2008 Final Day

There were two key events of the final day worth noting. One, as we were leaving the free dinner that the Wynn comped for us, I told the waiter how the Italian food really reminded me of a lunch I had at a restaraunt on a little island in the middle of Lake Como. He exclaimed that "Mr. Wynn would really like to hear that from you, please tell him."

It turned out Steve Wynn and his wife were sitting right near where I was walking, and thus, Nick snapped this picture after the waiter introduced us.



There were two key events of the final day worth noting. One, as we were leaving the free dinner that the Wynn comped for us, I told the waiter how the Italian food really reminded me of a lunch I had at a restaraunt on a little island in the middle of Lake Como. He exclaimed that "Mr. Wynn would really like to hear that from you, please tell him."

It turned out Steve Wynn and his wife were sitting right near where I was walking, and thus, Nick snapped this picture after the waiter introduced us.

The second key event occurred when I was on a break from the daily Bellagio tournament, after failing in the WSOP Senior's Tournament (which was at the Rio). While at the Rio, I had purchased some white $1 chips to tip the cocktail waitresses for Diet Cokes and bottles of water. While I was at the Bellagio, on the break, I walked past a waitress who had a tray full of water bottles, and I wanted one, but she was not looking at me, and I did not want to upset her tray. So I spoke outloud so she would know what was happening when I took the water bottle and put a chip on her tray (I had forgotten that I was no longer at the Rio, and she would have trouble with this chip, so I should have given her a dollar bill on her tray.)

To keep from startling her, possibly causing her to drop her tray, I said "This is for you for the water in a nice loud voice" - but when she looked over at the chip on her tray, as it slid from one side to the other, she suddenly screamed "OH, THANK YOU SIR!!" and I knew I had a problem here, and realized that I was at the wrong hotel for that chip. Then it became clear to me...the Bellagio's white chips are $5,000 chips. Not even Mr. Capital S was that generous.

2008 - More Snippets

Chuck says, if you want to be a weener, you have to eat a wiener, and so he had a hot dog before starting day 1. He regretted having eggs and the fruit cup only, for breakfast on day two. He feels he should have added a sausage.

**

When I sat down at my table and realized that you only start with 3,000 chips in this tournament, instead of the usual 10,000, I told the old-timer next to me that I thought this was going to be a "deep stack" tournament. He replied "Son, the buy in is only $1,000. This is the 'cheap stack' tournament."

**

There were two ladies at my table to start day one, which is a little unusual. I told them the BabyFace Baxter story. One of them explained that they could not have kept Nick out of the tournament anyway. They say that it is discrimination and illegal.

The other lady, who turned out to be quite French and spoke with a heavy accent, went on to explain that in the 'Ladies' tournaments that she has been buying into are almost half men, most dressed in drag. She says the spaghetti straps over the hairy chests are what bug her the most.

**

There are many poker shirts here, and then just some pretty good shirts in general. We have all seen the signs, 'Will work for food' held by panhandlers. On the beach in Hawaii I have seen "Will surf for food" or "locals go home" on a t-shirt. Here one of the retirees had a shirt that said "Will not work for anything" which I rather coveted. In the Bellagio daily tournament there was one young gunslinger from the internet who's shirt was clearly purchased at the student body store at the campus Student Union, which read "You can retake a class, but you can never re-live a party."

**

There was a guy who had no hands that sat at the table in a wheel chair and played the cards and the chips with his feet. I did not see this, so I cannot report to what degree his contortionist skills succeeded in this task (could people see his cards?). Anyway, upon hearing this at breakfast, Neil muttered "Right. I can barely WALK on my feet."

**

Neil and Rich were comparing the quality of the 'movies' that they were watching last night and complaining, of course. The names of the features were pretty entertaining, although I cannot recall them at this time. I did grab the Keno brochure however, for inspiration, and asked them if they had seen "The 5 Spot Dinner Special" or the "Progressive 8 Spot" which I thought were pretty remarkable cinematic achievements.

**

We apologized for Chuck, who is a professional sports handicapper, for calling him last year, after several beers, and asking him who we should bet on in the Professional Bass Fishing Tournament that was going to be on TV after the Laker game. Should we go with Billy Bob or Joey Bob. Tough pick, since they are very close, and Billy Bob was only favored by half a bass.

Chuck said, with quite a straight face, that Competitive Bass Fishing has now gone intercollegiate, and that Louisiana Tech has the best team right now. Neil mentioned that he gave Scott the classic career advice to "just pick something you are good at" and then commented that he might have to start making some pre-emptive exclusions to that policy.

Rich commented that his brother is now ranked 8th in the country in ESPN on-line fantasy baseball. Apparently he is not ranked, currently, in on-line fantasy Bass Fishing.

**

June 25 - Day 3 - Snippets

Chuck reminds me that when one of us did ask Grandma Sippl to confirm that a Royal Flush was an unbeatable hand, her reply was:

“Unless you kids are playing with those damn wild cards in there again.”

Yes, that is the exception. For example, if twos and threes are wild, along with one-eyed Jacks and the Man with the Axe, then indeed, the Broadway Flush is vulnerable to 5 of a kind, 6 of a kind and 7 of a kind. Fortunately for Chuck, that is not how they play Hold’em in Texas. In Texas, only the players are wild.

June 24 - Day 2 - Slim

Legend Amarillo Slim Preston was moved to Chuck's table today, and took a seat to Chuck's immediate right. As you recall from last year's blog (I am sure), Amarillo Slim won one of the first World Series of Poker, more than 30 years ago, and was on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, several times. The reason for the several times was because Slim is a bit of a philosopher as well as a poker player.

Chuck has had a "quotes" collection for decades. It is several shoe boxes filled with 3 by 5 cards with quotes hand written on them with very neat writing. There are 3 quotes from Mr. Preston. Chuck cannot recall them all has he sits here, but does offer this one quote from his memory:

"You can shear a sheep many times, but you can only skin him once."

The quote reminds me of what I had to tell my mother when she would tell me (at age 13) that I shouldn't be playing my big brother's friends for money, because it might hurt someone's feelings. I quoted the Mexican looting bandit, Calvera, from the Magnificent Seven, as follows:

"If God had not had wanted them sheared, he would not have made them sheep."

It is not clear exactly what Amarillo Slim Preston's true full name really is. The "Preston" part, the only part that looks like it is real, actually appears to be irrelevant. He says that you can write to him anytime, addressing the envelope as follows:

Slim
Amarillo, Texas

Slim had several fold more chips than Chuck while they were neighbors. Since Slim did not consider Chuck's small stack a threat, he would show Chuck what he was folding, which is a valuable education, as if to help leave his legacy behind in his final years. When Chuck left the tournament, involuntarily, #111 out of 2,200, and went to collect his winnings, Slim was still going strong and having a great time doing it. But, 30 minutes later, he got an ovation as he stood up to leave, chipless, and he waved and said "Thank you everyone" with a great smile, and total, genuine and effortless command of his audience.

Chuck was in a bit of shock, but did recover in the Sport's book after starting to analyze some baseball bets, and ordering his first frosty Corona. He did not break Nick's record of finishing 72 and winning about $4,500 last year. However, Chuck does hold a Sippl Legend's of poker record for consecutive major tournament "money" finishes, at 2. Since he has only played 5 or 6 tournaments in total, in his life, this is more than very good.

We all did better than we have ever done in this tournament, pitching many innings, and having quality starts overall, but, congratulations to Chuck for his extraordinary athletic performance on this world stage of cunning, skill and sportsmanship.

June 24 - Day 2 - The Big Hand

I know that for about 50 years Chuck Sippl, American, has been hoping to get a Royal Flush before the end of a hand. Grandma Sippl taught all us kids that the hand cannot be beaten. It is immune from pain. It almost always wins, asymptotically approaching perfection, and at worst would tie. But in Hold’em, because the player only has two cards and relies on the board for the other 5, there can only be one Royal Flush at a time. There is no room for 3 cards of any other suit. So, in Texas Hold’em, it is the superhero of hands. As if from another planet, it has these special powers.

With this absolute smugness, Chuck feigned confusion and checked on the river, and his opponent pushed all in, with martyr-like futility. What caused this person to do this we’ll never know, because Chuck never even looked at his uniquely irrelevant hand. So Chuck lives in the glow this morning that no matter what happens, he takes this home with him to keep. Also, he survived the entire day. His chips are currently in a keepsake plastic bag with the other 200 or so people left in the 2,200-person field. He is not quite in the money yet, but only 20 or 30 more souls to go before he is. The goal is to make the final table, and achieve television immortality as an ESPN recorded and shown world-class athlete.

Joe went deep into day 1 before finding his end. Neil and I went almost as deep. Our endings were each unjust. There is a near-violent and non-ending debate regarding which of us received the worst beat. I would ponder his bad beat more if my cycles were not completely occupied with background processing on why I am still not in this tournament.

My biggest problem was the large, very large, 3-level dry spell. No cards. I saw a world record number of 10-3 offsuit hands, possibly the same stupid unmatched suits all 112 times in a row. I stole a few pots, with wonderful little artificial monsters like 2-5 suited, while sitting one off the button, because I had to eat to stay alive, and such moves provide a small plate of beans and rice, if one of the guards does not kick it out of my hands before I get it into my cell, by re-raising my bluff. As the blinds and antes got to 200/400 and 50 ante, the 8000 I had built my stack to from the 3000 beginning chips had dwindled, but was still nearly 5000. I still had a chance if I could catch one nice hand, make a move all-in, and win any race against a pair that might confront me. I would take a 48% underdog move at this point, in order to double up and get back to the average stack size. Then a slight run of GOOD cards, and I could be above average stack size as the evening, and the payoff “bubble” approached.

It was a good plan, and began working, as I looked down at my Ace Queen of spades. This was the hand. I was in the big blind, and did have a raise put to me by the big stack at the table. Since I was out of position to him, and had to act first after the flop, I knew I would be going all in no matter what flopped. Should I be more conservative and push all in now, so as to give myself a chance to win a smaller pot right here, and if I get called, then the nirvana of a double up is a coin toss away? Yes, I could get another good hand to finish my double up fairly soon, so let’s try to survive. Let’s push here.

I actually believe that I need to research this to find out if this is actually the most conservative move. I felt this guy was splashing around with his big stack, and playing and raising lots of hands, because everyone was really scared to take him on, given mortality and all. So, I wanted him out, and I would take the 1100 or so in blinds and antes, and the 1200 that he raised me. So I re-raised my remaining 3600, which would be enough to concern him. It was enough chips for him to notice them missing if he called and lost, but he must have had over 50,000, so, with his King-8 of hearts, he figured that if he puts in another 3,600, the pot he’ll drag will be nearly 3 times that much, thus giving him 2 to 1 pot odds. His hand, up against something like a nice A-Q still has a 37% chance to win. For AA it looks like this.

Text results appended to pokerstove.txt

27,396,864 games 0.062 secs 441,884,903 games/sec

Board:

Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied

Hand 0: 63.484% 63.23% 00.25% 17324172 68438.00 { AQs }

Hand 1: 36.516% 36.27% 00.25% 9935816 68438.00 { K8s }

In order for him to go with this logic, he must imprudently ignore the very real chance that I have AA, KK, which would make the board to come significantly less hopeful for him.

Text results appended to pokerstove.txt

27,396,864 games 0.062 secs 441,884,903 games/sec

Board:

Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied

Hand 0: 63.484% 63.23% 00.25% 17324172 68438.00 { AQs }

Hand 1: 36.516% 36.27% 00.25% 9935816 68438.00 { K8s }

Or for KK, even worse.

Text results appended to pokerstove.txt

20,547,648 games 0.015 secs 1,369,843,200 games/sec

Board:

Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied

Hand 0: 88.421% 87.75% 00.67% 18031020 137412.00 { KK }

Hand 1: 11.579% 10.91% 00.67% 2241804 137412.00 { K8s }

When he turned over his rags he announced while laughing too hard that he was looking for a bunch of hearts. The flop had no hearts for him, and did have my Queen in it. I was fearing his King finding a friend on the turn or the river, but it did not happen. However, the Jack and 10 that came on the turn and river allowed my Queen, which sat next to a corrupting 9, to turn against me. He made a straight. A monster hand that he was not even trying to get. It was not one of his goals. This is the ultimate measure of a true “suck out” loss.

So whatever Neil’s story is, can it really matter?

Lucky #13

Las Vegas (AP) - (update by Tommy Hawkins) The Chuckster made it through the night and starts the 2nd day with 26K in chips. He starts the day at Table 13.

(Table 13)Seat 1: David Jackson – 18,200Seat 2: Randy Hudson – 33,100Seat 3: Eddylee Martin – 10,000Seat 4: Charles Wood – 29,200Seat 5: Charles Sippl – 26,000Seat 6: Dennis Anderson – 27,300Seat 7: Jim Cromie – 19,300Seat 8: Bud Tufeld – 39,800Seat 9: Marcus Crow – 30,700

In the photo, below note legend Amarillo Slim in the background behind Mr. S.

Cry me a River

Las Vegas (AP) - (Guest blogger Tommy Hawkins) - The argument at dinner was who got sucked off worse, not what you're thinking girls, Roger or Neil. Yes, they both busted out moments before dinner on a draw to the straight on the River. That they busted out seemed of less concern than who got screwed worse and who played their hand properly. NDY insisted that Cubbie Bear would still be alive had he not gotten greedy by baiting his opponent to stay in the hand and instead have gone All-In to force him out. Cubbie Bear, like that Cub fan he is, denied any fault in the matter. Neither seemed to care or acknowledge that the true stars of the moment were the Chuckster and Mean Joe, still alive and healthy at 11 and 9K respectively at the dinner break. The Chuckster stared death in the face to rally from $550 to 11K in a matter of 90 minutes or so. The big move was Royal Flush check bid that sucked in a big money All-In from a pair of unsuspecting opponents.

Below, Joe (blue shirt) at the front table, Chuck (pink shirt) the table behind - still playing.

WSOP, old-timers division, Day 1

Las Vegas (AP) - (Guest Blogger Tommy Hawkins) - That sound you hear is not the migration of ten thousand cicadas but the flip, click, stack of four thousand poker players fiddling with their chips. The excitement is so thick only a couple dozen of these old timers have to be shaken from their naps at the start of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) no-limit hold-em, senior division tournament. Amongst the sea of gray hair, bald heads and occassional well preserved young lady our intrepid team of Roger "Not Dead Yet (NDY)" Sippl, Neil "Cubby Bear" Blumenfield, The Chuckster and Mean Joe Sippl is off to a good start. Five hours in and no reported busts yets.

Roger lost his first hand inside the 2 minute, 5 second mark and appeared on his way to beating his 12 minute exit of last year but managed to right the ship and double up his earning by the two hour mark. Two shorts changing All-In stand offs in the 1st hour went NDY's way and boosted his confidence. Pocket Aces are your friend. Meanwhile at the Chuckster's table senior crankiness is out in force over the late arrival of one contestant and the incorrect seating of another participant by the casino staff. Someone didn't take their Geritol today.

For the spectators it's only a little more exciting than watching paint dry as our intrepid heros are only playing about 1 hand in 10. My co-spectator in crime, Rich The Napster Blass, keeps pointing out all the WSOP (so-called) celebrities to my continued answer of "Who?". Clearly I'm not watching enough ESPN2.

BREAKING NEWS!!! The Cubby Bear just had all his honey stolen and is flat busted. Details to come when we talk him back in off the ledge.

The tournament is proving to be more interesting than this morning's recap and rehash of the previous day's bad luck and play's at the Bellagio Tournament. After 15 minutes of this over breakfast I am more appreciative of my wife's complaint - Not more baseball analysis on ESPN, you've been watching that all day!

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 - Day 0 - Before the Bell

Getting ready to start, here are some errata. Joe Cullen, friend and fellow "beach creature" of Chuck Sippl, American, will be playing in his first no limit Texas Hold 'em event of his life, and will be part of our team. Good luck Joe. He has beginner's luck going for him, so he is currently the odds on favorite. Rich says he does not know him well enough, so he can't predict his performance. Rich predicts I am going out first, then Neil, then Chuck will last the longest.

We don't have a picture of Neil in his new poker hat yet, as he has yet to locate Pam Anderson to pose with him.

Tommy Hawkins will be today's guest blogger, with one of his usual investigative reporting expose pieces. Looking forward to that.

Rich says I have to stop talking about Rocky Balboa, because I am nothing like a guy from Philly, and am more like Muhammed Ali, since I have such a big mouth. He says I need to put some BS surfer pictures up there instead of slandering the pride of Philly. The photo below depicts Mr. Stallone in statue form, commemorating the movie scene, not holding a dog over his head. Wimp.

Monday, June 23rd - Day 1 - Before Breakfast

Rocky Balboa put raw eggs in his protein shake before running the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art every morning while he was in training. Will they do that for me here at the Rio Mardi Gras Buffet Breakfast? Can I get them to crack open a couple of white ones for a Virgin Strawberry Frape? No. The salmonella thing will scare them off of it. I'll need to eat scrambled eggs. Too bad. I am Rocky, the ultimate underdog. I know the need to beat 1,000 guys makes everyone an underdog, but I am going to fly now, and do this thing. We are going in. This is what we have been training for. We're going over the wall. Outside the wire.

Actually, Rocky was not as strong as he thought. The truth is, he was planning on carrying his dog, Butkus, up the steps in the movie at the end of his run and lifting him in the air triumphantly at the top of the steps. Butkus was too heavy for him, and he couldn't get it done. Whimp. Since he is over 50, I am hoping Stallone is in this tournament. He will not make the final table. I will knock him out. In a sequel, he did the run again, and did raise his dog over his head...but alas it was a smaller dog, Punchy. The sequel did not do very well either.

OK, I am NOT Rocky. Forget it.

Furthermore, I have a team. I do not run alone. Chuck is in the tournament, as is Neil. Nick shows up tomorrow, so he will only be in the daily Bellagio tournaments, not the Senior's tournament, which is a bracelet event. The winner will be the World Champion Old Guy Poker Player for one year.

We will miss watching Baby Face Baxter getting carded in the Senior's tournament, by each player he knocks out, as they hope to get their chips back if they are right. And then they have to leave when the floor man looks at the license shaking his head "no."

However, the team has a new spark. Neil Blumenfield, as a warm up to the warm up, played in the daily tournament at the Lucky Chances Card Club in Colma last Wednesday, for an entry fee of a $100 or so, and beat 105 guys to win $3,500. His wife has given him a new poker hat. It looks nice. The team is ready. Bad beats cannot get to all of us. We will draw our strength from the power of numbers. One of us will make it up the steps, AND lift the stupid dog.

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 - Day 0

The anticipation is enormous. As Neil and I leave San Carlos Airport, I accidentally "bust" the SFO "Class Bravo" restricted airspace for the first time in my life. I have flown the departure route maybe 300 times without making this mistake. The tension is obvious. The nerves of the competitor must be steeled against panic. In the competition no one can be allowed to see fear, or even doubt.

NASA actually has a sub-mission to improve aviation safety through technology. NASA has a deal with the FAA. If a pilot screws up, but fills out a form on the NASA web site that confesses to the whole thing and explains why it happened, and what could be done to limit the chances of the same mistake in the future, the FAA will grant immunity (sort of like traffic school). Before the Day 0 practice tournament, once in the hotel room, I find the form on the internet and start filling it out.

I explain about the distraction that caused the airspace incursion. (My headset batteries died, the noise cancellation went away, and I was suddenly hearing lots of noise. I did not figure it out at first, and I thought it was something else, like sudden pressurization loss, a window or door being open, or a major electrical bus failure. On the form, I list the distraction of trying to debug a squawk-free plane as the probable cause of the indiscretion. But was it.

Neil is the first to bust out of the Bellagio daily tournament, which was our practice round. (You get 10,000 chips for 1,000 bucks.) Chuck is seen standing up with a disgusted expression under his beard next. They are not happy with their plays. I am playing perfectly, but am somewhat behind because of some minor bad beats. I have lost a couple of "races" but am still alive because I have only been going up against those with fewer chips than me. Also, I have been getting no cards, and have had to steal pots with too many bluffs just to try to get back in the game, as the blinds and antes have risen several times, 4 hours into the tournament.

Finally, pocket Queens. A decent hand.

I raise 3 times the big blind, trying to get a caller. Desperate to score big to get back into the hunt, and near the average stack size, I am hoping for two callers, but everyone is folding. The man on the button goes all in, for 6,000 chips. Now is my chance to get back into this thing. The guy on my right is the big blind and last to act after the middle blind folds. He is laying on the table, apparently agonizing over his cards, and his decision. I only have 6,000 or so left myself, so if I could get two callers and triple up, although it is more dangerous, this would give me the average stack size, and I could start playing normal, patient poker again. I pray he calls as well. Time passes. Too much time. I am about to call a clock on this clown. Why isn't someone else calling for a clock. Why are they being so nice to this fool? Then he sits up straight, and reveals that he has no cards, since he threw them away a long time ago (and I did not even notice). They have been waiting for me.

I apologize to everyone at the table, profusely, for blowing two minutes of their time. I call the all-in of course, and still apologizing turn over my pair of Queens. The all-in shows pocket nines. I am way ahead. He has a "two outer" ... pretty much only another 9 can save him. There are just going to be 5 cards put into the "community board" in the middle, and there are lots of cards in the deck for those two 9s to get lost among.

I announce that my poker etiquette breach was so bad that I now must be punished, and I order the dealer to put a 9 in the flop, jinxing myself. He does. The jinx works completely as no Queen comes on the turn or river, so I am crippled, and bust out on the next hand as I must go all in as the big blind with my remaining few chips. I leave the table apologizing again, and explaining that justice has been done.

What were the actual odds? Before I run the poker simulator on my laptop, I review in my mind the logic that even if a player always gets into the pot with the best of it, if he has to do that once an hour, he is going to lose some of those. If he has to be up against people that have his stack size or bigger, this is going to happen. In the big tournament tomorrow, I vow to try for an early lead, with aggressive play opportunistically, so other people have to fear going up against me.

Here are the odds for a before the flop suck out, pair over pair:


Text results appended to pokerstove.txt

61,642,944 games 0.032 secs 1,926,342,000 games/sec

Board:
Dead:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 81.190% 80.99% 00.20% 49925880 122184.00 { QQ }
Hand 1: 18.810% 18.61% 00.20% 11472696 122184.00 { 99 }


His two-outer would hit 18.8 percent of the time. Was it a bad beat, or did Neil's "Poker Gods" punish me for all of my rule violations of the day? (Neil is an aetheist, but does believe in one or more poker deities.) I knew I was dirty. I needed to be cleansed.

But tomorrow, on Day 1, I must not think this way. I must not BE this way. I must be entitled. The perfect guest at the perfect party. The best manners. The 4.0 grades, and my choice of colleges. My choice of hands to play. I will break no rules, naturally, because of who I am.

The anticipation is still very high, but now with some road experience, I am no longer nervous, and I am ready to prepare the team at the breakfast of Day 1.

Saturday, June 21, 2008 - Day Before Leaving Preparations

For those of you who might be having trouble knowing what a BLOG is or navigating a blog (Richard), here is the first installment of the 2008 World Series of Poker Senior's Event blogging chain. So, you can practice keeping track of the Sippl Legends of Poker (R) All Old Guy Gambling Team. We leave for the Rio, and its convention-center-turned-into-the-world's-largest-card-room, tomorrow.

Much like when a world class athlete approaches, say the Super Bowl or perhaps the Olympics, we are in training. I just finished my Raisin Bran and granola with skim milk for breakfast, and I am about to leave for the gym. Sportsman must focus, and champions must get in the zone. (Whether I should drink martinis tonight at the birthday party I am going to is a good question though.)

I have been reading books (OK, really just ONE book) on poker have been watching DVDs of past tournaments while I ride the exercycle during rehab. I have carefully analyzed many strategy hold 'em articles in magazines. I have this conclusion. You can't go into a world class athletic competition like this with only one strategy. You need two strategies, a short term strategy, and a long term strategy.

Short term strategy: Don't screw up.

Long term strategy: Don't ever screw up.

I am ready now.

RJS

EMails From 2007 World Series of Poker

OK, some of you have asked to be kept up to date on how Nick and I are doing in the Seniors Tournament, Event #41. Here is the deal.

I am sponsoring Nick’s entry fee, and he gets to keep 10% of any winnings. I am sponsoring 100% of my own entry fee. I think, if I get the chance, I should intentionally lose all my chips to Nick, and ride that horse. However, that would be collusion, so I won’t be doing that.

A guy named Phil Hellmuth won his, I think, 12^th bracelet (event) of his career at the WSOP and just passed the former champ, the famous Doyle Brunson. I was talking to Phil’s wife in the gym in Palo Alto, and she says that not Phil, but Phil’s DAD is playing in the Senior’s Tournament also, so Nick and I have our work cut out for us.

We will send reports on our progress once the tournament begins on Monday. It is a three day tournament, but we should be busted out within the first hour and a half or so. Then we can focus on the Bellagio daily tournament, which is probably where we belong right now.

Next communicade will be live from the Rio.

Later,

RJS

***

Greetings, almost live, from the World Series of Poker, Las Vegas, Nevada.

My Brother Chuck and I are all registered, no problem, for the World Series of Poker Senior’s tournament, which starts today (Monday) at noon. Last year over 1,000 people showed up and the winner’s share was about a quarter million dollars, so we are shooting for the big prize here. It will take three days to win it, or perhaps only 5 minutes or so to lose our $1000 entry fee.

You might recall this started when I was here during the World Series two years ago and I sat at a 10 person tournament table called a sit and go. I beat everyone, and was given winner’s chips. I took them to the cage to get my money, and they asked me what tournament I wanted to play. I said I have to go home because I have a wife and children. I said I cannot play in a tournament. The lady replied, “Well, you won an entry into a tournament, these are tournament chips only. The seniors tournament is tomorrow, why don’t you play that?”

I explained again about the wife and kids, and then I realized that she accused me of being very old. I asked her what made her think I qualified for this tournament. She said “You only have to be 50” and then I realized the horrible truth – I did qualify.

Nick went up to register last night and a similar lady explained to him “Honey, you have to be 50 to play in this tournament.” Yes, that is the further, more horribly-awful truth. Nick was carded.

I was told that this tournament would be good for me because they let the seniors off at 8 PM. I assumed that this meant that the tournament ended each day at 8, so we could all get some nigh nigh, and this is why it dragged on for 3 days. Chuck has shown me the “structure sheet” for the tournament, which has a more complete explanation. The 8 o’clock break is for DINNER and then we come back and play until 2 in the morning. My chances of winning this thing have obviously now I gone up because I am going to be asleep at the table from 11 until 2 in the morning, and thus will not go “all in” knocking myself out of the tournament needlessly, with only a pair of twos.

The H.O.R.S.E. tournament was going on last night, and this is big money tournament. It has a $25,000 buy in and they play several games, only half of which I even know. However, it was like watching an All-Star Game or something. Everyone you have ever seen on TV was in this thing. Pretty interesting for us “poker people” and stuff.

Nick, Chuck and I are all in the tournament. Rich Blass is with us, but will be mostly just cheering us on. Let’s see who lasts longer in the tournament.

More later in the daily reports.

RJS

**

Yes, it is true that I lasted all of 12.5 minutes in the Senior’s Tournament here at the WSOP. This after walking into the tournament behind Amarillo Slim, who I first saw on Johnny Carson when I was 12, after he won one of the first events. This event was televised on ABC Wide World of Sports, so I knew this sport was my chance to prove that I really was a world class athlete (which I will do next year, after working out more). I was going to ask Slim for his autograph, but I thought explaining this childhood idolization thing to him, and then playing with him at the Senior’s Tournament, might depress him. What happened to good old Rog such that I am out already? Well, my strategy was to get ahead early and use a big chip stack to accumulate rapidly because I would threaten everyone else with death through aggressive play, since I would have more chips then they would. My chance to do this came early when I made a flush on 4^th Street, but the other guy pulled out a full house on the river, and I was committed, and died. These things happen. There is a nice one day tournament at the Bellagio tomorrow that I am going after, as a booby prize.

We don’t know what happened to Chuck. He was still viable after 4 hours but at 5 hours we could not find him, and he left his cell phone in the hotel room. Thus, modern journalism will have to be frustrated for now.

“Babyface Baxter” is was doing very well at the 4 hour mark, up from the starting chips of 2,000 to, I think it was, 19,000. He played well, but also had the reverse luck that I had, when his two kings were very behind two aces, until his third king came on the river. I heard a rumor that first place might be over $300K, which is real money, and since I own 90% of Nick in a sophisticated “You play and I’ll pay” deal, I am now offering to fetch him Snickers bars, or anything he wants really, quite often. Our golden boy has a shot. The field has narrowed from 1,000 or so to maybe 500 at the 5 hour mark, and he is probably in the top 50 in chips right now.

News and live video at 11. (Well, a type-written update some time later tonight anyway.)

RJS

**
From Anne Baxter....

As far as "fetching" goes, stick with the Snickers bars...!

From Neil...

It’s the start of a legend. It may be the case that Sippl Legends of Poker may have a better return than SipMac 2. However, I’m not sure that Roger is looking for partners given how hot the commodity is. Who has the movie rights?

From Roger...

This link here, if it still works, will show the standings after Day 1. Notice that Nick is only 2,700 behind poker legend, and philosopher, Amarillo Slim Preston. For those real officionados, note that he already beat Miami John Cerruto, and is ahead of former main event champion and poker author Tom McEvoy. Chuck Sippl should have been near the bottom of this list as one of the guys who monied but didn’t make it to Day 2.

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-41-seniors-no-limit-holdem/chip-counts/day1/

As Nick’s 5-Year Exclusive 90/10 Partner, Poker Business Manager, Trainer and Snicker’s Bar fetcher, I have to say I am very, very proud of my boy. However, he has to move his little ass up at least one position to make it to the final table Wednesday night for the TV thing. We need to hear Howard Lederer, doing the color commentary at the final table for ESPN, explain how he got the name Babyface Baxter, which has stuck, obviously, and now cannot be changed.

RJS

**

Response from Roger:

I will confess I did offer to hire a massage artist for him, but it was going to be while he was sitting at the table, shoulders and neck only, her hands only, and all clothes still on. One guy was complaining about “shirt burn” from this process, but I thought Nick could handle that. He declined this service, but the night is young.

**

It turns out that Chuck was still in the tournament after all, there were just too many people to be able to find him as they moved him from table to table during his survival period.

At the dinner break on day 1 Nick is up to….maybe it was 24,000 chips and Chuck I think said he had about 9,000. Current heresay data says that the tournament started with 1,800 people and is down to 300ish currently. The fact these guys are still alive is very impressive, considering this is Chuck’s second tournament in his life and Nick is a novice at this particular game, experience-wise. He had it mostly figured out by the time we taught him the rules a couple of years ago, but he has only played a handful of tournaments.

Making it all the way through day 1 would be awesome, but the stakes go up every hour as we approach 2 in the morning.

Last report for today will come out then. You will probably want to stay up for that.

I am sure all this fascinates every single one of you, without exception.

RJS

**

From Roger...

Many people have been asking about the seemingly “too young to play in this tournament” Babyface Baxter. Some of them were reporters. See below, or follow this link, if it still works right, for poker news, event 41, “Live Reporting Link” which is what this link is, tonight anyway.

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-41-seniors-no-limit-holdem/day1/page2.htm

From Nick...

I'm in tenth place. The day1 chip counts, taken off the bags, is here:
http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-41-seniors-no-limit-holdem/chip-counts/day1/

Nick


From Anne...

WOW! This is too much fun! Tell Nick it's time to renegotiate!!


From Nick...

Roger, that contract you wrote on the napkin at dinner last night did not get signed (I think I wiped myself with it). How do you spell "appearance fee"? There will be some negotiation between now and the Main Event.

For those who are worried about me, I slept very well last night and did not throw up. I'm ready for day 2!

Nick



**

From Roger...

Anne –

Thank you for your email about suggesting that Nick “re-negotiate” his 90/10 deal. He actually feigned a memory lapse about the deal last night. I did not call my friends Lumpy and Louie right there, because we have two more days to go. Also, I just want to let you know that the night desert is a beautiful place, but can be cold in the winter, and lonely, especially 6 feet under a transplanted saguaro cactus.

Your friend,

Roger

**

• Tue Jun 26 2007 00:05 PST | Posted by gsqwared
  

  Tangram Expert Puts Poker Skills to the Test

  Nick Baxter, who travels the world as captain of the United States Puzzle Team, appears to have figured out the equation for success in poker.
  
  Hailing from Burlingame, CA, (notice the word "game" hidden within the name of his hometown) Baxter is the co-author of "World Class Puzzles," and is considered one of the top tangram solvers in the world. A tangram, by definition, is "a Chinese puzzle made by cutting a square of thin material into five triangles, a square, and a rhomboid which are capable of being recombined in many different figures." (Webster's Online Dictionary.)
  
  Baxter has amassed a field-leading chip stack of 76,000 chips and seems to be making short work of each table he has moved to. His friends have given him the nickname "Baby Face Baxter," as a tribute to his boyish good looks; this is Baxter's first year of eligibility for the Seniors tournament.
  
  We'll keep you posted on Baxter's progress throughout the remainder of Day 1, as he looks to make a strong finish going into Day 2.

**

Today saw a nasty turn of events for the intrepid Sippl Legends of Poker, LLC (a limited liability company).

First of all, recently-released free agent Babyface Baxter made all of the tax questions that I sent to Martin O’Malley substantially irrelevant by overplaying an Ace Jack for a lot of chips. Just because the other guy was being a bully, and tossing around a lot of chips without very good cards, Nick decided to take him on, when, unfortunately, he had a pair of queens. Tournament death followed shortly afterward, as it can do when one becomes the short stack. However, he outlasted the legendary Amarillo Slim. Slim got a standing ovation when he left, possibly because he was a legend, possibly because he was the oldest guy in the tournament. Nick thought he should get an ovation too for being the youngest, when he later busted out. This did not happen.

I took at shot at the Bellagio tournament and did very well, being the chip leader for a while, until I made my horrible mistake by overplaying a pocket pair of aces, even after the guy to my right, who never raised until 4^th Street, but only ever called, proved to have pocket Queens which matched the one on the board nicely. Later, after making a modest come back, and being reasonably well set up for the final table, I then overplayed an Ace King of spades, ending up all in before the flop at a six-handed table, where hand values are elevated. (We were six-handed because we were down to 19 players, and were about to go from 3 tables to 2 tables.) With everyone out except one guy, this hand looked great, and his raise appeared to be a bluff attempt, in my opinion. Lo and behold he had the pocket aces this time. Very unfortunate. So, I got into the 82nd^th percentile, and Nick got into the 96^th percentile, proving we can play with these guys. However, we have also gathered some substantial evidence that we need more real world experience in tournaments, where we can train ourselves better how to lay down good hands when they are quite possibly beaten, and we will cripple ourselves if we don’t. We need to become the trapper, and not the trappee.

Good lessons, great fun, and we are going to take the rest of the season off tomorrow to begin rehab assignments, since we are all sleep-deprived maniacs currently. Nick has a massage scheduled for 10, so we have had to delay breakfast, for example.

Later,

RJS

**

From Nick...


Just confirming: massage at 9, breakfast at 10:30.

Glenn "Rifle Arm" Baxter apparently has a press agent as well:
http://www.theburlingamedailynews.com/article/2007-6-27-0627-sp-major-sbowl.

Nick


**

This is the last installment of the exploits of the Sippl Legends of Poker.

We tried one more tournament, a small stakes affair with 60 or so players at the MGM Grand, and a mere $125 buy in. Nick got close to the final table, Chuck and I did make the final table, and I had a shot at winning, when an unfortunate Jack paired up the fool that I was previously dominating to the flop with my King Queen versus his King Jack. This miserable event knocked me out in 3^rd place, earning me $654. Not my biggest win, and my goal is still to win one of these stupid tournaments, but at least I played the way I wanted to without any screw ups and had the best of it when I went into pots, or won them anyway because of appropriately aggressive better from wise positions. So, I have made progress.

Unfortunately, we have heard a rumor that although there will be many events that we could reasonably play in next year’s WSOP, the Senior’s Tournament might become the “Super Senior’s Tournament” and one might have to be 60 or over to get in. This, of course, would be tragic. Nick and Chuck have developed a plan where we find a different senior’s tournament of some kind. For example, we are going to look into a Senior’s Running of the Bulls in Paloma, Spain. We have heard from others that the real running of the bulls can be treacherous, but we are thinking that if the bulls are slow, have arthritis and some of them only have three legs, that we have a chance. Wheel chairs and the little scooters would be legal, for the humans I mean. As long as they keep the porta potties outside of the runway and finish the event by 8:00 PM, I think this might work.

That is all there is to tell from Vegas for this WSOP season. We return tomorrow. Good bye for now.

RJS