I’ve had a few days to reflect on my trip to Vegas, and I’m still not sure what I expected. But, regardless of what I expected, I got more.

After we settled in, I headed to the Bellagio to play some real Vegas poker. I found a seat at a $4/$8 table full of foreigners. Well, the guy right next to me was from Indiana, but to a Texan, that’s foreign enough!

Okay, so I’ll be honest - I was pretty nervous when I first sat down. I decided I wouldn’t get fancy, and I only played premium hands. As a result, I won a few small pots with big slick and Mrs. Slick. Finally, about an hour into the session, with the English guy still grumbling because I outkicked him, I decide to mix things up. I’m one off the button and announce “Raise” with my 10/9. Small blind pops it again, and 6 of us see a flop of J/10/8 rainbow. When it’s checked to me, I bet and it’s capped as it comes back around to me. My heart does flip flops when all 6 of us see the 7 hit on the turn. The bet and raise from the blinds chase out two guys, but I’m a little nervous. I study the board, trying to see if I missed something; Why are these people so eager to bet? I can’t put anyone on Q9, so I re-raise. This chases out the button, but the SB caps it. When the rag hits on the river, the blinds bet and raise. I make it 3 bets. The guys in the blinds, who happen to be brothers from Iran, are both grumbling and trying to put me on a hand:

“You raise pre-flop with Q9?”
“You have trips?”

I just keep looking at my chips, waiting for them to make their move. The SB actually caps it, and they show pocket aces and pocket queens. I smile my small, secret smile as I slowly flip over my winning straight. With daggers in their eyes and hate in their hearts, they glare at me and mutter to each other about women playing poker.

A few hands later, I’m sure I won a few extra bets because of Mike’s suggestion. I have Ah 9h, and the flop has two hearts. I’d been swapping small talk with the guy from Indiana, and as we wait for other people to make their decision, he points at my ring and says, “So are you here with your boyfriend or husband?” “No, my girlfriend.” He just nods as the turn brings another heart. Knowing the Iranian guys are going to be aggressive, I check and my neighbor asks me, “So are you out here for any special reason?” As I toss out my raise, I say “It’s my anniversary.” Confused, he says, “Your husband?” The river is a rag, and I think everyone called my bet because they were in shock as I answered, “No, my girlfriend.”

Oddly enough, it never occurred to me that I was playing poker in Vegas on a Saturday night and I just might see a professional poker player. When I saw Howard Lederer and Phil Ivey walk into Bobby’s Room, it hit me - I’m in Vegas, baby! Giddy with excitement, I almost plowed into Johnnie Chan as I ran to meet SK. Still bubbling about the pros as we walked through the Bellagio looking for a place to cash out, I notice Daniel Negreanu and point him out. SK has the camera, but I figure he gets tired of people asking him, so we keep walking. After I cash out, he’s in the same spot, and someone else has asked him to take a picture. SK says, “Time for another?” and he agrees.

/fan girl

I got to take a picture with Daniel Negreanu!!

/fan girl off
We also saw Sklansky, but he looked like he was in a bad mood.

When it came time to meet Pauly, I decided I’d walk from Paris to Mandalay Bay. Sheesh, I wish I had asked someone how far down the strip I had to go! I’m tellin’ you, if I were on my way to meet anyone other than Pauly, I would have turned around when I hit New York, New York and realized I still wasn’t there! Luckily, he didn’t bail even though I was about 30 minutes late getting there. Going into it, I assumed we’d spend an hour or so talking about poker, and that’d be it. Boy, am I glad I was wrong!

I started to say it was like meeting up with an old friend I hadn’t seen in awhile, but that doesn’t really explain it. Call me goofy, but I’d say it was more like having drinks with a friend I see all the time. Our conversations were all over the place, and there was never an awkward moment. I was shocked to find out that he also reads my personal blog, and a little embarrassed when he encouraged me to write more. I laughed off his apparently genuine interest, but he’ll be glad to know I’ve had a few sleepless nights since then, my brain aflame with ideas.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to capitalize on Pauly’s well-publicized prop bet addiction, since I couldn’t fit a hoola hoop into my suitcase.

I also got to meet Grubby, but since he didn’t mention saying “I like to suck on it until it is soft” I guess I won’t either.

Posted by Jaxia in Poker