My WSOP Experience #2

Hi Raillers,

....To continue on my WSOP experience, after the crash of Event #7, I had a few days off before Event #17 and had the upcoming Railbirds Private tournament. David (A55A55IN) got into town today and Jane was going to pick him up at the Airport, after picking him up at the Airport she came to my Room to drop off his luggage because check in was at 3pm, i was suppose to go out to lunch with them but felt like sleeping in a bit more. That afternoon we met up with Jane, David and Franky (ilpiugrande), we went to have diner at a nearby gambling hall (4.95$ Steaks) lol, the place was shaddy but at least the food was atable lol, it was fun to meet up and spend some time together, after we headed out to the Tuscany Poker room for some 3/6 limit holdem, Keikel joined us at the casino, we played some poker had a few drinks and that was it for the night, we where all pretty beat lol, David from his trip, Franky from a hang over lmao and i was still beat both physically and mentally from my WSOP event the day before.

The Next day, Franky, David, Kiki, Jane and i are looking for a cheap tournament and decide to head out to O'Shaes for a 60$ tournament, Wow did that tournament suck lol, chips are filthy, cards are old and all marked and the play is simply an ultra turbo donkament/bingo game. I dont think ill ever go back there lol The only thing interesting in the place was a midget with a whistle dressed as a lepracon standing up on the bar and giving green shooters to everyone standing around lol. After we all bust out we head out to Ceasers Palace to meet up with Riwaha and have a bite to eat at the Cheese Cake factory. Now let me tell you something funny, apparently before David left for Vegas, my sweety Sweets Aka Sun asked David to give me a message, to David's demise, that message was a punch on the shoulder lmao, you should of seen David's face when i punched him back as fast as lightning lol, guess he dint know you dont punch the Champ unless ur willing to get punched back lol, sorry buddy its just a reflex. On with diner, i want to eat resonably and healthy so i decide i will have an appetizer and a small salad, lololololol These Americans are Craaaaaazzzzyyyyyy, my appetizer was 8 Huge pieces of Chicken and my small salad was a whole Iceburg lettuce cut in half with all the dressings and stuff lol. After some chats and good meal we head out of the restaurant and Riwaha joins us after busting out of a Mega stack tourney. Im wearing flip flops and we decide to take a walk on the strip, Kiki and I share a huge 36 oz margarita with extra tequila in it lol, i dont drink often and started to feel quite happy except for the walk and blisters i have, so i start complaining like a ***** lol and we decide to head back to the Tuscany and party there. We are having a blast and come to the conclusion that Railbirds members are short bus people so we come up with the term Short Bus Poker lmao, its just because we are a bunch of special people lol, guess u had to be there to get the joke. David, kiki and Franky start playing Video poker at the bar to get free drinks and me, a bit tipsy, decide to go play some 1/2 nl, half an hour later i join them with 200$ more in my pocket lol, we keep drinking and joking around, we decide to go to Franky's room to play some online poker but end up just surfing on RB for a bit and making jokes, at that point the munchies come on and we head back out to the Casino for a bite to eat, after the snack we are all pretty beat and head out our seperate ways to go to our rooms.

The Next Day was the Private tournament, we all meet up for breakfest before, JAZZYLADY and her husband, Elmseeker and his cousin, Tripps747, Tom McEvoy, Jane, David, Franky, Steph (Smiley Chicky), Zippyoz, bbmart60 and wife, sqrtyler and myself. Thanx again to Tom for showing up and medling with the Birds, he was so nice and taking the time to talk to everyone that i bought him a little gift, what more suiting then a Dragon Card gard, as most of you know, Tom is a dragons fan and has loads of them in both his houses, i mean they are everywhere in every shape and form. Zippyoz ended up winning the tourney with JAZZYLADY in second and husband in third, congrats guys on a game well played. I left in a bit of a rush with Jane and Tom at Tom's house for a 1hour private lesson with Tom, he is such a nice guy that he dint even charge me his usual 200$/h fee. Thanx to everyone who showed up at the tourney, everyone was really nice and it was great meeting all of them. sqrtyler is really a living and walking PIMP! lol After the lesson wich consisted in Tom's answering all my questions and me having the privilege of watching him play a 200$ sng on Stars, he explained all his moves and reads he had on players, Thanx again Tom, you trully are a Champion and a class act. After the lesson i head out to The Orleans with Jane to meet up with the rest of the birds for diner at the Buffet, Lou, one of Tom's friend and associate in a coaching web site joined us for diner, what a cool man, this guy is an old timer cash game pro and a gentleman, we had fun with him. After diner everyone was heading out to play a tourney at the Orleans but i decided to go back to my hotel for an early nite, i had a big day tomorrow.

Today was Event # 17, the 1500$ nlhe shootout.

I head out to breaffest and David joins me, we then go to the front to grab a Cab to the Rio but theres no cabs in site just limo's and the Bellboy offers us a deal for the ride to the Rio so we take it and get there in style lol, yes, i know its taky but always fun to ride in a limo.

David and I go check out the Pokerroad Radio booth and before i know it its time for me to head out to my table, Im sitting at Blue 17 if you guys want to check out the pictures of my opponents (worldseriesofpoker.com/photostore) Wow, im nervous and even more so when i see Sorel Mizzi sit one seat over on my left. Shuffle Up and Deal! I fold my first 2 hands and when i get UTG i look up at , i decide to limp in and theres 3 other players that do the same and bb checks, flop comes , wow!!! BB bets 150 and I min Raise to 300, everyone else folds, exactly what i wanted and BB calls, well now im pretty sure he has a K also so im quite happy but dont want to get screwed, turn is BB checks and i bet 550, he insta calls, River comes a and BB bets out 650, i just call in case he made a full house, i hold my breath while he turns over his cards and he shows wooohoooo!!!! I pick up the pot and i have severelly crippled the guy on my right. We start with only 3K in chips so he was down to 1450 chips. Im now chip leader and keep building on my chip lead slowly and surely, a few rounds later I wake up with AA UTG, i decide to limp it in order to reraise it because i know this young dude on the button will raise if its limped to him, as suspected he raises to 250, both blinds fold and i reraise to 850, everyone folds and the dude thinks a bit before calling, all small cards hit with a flush draw, I bet 1400 and he calls, turn is a blank i I want to pick up the pot now so i put him all in, he thinks a second and folds. Haha!!! woohooo!!!! things are going great, I now have over 7K in chips and am on a Roll, The tornado's inside of me are still there but i do my best not to show it, i continue to build up my stack, i can feel that players dont want to get involved in a hand with me because ive been putting pressure on everyone, I lose a big pot to the guy on my left, I raised with QQ and he tells me that i cant be havibng a hand every three hands and reraises all in, i tell him that i actuallly have a hand and call, he shows AQ. He spiked an A on the flop to double up on me. I stay collected and keep playing my game, I rebuilt my chips back up to abt 10K, players are starting to fall and i eliminate the dude i was up against with my AA, this time i have AK against A rags, wow im rockin!!!! Im so nervous and excited that i almost have an anxiety attack lol, nothing shows on the outside but inside im a big ball of fire out of control, i can see myself winning this and keep telling myself to relax and just keep doing what i was doing. Only the tuffest players are left on the table now, we are 5 left of 10. I decide to call an all in from the short stack, I called with 1010 and he had AJ, of course he hits his J on the turn to Double up, then a few hands later i raise with and the guy that cracked my Q's reraises all in, i call him telling him it was my time to suck out on him, he shows QQ lol and justice was made when i hit my A on the flop to take him out. Im the chip leader again, but now Sorel Mizzi is on my immediate left, NOT GOOD!!! lol Everytime i raised a pot he came over me and reraised, i lost like 3 good pots like that to him, im getting frustrated and now am down to abt 7k in chips, Sorel raises a pot and the Kid i D up with my 10's was shorty stacked again and says " Well, you got win this thing to move on and be in the money " so he pushes all in and Sorel Calls him, Mizzi Show's QQ and the kid shows A6 os, of course he spikes an A on the river and now Mizzi is the short stack with abt 3K left. Few hands go by and he looses a bit more chips. I raise with AJ and Mizzi reraises me again but this time its for all his chips and only 1200 more then my raise so i call, he shows AQ, Damit, i really dont want to double this guy up cuz hes a machine, well lucky me, i hit a J on the river and take him out. Only 3 left, Jason, an internet pro got really short stak after losing a pot to a Bad beat, i could feel his frustration, he had abt 2600 left and now whas on the button, i knew he would ship it in no matter what, indeed he pushes all in, i look down at K8 of clubs and know i have him beat so I call, he shows 103 of spades, i hit a K on the flop and it was history from there. Wow! OMG! I am now heads up with a small chip lead, i have abt 16K to my opponents 14K, only this guy is between me and the money (5500$) and the next table wich is the table before the finale table. We start the heads up and go back and forth for a bit, after feeling comfortale i start applying pressure on the guy, he was the guy i wanted heads up because between the 5 of us that was left he was the weakest one, after putting some pressure on him and bulding my stack up to 20K im feeling pretty good and can see the frustration in his face. He limps and i look down at 66, i raise and he reraises, now im thinking and know he is frustrated that i kept raising him so i put him on a move, i reraise him all in and he insta calls, Oh shit! he shows AA, i tell him nice hand, my hand doesnt improve and he doubles up to 20K, i now at 10K, Everytime i raised with a descent hand he moved all in DAMIT! I keep folding, i get down to 5K in chips and blinds are 300/600 with 100 ante, i look down at QJ suited and push all in, he calls with A10 and it was all over! Wow, im gutted and really bummed, i cant beleive after all this work and being sooo close that it was all over, i shake the guys hand and tell him gg and gl in the next round. I head out to the Rail where David and Smiley where sweating me, god dam, i almost cryed, my eyes where watery and I felt sick, bubbling an event is by far one of the worst feeling you can have, of course this is apart from a tragedy or losing a relative. I still have nightmares abt it lol. Smiley, David, bbmart, jane and I decide to go for diner at the American Grill at the Rio. Im still so bummed that i will tell you guys the rest of the story in # 3.

Tc Birds,

Manny