Wise Hand Poker

Well its become the year of the Professional Poker Player at this years WSOP. I have to congratulate John Phan for winning his second bracelet.Whenever John see's me he always makes sure to say hello and ask me how my play is going. John is not only the life of the table at any event is he is a super gentleman and does some amazing charity work for his home country, Vietnam.

I would also like to say to Chris Bell, I know you must be disappointed with your 2nd, but it was your second final table this year and with the fields that have been playing this year it is a great accomplishment and I know all of your friends and family are proud of you, I know I am. Thank you for allowing me to sweat you for the 6 hours Sunday!!!!

Also, congratulations to Eddie Villareal, Little Eddie as he is called at the Bicycle Casino by all of us who know him. Eddie is a daily fixture at the Bike playing the Nooner tournaments on a daily basis. He busted 13th in the Seniors Event when his AK was beat on the Turn by AQ on a flop of 10-J-8 and the turn was a 9 giving his opponent a straight. Nice showing Eddie, 17k will let you play a lot of Nooner Events this year. To go through the 2218 people to make it so close to the final table is a great accomplishment. Surviving beats like that are very hard to do in any tournament.

Today all eyes in the Poker World will be watching the 50k H.O.R.S.E. Event. Supposedly this is the Pro's main Event and it has been honored by the WSOP as the Chip Reese Event, rightfully so.Freddy Deeb took this one down last year and there is no doubt in my mind this event will not disappoint us Poker enthusiast, good luck to all of you.

If you have yet to make it out to this years WSOP, you should really try too. It is an amazing spectacle and there are so many games going on. Caesar's is having huge turnouts for their events and the Venetian and Binions are also doing well. The Main Event starts next Friday and the convention center at the Rio should have it annual Poker Show as it has the past several years. You can pick up almost anything there from coin protectors to pictures with your favorite player.

You cannot tell this country is in a supposed recession by the throngs of people in Vegas. I was truly amazed at the crowds as the weather is beginning to get HOT. I still see some great Hotel rates at some of the dot com sites so shop around a few of them if you can make it to Vegas.

Wishing everyone the best and if someone out there has an extra $1500.00 they want to get rid of, the last $1500.00 NL Event starts Monday at noon. I am on Vacation starting Monday......for 12 days......(:

Take Care...Be Safe...and congratulations to all of the people who won bracelets and made final tables at this years event. A great accomplishment and you all should be very proud of yourselves!!!

Yeah here it comes. Ok I was really excited to play in this event. A $1000.00 entry and my second ever WSOP tournament. I imagined myself playing and doing well as I drove to Vegas with my wife Sunday.

The ride was smooth and very little traffic and I thought about the event the whole way up.

When we arrived we went and had some lunch and I showed my wife around the Amazon room. She has seen it on TV when we watch the WSOP on ESPN and she was impressed. We went over to the registration area and checked too see how many players were entered and at about noon on Sunday there were 760 people pre-registered.

We walked around the Casino and I played 25 cent Draw Poker and ended up winning $200.00 on my $20.00 investment. It was just about 2pm and we headed over to watch my good friend Chris Bell at the final table of the $2500.00 Pot Limit Holdem Event.

We sat with Michael Gracz,Peter Feldman,Layne Flack, Joe Tehan,and a few other friends of Chris's from North Carolina. After 4 hours of play Chris went heads up with this kid from Belgium who by the skin of his teeth surviving an all in, when 4 handed.

My buddy Ernest Bennett and his wife Mary stopped by to give us the keys to our room at Caesars that Ernest got for me. He had to use his comps and he likes staying at the Rio, so being the great guy he is, he got my wife and I a room,,thank you Ernest.

We left after watching Chris for 6 hours as I promised my wife an evening on the town. We had a great Italian dinner at Caesars and walked around wanted to see a show, but we were just to tired and called it a night.

Fast forward to 11am and we are at the Rio watching Gavin Smith and Joe Stapleton along with their guest Layne Flack due the Poker Road radio show.

Noon and the doors to the Amazon Room open and 2218 players make their way to their seats to start event #42.

After some introductions by Oklahoma Johhny Gale, we here "Shuffle up and Deal" I am at table 16 seat 3 in the Orange area of the Amazon Room. The blinds start at 25-50 and the button is in seat 10.

There are a bunch of old guys at the table and the very first hand I am the only one who folds,,, Q-5 diamonds. Ok I see how this table is going to play tonite.

Second hand under the gun I have AA, I raise to 225 and get 3 callers, flop 995 two clubs. I bet out 525 and two players call. turn 10d, I put out another 500 and one folds the other raises to 1500. Now we only started with 3000 chips and I already put 1250 in the pot. I fold my AA face up and wait for a better spot. I build my stack back up with 66 vs 55 to 3400 and the doomsday hand comes to me in the Big Blind. I have QJ and 4 limpers in front, I check and the flop comes 4-Q-J check,check check, bet 200. I raise to 400 and it folds around to the first caller. He raises to 800 and I look at him as he swallows hard, naturally, so I raise to 1500,he just calls. The turn is a 10 and I go all in for my last 1500 chips. He starts to fold but pulls his cards back and calls me. I turn over my QJ for top 2 pair and he just shakes his head and turns over KJ. He is open ended and of course the Ace comes on the river to knock me out after 45 minutes of play.

We head back to Caesars and pack, go have some lunch and we are on the road home by 5pm.

One of these days, one of these days.....

Take care...Be Safe...

Ok, the time has come!!!! I am leaving for Vegas at 7am Sunday Morning. I am playing in the Seniors Event on Monday 12pm sharp! and I am hungry, determined and DUE.

I will be able to blog while there and I will definitely keep you all updated.

Thanks so much for all of your support.

Take Care...Be Safe..