Archive for January, 2006
The trip home
I’m back home in Philadelphia. The trip back wasn’t really that great…
First, I got stuck in a pretty long line to check out at Atlantis. As expected, there were about $300-$400 in extra meals on the room bill, so we had to go through them one by one to get them take off. While the Atlantis staff was friendly about taking them off, it still took awhile. I was on the same flight as Steve (stevesbets) and Bree, so we took a cab to the Nassau airport. The ride should have been about 20 minutes, but we hit a lot of traffic and it took about 50 minutes. It didn’t matter as our flight was delayed from 1:30 to 2:30.
Like just about everything else in the Bahamas, the service at the airport was awful. There was only one metal detector, so the line took about 30 minutes to get through. On a side note, Raymer was at the airport with his family and he managed to cut the security line somehow. His daughter was wheeled through in a wheelchair, but I’m pretty confident there is nothing wrong with her as I’d seen her walking with Cheryl Raymer through the resort on a few occasions during the week. While I apologize if something happened to her that caused the need for the wheelchair, I think that Raymer and his family just didn’t want to wait in the long security line. If that’s the case, putting your daughter in a wheelchair to skip the line is a pretty low move in my opinion.
After we got through the first security line, we were placed in a much more reasonable US Customs line. After about 5 minutes (a REALLY short wait for anything in the Bahamas), I got through customs and I went upstairs to another security checkpoint (No, there was no way for me to get a gun/explosive/etc in between the two checkpoints). They made me take my wallet out, but luckily they didn’t notice the large amount of cash I had in my front pockets. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable putting that through the metal detector in front of a lot of people.
Once inside the terminal, Steve, Bree and I went to get some food. After waiting in a line for 20 minutes (not joking, everything in the Bahamas takes forever), I managed to acquire an ice cream sandwich and a drink. The hot food looked terrible. We killed some time playing around on the computer, then boarded our flight to Philadelphia. Jennicide (Jennifer Leigh) and PokerGodZeus (Matt Glantz) were on the same flight, along with their families.
The flight started off great. For some reason, it was one of the emptiest flights I’d ever been on, as my whole row (all six seats) were empty except for me. The ride was smooth until we got near Philadelphia. About 75 miles south of the Philadelphia airport, the stewardess announced that there were delays in Philadelphia and that we were going to go into a holding pattern (aka, fly in circles) until we received further clearance. We first heard about this at around 4:10 PM and we were supposed to hear more at 4:30 PM. Around 4:25, we were informed that we’d actually hear more at 4:40 PM. At 4:50 PM, we were told that we wouldn’t even hear more until 5:25 PM, which caused a number of groans on the airplane. Our hopes rose a bit at 5:10 PM when we were cleared to proceed further and we finally got on the ground at 5:30 PM, about an hour late.
We’d planned on going to dinner near Univ of Penn, so we took a cab to Steve’s apt. Of course, the cab, which should take about 15 min, took about 45 min due to horrible traffic on the expressway (the main artery into downtown Philadelphia from South Philly, which is where the airport is located). Once there, we finally got to dinner and the forgettable trip back was over.
All in all, I had a great time. I got to meet a lot of people that I’d only talked to online and one of my best friends in online poker (Ozzy, obv) managed to make the WPT final table in his first live tournament. Not only that, but my other roommate (Empire2000) made it to the final three tables as well. There are obviously a lot of things wrong with the Bahamas and the Atlantis property, but the people there definitely made it a fun trip. I will go again next year if I’m free (remember, I plan on being in law school, so I may have other commitments).
Thanks to shaniac, mockturtle and TillerMaN for giving my blog a mention in their own blogs. If you also linked me in your blog, let me know at natarem@gmail.com so I can give you a plug in this entry.
I do plan on continuing to post in this blog, so check back if you’re interested. I’ll also do more picture blogs at all events that I go to in the future.
The Final Table
Obviously Ozzy made the final table, so Ozzy, Roman (Empire2000) and I got up pretty early this morning to get ready. The final table started at 10 AM, but we had to get down there much earlier.
Like usual, I took a lot of pictures:
Tonight I plan on going to dinner with stevesbets and his girlfriend. There’s also a PokerStars party. I fly back in the middle of the day tomorrow.
shaniac’s case 1500, HU poker and more
Sorry about the delay, but here are some pictures from the Battleship poker event and the 1500 NL event:
Some drunk poker
I wasn’t there, but luckily SKOAL managed to capture some live drunk poker action. These pictures are all courtesy of SKOAL:
The second day of Battleship poker is set to start in about 30 minutes, so I’m going to head down there with my camera and try to capture some of the action. Be sure to watch it on Stars at 1:20 PM.
Short interview with Ozzy
You’re short stacked going into the final table, what’s your plan?
I’d like to avoid making a raise and then folding — that’s my number one priority. Play fairly tight and look for good double up situations.
How would you describe your mood at this point?
I’m fairly confident in my game and I’m hoping to bring a good appearance to the table. I’m excited and I’m looking to the WPT main event final table.
Okay, good luck to Ozzy at the final table.
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We just ordered room service and we’re going to head to sleep after that. Tomorrow is a rest day for the players, so I’m not sure what we’re going to do.
Ozzy makes the TV final table (top 6)
6th is getting about 177K, first is 1.36 million. The final table will be played on Tuesday, so tomorrow is a rest day. Unfortunately, Ozzy is the short stack so he’ll have to get lucky and have good timing to move up in the pay ladder.
I’ll get a report from Ozzy after he finishes filling out the various forms that are required.