Matt Waxman was awesome. If I understood in the least bit how props worked at the time I would've done it. But instead I just settled with drinking with him. I totally would have won a **** ton of money too cuz I brought in about a million times post dinner break. Your table was definitely the best one though.

Matty was much more interested in doing the props when he was only one or two sheets to the wind. By the time you got to the table, he'd quieted down a bit. Actually the guy whose seat you took had a $100 LL bet with Owais Ahmed (who was in the 7 seat). Bad WSOP to have a LL vs. that guy!

So day two was a little less exciting because I was pretty short stacked, and of course the winner of the $10k 8/b the last two years went on to win the $2,500 razzament and then win POY, so no pressure...

I was at Phil Laak's table, so that was fun. It also turned out that I was at OErocket's table, he was pretty cool, too. I ended up busting on a hand where Laak defended a K, didn't pair on 5th and had a K5 vs. my T8 made; I ended up making an 8 but he rivered a wheel so I didn't even have a sweat... I then went out to my car and grabbed the bracelet to bring back; I was wondering what to do as I wanted to hang out a bit, but dinner break wasn't for 2 hours and everyone I knew right here was still in the tournament obv... I made a few calls, oh, got my check for $442k, and then got on the phone w/ Delta to see if I could get on an earlier flight. I made it for 1am the next morning, which is more convenient to push it back if I made day 3, but turns out is less convenient if I need to move it up b/c I busted because then it's not on the same day... I had my phone charger plugged in, and was sitting reading a book waiting on hold when Dan comes out having busted. At this point, I was on hold w/ Delta for about 40 minutes, but I had an earpiece in so just had the phone in my pocket.

Dan and I proceed to In-N-Out burger for dinner, which was actually the first time I'd gone since being in Vegas. We get there and there's a pretty big line, Dan thinks it's going to be like a half hour. I know better and say "you have one chance to lower that for an over/under" as our friend Stu Rutter was in Tao and someone in his group said, "I'll give someone $1k to jump into that fountain." and Stu said, "you have one chance to lower that offer". ($400 ftw). Dan decides on 20 minutes and I snap call the under for $20, and dinner. Ofc. we get through in like ~13, so ship it. Obv. In-N-Out is going to be super crowded, but we get the best table draw of the whole WSOP, right next to a power outlet; perhaps one of just a couple like that in the whole place. Why do I need a power outlet? Oh, I'm still on the phone on ****ing hold w/ Delta... It's up to like 90 minutes now...

So I take Dan back to the Rio, although I'm not sure why, since he only plays Razz! :-p It just so happens that the two hours are up now, and Osc is coming out, so I drop Dan off and then take him to Sonic. Still on the phone, we're up to like 3 hours now. He gets his food, and after he's done, I drop him back off. It's like 10pm at this point, and I could go back to ceegee's and take a nap, I guess, or I could just go to the airport. I decide to go to the airport since it has free wifi, still on hold with Delta. I drop the rental car off at the place, get on the rental car bus, still on the phone, obviously for spite at this point, and 3 hours and 45 minutes later, someone answers. I'm stunned that the call never dropped or anything else happened and that I got through. I know it's not the lady's fault, tell her so, and I don't yell at her or anything, but then ask her wtf was going on and to tell her manager wtf happened. That's when I find out I can't do anything about my flight anyway, right as I'm about to pull up to the terminal and the ticket counter.

I kinda dawdled writing this last part b/c now the trip report is done I guess. I very much appreciated the feedback and questions, so thank you, and anymore of either of those would be great.

I guess I'll end the prepared remarks here with two comments:

In the "It's tough to handle this fortune and fame: everybody's so different; I haven't changed." department: Before Black Friday and the bracelet, a lot of poker people I'd meet or that would get to know me better would be like, "WHAT?!?!?!?!??! You have a JOB?!?!?!?!?!" and many people at work would be like, "oh, you play poker? that's cool/whatever..." Now, a lot of the poker people are like, "wow, you have a job?!? that's great, you're so lucky!!" and everyone at work is like "...why are you still here...???"

And finally, one of the best parts of winning a bracelet is that no one asks you, "But how much did you lose?"

[x] in before "But how much did you lose?"

[ ] What kind of phone plan do you have?

[ ] The wifi is still free at McCarran?

[ ] But how much did you lose?

[x] Epic!

I liked Kristy Gazes a lot. I said something to the effect of "Most women poker players are b--" and she just smiled.
this is noteworthy because it's wrong.

great TR! enjoy reliving this moment from the last level.

and if you don't play craps w/ me next time, you're doing it wrong! congrats bud.

excellent!! thank you!!

<3 ghost in background

[x] Dan = SGspecial

[x] Owais Ahmed = Oerockets

[x] I so would have pwned you in that prop bet if we were at Wendy's

[ ] tl;dr

Was this posted?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUTK2...eature=related

I think pro merc said it best via AIM:

zOMG, high praise after a 16,000-word trip report!!!

Congratulations, it is rewarding to see people that put so much time into understanding every spot in a game succeed. Really could not have happened to a nicer, more humble guy too; now don't spend it all on Starcraft t-shirts.

Surprised by the David Levi opinions. I played with him in a $1k tournament where we played together nearly from the start to the point where we chopped it, he was really entertaining and fun to be around. Met his wife, she was very nice as well. Maybe different in cash games when stuck or just easy to be around when he's chopping tournaments?

Lastly, not only did I read the whole thing but I would have still read it if you had not won the bracelet. Do it again next year/tournament series if you are willing to spend the time regardless of your results.

thank you, that's very kind! It's nice to write a lot again, and I'm glad people really enjoyed it.

slowly but surely getting through it

But i will finish........mabye sometime in 2012

Just skimmed but great thread, and congrats. LOL at Matusow, but @ Ted. Huck is very tall and Hellmuth is huge up close.

Karina Jett is friendly away from the table but no prize at the table, imo. She def thinks she should win every hand, and that it's not her fault when she doesn't.

But as someone said, female grinders do get some leeway from the crap they get, esp the younger & hotter they are.

Cindy Violette is an absolute jewel.

Mrs. Chips is currently reading this whole thing (and understanding maybe 60% of it)... I'm so proud!!!

Chips just on TV. Weeeeeeee. And Hellmuth giving him a complement too.

wwwwttttfffff????? I have the 9pm episodes setup to record but there's episodes at 8pm, too??? how do I keep missing this...

haha, pwnd.

what was on / what did Hellmuth say?

awesome, so the DVR is setup to record any episodes, but ESPN has the exact same description for all of them, so the box thinks it's a duplicate...

It was a montage on Phil obv, but it was about the stud8 event, (stud8 on the map ) and in one shot they show you with the bracelet posing. And in a clip they show him saying something like "He played well, gotta give him that", in clear reference to you.

He was talking about Racener ldo

lol, whoops. Pwnd.

^^ leveled

lol I know, Racener wasn't ever shown in the clip. Was obv saying you played good.