early on in the tournament, it would be devastating.  We asked several tournament managers if there was anyway we could change tables and they stated that it was only possible for people related by blood, and although, we are like brothers or more like father and son, we were not technically related.  Luckily we asked one more person right before it was time to shuffle up and deal, and they got George to the table next to mine, so I was at 29 and he was at 28.

When the tournament started I had come prepared with a small bag full of huge water bottles and was in very good shape and felt like my stamina should be greater than ever, thanks to all the exercising and training I had accomplished.  As the first few hands were dealt and the table was feeling itself out, I made a big fold, and possibly an incorrect one, as the guy who bet me off my pocket jacks, heads up, on a flop of QT5, proceeded to show me a Ten.  Though I thought I may be good with my jacks, I also knew nothing about the player and thought it was very likely that he could have called my pre-flop raise with anything from 10s to QT, QJ, QK, QA, and many other hands that would have me beat, and I did not want to go broke in the first few hands. There was also a flush draw on the flop and possibly a straight draw and therefore, when he bet the flop as if afraid of these draws I thought letting my “hooks” go was the best course of action.

As the hands went on I started to feel more and more sluggish and started to feel impatient.  This all lead up to me exiting the tournament much earlier than I had hoped for.  I had started to feel congested, fatigued and irritable with my cold symptoms.  I made a risky move as I had gotten down to about 2 000 in chips from the starting number of 3 000 and though the blinds were low and would only increase every hour, I was not focused and was very uncomfortable. I had moved all in on a player when I flopped an open ended straight draw and he made a big bet into me, obviously afraid of the straight draw and I tried to represent top pair, on a flop of 9,7,2 with a flush draw also out there.  Unfortunately my opponent had A9 and went into the tank to consider a fold, thinking I may have two pair but then put me on 68, which was correct, and called.  I did not hit my straight draw and just like that I was out of the tournament.  The player who took me out was wearing a WSOP gold bracelet.  However, my friend George actually did quite well by coming in 128^th out of 2 700 entrants and in the money for $3 500 and a profit of $2 000.  It was still a very fun experience and I learned a lot and it made me a much better player.  Plus, there is always next year.

It was truly not meant to be my year despite what I had convinced myself of prior to my trip.  I say this again because I had played in a $550 mega satellite for a Main Event seat of $10 000, while I was waiting for George and I busted out of that tournament in 13^th out of 101 entrants, and 9 places away from a $10 000 seat in the WSOP.  I played extremely well in that tournament and was hoping to redeem myself but when it counted most, in the late stages of the tournament I went completely card dead.

In my last week or so in Vegas, George and I played a lot of cash/ring games at MGM, Rio, and Bellagio.  We both held our own at the Bellagio but amongst such great players who are dedicated to the game full time and learn from playing at a place like the Bellagio where all the best players in Las Vegas play, on a regular basis, we learned a lot from our beats and have returned to Toronto, ON, Canada as much greater players.

No matter what happens when you’re making a poker trip to Las Vegas, make sure you have a lot of fun!  We sure did!