Event #1, Mixed-limit Holdem ($5K)

Well, I was surprisingly calm this morning. Given that I hadn't much success sleeping, I set three different alarms and had a wakeup call scheduled, but none of that would matter, as I was up well before they went off. After the shower and shave, I packed things up, checked out of the Sahara and made my way to the Rio well over an hour earlier than required.

First thing, I had some problems finding the dealer break room to report to. I must have been pretty excited, because I didn't make a decent mental note about where I parked (more on that later). I just followed some folks in dealer uniforms in to the primary employee entrance (we are not supposed to use the same access as the public), but as we wound around at least a mile of catacombs and cut through the kitchen, I realized they didn't know where they were going either. We got some help getting redirected by a fulltime Rio dealer and went straight to the break room. There were a ton of dealers, maybe 250 or so by the time 11am rolled around. I did take a few moments to walk around and take a look at things. The first event was scheduled for 12pm, but satellites and cash play were both already in action. The room looked fantastic, the ESPN TV stage was complete, and there was a line of players about 3 miles long trying to register for upcoming events. Everywhere I walked, I saw a big name pro player, Chris Ferguson, Phil Gordon, Robert Williamson, Chris Moneymaker, etc, etc. I nearly stepped on Jennifer Harmon, when I turned around and didn't see her behind me. With all of that, when I got back to the break room, I was surprisingly settled. No butterflies yet.

After clocking in, the dealer meeting got started on time. A little morale building first, then before getting our assignments, we were told that anyone wishing to play in the casino employees event could "early out" (EO) and would not be needed today. They read table assignments off alphabetically, and by the time they got to about 'L', all of the tables had been assigned. From time to time, one of the dealer coordinators (DC) would come in and make a request for 4 or 5, so sometimes even 18 dealers to change job codes and go to the satellite or cash play section. Being available and ready will be key to getting more work it seems. The rest of us were told that we could EO, if we wanted, but that if we stuck around there was a good chance we'd be put to work. My understanding is that we get our hourly rate when "on call", but only get the real money (tourney tip share) for downs worked. So, I stuck around. About 3pm or so, I saw a rushed DC head into the room and pull dealers from a pool of bullpen dealers waiting for assignment. Some of them had went to smoke or something, so I made my way over and indicated I was ready to be put into action - which got me assigned into Event #1, the $5K buy-in mixed limit holdem championship. This was key, because I got 5 downs, in all, maintained my position alphabetically in the list for work tomorrow, and got the most exciting dealing experience to date.

The first table that I pushed into had Phil Ivey sitting behind a big stack. I decided that it would be inappropriate for me to comment much on anyone's status or play in my blog, but if I have significant interraction with a well known player, I'll try to capture the essence of it here. You can check out the players and even see a bit of a glimpse of me in some pictures at the WSOP photo store. Under step 1, select Event #1 and under step 2, find table 39. I pushed through table 44 before being released for the evening, but you won't find me in any of the other galleries. You can see who some of the stars are that I dealt to, though they did change frequently and the photos are a time snapshot of action. For all of this event, we dealt 30 mins, had 30 mins break, then moved to the next table and repeated.

I didn't have any issues that required floor interaction, but thinking back, I wish I had called for the floor to ask for a couple of clarifications. First, Matt Dean from The Woodlands made a good point about the change in the f-bomb rule. He asked if someone told a joke and used inappropriate language at the table, would they be penalized. I still don't know the answer (and should), but I think it is negative. More on that later. Also, when my table broke, he didn't have a whole lot chips and everyone was given plastic racks for the move. He asked if they were required to use them, and I sort of gestured not really, and wasn't sure if he was kidding or serious. I just didn't want to draw attention to his stack size, but I think it was a fair question and it might be necessary to help police table movements and ensure chip dumping, hand-offs, pocketting doesn't occur. They did have some embarassingly large number of chips find their way into the main event last year. Not sure if Matt recognized me or not. We were actually roommates on a poker cruise a couple of years ago. I hope to bounce into him on break or in the hallways to talk with him and will be sure to have answers.

On one of the downs, I had the good fortune of having Randy Haddox from Atascosita at my table. He was a player on that same cruise with Matt, and I wondered if he recalled me at all. I was working one night a week in a club on his side of town that I have been told he frequents. But, I haven't seen him in person for about two years. He does reply and post at PokerCampus andPocketFives a lot, and I think he'd recognize my screen name. I'll likely send him an email and invite him to check out my blog. He had quite a few chips deep into this event. I have a feeling he is going to challenge for a bracelet very soon.

I did have one sort of minor event during this session. At one point, we changed levels and the blinds were announced to be 50/100. In this event, every 30 mins it switches from Limit Holdem to No-Limit Holdem, and the blinds bounce around a little bit to account for the difference in betting. Anyway, they should have been 50/75 and it was corrected midway through the first hand. During the hand, everyone folded around to the small blind, who simply said "call." Both players bet on the flop and turn, but when the hand ended without a showdown (fold to big blind turn raise), the small blind complained that he should get a 25 rebate because he should have only had to call the 75. Way too much action had occurred for me to take his request seriously, but apparently he wasn't kidding. He grabbed one of the floor assistannts for several minutes and tried to make a case for getting a green chip back. One of the other players offered to give him one to shut him up, and even tossed it in his direction, but I had to return it. I thought it was sort of funny.

The only thing that really sucked this entire day is that I completely forgot where I parked. I had a general sense and walked up and down all the rows in the lower lot pushing the buttons on the key tag for the car alarm. Damn. My feet hurt today and I have a few blisters because of the near hour in 100+ heat I spent pounding the pavement.