Back again for day 2 of the Gaming Life Expo to see pro poker players. Click on the thumbnails to see the full sized picture.

First pictures is of 10 time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan signing autographs. During his break from one booth, he went over to yet another booth for more signing. There was a long line at both booths. Here at the WSOP, the poker pros are treated like big time celebrities.

The next picture is a booth for a Xbox 360 WSOP game. There didn’t seem to be too much interest. I think the people at the Expo want to see live people.

“Real” celebrity Jennifer Tilly and boyfriend and poker player Phil “Unabomber” Laak shown playing on one of the computerized poker tables. Phil gets knocked out first with AQ.

At the Seamless Gentlemen’s Club’s dunk booth, one of 3 real dancers who work there looking scared about getting dunked into the water.  A few seconds after this picture, she goes int0 the cold and murky water.

One of the Pro Player Drinks girls poses for me, only after I agreed to taste the drink. It tastes like orange soda. Hmmm. Energy drink specifically marketed only to poker players. I don’t think so. Nice try though.

Olympic Garden girls posing on their booth’s stage. Nice shot, right?

Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari signing autographs. I don’t know him, but he didn’t seem to want to be there all that much. Maybe that’s the way he always is. He did comply with all the stupid requests from people. One guy wanted his picture taken with Antonio holding 7-2 offsuit and the guy holding pocket aces.

Phil Gordon playing against Phil Laak on a heads-up computerized poker table. I read Phil’s “Green Book” that my friend Deana gave me. Good info and a quick read.

Chris “Jesus” Ferguson giving an interview in the halls. He was wearing a Matrix type black trench coat.

Hall of Famer, “Amerillo Slim” Preston in the halls. Not sure if he was playing or promoting something but he joked that I could use this picture like a scare scrow to get rid of birds.

One of the few hot ladies of poker, Vanessa Rousso signing autographs at a booth. She’s also super smart and graduated from Duke in only 2 and a half years and I think just finished law school, according to her myspace page. How does she finish law school and play pro poker, and do promotions? I have no idea. She’s dating Chad “Downtown” Brown, a fellow poker player and commentator. She’s done pretty well for herself.

Last note related to the Expo. I was playing a live game at the MGM and met Ron, the president of Lightning Poker which has a booth at the Expo. They also make those computerized tables and Ron told me that they will have a few of their units at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles.

I really think these computerized tables will become the norm in the future. Old timers won’t like it but the online 20 something players are going to love it. The casinos save money by not having to have chips, dealers, or cards. Players won’t have to tip the dealer or deal with mistakes, or people playing out of turn. But for now, the units might be too expensive, even though they are leasing them to the casinos. When the price goes down, this will be the future of live poker playing.

Well, I’m all set and ready. Now, it’s waiting and preparation. I’m now going to reveal some of my secrets for getting ready for the WSOP main event.

First, start waking up early. The event starts at the crack of noon. For me, this means waking up 2 to 3 hours earlier than I’m used to. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been waking up earlier by 30 minutes each week. Today, I woke up at 11am with no problems.

Second, stay at the Rio. This will save you at least 30 minutes traveling to the Rio in the morning. That’s 30 extra minutes of sleep. Not only that, during the 20 minute breaks, you could run to your room if you have to use the bathroom and the line is 20 minutes long.

Third, pre-order room service. You can order “breakfast” the night before you go to sleep, and dinner as well. They deliver the food within 5 minutes of the specified time. Instead of trying to find a place to eat dinner, just go up to your room and eat during your 90 minutes dinner break.

Fourth, play some live games with other WSOP players and make friends. This might help during the tournament, plus you may find some valuable tells. Just make sure you’re not giving away more information than you are getting.

Well, since this is my first time, that’s about all I can think of for now. I’ll probably come up with more after the event.

According to ”Poker Pro” magazine, the WSOP is reducing the money for the top places and increasing the money for the lower places. Of course, since I’m going to win, that’s less money for me, but if it helps the poker community, I’m all for it. But seriously, I like this idea because last year, if you made the money, basically, you just got your money back. This year, you’ll more than double your money back. Considering you are risking $10,000, and playing poker for multiple days, I think this is fair.

Last night, I went to the MGM for some live poker. I’ve never seen so many bad players. In the LA casinos, you would never see players that bad at a $2 – $5 no limit table. But I guess that’s why the pros love playing in the tourist filled Vegas casinos. Actually, one of my biggest pots I won was against the best player at the table. He had a lower straight and went all-in. I figured we probably had the same hand and called. Including my money, that was about a $1,100 pot.

Normally, I would stay with the monster stack and make more money, but I had to stay on my WSOP schedule so I went to bed early at 3am.

It’s finally the day to go to Vegas for the World Series of Poker, 2007. It feels like it’s been months. Oh yeah. It has been months since I won an entry at the Hustler.

At the airport, a cute blond sits next to me while I wait for the plane. I guess I creeped her out so she walked away, then an Asian guy sits down and starts listening to weird music on his Nokia cell phone. I look over and it’s Men “The Master” Nguyen. Looks like the WSOP is getting closer by the minute.

After checking into the Ri0, I go downstairs to confirm my pre-registration for the Main Event.  Pre-registering was the smartest thing I’ve done so far. There was a line for registration, then to pay, and even to go to the bathroom.  Okay, maybe not the bathroom, since it was almost midnight.  They make you sign a “release and confidentiality” form. In fact, blogging about the registration might be breaking the rules. This thing is so long, I think I may need 2 attorneys to look at it.

Look at this place. It’s a mad house. And it’s midnight. Event #54 is still going on with Erik Seidel and Chad “Downtown” Brown going heads-up after “Sean” Sheikhan busts out to Brown. Seidel eventually wins his 8th bracelet.

But there’s actually a bigger crowd around a live game ($50 – $100 blinds) going on. I walk up to see what’s going on and see Ben Affleck and Matt Damon playing at the table.  The ladies were taking pictures and giggling. But the guys that walked up after me only saw Daniel Alaei (a top cash game player) and didn’t even notice the actors. That’s a real poker player for you. While this is going on, Johnny Chan walks up to the table for a quick look see. Man, this is like a poker players dream.

Enough watching. Time to play.

Decided to try my hand at $3 – $5 no limit right there. There was a board with 10 or more people on it, but with so many tables, it went quickly. Sat down and noticed that the players were tight. Called a $20 raise with 8 – 9 offsuit.  My kind of hand.  Flopped trip 8s, and had one guy betting into me.  There was a flush draw possible, but I wanted to try slow playing it, and just flat called. Then turned the 9 which gave a flush draw their flush, and giving me the boat at the same time. Sweet!  He went all-in, and I called. Hope the WSOP is this easy.

Kept playing for a little while longer and finally decided to call it a night before it got too late.  My start date is Sunday so I have 2 more days to play.

Yet another tournament to try at the Bicycle last Saturday. Since it was the day after the big iPhone release, I talked to a few people with brand new iPhones.

The buy-in was $120 (including fees) and there were about 297 people in the no-limit, Texas holdem tournament. It was $10k for 1st palce. We started with only 1,000 in chips but the blinds started at a low 5 – 15, and went up every 30 minutes.

My first big hand was early and I had pocket aces against pocket queens and almost doubled up. I remember a similar situation at another tournament and knocked out a player on the very first hand I played.

Unlike other tournaments, I decided to play super tight. My next big hand was pocket 10s aginst 2 players. One was the chip leader at the table and the other guy was the short stack all-in. I went all-in, and the chip leader called. They happen to both have King – Queen off suit, so I was happy to see that, and I more than doubled up there.

Near the money (they paid to 27), I tried to steal the blinds with an all-in holding Ace – 6 off suit and ran into AK. Damn. I figured I was out and stood up to get ready to leave. The flop brought me an open ended straight draw and got the needed 2 on the river. Wow. What a suck out. This kept me alive to make the money.

At the end, a guy with pocket 9′s goes all-in and I look down to find pocket Kings. Nice. I go all-in, then the button with the big chip stack also goes all-in. Unfortunately, he had pocket Aces, a 9 flops and I come in 3rd in this last hand. Well, at least I made the money.

On to some live game action.  By the way, they are finished with the expansion of the upper area and now goes all the way to Yosh’s sushi restaurant. In fact, there’s an entrance directly from the poker side to the restaurant.

Anyhoo, coincidentally, several of my friends were playing live at the Bike. Ted and Hugo were both at the same $80 no-limit table, and David was at the $100 table. I started at the $200 table and moved to the $300-$500 table (blinds $5 – $5) after a few hands. One of my big hands came up like this:

Cochinoman			Small Blind Player

Flop				Turn	River

Everybody limped in and I also limped in with a terrible 4 – 5 off suit on the button. With a hand like that, you really should raise on the button but I don’t play that way. The small blind wakes up with aces and pops it up to $40. The big blind calls, and another guy calls.  According to Cardplayer’s odds calculator, 4 ways, pocket rockets is about 54% to win, and I’m about 13.9%. Heads-up, aces would be 81.93% and I would be 17.70%. Frankly, I thought I might be able to steal after the flop, since I had position.

Before I called, I asked the small blind if he wanted me to call. He rightly says, “No!”, but the big blind says “Yes!” Heh, heh. With those pot odds, the money looked too delicious, and I called.

A dream flop came for me. In fact, I looked at my hand again to make sure. That was a tell, if anybody was watching me. As the small blind got ready to bet out, I said, “Be careful.” Which he ignored, and bet out $160. Big blind calls quickly. The 3rd guy folds, and now it’s to me.

If the big blind didn’t come in, I would have slow played it, but with the flush draw, I felt I needed to get rid of him drawing on me so I poped it all-in. I covered both players with over $500. The small blind with aces thought long and hard and made a big fold and showed me his hand. The big blind calls about $260 left of his stack.

I don’t know what the big blind had but I know I don’t want to see any clubs. When the 8 comes on the turn, I’m not really happy because he could have had 9 – 10 , and made a higher straight.

The Ace comes on the river, with no clubs and the big blind mucks his hand. He told me he had 2 pair but I’m not sure that’s what he had.

In any case, I was happy. Kept getting lucky at the table and made more money but that hand was sweet.

Apparently, there was this same expo last year but I never even heard of it until this year. They changed the theme a little to add girls and gadgets to the gambling. Wait a second. This expo is the same theme as my blog! I guess that means…

From the exhibitor list for this year, it looks like a few Vegas strip clubs will be representing their wares. Among the listed are Library, Olympic Garden, Saphire, Seamless, and Treasures. On the floor plan, there was a “Rhino Vegas Basketball,” but I don’t think that’s the Spearmint Rhino. Too bad.

I don’t get the impression that it will be like the AVN expo or even the old CES, back in the day but I’m ready to see what stuff they have since I’ll be at the World Series Main event anyway.

Look for my double report of this expo and the goings on at the World Series of Poker 2007 Main event.

Gaming Life Expo 2007
July 5-8, 2007
Rio Hotel and Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada

After the Hawaiian Gardens tournament, I decided to stop by the Bicycle Casino on my way home for some live action to get my money back.

On one big hand, I flopped a small flush against A Q , who was the initial raiser. The flop was all , and the top card was a Q. I checked and the initial raiser bet out strong. I went all-in for about $400. But since he had top pair and nut flush draw, he called.  Unfortunately, the came on the river and I got felted.

But I re-bought in and got pocket rockets, got one caller who flopped top pair and called my all-in after the flop.  He came to the table with a lot of white chips ($100) and was an action player at our table.

 After that, I entered a pot raised to $20 (blinds are $5 and $5) holding Q 8 , along with 4 other people.  The flop was Q 8 7 . There was already over $120 in the pot, and the guy to my right bet out $100 into the pot. He was the tightest player at the table and I had not seen him play any big hands before this hand. There was a straight and flush draw so I went all in for $550.  Everyone else folded, and it was back to the tight guy to my right.

He called time and thought about it for a long time. He had over $1,000 so he had me covered. I figured he didn’t have a set or he would have called, even being a tight player. Now, I was starting to think he had a monster draw, like 9 10 , giving him an open ended straight flush draw. After what seemed like forever, he finally blurted out “I call.”

The turn was a completing a flush draw. My heart sank figuring I was now beat. Then on the river, I got the 8 giving me my full house! I opened my hand to show my full house and the other player mucked his hand.

The action player on my left asked the dealer to open the cards. Personally, I never do that because I think it’s poor etiquette to do that to the losing player. The dealer opened his hand and it was 9 10 which meant that he was only open ended and had 8 outs. That’s a crazy all-in call from what I thought was a tight player. I guess he got bored waiting for hands.

Not much after that, I decided to semi-hit and run and left.

A few weeks ago, I went to a poker tournament at Hawaiian Gardens which was a $340 buy-in with no rebuys. I don’t normally play there but I like this particular tournament because you start with 3,000 chips and there’s no rebuys.  I didn’t do very well in the tournament but there was one interesting hand for me that went like this:

Cochinoman			Player

Flop				Turn	River

I raised from middle position with pocket 4s. Only the button called me. I flopped middle set and came out betting $650 into a pot of about $800. The player flat called me with the nuts. I didn’t think there was any way that he had the straight with 3-5 because he called my pre-flop raise so I put him on an overpair to the board. He must have gotten a boner when he saw the flop. When you call a raise with 3-5, that’s a dream flop.

But next, the board paired with the 2 which gave me a full house. I didn’t even realize that I sucked out on him. Anyway, I didn’t want to scare him off so I checked and he bet only $500. At this point, I wasn’t sure if he was betting small hoping for me to come over the top (because he had a monster), or because he didn’t like the board pairing. I made a comment about the strange bet and flat called.

The river brought my dream card giving me quads. As I started to think about how much I should bet to get a call, the player went all-in out of turn. As the dealer started telling him that he bet out of turn, I quickly called his all-in. The player took back his bet and the dealer had to call the floorman, who ruled in my favor. It was a nice double up early in the tournament. In hind sight, I guess he went all-in out of turn as a defensive bet, hoping I wouldn’t be able to call.

Unfortunately, a few hands later, a lady with AQ went all in when the ace flopped, which I called with my AK. But then got her Q on the river and took a bunch of my chips.

I returned to this tournament again yesterday and got further but still didn’t make the money. My friend Cheryl was also playing and we busted out almost exactly at the same time. During the break, she and I talked about Arial Clark who we both knew from Caribe Casino who died in a car accident with his producer/director father Bob Clark. Ariel was so talented and taken so early. He’ll be missed by many.