The Blogger gathering and misc. stuff Pt.1

I'm going to have to reconstruct Friday.....from 1 beer to 30 (beers, drinks, and shots).

I haven't met this many cool people in such a short time period....ever......Friday was an epic bender that lasted probably 27 hours (I got up at 3:30AM to get to Manchester, NH and landed in Vegas at about 11:00AM. The drinking part of the bender lasted from 1:00PM to maybe 5 or 6:00AM on Saturday).

You have to keep in mind that I've never met anybody involved with the WPBT. I've only read blogs and played in a lot of the tourneys for the last couple of years. I started to talk to a few people recently on Yahoo! IM and it got me motivated to get my ass out to Vegas. If I didn't have such a cool wife I may not have made it (she is also almost 5 months preggers so there was no way she was joining me...at least this year) So I get there at 12:00 after milling around the airport and waiting for my shuttle. As soon as I walked into the Imperial Palace Biggestron called me on my cell. I was standing there and we were talking on the cells and he walks right by me.....I have to say that Biggestron sort of took me under his wing and introduced me to everybody and that was very cool in my opinion. It's a bit awkward meeting people you've never met before and B made that a whole lot easier. Thank you Biggestron! I needed to take a shower and get ready to hit the Venetian Poker room. I got my room and I thought the place was kind of a dump. Actually the room was OK but the hotel-casino was kind of dirty compared to the rest of the strip hotels. Biggestron told me that the I.P. was much cleaner this year than last year! I guess that would happen when Harrahs buys a hotel.

I head down to the Venetian. I get to the poker room and get seated at a 1-2 NL table...the play was exactly like foxwoods. I was up and down a bit...I think I played for a couple of hours and ended up down about 35.00 bucks. Usually have to put in more than a couple of hours at Foxwoods to turn a substantial profit. There were a couple of massive pots on my table involving set over set over open ended straight etc. By this time I already have had a few beers. Biggestron came over and pointed out MiamiSchaubs...LOL...at least when he pointed over to where MiamiDon and Schaubs were sitting.....I thought I heard him say 'Don' when he pointed at 'Schaubs'. So for the rest of the day I thought Schaubs was Don (More on this later as 30 or so drinks will tend to cloud or erase memory). I met a few more people over there like Falstaff (great job putting the tourney and weekend together by the way!), and ScottyMc. We headed back to the I.P. around 6 or so and started hanging out with some of the people who's blogs I've been reading for years now. More drinks and meetings take place. The 'massive' I.P. poker room was completely full when we got back. I meet a bunch of people right away that were hanging around and playing poker at the enormous I.P. poker room...lol. I think I met GCox (awesome dude) , Bayne_S (I said to Bayne..."anybody ever tell you that you have the name of a super hero"?....he replied with a smile...."No"!...."uh...OK" I said, Instant Tragedy (guy is like the emcee of the party), Geek and Proud (Great limit poker player and Bowler apparently...also he of the electric Menorah!) , Tripjax (guy is like a long lost friend....nicest person ever) and wife, Dr. Pauly(What do you say.....I've been reading his blog for years...he still has time for idle conversation), AlCan'tHang (the guy is always at the center of the party....surrounded by SoCo shots), Joe Speaker (guy is up on his fashion...he can wear a scarf and get away with except for some good natured ribbing from his buddies..AND listen to Iron Maiden and Ratt), Derek (I don't think this kid sleeps...really he was there when I crashed and then he was there in the casino when I got back from my room) , PokerPeaker (Seemed a little nervous but is extremely nice), and I'm sure a few others. I have to say that everybody was easy to talk to and as nice as you could expect.....really....

We decided to go to the 'Hofbrau house' to get a meal before going to the limit mix games at the MGM Grand. Biggestron and GeekandProud introduced me Columbo and wife on the way over as we shared a cab. The 'Hofbrau House' is quite a place. They make Saurbraten and Dumplings as good as my grandmothers! I had that plate plus two massive liters of the Hofbrau Hefeweizen. My grandfather always wanted to get me to a German Beer Hall for an Oktoberfest but sadly he passed away before we could make plans. I grew up eating German food so this was actually a treat for me. The polka band and the rowdy beer hall atmosphere was also a good time. Afterwards we headed over to the MGM Grand poker room. There were too many bloggers at the tables so we just sat down at an empty one. Columbo said something to the poker room manager and soon enough we had a table going. I think the rotation of games was H.O.R.S.E plus Crazy Pineapple. I was doing pretty well for a while. The beers just kept coming and I started to loosen-up. That wasn't good since Geek and Proud and some guy from Bell Biv Devoe was card racking. I think Biggestron introduced me to S.t.B. and BadBlood as well. I was impressed by Maigrey's play on the mixed games. 'Dutch' Boyd put a bunch of chips down next to me and....then he left. He came back and got moved immediately to the other blogger table. So that was uneventful.

We decided to cash out and head over to the bar. I finally met Iggy....in all his 4 foot plus glory. He was buying drinks and handing out 'Hammers' (Iggy kept the party in overdrive he is as cool as I thought he would be).....Drizztdj (what can you say...another one of the nicest people I've met and one hell of a player), Kat (I think I said something that pissed her off...if so...I was drunk and I'm sorry), Bobby Bracelet aka Uncle Bracelet now??, April, and a bunch of others I can't remember at the moment...I mean after the Hofbrau House and a bunch of drinks at the MGM I was getting pretty loaded. Biggestron and Geek were going to another casino...but I was having a great time and decided to stick around. I was pretty sure that Iggy was buying drinks for 'Stiffler'. The dude from 'American Pie' was sitting at the bar. Of course Iggy had more people talking to him...I mean he's the Blogfather. There was also a billion Brits that took over the town for the weekend for the Brit (don't remember his name) vs. Mayweather on Saturday. That and the fact that the American dollar is in the garbage at the moment...makes for the whole town of Manchester, England transplant itself to Vegas.

I decided to head back to the I.P. so I went to the cab stand at the front. I jumped in with Bobby Bracelet, Drizz, and Speaker maybe? Anyway we get to the I.P. and there is a huge crowd of bloggers gambling it up. This is where I start buying two beers at a time and I'm just trashed. I went to the Pai Gow table. I never played before but Bobby Bracelet was nice enough to help me out. He has more patience than ANYBODY ...apparently came over. I am a Pai Gow retard!...he was nice enough to at least make sure I wasn't just throwing my chips away without a chance. I also wasted some cash on the Texas Hold'em special or whatever it's called. That table game should be set on fire...and so should Pai Gow. Drizz and Bobby Bracelet....top notch in my book. So after the dealer makes me look like a fool in those games I go to the Blackjack tables. I stayed there and was joined by Bobby and Derek. I made most all of my money back at Blackjack.....even loaded to the gills with no sleep for almost 24 hours I can still always go to the Blackjack tables and kick some ass. After a shite load more beers at the table I basically have tunnel vision. The last thing I really remember is talking to Derek and ordering beers. This is when MiamiSchaubs...LOL...probably saw me and came over. I probably sounded like this "Huh!....oh fuck...SCHAAAAUUUUBBSSSS...hey man nice to meet ya...blah...blah...blah....." I really don't remember. (more on this Saturday as I didn't remember that actually took place) I must have got up from the Blackjack table with 30 drinks in me and no sleep for 27 hours and staggered back to room. I mean that is quite an impressive feat for somebody who has a 2.5 year old at home. I mean I don't stay up all night like I used to. The next morning (afternoon around 1:00) I woke up fully clothed in my bed...with a bunch of chips.....and with my feet still on the ground! I must have sat down on my bed and just fell backwards.................