Categories
Entertainment

A Chip and a Chair

I recently took a trip to Vegas for some fun and some poker, but mostly for poker. I arrived on Wednesday, June 12 and took a cab to the Luxor. I was early and check-in was not available yet, so I headed to the Luxor Poker Room for a warm-up tournament.

I then headed to the Rio where the WSOP was underway. I quickly found a single table satellite game for $175 and sat down to play. The winner would get $1500 in chips to use toward a WSOP buy-in plus $125 cash. Out of the 10 players in I made it to 4th before going out with AK. I am still trying to figure out why I play AK; It looks good but rarely wins.

At this point, I headed back to Luxor and went to their gym. The weight room was more than adequate (unlike some hotels/casinos) and I got a good work out before heading to get a protein smoothie at “Blizzed.” It was late enough so I called it a day (3 hour time difference, so my body thought it was 10 or 11 pm).

The next day I headed back to Rio for another shot at a satellite. This time I played a $75 game with a payout of a $500 chip plus $50 cash. Out of 168 people I made it to 34th, losing with another bad beat (KK vs QJ). It was getting close to noon, and I wasn’t quite getting there with my luck, but I was there to play event #24 no matter what. I put up the $1,500 buy-in and got something to eat before heading to my table.

It was a long, grueling day of poker from there. We stopped for breaks, but didn’t finish day one until after 2 am. My chip stack was very low, but I was very happy to have survived day one and made it into the money for the first time.

The next day I headed in and played for about 30 minutes before the blinds and antes forced me all in with Q8. I went up against QJ again and did not catch. I did manage to out last 37 players who had more chips than I did at the start of the day and I moved to the 2nd payout level as a result. Overall, I am happy that I cashed but would have liked to break into the top 100. I will be back next year for another $1,500 event and maybe next year I will have better luck and even make it to a final table.

 

Categories
Martial Arts Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Technique

My first cage event, XFP4

I was recently invited by Jose Torres of Dominion MMA to check out their local MMA event. It was held at the Longbranch in Raleigh, NC and there were 8 fights. As I walked into the bar I was impressed by the very professional set up. Walking toward my ring side seat I could feel the energy and excitement in the room. This side of the Longbranch has been used as a country bar for many years and I have been there are several occasions. Never before has it looked as good as it did with the octagon sitting in the room.

As the fights began, I was impressed by the ground techniques used by several of the fighters. I had a good view of a text book rear naked choke early in the evening and there was some good wrestling as the fighters used take down defense and worked to get up after a take down. The two main event fights were for titles, and both fights lived up to my expectations. Trey Singleton pulled off a dominant performance on the way to a decision victory against a game opponent (Garrido). The Kenna vs. Roberts fight was quick, but I had a good view of the Americana  (which is also one of my favorites to use) and it was a solid technique.

I am definitely looking forward to XFP5 and I am very excited to be able to say that I have been to an event with an actual octagon (instead of a boxing ring). Hope to see you there.