The First Few Days In Vegas  -  By Poker Boss

An early start for us and it's off to Manchester airport for the 10 hour flight to Las Vegas. Although this is a long journey, it's better then going via another American airport turning it into a 14 hour trip. The flight was full of poker players, as it was the last direct flight before the big event and in fact we took a seat next one of our William Hill qualifiers.

Day 1

We arrive in Vegas and collect the bags before being confronted by the desert heat; it was about 35C but the desert wind made it pretty uncomfortable. The 200 meters to the taxi felt more like 800 meters and as soon as we got into the taxi we realised why they invented air conditioning.

Within hours all our players were meeting up in the Rio where we had arranged a reception. Already you get the feeling that Vegas really has a different atmosphere to any other city in the world. A few hours later and it's about midnight and a few of our players talk me into entering a tournament. In normal circumstances the answer would be no but the bug had set in and we jumped straight into a taxi (definitely not walking) and ended up at the Aladdin Casino at 23:30 Vegas time. With this being Vegas there was no tournament until 2am so this was an opportunity for me to wimp out and get some well deserved sleep. Julian "Yo Yo" Thew, one of our professional players, suggested a cash game. I am not sure why but I agreed to play again I am blaming Vegas.

So there I am sitting on a 1-2 dollar cash game and I get dealt my first hand. As you do when playing at a table you look up to see players reactions to the cards they are shown. This is where I realize I am in trouble as there are no players that will be easy to bluff off a pot. The line-up reads more like an A-Z of poker players and I'm sure this won't be my night. Xuyen "Bad Girl" Pham, Julian "Yo Yo" Thew, "Smokin" Steve Vladar and John McGrane (18th in the 2005 WSOP main event) are all staring back at me.

Anyway a couple of hours later, a lucky straight on the flop, a few comical stories from the lovable John McGrane and a few loose bets, I leave the table up. It's now getting on for 2am and although it should be time for bed but the tournament starts and we in it. No joy and it's finally off to bed.

Day 2

It is an early start and soon after getting up we are off down to the Rio casino where the WSOP takes place. Now the atmosphere is really building, and it's nothing I have ever experienced before. The promotions are bigger than ever, the glamour girls' skirts are shorter than ever and the amount of freebies given away is unbelievable. If you where to take everything that was offered then you would have to purchase another suitcase to take it home with. Some strange things are being given away, pillows, superglue and baseballs as well as the usual t-shirts and caps.

The room itself where the tournaments taking place is gigantic but for the first day we are unable to get in to see any of the hands live. Also this is the first bit of bad news in my report - William Hill lost our first player today. Unfortunately they were out within one hour of the start. That is poker and hopefully the cards will come next year and they will be able to prove themselves again.

Day 3

Third Day and things are starting to hot up, we have news that at least 2 of our qualifiers have managed to get to the 2nd day which is great result in itself. The Rio is still buzzing with Poker stories and stories of famous poker players that have been knocked out.

One of the worst is an amazing bad beat story, 55 against 78 one of the players hits quad 5 on the flop, but the next two cards arrive the 6 and 9 of spades and he is beaten by the straight flush. An amazing way to leave the WSOP and something that would surely remain in the memory for a long time.