Mastodons 2, World no score....

The second Mastodon weekend has come to a close.
Bigger, better, longer and stronger.

Long live the Mastodons!

I think I probably said thanks a gazillion times over this past weekend but honestly, no amount can be enough for our gracious hosts. Otis, G-Rob, The Mark and Badblood seriously, THANKS! You folks put on one hell of a show there in G-Vegas and like I said at the end, "you know you'll probably never have one of these things without me now."

The start of Mastodon weekend for Peb's and I, was hooking up with everyone for some drinks and a pre-game snack down at the Poker venue. What a place! Great staff, awesome management and holy crap, did we get taken care of. If you are in G-Vegas and don't stop by Azia, IMHO, you are making a fairly large mistake!

Our Poker area resembled nothing I'd seen set up in a "Bar" before. Four tables set in an area all our own and the entire upstairs floor, reserved for whatever struck our fancy. If you can imagine tossing forty or so of us at a staff that likely hadn't ever seen anything the likes of well.... us, you'll know what it means when I say holy shit did they do an amazing job with service!

When it came down to time to draw for seats, I can admit that I had just a few butterflies flitting around within. It was a good.... NO, great kind of nervousness and excitement I was feeling. We all set goals for ourselves that mean many different things. As far as blogging goes for me, three and a half years or so ago, I set five goals to attain before I'm done. Here is the list as it stands, with the goals that I've managed to achieve.

1) Take a shot at keeping up with AlCantHang. Happily done and successfully I might add, several times over the years.
2) Get down to G-Vegas and sit at a table with Blood, Otis & G-Rob. Done this weekend!
3) Make it to heads up in a blogger MTT with either Otis or Badblood. Done this weekend and maybe even better, with a twist.
4) Arm wrestle Badblood and win. Done this weekend, although I secretly believe he let the old fat kid win. ;)

Number five will just have to wait. I like to hold these things close to the vest and keep them to myself. It helps prevent a forcing of the issue and when the event does actually occur, it just makes it even that much more special to me. And like I always say, it is all about me right?

So as I went to pull a card for my seat, I took a moment to scan the room and decide what my dream starting table would look like. Know what? I run pretty damn good!

1 seat: Peb's.
2 seat: started empty, but was soon filled with Gene Bromberg
3 seat: Iggy
4 seat: Yours truly
5 seat: Otis
6 seat: CK
7 seat: Tripjax
8 seat: BustoutPoker
9 seat: caitycaity
10 seat: Chilly

Like I said, I was thinking that I run pretty good. Then I looked at the three other tables and you know what? We all run pretty good if you ask me! I would have been perfectly happy sitting at any of them. What a great group!

Action at our table early was.... uh..... hmmmmm... what was it called again? Oh yeah, "nitty!" This was the kind of tight that almost actually squeaked, whenever a few chips got thrown into the center. Like Jewish wallet joke tight, or German Engineering precision tight or even worse, wrong jeans no ball room tight!

Nits one and all!

But with a Poker Face like this to your immediate left,


~photo courtesy of Tao of Poker

don't you think you might squeak just a touch too?

In order to keep up the stack, I exploited the squeakiness every once in awhile when I thought that I could. I did get caught in the cookie jar once, but I still had enough of a stack to work with as we went along. Then just in case anyone may have perceived that Pebbles and I were in some type of alliance, I slammed The Bammer on the table after re-raising pre and her flat call turned into a check, on a pretty junky looking flop. Game on! A game that became quite funny actually, as CK got me off a pot we were in and then tabled The Bammer with an awesomely silly and impishly lovely grin. Gotta' love it!

I'm not that fond of recounting every hand or pot I was in so suffice it to say, I treaded water just fine and when the blinds did level up, I kept a working stack in front of me at all times. Tables busted down and as we rearranged the seating, I was at least always left at the same table. Joining us over time were G-Rob, Badblood, Dr. Chako and Bobby Bracelet. Pretty good shit right there! I never felt out of place, never nervous or worried and thanks to the hilarity in the conversations, I was always comfortable while sitting at the table. Even despite having "death row" as my view, when I looked across the table.



I made a monster error in getting my stack in against my fellow BB when I held a weak A-9, to his dominating A-Q. All I could do was look him straight in the eyes and say, "Thankfully, I have the 9." Of course the crap hit and I get an on-line like courtesy double up, in a pretty crazy spot.

I was having some really weird feelings at the table throughout the night. It was like time was standing still in a way but then suddenly I looked around and caught a glimpse of the reality surrounding me, and we were down to the final five and at the final table. I have a few serious blank spots between the ears, during the time we broke down to just the one table. This may sound stupid to the real NLHE MTT players out there but to me, there is a reason for the blanks. I was totally tilting myself for making a huge mistake in the game. With two interested in the action, I laid down pocket Jacks. My head told me I was way behind and it was an easy fold. My heart told me I was just being stupid. In the end of course, it was the winning hand and a monster of a pot would have been shipped in my direction. The more I considered what I'd done, the more vague everything around me seemed to be getting. Thankfully, there was a small break in the action that let me work it all out. My read was wrong and worst of all, for the first time during the evening, I was playing scared. Now that I had a shot at scolding myself for that, with five left to play for the win, I was taking this thing down!

Having said that to myself it was just at that moment, that I realized my Peb's was still alive as well. The two of us had made the money! SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

Uh yah... That didn't last as long as I would have liked either. Some donkey busted her little stack out with pocket 3's. Yah... I busted out my wife in fifth. There was a hug, an "un-needed" apology and as always, another hug. Damn proud of Peb's for getting to the money and so deep into the event with this crowd.

The Bracelet was next to go, leaving just three. Myself, Otis and Badblood. I was for all intents and purposes, head's up against them both!

Three handed I played like a fool. I get my big chance to do something special to me and I blow it. Not as satisfying a result as I was hoping for but honestly, it was no ones fault but my own. I jammed once to steal the blinds or take my shot with an Ace, I get the win. Three hands or so later and I take another shot with a strong'ish Ace. Pass me the blinds. I think it was the next or second hand after and I shove one more time into Otis' big blind. This time with 8c-9s. Otis wakes up with Q-Q. A flop of A-8-x and I ask for the 9 on the turn. BING! The board is A-8-x-9 and this idiot that's writing this all out, is looking to pull off the suckout. A river Ace sends me back to Europe on my bicycle, where I truly do belong.

I finish third and get a result that considering all the blank time in my head near the end, is far better than I'm sure I deserved. I got lucky a few times, I got pwned a few times and most definitely, I got my money in good a few times and managed to hold on. All in all I guess it can be said I played a little Poker, while I was in G-Vegas for Mastodon weekend.

Here's a picture that I'm pretty damn proud of. It's the final three from Mastodon Poker. Badblood in 2nd., your Mastodon Champion Otis and some donk from Canada finishing in 3rd.


~photo also courtesy of Tao of Poker

The pride actually has nothing to do with the results, but everything to do with being able to call those two men my friends!

Perhaps we'll discuss the Saturday Golf, Frolf and drinking, that may or may not have actually taken place. Permissions are being requested as you read this. It ain't going to be easy telling a few of the stories that went on during the events of Saturday in G-Vegas but if I get a few of the go-aheads, you probably won't believe a word you read! One quick pre-approved sample includes;

They say The Black Widow kills her mate, right after all the action. I'm here to tell you that I'm a survivor! At this Mastodon gathering there were as always at any of the gatherings, hugs and smooches.

Occasionally though, there was a rittre tongue involved too!


~photo courtesy of The Doc.

In closing, I do have a couple of special thanks that I'd also like to put out there if I could. When any of you G-Vegas folk run across our dealer Brock over the next few days, tell him The Canadians thought he was incredible. We did our thing with a little pocket money of course but in reality, we would have loved to have gotten to know him a bit better over a drink or twelve.

Also the Bustout Poker crew! What an amazing thing they did, picking up our Dinner tab and bringing enough goodies to set the night into full gear, full on!

Most of the crew thought that this


was what they were bringing to the party. Oh they did that alright! And so very much more. You need something for Poker, I highly recommend you check them out!

Oh and if this didn't give you the vibe for our Friday night shenanigans, might I suggest a quick trip over to check out a short video that Pauly put up for review. (check out the massage I'm going orgasmic over!)

More later but for now, I need a drink.

My sincerest thanks for dropping by....