Upper West Side WSOP 4: This Time Its Personal

Dave Hill

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May 20, 2004, 12:23:30 PM5/20/04

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Back in Vegas for another year. For the uninitiated, our group is a
mishmash of people who have played poker together for the last five
years or so, from Arkansas to Texas and up to NYC. Most of us
currently live on the Upper West Side, although some of our former
fellow travellers have moved on to Chicago, San Fransisco, Austin, and
places in between. I'll give you a snapshot of each of these creeps
before I getinto my usual rambling and storytelling.

Josh: This guy is the guru of the group. An avid
chess/go/poker/gin/backgammon/connect4 player who basically introduced
and taught almost everyone in the group poker. Although his game is
rock-solid, he never wins any money, which is problematic because he
is also probably the worst loser in the bunch. Prone to fits and
moodiness when his chips are down, when josh is losing, nobody is
happy. But everyone loves him and gravitates around him (though we
are learning better about giving him money). Josh is a PHD candidate
at Columbia University and very brainy.

Peter: Josh's college classmate and now grad school roomate. Peter
may be the worst poker player of the bunch, but that doesn't matter at
all. He's also the most colorful charachter. A devout Catholic who
also has an affection for Sam Kinison and cartoons, Peter is a virgin
in search of his soulmate. Peter always has a book with him no matter
where he goes, and its never an interesting one either. And you will
never see him reading it, just carrying it. Restaurants, swimming
pools, strip clubs, peter is never without book in hand. He's a great
guy, a hell of a friend, and has the highest-pitched most startling
laugh you will ever hear. Like your only-child's death rattle, it is
a sound not easily associated with humor, but after knowing Peter for
a while, it will grow on you.

Rob: Me and Josh's old high school buddy, Rob is a recent med-school
grad who currently lives in Chicago. Rob's poker game has recently
been surpassed by his golf game, as he is an avid golfer. He's also
the good looking one, though he is engaged so his good looks not only
hurt the rest of us, they don't even do him any good. I should cut
his face, i really should.

Wayne: Josh's college buddy-come bigshot engineer, Wayne is a rich and
uptight Staten Islander who currently lives in SF with his lovely
fiancee Carly. Wayne is a good poker player, but is so cheap that he
refuses to play anything but 3-6 and cheap ass rebuy tournaments. He
claims he does well and is content at those limits, but it drives me
up the wall. Wayne's pretty abrupt and sometimes bossy, but he's a
good guy and pretty funny-which goes a long way with this group of
guys.

Chonko: Our UWS Columbia grad-student poker buddy, Chonko is basically
out for booze, strippers, and booze and also strippers.

Greg: This is his first trip out here with us. Greg is also a high
school buddy from Arkansas, and he has no idea what he's in for.

John: John is my old roomate from Austin. He's a bigshot at the
tables, likes to play in big games, and does pretty well. This is his
second year out here with us, though he comes out here pretty
regularly.

Brandon: Another UWS player, Brandon is the most poker-addicted of us
all. Since learning to play the game in our living room in 1999,
Brandon has gone on to become an UltimateBet prop and an incredible
poker nit. Since I met Brandon in a home poker game five years ago, I
can't recall ever having a non-poker related conversation with him. He
will drive you crazy with that shit. Its all he thinks about, truly.
But this year he brought a big nut with him and i respect him for
taking a shot at some higher limits for once.

Mandy: Mandy is Rob's Fiancee's sister. We have a strict
no-girlfriends rule on this trip, but someone rightly pointed out this
year that it doesn't extend to girls in general, just girlfriends. So
Mandy, for some unbeknownst reason, wants to go to vegas with a bunch
of 25 year old poker-addicted horny and high strung boys.

Day 1

I got to vegas yesterday afternoon, picked up josh, and we went
straight to the Bellagio. In general, I don't like going to the strip
as much as i like going downtown and hanging out, but Josh is a
strip-per and im anxious to watch the timberwolves game anyway so i
relent.

Josh brought his suit with him, so he can count the shoe at the
bellagio in style. He wants everyone to invest in his card counting
scheme. And he hasn't stopped bugging me about staking him in the
15-30 game, which i don't really want to do.

Me, i brought $4,000 with me, and I figured Id start the trip out
right by playing some 30-60, much higher than Im used to playing (i
play in a regular 15-30 game). I do ok, but its boring, and I
eventually go to the Horseshoe.

The WSOP is different this year. There is a ton more action in side
games. They even have tables down in the sports book. There were
three chinese poker games going last night and a list for all three.
But if you are like me and looking for a pot limit holdem game, you
wont find one. Everything is No Limit. Everything. TV has ruined my
favorite game. The only pot limit anywhere is Omaha and that game is
tough for me. I decide to play 20-40, and lose about $600.

the guy on my left is drunk and belligerant, yelling "give em a good
scramble goddmanit" after every hand and throwing cards and cursing
players, the whole nine. He loses one hand to a woman who raised her
flush draw on the flop and got there on the turn, and he says "raise
on the come? you raise on the come? you stupid..." and then he falls
over backwards in his chair. As he lays there all sprawled out on the
ground, I say "now thats what I call going on tilt."

"you're a real funny guy" he says angrily as he rights himself while
everyone else laughs.

I went to bed early last night, so i have no good stories to report.
Only that late last night, Danny Negreanu, Howard Lederer, John
Juanda, and Chris Moneymaker were all at the same table when it was
down to 27, and it wasn't the ESPN table. thats poor production if
you ask me. Who wouldnt want to watch these guys play together on tv?
That shit would be better than the final table of the big one.

I woke up at 6am and went to the tournament room and the super was
just finishing up from the night before. Maybe I wont play in
tonights. Jesus christ.

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