Monkey Does Vegas....might as well start with a win!

Yesterday was almost a 'perfect' day.

On Sunday, I played on Stars for one quick session. I took 3rd in a $22/180 for $435 and got 227th out of 5510 in the $55 MTT for another $208. I was left with a feeling of "see, assholes, even I can win online once in awhile."

I skipped the Main Event at the IP, which attracted a robust 43 total players. Since I didn't Mega my way in I just couldn't see the logic or common sense in buying in to an event for $3k when I wouldn't even win any POY points if I did happen to Final Table it. I had no regrets.

It was a magnificent day of football...in Fantasy Football I put up a perfect 5-0 as ALL my teams won. Nice. And the Green Bay loss knocked a bunch of people out of my various Survivor Pools. I don't know about you guys, but I actually LIKE those old school Buccaneer uniforms.

Then on Monday I simply ran errands, visited the chiropractor..and spent the evening in with Squirrel. She gave me a haircut, a much needed one. Followed along with the WSOP Final Table. Joe Cada beats the record of Peter Eastgate for youngest-ever champion. Wow. Hope that at 42 I am no longer past the 'prime' of playing winning poker. These kids are something. I hope the kid just manages his money well and doesnt fall into the wrong crowd.

Tuesday I was supposed to fly out at 6am. Squirrel was real psyched about that! Well, my flight got cancelled because of that 'wannabe' hurricane, Ida. Glad nothing panned out with that storm. But when my flight got rescheduled it had me leaving town at 11:25am instead, and connecting in Memphis instead of Atlanta. By looking at my reservation online it looked like I had bumped to 1st class. I was pretty excited.

But when I got to Memphis...and boarded the plane...shit! Seat 6E ended up being the 2nd row in coach. And on my plane? If there were 215 passengers...195 of them were black, over the age of 50 and the average weight was about 250. What in the hell is going on here? Ahhhh I see. One of those black churches...practically the whole congregation was flying out to L.A. for some reason. They were all very nice, mind you...but half of them required wheelchairs to get to their seats, which caused pandemonium with loading the plane, causing us to be delayed, first at the gate, and later in taking off...as we were #14 for takeoff at one point. But the 'super bad' news came as I was approaching my seat....I had the middle seat. Seated on either side of me were two black women, both of whom were well over 300 lbs. OMG OMG OMG...the panic attack started. The only thing missing was the glass of milk to dip me in. They were both wearing the nastiest perfume...and just swimming in it. The plane was packed too, so there was no escaping this. OMG OMG OMG......I dipped into my pill bottle and found this ONE remaining xanax that Squirrel had given me months ago....took that, and a muscle relaxerr for my neck and prayed that I would pass out, and SOON! These ladies wouldn't give up even ONE arm rest...so I am sitting there, arms across my chest, with my pillow in my lap...freaking out!

We finally take off. The lady on my left has an arm the size of Squirrel's leg. Its pressed into me. OMG OMG OMG....please God....please make me fall asleep. And then finally, it kicks in. And while reading a paragraph in my latest Vince Flynn novel "Separation of Powers" it happens, I pass out. I wake up a couple hours later....still an hour outside of LA. Thats right. LOS ANGELES! This flight was going to LA first, then BACK to Las Vegas. Unreal. By the time I got to Vegas it was 6:45. I had been flying a total of 9 hours on the day. Not the worst day of flying, but close. I went to go get my pre-rented car at Budget and get the stupidest woman in the world. Thats right....I Googled "stupidest woman on the planet" while at the counter and her picture popped up. 214 questions from her later, I finally had my rental car.

While this was going on, Tim Mix was texting me from Venetian asking if I was going to come play their nightly 7pm tourney. I had been invited to attend the WSOP viewing party with the girl I am staying with, Lara Miller, who owns a PR firm and represents several of the Final Table players. Hmmmmm....figured being in that atmosphere would just bum me out a bit...so I elected to go play at Venetian, and see everyone. Glad I did. REAL GLAD.

I arrive in the middle of Level 3. I see Kai. He is still in the noon tourney. By the end of the night, Kai would bag up his chips...down to 3 tables, and either Chipleader or damn close. He was pumped, and frankly, I am tickled for him...as he is due for a big win. Hopefully today! Jason Young happens by a short time later, draggin 'Acap' with him and his girlfriend Jenna, who I'd never met. And I saw a lot of other good buddies, including Mike "Carwash" Schneider who was also in the money. Kevin "The Colored Giraffe" O'Leary would find me...with his girlfriend Brianna. Kevin has already won an event and has two final tables....so any thoughts I have of going back to back ALL AROUND at Venetian will have to go through Kevin!

About five hands I win a hand. Then I win another decent one. We started with 7500 chips. Then a guy raises in late position at 100/200 to 700. With 5 callers, and me in the BB with As9s...I figure that if I call...they might all call. I am looking at a chance to win a very juicy pot if I hit a nice flop. So I call, and four others call. I flop four to the nut flush. I check.....button bets 500. Strange bet huh? Into a pot of about 3700? I raise him to 1500. The others fold. He smooth calls. Hmmm..interesting. Luckily for me the turn card is the 10 of spades, Yahtzee! I check. He goes all in! Thank you sir...and you are drawing dead! Give me all your chips. Nice little double up!

This trend would continue, as players insisted on giving me all their chips. On perhaps my favorite hand...the 6 seat (I would personally bust the player in SEAT 6 a total of 3 times, that seat was like the ejection seat!) would raise from 200/400 to 3000. I min raised him to 6000 when I looked down at AA. Everyone folded to him. He calls. The flop comes Ah-3c-8c. He checks to me. I bet out 5000. He goes all in. Okay. I call. He has KQ. One club. I have the A of clubs. Thank you sir. I now had well over 55k with the average at 15k and 90 players still remaining.

I go card dead for a long time. No big deal though...since I had so many chips. Then I get AQ. I raise to 4800 with the blinds at 800/1600. Guy in late position goes all in for 11000. Great. But then he starts yapping and I figure out that he isnt very strong. Thinking middle pair. So I call, and he turns over 88. I fully think I am going to hit this. But I don't. Dammit. And that takes a big chunk out of me.

No big deal. I get them all back. Then the rest of it was kind of a blur. We make the money. I order the Red Snappers. I get 6 takers. All 6 of those takers would make the Final Table with me. Its amazing how powerful Red Snappers are!

Then I just play a very meticulous game of final table poker. Finding good spots to raise. Jedi mind tricking my way into a few pots. Slowly picking up pots. Then taking the chip lead when this guy just kamikaze jams 20 BBs at cutoff and I wake up with JJ on the button....and fade the K8. I can now feel the table getting antsy...now that I just took a commanding chip lead. We get down to 3...and are all holding the same stacks almost. But I am clearly the best player out of the three. Sorry, not meaning to sound cocky, but dammit, it wasn't even close. I was not interested in doing a chop and leave. But I would do a 'save' of some kind. 1st place was $4300. So I agree to each take $2500, and then play for $1100. I request that each of us tip the floor $100 each and the dealers $200 each. All parties agreed. The dealers and floor guy appeared to be happy with that.

After a while we got rid of the one guy. Then heads up, this guy had me 4 to 1 going in. I would flop two pair with K3. Bet, he calls. Turn air. Bet, he calls. River a boat...also gives him a straight. All in paid off. Now I am up 4 to 1. A few hands later I try to end it...raising with 66 and calling his all in with A10. 10 on the turn. SHIT! Back and forth......

Then finally, I raise with A7. He moves all in...I call. He has A6 and says "I smell a chop coming" and I reply..."Nope, I'm gonna hit a 7 here!" Which is exactly what I do. Game, set and match....Senor Monkey! And right off the plane...I have a win at the Venetian...good for $3600 and some pride, and the taste of victory! Sweet! Not a bad way to start the trip, not a bad way at all. And the good news? The really good news? That reader/comment has been sticking in my craw for the last few days...about me being a lousy tourney player...and that I will be working a 'real job'...'guaranteed' within 'two years.' Well...that is my driving motivation now. So every time I win now, I will be dedicating it to that son of a bitch! There ya go hater....SCOREBOARD!

Going to push the PUBLISH button, get in the shower...and hopefully get to Venetian 'semi on time' as it is now 11:33am. Yesterday they got over 500 players in the $340. Awesome. Can't wait.

MONKEY