I had planned a trip to Los Angeles and then Las Vegas, beginning with the Memorial Day weekend and then ending with a flight back to Boston at 6 AM the following Friday from Long Beach Airport in southern California.  My plan was to stay and play in LA on Saturday and Sunday,  then drive to Las Vegas for Sunday night until Thursday evening,  driving back to Long Beach late Thursday night for an early Friday morning flight back to Boston.  I would be leaving Las Vegas just as the inaugural tournament,  one held for casino employees only,  was getting underway.

My plan was to enjoy meeting folks from the poker industry who might be around signing up on the first day of the WSOP,  and to play in a poker room or two in LA and LV,  but not to play in the big tourney itself.  Fortunately for me,  my plan was augmented with some wonderful experiences at the end of my trip.

No one expected the poker feeding frenzy that took place even before the official tourney got underway.

On Wednesday,  June 1st, I met my friend and fellow poker writer, Jay Lovinger (who writes a column for ESPN).  We met in the early evening and decided to check out the registration over at the Rio,  where the WSOP was being held this year  (the final table of the final event was going to be held at Binions).  He was playing in many of the events and wanted to find out about signing up.

The regular poker room was going strong.  We asked the floor about the Series and were told that the poker room itself would be closing at 5 AM the following morning,  as side games would be held in the same space as the large tournament  --  in the main hall of the convention center.  He added that the convention space was quite impressive,  and that we were welcome to check it out since it was all set up for the tournament the following day.

We walked the half-mile or so over to the room.  There were no signs to guide us.  This was curious.  Here we were in Las Vegas at the largest poker event in the world at a time when poker has never been so popular.  It is televised to millions and has become a national obsession.  Yet,  even though every small convention and event is announced in Las Vegas on billboards,  with banners and signs on lampposts everywhere,  there was no mention of this enormous poker tournament anywhere.  Not in the city,  not in the newspaper,  and not even in the cavernous casino in which it was being held.  It was as if no one wanted to publicize the event.  Go figure.

Anyway,  we found the signup area and the room itself.  True to the hype,  we were blown away by the size and scope of the room.  The ceiling was about 50 feet high.  The room held 220 ten-person holdem tables arranged geometrically in perfectly aligned rows that seemed nearly endless.  What we didn’t expect was the herd of dealers,  all congregated around 10 or so tables receiving some instruction.  It was wrapping up as we arrived.  But the dealers weren’t dispersing.  They were actually being called to deal side games for the hundred or so players milling about and,  apparently,  demanding some poker action. Before we even discussed what we wanted to do,  we were each trying to get into a game.  Jay and I each landed in a freshly called $175 single-table satellite,  the winner of which would receive $1,500 in tournament entry chips plus $120 in cash.  The house was taking $13 juice per player  --  of which $10 went to the Rio and $3 went to the dealers,  I believe.

So,  in a fashion,  I was playing in the World Series of Poker!  I never expected it but I sure enjoyed the experience.

I was surprised by the level of play.  For some reason,  I had expected that everyone at the table would be a solid tournament player  --  competing aggressively for a seat in one of the events.  I was pleased to find my expectations grossly unmet.

We each started with $1,000 in chips;  blinds went up every 15 minutes and started at $25/$25.  I was fortunate enough to have the Button to my immediate left on the first hand.  I didn’t call a bet for the first seven hands,  observing the play of others.  Here’s what I saw.

First of all,  the dealer was very nervous.  He made eight mistakes in the time I was in the game.  He was not a new dealer but this was his first World Series. He was suffering from the same jitters as many of the players.

The players were,  for the most part,  passive and timid.  They’d call the Big Blind or raise to double the Big Blind.  This persisted for the first three rounds. Only two or three of us were aggressive with our raises  --  raising generally to 3X the Big Blind if we were in the hand for a raise.  The rest of the players could best be described as calling stations.

This should have allowed me to stay in many more hands than one would expect,  given the passive nature of the opposition.  Unfortunately,  I didn’t once get even a mid-sized pair or two big cards.  I basically stayed in only when I was the Big or Small Blind.

I rocked around like this for 45 minutes before I finally had some kind of a hand in late position.  I was dealt A-8 unsuited,  in the cutoff seat  (one off the button). I had exactly $1,050 in chips.  Another player in late position,  but in front of me, seemed very weak.  He was reaching for a $100 chip to just call the bet.  But when the pot was folded to him  (which was an unusual occurrence in this passive and timid game)  he raised to $400.  The player after him folded.  The bet was to me.  I read him as a weak player trying to win the pot on a steal.  I had A-8 and decided that a raise would knock out this weak player.  So I went all-in for $1,050.  Unexpectedly,  he called me.

We turned over our cards.  He had A-9.  Yes,  folks,  he called my all-in reraise with A-9.  My bluff was unsuccessful.  The flop helped neither of us.  The turn was a 9,  giving him a pair and killing my chances for victory.  The River didn’t help and was irrelevant,  as I was drawing dead.  I was out.  Alas.

Disappointed as I was to be out of the tournament,  it had a silver lining.  I realized that the level of play was certainly beatable  --  even for a guy like me. All I needed to do was to play in a few more of these and I was sure to win money.  My schedule permitted me some play the following day.  So I returned and managed to make some money in the side games of no limit holdem.

My main disappointment was that I couldn’t stay for another seven weeks until the conclusion of the tournament.  I’m sure that with disciplined play and a few breaks with the cards that I could make some money with these tournaments and the copious amount of side action.  I’ll write a few more columns about all of that side action I saw on the following day.  But for now,  just heed this advice.