2008 WSOP, Day 15: R & R

Friday the 13th and I’m off. Lucky me. Actually slept ‘til noon today, meaning after almost three weeks in Vegas and two weeks of working, my sleeping-waking schedule may finally be adjusting to where it needs to be.

I saw Yorkie Pud’s comment asking whether I’ve gotten to play much poker myself lately. A few people have asked me that, actually. Gadzooks asked me, too, when she stopped by to see the end of the PLO final table I covered last night. Was glad to see her once more, as the Vegaspalooza express rolls out tomorrow, I believe.

I told ’Zooks that I had played exactly four times. Five, now, as I did make it over to Binion’s today for a short while. Four of those five sessions have only lasted an hour or two each. Had one longer session at the Imperial Palace where I played a very fun 2/4 H.O.R.S.E. game. Ended up a loser (damn you, Razz!), but had a blast. Falstaff is the one who got me over there, picking me up at the end of a shift at the Rio. (Thanks, man!)

Today’s short session at Binion’s went better. After an hour or so I left up twenty-plus clams, though couldn’t help thinking it could’ve been more, as not once but twice I folded suited cards only to see I would have flopped a flush both times.

So I haven’t played much. And to be honest, being so inundated with poker has significantly reduced the urgency to play.

Watching these guys go at it for hours upon hours in the Rio, I’ve noticed a couple of differences between myself and them. The obvious one, of course, is the wide gap in our relative skill level. Sure, I’ve seen some bad play here and there, especially during the first couple of levels of these three-day events. But I’ve seen some incredible poker, too. Pretty much anybody who makes a final table at one of these things has more than some clue about what he or she is doing. Or at least that has been my impression.

I think I mentioned a couple of posts back having harbored a fantasy about playing in that $1,500 PLO event that concluded last night. Observing that final table, especially when it got down to four- and three-handed, I felt a little like a recreational hoopster at an NBA game. Yeah, it looks like the same game, but if I were to step out onto the hardwood I’d be lucky to last one trip up the court.

The other difference is the level of commitment these guys have to poker. They simply cannot get enough of it. On Day 2 of our event I watched (and reported on) Eugene Todd running back and forth between the PLO tourney and Day 1 of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em tourney which he’d also entered. I’m seeing players bust out of my event, then minutes later be sitting at a cash game, or in a different event on the other side of the Amazon Room.

They live and breathe it, clearly. For them it seems strange not to be playing. I love to play, of course, but it’s rare for me ever to feel anxious about not playing.

Tomorrow I’m covering Day 1 of the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha w/Re-Buys event (Event No. 28). I have yet to see Sammy Farha this summer, though I’d think he’d be showing up for this one, if he’s coming at all this summer. Should be another wild and woolly one, I imagine.

Tonight I’m taking it easy. Will probably check now and then over at PokerNews to see how that Razz event is going (Event No. 26), in particular how F-Train is doing. He played a little while with me at that H.O.R.S.E. game over at the Imperial Palace. I think I mentioned before that I had a guy on my left later on who was playing in today’s Razz event as well, so that made two different WSOP entrants at my table.

Would be cool to see ’em both still playing when I go back to the Rio tomorrow.