Tarr's Blog

So, I spent the weekend at trouble in Vegas. The pickup team I played on "Renegades", turned out to be a fairly high-quality squad. Palmer Porter provided some star power, as well as the best introduction: "Hi, I'm Palmer Porter, I played five and three quarters years at Florida, and I didn't go to nationals because of that guy (pointing at me - a reference to the 16 teams, 3 advance format changing in 2003, such that they had to beat Georgia twice and lost the second time)." Fetch from Chico put the squad together and got a boatload of D's while roaming in the back of the various clam looks that we spent most of the weekend playing. And we got pretty solid contributions all the way down the roster, which was 13 players most of the weekend. As an added bonus, our team had the guy who was suspended by the UPA for socking Dar at 2004 club regionals.

First two games were fairly uneventful defeats of a college team and an Idaho State reunion team (headed up by Idaho). For our third game, we rolled over to the fields of the Wisconsin alums, leading to this exchange:

Hector: "are we playing you guys next?"
Me: "Yep."
Hector: "Muhahahahahahahaha. (long pause.) Was that ominous enough?"

It was, and the Iceholes (who had brought in a few ringers from Sockeye and Bravo since, you know, Wisconsin doesn't have enough good alumni) jumped out to an 8-2 lead before trading with us in the second half. In the crossover game to make quarters, we beat the Oregon State alums, and that was it for Saturday.

Saturday evening was probably more eventful for most than it was for me. There was a "party" that was little more than a meeting place and a drink line. Skip, I appreciate the thought, but save the money next year. If I want to get drunk, I can play poker at the Excalibur and get drinks for the price of tips. Even if I fold every time that's maybe four bucks an hour in blinds.

Anyway, I schmoozed with the Wisconsin guys and the Lawless Guile Committee ladies, met up with some Purdue friends, wandered around the Bellagio for a while, saw Doyle Brunson (the trip was worth it right there), played a couple hours of $3-$6 limit poker at the Alladin, won exactly one dollar, and called it a night. Best starting hands I had all night were pocket 7's and Ace-Jack offsuit, neither of which got me anything. My big winner was Queen-4 suited in the big blind, where I flopped a pair of queens, then drew a backdoor flush to beat the guy with pocket Aces. I made about $70 on that hand.

As chance would have it, Sunday's brackets were pretty unbalanced. This was by no fault of the format. Somehow, Wesleyan alums and William and Mary alums had beaten Santa Cruz Alums and Texas alums, respectively, in pool play, and Wesleyan alums had gone on to defeat Oregon alums. Maybe it was the effects of a night in Vegas, but when the teams stumbled on to the field Sunday, the best four teams in my estimation were Texas, Santa Cruz, Wisconsin, and Oregon, and they were all on one end of the draw. Furthermore, the strong upwind-downwind of the early rounds made upsets more likely. Capitalizing on our unconventional defensive looks and our willingness to jack it into and against the wind, the Renegades managed the early round upset of Wesleyan, and Harvard did the same to William and Mary.

Our tentative plan had been to lose our second game regardless of the result of the first game, so that we could get off the fields in time to enjoy the Super Bowl in its entirety. Somehow, this idea got lost, and we continued our winning ways in upwind-downwind affairs against Harvard. In the finals, we moved over to the crosswind field (although the wind was much weaker at this point anyway) and ran into the buzz saw of C-K, Idris, Cram, and the rest of the Santa Cruz alumni. Thus ended the dream of a pickup team winning the inaugural Vegas tourney.

Personally, I played OK considering I hadn't played in almost three months. I played terribly in the first game (early jitters) and the last game (nothing left), but reasonably well in between.

The Super Bowl brought my only money loss of the weekend - I put $20 on the money line ($20 to win $53) for the Seahawks. I still think it was the smart bet. Fucking phantom holding call. Sunday night was another typical night in Vegas for me. Played $2-$4 at the Tropicana, this time for about three hours, and again won exactly one dollar. Best hand I got was pocket queens, and they treated me right, giving a set of queens to beat the guy who had A-Q and flopped Aces and Queens. I out-kicked the same guy on another hand with A-J suited. I lost a bunch of money with middle pair and a flush draw in another hand.

Monday turned out to be the good day for my gambling. My legs were in agony, so I decided to delay Air Alert workouts until Tuesday morning, and get well at the Poker tables in stead. After hanging out with Tom and Katie for a while, I sat down at a $3-$6 game at Caesar's palace, with a nice view of Mike Matusow and Sean Sheikan at a mixed game table. If you know who these guys are, you know I was in for a treat. Best line came from Sheikan, talking to the next table over - "he's lost fifty thousand dollars in the last half hour. You couldn't play any worse, it's not possible." Anyway, this session was the big winner, for me, as I netted over sixty dollars in not much more than an hour of play. I love loose players, and Caesar's has plenty of them. I topped off my gambling at the spread limit game at the Excalibur, where I made a little over $20 in pretty short order. My total winnings on the trip were $70, including the $20 lost on the Seahawks bet. Of course, take away the club on the river at the Alladin and I only make $10, but so it is.