Obviously I forgot to post an update here about my experience at the most recent WPBT Winter Classic, so I will rectify that now. I also played some real live poker recently which I will talk about later in this post.
My weekend in Vegas back in December was enjoyable, even if my tournament experience was not positive in the results column. It was great fun to see so many of my poker friends again and play a few hands, at the mixed games Friday night as well as at the tourney Saturday. I also had a nice upscale dinner Friday at a restaurant at the Cosmopolitan with hostess PokerVixen as well as WriterJen, Astin, Grange, DrChako2, CK BWoP, OhCaptain, and other fine folks. Saturday was tourney day, and I got off to a bad start with several drawing hands that missed their flops. When I finally got a hand to play, AA, my opponent turned a flush and I was unable to lay it down, thus busting much too early. If there was an advantage to being out so soon, it meant I could pay attention to who was busting in what order so I could track the last longer bet that I was managing. CK BWoP was a huge help in watching and noting the finishers. The team of CJ Hoyt and Brad Willis won the last longer, and CJ won the tournament. I hope we have another Winter Classic in 2015 and that I am able to attend.
Just this past weekend, I visited a cardroom in Ventura which I heard about a week or two ago from my friend Charlie at Cruise Trek. It's called the Players Casino, in the middle of car-dealer row just off the 101 freeway. It's a nice enough place, nothing fancy but quite a few poker tables and a few other table games; no slots or other machines. I played in their Saturday AM tournament, with a $50 + $25 buy-in and one $50 add-on available which I took. I spent the first hour of the tournament (three blind levels) treading water, hardly playing any hands. I won several hands shortly after the first break and built my chip stack back up, winning a race along the way and catching KK to double up on one hand. Then I had to get patient again during another card-dead stretch. To make a long story short, I finished fourth for a payout of over $600. My best tournament score ever, I am happy to say. Now I will have some money to play with on my next trip to Las Vegas, which may or may not happen before the next WPBT. Then again, I may have to pay another visit to Players Casino again before too long. If anyone reading this is in or visiting this area, let me know and maybe we can drop in there for a few hands.
