Sticky does WOOPS aka WSOP

The day finally arrived. June 7th was the day I departed for Vegas to take a crack at the WSOP. I had done all my homework, played like a maniac the week prior to leaving and was ready to take on all the ladies. I had also enrolled in the WSOP academy for some hands on lessons and anything else they were willing to dish out.

I arrived in Vegas on time and shortly after stepping outside, Kikky pulled up with Patti and a home made Sticky Juice to take me to Luxor to check in. It was my first stay there and I must say, it was very nice. Nice room, not over the top but everything I needed and comfortable. Thanks again Kikky for hooking me up! After we dropped my bag off, took the necessary pile on the bed photo, we hit the casino in search of a drink and some good luck. We took a spot at one of the bars and ran some money through the VP machines and had a drink. It was great to be back in Vegas with friends and good times.

We wandered around and found a 10 dollar pai gow game so we each took a seat and got beat down. A 9 high pai gow is a sure sign that this might not be the game to play. We still had fun and played a few hands and then quit while only down half of the buy ins. We looked for some slots and Kikky found a machine that was quite greedy and put in a 20 and it got stuck. Once the attendant pulled it out, it was time to say good night as I had an early morning at Ceasars so I headed up to the room.

Friday morning I got myself together, got a cab to Ceasars and made my way through the convention center for the first day of the academy. I made friends with a couple ladies and we pulled out the nerd card and took seats front and center. They had breakfast for us which was the usual convention fare of danishes, croissants, muffins and juice and Annie Duke along with Karina Jett, Alex Outhred and Joe Navaro got things started. It was very informative and well put together. We were given a course book, nifty gym bag filled with goodies like a WSOP visor, little kit of hand lotion, sanitizer and lip balm, a program for the WSOP, PC software for game analysis and a few other things. It was this time that I realized my cell phone was out of commission. Guess my payment didn’t process quick enough lol. I was reduced to a pay phone jockey. The afternoon was spent in the lab as they called it where we were put into groups and played NLHE while the instructors analyzed our play and helped us out. I did good the 4 hands I played before the break and didn’t receive too much critique other than my raise amounts.

I won’t bore you all with all the valuable information and poker tips, but it was very good and I definitely felt like I was getting my moneys worth. The end of day 1 was to be followed up with a tournament for us all where the top 10 places would win a seat into the ladies event on Sunday. After listening to the group talk, ask questions and see them play I felt like I had a pretty good shot at it. The group was very diverse from some young know it all’s to some retired ladies just looking for something new to do so why not give poker a try.

The tournament was scheduled for 7:00pm in the poker room in Ceasars. Snertalert whom I like to refer to as my poker protégé` was arriving in Vegas that night and we made plans to meet up after the tournament. I was hoping I’d still be playing when he arrived because that would mean I was kicking ass. Kick ass I did for the most part. Playing small pots at the start to build up the chips, I managed to drag a few pots and took the chip lead at my table early on. After that, I tightened up like a snare drum and watched the others and gathered as much information as I could. Look for their tells, watch the hands they play and betting patterns etc. There were very few knock outs in the first hour and it appeared that this was going to be a long one as we had to play down to 10 starting with 100 players. Finally after the first break, the list was shrinking and we started to lose some players. I made one brilliant call when I spotted weakness in a short stack and called an all in with my pocket jacks when the flop came 8 9 3 rainbow and I bet 300 into a 400 dollar pot and the lady behind me raised all in. I called after a few seconds of recap and flipped over my jacks against her A 9.. No ace on the turn or river and no 9 either and I made a nice addition to my stack and said goodbye to seat 9.

I tightend up again and found no good cards even on the blinds so I had to fold quite a bit. I finally made a run at getting a few more chips to secure a spot in the top 20 and had to fold a few loose limps to some hefty raises pre and post flop. I got moved to a new table when they broke down to 4 and found myself at a super aggressive/ impossible to read table and just sat back a while trying to get new information from this group. The blinds were up quite a bit and the play was getting tough. I lost a few chips playing good hands but realizing I was beat and had to let them go.

We were down to 3 tables and 27 players. I had a decent stack left and felt pretty good about at least making the top 10. Just then, I peek up and see Snert standing beside the table. He seems impressed that I’m still in and he stands back and watches the action. Then the coldest cards came my way and I lost probably 3 big and small blinds and my stack suddenly hit the empty mark and I had to really work hard at not playing marginal hands and just waited to pick a spot to make a move. With 23 players left, I had A 9 in late position and raised the button and blinds. It was folded around to me so I knew that I had a chance to at least steal and if I got called, I had something to work with regardless. The small blind folds and BB re-raises me putting me all in. I sense some hefty defending and weakness so I call. BB flips over a 2 5 off suit and I look with a face of WTF? And I flip over my A 9. Flop comes A 4 9 and I like my chances. Junk on the turn and river and I double up. A couple hands later and I believe I’m on the button. The cut off position raises 4 big bets. I look down and see two lovely black and red aces. I lay my cards back down, put my card protector on them and with a 2 second delay, I push all in. The big blind is about to puke. She has a raise, re-raise all in and it appeared she really wanted to play her hand. After an agonizing few minutes she decides to call. Now I forget what the BB showed, but the initial raiser flips over K J off suit and the table lets out a harmonious DOH! When I flip over my Aces. Flop is rag’s and rainbow and I’m looking at a triple up. Turn is a jack and no sweat, I’m still good. Then it happened. River shows a king and the chic gets runner runner two pair knocking me out. One of the instructors was watching and I believe his comments were “ That’s just sick.. Man that was sick “ I bowed out like a champ and said good game and good luck everyone and Sticky is out in 20th place. I get pulled aside and Alex says good game, shitty way to go so he hands me a Oakley cap and a pair of Oakley sunglasses and I quietly leave the tournament. Snert commends me for my play and helps me try to feel okay about it by saying 20th is good! You had it and got sucked out.. Okay.. It’s done, I’m a bit sad, but feeling okay about my play so it’s time to get some Vegas on and we decide to head over to TI and play a nice quiet game of pai gow. I head for the pay phones outside Kahunaville and call home to recap the day. We find two seats at pai gow and just relax and have a few drinks and manage to hang on to our chips. I was actually winning a few hands and doing well. Snert made a few bucks and decided to quit while he was ahead. I said “ One more, It’s a winner for sure “ so he played one more hand. I got a great hand, won both my bet and bonus and he won too. He colors up but has one red chip left out. He puts it up on my bonus and I get trips for a nice little bonus for him. He takes down the profit and leaves the red chip up. The dealer then tells him, that he shouldn’t do that and if he wants to play my bonus, to give me the chip so I can put it up there otherwise, he may not get paid. She says she’ll leave it up for now but next time it might not get paid. So with his 5 bucks on my bonus I open up my hand and I see lots of red diamonds and a wild card. Snert then goes, “ Hey, that’s a straight flush! “ Hell ya! I do my Teddy KGB impression and say “ Pay da man his money” and he gets a nice 250 pay off and throws a black chip my way! Thank you TI and thank you snert!

We cash out and decide some food is needed, and I’m craving,.. you guessed it, toast. I suggest a walk over to IP for breakfast at the Tea House and we head over. Breakfast was good and I had an early morning again at Ceasars so we make our way back to TI and Snert offers to drop me off at Luxor. I get to bed early again ( which is hard to do in Vegas, but I had to stay sharp ) We made plans to meet up again Saturday after I’m done with the camp at 7:00pm

Saturday same routine, I wake up at 6:30, get ready and cab it over to Ceasars. The camp was fine, more information, hands on lessons at the tables and we get presented with plaques made up with pictures taken at the tournament and photo opp from the day before. I actually was really happy with the way mine turned out. Finally a picture of me were I’m not making a stupid face or my eyes bugged out.
During lunch, another lady and I decide to play some slots and get a light snack. We sit down at some 5 cent slots and I see my money storm. I decide to put 50 bucks in and soon after I’m on the bonus. It was a great run and after the bonus decided to finally stop, my 50 bucks is now 190. I play a little more and hit a few good spins and decide to stop at $230.00. WOOT! Winna!!

The camp wraps up a little late and I make my way over to the poker room at Ceasars to find snert. We walk over to TI again and support the dealers there with a donation through pai gow. I don’t remember if it was good or bad but it was a reliable way to rest the feet ( damn that Ceasars convention center is huge ) and suck back a few drinks. We were getting a bit hungry and snert suggests Grand Lux café at Venetian, a place I haven’t been yet. After a 15 minute wait, we sit down and I ordered a chicken salad sandwich. I don’t know why, but in Vegas, that is something I always want to eat. A little side note here, the table to our left is home to a rather young couple. The guy looks about 21 and the gal looks about 19, but… hot damn you should have seen her outfit. I’m about to blow chicken salad thru my nose laughing so hard wanting snert to see the view from my perspective, but he can’t. When we leave, I make him go around and he see’s the girls flopped out on the table looking like one of those water filled stress relief things you play with at the office. He smiles and we walk out.

I need to get registered for the event, and snert wants to check out the amazon room and see what the WSOP is really like. We make our way to RIO and I wait about 15 minutes in line and pay the fee. You are assigned table and seat numbers right there, so we make our way through the maze of spectators and end up in the tent looking for my table.

I realize not everyone here is as hooked on poker as myself, so I’ll try to keep the hi-lites short lived. I love the game soo much, and I watch all poker I can get my hands on. I am pretty good with names and faces so I start to point out the bigger name players to Snert. He is familiar with the names, but no faces so it was cool for him to spot the pro’s. Such players we spotted were Alan Cunningham, Phil Helmuth, Jeffery Lisandro, Barry Greenstein, Ted Forrest, Humbreto Brenes, David Williams, Greg Raymer, Micheal the Grinder Mizrachi. In the tent were a whole bunch more. Daniel Negranu, Jen Harmon, Doyle Brunson, Mike Sexton, John Juanda, Chris Ferguson, and the list goes on. I was definitely pumped. For me this was like being a yankee fan and hanging out in the locker room. That’s about the only way to describe it to non poker players. I was very excited and managed to video most of the pro’s playing. Snert and I were standing outside taking a break and got heavy into poker talk. I love that shit! I could talk poker all day. Finally, it was getting close to midnight, and I definitely didn’t want to stay out late and not get a good night sleep so we left RIO and snert dropped me off at Luxor, said a final pep talk, and made plans to try to get in and be at my table when the event started. I got in the room, laid out all my poker notes, sat in bed and read a bit, wrote down some daily affirmations and was asleep by 1:00.

Sunday.. Event 17 W.O.O.P.S

I had my alarm set for 9:45. but when I opened my eyes at 9:00 there was no going back to sleep. I took my time in the morning, trying to stay calm and not get stressed out. My neck decided to do it’s impression of a busted spring, and I was pretty pissed that I was facing a possible 13 hour day of poker with about 4 degree’s of motion in my neck. I took an advil and tried to get the kink out, but no luck. I finally checked, double checked and triple checked that I had everything I’d need for the day, and headed downstairs and caught a cab to RIO at 10:45. I got to RIO at exactly 11:00 giving me enough time to do my morning ritual of slots and coffee to relax and get my head clear. I think I actually won about 40 bucks, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I started the walk to the Amazon room at 11:30 and took a spot in the shade outside the tent for a final smoke break and looked for Snert, but didn’t see him. No worries and I slid inside the tent, took my seat at table 84 and watched the start clock countdown the minutes. It was a quiet few minutes as the 9 of us ladies just kind of sat there with our game face on. Small conversation was made, but I tried to keep out of it knowing that anything I say could give information. At least that’s what Joe Navaro said. It’s about 2 minutes to noon and I see Snert standing beside me. It’s game time.. He says that they aren’t allowing specators and he’ll have to leave, but wanted to wish me luck. I realized going inside, that I was down to 1 smoke, so I asked if he could find me some before the break so I could chain smoke and calm down ( at least, that’s what I planned to do…) The tournament director takes the mic, announces a few rules and does the famous “ Dealers, shuffle up and deal “ and we’re on.

I spent a lot of time before Sunday trying to come up with a strategy and knowing my style of play and how to go about this. What kind of hands to play, when to limp, when to raise etc. Annie Duke gave a lot of good advise on how to play tournaments and she confirmed what I believed. Play a lot of small pots early on and build your chips stack slowly early on. This was my plan of attack.. Play a few pots with premium or good starting hands, and fold junk or even marginal hands and observe the table. Look for tells, and try to put players on hands and get a read. Early into it, I was able to check the BB with an A 6 hearts. There was a call from the cut off and a call from the button. SB folded. The flop cam A 2 6 rainbow. I flopped two pair and I’m first to act. I decided, I hit the flop with probably the best hand, top two pair so I fired 250 into the pot of 175. The cut off flat calls my bet and the SB folds. I immediately put her on either a high pair like kings or queens, or an Ace with a mid kicker like 9 or 10. The turn came junk like an 7 or 8.. I’m not sure so we both check the turn. I thought for a brief second that I should make a continuation bet, but I figured I had the best hand still and best she could have was top pair. The river card was a rag and no help. She pauses, and being first to act, she bets 500 in a 675 pot. I wait a second, replay the board coming out and call believe I had the best hand after a check on the turn, a flat call on the flop I figured she hit her ace and that was it. We turn the cards over, and she shows pocket 2’s for trips on the flop. @!)^(!)(^)().. She slow played me perfectly. I don’t think I played that hand wrong, even if I bet the turn, she would have called regardless and I still would have had her on aces at best. First pot lost, and it cost me about 800 of my 2000 starting chips. I did my best to not act on tilt, and folded the next 6 or 7 hands. Even when I saw a suited A 10 I dropped it like a 7 2 off suit. The lady in seat 5 got into a pot with the lady that just wooped me and I don’t remember the cards, but she lost a huge amount of chips and was down to under 500. I’m on the button and it folds around to her. She looks at her cards and pushes all in. It folds around to me, and I look down at pocket queens. I make the call hoping she had a weak hand and the blinds fold. We flip the cards over and she shows pocket two’s against my queens. The board is junk, and my queens hold up and I’m back up to just over a 1000 in chips. Phew… Still alive, but not for long.. A few hands later and I’m on the blinds again with the ever popular 7 2 off suit and there’s a raise ahead of me so I’m forced to fold. SB I found a lovely 6 3 off suit and it’s fold city again. Okay, that’s alright.. I’m still alive and a few hands later I see a suited A Q. I don’t remember my position, but I know I raised with only one or two players still to act or, limping in. I raised the right amount, to get information and raise it up to 250 with blinds of 25 50. The lady on my left immediately calls. It’s heads up. Flop comes Q 10 8 rainbow and I hit top pair, top kicker. Calling up the betting tips from school, I bet 250 into the pot. She calls. Turn is junk and I bet again, this time 350. She hesitates, and calls. Okay.. I really don’t know what to put her on. Does she have kings? Maybe.. Maybe she has two pair? I am trying to keep cool, but I realized I might be feeding a shark so when the river comes jack, I check. She waits a minute, looks at me, then fires 600 into the pot. I am forced to make a decision for almost all my stack. I replayed the action and I still liked my top pair, top kicker and called… First BIG mistake. She flips over A K and fills her straight. Who played that hand wrong? I don’t know.. She was gambling big time chasing the straight and got lucky. I bet the best way I could trying to get her off a mid pair, or chasing, but she would have non of that and I almost shriveled up. Maybe I should have pushed all in on the turn, but I really wasn’t ready to do that so I chickened out and checked. This would be the hand that probably cost me the tournament. She got me good and I was now on tilt although I did my best to act stone cold. I look at the clock and it’s 7 minutes to the next level of blinds of 75 125. I realize that I have exactly 7 hands until I’m going to be put almost all in. I fold fold fold and I’m on the BB. The table folds around to the button and she comes in with a minimum raise. I already have 75 in the pot and I see A Q suited.. AGAIN… Uggg.. I know this isn’t a premium hand, but it’s a good starting hand with only two players in the pot so I re-raise all in hoping she’d either fold for stealing, or call with say 10’s or jacks.. We flip the cards over and she show’s A 7 offsuit. I am now officially shaking.. This is it.. All my chips are out there and I can’t do nothing but watch the cards. I’m in seat 8 and I hate that seat, as it’s hard to read the cards sometimes. I see all black ( looks good to me with two clubs) and an ace. I believe I’m doing good with top pair, queen kicker and it looks like it might be a flush draw, but I can’t really tell. Turn, river, all black and I am starring at the board.. Then I see the chips get pushed over away from me and dealer says “ two pair, aces and seven’s “.. Sticky out.. No lucky club, no lucky queen.. and it’s all over. I was crushed to say the least. I quickly got up, said good luck and left the tent. I step outside into the scorching heat and I’m left dumbfounded. “ WTF? An hour? That’s it? I can go deep on a tourney with 2600 players and fold fold fold.. Did I play wrong? “ That two pair, aces and sixes was a good play, but I got out played. Okay.. I can accept that.. The call on the river with AQ against a sucked out river straight, my first real bad mistake and bad call. That cost me a lot. All in with A Q suited for all my chips and having a weaker hand hitting two pair? That’s poker.. I can’t do anything about it. I hear a couple other ladies outside on their cell phones saying the exact same thing I’m thinking.. It’s over, I’m out.. Oh well.. I stood there for a while, replaying over and over what I did and at this point, I just can’t take it. I’m thinking things I don’t want to think, so I make a move inside, and start walking to the casino to get one, of MANY Crown and cokes I would need to get out of my train of thought. I’m walking down the corridor and I’m trying to think of how to break the news to everyone. The board, my hubby, Snert who is the official T2V WSOP reporter etc. I’m embarrassed as hell. I truly didn’t expect to win the damn thing, and I didn’t expect to make the final table, but I honestly believed that I could play tight enough to make it half way at least. Was it working against me that I got a few too many decent hands early on that didn’t hold up? Had I got nothing but junk, would I still be sitting there with 1700 chips? I don’t know. As I get half way down to the casino, I see Snert walking briskly my way. I almost turn around and run. The look on his face said it all.. “ OH NO!... NOT GOOD!!.. I greet him with “ I’m out, MOTHER #)$(%@)(^).. I need a drink”.. He’s silent and turns around and walks with me. I need to call home and break the news. I get comfort as I hold back the tears. At least the phone was in a private alcove, and I let a few tears out, recap the hand that screwed me, and mention I’m gonna need some more cash, cause it’s gonna cost a lot to get me cheered up.. I’m told, do what ever it takes.. Have a good time, and enjoy the rest of the trip and don’t mope around. There’s always next year. It was a dream come true for a nerd like me. I just love the game so much, and the WSOP is the superbowl of poker and just to even be in that room was a chance of a lifetime. I enjoyed every minute, make that second I was there and I don’t regret a thing. Sure, it would have been nice to really get into it, but you take what you get and you only learn from your mistakes and that’s how I had to leave it. I get off the phone and see Snert over on the bench typing away.. “ OMG… How is this gonna go”… I walk over and he shows me a very little line with the words Sticky out. “ Okay “ I say, and he texts a few people my demise and it’s done.. Time to move on… DRINKS…. NOW!!!

I need the comfort of a penny slot and cheap casino drink and we sit down at some Hee Haw machines. I’m still in a slight state of shock, and I try to not dwell on it, but good on ya snert for letting me vent. Thank you. We wait patiently for a server, but there were none to be found. I finally say screw it, I’m buying at the bar, and we get drinks and I proceed to sink into a state of oblivion thinking about how to spend the rest of the trip.

After a cold drink and the positive tones of the slots help raise my spirits, we decide to hit downtown for some cheap gambling and better drink service. We end up at the El Cortez playing pai gow. Drinks are coming quickly, we’re up and down chipwise and when the losing streak starts to steam roll us, we bail out and head over to Golden Nugget for a lite snack. Again, I had the chicken salad sandwich and it was just tasty. After scouring the souvenier stores for cheap lighters, we make a call to head over to Sunset and see Mikey hoping to get on his table. We show up, he comes off break and hands us a good beating, much deserved I’m sure, and we roll out of there after an hour. Time for some poker. I came to Vegas to play poker and gosh darnit, I’m gonna play poker. We check out the Luxor poker room, but not feeling a vibe. We walk through Excaliber but they only have a 1 2 no limit game with one seat. MGM it is, and we make our way there. We get our names on a 2 4 limit game and are told it’s gonna be at least half an hour. We hit a few slots, play the sigma derby and wander around a bit. Finally, we get called and are seated opposite ends of a table. I’m barely in my seat and I’m dealt in. I look down at A Q.. Hmmm… do I play it? Or treat it like a 7 2 off suit for the rest of my life. Screw it, I call.. I don’t recall the flop or board, but I know I have it, and bet out and get called to take down a pretty decent pot first hand in and I let out A HA! Revenge!!!.. Then it’s back to regular donkey poker at the 2 4 table. It was a fun little group and for me playing 2 4, I know it’s loose so I play a bit wild and it’s hit or miss.. Doesn’t cost a whole lot and the drinks are keeping up so it’s all good. I’m well on my way to forgetting about the morning and just having fun. Somewhere after a couple hours we are at a cross road. Do we stay just midly drunk and play proper poker? Or do we get tanked, act like Donkey’s and have fun… We take a right turn and saddle up and start ordering doubles. I won’t go over all the hands but it was hysterical some of the plays made and we ended up playing til about 6:30 am. The casino is almost empty, the table is about 3 people short of being full and I’m down to my last chip. I toss it into snerts pile, and he cashes out and we hunt down a good breakfast. We end up at the Studio Café in MGM and share a giant burrito. The drunk meter was at red line and I had to send back my breakfast crown and coke 3 times cause it just wasn’t right.. Well, first off, don’t pour jack daniels if I ask for Crown. Second of all, the small glasses kept aside for orange juice for 4 year olds, aren’t great containers for a good stiff drink. So Finally she brings a proper crown and coke in a nice giant sized tumbler and we leave there absolutely blitzed and walk back to Luxor in broad daylight. We stop to admire the fresh Krispy Kremes traveling down the line at Excaliber, ride the rail on the moving sidewalk and we call it a night/morning and agree to meet at Starbucks around 12:30 or so. I hit the bed hard and crashed in about 58 seconds. My alarm goes off at 12:15 and I seriously consider calling snerts room and toss out the idea of pushing 12:30 to about 8:00 at night, but I sit up, freshen up a bit, and hit the Elevator and on the way down, pick up snert. We grab a coffee, recap the hi-lites and proceed to find more trouble to get into. I’m feeling up for more poker, and snert is looking for a quiet spot to read for a while and finish writing up his trip report. We end up at MGM and I sign up for a $60.00 SNG while he takes refuge in Starbucks. After a long wait, I finally get in the SNG. It’s 10 players, 12 minute levels and 1000 starting chips. Not the best structure, but it was that or a 2 5 NLHE game. I tried a few hands, ended up all in with A J when the flop came 6 9 J and lost to pocket kings. I took 4th out of 10 guys, so that was okay. After that, I found snert and we were both starting to feel the effects of the previous night so we headed back to Luxor with a quick stop at Mcdonalds and agreed to sleep off the shakes, and meet again around 6:00pm. Snert wanted to play some dollar craps at the Westin, so I agreed and tagged along. I still don’t fully understand craps, but for a buck and a few drinks, what the hell. The table was cold and lots of 7 outs after just setting the point, so we did some slots and after about an hour there, we left. Again, we headed towards TI looking for some good gambling. TI is probably my favorite casino as I usually do well there. Snert gets a seat at pai gow, and I go pay homage to my Marty machine and grind out 50 bucks just to hit the damn Marty bonus. I end up playing the bonus, and leaving the machine at 40 bucks so it cost me 10. That’s okay, It’s one of my happy places in Vegas so I don’t mind losing a bit. I wander back over to the pai gow table, but Snert is gone. It’s open so I sit down figuring he’d wander back to find me. He joins in again and we play a few hands and after maybe an hour or so we leave. I’m down about 15 bucks, and I think he broke even. It’s about 8:00 or so and we want more WSOP action so we drive back to the RIO. We linger around the games for a while, watching a few pro’s and it seems all the good games are going on break. I have a voucher from entering for 10 dollars off any restaurant in RIO so we end up at that Chau, Chung, crap.. That noodle place just beside the poker room. I had the Mongolian beef on chow mein noodles and it was pretty damn good. Couldn’t finish it, but we did sit almost next to a table with Mel Judah, Marsha Wagonner and some other chic, can’t remember. All solid poker pro’s. After that, we headed back to the WSOP and bought some stuff at the store, grabbed some beer’s and I proceeded with my stalkerazzi and we watched the games. In the tent, at the far back was a small crowd gathered. We headed over there and it was Daneil N, Men the Master, another well known player and a few unknowns. The cool thing was, you could be right there almost touching the players. A lady was beside me, and eventually, Daniel motioned for her to come over, he did an autograph and she left. I said “ Hey, that’s cool.. Was he okay about it?” and she just said ya, when he’s not in a hand, he doesn’t mind. So, I dug around in my purse for something cool to have signed. I still have my entry ticket so I figured thats as good as anything to have a guy like Daniel N sign. I was like a 12 year old at a Backstreet Boys concert shaking like a leaf waiting for an opportunity to get his attention to ask for an autograph. He was deep into a full body massage and barely lifted his head up except to play his hand, or joke around. It was really cool to see how relaxed and open he was. Winning hand after hand, all while getting a massage and cracking jokes. Finally, I got eye contact and motioned for an autograph and he said sure, just wait until his hands are free. I waited a bit and made sure Snert had the run down on how to capture video on my camera. I must have asked him 50 times if the camera was on and ready. Daniel looks up, and says “ Don’t worry, I haven’t forgot about you, just a minute “ and then shortly after he mucks his hand and says, okay, grab a seat. I’m totally awe struck. I really don’t like the idea of stalking celebs and acting like a complete idiot, but I couldn’t help it. He tells me to take a seat beside him and I place my ticket on the table. He asks if I have a pen, and like a moron, I say “ No, but you do” and point to the pen tucked behind his chips. “Ah, I do” and he laughs. The guy to my left says something like isn’t he a great guy and I go “ and Canadian too” and Daniel says “ oh your Canadian? Where from?” and I say Edmonton and he cracks a joke about the oilers, gives me a quick wink and I say thank you, and he says thank you for being patient and I get up and leave with a total dork smile on my face. Now, my entry ticket was worth something. to me at least. That was the hi-lite of the whole thing.

Snert shows me the video ( yes, I'm aware of the not so flattering ending, but editing it would take days) and we make our way towards the front of the tent. I think I said something like “ That’s almost as good as sex, I need a smoke now” and we step outside. We talk more poker, cool off a bit and then wander around some more. It wasn’t nearly as busy as the previous night and snert was yawning big time, so we headed back to Luxor around 1:30 am. I stalked up on water and snacks for the room knowing I’d probably be up for a while and snert headed off to his room. We said we’d try to hook up for a coffee in the morning before he left for the airport so after checking out, I had a coffee and said goodbye to snert.

Tuesday was going to be spent with Mikey. No plans, just see what happens. He meets me outside the luxor around 11:45 and we drive over to GVR. We had lunch at the Elephant bar and talked a lot. It was a good lunch and nice to catch up. We decided to head into GVR and look for something to do. We ended up at pai gow and it was a solid game and I kept all my chips, plus a few more for most of it. Mikey played his favorite dollar machine and kept the winning streak intact. I wanted more slot action, so we found a penny money storm. I put 40 in and soon after had one spin for about 34 bucks.. SCORE!.. I upped the ante, bet 5 per line and hit 4 money storm symbols for a cool 64 bucks.. SUPER SCORE! The credit is at about 112 bucks so I decide to play it back to to around 70 hoping for at least one bonus. The bonus came finally when I was down to about 50 bucks, hit for almost nothing so we left when I was up about 20 bucks. We decide to hit Target for some shopping, nothing there really so we head over to Starbucks for some cool coffee treats. After that, there’s about a little more than an hour to kill so we go to his favorite bar and have a couple drinks and sit outside. The trip is winding down. I’m actually ready to go home. It was a fun trip with lots of highs and lows. But most of all, I did what I wanted to do and although the outcome was far from a gold star finish, I enjoyed it and took from it, some very valuable information.

So there you have it. My WSOP report. I wish I had better news, but it is what it is. Will I go back? I sure hope so. I got the desire to do it, and the determination so with a nother year to go, who knows.. Maybe next year, I’ll play the mixed events, and use my female advantage against the men and take down a solid cash finish. Or, I’ll just enjoy being there and playing and come home with some good stories again.
Thank you to everyone for cheering me on and wishing me well. I knew it would be a long shot, but hell.. If you don’t play, you don’t win. I’d do it all again tomorrow minus the 500 call with AQ in a heartbeat.

Will I be back in Vegas soon? I’m not sure. October was looking good, but honestly, I don’t know anymore. This trip has brought a few things to my attention that I wasn’t aware of, and honestly, I’m just not into it.. A lot to think about.. I’m quite surprised actually at what was going on that I had no idea about. We’ll see.. It takes a lot to keep me from wanting to go so I guess time will tell. I had a great time though and coming home with great stories, and memories is almost as good as winning. And, I fulfilled a goal of just being there, so to me, I already won.

Thanks for reading, and good luck on all your vegas adventures.

Sticky out.

 

You did good. Thanks for the report.

 

Great Report, Sticky!

It was so good to see you again and get to hang out for the day. And I'm proud of you for taking a shot at the World Series. That's just awesome!

I know you'll get that itch again. We all do.

Mikey

 

Solid work. Here writing it up, and in the Tent at the Rio.

 

Good stuff Sticky

Looking forward to your next WSOP appearance... maybe we can get you a bigger routing section next time.

 

It'll take a better card player than me to quibble with how your tourney went. Glad you gave it a shot tho.

 

It was great seeing u again Sticky.

 

Thanks for the report Sticky. You have nothing to be ashamed of. We're proud of you just for entering. Maybe next time the cards will fall your way.

 

Sticky,

At least you were one who took a shot, unlike many who talk about it but never do it. I commend you on jumping in to the ring. Even though you only lasted an hour, it was an hour of a lifetime and there will be many more I'm sure. Can't wait till next year to read about you at the final table.

Goose

 

All I can say is...WOW, Sticky!! Even for this non-poker player that was a great read. Congrats to you on living your dream!! I have a good feeling that next year there will be an entirely different ending.

p.s. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

 

Awesome report

Sticky,
What a great report. It makes me want to sign up for one the events.
I think you made a great investment, being able to participate in such a great event.

See you in chat!

 

Very cool report. Takes a lot of courage to try something like that. Good for you!

 

You make us proud Sticky Great report..

 

Stupid question time:

I haven't played poker since my days in the barracks with the nickle-dime-quarter all-nighters, and we didn't talk like this.

Can someone translate this into English, please? It sounds really exciting!

BTW, great report, Sticky!

-SilverStreak

 

Thank you everyone. It was pretty exciting to say the least. I'd do it all again tomorrow if given the chance.

To translate that last bit.. Basically it's this.. We're down to 3 tables and it's pretty much every hand has someone all in. It's down to knocking people out instead of just playing the cards and hoping you can build a pot and take it. The blinds were steep. I believe they were 800/1600. I had about 3400 so basically, I had not quite 3 big blinds left to play. I was on the button. The table folds around to the second cut off ( 2 seats before the button ) She has position at this point and she raised to 3400. Basically, all my chips. I see pocket aces and immediately call. After me, it's just up to the blinds. The small blind folds, and the big blind decides to call. There's 3 of us going into it. I'm all in, the other two would be playing for a side pot. I had the best hand going in. I had it all the way to the turn. The first lady to raise, had K J off suit. She caught a jack on the turn, but I still had it with my aces. The river came and it was a king so she caught two pair. she RIVERED me and I'm out. It was one of those bad beats you hear about..

Sticky

 

Great read. Thanks for posting and good for you taking a chance. Hope the cards fall your way next time!

 

Silverstreak--

It's usually never a good idea to ask a Canadian to translate something into English, but luckily Sticky is fluent in both languages.

Heh.

Mikey

 

That. Was. Awesome!!!

Sticky... livin' the dream. Outstanding. Thanks for taking the time to share the detail with the rest of us.

come on now.... hahahaha

 

On Sh0ck's advice I read this before bed last night. Got me so pumped I had a hard time sleepin. Great job Stickaay!

Marty

 

I think it's so great that you had the guts to do this. Great report. I fully expect to see you TV some year.