Day 9 &10

I was really exhausted Tuesday morning and I slept until almost 2PM!  I went into work again at 4 and there were a TON of dealers starting at 4!  Monica read off 64 handpicked dealers to deal the $25K Heads-up tournament, so I didn't get to deal that.  She also filled up all the available single table satellite and live action (cash game) spots, and we had 60-70 dealers still left over!  I went down to HR and managed to get an ID badge and nametag while I waited, so I can finally prove that I'm an employee.

When I walked back into the break room, Monica was already calling out names and giving out more assignments.  I was sent to deal in Event #1 of the WSOP, the $500 entry Casino Employee No Limit Hold 'em Event.  I had no idea what the blinds were when I sat down at 6:00 to deal, but a quick look around the table told me that the blinds were already 150/300 with a 25 ante.  My first down (downs are 30 minute dealing shifts) was pretty uneventful.  Dealers are told to count the stub (the stub is the cards left over after dealing the river card and tells the dealer if there are any cards missing) at least once per down, and when I counted it, the players remarked that I was the first dealer to count it all day.  That's pretty bad, considering that the tournament had been running for six hours already!

Overall I was in the box (the box is the term for the dealer's seat at the table) for five downs, but I only dealt for two and a half of those downs.  The players were on dinner break for the other two and a half, but I still get paid for these babysitting downs, so that was pretty sweet.  I was sent home at 9:00 because they needed to get the 6:00 and 8:00 dealers some downs as well, so I went to rail for my roommate Matt, who was playing in the event.

The event started with 850 players and was down to 120 or so players left when I started watching.  Matt had an average 18K stack and was pretty much staying out of the way of the action.  Seeing as the tournament paid only 81 players, it's tough to argue with his strategy.  When they were down to 100 or so, an older gentleman raised to 3,200 at the 500/1000/100 level.  Matt quickly moved all-in.  He had been acting methodically all day, and I took this quick action to mean that he was excited about his hand.  His opponent called with a shorter stack and Matt showed K-K, which was was ahead of his opponent's 10-10.  Unfortunately, there was a 10 on the flop and another 10 on the turn to give the older man four of a kind.  To pour a little salt in the wound, a K hit the river.  With 92 players left, Matt was in the BB, against the SB and button.  The flop came 10-6-3 and the SB bet.  Matt shoved his 9K w/ 10-2 and the SB called with Q-10.  The turn and river were blanks and Matt was eliminated.  Nice run, but a bummer to miss the money for sure.

I also spent some time watching the $25K Heads-up.  I watched Gus Hansen, David Benyamine, Tom Dwan, Antonio Esfandiari, Jonathan Duhamel, Justin Bonomo, John Juanda, and Daniel Alaei.  I saw Alaei bust Bonomo extremely quickly.  I have no idea how the betting went down, but Alaei had K-Q on a board of J-9-3-2-10 to beat Bonomo's 2-2.  I also saw Matt Affleck walking around.  I'd like to see him have a good series; he received a brutal beat in last year's Main Event when he got all-in on the turn w/ A-A on a board of 10-9-7-Q.  Duhamel called for most of his chips w/ J-J and hit an 8 on the river for a straight to knock Affleck out in 15th place.

Not much really happened on Wednesday.  Matt and I ran a couple of errands and I played in the $45 HORSE at Green Valley Ranch again.  The force was with me not, as I couldn't make a hand to save my life and busted in a little over an hour.  Oh well, I was due for a lousy tournament.

Matt and I are both off tomorrow as well, so we're going to watch the WSOP grudge matches in person.  Moneymaker vs. Farha should be pretty awesome!  We're also hoping to rail the Hellmuth vs. Chan match and cheer obnoxiously for Hellmuth.  Maybe we'll get some TV time out of it, since it's being filmed for ESPN!