I had only been at the table for a few orbits when I looked down to see pocket queens. The table was all men of varying ages and skill. One older gentleman reminded me of Doyle Brunson as he was sitting in one of those motorized chairs that Doyle often uses to get around. I was pretty sure "Doyle" was a local as many of the dealers seemed to know him, but he had also just rebought and seemed a little loose with his starting hands. His chips became my target for this hand.
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I had arrived in Vegas around noon that day and immediately called Joanne as she was going to pick me up at the airport. I got Bill's (Mr. Joanne) voicemail. I still had to pick up my suitcase so I wasn't worried. A few minutes later, with suitcase in hand, I dialed again. Same result, voicemail. I think I called at least one more time before I received a call back. Joanne had just gone to bed but was getting up and going to be at the airport within 20 minutes. She arrived, we hugged, I met Bill, and, just like that, I had met my first blogger, at least for this trip.
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When the betting came around to me, I immediately raised. If I could get one person to fold their crap pre-flop, I was going to do it but this was limit and another $2 wasn't going to accomplish much. Six or seven saw the flop and when I realized I had hit my set, I was very happy. None of the other cards worried me and, when it was my turn to act, I raised again.
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Once we got to the hotel, I went to check in. Unfortunately I was too early and they didn't have a room ready. I ran into Gracie and surprised her with my knowledge of her identity then made arrangements to leave my suitcase in Joanne's room. It was then decided that I would meet up with Maudie in the IP poker room and, once Joanne had a shower, we would all head for the champagne brunch.
As I walked into the poker room, I immediately spotted Maudie and some other bloggers whose names now escape me. I sat down next to Maudie and we chatted a bit. I also spoke with Gracie some more and chatted with some of the others at the table. Before too long it was time for me to go back down to the front desk to get my room key. They still didn't have my room ready but I glanced to my right and realized that Al and Eva were checking in. I could tell by the look on Al's face that something was wrong so I decided to postpone saying hi until he had some SoCo in him. I did, however, return to the poker room and announce his arrival to the other bloggers.
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I think between the bet and my raise we might have gotten two people out of the pot. "Doyle" was not one of them and I hoped he had a piece of that flop. The turn brought an undercard and the betting came around to me. I raised and we were down to 3 people, including "Doyle".
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We (me, Joanne, Bill, and Maudie) finally got to the champagne brunch and discovered they were in the process of switching to dinner. Since it was only a 20 minute wait we decided to stay and chat until we could get our food. We had just filled our plates when Eva and Lewey walked in and joined us. This was the beginning of the two fisted drinking portion of our dinner as Joanne and Eva tried to make the IP regret having free champagne, on tap, with the buffet.
We eventually ended up in the Al and Eva suite with a couple bottles of champagne and a water bottle filled with SoCo which had been graciously provided by Joanne and Bill. I think we may have set a new speed record for emptying those bottles as quickly as we did. It was at this point that I met John (aka Falstaff) and few others whose names, again, escape me. Once the booze started to get low it was decided to head out to the MGM for some poker and I headed toward my room to drop off my stuff. There was a slight room mix-up and I was a bit delayed at getting back to the suite. Luckily everyone waited for me and we headed to the monorail that would take us to the MGM where I would hit quads for the first time this trip.
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To say that I was shocked to see the case queen on the river would be an understatement. I had just hit quads and I had to figure out how to get more money out of them. It was checked to me and I bet. The other guy folded but "Doyle" raised. He had hit something big and didn't believe I had the quads, at least not until I re-raised. He thought for a minute but decided to call. I think he knew he was beat but he had enough in the pot already to make calling the only choice. I flipped up my quads and the table seemed shocked. Yes, the girl can actually play poker, who would have thunk? "Doyle" flipped up his full house and mumbled "nice hand". I raked in the pot.
Coming up......Excalibur, doing the "gay thing", meeting Wil, my "hallucination", the tourny, more quads, change in plans, and my new rule.
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