Four!!!!!!!

Four more days until the Shamrocks and Buck Nekkids fly to Vegas. Others are leaving on Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully they'll leave some money for us to win.

We've customized our shirts with iron on patches on each sleeve. A Royal Flush on the left sleeve, and either the number 6 or 9 on the right sleeve. That represents the number conveyed upon us by The High Holy Tribunal of Plano One-Outers. (Nanuck and Cupcake, as it were). I've also customized my cap with a shamrock in the back middle. We've also picked up some Paint Pens for getting autographs of any famous Pokerati we may end up seeing. We've got one or two more errands to run, and then it's just wait until we leave.

It looked as if Kid Poker was going to win a bracelet in the 6 handed Limit Poker Event concluded yesterday. He began heads up play with a substantial chip lead, but fell short. losing to Bock Parker. While he didn't win, I think that's Daniel's 3rd cash so far this year.

Watch Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth Catch Up on RawVegas.tv

Six days!

Hello all - its guest blogger, merlotgirl.

Well, we are 6 days from Vegas and the 2009 WSOP!
I am crazy excited. We are both reading all the WSOP blogs and posts.
I would highly recommend RawVegas.tv. You can watch video blogs from all your favorite players. And click on the right hand side to Tao of Poker link to read a fun 2009 WSOP fashion blog.

I have been really thinking about what we will chant to support the teammates that get to the final table of our event.
I know that the Plano One Outers can chant something better than "POO!" so here is my suggestion:

Ready, okay
We're fired up
We're sizzlin'
Turnin up the heat
When it comes to poker,
POO can't be beat!

What do you think?

I'm out.

One Week

Seven short days until we hit the bright lights and 24/7 excitement of Lost Wages.

Most recent WSOP News has Phil Ivey winning his 6th Bracelet. It was at No Limit Deuce to Seven Lowball (Single Draw). The idea being to get the lowest hand that isn't a str8, flush or pair. That being said the stone cold nuts is 7 5 4 3 2. There were 147 entries in this $2,500 event and Ivey won $96,361. That number pales in comparison to the most likely $10 Million plus he won in bracelet Prop bets. Amongst others he and Daniel Negreanu have a standing $200,000 bracelet bet. Loser pays winner, only if they were both entered in the same event.
Cha-Ching Phil!!!

http://www.pokerroad.com/video/the-life-of-ivey/posts/final-table-of-the-2-7-no-limit

Ocho

8 more days until we're in Vegas. I'm not sure we can get much more exctied than we already are. Although each day brings us that much closer to being there.

I sure hope we see a final table full of these hats in the Amazon Room, the evening of Monday, June 15th. Go POO!!!!!!!!

I've just finished reading the rules and can let y'all know the following.

• The RIO will make you fill out a tax form if you win in excees of $5,000 more net of buy-in. So when we all cash for $6,500 we all have to fill out those troublesome forms.

• At a televised final table there can be no more than 3 players with the same Logos on their apparel. This could be a huge problem if they decide to televise the Final Table of our event and there are 9 of us at it with our caps and shirts on.
• Your card capper must be no larger than 2 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch in depth. You may have no food or drinks on the table, except for one capped bottle of water.
• All chips must be visible at all times. Don't put them in your pocket, or you will lose them.
• When they move you from one table to another, you can be placed in the big blind, the small blind or on the button. The only place you can't be moved to is in between the button and the small blind.
• A dealer cannot kill a winning hand that was turned up and was obviously the winning hand. Players are encouraged to assist in reading tabled hands if it appears an error is going to be made.
• Dealers will not count the pot for you. They will spread the pot if you ask them to.
• Cell phones must be on silent mode. if you use your cell phone you must move away from the table or risk penalty.
• Ipods and MP3 players are allowed at the tables until you reach the money. Once in the money no electronic devices are allowed. Also, and Blackberries, Iphones, Treos, or other devices that can be used to access the internet are prohibited, even if being used as an MP3 player.

For some strange reason I keep hearing Carly Simon singing "Anticipation" in the background.

Nine

Nine days until we are on our way to Sin City.

The excitement builds.

Event #2 ends today. That is the $1,000 Buy-in Event that they've called the Stimulus Package. Some are calling it the Donkulus Tournament. That's what you get when you combine 6,000 donkeys and a stimulus, reduced buy-in tournament. "Get your WSOP Bracelet...33% off". If this one is a Donkulus Tournament what the heck do we call free poker tournaments? I'll take any suggestions under advisement. I'm partial to a combination of Free and Donkey which works out to be Freekey Tournaments. But I digress. Back to the matter at hand. The picture on this post is of a table they had to set up in the hallway by Buzio's Restaraunt. They had to fill every nook and cranny to accomodate the crowd.

The question of the day is how many players will there be in Event #28. They usually schedule these $1,500 Buy-In Tournaments to start on Saturday so that they get more players who are planning vacations involved. That being said the very first $1,500 Buy-in No Limit Hold'em Event of the 2009 WOSP, Event #7, started yesterday. There were 2,791 players to start, and they played 10 blind levels and are down to 338. It will be a short trip to the money today, when players return to the felt at 2 PM PDT as 297 will get paid.

Hellmuth didn't make it to the dinner break. Either did Freddy Deeb, Jesus, John Juanda, Justin Bonomo, Jean Robert Bellande (of Survivor fame) or Vanessa Russo. Hopefully all of the One-Outers make it to dinner.

For those of you who have been wondering all these years which came first...the chicken or the egg...I provide you with the answer:

T - Minus 10 days and Counting

Well here we are with just 10 days before we head to Vegas for the WSOP. The excitement is building each day. I fear we may have missed one of the highlights of the entire Series when we weren't in the RIO yesterday, to witness a crowd gathering outside the Business Center. It seems Amarillo Slim was back and had played in the Champions Invitational Tournament on Sunday. He had pretty much been an outcast in the poker community the last several years based on accusations of pedophilia. Doyle Brunson, has st0od behind his old Texas Road Gambler friend and maintained in all the years they had traveled the circuit together he had never seen Slim do anything that would suggest those allegations were factual. He now has been welcomed back with open arms, and perhaps the highlight of the 40th WSOP was captured on film.

Allegedly there was anywhere from $2,000 to $50,000 bet on this scooter race. And that's just what Slim and Doyle had on it. There was supposedly a lot of prop action in the crowd including several people taking Slim and giving Doyle 4 seconds. The results were Slim in 50.28 seconds, and Doyle in 55 second flat. Just shows you the oddsmakers know how to handicap these things.

Watch Doyle Brunson vs Amarillo Slim Scooter Race at the 2009 WSOP on RawVegas.tv

Crusade to Poker Mecca

Well, it has been ages since I've posted here. That's changing now. We're coming up to a very exciting time. Our dear friends Evil Debbie and Cupcake have ventured out to Vegas the past two years to play in one of the WSOP $1,500 Buy-In No Limit Hold'em Bracelet Events. The time has come for us to join them in this trek. As a matter of fact, it's not just Merlotgirl and I joining them, but a plethora of friends are going on this adventure. 13 in all. A baker's dozen. I'm not sure how many of us are playing in Event #28, but it's looking like at least 10. Maybe all 13. Hopefully the Final Table will be full of us sporting those very fancy Plano One-Outer Poker Shirts. They'll be all the rage!!



The roll call of brave souls venturing on this odyssey are as follows:

• Evil Debbie


• Cupcake


• RJonTilt


• EndZoneDance


• Buck Nekkid


• Counting Girl


• Nanuck


• Pinky


• Kim (we really need to get nicknames for Kim and Gary)


• Gary H.


• Cast Iron Butterfly


• Merlotgirl


• Shamrock

The event starts at Noon PDT on Saturday, June 13th. Members of the team will be arriving throughout the week preceding the event. Some arriving as early as Wednesday the 10th. Others, such as Kim, Gary, Buck, Counting Girl, Merlotgirl and myself arriving a scant 24 hours before the cards are in the air.

In a similar event last year (Event #27) there were 2,706 starters. In the 10th hour of play they broke the bubble (top 270) and finished the day at 224 players. Day 2 they played down to the final 2 tables. The eventual winner was Vitaly Lunkin. He pocketed $628,417 for his efforts. Yesterday, that very same Vitaly Lunkin won his 2nd WSOP Bracelet by beating 200 other players in the largest buy-in ($40,000) No Limit Hold'em event ever sponsored by the WSOP. (The $50,000 HORSE is a mixed/limit game).

This past Saturday we had a little warm-up tournament at our house for this event. We started with 4,500 in chips and played 60 minute blinds for the first 4 blind levels. Due to space restrictions we limited participation to 25 players, rather than 2,706. Nevertheless, the tournament progressed about the same as Event 27 did. We ended up paying the top 5. And had to reduce the blind levels to 45 minutes for levels 6-8. And then to 30 minutes for the remaining levels. In Event 27 last year the bubble burst in Level 10. At the warm-up on Saturday the bubble burst in the same level, when Ms. America got all her chips in and lost. Soon after that Kevin McD. took 5th. We played another blind level or 2 with chips just moving around the table. Leo could barely see over his huge stack. The other 4 players decided to concede victory to Leo, and chop 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Results

• 1st - Leo $490
• 2nd - Counting Girl $230
• 2nd - Evil Debbie $230
• 2nd - Gumba $230
• 5th - Kevin McD. $ 70

The long structure, and ante's after level 4 were something a lot of us had never experienced and it was a lot of fun to see everyone play much, much tighter than in the normal turbo, or super turbo games we've become used to. It is a totally different game.

I'm announcing right now that if Merlotgirl or I win this thing and bring home some WSOP bling, drinks are on us at Varsity Club. The tournament will be a terriffic experience and spending several days in Vegas with a great group of friends will be an annual pilgrimage we'll be looking to expand upon next year.

Follow the progress of the Plano One-Outers misadventures in Vegas right here!! I'll be trying to update daily from Sin City, and I'll be relying on our team of reporters to provide information for all of those inquiring minds who just need to know.

Viva Las Vegas!!