The first thing I did upon arriving in Vegas today was head over to Bobby’s Room in the Bellagio to collect some cash from Sam Farha. That makes my afternoon excursion sound far more gangsta than it really was. Sam and I just published a book together, Farha on Omaha: Expert Strategy for Beating Cash Games and Tournaments, (look for it on the shelves this fall) and he owed me a little money for my part in helping him with the writing. You could say I am Sam’s writing bitch. But, please, not to my face.

Two cab rides to the Bellagio and back gave me a large enough bankroll that I can now enter at least a couple tournaments during my stay. After attending the World Series once as a fan (back in the Binion’s era) and once as a full-time writer (last year), this year I’m going to actually do some playing. I wonder if my having not played at all in the last six months is going to be any sort of handicap. I am hoping to be more fresh than rusty.

As important as the Bellagio jaunt was (no cab rides, no bankroll, no playing), I had to pull myself away from the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha with ReBuys events to do it, which wasn’t easy considering how talented the players at the final table were: Devilfish Ulliot, Humberto Brenes, John Juanda. Minh Ly. Any of these names ring a bell? 

I sat down at the newly designed final table area (last year’s high-school football stadium look has definitely been elevated at least to the big-time collegiate level) just in time to catch Devilfish run into the Shark. While in the natural world Brenes would win every time, at the poker table it’s a different story. Especially at pot-limit Omaha. While Brenes is pretty good at this game, Ulliot is excellent. Case in point: everyone folded to him on the button and he merely limped in with [Qd Qc 7h 6h]. I really like this play. Brenes was the short stack at the table, and I believe Devilfish knew Brenes would be looking to get his money in with just about any hand. (The alternative theory is that Devilfish didn’t want to overplay his queens and was content to see a flop with position on his opponents.) Brenes raised all in with AsKh8s5s, which with three cards of the same suit really isn’t much of an Omaha hand. Devilfish called pretty quickly, which gives credence to theory number one. Devilfish won by making a queen-high flush, and I can’t say that I was upset. I can only take so much of the Shark shtick.

The other hand (and bust out) of note in the early afternoon occurred after Erik Cajelais opened with a raise and John Juanda reraised with the last of his chips. Erik was pretty much priced in to calling the $215,000 raise, and he had a decent enough hand to do it with [Kc Qc 10h 10s]. Juanda, of course, had aces (as well as a pair of eights). You can’t do any better than pushing all your money into the pot with a pair of aces (one of which was suited) but the flop gave Erik a wrap, and the queen of diamonds on the river made his straight. Juanda was gone in seventh place. 

It was at that point that I had a decision to make: more final table action or self-preservation in the form of bankroll accumulation. As you well know, I chose the latter, and I’m glad I did. As fun as it’s been to watch other people play cards for bracelets all these years, well, it’s not as fun as doing it yourself.