I usually save this blog for summers and the WSOP, but I'll have to start it back up again for other purposes.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers, you too can take part by registering on WBCOOP

Registration code: 233264

I love and hate this time of the year both at once. It can be really tough and tends to lead me to burnout mode. Some people assume that dealing is an easy job physically because you get to sit while doing it. But during each hand, you are bending over multiple times to bring in bets and this can be rather painful, especially when going for long stretches of time. Try dealing a satellite that lasts for 2.5 hours continuously where you are uncomfortably bending over from 5 to 10 times per hand (averaging about a hand every 2 minutes)...believe me, this is painful.

You are hurting and are usually sore by the end of your shift, so going and doing it all over again the same day isn't always topping the list of things to do. Tomorrow night, I start a string of 9 consecutive shifts:

Sunday 10pm
Monday 11am & 10pm
Tuesday 1pm & 10pm
Wednesday 1pm & 10pm
Thursday 1pm & 10pm

I am not excited about this.

So, who did I get to deal to in the past few weeks? I have a few names but not too many good encounters/stories.

-Shannon Elizabeth (remember her from American Pie? Even better is that she was in the 10 seat...right next to me!)
-Humberto Brenes (he was annoying as usual, but not in all-out 'shark' mode, probably because he was sitting next to Shannon and didn't want to look like a complete idiot)
-Justin Bonomo
-Eric Liu (ca$h game specialist/Cardrunners Pro)
-Chris 'The Armenian Express' Gregorian: (every dealer's nightmare...luckily for me, his table was on break for the entire 30 minutes that I was there although the players at the table even told me how bad he was already acting)

and some of my friends:
-Amit 'amak316' Mahjita
-Dan 'Wretchy' Martin
-Jon 'sketchy1' Eaton
-Chad 'lilholdem954' Batista (my roommate)

Remember I mentioned that I had the feeling someone I knew was going to win a bracelet this year? Well, it just happened. Congratulations to Jordan Smith, aka scarface_79 in the online poker world, Winner of Event 36 - $2,000 No Limit Hold'em ($586,212)! I have had some interesting conversations with Jordan. Even though we don't talk much or don't know each other very well, I do know that he's gone through a lot from the AIM conversations we have had and am very glad that he now joins his friend Matt Graham as a WSOP bracelet winner.

I am too tired to come up with more, so I'll take some notes and try and get some good stories for the next entry which will be in a few days.

Order me a double in our poker room

Someone I know is bound to win a bracelet this year. Paul Peterson came close finishing 2nd in Event #1. Jamie 'pokerjamers' Armstrong made a huge run the the $1K Stimulus event but fell short when his AQ was outdrawn by A9 in a blind vs. blind situation to bust in 16th of over 6K entrants. I can't imagine how frustrating that must have been for jamers. GG bro, keep up the excellent play.

With everything that is going on at the World Series, we have been informed of some very important changes in our own poker room at Treasure Island. Congratulations to Chris Coffin, our Poker Room Manager who has been offered the same position over at The Mirage. To have someone other than Chris running our room is going to be strange. Phil Ruffin recently purchased Treasure Island from MGM Mirage, and it appears that he is going to be a great leader for us. Here is an informative artice regarding some of his plans with his new purchase, which also includes doubling the size of our poker room: http://bit.ly/F9sz6

Back to the WSOP: It has has been very busy over there and the numbers of registrants for the tournaments has reached record-breaking levels. On Saturday, I got to deal the 5K No Limit Event and there were quite a few faces to be recognized. My friend Steve Gross (gboro780 on Stars and the #1 ranked online tournament player in the world) was at the first table of the day. Steve is one of the nicest guys in poker and also one of the best guys to go out and party with. #1 class act all the way.

At the next table was Mark Seif who is known for his association with Absolute Poker, an online site that created quite a stir with a cheating scandal. Many have questioned Mark's involvement, or non-involvement, with this situation. Greg 'FossilMan' Raymer was also there at the table and he is always excellent to deal to...the guy is great for poker and always treats everyone with respect. When I left that table, I mentioned to him that even though he busted my roommate from the 40K event, he was still one of my favorites.

Others that I dealt to that day:

Kelly Kim (final tabled the Main Event last year)
Jeff 'ActionJeff' Garza
Kathy Leibert
Roy Winston
Scott Lazar (LoL)

Here is a hand that I found rather intersting that came up between ActionJeff and Kathy Leibert. I believe it was at the 50/100 level. Jeff was in seat 3 and in late position while Kathy was in the big blind. Jeff started the hand with around 25K and made a standard raise to around 3x the BB and Scott Lazar flat-called. Kathy re-raised from the BB approximately another 3x on top of Jeff's original raise. Jeff called, and Scott folded.

The flop came K7x and both players checked. The turn was a blank and Kathy bet out 4K. Jeff tanked and ended up calling. The river was a 7 and Kathy immediately fired a bet of around 9K. She didn't have too many chips behind at that point...so what could Jeff possibly put her on here? He really thought about this for a long time and ended up calling. Kathy showed KK for the full house and Jeff, although I am not sure why, showed JJ and mucked. I guess Jeff was convinced that she had AQ, TT, 99, or 88.

I had a few more shifts at both jobs that have gone well. I finally got sent over to the live section and even dealt one satellite. I had to deal Pot Limit Omaha which I was dreading, but it turned out to be alright. I only have one shift today...tonight at Treasure Island so I have to go run a bunch of errands during the day.

We got approved by a Surety Company which will allow us to write bail bonds in the State of Nevada! Its now time to get all of the paperwork processed so I can begin that venture. I'll be back in a few days with more updates, bad beat stories, and random rants.

Day shift @ the Series = nizzles

Alright, so I've dealt 5 shifts at the 2009 World Series of Poker. I really don't have any complaints and it has been cake so far. Doing 8 downs (one 30 minute session in the box while dealing) in a row can be draining and regardless of the shape you are in, it will take its toll on your body. I'll take what I can get though in terms of tournament downs. I dread working the ca$h games over there, unless it is 2/5 NL. We as day shift dealers almost always get assigned to tournaments which is exactly what I want.

I have dealt no limit tournaments every day other than the first day where I dealt the $1,500 Omaha Eight-or-better Limit Tournament. The only 'famous' person that I dealt to was Todd Brunson, and just like you'd expect, he wasn't very friendly. I didn't have any problems with him other than him correcting me on 4 or 5 times on 8/b procedure. I hadn't dealt this game for an entire year, so I expected to be a bit rusty with it.

Like every year, a bunch of people are in town that I have met over the past few years. My good friend Bobby Crosby (www.plusev.net http://marryme.keenspot.com http://dreamless.keenspot.com) came out to play a few events. We went out to San Francisco a few months ago where I helped him out at a convention and I highly recommend you check out his comics. I don't even like comics (either does he) but his work is both entertaining and extremely catchy. He's a very talented writer who never gives himself enough credit.

I also met and hung out with another OT'er, jtown1010. He came by the house after Chad bubbled the 40K (sigh) and shot some pool, then we went down the road to Cheers and had a good time getting owned at video blackjack and just exchanging stories.

A big congrats to Thang Luu for winning the Omaha 8/b Event.....TWO YEARS IN A ROW. Absolutely amazing. I don't know the guy, but even more impressive is the fact that he took either 2nd or 3rd the year before that. That has to be in the top 3 impressive feats in WSOP history.

A quick list of people I have dealt to this year that you may or may not know:

Todd Brunson (no fun to deal to at all)
Chau Giang
Allyn Jaffrey Shulman (sweet lady and very attractive as well, esp. for her age)
Dario Minari (looks like he's 18 but the kid is very polite and seems to have a great attitude)
Daniel Negreanu (one of my favorites but unfortunately he was pretty quiet while I was there)

For those of you that followed the blog last year...you know about my encounter with Men "The Master" Nguyen. Well, I almost dealt to him again yesterday, but somehow avoided that disaster. It was the $1,500 6-max event which I am very good at, so I doubt there would have been any problems with him had he been at my table. Maybe later on this Series I will get that honor...

I haven't had to work more than 5.5 hours at TI which has enabled me to get a fair amount of sleep in between pulling these double shifts. The planets have aligned and tomorrow is a day off of both jobs. If given the opportunity, I will get out early tonight at TI and go out with some friends. Otherwise, I'll pick back up after dealing this weekend.

GG

Here we go again...

It appears that some of you clownshoes liked my blogging, so I am going to start it back up now that the WSOP is starting again.

I just busted from Event #1, the Casino Employee's Event. I lasted all of 45 minutes. Around 850 entered and I was out around 800th or so. Well played! No, really, I picked up two red aces in middle position at 25/50 (Level 1), and with 2 limpers in already, I bumped it up to 200. Both called and we saw a flop of K84, one club. I bet out 500 into a pot of 625, the big blind check raises to 2,000 and I only had 1,600 behind. I snap call and was pretty sure that she paired her king, which she did...and here is where it gets interesting. We both tabled our hands and I saw that she had KQ. I thought she had KcQs. The board ran out running clubs and I thought I was getting shipped the pot. The dealer pushes the pot to her and someone says, "Oh man, I didn't see the flush!" I looked back at her cards and she obv had KcQc and had gone runner runner on me. I had a sickening, helpless feeling and said, "Oh my God" but then wished everyone good luck and I obv headed over to Cane's on the way home for a #2 box of chicken fingers.

Poker is fun for everyone.

Like last year, I will take on double duty and work 2 full time jobs. I am still at Treasure Island and went ahead and signed up to deal the Series (but only because you guys liked my stories which I am sure there will be plenty of this year :-)

This year I will be working day shift at the WSOP and at Treasure Island, I will be working the 10pm shift. As long as I can balance, and get, a decent amount of sleep, I should fair well. I am not too concerned with myself...I am more excited about so many friends of mine entering so many events this year and I know that some of them are going to make some final tables. I have a really good feeling that one of my friends is going to take down a bracelet this year.

I recently moved into a baller house with online poker pro Chad Batista. I consider myself very lucky to get this opportunity for many reasons which I will explain in more detail as the summer goes on. Chad "lilholdem954" Batista just got in his car to go sign up for Event #2. This event's buy in? $40,000.

LOL.

P.S. I really don't think you all are clownshoes...but can you find a better word to call your friends?

Coming to an end

I've obviously been slacking with the updates but that's because so much has been going on. When I am home, its all about getting some sleep and I really haven't had the energy to be blogging.

There are only 3 more days left of work for most of the dealers at the WSOP. They are keeping some dealers on to deal the latter portion of the Main Event. Unfortunately, I haven't dealt any 'ESPN worthy' hands yet. The camera crews are always running around, looking for action. The wildest thing that has happened was my buddy Raymond, a guy who almost always pushes me through the lineup, dealt an insane hand. He had actually taken my place in the lineup as I got rerouted over to the Blue table section. Ray Romano had just been moved to the table that Raymond was now dealing. The cameras were already there and were filming when the ultimate hand went down. Quad aces vs. a Royal Flush! Expect to see this hand on TV.

Once I finish up at the WSOP, I'll be going onto day shift over at TI and starting with 5 days a week. If the room stays busy, I'll keep getting 4 to 5 days so I am obviously hoping that the room doesn't slow down. I will also be heading back over to Imperial Palace and from what I have seen and heard, the room is doing very well. I stopped by there last night and it was packed.

I don't know if the blogging will continue but so far it has been fun to document some of the madness that has gone down during the whole experience. I'm waiting for Maridu to send over the picture that we had taken of us out in the hallway of the Amazon Room, so hopefully I'll get that picture up during the next blog session.

I C Money

Last night I got to deal the $5K 6-handed event. The players were already in the money so the play was very slow. Some of the familiar faces that I dealt to included Ryan Daut, Alex Jacob, JJ Liu, Bryn "All it takes is confidence" Kenney, Bertrand "ElkY" Grosspellier, Shannon Shorr, and my buddy Chris "Cmoney3" Kline. I got to CMoney's table right after the dinner break and was hoping I'd be able to get him some cards and possibly double him up, but the 30 minutes I spent at his table wasn't enough. He made a nice run though and finished 25th of 805 entries for just over $20K. Nice job, bud.

I dealt that tournament until there were 15 left and they wanted me to stay overtime but I couldn't. I got over to TI by 2:30 and the games there weren't very good and I was happy to get out of there at 7:15am.

The other night I got assigned to deal a game that I haven't dealt since dealing school. It was the $1,500 Stud Eight or better event. After a few downs, I was feeling pretty comfortable. All I can say is I was happy to not have to deal to Men 'The Master' again. After reading some other stories about him and hearing episodes about him from other dealers over at the Series, I think he ranks #1 as the worst player to deal to at the moment. The guy has no manners at the table and treats dealers like garbage. I personally don't agree with continuing to allow this guy to play in all of the events other than the fact that they want the juice out of him and 'that he makes for great TV'. He's a known cheat in tournaments and is way too verbally abusive when he's at the tables. By the end of the Series, I might just let him know what I think of him.

As the players were on break during that same event, I was at a table where David Sklansky was sitting by himself, reading a copy of Bluff magazine. He and I started talking about 2+2 (www.twoplustwo.com) and a brief conversation started in regards to beginning a 'dealer forum' on his site. I think that would be interesting if he actually goes through with it. He made a phone call about it so we'll see if it happens.

I'm working the Series on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday and still don't know my TI schedule. Over at the WSOP, they aren't telling us our preliminary assignments anymore (Live, Tournaments or Satellites) because it appears that too many dealers were calling in sick when they were scheduled to deal live/ca$h games. That will give you an idea of where dealers prefer to be. Who wants to deal through the high limit string of tables when you are most likely to get berated and bitched at by angry players, many of whom are just grumpy degenerates? In addition to that, the money you make in the live game section is significantly less than tournaments.

Now having said that, I guess I can look forward to a nice, long string of live games over the next few shifts which will include several trips through 'The Gauntlet'...aka the string of high limit games. I'm excited. It took 2 weeks to get 6 total tournament downs and then I went back-to-back nights where I got 12 tournament downs each night. I'd guess my next entry will reflect a few evenings dealing over in the ca$h games...