Last Post From Vegas....for awhile.

Hello? Anyone here? Am I like, the last remaining poker player in Las Vegas?

It's like this every year. Everyone loses in the WSOP Main Event. Then everyone either doesn't play the Venetian Main Event and leaves...or plays and loses and leaves. Or, if your a high-rollin big shot or got lucky in a satellite, you play the Bellagio Cup. Slowly...they start breaking down all the extra tables. Its a very depressing end to the summer. The crowds get smaller and smaller...the excitement dwindles. And then, it just ends.

It ended at Venetian last night at about 2am. Nick Binger, who was at my table for all of my 20 minutes of Day 2...and started the day out by raising with Ks4s...getting called in the BB by Mike Seca with AJ....saw a flop of J-4-3...which for some reason "Little Man" decided not to bet....didnt bet the turn either when a 7 hit....Binger did...then Mike just flatted...only to watch a 4 hit the river....Seca went broke there....and I guess Nick was on his way. Had Mike played that right...who knows? Poker is such a weird game. So much of it is purely situational and often times depends upon one magical card to determine your outcome. So Nick Binger won this year's Venetian Main Event...for about $377k...with no chop! Wow, great feeling he is having right now. Nice score, sir!

I've been getting a LOT of emails, and texts and phone calls congratulating me for a great summer. Some people seem to think I am 'playing better.' I can tell you this...I'm not. I am not playing any better than I was all of last year, nor better than I was playing this year from January through April. Nope. I just happened to have some hands hold up. I sucked out a few times when I needed to. I may have shown more patience...but deepstack tourneys will allow for that. I am laying here in this very comfortable bed...its 12:27pm, the Bellman will be here in about 33 minutes. I am looking at my 1st place trophy and my All Around trophy, that I got last night from Tim Mix (Venetian Tournament Director, who I then went to 'Cut' steakhouse in Palazza and had an amazing dinner with)...along with the prize money...which is safely locked away in the safe...and its giving me conflicting thoughts.

Should I go home feeling magnificent? Take a month or two off from poker? Feel great about life, about my game? Is that even possible? Or do I 'get after it' and try to keep it going? When CardPlayer does their next update I should move up to #125 on the rankings. I will move up to 6 final tables for the year. I made 11 or 12 last year...not sure what they had me for. I'm ultra competitive...do I try to top that number? Try to get inside the top 100 or top 50 for POY? Does any of this matter? Will anyone do an interview for the Best All Around thing? Something that might get me some run with a stupid online site? Or even a big-baller 10k backer? The things we strive for in this business? I mean, I love winning for my backer...and its great to make these scores...but every damn one of us dream about playing 5 to 10 events a year that have 10k buyins...to give us a shot at a million every time we play. Do I just slip back into total anonymity after this summer? I wonder. I know Squirrel would like to have me all to herself, at home, not playing poker for awhile. How long can I do that before I go bananas? Itching for the action? Is that healthy? Lots of questions. Maybe on this 26 hour drive home I will have some time to think all this out.

I think right now it looks like this: Drive home. Chill for a week. Fix the yard the dogs destroyed. And everything else. Bond with those crazy animals. Take a look at how many show up in Tunica for first few Goldstrike events. If the number is decent (like, over 250 per event) then probably go there and make an appearance. Come home. Chill some more. At the end of August is the 3m guarantee at Win Star up in Oklahoma. That would only be a 3-day deal. Come home. Beau Rivage event runs from Sept 6th-19th I think. After that....nothing. Then we might take a cruise. Not sure, of course. Probably take all of October off, or most of it. Because then...its Venetian Deepstack time again...Nov 1st- 27th. Pretty much the whole month. Then all of December off to spend the holidays with friends and family. When I get home, I am going to see about renting out a restaraunt of bar or something for one of the nights of the Beau Rivage tourney....and maybe we can have our big Wedding Reception/Celebration to enjoy with all of our friends and family. And then of course...we have football about to start. Yep...this will be a most exciting next couple of months. And of course I have to sit down and do the spreadsheet for the past six weeks...which should be fun....for my backer...and come up with a final number on how much I made her this summer. It will feel good to be sending a check the OTHER way!!! Sure she agrees!

So...there ya go. Good trip. Good memories. Didn't spend a lot of time with my 'other' Vegas buddies this summer, and that was kind of a bummer...but hopefully I will see them in November. Once again...a huge thank you to Venetian and staff for everything they did for me. I wrapped up my poker experience last night. At 2am I woke up and was craving ice cream...so I walked downstairs...sat at a $1/$2 table, called for in-suite dining...ordered a fruit platter and bowl of haagen daas vanilla ice cream. I bought in for $300. I got my delicious treat...wolfed it down....and cashed out for $377. Meal was paid for with comps. There ya go! One victorious free meal before leaving!

Now then...I have 12 minutes to get packed and get outa here! See ya all real soon! Thanks for following my shenanigans all summer, and thanks for all your fun comments!

Monkey