Were now in the middle of the 5 diamond event at Bellagio and it’s a treat to be home surrounded by comfort and first class service.  There is truly nothing like Las Vegas as even the tournament staff for sattelites at the Bellagio is polite, professional and always friendly, the complete opposite of the foxwoods’ experience. 

Although I haven’t made any significant cashes, I was able to watch David “the dragon” Pham win yet another bracelet and a first place in the $2500 event.  I watched him bluff his way to another huge cash and put him in a class of his own when it comes to a player who consistantly is in the money year after year.

A few weeks have now passed since my Foxwoods trip, I’ve calmed down considerably and will now document what i like to call, “DML’s believe it or not!”.  But, instead of being angry and pissed off about it (which was the case during the event), I’m simply going to have a little fun (at foxwoods’ expense) and list some of the most ridiculous blunders and events I’ve ever encountered during my 17 year poker career:

Event #1:  During a final table one of the players had over 300,000 in chips at the end of day 1.  The player heads over to the final table on day 2 only to see that his chips were taken out of the bag and stacked without him.  Knowing his chip count, which was also verified and written on the bag, he finds that 100,000 of his chips are missing and makes an inquiry.  Camera’s are checked the day prior and the count it verified on day 1, however when trying to confirm what happened to the chips on day 2, Foxwoods’ tournament director Mike Ward had no answer.  Incredibly, the player accepted his 100k loss of chips and Mike Ward wiped his brow with relief.  What is more amazing to me than the disappearing chips, is how does a player just accept a 100k loss in chips?  I know for a fact that if it was Mike Matusow or Phil Hellmuth that lost those chips, it would have taken 12 wild horses and the armed guards to carry them away if 100k of their chips had gone missing.

Moral: Dont let anyone unpack your chips and scream blue murder if they do it without you present.

Event #2.  The table and chairs at the foxwoods’ event were average at best with tables criss-crossed and jammed up together like at most events (the WSOP being the worst for comfort scale).  This interesting little event came about during my second week of the event when a player was asked by a dealer not to “double stack” chairs while sitting at the tournament table.  The player requested the presence of a tournament supervisor and demanded an explanation as to why all of a sudden he couldn’t double stack his chairs as he had being doing it for weeks.  In addition players around the table got involved, including myself and backed the player up by saying we’ve all been doing it and if you look across the room now you can see Paul Darden double stacking (which is how he often plays), plus some others.  The immediate supervisor had no logical answer at the moment and felt the pressure of the players banding together (which should happen more often) calling on the help of Mike Ward, the tournament director.  Mike listened to all of the facts from the players who pleaded that the “double stack” rule should be stricken from the Foxwoods’ 1001 rule book, of which Ward replied and i quote; “Foxwoods has created this rule for the protection of the casino, for in the event of a player falling off the double stacked chair at the high elevation he/she could sue Foxwoods for an injury on property”.  The table burst out in laughter and Mike departed at lighting speed to further avoid embarrassment.

Moral:  Beware of falling chairs and super heights

Event #3:  Many players are now aware of the no cell phone rule at the table and are asked to step away to use it.  I personally think this is a good rule to avoid any potential cheating or discussions between players while in a hand.  Foxwoods has taken this rule to another level and enforces it like an inmate being screamed at by a prison guard in a penitentiary.  At Foxwoods, if a player even looks at his phone, even while not involved in a hand, is given a warning then a penalty.  The player must be 3 feet away from the table and must not be looking at the direction of the table or he is screamed at. (unless you are Phil Ivey, then you can get a massage, double stack your chairs and be on the phone the entire tournament).  There was an instance where a supervisor came up and snatched the phone out of a players hand while he was standing up behind his chair and was threatened it would be confiscated if he talked on it again. 

Moral:  Don’t bring your phone to Foxwoods, Connecticut unless you want to be arrested.

Event #4:  Tournament start times generally begin at noon around the globe with Foxwoods as one of the only places that begin at 10AM.  For many players that live in the MidWest, Las Vegas or California this is a 7 AM start.  Most poker players dont even start dreaming until that time of the day, giving western US players a disadvantage at the tables from the start…we are not even awake yet!

Moral:  Dont even bother sleeping when playing at Foxwoods…drink lots of energy drinks and stay up all night!

Event#5:  For the players who got knocked out early in tournament or decided to participate in some side action cash games during the Foxwoods event, here’s what they had to deal with;  while the waits were long as they usually are for any side action at a WPT event (due to not enough tables), Foxwood made it even more diffucult by giving players between 5 - 15 seconds to get the call out desk or run to your table before the next player in line got there before you.  To add to the “speed sitting” game, they constantly switched call desks so you didnt know where to check-in; and there were so many people crammed in the cash table areas (standing around) you could not make a mad dash for it even if you wanted to.  In addition, there were no chip runners (you had to buy them at the cage which had line ups like a rock concert bathroom) and you further cant buy chips at the table unless you go bust in the game.

Moral:  Figure out the radio frequency the staff are using to let the caller know you want your seat that you’ve been waiting hours for or bring your own airhorn to get their attention when they call your name.

It’s been three (3) months and I feel as if I am now mentally prepared for the for the battle or task of living every day life where calories, exercise and the time continuum come into play.  Many of us can acheive the short term gains of extreme diets, short term gimmicks or a week/month long exercise regiment, but what about the rest of the time?  How can we achieve a balance without going underboard (not eating) on the food we like or worse, overboard on the foods we love and have become used to eating?  Many of today’s foods are addictive based (by design) on cravings for a particular ingredient in a food or the simplicity of eating whatever is available in a particular place (work or home) at a particular time (whatever we have time for). What is even more difficult is how to avoid or go against the grain of the environment we live and thrive in on daily basis. 

Good, bad or indifferent, many of us dont have a choice (or think we dont) or havent developed the ”will power” tools to ignore the surroundings that influence our daily routine.  In lew of not using our will power, we fall victim to our environment and simply follow what’s easy, convenient or simply do what others do.  The solutions to all of these issues are available if we practice and train ourselves to use the tools that have been stripped or lulled away by fast food restaurants, marketing gimmicks and the influential media. 

For everyone its different, but there is one common denominator that groups us together; we are all very creative when it comes to fabricating excuses as to why we “cant” change the way things are in our lives.  As a race, we have become who we are by the people we surround ourselves with and our influences (friends, family, support groups).   And, as long as there seems no reason for change then we continue to exist in these groups until we wake up one day and dislike who we’ve become. 

This “victim of our environment” mantality can be changed if we choose to change it.  Its not easy, but it can be done with superior attitude and superior state-of-mind to break the mold that we’ve poured ourselves into.  One moment, one day and one person at a time we can change…I’ve proven it in a short period of time and will continue to evolve the new me.

It was a few days ago I arrived in Foxwoods casino and resort and this time of year is absolutely perfect for outdoor activities.  Although its a bit colder than Vegas, the air is crisp and the ground is covered in leaves fallen from the surrounding trees which are in abundance.  Its been over 20 years since i’ve seen this many trees in one area and the changing colors of the leaves is stunning during this time of year. 

Yesterday I decided to venture out down some uncharted roads that spiraled through the foxwoods resort and the old tribal land it sits on.  After running into a few dead ends and some short lived paths, i found some roadways that just kept going forever with no end in site.  I ran passed homes that that were well over 100 years old, trees that were 300 years old and some lakes and bridges that looked like they were painted into place.    The best part of the run (besides the perfect air quality) was plowing through the leaves piled high on the roads and curbs, in some places it was knee high.  It reminded me of when I was a kid raking leaves into giant piles and jumping into them at my grandma’s house in Canada; great memories.

The run started out at a slow steady pace as I had no concept of direction, depth or length of how long I would go (I felt like Forest Gump).  Two hours later and at least 10 miles of running in a new direction I finally decided to turn around and take the same route from which i came.  I was hoping to keep running in one direction and loop around to another entrance into Foxwoods, but that imaginary track I pictured in my head never appeared and the road i was running on just seemrd to get farther and farther away from my original starting point. 

Caesars Classic was a dissapointment as I got through Day one with ease but got unlucky against Philippino Tony when i check raised him allin with two Jacks in my hand and he called the remainder of his chips (extreme gambling) with a heart flush draw.  Needless to say (but i will), he caught the flush on the river and knocked me down to 400 in chips.  I rallied to build 400 into 8500 in chips but lost a race against Tony (again), my AQ vs. Tony’s pocket 99’s which never improved.

 I flew out to Foxwoods Conneticut the next day and have been playing mega sattelites and the first few events with no check marks in the “W” column yet…but there are alot of events during the next 3 weeks…and I’m here for the duration.

I’ve been exercising since i arrived with 3-5 mile runs on the treadmill and laps in the hotel pool…which is a decent size for laps.  I brought all my supplements and been eating fruits and granola bars while sitting for long hours and trying to eat something at least every two hours.  I’m avoiding eating late or before i go to sleep as well.  I also booked a hotel room which is farthest from the poker tournament area, which makes me walk at least 20 minutes each way….all good stuff.