Return to Vegas

Welcome back to Year 2 of ‘Livin’ the Dream’!

In case you didn’t know, I had such an amazing time last summer that I decided to come back to Vegas for a repeat – in fact, I’ll even be here an extra two weeks!

I had what felt like an insanely early flight today, so I arrived before lunch, and things seemed to go a lot smoother than I remember last year. Maybe my familiarity with everything (airport, car rental, World Series registration, etc.) had something to do with it. Everything went so quick I was even able to squeeze in lunch at In N’ Out Burger – something I meant to do all of last summer but never got around to. Absolutely delicious. It’s right on the way from my condo to the Rio (home of the WSOP), and if it weren’t for the long lines I would make it a daily stop.

Speaking of my condo, I got a different place from last year, but only a couple of blocks away. Although I went a little lower-scale (it’s a recession, right? plus, I got a great deal!), I am pretty happy with it. There’s a bit of a funky smell in here, but I should be able to air it out. As part of my blog tradition, here are some pics of the place and community (anyone who plans on visiting, note your comfy futon in the living room – sorry, no extra beds this year):

I did a pretty poor job of posting pictures last year, but I have a new camera, so hopefully I will use it more than my old one.

Back to why I’m here… I registered to play in a WSOP event tomorrow – $1,500 buy-in, six-handed no limit hold ‘em. Just walking into the Rio to register got me pumped up – it was hard to believe almost a year had passed since I’ve been here and I definitely felt how much I missed the daily poker grind. I can’t wait for the 12pm start! I’ll have to work on calming down a bit tomorrow morning so I don’t go too crazy early on and get myself knocked out. Couple new pics from in and around the Rio poker room below (doesn’t look any different from last year, but if I’m gonna stick to this “more pictures” thing, I gotta start somewhere)

As far as my schedule for this year, I’m thinking it will look a lot like last year. Any of you who followed my blog might remember that I had some frustration with the WSOP tournament structures (you could also read about it a couple entries down the page). Turns out I wasn’t the only one, and the organizers have responded by making the events more player-friendly with larger chip stacks and new blind levels. Basically this means you get more play for your money. Also, for some reason, I’m a lot less concerned with the financial implications this year. It seems crazy, because I am soon to be a student again, but I guess I’m willing to accept the risk and I realize that being able to separate “the money” from “the poker” is highly beneficial to my play. So, I imagine I’ll get in 5-7 WSOP events and a bunch of Mega Stack tournaments at Caesars and Venetian. And of course there will be some partying, golf, pool time, and visitors along the way. I’m not sure if I’ll have the same exciting stories as last year (I don’t think I’ll be hanging out with Shannon Elizabeth again), but who knows! Guess you’ll all just have to keep coming back to find out.

[Edit - after writing this entry, I got bored because the TV and internet in my condo have not been turned on yet (I am stealing wireless at the moment), so I went over to Caesars for a short cash game session. It was a bit up-and-down, but I left up almost $400 - a nice little start to the trip!]

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy another summer of following along with my adventures, and I look forward to hearing from all of you through blog comments, e-mail, and phone (although I really do love my independence out here, long stretches without visitors can be a bit lonely!).

As usual, I’m off for a good night’s sleep before kicking the tires on my 2009 Las Vegas summer tomorrow!