One Long Drive

Well, I decided to go the whole way today from Vegas to Billings. It turned out only being a 15 hour drive and I did it with ease. The car worked excellent which was a huge relief. It is really good to see the family again for the first time since the end of May. On Friday, we are picking up my brother in Missoula and going up to Flathead Lake. Flathead Lake is located in north western Montana and is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I guess this is why many famous people have houses on the lake. Time to sleep for 12 hours then go play some basketball tomorrow.

Time to Go Home

After a great nine days in Vegas, I think it is time to go home. I haven't been home since May and I am tired of traveling. My car overheated on Saturday and I just got it back from the shop tonight. I also had a rough online session at -$2200 playing 30/60 HU versus a guy who was hitting everything. I need a few days off from poker so I will use the drive home as the much needed break. Overall, this Vegas trip was awesome! I met a lot a great players and learned a ton from watching them. I have so much room for improvement and this week was great for me as a poker player. So tomorrow morning I will leave and hopefully my car will run well. Please pray for me and my long journey back to Billings, Montana.

Life is good

Yesterday afternoon I played my fourth live session of the trip and was +450 at the 10/20 table at the Mirage when I called it quits. I then went to check on the guys at the Rio and none of them had any luck in the 2K pot limit holdem event. I went to find a different casino to play at later on. First, I went to the Treasure Island casino and the poker room sucked, so I got a $1 chip (I am collecting chips from each casino) and left. I then try Harrah's and that too was a small card room that played no bigger that 2/4. So I got a chip and left. From there I went back to the Mirage and sat at the 20/40 table. I had a few second best hands and I was down $550 before I knew it. I then noticed that the 10/20 table was shorthanded so I jumped over there. After another hour and my set of nines losing to 24, I was down another $300. I decided to call it quits and come back to the house.

Today I woke up and had an online session of +2,500. I decided to start playing 3 and 4 tables of shorthanded limit cash games at a time and I was able to handle it fairly easily. I hadn't had much success when I have multitabled more than two in the past. But it is getting a lot easier. After the morning session, I decided to go shopping at the outlet mall near our house. I found a nice pairs of dress shoes and flip flops.

After shopping, I came back and played an hour long session and ran really well for +$3,500. As we speak, we are looking at cardplayer.com's WSOP updates on the $5000 NL holdem event where, at the dinner break, two of our roommates are 1 and 2 in chips. Michael "Worldsgrtest" Banducci, and Jonathon "JCardShark" Little have great chances of reaching the final table. We will probably head over to the Rio tonight and cheer them on.

Vegas report

Vegas is becoming more and more comfortable and I am enjoying every minute of it. Two nights ago, I decided to try playing live in one of the casinos. I ran into Mats and his two Swedish friends while I was walking into the Rio. They were headed to the Venetian so I decided to join them. Praying that they wouldn't card me, I sat down at the 6/12 game. I only had $600 on me and the options were either 6/12 or 20/40, so I had to choose the 6/12 game.
After a few hours, we decided to leave and I cashed out with an acceptable $260 profit.

Last night, seven of us from the house went to PF Chang's in the Alladin Casino. After the great meal, we asked the house if they would spread a 2/4 2-7 triple draw game . They set us up with a private table and we played that along with Crazy Pineapple for the next four hours. The guys were playing crazy and every pot was capped preflop. We finished the night with a little Pot Limit Omaha and had some monsterous $300+ pots with all $1 chips. It was a blast. Shannon ended up the big winner on the night. We got back to the house at about 3:30 and called it a night. (Mats has pictures of the night on his blog at http://poker.se/blog.php?bid=30928.)

Today, everyone in the house played in the $1500 NL event except for Nate and I. When we got up, Nate and I went down to the Bellagio and I played some 8/16. I got bored after a little while and walked away from the table a $150 winner. Nate, Adam, and Shannon all entered the daily tourney at the Bellagio. I didn't feel like waiting for them so I left and went over to the Rio and see who was still alive in the WSOP event. I didn't see any of the guys so I sat down at a 10/20 table. I played for a little while and again became bored so I cashed out a $200 winner. As I am cashing out, the WSOP event went on dinner break and I ran into Aussie J. We decided to go to the buffet in the Rio and had an outstanding meal. After dinner, Aussie J returned to his tourney. I drove back to the house and it looks like Dave, Adam, and I are going to Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

I am really happy that none of the poker rooms have carded me and that I have come out a winner in my first three live sessions in Vegas. Though none of the sessions have been huge wins, they are wins and that is all that I can ask for. Lots and lots of poker, this is sweet.

Sunday Tourneys

I just played some of the best tournament poker that I have ever played. The first tourney I entered into was the 50K guaranteed on Pacific Poker. I ended up taking 73th for a profit of just $55. I was pretty disappointed after my tournament ended when I get all in with 88 on the flop of 7 9 10. AJ decided to call a whole bunch of chips on that flop and a 6 turned for my straight, but an 8 rivered to give him the higher straight. I was in control of this tourney for the longest time and am pretty disappointed.

I then decided to try to qualify for next year's WSOP on Poker Stars. With 7377 entrants, I sat at around average stack for most of the tourney and finally busted at 828th when 234 people get a seat. I got far enough to start smelling the $12000 WSOP package.

I also played in the Million dollar guaranteed on Party poker. I played really well in this tourney and had almost 100,000 chips at bubble time. From then on, I couldnt build my stack any more and eventually was knocked out with 10 10 against KQ. I took 213th out of 5482 for a profit of just $662. I went really deep in 3 tourneys and only profited $347. I am pretty disappointed with that. I will probably play mostly cash games tonight and try to make some good money.

Las Vegas

After a little over a week at my girlfriend's house in Nebraska, I drove to Vegas and arrived today. I have met most of the guys and they seem really cool. I think this is going to be a blast. I am also excited to get back going with poker. Tonight we are going out on the town. I'll update later.

Wrapping Up an Experience of a Lifetime

My final day in Europe has just about come to a close. After London, we went to Brussels for a fairly uneventful two days. It was a nice city, but there just wasn't much for people our age to do there. Overall, my favorite places were Munich, Nice, and the Wimbledon part of London. I feel that if we would have run into more people our age in the other places, we would've had just as much fun as we did in Munich and Nice. I am now in Amsterdam for the night and I fly out tomorrow at around 11:00 am local time and will arrive in Denver at around 8:00 pm. Colin and Duncan went from Brussels to Frankfurt to enjoy the World Cup finals atmosphere. If Germany wins it, I have a feeling that my friends will not return to the states because they will get trampled in the streets with all the rioting that will be going on. Even though I have had a blast here in Europe, I am ready to get back to the states to see my girlfriend and to remind the poker world that I am still alive. I'm not sure how much my girlfriend misses me, but I know the poker world misses my donations. Hopefully, I will start off on the right track when I get back to my computer. Well time to get a good night's rest before my 8 hour flight, 4 hour layover, and 3 hour flight tomorrow. It should be a fun one.