Quote:
Originally Posted by chromakey
+1 to DCA. Will be flying in there on Friday.
Oh and MOAR!
So my wife and I and ceegee had dinner there, I bought ceegee a milkshake b/c like I said, I'm baller. Huang calls me b/c he can't find the restaurant that's right in front of the door when you walk in, and comes (I think) w/ foldingst8n. Since Niki was in town, I wasn't going to be sleeping on a couch at ceegee's anymore, and when I checked into the rio that day, I got upgraded to one of the suites on the top floor of the Ipanema tower that you need a key to send the elevator to, so that was awesome. She dropped her stuff in the room as ceegee and I went back to Thunderdome.
I don't suppose I have too many particular hands to talk about, and most of those were on pokernews anyway. Of course, the FT was live streamed, and I was really honored at how many people I knew were watching it. Obv. lots of people from the forum, but tons of people on facebook were, even a bunch of people I hadn't really talked to in years. A few people I know stayed up the whole night watching it, or finally fell asleep and then woke up for the end. I felt super great about that, though, and that's one of the reasons I was constantly on my phone is b/c there were so many people wishing me luck and stuff. Of course, having an awesome rail was awesome. Some people were there the whole time, others filtered in and out... Ceegee was explaining hands to everyone, I hear, so that was nice.
I really felt great about the way the FT was going and how I was playing against the field. It seemed to take so long though, Hellmuth was all-in like 10-13 times at least in total at the FT until I finally busted him. 3 handed w/ him and Racener also took forever... HU was only like 45 minutes...
Everyone seemed to be pretty quiet at the FT, even Phil for the most part. I was having none of this, and was yelling back and forth w/ my rail, trying to needle Phil, etc. I mean, you're at a final table, have some fun... maybe some people can't play w/out being SRS BSNS, I dunno...
When it got HU4BRACELETZ, I was surprised at how quick it was. I had just rivered a flush and a low on Racener and announced "just a low" as I flipped my cards up after I bet and he called, not realizing I had a flush, too. I felt super bad and apologized profusely but he was suuuuper pissed. It probably didn't help that the tourney director thought announced that he had busted, too, lulz. Heads up play started up like instantly after that, no break or anything. They didn't even wait to bring the bracelet out, which came like 5-10 minutes later or so... As I said, I had been in the 8 seat, Phil was in the 2 seat, so I moved to the 7 seat to sit facing directly across from him.
I feel like I've talked about the final table a ton on the interviews and podcasts and stuff, so please ask me questions if you want me to cover anything else...
Winning was amazing, obviously. They took a million pictures, I did two intereviews; one with ESPN that I guess will air sometime during their coverage, and another one w/ Pokernews. Apparently Phil, JRB, and Huck Seed invited us all out, but my rail declined? Not sure exactly what happened there. Also apparently Ted Forrest and Matusow had been talking **** about me, maybe Ceegee or Alex or Ghost or someone can elaborate here... After that all settled down, we went over to AAB&G again for breakfast; I got a bottle of champagne for anyone who wanted it & picked up the check. We were all super tired, though, and everyone left then. I was absolutely exhausted, obv, but made a few calls before going to bed.
I was told the bracelet ceremony was already full on Tuesday, but that I could have Wednesday to myself! So that was fine. I slept in until like 4pm, did a bunch of internet stuff & texting, and then went to craftsteak w/ Niki to celebrate. After day 2 of the 2009 razzament, when I was like 11/13, she said she had a dream that I got 5th, and that's what happened (I told her next time to dream that I won...). So this time, she had had a dream that we were eating at craftsteak, and then she woke up and flew to Vegas & we were eating there the next day! I did not notice either of these, but she told me two groups of bros identified me as "the guy who busted Hellmuth!" Then we went to pick up Ceegee to join Alex and the Aria for some craps, which he covered in his TR. I was super impressed w/ the Aria, can't wait to go there again...
The bracelet ceremony itself was pretty basic, I met Nolan Dalla there again (and told him they should have a Triple Stud tournament next year! and he had never heard of it!! but said it was a great idea, so you have me to thank if it happens...) there was a big $1500nlament or something running so there were a bunch of people in the room, I got presented the bracelet, posed for a bunch of pictures, the anthem played, which was awesome, did a couple more interviews, including one w/ Poker Listings that I really liked, and then some people from Sioux City saw my Sioux City t-shirt and came up to the stage, so I talked to them for like 15 minutes. Later on, I had dinner with soepgroente that night at this italian place over on Flamingo, which was great.
So it was nice to have had a few days off to bask, because the next tournament wasn't until the Razzament on Saturday. I still have a few more days to write about, including the DC bowlathon, the day before the razzament, and of course, the razzament itself, which was awesome.