Wide World of Wild Bill

***Oops, I just did it.  I referred to myself in third person in the title.  Must be the success of the New Orleans Main Event going to my head.

***Um... what success?

***Never mind

***First, you refer to yourself in third person and now you are having a conversation with yourself.  You really are becoming a narsacist. 

***A narsacist that can't spelll?

***And what's with the asterisks?  Don't you use "" for dialogue.

***Do you use them for thought dialogue?

***Don't know.

***Well shut up.

***Can you ***shut up*** if you are engaging in ***thought dialogue***  seems impossible.

Okay, excuse the skitzo opening.  Sometimes after an ofer the brain gets a little rattled, maybe. 
***Maybe?

Maybe... he'll go away if we just ignore him.  Bad luck found me in the main event in the NOLA circuit.  I started off card dead.  Then, I started playing hands I maybe shouldn't but I wasn't going to blind off or not take chances to chip up.  Fortunately, I hit 'em.  Unfortunately, I had to make a lot of tough decisions 

***That's what happens when you play any two cards*** 

Fortunately most of my tough decisions were correct ones.  So chipping up, and stealing a TON of pots that I didn't get looked up on.  I really felt good.  Despite a tough week, terribly bad play in some megas the day before.  I felt like I was playing Good in a main event again. 

I found that I won just about every flop that had an Ace after I showed down Ace rag for a chop from early position.  I was clearly headed for day two.  Then, I finally caught a hand.

I look at two aces from late position and fire in my standard raise.  Bracelet winner Brian Sneed...

***Um, not a bracelet winner, voice of BlogEditting Future***

...calls from the small and the big blind comes along. 

Flop brings two diamonds.  Checked to me.  I was leery of Brian who had about the same as me in terms of chips so I fired out a bet that was big enough to let everybody know I was committed to the hand.  If he should jam, I would have another hard decision.  He folded somewhat testily and then the big blind shoved.  My bet was half his stack to show I was essentially not folding to him.  Of course, he didn't get the memo as he expressed resignation when I instacalled.  (Is that a bad bet size, to (maybe) be able to get away from if the bigger stack pushes and to have to call if the small one does?)

***Is that question for me?

(No).  He had A4.  The hand was over by the turn when he hit his flush.

Later the entertaining Mickalos sat down at the table to my right.  He plays any two cards and really makes your life tough because it's impossible to know what he has and he has the courage to run you over whether he's hitting or not.  He says he's only playing Aces or Kings I know better.

He opens, I look at a pair of nines from the button (and mistake here, didn't three bet him).  We get to the flop which is 442.  The blinds check and the Greek leads out.  He again says  "Only aces or kings." 

***A4, alert!!!***

I call.  Turn is a brick he bets again, a little more stiffly.  I know if I continue I'm playing for my stack.  I feel beat.  I fold and he flashes a 4. 

***Told you he had A4***  (well, you did see the hand)

Now, I'm on a short stack.  Sneed opens from early position with a funky kind of bet size.  He's not UTG stealing like some kid.. he's got a hand here.  Aces, Aces, Aces that friendly voice of caution in my mind says.

***Shouldn't you have written that as ***Aces, Aces, Aces***?***  ...shut up. 

It's folded to me on the button and I spy eights maybe (some mid pair that I don't remember).

I have around 10bbs.  I can't really fold 88 here can I? 

***Um... Aces, Aces, Aces***

I know he's got aces but I chuck my dwindling stack in the middle.  Brian asks how much I have and then counts it out, I shrug and think maybe I'm racing, you'd think a bracelet winning pro would say I call, turning over his aces in one motion, and then prepare to count what he needs if he's bad beated.  You'd think that, but I guess that's not always the way it goes down.  That's certainly how I try to play AA when I'm shoved into pre and last to act.

***You don't have a bracelet, and you nit-roll people all the time.

By the way, some other player at my table told me that dude was "Brian Sneed" who is a bracelet winner, so if it wasn't him, my apologies.  I'm too lazy to google it

  ***Just open a new tab on your browser, here I'll do it*** 

Well, looks like he isn't a bracelet winner and his name may be spelled Bryan.

So he has aces.  I catch nothing and I leave about 10 minutes before the end of day one.  I've traded pieces with Kai and Gene and see them both make it to the second day.  I've also bought small pieces of some other players, so I looked around the room for those that also were still alive, including Monkey, Kenny, Blake B and a TON of Gulf Coasters I've gotten to know.  I got some sweat cash wise and emotionally.

The next day Kai and Gene, and others both came up empty with Gene maybe ten from the money.  Around the same time I watched Beverly Chaney, a player I respect also bubble, and my skin crawled.  I knew she needed the points to get into the National Championship.  Tough beat.  But credit to her, she hid her disappointment and the next day she'd get her points in the last event!  Congrats Beverly, you deserve it.  Heard it took a tough call to get those points.

I found myself busting a table or so from the money in the nightly when I tried to trap a dude with queens pre and he hit a king.  I was going to bet from early when I saw him counting out a bet and decided to limp shove instead.  He looked at my limp and counted out a ton more, got a shove from a shortie that couldn't match his bet and action on me.  I pushed over the top, and he had to call with Kgarbage despite not wanting to... but being trapped.  The other guy had Agarbage, and King garbage hit a king.  Oh well.

***Is this post over?  It's riveting despite, once again, being nothing but a lot of thinly veiled bad beat stories

***Yes, I guess it is over.

***I've been dying to ask...

***What...

***Which one of us is Ed Norton and which one is Brad Pitt

***....

***Well?

***We both are...

***... Um...

*** :)

***...Well, I'm just going to be Brad Pitt