WSOP for the first time

I'm there and it's great!

You've seen the pictures? You have to see it live!
It's Mekka for poker players and evey poker player should see it at least once.
I followed all the information so closely but being there is something totally different.



We arrived late afternoon and after we checked in at the Venetian I decided that I want to go to the Rio just for a first look (and taking some photos of course)



The room was in full swing: Tournaments, cash games, satellites.
I spotted several players immediately: Annie Duke (looks nicer than on most pictures but the army-like dress is awful), John Juanda, Andy Bloch, Chris Ferguson and others.

And my first picture of the day: Phil Gordon at the tables.



I took my time to get comfortable with the room, visited the FullTilt Lounge and got a nice T-Shirt. But I wasn't in the mood to play immediately.

So we went over to the Wynn were I used the rest of my poker compdollars at the coffee shop. The meal was great as always.
Now I was in the right mood for some satellites at the Rio. Unfortunately the first one was really short as I was the first out missing a 15-outer :-((
The second one went much better but being second of ten as the short stack (no deal) doesn't gain you anything. Well, more to come :-)

Met Michael Keiner shortly (he just won a satellite) and we talked a little. Saw Katja and Jan but didn't reach them as they played in a satellite.

Went over to the Aladdin to play the 2am tournament ... but the poker room wasn't there. They moved it in the main area due to the construction (Aladdin is converted to a Planet Hollywood Casino). Too bad - they had such a nice and quiet room. Now it's noisy and hectic. And the tournament was awful: They just had two tables (to much cash games) and 20 alternates. No way! I skipped the tournament and decided to skip the Aladdin completely for this trip. Too bad - I always liked the tournaments here. Hope they will be good again after construction is over.
On the way out I checked the Paris. Same here - loud and noisy poker room within the main floor. Won't play tournaments here.

Back to the Venetian and a short peek into the Venetian poker room. That one looks great. And I put the Venetian 8pm tournament on my list.

Enough for tonight (it's now 4am and I need some sleep).

Tournament atmosphere during the WSOP 2006