As promised...

The PCA is nostalgic for me. It was the place that I met so many poker friends. I first went 5 years ago. I played mostly 2-4 (yes I know, it is very rare for somewhere to spread 2-4 instead of 2-5, but they did) with a $400 max buy in. I lost my ass, then I won it back, then I lost my ass again, then I ended up winning money on the trip, somehow. I remember everyone nitting it up in these games, and I had just learned how awesome it was to bet-3-bet with a draw. Man, I was cool. I remember Jimmie Guinther and myself sneaking extra chips into the 2-4 game when we re-bought. We would have black or green chips hidden in our hand, and when we're rake in a small pot we'd fluff it up and chuckle as we raked it in, "Gee, that pot was a bit bigger than I thought!?"

Fast forward to 2010. This year the weather was terrible (violent winds!) and I was determined to make a run in the Main (since I couldn't lay on the beach anyways). I even told the gf beforehand that I was going to try and win the tournament (I did not quite do that last year, when I decided I would rather lay around and eat strawberries and whip cream off of her than win the tournament so I bet-3-bet bottom pair and a backdoor flush draw into middle set). So I did try to win the tournament, and I came relatively close.

When you actually try to win live tournaments, it winds up pretty much being a blurr. I woke up everyday and walked 20 minutes to the tournament room from clear across the resort. I was okay with this walk because I enjoy walking (and driving) by myself because it gives me a chance to think. Most days this was a pleasant walk, and I never rush because I like to be calm before a poker tournament. So, for four or five or six days or however long I was in the tournament: I got to the tournament, usually put on my headphones, and grinded a Chinese Poker application on my iTouch. I'd occasionally slide my headphones off to glare at someone or pretend like I was listening, but most of the time I was just feeling some Third Eye Blind or Jason Mraz or Billy Joel.

I did this day in and day out. About every level or so I would play a moderately interesting hand or I would bluff off some chips. The latter happened more than the former, but I won enough flips and got enough coolers that I was able to cruise down to the final 3 or 4 tables I think. I wish I could tell you some awesome and detailed report like Craig or Clayton or Jay might, but I can only remember a few things. I didn't have a bunch of chips until day three or four. I got a bunch of them and then I gave some back by getting coolered. I hovered until the day that I busted, where I ran it up to over average, played a few hands badly, got QQ to TT on T84r to put me back down to ~20 bbs, and then lost a flip with KJss to tens preflop-- ten in the door! (How's that for Reader's Digest condensed version?) Close friend of www.Leggopoker.com Jimmie Guinther got just a little bit further than I did, as did Luc, (Eagles, who keeps a blog on Leggo).

The rest of the trip was just okay. The 15% mandatory gratuity that is added to everything is really annoying. It's sort of a chicken and egg thing-- did the people who work at the Atlantis start giving shitty service before the 15% mandatory gratuity was added or was the 15% gratuity added which made the Atlantis employees even lazier? I remember Jimmie getting a bottle of Dom last year for like $400 and then guy who literally reaches up 2 feet and hands him the bottle also charges 15% grat... seriously?

The eating establishments there are okay, but again the service is terrible. I guess I am so used to the competition in Vegas that I forget what happens when there is a Monopoly and it's nearly irrelevant how they treat their guests because the Atlantis owns all of Paradise Island.

Our room was pretty nice since it was in the Cove, but if we hadn't gotten the Poker Stars rate for those Cove rooms, it would've been pretty poor value (I think Cove rooms normally go for ~$800 a night). As it is they really weren't that great, but you're pretty much just paying for the location. We had a pretty nice view and the room setup was nice, I guess I am just being a complainer because for $800 a night I assume there will be someone available in our room to rub my feet and slob on my knob at all times.

I think there was about 1.5 days of good sun in the 10 days we were there. That is a pretty poor ratio, and it was definitely the worst weather I've ever had while I was down there. I might be a bit biased, but I would really like to go somewhere sunny right now. Granted it is a 'brisk' 21 degrees in Indy right now, but I just think my life would be better if I could leave my fucking house.

Poker has been a little different this month, I thought it'd be fun to grind some 5-10 and 10-20 to try and start playing better, but that hasn't really worked. Coaching has been good though and a welcomed change of pace. My next blog will likely detail my results this month since I have been on the grind. Hopefully, if I play well enough, I'll get to record a few more sessions of me 6 tabling 5-10 6m. Those games have been fun, but have played relatively nitty I think.

I'll go ahead and tell you right now though that my next video is me playing Rush .5-1 on Full Tilt. It's not even really an educational video, it's just me spewing a zillion buy ins left and right and talking about how quickly I can lose my money... definitely poker entertainment more than anything else. Until next time...