I started playing limit holdem online again, so far with decent results. I'm no longer thinking about the rough stretch I endured that resulted in me taking a break and playing some other games online, so I figure I can look for good games again and see how I do. Playing and having success at live limit holdem also probably helped me decide its silly to avoid the game I'm most experienced at.

We made another Commerce trip on Sunday where I finally took a loss after a series of wins padding my live bankroll. Something happened to me in the 100/200 game there that I can't remember ever having had happen since I started playing poker. I didn't win my first pot until just after the two hour mark in the game. In between sitting and winning that pot I lost 7k or so and, needless to say, it was not a fun time. But I think I handled it fairly well, telling myself that I was playing fine and this was plain old bad luck, the game was great, and it would turn around sooner or later. I also am working on not trying to get arbitrarily "even" for a game so when we left Commerce and I booked a 4k loss I felt great about gaining that 3k back, it felt like a 3k win the way it started. Then I lost 600 bucks playing Chinese Poker at a home game and that felt the worst – what a sick game!

So I'm doing some online grinding for the next couple days and then off to Tucson bright and early Friday morning. A friend's wedding on Saturday and then on Sunday I fly…you might think home but of course the correct answer is: TO VEGAS!! I will be doing WSOP round two and playing in the limit shootout event on Monday. Of course I'll also play many side games and eat many yummy and expensive meals and rarely sleep. Not sure how long I am staying, I think I will try something new and wait and just get a flight home when I am ready and see how the trip goes. I'd like to be there for the start of the main event just to see how entirely insane Vegas can get for that. I know I won't be staying for the entire main event as I have someone waiting for me at home

That's all for now, stay tuned because a few 2+2ers are final tabling limit events and I am jealous so I'm just going to have to destroy the shootout event in retaliation.

I've been having a hard time falling back into my normal routine after being in Vegas for several days and playing a lot of live poker. One problem is I can't seem to make myself play online limit holdem so I've been playing the small NL games and triple draw like I did most of last month, except with less success. I'm starting to feel like my desire to have some fun while pokering by learning new games and branching out is being overwhelmed by my desire to make some money, so I may have to remember how to play limit after all.

Luckily, I've been playing live poker a decent amount at Commerce and I am running very well there. Having all the pros away in Vegas definitely has something to do with that, as the 60/120 and 100/200 games I'm playing in have been fantastic. So far so good this go around in the 100/200 there but I am always on the lookout for a big loss to put me back in my place. If I can get over the hump there in a few more sessions I'll have a solid live cash bankroll and not feel so uncomfortable playing that game because I'm terrified of a big loss. Also I'm trying to improve my other games enough to play the 100/200 mix games that are common there and those games are so swingy that I need the bankroll padding. Hopefully in a few more months I'll reach my goal of comfortably playing the 100/200 games there regularly and not have to micro manage my shots so much.

Tonight we are going to see Rent in San Diego which should be fun, and I have one more week before a quick Tucson trip for a friend's wedding. I'm still thinking about trying to get back to Vegas around main event time, but we'll have to see about that.

I have to start by correcting part 2 of my trip report. I forgot to include an important brief session I put in at the Rio the day before the 3k limit tournament. I was looking at the board to get on the 50/100 and 100/200 holdem lists, when I spotted a 100/200 triple draw mix game going on. I walked over to investigate and found they were playing an A-5 and 2-7 triple draw lowball (TDL) mix game and the game was good! I took a seat with only 4k in my pocket and intended to run well. The game got a bit tougher as some players came and went but I was definitely a favorite and I managed to bank a 3k win before the final fish busted and me and the one guy better than me quit. Also during that session Greg Raymer sat for a bit while waiting for another game which was pretty neat for me. I'm hardly a fanboy of the TV players but I was aware of the Fossilman before he was famous from 2+2 and introduced myself to him and told him he used to give me pointers back when I was playing $5 tournaments online and posting in the MTT forum.

Ok, that brings me back to just after my tournament bust out. I needed to make sure to note that I had 100/200 triple draw experience by this point because the next thing I know, I am hanging around the high limit section at the Rio waiting for the others to be ready to leave so I can go and get some sleep (slept 4 hours the night before because I had to be up early for the tournament) when Jean-Robert (Bobby really) Bellande walks by and starts yelling he is starting a 100/200 mix game. I ask what the mix is and we determine A-5 and 2-7 TDL, badugi, and holdem because a couple fish want to play holdem so why not. I decide not to miss the chance to play with a "tv player" who I have heard is quite a fish at cash games and plus I love playing live triple draw. I have played Badugi maybe once in my life before this but I decide I'll play tight and figure it out.

The game gets under way and it is absolutely fantastic. The TDL and Badugi pots are routinely four and five ways, Bobby is raising and drawing three or four cards, all the other guys are getting juiced up because of his antics, and I'm winning pots right away. The only other guy I recognized at the table was Can-Kim (CK) Hua, a tournament donkey who played in the 100/200 TDL the other night and is awful. Bobby is fun as hell to play with (right now) because he is friendly and winning and joking around and playing poorly. At around 2 am he orders Pizza Hut and Ben and Jerry's ice cream for the table, gets the Rio to pay for it, and offers the leftovers to the railbirds – it was pretty awesome. I am exhausted but realize I will not be quitting this game for many hours, sleep be damned.

I roller coaster for awhile, and sort of learn how to play Badugi and then Bobby starts to lose back some of his earlier winnings and signs of tilt creep in. He is on my immediate right and it doesn't take long for me to take advantage of his tilt and start amassing a large chip pyramid. He spirals into the worst tilt I've ever seen in person, muttering swear words and flinging hundred dollar bills into the pot whenever it's his turn by the end of it. He is pretty pissed at me because I keep winning and his pile of bills is quickly becoming a pile in front of me. I have to bite my tongue to keep from laughing at some points because I am deliriously tired and beating him in pots is fun, but I'm almost positive if I laugh he is going to punch me, and he's pretty big.

He winds up losing just under 20k in the game, with 14k of it going to me – my biggest single win ever. At around 6 am he goes bust, and rebuys by pulling all the spare bills he has on him (20s, 25 dollar chips, etc) and rebuys for maybe 400 dollars – it was pretty sad to see actually. A couple hands later he is all in predraw against me in 2-7 TDL and he makes the second best possible hand after one draw and wins the tiny pot. He is more enraged by this than anything prior since he was all in for such a small amount and grabs the 800 bucks and storms off to his room. The game breaks maybe 10 minutes later and finally I head back to the Bellagio for some sleep.

I intend to sleep for a very long time but wake up about seven hours later and feel good enough to head back to the Rio and see what's going on. The 100/200 mix is already going playing just 2-7 TDL and Badugi this time and I grab a seat. The lineup is much tougher this time though I think I am still a favorite. At one point a drunken Layne Flack stumbles to the table (there are no seats open) and wants to be dealt in – we of course let him. He has no clue who I am in his state of mind even though we played together for five hours the day before. I thought he was sober these days but clearly that's no longer the case. Paul Darden also played at one point, not drunk but probably very bored and not playing well. I wind up losing 8k back in this game and realize I am not much of a Badugi player after all.

After all is said and done, I am stuck around 2000 for the trip, including tournament buyins and all the food, which isn't bad at all, especially considering how far down I was a few days earlier. I put in basically no more sessions and relax for the last half a day and fly home the following afternoon. I hope to return around the main event but we'll see if my schedule permits it.

After dinner and all our wine, we are in the mood to gamble…some more than others. A few of us (I won't specify who) hit up the craps and roulette tables and one of them ends up at a blackjack table with a black chip ($100) as the bet. First hand dealer busts and he presses his $200, again the dealer busts and he presses his $400. Blackjack! He walks with his $1000, total time – maybe 45 seconds. A bit more -EV gambling occurs and we decide to head up to the Wynn where we start a 4/8 mix game thanks to AJ, the fantastic night shift floorman. I am in for $800, several are in for over $1000. We generate several stares from the rail as well as other tables. I wind up losing $500 which was far from the largest loss in the game and decide to get some sleep at around 5 am.

Only Mike and I manage to wake up before noon and head down to the Bellagio where I have a room for the remainder of the trip. We find out later one of the others won 2k or so in an early morning drunken craps binge. I am jealous. Mike and I find some food and hit the Bellagio poker room. Well, he hits it, I just get hit, over and over. Lose another 4k or so while he cleans up. I am not having a good trip, down to around 9k of the 20 I brought. I think at this point I will not be playing the 3k limit event.

That night we go to Delmonico's for dinner, since I have never been to the steakhouse many consider the best in Vegas. Newhizzle and Schneids join us along with several other 2+2ers, some of whom I have forgotten – I'm sorry guys. We have maybe the greatest meal I've ever eaten and of course lots of yummy wine. This tab comes in lower at around 2k I believe.

After dinner we briefly check out the Venetian poker room while the same group as yesterday hits the craps table with some new guys to teach in tow. I wander through the poker room and it is indeed beautiful, but they only have 3/6 and 6/12 limit and then some tight nasty looking 40/80s. I won't be spending any time there, I know that much.

We head back to the Bellagio and get in a 100/200 game which has me, Schneids, some guy Schneids says is better than me, mike l. , some random tight guy, Sam Grizzle (the reason for the game) and some tight old lady who smoothcalls aces twice in her first two orbits and murders us. Eventually I move to the next must move game and play for several hours and break about even, which is like a win for me.

Saturday I dedicate to serious pokering, and start in a 30/60 while waiting for a 100/200 seat. Of course in the smaller game I run sick hot, get Kings three times in 20 minutes and win them all and win other assorted pots. Up about 1300 when I get called for the 100/200 and off I go. Sam Grizzle is again in the game along with some decent players and some good action. I run better and have some confidence and win 3500 or so. I play til 6 am and decide I will play the 3k event after all with my winnings from the night. I see Schneids in a 200/400 as I go to bed and he is determining how little sleep he needs to play in the event the next day because his game is too good to leave.

In the morning I register and find out there are only 450 entrants for the 3k event (there were 1200 for the 1500 event). My starting table has a huge fish on my left coldcalling raises and limping a ton, a good asian guy I don't know who I've seen playing 400/800 mix games wearing all NeverLose poker gear (perhaps NeverLose himself from old Pokerstars days). Two AC guys who play sort of tight but then do random stupid things and clearly don't understand the game. Ron Rose, who keeps asking how much he can bet and starting arguments with everyone at the table, a rock, an empty seat two to my right, and a dumb LAG kid who is nervous and sucks on my direct right.

Just like the previous event I start out hot with lots of big pairs and big cards hitting the flop and am up to 4500 quickly. An hour in the empty seat is filled by Layne Flack who immediately starts raising whenever folded to him, cracking jokes at the table and being awesome and funny and laggy – this will be interesting. I 3 bet him liberally and joke with him while everyone else is quiet and boring, Layne finds me amusing and we both start accumulating chips from everyone else at the table. I have 12k chips at the second break and am near the chip lead, Cardplayer guy writes down my info. and I am famous for a day on the internet (friend from Tucson calls to tell me so). Schneids has around the same chip stack as me and Newhizzle is hanging in there in his first event fairly short and has Phil Ivey on his left – fun.

After the break I go completely card dead and start getting blinded away. Layne is still playing maniacally and is a huge roller coaster. John Phan joins our table and starts in with more lagginess, but he is playing very well and quite intimidating and running well. He busts Layne and amasses a huge stack which I find out at the dinner break is the largest in the field. I played one interesting hand against him that I'm not sure about. He opens again in MP and folded to me in the BB and I call with 8s6s. Flop is Qc6h4d and I checkraise, he calls immediately. Turn is Ac and I pause and then check. He considers for five seconds and bets, I call pretty quickly. River is a brick and I check and he instantly bets and I fold.

Our table breaks and I'm moved to a table with Barry Shulman with a big stack playing horribly, and Jim McManus on my right playing a short stack equally horribly and a bunch of other people with more chips than me. I limp to the dinner break with a short stack of around 7k chips. Schneids, Newhizzle, and I have dinner together and I find out Schneids is near the chip lead with 22k, and Newhizzle is quite short like me. We discuss some strategy and I decide I'm going to get some chips or get really short and have to take a stand. Play resumes and my get some chips plan isn't working out so well, I'm down to around 4 bb and its just about take a stand time.

Phil Ivey (of course!) is moved to my immediate right and has about the same number of chips as I do. It takes all of four hands before we collide when he opens on the button (any two cards I'm pretty sure) and I am praying for 72o so I can just fold. No such luck, I find two sevens and 3 bet, he calls. Flop is T42 with one spade and I bet and he calls. Turn is 8s I bet and he calls. River is Qh I check, he just slightly pauses and bets and I feel like I'm beat. I count my stack and realize I have like a bet and a half left and if I get bluffed here I have no shot. I make a crying call and he shows Qs3s. Nice flop peel sir. I bury my head in my hands so I miss him making some smirking face like "wow did I get lucky" which is the only emotion he has shown that I've ever seen. Joe and Newhizzle on the rail told me this later though because I was too busy buried in my misery. I regroup and find a hand to steal with and last a few more minutes before getting it all in with QJs vs AK. Flop T9x, turn y, river King! It's not over yet!

I am moved to a new table and Phil Hellmuth is two to my left, he shakes my hand and wishes me good luck – a very nice guy when not on tilt or with cameras in front of him. An 80 year old Asian grandmother has a big stack and is playing basically every hand and running sick hot. Barry Shulman is also here still playing like a fish and winning. I last awhile and find Aces in the SB vs the fishy BB. He calls my preflop raise but folds on a T66 flop. Nothing I could do there I guess. Just before the next level I realize I will have 2 BB left or so if I don't make a move now and find KJo. Asian grandmother fish finds two kings and I am way dead. Just like that, I'm out 85th or so out of 450. Top 45 paid but I wasn't trying to sneak into the money. A few minutes later Schneids busts and we are all done (Newhizzle was busted by Hellmuth earlier). Looking back on it now, I am thrilled with how well I played and got very unlucky in a few spots, but at least I have a story and am no longer jealous of the other guys getting to play with the big time pros.

Part 3 soon, 100/200 mix game action!

I'm back from Vegas and the WSOP and will try and remember everything that occurred, because it was quite a memorable trip and I had an absolutely awesome time. mike l. and I flew in from San Diego Wednesday afternoon and met up with Entity and Sthief. We dropped off our bags and decided we needed food so off we went for a late lunch at the Mesa Grill at Caesar's. We all had tequila samplers to celebrate getting to Vegas and some fantastic food. The Mesa Grill is a very unique restaurant on the strip I think because I've yet to find another place that serves any similar food. The elegant southwestern menu is great for lunch and dinner.

With that accomplished we headed to the Rio to check out the WSOP, since three of us were intending to play the limit event the next day and I wanted to see what the satellites were like and just get the whole WSOP vibe having never been in Vegas during the series before. The Rio was a complete and utter zoo, which I love, and I quickly found out some 2+2ers were doing quite well in the events already going. I played a few satellites with horrible structures and even worse players and managed to win one on my third try. I paid the second place guy his buyin back to quit even though I had him outchipped 9:1 but I wanted to lock it up. I wound up getting into the $1500 event for $700 or so, not bad I guess. Joe Tall flew in later that night and we met up with him and got some sleep because we had to be back at the Rio pretty early Thursday for the tournament.

The day of the first limit tournament I played we got to the Rio early and found some breakfast. I was nervous as hell playing in maybe my second ever live tournament and of course my first WSOP event and could barely eat and was just basically overthinking everything, planning strategy etc. I intended to be quite laggy, expecting a lot of weak tight play. The structure for the tournament was pretty bad starting with only 1500 chips and 25/50 limit so I knew I was going to be out quick or get a big stack. I had no reason to be laggy, however, because I picked up a ton of big hands in the first level and got up to 2500 chips without much effort. In the second level things changed and I went ice cold and got short. I busted out the last hand of that level before the break when I was very shortstacked. I got it in preflop with AJo vs 99 and flopped a jack and he turned a 9. There was no one I recognized at my table and I thought I was definitely the best limit player at the table, but it was not to be for me in my first event.

Now finally relaxed I found out Sthief was hanging in with a short stack and Entity was doing a bit better. I sweated them both for awhile after the break and found myself quite jealous as Sthief played with David Williams and some other pros and Entity wound up with Phil Ivey on his immediate right. I very much wanted to play with players like that for the experience and fun to remember it afterwards and I had played with a bunch of nobodies! Little did I know then how things would change (this is what we call foreshadowing). Entity wound up doubling through Ivey which is cool and then he got moved to a new table with Erik Seidel and promptly doubled Seidel up. Both Sthief and Entity busted around level 4 and just like that our first WSOP experience was over with little fanfare.

I played another satellite after that planning to win my way into the 3k event on Sunday. A $225 buyin and $20 last longer bet were my entry costs and the first hand someone limps, I raise with Ad9d, someone coldcalls, limper calls. Flop comes Jd8d4c I bet 3/4 pot, coldcaller raises, I have no choice and push and his KhJh holds up. Bye bye $250 bucks in the first hand. I am angry and vow to just play ring games and win my entry that way.

We go to the Bellagio to find some good ring games and that place is a zoo as well. Eventually I get in a 100/200 game and run bad and lose 6k or so and we meet up with some other 2+2ers and have dinner at an awesome restaurant at the MGM called nobhill. Mike is now two for two choosing restaurants for us. We polish off 8 bottles of wine for 10 people and a $2500 tab. Vegas baby.

More after I sleep…