2 AM Tournaments …

LAS VEGAS–The Fat Guy came to town yesterday for a super-secret meeting. Fresh Princess had busted out early in the $2,000 Limit Hold\’em event, and after spending some presumably soothing normal-people dinnertime hours with her kids, she joined us at a tucked-away Strip-casino coffee shop. International, worldwide Vegas poker types aside, there was also something comfort-foodish about three Texans sittin\’ down over lattes talkin\’ major-powerful bidness.

After formulating plans for recalibrating galactic travel infrastructures, Michele met up with her husband for some late-night cash action as I took TFG back to his luxury Binion\’s abode. While it\’s always good to be downtown — especially when Binion\’s is running $20-a-night specials during the WSOP — we were a little disappointed to walk up and down Fremont Street in search of a cool, refreshing Milwaukee\’s Best Light, but to no avail. We did, however, see Scotty Nguyen playing 25-cent slots at Binion\’s, and despite being with a girl who must\’ve been his niece — because she was really young and he hugged her a lot — he was happy to step away from his own personal action to pose for pictures with fans.

Eventually the Fat Guy had to go to bed … it was too late to check up on the action at the Rio, and Binion\’s had a $70 non-bracelet event starting in four minutes …

The Batfaces had come to town this weekend, and let\’s just say I am glad they are gone. Too much drinking and blackjack and silly mini-craps dice games for stakes that grew beyond Thum\’s bankroll. I\’ve been recovering from their visit by going on a bit of a straight-faced poker binge in an attempt to responsibly recoup these losses … so far so good.

I felt pretty comfortable sitting down in this 31-player field (with a single $40 rebuy or add-on). Maybe this is a simple issue of bankroll management. But there\’s something great about just playing, comfortably. Was it dingy at binion\’s? Absolutely. The player who took his seat to my right as we were getting started positioned himself in his chair, put down his hat and sunglasses, plugged in his knockoff ipod earbuds, and tried to be discreet as he turned over his shoulder and spit on the carpet. The first guy to take some chips from me was a short-stack who called an all-in with a relatively weak and easily dominated hand. Though I seemed to be the only guy giving him chips, it was still funny to watch a clear beginner practically wet his pants when he flopped quad aces. He would go on to finish 5th, and you can be sure this tournament got him hooked on the game.

I got pretty good cards and played them pretty well. Made a few identifiable mistakes, but they were of the not-pushing-with-nothing variety, as opposed to, say, the overcall. Would go on to take 3rd, for $365. I also won a seat in Binion\’s monthly freeroll \”tournament of champions\” on Sunday — because neither Joe from Chicago nor Ray from Atlanta would be hear for it.