WPBT 2010 Winter Classic- A weekend of Buying the Dip Part 3

The 2010 WPBT Winter Classic was being held at the Aria Casino in the City Center complex. I believe the place has been open for just under a year. The casino itself was rather dark. There was a nice oval bar right outside the poker room which help get me started on my Makers and ginger for the day. It was going to be a long slog and drinking beer would mean many a trip to the restroom. I could get a good buzz with my whisky so that was the route to go.

The tournament had more bounties that usual. Some of the original players from the Sam's Town tourney had bounties on them provided by the good people at Full Tilt poker. That was in addition to the many personal bounties players had brought. Plus, the Hammer was in play with the first 10 people to drop it to receive some money from the fine folds at Poker Stars.

I started out slowly but began to chip up nicely. I was quite happy with how I was progressing. Even happier when I was able to drop the Hammer on Chilly. $50 for me! I continued to keep it going until I ran my K Q into A Q. Ouch. That really hurt.

I stayed around picking up some small pots and avoiding any major conflicts. With A K, I finally made my final move. There was a push all in before me. GRob called. I pushed and Bacon Mary pushed behind me! I had a chance to quadruple up. It was AK v AQ v 33 v 10 10. Board came all low cards and all those chips went to GRob and his pair of tens. That blew.

Back at the bar I hung out with Pauly, Derek, Sweet Sweet, and met one of the famed Disco Sisters Pauly has seen some Phish shows with. I found myself a nice Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA to drown my sorrows. 3 hours of poker and nothing to show for it. Soon we were heading back to the IP to take it easy and eventually ended up in the sportsbook. That is where Waffles nearly got 86d for falling asleep in a chair. I felt sorry for the guy. He just wanted to get some sleep but didn't have a key for his room nor could he get ahold of his roommate.

I was enjoying some Captain and Cokes while shooting the shit with Iggy. I was keeping any eye on the UFC fights hoping to get news of Georges St. Pierre kicking the crap out of Josh Koscheck. As I monitored MMA Junkie and Twitter, I could feel my phone heating up as the battery died. I didn't want to be walking around with a dead phone so I shut it off after seeing the GSP victory.

It was around then that we heard that the tournament was over. But not without some controversy. There was something like a 6 way chop with the the trophy being awarded to the chip leader, Miami Don. What? Why wasn't it played out? I can understand everyone agreeing to a chop of the prize money. Great idea after all that time invested. But they should have played it out for the trophy. The 2010 tournament may go down in history as the one with the asterisk. Congrats to Don!

After milling about the IP sport book for some time, someone had the great idea to go shoot some craps. So down the massive escalator we went. Bayne, Sox Lover, and I took a spot at the rail. There were a couple decent shooters before the dice got around to us. I was scared of Sox Lover's cannonball style. Not sure why he was setting the dice to 11 before picking them up and rattling them around in his hand before firing them down the felt with all his might. He made a point or two so it wasn't a losing roll. We all made some bucks.

Then it was my turn to go to work. Unlike Sox, I like to give the dice a gentle toss to the wall. I tossed them down and it was on. Little did I know I was about to go on a nice heater. My Come bets were slowly covering all the numbers. I then hedged a bit by playing the Field to cover any 2, 3, 11, and 12. As long as I didn't 7 out, I was going to be taking in some money.

It was a good think I had my numbers covered. For whatever reason, I kept hitting 4s. I then got some of the hardways going and hitting the hard 4 twice. I would later learn that Bayne was pressing his hard 4 bet and had I hit another hard 4, he would have collected $400. Damn I wish I could have hit it for him.

But I was happy with what I was doing. I wasn't hitting the point- a 6 of all things- but I was making us some money. I knew that because Sox Lover was giggling like a school girl every time I tossed the dice. I was like an ATM to him.

One of the interesting things about that table was the other end. I hit the first point after about 5 shakes. When I did, there was no noise. As I kept hitting the numbers, our side was collecting chips while the other side sounded like they were at a funeral. Apparently they didn't have much money on the table and were not taking advantage of the heater I was on. A couple people noticed what was happening at the table and jumped in. With each number I hit, a yell went up and some giggling was heard. I just kept taking the dice and tossing them down. I'd pick up my wins and do it again. I wish I knew how long I went or how many tosses I had but in the end, we were all quite profitable on our end, easily doubling, close to tripling our money. I swear my arm was a bit sore when I was done.

After that I joined the crowd at the bar. I really needed a beer. I had earned it.