I'm here!

I arrived in Vegas after an uneventful flight from Atlanta. I checked in at Harrah's and promptly went over to the Rio to register for my World Series events. I was too damn excited, jittery even, and was glad I had a day to calm down before sitting down to play in my first event.

The walk to where the WSOP is held is really long. It is in the Rio convention center, not anywhere close to the casino part of the hotel. I thought I was getting lost at times. Still, when you get there it is clear that you have arrived at the right place. There are tons of people around and room after room filled with poker tables. It is sorta unreal.

I went into the Amazon room, which is where the main portion of the tournaments are played. I was scanning the tables, looking for famous faces. They were televising (on ESPN360.com) the final table of the $5000 pot-limit Omaha tournament with Daniel Negranu, John Juanda, David Benyamine, and Johnny Chan at the table, but the crowd watching as large and the table was a long way away and I could not see anything.

I kept scanning the tables. The $2000 6-handed no-limit hold'em event was being played. As I watched the tables, I was not really looking where I walking. Suddenly, I bumped into someone and said, "Oh, sorry." He replied with a slight Asian accent, "No problem, baby." It was Scotty Nguyen, one of the best and most famous poker players in the world. I was so stunned I did not say anything to him. He made his way back to the table he was playing at. I felt like an idiot.

After watching the action for a little while, I decided to register for the $1500 NL hold-em event beginning Tuesday at noon. I had a cashier's check from Wachovia for $5000, enough to cover entries into 2 $1500 events and a $2000 event I was eyeing. The registration room told me I had to take cashier's checks to the main casino room though. It was a long walk and I was a little frustrated. Then, I got to the casino cashier and they told me it would take 24-hours for a cashier's check to clear! That would put my entry into the tuesday event in serious jeopardy. I was furious now. It took at least an hour of walking back and forth and talking to managers at the Rio to work it all out. It ended up being fine, but left a bad taste in my mouth.

Anyway, that is where things stand at the moment. I am about to play in the $1500 event. Wish me luck!!