q7o (computer hand omg!) and decided to go with some outside the box type shit.  I made it 7,025 to go.  The kid responded with a small four bet to 17,300 and the other guy folded.  I considered my options, weighed them briefly and went with the spewiest.  I five-bet to 41,000.  Fun!

Oops, maybe not.  The kid insta-shipped, leaving me with no choice but to surrender.  My read on the player was really bad,for the record:  for the rest of the night, the kid sat there folding.  I blame the headphones.

When my stack dwindled down to only twelve big blinds or so late in the night, I was faced with a classic Vegas-in-June dilemma:  Grind it out or hit the next tourney.  The temptation to just punt off my stack loomed large.  It was 2:00 a.m., we weren’t anywhere near the money bubble and there was a 1500 NL event at the WSOP the next day at noon.  A strong argument for “double up or bust” could be made.  If I bagged just a few chips, I’d be forced to skip that tournament and come back to Venetian at 4:00 pm. just so I could move all in sometime in the first orbit.  Hmmmm….

I ended up doing the conscientious thing, counseling myself to not give up and to play optimally.  I sat there dutifully folding through the end of the night.  Besides, wasn’t skipping a 1500 WSOP event tantamount to saving money?

It ended up happening exactly as I figured it might.  My 2010 WSOP debut was put on hold, then I promptly ran AQ into KK on the fourth hand of Day 2 at Venetian.

I finally made my way over to the Rio last night and proceeded to chop a nice little sit-n-go, so the trip is still off to a decent start.  The sit-n-go wrapped in time for me to do something I had been eagerly anticipating:  take the Evolve out for a test drive.  A few friends and I bowled a couple of games last night at the Gold Coast.  There was some drinking and gambling going on, along with general buffoonery (also spare dancing!), but I was excited to see how my new buddy would perform.  The purple bomber, she don’t hook as much as I figured she might, but I slowly got the hang of it.  She’ll do.  I love bowling!

I’m hungry for my first cash in a WSOP prelim since 2008, and there’s a 1500 PLHE tourney today.  No one likes to play this event (oooh, pot limit scary!) but I’ve made a good run in it before, so I’ll probably give it a go.