Okie-Vegas 2009 memories

I won't ramble on too much here, but I wanted to post a few thoughts about my second trip to Okie-Vegas. I enjoyed myself the first time I went, so I was glad that it worked out for me to attend again this year.

Our hosts, the fabulous Mr. and Mrs. GCox, put together a relaxed and fun weekend. Although there was plenty of poker involved, there was also a generous amount of goofing off at the lake, sitting around gabbing about everything and anything, telling hilarious if occasionally "inappropriate" jokes, eating tasty goodies, and drinking the beverage of your choice. Many Keystone Lights, along with several other varieties of adult thirst-quenchers, sacrificed themselves to the attendees of this event. They did not give themselves up in vain.

I did not arrive until Friday evening, after a longer-than-expected drive from Grapevine TX. I drove directly to the Cox lake house, which I had not visited before. It is way out in the boonies, which makes for a nice, quiet setting (when we weren't whooping it up ourselves). When I got there, the Mr. and Mrs. were already on site. Kat, OOSSUUU, Greg, and Special K were still at one of the local casinos, trying to take a few dollars from the locals at the poker room. Instant Tragedy and his intended were driving up from Lubbock TX later that evening. After I settled in a bit and caught up with the Coxes, the poker players pulled up. Before long, we decided to play a small SNG. $20 buy-in, NLHE, six players. I played my usual tight game and did OK at first. Then (warning: bad beat story ahead), I ran the nut flush into quad nines to take a big chunk out of my stack. I hung in long enough to place third; two places paid. After we all had some excellent cold fried chicken from a legendary local spot, a mixed cash game broke out: NLHE and PLO, blinds of $0.50 / $1.00. I bought in for the max of $100, which may or may not have been a good idea. After a slow start, I picked up J-T-T-x in Omaha. (Warning: here comes another one.) With almost everyone limping in, the flop came T-6-6. Top boat; doesn't start off much better than that. OOSSUUU and I got heads up, and after rags on the turn and river (no overcards to my tens), OOSSUUU pushed. I had him covered. I thought about what he could have to bet like that, but I couldn't put him on a better hand, so I called. Of course, he showed the nuts when he turned over the other two sixes. I'm pretty sure that is the first time I have run into quads twice in the same day.

Saturday was the day of the Okie-Vegas Main Event. The buy-in and player pool was a tad smaller than the WSOP Main Event going on at the same time, but as far as I'm concerned, we had more fun. OOSSUUU bought himself and his girlfriend in, presumably hoping to double his chances at a win. Things didn't quite work out that way, though; both of them busted on the early side. I kept my game tight-aggressive and won a few pots to build my chip stack. I thought at one point that Kat and I might end up heads-up, like we did in my only other Okie-Vegas appearance, but she busted in third place when my 99 held up to her 88. Greg and I were the last two standing. I went into heads-up with about a 2 to 1 chip lead, and I got some cards to keep the pressure on. At one point, though, I had a "aw fukkit" moment and called Greg's all-in with T8s. His 44 held up and my stack took a big hit. Eventually, I lost a race and finished second. I was happy to make back my tourney buy-in and my loss from the cash game the night before. I finished the weekend ahead $11 for poker, but ahead an immeasurable amount in fun times.

During a break in the tourney, I went out near my car to call home, and discovered that my car had a flat tire. I had picked up a nail along the way, and had to put on my emergency spare. Gary helped me with the tire change and gave me directions to the Wal-Mart in Chickasha where they would be able to fix the tire Sunday morning on my way home. Oh well, could have been worse: my air conditioner could have gone out.

After staying up way too late Saturday night swapping stories and checking the score of the Rangers game, I hit the sack. I was up before everyone else the next morning, so I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone except a mostly asleep OOSSUUU who waved at me as I snuck out the door. After a brief stop to get the tire repaired, I hit the highway and headed home.

I look forward to future Okie-Vegas events and encourage you to come to one if you can. You will have a great time, no doubt about it.