Well that was a fun half hour...

I woke up this morning and went over to the Rio. Got my seat card and everything, had a crappy sandwich from starbucks and went over to the tournament area. It wasn't starting for another hour, so I hung out around the Stars booth and talked to a bunch of people. Tournament started and I played a total of 2 orbits, and put money in twice...The room itself was awesome though, you couldn't see from one end to the other and there were people everywhere. Apparently there were 208 tables and we started play 11 (!!!) handed. So 2288 people, plus 500 alternates. A pretty ridiculous field. Anyways, on to the hands I guess:

Hand 1: Stack 1500, blinds 25/25

As you can probably tell, the structure really sucked. Hour long blind levels, starting at 25/25, 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, etc. So you need to make a serious move early. I recognized two people at my table, Peter "Nordberg" Feldman (who just won a WSOP Circuit event and is an excellent online player) and John Gale (who won the PCA last year).

Anyways, this was the very first hand of the tournament. One limper to me, I limp with AJo, one other guy limps and the blinds check. Flop KQ8r. Checked to me, I decide to take a shot and bet 75. SB calls, everyone else folds. Turn A. He checks, I check. River 7. He bets 150. I'm not really sure what to think here, I called mainly because I assume a lot of the players in this field are pretty bad. He shows K2. I hate his river bet, but I'm off to a good start.

Hand 2: Still 25/25, I have ~1800. Guy with about 1300 raises to 125 in ep. He's been somewhat active, I'd guess from watching him for 15 minutes that he plays reasonably well. I reraise to 375 with AcAh in MP. Folded back to him and he calls reasonably quickly. I watch him as the flop comes and he very quickly pushes 900. He looks fairly comfortable. The flop happens to be QcTx9c. Uggh, not exactly a dream flop. I think a little bit, decide AQ/JJ are more likely than a set and call. He has 5c4c, but the 3c rolls right off on the turn and the river A is useless. Down to 500.

Hand 3: Still 25/25, there's one super active guy at the table, I've already decided I'm going to push over one of his raises if I get a decent chance. He raises in the hijack to 75. I have T9s in the bb. I push, he has 99 and there's a 9 on the flop. I might have barely lasted half an hour.

Anyways, time to watch the rest of spain/france.

Steve