Trip Report from 1 of the 26 Schmucks from EWP Poker in Wisconsin.

Day #1

*Imperial Palace
Flight leaves Milwaukee a few minutes late, and we arrive about a half hour late. Not sure how that works, but we get to the hotel at about 10:30 Saturday morning. We couldn’t check in until 3:00, so everyone checked their luggage at the Bell station. Of the 26 of us, there are 9 poker players, and the 9 of us decided to jump right in and enter the IP nooner ($60 buy-in). Everyone does their own thing for an hour. We hit the Emporer’s Buffet, which is excellent by the way. It’s got everything you need! We all meet back and jump right in. Not sure if it’s because of our group, or because the WSOP was in town, but they had a much larger showing than usual. They typically get 30+ and we ended up having 48 players total. All 9 of us entered, and for the most part, started off well. I don’t have many big hands to discuss until later. The good news is the waitresses kept the drinks coming. I never felt like I was waiting for a drink at all. Kudos to the IP for that! My first goal to prove I could play well in Vegas, but a close second was making sure I ended the trip with a positive EDV (Expected Drinking Value).

It was pretty slow going for me. The play was generally pretty weak, so I was just sitting back folding and watching what was going on. I was almost blinded out by the 3rd level, when I was able to catch a few nice hands (QQ and AK) and got paid off nicely on both of them with people calling me down with Ace / Rag. We get down to about 15 players, and I notice that 7 of us are still in. We finally get down to the final table, and our group occupied 6 of the 10 seats. One of our guys is the first out. I’m getting pretty low on chips, and the blinds are brutal at this point. I was able to double up through the chip leader when my A9 held up against his Q10. Even the chip leaders were short stacked. What I remember most about the final table was that the small stacks kept winning, so it took a while to get down to the cash. It paid the final 6, and our group had 4 of those 6, so we did well. Now we get into a few big hands. One of our guys – Cuch (Pronounced “Cooch”) was in the big blind (8K) and only had about 14K altogether so he pushed preflop. He had 9-5 off, and spiked the case 9 on the river for trips to beat QQ to more than double up.

It gets down to 4 of us (2 of us, 2 strangers), and I am getting low on chips again. I am in the big blind. The guy to my right pushes all-in and I look down at AQ hearts and call. I’ve got him covered just slightly. He turns over a KJ. The flop brings the Jh Th 7c. He’s hit his J, but I’ve got a million outs including a potential royal. The turn is a blank, and I yell to the dealer “Give me the King of Hearts dealer! Give me the Royal!” Sure enough…BAMMMM. The K of hearts hits the river and I got my royal flush. It’s only the second royal of my life, and the first was the hearts too. Down to 3! I once again get low (All of us are. There are only $150k in play, Average stack is $50k and the blinds are now 5K/10K) I finally push with A7 and get called by an even smaller stack who had a KJ. He hits his J on the turn, but I river an A so we are down to 3. Cuch and I are heads up. Top prize is $692 and 2nd place is $512. Cuch and I were almost even in chips. He may have had an extra 5K or so. I offered that we chop the money and play for the win because the blinds after that hand were now 10K / 20K and we each had about 75K. He agreed without hesitation, which was good for me, because my next 3 hands were 3s6s, 37off, 38off, IN THAT ORDER! Needless to say I was out in 3 hands. Great start to the trip though!

***Buy-In: $60 – Finish: T1 ($602 each) – Profit: $542
EDV – Very High (12+ Drinks at least. They never stopped coming over 3 hours.)

We finished the tourney at 3:00 on the button, so it was time to check-in. The wife and I were the organizers of this trip, so we upgraded our room to a King Suite, because we were going to host a 4:00 cocktail party for everyone in our room. We check in, and we ran over to the liquor store on Audrie (Stage Door) to pick up the goodies for the party.

*Caesar’s Palace
After cocktailing it with the group, a few of us decide to get into the Caesar Palace 7:00 $150 tourney. 6 of us make that one. Nice poker room! Ton of action going on. Plenty of cash games going, plus the Mega stack tourney, plus the $150 we got in. They also had a lot of Sit-N-Go’s running constantly. The tournament starts and they announce 151 players and a prize pool of $18875. It will will the top 18, with the top prize being $6800 or so.

We start playing, and I notice immediately that it’s a notch up from the IP. I really only felt that there were 2 bad players at my table. 1 was out before level 3 (40 minute levels). The other I had a feeling about, but his only move was all-in, and he never had to show a hand. No one ever called him. We started with 5K in chips, and he’d go all-in with 1 raise ahead of him into a $300 pot. I had the feeling he was just playing pressure poker, but I never had anything decent to call him with. I guess it worked huh? Anyway. I felt like I was on top of my game. There were only 2 plays that I made that I felt I made mistakes on, but they were both folds, so I never got to see if I made the right play or not. About 4 hours in, we were down to 38 players, and only Cuch and I were in again. How sweet would that be to have him and I battle until the end in this one! It wasn’t meant to be as he busted out in about 35th or so from what we could tell. I was sitting OK. The average stack at the time was 20K+ and I was at about 28K. The hand that helped me get there was this key hand for me: I was at about 8K, and the blinds were at 400/800. I look down at KK, and the player to my right raises it up to 1600. I re-raise all-in, and the player across the table re-raises all-in with slightly more than I have. The player to my right takes a long time to decide. I had just sit down at our table, and had no clue how I played. He knew the other player must have a hand to re-raise, but had no clue what I had. He finally calls. I figure I might be up against AA, but they turn over 99 (Across the table), and 10 10 (To my right)….WHEW, I’m ahead….Please hold up! Sure enough, it holds up, and I more than triple up including the dead blinds that were out there. I’m now up to about 28K! We get down to 22 players. Holy crap! Is it possible that I could cash in my first 2 tourneys? To be honest, I consider myself an above average player, but that’s coming from a 250+ player league in Wisconsin, so what does that mean? I’m not vein enough to think I’m that good, but good enough that I’ll never embarrass myself.

So, 22 players left. 2 to go for the final 2 tables and 4 to go for the CASH. 18th place paid out close to $300, so I’d be happy with just that. I’m just above the average stack, so I’m in good shape. I’m in late position, and the table folds to me. I look down at QQ, and raise it up 4x the blind. The SB folds and the BB, who has about 18K in front of him re-raises. I think, and push all-in and he insta-calls with a AJ offsuit. Excellent! This should help my stack heading into the final 2 tables! NOPE. Flop comes 2JJ, and he leaves me with about 8K left. WOW. What a kick in the rocks that was! 2 other players go out within the next 3 or 4 hands and we are now down to the final 2 tables. Believe it or not, at 8K I wasn’t the shortest stack, so all I needed to do was coast. I got lucky enough to be seated right behind the button, so I had time to wait for a hand, and hope that a few small stacks got busted. Within 1 hand, the smallest stack on our table goes all-in in the BB with absolute nothing, but hits a 2 or something to beat an AK and doubles up. This continues to happen over the next HOUR. Blinds are 1000/2000 + 200 Ante, and I somehow manage to stick around with may stack hovering around 7-10K the whole time. Then, I have the button in front of me with only 8K left, the table folds around and I have A3. I decide to push, because I won’t keep surviving this way. I just hoped the blinds had nothing to call with. The Big Blinds calls with AJ. Wouldn’t you know it, I river a 3 to double up! I think I apologized to the guy about 20 times. He had 18K at the time, so we basically swapped chip stacks. That was the last hand I won. I got blinded out and finished 20th after 5 hours of some of the best poker I’ve ever played. I felt like throwing up. I can’t help but think back to the QQ I lost with against AJ. If I win that hand I have more than 46K and could’ve folded to the cash. I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Even though I didn’t cash, this tournament was a validation for me that I can play solid poker, and not be afraid of being intimidated by anyone. The field was filled with excellent players, and if it wasn’t for 1 hand, I would’ve probably cashed.

***Buy-in: $150 – Finish: 20/151 – Profit: -$150
EDV: WAY Down (Didn’t have a single cocktail) Confidence: WAY UP

After I got knocked out, within minutes my buddy Dave called me and asked how I was doing. I told him I just got knocked out and told him I need to let off some steam. He was back at the IP playing Blackjack, so I decided to join him. It was about 1:00 by the time I got there. The table was full, so we decided to go next door to Harrah’s and play some $10 BJ. BJ isn’t my #1 game, but I usually walk away with money. Not this time. The dealer was on fire. Everyone at the table was getting busted, and we left after about 45 minutes. I dropped a quick $150, and Dave dropped $75. I was tired and mentally spent from the CP tourney, and said I was just going to hit the rack and call it a night. On our way back to IP, I thought better of it and said “Hey, I’m not quite ready, should we check out Bill’s?” I think he said YES! Before I even finished my sentence!

*Bill’s Gambling Hall
We walk over to Bill’s and there are 2 tables going. The format here is a single $1 blind. That’s it! No big and small, just a single blind. One of the tables is full, and the other only had 1 spot. I told Dave to sit down, and I would run to the bathroom and wait for a spot. No sooner did I say that, and a spot opened up. Dave says “What is the max buy-in?” and the entire table looks over at him like he’s Satan. It was hilarious! Max is $200, but no one at the table has more than $60 or $70 in front of them, so we decide to play nice and buy-in for $100 each. It was clear within minutes that this was the softest table I have ever sat down to. Dave and I were next to each other on the end of the table. Clockwise to his left was a guy that didn’t look a year older than 12. Then the dealer. Then there was a 40 year old gal, a huge dude (Not muscular, just huge), a crabby dude (Looked like he needed to get laid), and a few forgettable guys after him. Dave took a few bad beats early and had to re-buy, but he got his money back in a hurry. This session was unlike any other I’ve ever played. I think I saw 90% of the flops (No exaggeration at all), because the other players might as well have just told me what their hands were pre-flop. The grumpy dude just kept pulling out $20 after $20 when we kept felting him. Dave and I even started a side bet that every time one of us felted someone we owed each other a buck. The it got interesting. Dave leans over and says “Have you noticed the guys standing behind you?” “They’re standing there talking how bad we’re playing, and how they need to sit in and show us how it’s done, and one of them has a WSOP bracelet on!” Sure enough, I slowly turn around a few minutes later when they were distracted by some chicks that were in line to enter the night club inside Bill’s. 2 Brothers, and one of them has a bracelet! Could be a fake, but who knows. When a 3rd seat finally opens, 3 of these guys sit down, and the guy with the bracelet is hammered. The other 2 are in good shape, but he’s plowed! We both talk and tell each other to start playing ABC again. They saw me playing 90% of the flops, so they’ll call me with anything now. They all buy in for $50 each or so. Dave and I decide to keep our side-bet about felting players, except we made it $5 if someone got bracelet guy. We asked his brother if the bracelet was real, and he said “Yup, he won an event in 2005.” Holy (&%! How cool is this! We didn’t recognize him, but there are a lot of solid players I don’t know.

Our strategy worked, and we each felted him once, so he finally left. His brother stuck around as well as their buddy who had the most serious look on his face the whole time. He was solid, so I just avoided getting into raised pots with him unless I had a Top 5 or so. The serious guy finally left. He did finish up about $50 or so I think. The brother kept calling me down with nothing, and I kept taking his chips $20 at a time. He nailed me once for a $75 pot, but other than that he kept giving away is chips. He even left, and came back a few times, buying in for $30, and giving them away. I think we felted him 4 or 5 times before he finally stopped coming back. We had such a great time. Dave said “You know we’ll be here when the sun comes up”, and we were. Next thing we know, it’s 6:00 am, and we’re hammered. We finally call it quits at 7:00, and cash out. Dave finished up about $50, and I cashed in for $305. Would’ve been way more, but I think over the course of those 6 hours, I tipped the waitresses and dealers about $100. I wish I wasn’t so soft! I couldn’t help it. The dealers were great. The waitresses were great, and we were having so much fun and doing well. The Floor Manager was nice enough to pro-rate our comps, so we signed up for the Bill’s card on our way out, and he gave us the comps for the 6 hours we were there. Thanks again! I can’t say enough about Bill’s. Whether you’re a good cash player, and want to play the softest table ever, or are there on a small budget, and want to play the cheapest hold’em table in town, Bill’s is the place to play! By the way, on our way back to the IP, I was propositioned by a Tranny-Ho. She offered to relieve me, and after I said “No” and we walked away, Dave says “You know that was a guy right?” I guess I didn’t notice, because I wasn’t interested, but if you ask me, HE WAS HOT!

By the way, after we got home from the trip, we confirmed the bracelet winner. It was ANTHONY REATEGUI. He won the 2005 WSOP NL Hold’em Shoot-Out event. He’s won quite a few others as well. He has over $1 million in career winnings.
Here’s his Card Player profile: http://www.cardplayer.com/players/results/Anthony-Reategui/10391 You can see a bunch of shots of him in the Photos section of his profile.
He was hammered, so I’m not going to sit here and act like he’s my biatch or anything, but I don’t care WHO you are, it’s cool to say you felted a WSOP bracelet winner!

***Buy-In: $100 - Cash Out: $305 – Profit - $205
EDV: WAY Back up after being sober at CP! I don’t even want to THINK about how much I drink there in 6 hours!

Day #2

Spent the whole day with the wife and a few others. No poker whatsoever believe it or not. I’m not sure how this happened. It could have something to do with the fact that I was up until 7:30 that morning, and only slept for 2 hours.

The best part of the day was heading over to the Rio to drop in on the WSOP to try and see a few big names. In the interest of keeping this novel short enough, see the link to the post I made about Todd Brunson. That was a riot!
Every big name was there. I was able to talk to Barry Greenstein a little bit and got my picture with him. I shook hands or saw about 30 big name players. This includes: Scotty Nguyen, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Shannon Elizabeth, Daniel Negreanu, Amnon Philipe, Sammy Farha, Phil Locke, Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, Todd Brunson, Marcel Luske, Minh Ly, Ted Forrest, Eric Seidel, Phil Ivey, Michael Mizrachi, Erci Lindgren, Michael Binger. I’m sure I’m missing a few. I was hoping to see Doyle and Johnny Chan, but they were nowhere to be found. On our way out, I was able to get a photo with Men “The Master” Nguyen, so that was a nice finish.

Other than that, Day 2 was uneventful for your interests if you have actually read this far!
Wife and I did play some slots, and won enough to cover my BJ losses, so we’ll call that even.

***Poker Profit: $0 – “WOW” factor – huge after seeing every big name at the Rio
EDV: Down. Drink a lot, but paid for it.

Day #3

Went to Panda Express (North of Harrah’s) for breakfast. That’s right, the wife wanted Chinese for breakfast. Turned out to be a good idea. Nothing like throwing down Chow Mien noodles and spiced pork for breakfast!

*Planet Hollywood
Called the boys to see what their plan was. I was going to the hit IP nooner again just because our shuttle was picking us up at 4:30, and I figured it would be nice to be close to home if I did well again. They suggested the 10:00 at the PH instead, so we ran our butts down to the PH and got into the 10:00 am $60 tourney. Nice poker room, and a HOT waitress. The tourney filled up just as our group of 6 arrived. They were accepting alternates at first, but had enough to actually start an extra table right away, so props to PH for being able to adjust.

Saw some pretty bad play in the early going. I wasn’t being dealt anything I could even think about playing. You know how there is always that “guy” that is a donk, but a thorn in your side? I had 1 of those. Got my first decent hand in the big blind the third time around the table (2nd blind level). Got JJ, and there were 3 limpers. Blinds were 100/200 and I made it $800 to go. He re-raised to $1500, and I called. I probably should've re-raised there. Flop comes 8 6 3 rainbow I believe. He checks, I bet $1000 and he re-raises all-in. I think, and wonder what he could've limp-raised me with. I had a hard time thinking he had a higher pair than me. I thought and thought and folded face up hoping he’d show. He showed 66 for a set. OUCH.

The second time I had QQ with the button in front of me and raised 4x the blind and he called. Flop comes 2 K K and he goes all-in. I figured maybe he had AK or KJ or something, so after thinking I said "I'll show respect" and folded them face up again hoping he'd show. Sure enough. K7 OFF! Wow! Why do people like that get rewarded? Call a pre-flop 4x raise with K7 off in middle position.

Slowly got blinded out and didn't even make the top half of the field.
***Buy-in: $60 – Cash Out: $0 - Profit: -$60
EDV: Average. Unfortunately, even though she was HOT, she was working alone, and had a hard time keeping up with the drinks.

*Bill’s Gambling Hall
Me and 3 of my buddies that got knocked out early enough decided to finish our trip at Bill’s. We got there at about 11:45 I think. There was 1 full table, but the other was empty. They said they’d open it for 4 players, because that’s what you need for the KK/AA busted promo to count. Taking money from each other isn’t what we had in mind, but hey, it’s only 1 $1 blind, and they don’t rake until the pot hits $10, so we figured we’d goof around for a while until some people would show up. It didn’t take long. 2 guys, which I would call either regulars or solid old timers came over from the other table. I think they saw us walk in and figured “dead money”. Who knows, maybe they were right! Lol! It took a half hour, but a few guys from Dallas sat down. They were there for a bachelor party! Cha Ching! Should be dead money! Nope. As hard as they tried to give their chips away, all that ended up happening was Tony, Neal and I taking chips from each other. Neal and I both gave Tony a few big pots, and he had to leave, so it was bad news for us. Oh well. Neal busted out at about 3:00 or so, but I was having fun and I was up maybe $30 despite being absolutely card dead for 3.5 hours. Good decision. I stuck around until 4:15 and hit a hot deck toward the end. I finished up $88 and would’ve finished even higher if it wasn’t for my bone headed play with my A8 offsuit. I think there were 4 players to a flop of 967. I bet it to try to get a nice payday if I hit the open ender. Get 2 callers. Pot is up to maybe $10. Turn is a 5! BINGO! I check, and a new player bets $5. I re-raise all-in and he calls. River is a J or a Q or something. He flips over KK. I flip over my A8 and say “sorry…straight.” And they are about to rake me the pot, when the dealer goes “you don’t have a straight…”. Sure enough. The turn was another 9 you idiot! Needless to say, my DPR was WAY up, so I guess I had it coming. One of the old timers that was at the table from the start said “You know, I truly believe you thought is was a str8, because I thought that’s the way you played it!”
Anyway, I stuck around for another hand or 2, then bolted to catch the shuttle. The wife was freaking out when I got there because she had been calling me over the last 15 minutes, but I didn’t get a good signal there, so I didn’t answer. The fun part of my trip is now over!
Buy-In: $100 – Cash Out: $188 – Profit: $88
EDV – At LEAST 12+ cocktails. WEEE!

Total for trip:
Poker Profit: $625
EDV: Got my money’s worth that’s for sure.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Those of you that got this far, all get a gold star!
Can’t wait to go back again!