Sounds like fun. I want to sign up for the next one.

Some unofficial and non-sanctioned photos from IMOP '08 ....

JB, Santa, & Pledge Barbie @ PH Opening Ceremonies Dinner

Pledge Barbie, Pledge Bonnie, & Daniel-san @ PH Opening Ceremonies Dinner

The IMOP "Bracelet" (traveling award)

IMOP Bracelet Close-up ... Classy!

IMOP Traveling Trophy

Booyah Ironman Report time!!!! and it's in installments, should make for a few days of good reading.

Now we just need to get Pledge Minton in next year

Can't wait for the next installment.

Very well written and entertaining. I look forward to the rest.

Who ever thought that a bunch of guys from of all places Iowa could catch and hold the attention of a bunch of foul, drunk, loud-mouth degens?

Keep up the good work as I'm looking forward to reading some more. And Santa, I know the version on AVP is the PG-13 version, please email me the NC-17 version when it's complete. Thanks in advance.

@Bucabear

Ditto!!!

The Beat Down at Bally’s – Thursday 5AM
The other guys stayed and played cash games while Grange and I headed over to Paris to play there since we hadn’t in the past. Well, the Paris was closed at 4 AM so we went next door to Bally’s for the single weirdest poker experience of my life. We walk up and there is exactly one game going and it’s five handed. Clearly, most of them were hammered drunk and they were begging us to sit down and play, which we did. I had the 3 seat and Grange had the 9 seat. Seat 6 and Seat 8 were English guys who had moved to Vegas for a reason I couldn’t entirely figure out. They ordered at least 6 Kamikaze shots for the table during the time they were there and would do things like get up in the middle of a hand where they had cards and walk around the table to talk to you about your hand. They also liked to greet incoming players to the table with a welcome hug (though they could never remember anyone’s name – such as when one of them told Grange “I like your skull Darryl” when his name is most assuredly not Darryl). While this was amusing to nearly all, it was NOT amusing to a nice young man (NYM) who sat down in the game and apparently had a thing about being touched by drunk guys. NYM immediately tells Englishman 1 (Simon), “If you f-in’ touch me again I will beat your ass,” which prompts Englishman 2 (Mark) to immediately reach over and put his hand on NYM’s shoulder and say, “He’s real sorry, we’re just being friendly.” NYM about jumps out of his skin and prepares to attack when the floor comes over to settle everyone down. As they continue their back and forth, I get my camera out and snap a few pictures of the events as Grange is cackling in the background. I then got a picture of their end of the table (including a not-so-amused NYM) in a big group hug. Priceless.

No great poker stories here but about an hour later, I was counting my chips when I look up just in time to see Mark turn to Grange and give him a big, forceful hug/head lock (out of nowhere) which caused both of them to fall over backwards on the floor like a linebacker taking down a quarterback. All I saw was four feet in the air and two chairs flying sideways. Their feet hit the table hard enough to knock over a few stacks and screw up the flop! Amazingly no one was hurt, but the dealer whispered to me to get one of the floor guys from the pit because the poker floor was on break and the dealer was REAL nervous. I got some pencil neck with a chip on his shoulder to come over and talk to them. Here’s the exchange:

Pencil Neck: “Hey, you guys are cut off from alcohol and you need to stop swearing, I’ve been listening to it all the way over there for the past three hours.”

Simon: “C’mon, man. What’s the problem?”

Pencil Neck: “You can’t say the f-word”.

Mark: “Well, how about the c-word, can we say that then?”

Pencil Neck: “No, do not say the c-word.”

Mark: “Well, what if we’re talking about your mum?”

Pencil Neck: “SECURITY!!!”

And that was nearly the end of Mark and Simon, except for one more incident. They actually didn’t object to being thrown out and walked around the table to shake hands with each player and wish them well – except when they got to NYM. As Simon is shaking NYM’s hand, Mark sneak attacks and gives him a half hug from behind! NYM wheels around and takes a big swing at Mark but misses and security jumps in and breaks it up and that’s the last we saw of the English…

Grange and I rack up and head back to the V at about 7 AM and find JB and Timmer at one of the two tables running that time of morning. After waiting and nearly falling asleep in public, Grange and I decide to catch a nap and head up to find Pledge Bonnie already snoring. I get a whopping 90 minutes and can’t resist the siren’s song of the poker room any longer. I head down and within another hour, all six guys are grinding away.

Of Signature Hands and Old School Casinos – Thursday 3PM
I wind up sitting at a table next to Pledge Barbie when he pulls this gem. He has been playing aggressive and we’ve been yucking it up quite a bit with the other players at the table. It limps around to Pledge Barbie on the button ($450 behind) and he raises to $15. He gets a call from a decent young player (DYP) at the other end of the table ($225 behind). Flop comes A-10-5 rainbow. DYP checks and Pledge Barbie fires $50 at it. DYP calls. Turn is 9 (no flush). DYP checks. Pledge Barbie thinks for a moment, then says, “I’m all in.” and puts his chips and cash in the middle. DYP thinks for about 45 seconds and mucks. Pledge Barbie then proudly tables…6/3 off suit!! He played his signature hand for all his chips!!! Outstanding! We then had to explain the game to everyone and apologize to the kid for tabling that ridiculous bluff.

After playing all afternoon we then head over to tournament location number two: The Sahara for the 7PM tournament! This year it is a little sad for me because Dan’s brother Doug isn’t along and he HATES that place and all it stands for, which is one of the reasons I drag us over there every year (that and it’s the only live tournament I’ve won/chopped). We skip the horrific Mexican restaurant this year and jump right in the tournament. Nothing changes about this room; the server, the dealers, the floor – nothing. Egads it must be hard to move around that town. I manage to win a last longer bet with Grange and he goes from table chip lead to broke after back to back brutal beats. We’re down to two tables of 8 out of 80 original players. Somehow, Pledge Bonnie, JB and I are all at the same table. JB pushes all in with big cards and I call with 55 and flop a set and knock him out. Pledge Bonnie is still the big stack at the table and we get to the final table. I manage to knock out a couple of players and get a stack, meanwhile Pledge Bonnie is making good bets but getting out run by smaller stacks and eventually busts out, but in the money. We get down to five handed and I’m the chip leader and the 124 year old eastern European geezer next to me is a very close second. Everyone else is two orbits away from being blinded off. Talk of chopping the prize follows every hand, but nothing everyone can agree on comes up. Then, with me in the BB and K9 and geezer in the SB, this ridiculous situation comes up; he completes SB:

Flop is K,10,7. Geez fires a pot sized bet! Why in hell wouldn’t he just check and not have the big stacks clash? Against my better judgment (probably had something to do with all the Newcastle) I call. Turn is 9, no flush possibilities. He fires ANOTHER pot sized bet and I look at him and say, “What are you doing? Why do this?” I call with my two pair. The River is a J and he fires again. I have no choice but to call and turns over…K8 for a rivered straight. Holy crap! Unbelievable. Now I’M the short stack at the table and I’ve completely lost my mind. I manage to win a couple of uncontested pushes but I’m just treading water. The other shorty at the table is still working the chop angle but geezer is hearing none of it. We even offer to give him a big payday for his chipstack, which he first says “OK” to, then looks at the cards he’s just been dealt and then says, “No chop!” (think Sergeant Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes). He actually does that two other times too so talk of chopping ends since the guy is going to essentially go back on his word every time. By this point, I’ve got to take a leak, but they aren’t giving any more breaks. I fold my button and run at a dead sprint out of the poker room and up the escalator to hallway where the restrooms are. I coming running back down and back into the poker room just as they are dealing my big blind again – phew (and yes, I did wash my hands). Geez asks where I went and says that he really has to go too. So, I start slowing down my decision making process hoping to make him a little uncomfortable (or perhaps more willing to chop since there is no way in hell that guy could run a step). He still won’t listen to a chop when this hand breaks out:

Nerd on the end with second most chips min raises. Other short stack calls for about half his chips, Geez calls. I look down and see AKd. I look at Geez and say, “OK, dude, are you sure you don’t want to chop, because I can make this real ugly.” He replies again, “I no chop!”. I say, c’mon, are you sure, you are going to take a big hit on this hand from someone and if you don’t chop now, I’m not agreeing to any chop that pays you what we’re offering right here and now (about $200 more than the rest of us).” He thinks then says, “NO CHOP!”. So I shrug and push all in for about three times the original bet. Nerd groans and mucks an obvious steal attempt. Other shorty thinks for a long time and then finally mucks not wanting to get eliminated with all the fireworks going on. Geez of course calls and rolls over 77. I river a K and scream “JUSTICE” which has the desired effect of really pissing off Geez. Now I’ve got a decent stack and Geez and Nerd are dead even. Well, well, guess who is ok with chopping now? Shorty really wants to chop so I don’t get in the way. We wind up giving Geez a little more and then it’s all hugs and high fives as he waddles off to the can.

We head back over the V to grind a little and then actually get some sleep.

One more part to go...

This was chock full of inside jokes and such that I didn't really get it.

Probably a laugher on your private blog amongst your friends, but not really interesting here.

@blue3715

I strongly disagree. Great writeup, Santa. I look forward to the next installment.

i guess i have to disagree with blue also, i thought the initial post explained the whole trip, prop bets etc. sufficiently. I look forward to the next report.

I shall endeavour to use this as the future template for my own excursions into the poker rhelm.

A definite laugh riot. It would have been worth it just to watch you all..I too can't wait for the next chapter..

I think the whole drunken-hugging-Englishmen experience is what set Vegas apart from any other card room(s). While that specific thing has never happened to me I have seen very weird things. The sight of Grange's feet in the air must have been priceless.

You guys really need to bring a film crew along next year. That would be way more entertaining than half the poker shows on TV.

Thanks for the good read, hilarious stuff.

@djpeteski

Let me clarify a bit, since Santa fails to do full justice to this episode. This was not just an exuberant hug gone awry, this was a completely random, full blown blind-side tackle. He might have only been a drunk 150# Englishman, but it felt like Bob Sanders had teed off on me. Of course, Santa was more concerned about stacking his chips than coming to my aid. You know a guy for 18 years, you'd think (incorrectly) he might remove his butt from his chair and pretend to care about your well-being, if not actually take a couple of steps and intervene ...

@djpeteski

My feet are dead sexy.

@Grange95

pwned! I would hope that any self respecting iowa type person could withstand the half ass tackle of a guy who has no idea what football really is.

Gawd I would have laughed my a$$ off.

@blue3715

You probably need to read the first part over HERE

This is a lengthy multi-part post involving a cast of characters described in the first post

Brilliant cant wait for part 3 the craic about the English lads is priceless keep it coming.

Great stuff!

A few more unofficial and unsanctioned photos:

Pledge Bonnie (rockin' the ISU hat) @ the Sahara final table

Santa (in full Internet punk attire) @ the Sahara final table, next to his good bud Geezer

Pledge Bonnie, Pledge Barbie, JB, Santa, & Daniel-san @ the Sahara

@djpeteski

Three points: a) my complete lack of self-respect is my key to winning at poker and a necessary skill for competing in the Ironman of Poker, ii) I'm a Nebraska native, and we have apparently decided to be football wimps the past 5 years, and 3) don't forget, the English may think "football" means "soccer", but they are still world champs at hooliganism.

@djpeteski

Firstly FOOTball is a game played with a ball and FEET. Secondly we play a REAL man's game called rugby. No crash helmets or body armour!!

@Karapet

See! I was assaulted by a RUGBY player! I didn't stand a chance!

Damn Brits ...

Looking forward to catching up on these

Another awesome report!!!

Great read. Looking forward to the whole thing.

@Karapet

Firstly FOOTball is a game played with a ball and FEET. Secondly we play a REAL man's game called rugby. No crash helmets or body armour!! [/quote]

Ken,

If you took any half ass high school football team, gave em 3 weeks to learn rugby, they could complete for the world cup of rugby.

Pete "your buddy from the IP over superbowl weekend"

uhmmm I think NOT
first off - rugby do not have a separate team for defense, they do all the work themselves, which means they don't get to rest after a couple of downs and go on the field fresh
The 'bigger' guys in rugby - the forwards - have to stay with the game, i.e running the field up and down for a whole game = 45 min a side.
let's not even start with the padding and helmets.

I'm not saying footbal players can't be great rugby players, I'm saying that a 'great' footballer will not necessarily make a great rugby player. There are too many differences between the games.

@blue3715 I wholeheareted disagree. I thought it was great and can't wait for part 3.

Priceless report as usual!

I aspire to this level of poker trip. God bless America

Friends, Romans, Ironmen – Have another beer! – Friday 9AM
We play the Friday 9 AM at Caesar’s and Pledge Barbie and Grange wind up heads up for the title. Grange manages to beat him on the very first hand heads up and the Ironmen have essentially gone three for three in the tournaments! We spend a little time grinding away at Caesar’s when all hell breaks loose at the table next to where Grange, JB and I are sitting. A string of loud expletives erupts and we later find out what happened.

Pledge Bonnie, Dan and a random player wind up getting it all in pre-flop. Pledge Bonnie rolls over aces and is feeling good because Dan has KK and random player has QQ! Of course, Dan spikes the K and rakes a monster, which causes the aforementioned expletives and causes Pledge Bonnie to storm out of the room not to be heard from for a good 5 hours. That would make two trips in a row where Ironmen are involved in a hand like this. I hope I’m not the one with aces next year.

Later that afternoon we wind up back at the V to play cash games. After sitting at a lame table, I get moved to a wild table that involves what else – three other Ironmen. At this point, it’s worth pointing out that my six year old made us all card cappers that have IMOP on them in varying colors, about the size of a small plastic comb. So, we were getting asked about them the entire trip (we heard “you guys are everywhere” more than once) and we would explain what was going on and it served to really make for a fun table. So I sit down and pull out my card cap and the whole table starts cracking up and saying, “ANOTHER one?!?!?” Good times!

This turns out to be an interesting table. A fun obnoxious moppy haired guy (Moppy) is at one end of the table and Grange is at the other. They are making crap out of everyone at the table. A decent, but equally obnoxious guy sits down next to Moppy, we’ll call him Meathead. Not sure if Meathead was getting big cards or what, but he raised literally four hands in a row from $21 to $28 which was twice the norm at the table. After making a couple of sick laydowns, I was shortstacked (about $85). Instead of buying my stack up to $300 and playing normal, I decided to play the "heidi ho" game and pick spots to just shove in and see if I could double up once or twice.

Push #1 - I limp with KJ, he pops to $21, everyone folds to me and I go all in for my last $83. He thinks for awhile then calls with pocket tens. I river a jack and double up. The table has a good laugh and we play on. Meathead is not pleased.

Push #2 - I've been worked down to about $70 again after missed flops and continuation bets and after everyone limps I go "heidi ho" again with pocket 77's and everyone folds. Yee-ha! Meathead tells he almost called but that I’m “probably the luckiest SOB” he’s ever seen.

Push #3 - I still only have about $90 and the guy to my immediate left hasn't played a lot of hands, but every time I speculate and limp he raises and I have to fold. Clearly, I'm sick of this. So, I get 8/9 spades on the button and raise to $12. He re-raises to $30 and everyone else folds. I figure he thinks I'm trying to steal again and is pushing me around so I shove my last $75 or so all in. He thinks for a minute or so and asks, "how much?" and I say, "frankly, not enough to make you go away" hoping he would go away. He calls and tables JJ. Flop is nothing, turn is an 8, river is a 9 - SHIP IT!!! Guy picks up the rest of his money and leaves muttering...classic!!!

By this time the cocktail server has been to our table about 150 times and Grange now has convinced her to call me “Fat Bastard” every time I order a drink. I attempt to bribe her to break a bottle over his head but apparently she has her limits.

“…and then he dumped water on my crotch.” – Friday 9:30PM
It’s now time for the highlight of the IMOP – the dinner at Delmonico’s featuring our Ugly Jacket competition. A few items worthy of mention:
• Pledge Bonnie and Pledge Barbie bought EXACTLY the same ugly green jacket – on the same day – at the same Goodwill store!!! Holy crap!
• Dan needs to try harder next year, although he did pick up points by intentionally leaving it on a slot machine and walking away after dinner.
• JB did himself proud not by his jacket, but by wearing shorts with it like Angus Young of AC/DC. I later commented that he was one tube of eyeliner away from being a member of Green Day as he had a black t-shirt with a picture of a tie on it.
• I gave it my best shot. I had my ugly black and white shoes, a paper thin v-neck sweater with a black dickie capped off with a black Member’s Only jacket. Sadly, I was outdone by Grange again…
• He had a jacket that really can’t be described. I suppose if you took a salmon filet, put it in a blender, put it on puree for 30 seconds, then threw the whole thing at a blackish-green wall, you’ve got his jacket. It even had big belt loops in the back for some unknown reason.

We get seated and immediately realize that Dan, who serves as our host for this event, is more than a little hammered, which might be the first time any of us can remember him in this condition. Pledge Barbie tells us that while they were at Caesar’s, the table started ordering rounds of shots called “Liquid Cocaine”. EEE-yikes! As usual we laugh our way through dinner and amazingly do not get thrown out. Our drunken host orders a cognac for dessert and continues his death spiral into hell. We are nearly ready to leave when the best moment of the trip occurs. As one of the busboys is clearing a plate, he doesn’t quite clear a very tall, very full glass of very cold ice water and dumps the entire thing directly into Dan’s crotch! We completely lose it and everyone pulls out their camera and starts snapping away laughing hysterically because on top of everything else he was wearing khaki pants. The patrons around us are puzzled and the maitre d is absolutely horrified that his employee dumped water on a guy at a table that just spent about $1,000 with them. We work hard to assure him that it is no big deal, and that frankly, we loved it (since it was spilled on Dan). We made a new rule that from that moment on, any story we told had to end with, “and then he spilled water on my crotch”. As we were leaving the now empty restaurant (they gave us free dessert while we waited for Dan’s pants to dry off enough so that he didn’t look like he peed himself), we made them go and get the guy that dumped the water so we could take pictures of he and Dan standing together. We snapped a couple more group photos in front of this humpty dumpty statue and left one of the jackets there and headed for TI to play more poker.

“I’m all in? What?” – Saturday 12:30AM
We arrive at TI in our get ups and get seated. Pledge Barbie is in the 2 seat, I’m in the 4 seat, JB is in the 7 seat and Grange is in the 9 seat in a 1/3NL game. It’s only about 10 hands or so in when the really big stacked Annoying Canadian (AC) in the 8 seat raises yet again. Pledge Barbie is the only caller and the flop comes out some odd board. Pledge Barbie checks and AC is not paying attention and talking to his buddy. Out of nowhere, and later alleged to be said to his buddy, we hear “I’m all in”. Pledge Barbie pulls a Phil Hellmuth call/push his chips into the pot lightning fast and tables a flopped set of 9’s as AC turns his attention back to the game to see the big “All In” button TI uses in front of him and Pledge Barbie’s mess of chips shoved wildly to the middle. He begins to yell, “Hey, I was talking to my buddy what the hell is going on here, eh!!?!???!!” Dealer has none of it and rolls the turn and river and tells the guy to cut out $400 chips to pay Pledge Barbie with. He’s still complaining and they call the floor over who verifies that others at the table heard the words “All In” and the ruling stands. As AC is still muttering and cutting chips, Pledge Barbie says loudly to no one in particular, “Darn, I should have bought in for the full $500.” Whoa boy!

“I’ll bet this crowd can’t even spell AVP” – Saturday 6PM
The next day we decide to grind away our hours at the V to make sure we cover our room rate for hours played before heading back over to TI for the big AVP private tournament. They allow rebuys and Pledge Barbie manages to be the first one out of the tournament – twice! Pledge Bonnie donates another rebuy as well. Grange makes the final table but gacks off his stack and makes the TI tournament the only one we didn’t have someone cash and chop. The guys are all seated and trying to grab some cash from the 1/3 tables at TI when Grange and I take off to do the poker room version of bar hopping.

We walk back down to Paris as neither of us had played this room. It’s basically right in the middle of their sports book. We get seated in a pretty bad game, but long enough for Grange to have both his AA sawed off by a bad call as well as hitting ANOTHER freakin’ high hand jackpot when he hits quad Jacks (that’s two for the trip and five in two trips – unreal). After about an hour we walk through Bally’s and head down to Flamingo for a 90 minute session. Grange again gets sawed off and I again nearly double up – good times!

Tough to ‘p’ at the IP – SUNDAY 3AM
Grange and I get seated at a donktastic game at the IP. I am on fumes by this point with only 7.5 hours of sleep in the past 4 days. The table is a typically great IP table. Our end has two decent guys to watch out for (aside from ourselves, of course) and the other end of the table has a calling station, a maniac who might have thought he was playing with wild cards and a woman who actually made a river call for $95 with less than A high. Woo-hoo! I’m home. However, poker playing was not the highlight of this stop.

Grange went to the can and he walks back into the poker room nearly in tears from laughing. And proceeds to tell me the following story…

A drunk trust fund baby type comes up to the urinal next to me, smoking a cigarette which is in his right hand. He seems to have trouble getting things taken care of left-handed, so he starts to use his right hand to help out … with cig still in his hand. He suddenly jumps back and lets out a loud and fairly incomprehensible yelp as he burns himself in a rather sensitive area. Let it also be known that Grange finished the story with, “and then he threw water on his crotch”.

Watch for falling Carona – SUNDAY 5AM
After Grange and I both hit big hands to double up at the IP, we walked back to the V. Pledge Barbie and Pledge Bonnie were both grinding away (I had received a very agitated voicemail from JB that he was going to nap after having a horrific run of luck – I haven’t had messages that long or that angry from ex-girlfriends!). I only had a few hours before our final breakfast and I still had to tally up all the tournament sheets and score all the prop bets. I wound up falling asleep for an hour, then grabbed all the stuff and decided I’d do the paperwork in the poker room. What I returned to was quite a sight. Grange had gotten a seat at Pledge Bonnie’s table who apparently was attempting to apply for Mexican citizenship by drinking their nation out of Corona. There were five bottles on the floor around him, one in his hand and one in his drink holder. Somehow, he also had well over $500 in chips in front of him. Grange called me over to tell me this story that happened while I was upstairs…

Another classic Bonnie moment—Playing drunk cash games at the Venetian, he is in a big multiway pot on the river. He makes a big bet, one guy folds, and Bonnie proudly yells to me look at his hand—and shows his signature hand of 7-4. Unfortunately, there is still a live hand left in play, who promptly makes a huge bet, forcing Bonnie to muck and tilt off in search of more booze.

Pledge Bonnie cashes out and comes over and sits down at the table where I’m doing paperwork. He asks me three times in 90 seconds what time it was. I send him off to bed and keep doing my thing. About 30 minutes later, Grange and I head back up to the room and find a passed out Pledge Bonnie snoring away – shirt on, pants off. As we try to roll him over to end the snoring, he sort of wakes up and gets out of bed but isn’t completely sure where he is, we guide him to bed and he attempts to get under the sheets but can only manage to get one leg in the army-like bed making job the V maid-staff has done. As he struggles to get his other leg and the rest of his torso under the covers he keeps muttering, “…TIGHT…too…TIGHT…tight” before finally giving up and passing out again.

Breakfast time comes and we decide to let Pledge Bonnie sleep it off, so the pledge misses graduation. We eat and tally the points and somehow, some way Grange has won for the second consecutive year. We all sigh as we know we are in for another year of taunting.

“I feel like dogsh!t” – SUNDAY 10:45AM
We get checked out of the V and for good measure, Dan gets tilted when he has to argue for 15 minutes with the front desk to get his poker room rate applied correctly to his bill. Getting Pledge Bonnie up and out of bed to pack was no small feat. He was gradually coming to his senses as we waited for Dan to get things squared away, so when he wanted to go outside in the massive throng of people to look for Big Rick, Pledge Barbie and I let him go. Mistake. As Pledge Barbie, Dan and I walked out, found Big Rick who greeted us with a hearty “IOWA IN THE HOUSE!!!!” and loaded our stuff up, Pledge Bonnie was nowhere to be found. Oh boy! I ran back to the entrance and looked around. I finally spotted him standing next to the curb staring blankly off into space. Apparently looking for Big Rick proved tiring. We get loaded up and we’re on our way to the airport.

Now, given that Big Rick hangs out with Flava Flav, making him laugh should prove to be a challenge. Well we were up for it because we had him almost in tears after a few stories. It also helped that about every 2 minutes, Pledge Bonnie would belt out “I feel like dogsh!t” to which we would all callously laugh uncontrollably.

After waiting over two hours for our flight, we were on our way back to Cedar Rapids. While waiting for our bags, we decided to play one more game of Luggage Carousel Roulette. Any guesses as to who won? That’s right! SHIP IT – HOLLA!!! At least I am champion of that game.

We are already looking forward to next year’s edition:
Ironman of Poker 4: Vegas Nights, The Ballad of Mikey Bonnie

Thanks for the write-ups. They have been extremely entertaining and very well written. Hopefully yall left some fun out there for me.

I love reading these too -- now THAT's how you should do Vegas, I think.

@Santa Claus

OK, Santa makes a final table at Sahara and chops for first and we have to endure three paragraphs of inconsequential details. I win a tourney and get two sentences! Who said winners write history?

To set the record straight, I knocked Pledge Bonnie out of the tourney when I flopped a boat with KQ on a KQQ board ... and Bonnie had Q8s. Heads up I knocked out Pledge Barbie when I rivered a straight and Barbie decided to push with third pair ... on the first hand heads up! Sometimes I play so good!

@Santa Claus

This was the tourney where I knocked out Pledge Barbie when my As4s rivered a flush against his set of aces, and I also had AA knock out two players who each had KK. Weird stuff. Then I made the world's worst poker play ever by calling an all-in against another big stack with just K-high (and he was slowplaying AA ). Sometimes I play so bad! However Daniel-san also managed to make the final table ... and became the bubble boy.

@Santa Claus

Actually, that was my 6th HHJ in my last two trips. I had quads twice and two straight flushes (all at TI) over Christmas, and quads at TI and Paris on the IMOP trip. The TI quads this trip even paid double (early a.m. promotion). Frankly, I'm not sure why I ever play anywhere but TI! Sometimes I play so lucky!

Jacket pictures to be posted tonight ... stay tuned!

@Santa Claus

Either your tallying system is messed up, or you missed a deduction. How can he win when he was bested by a spaghetti limbed soccer player!?!?!

I call shenanigans!

Wow. What a report! That was an ironman trip report truly befitting you animals.

I am starting to think that I am not having nearly enough fun when I go to Vegas, but you guys would leave me for dead. Excellent trip reports.

M

Excellent trip report. I'm heading out in may with a group and we may have to steal a few of your prop bets. The only thing missing is a mandatory session blackjack switch at Casino Royale.

i am from holland, but even than this is a GENIUS report...!!!
thank you man , you got the picture....

@mritz I get the same feeling. These guys are in a whole 'nother league...

GET YER IRONMAN JACKET PHOTOS HERE!

Delmonico pre-dinner mojito reception

Pledge Bonnie goes old-school Masters-style

Daniel-san does an homage to sandpaper

JB classes it up with a faux-tie tshirt, keeps it casual with shorts

Pledge Barbie emphasizes the accessories

Santa opts for the classic "Members Only" jacket

Grange successfully defends his worst jacket title with this stunning gray-black-pumpkin pixellated smoking/puking jacket (by Montgomery Ward)

Post-dinner, Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall ...

Humpty Dumpty had a great ... new jacket

How can I say this in a PG-13 setting?

You effers are sick. And I mean that in the most commplimentary way possible.

I'm just surprised that Grange didn't make you go this week so he could "attend" the DRI conference and write it off on his taxes.

I think I feel a hangover coming on just from reading that trip report.

"The Sahara for the 7PM tournament! This year it is a little sad for me because Dan’s brother Doug isn’t along and he HATES that place and all it stands for, which is one of the reasons I drag us over there every year (that and it’s the only live tournament I’ve won/chopped). We skip the horrific Mexican restaurant this year and jump right in the tournament."

You brought back horrific memories. The stupid @$$ Sahara sports book screwed up a parlay bet - and the place is so dead the teller remembered my actual bet the next day when I came back to cash the ticket and to her credit was honest about it. They refused to give me my winnings but gave me a voucher for a free dinner ... to that crappy Mexican food restaurant. Sheesh, talk about losing twice. We intentionally tried to drink the bar dry as revenge for screwing me out of my $ and it still sucked. Multiple lessons learned: don't stay at the Strat, no matter how good the promo deal is; don't venture into the Sahara, even if it is just to place a random baseball parlay bet; don't eat at the Mexican restaurant, even if it is free.

@oski88

Now THAT is a bad beat story!

We ate there on IMOP 2 and Grange asked for more tortillas - and they said, "we're out." Out of tortillas at a Mexican restaurant!!!!!

Viva la Sahara!

A final smorgasbord of unofficial and unsanctioned IMOP photos:

Fuzzy close up of one of the personalized Official IMOP Card Protectors (this one happens to be Pledge Barbie's ... mine was done in Husker red & white)

Daniel-san tries to steal Santa's steak @ Delmonico

Daniel-san has water dumped in his lap @ Delmonico (nice Caesars Palace medallion, eh?)

The poor guy who dumped water in Daniel-san's lap (good sport, eh?)

Santa in action @ TI cash game

JB in action @ TI cash game

Pledge Barbie shows off his winnings after the infamous "Canadian all-in" play @ TI (AVPer Talon in the box)

Santa tallies the prop bets and IMOP points Sunday morning @ the Grand Luxe Cafe' in the Venetian

Venetian sheets 1, Pledge Barbie 0

great pics man.

OMG! Grange you certainly are the winner, that jacket you're
wearing could not possible be any worse. '

I will say though Pledge Barbies overall look might be the most disgusting and I say that as a compliment.

gdog

@gdog1962

Actually, I have 3 more highly eye-burning jackets on reserve for future years. I refuse to lose this contest, ever!

BTW, Santa never gave me credit for the vintage Cobra Kai t-shirt I wore for the opening ceremonies. The back: "Sweep the Leg!"

@Grange95

That was on the other day. Wow, that t-shirt sucks. Congrats.

This whole series was freakin awesome to read....

My liver hurts just thinking about this trip....

You guys are badass!!!!!

Being Canadian I was totally offended, offended I say, at your flip "Angry Canadian (AC)" slur during your otherwise fantastic trip report. I thought you were just being judgemental and guessing at your opponenet's nationality until the "eh" at the end of the sentence gave it away. We end each sentence with that just to make sure the person(s) you are speaking to understood, eh?

On behalf of all poker playing Canadians, we appologize for his bad manners. Of course he got his when not paying attention.

Having perused the majority of reports over the past two years here, I have to say that this one is the Hall of Fame entry to which all others will be measured. You can actually feel how good a time you all had.. After reading these three stories, I don't even feel that I have the courage to add mine after my trip in May..Hmm maybe I'll just copy this one and change the names/places..

I have to agree with gdog1962 - Grange that is the grossest jacket I've seen in almost a decade. The closest thing I ever saw up to that "standard" was my brother's St. Patrick's day outfit he wore every year in college in the late 90's - green and white checkered jacket, hot green polyester pants and a yellow button down, butterfly collared dress shirt. Add to the fact he has red hair and plenty of freckles - god he stuck out like a sore thumb.

Unfortunately an ex-girlfriend of his threw out the cloths on him after a fight. I have to try and dig up one of the pictures.

Getting back to Grange - I can't wait to see next year's "winner"

Awesome trip report, a blast to read from start to finish. Thanks for contributing.

FANTASTIC report...who wouldn't want to join in the merriment of your group. Only problem I see would be having to move to Cedar Rapids.

Great job!

@guynotes

Have you apologized for Bryan Adams?

Actually, the AC was regaling us with tales of Vancouver until his buddies cost him that pot. Funny thing, the bud he had been talking to when he made his stupid "all-in" came back maybe 20 minutes later. AC is in a hand, and the action is on him when he notices his buddy on the rail. He very loudly says, "$400" while looking at his buddy ... his buddy says something, and AC says, "That's what you cost me!" Another guy at the table and I both raise our eyebrows, thinking AC has just made another inadvertant bet ... thankfully his comment just slid past the rest of the table, but I think he would've come unglued if I had said, "Call" right then! Moral of the story: If you pay for a stupid mistake once, you should at least learn the lesson so you don't have to pay again later.

Now, perhaps it's the fine professional photography or maybe Grange's male modelesque pose, but he's rockin' that jacket! The coordinated tee under it actually makes it a somewhat stylish ensemble.

Look for it on a runway near you this fall.

Great trip report. I love trips that involve all my favorite things to do while in Vegas: Drink, gamble, goof around with friends and eat at at top-notch restaurants.

Your trip reminded me of my trip with buddies to Vegas last Fall. No prop bets, but plenty of boozing, gambling, laughing, good restaurants, and lack of sleep (I think I got 15 hours in 4 nights).

Great report!!!

What more can i say?

@Santa Claus

I realize you all were many drinks into the evening, but I wanted to give my rendition of the hand....AC had done his usual $18 raise pre-flop, was called by 3 others, including Pledge Barbie in the 2 seat. Flop comes 3,4,9 rainbow. Pledge Barbie puts out $30, AC says "I'm all-in just kidding"....and he had stated it just like that, with no pause -- very fast (and yes, he was talking to his buddy from Table 2.) I toss out the big "All-In" button in front of him, AC has a stunned look; look back at Pledge Barbie, he looks like he just woke up Christmas morning and says "I call", tabling top set. We never saw what AC had, but he was definately stunned for the rest of the evening.

Without question the best post I have read. I look forward to the next one, and i too say sorry for the goofy canadian, we are not in any way like that dummy!!!!!!!!!

I don't think Bryan Adams is really that bad, all things considered. No apologies necessary.

Celine Dion, however, we take full responsibility for. As payback, if you want to keep your current recession to yourselves without sharing, feel free. We'll even let you keep Cirque Du Soleil.

Thanks for letting us bask in the aftershocks of your trip. Can't wait for next year.

Matt