Safe at Home

Tired, hungover and relieved of some bankroll, but no internal injuries and had to endure only one karaoke performance of "I Will Survive."

Not sure yet how to capture what exactly happened, but I hope to clear up the following mysteries:

1. Why AJ is gold even in the World Series of Poker, which coincidentally Bobby Bracelet played in on Friday.
2. What a $45 shot of tequila tastes like.
3. What exactly IS that smell at The Plaza?
4. Why people on 'ludes should not play Razz.
5. What kind of people you can encounter on a Las Vegas bus (this one might also be titled "Crackwhores and Why They Love Me.")
6. Why I should go pee when I have to go pee and not stick around for just one more hand.
7. Why I have to make up a story about meeting Clonie Gowan even though I actually DID meet Clonie Gowan.

And more. If I can remember. The whole note-taking thing didn't work out so well.

I tried very hard to temper my expectations coming into this gathering. It wasn't too difficult regarding the WSOP and while I was disappointed to go out as early as I did, I was happy with my play (I'll have plenty more on that later, but for those of you wondering, no I didn't win and yes I got my money in when ahead).

Back to meeting the bloggers. After the many months of reading these exceptionally talented people, you get an idea that you already DO know them. Be difficult to fake anything another than a genuine persona over such an extended period of time. But you never know. So I didn't want to pigeon-hole people into roles based on their output. I just wanted to let it be.

The good news is that any expectations I could have conjured would have been surpassed by the experience. It was an honor to shake hands with you all. It was a pleasure to knock back a drink--or two-dozen--with some of my blogger heroes. It was awesome to raise your big blind. Enlightening to hear your thoughts on the game.

As I said to Iggy (yes, I got to meet Iggy), it's amazing that such a diverse group of people could come together from all over and not have a single fucking asshole among them.

Impressive.