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#637 – Engulfed by Biloxi #7 – The Road to Ruin, Part I
VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED
These words were first written at midnight, as Tuesday, January 13 became Wednesday, January 14.
I’m standing in line to play in my third tournament of the day, the Midnight-Madness Last-Chance $540 + $40 Mega-Satellite into the WPT Main Event at Beau Rivage that starts in a shade under 12 hours.
Tournament criticism: There is only one person working the registration desk.
Tournament compliment: The line moves pretty quickly.
Tournament bonus trivia: The one person working the registration desk is Johnny Grooms, the poker room manager here at the Beau Rivage.
Waiting in line behind me is a talkative fellow who makes a point of telling everyone in line that he expects 200 entries to this tournament. I hear him say this at least 10 times but every time someone asks if he wants to bet on it, he changes the subject.
On one occasion, he overhears the rumor that this tournament will adopt a “turbo” structure. “If they make this a turbo,” Mr. 200 whines, I’m gonna be mad as hell.”
Less than a minute later, another player in line mentions the mental challenge of making it through this satellite at 5:30 or 6 AM and then playing the tournament just a few hours later. Mr. 200 can’t believe it will take that long to play (even though he is predicting a field about double the size expected). “Five-thirty or six? If they don’t make this a turbo, I’m gonna be mad as hell.”
Ugh. How did I end up in the Last Chance mega? I actually started the day feeling invincible, not only imagining myself buying into the Main Event but checking flights and tournament schedules for the WSOP Circuit event in Tunica that starts up next week.
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