For years, especially at the beginning of my venture into the world of poker, the trip to Las Vegas, Nevada and the participation in the World Series of Poker were the dreams which pushed me to becoming better and better. Even though I haven't been exactly following poker tournaments since forever, I used to count down days remaining to new episodes from WSOP.
On July 2 after packing my bag (for the first time in history of my intercontinental travels it did not contain the desktop, which made up 70% of the bag's weight), I flew to America, hoping that maybe this year I would fulfill my adolescent dream of getting a golden bracelet. I arrived at Las Vegas McCarran Airport at noon local time. After an hour-wait in a line, I was officially allowed into the land of Mickey Mouse. Less than half-an-hour taxi ride later, I reached my place of stay in the USA - an apartment in Palms Place.
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On the second day after my arrival, I've already participated in an event no 63, that is no-limit Holdem 1k$. I entered the tournament with late registration, in the end of the 2nd level. I don't play mtt online, but if I were to compare the level to those taking place online, the starting phases are probably on par with those at 10$. For the first couple of hours, I was surrounded by the amateurs, the middle-aged Americans and happy-go-lucky poker-playing young people from France. Ultimately, I was eliminated in the middle of day 2, when 13bb TT did not quite hold against AKo. I was rewarded 2500$ for my overall performance, so the beginning was pretty promising.
Event 68, 3k$ No-limit Holdem, was another tournament I participated in. Once again I drew very easy table, e.g. for the first two stages I had an 'empty seat' at the table, but after some time the ghost-player was moved to different table.
I was expecting the level in a tournament at 3k$ to be much higher, however I couldn't be more wrong. In order to better illustrate it, let me present to you one of the hands.
CO - opens with minibet
BB (hero) - Q3cc, flats vs Co open
FLOP QT6ss, the villain pots, and hero cals
TURN 2x - the villain basically plays snap all-in. I called and he reveals K5hh... gg
I start the second day with 28bb. While I was riding the taxi to the casino, I was thinking what an unpleasant feeling it must be, to be eliminated several minutes into the tournament. Unfortunately, those thoughts turned out to be self-fulfilling prediction.
I dropped off in the 5th hand, following my squeeze/call with BTN having AQo. To this day, I'm not sure whether it was a correct play. However, straight after the tournament I was convinced that I fucked up - no sugar-coating, and I decided that this is the end to my adventure at WSOP.
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It was time to commence the implementation of the second part of my plan - the sightseeing side-trips and the culinary-alcoholic feasts. The places for fulfilling the latter were Cosmopolitan Las Vegas and Forum Shops at Caesars. I must say that Las Vegas isn't called the Entertainment's Capital of the World for nothing. The multitude of attractions which can be seen in the city is mind-blowing. Placing exclusive shops, restaurants and casinos under one roof allows everyone to find something to their liking. During one of the evenings I had a chance to meet the Polish MTT crew, and once again I realized that Polish young people are cultured and sophisticated. A pretty risky start with oysters roasted in parmesan, was immediately followed by some stuff more familiar to Polish palate, that is grilled beef and vodka with Red Bull.
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After my Polish genes got saturated with the right amount of alcohol, the next step was to rent a car and just hit the road (it did not happen on the same night, obviously).
The first stop was the Hoover Dam, on Nevada and Arizona border. The engineering wonder built in 1936, was erected over 5 years, and the cost in the current prices was around 700 million dollars. Two and a half million cubic meters of concrete, which epitomize the everlasting fight of man against the forces of nature. The Dam stands 224 meters tall, which means it's almost as high as the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, and almost thrice as tall as the dam on Lake Solina.
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Another place I wanted to visit was the Death Valley in California. The most extreme temperatures occur there, one of the least-hospitable places for any forms of life on Earth. On July 10, 1913 the highest temperature ever was noted there - 134 degrees! (thankfully that's in Fahrenheit, in Celsius that's 'only' 56.7). Amongst main attractions in Death Valley National Park is Badwater Basin, a salty lake situated 86 meters below the sea level. Walking around there can be compared to putting your face next to an opened oven with the convection option on. I've spent there maybe an hour, but I finally understood why the people die so quickly in the desert when they have no water. Nonetheless, it seems that these extreme conditions do not stand in a way of the ultra marathon participants, which takes place every year in mid July. It's a 217-kilometer-long route from Death Valley to Mount Whitney. The record was set by a Brazilian Valmir Nunes, who covered it in less than 23 hours in 2007.
I'm going to talk about my trip to the Grand Canyon in the following post.
Godspeed.
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