Uruguayan H0
Posted: 2008-08-18 13:55:46By: P0ker H0
Uruguayan H0----
My wife, Christy, and I started our day, Tuesday, Aug. 5th, at the airport in Madison, WI, around 2 pm. After a long layover in Chicago, we boarded the plane for Buenos Aires, Argentina. About 12 hours later, we had yet another long layover before our flight into Montivideo, Uruguay. With a 2 hour taxi ride behind us, we finally arrived in LaBarra, a subdivision of Punta Del Este, Uruguay, home to the next stop of the Latin American Poker Tour. It was a super long 20-some hours, but worth it after we saw the whales splashing in the Atlantic Ocean and the endless beaches all from the balcony of our resort.
Our first night there, we went to the Mantra Hotel & Casino (where the LAPT was being hosted) for the welcome party and a little poker. Ten minutes into the party, Christy & I were so bored! Nothing like a UB party!! So we decided to go into the poker room, but...there wasn't one. After a few hours they finally got organized and ran a mega for the Main Event. I love playing megas before any main event because it's a great way to get extra cash and learn about the field you're going to be playing with the next morning. I learned a lot, too! I crushed the mega being the chip leader from start to finish. Most players were really weak, which got me geared up for the Main Event...and of course, the extra $$$$ didn't hurt.
The morning of the Main Event I tried to sleep in late, not just to catch up on my sleep, but I don't like to show up early at any tournament event. The day is long enough without having to stand around a lot before the start of the day. We got to the casino around 11:45 for a noon start. As we approached the Mantra, we noticed a line of players waiting. there had to be over 300 people already. Between the language barrier, yes, Spanish-speakers everywhere, and the so-called tournaments directors, the 12:00 start became 3:00 pm.
I was seated in a side room of the casino, only four tables. No clock and no English! After about 30 minutes of playing, trying to get a feel for the table, I noticed that I wasn't the only player confused with the language difference and the dealers were making a lot of mistakes because they had never dealt poker before. I received a warning for trying to help another English-speaking player. The floor yelled, "No English at the table. English to me or the dealer only!" So, having enough chips, I decided to just wait it out until I got moved into the main poker room where at least the floor people and some of the dealers could speak English.
Once getting moved it was a night and day difference. A lot of friendly faces and a great table for me, a lot of weak players that liked to limp. I just played solid poker, nothing crazy! After about 5 hours, I went from 20K to be one of the chip leaders with about 70K. Then toward the end of the night, I got into a hand with Alex Brennes. My A-K lost to his Q-Q, for 50K. So I started Day 2 lowwith 22k, having to make a move rather quickly...which I did when I doubled up on the second hand with my J-K over pocket 10's. A few hands later, I doubled up again with A's and I'm back in the tournament with about 100K. What a great start to Day 2 until I was given a 15-minute penalty for speaking English to another player. After sitting out for 15 min I came back to to pocket kings on the first hand and I'm lucky enough to have the lady to my left shove 70k with queens. We have a new chip leader! With 50 players left I was the CL with 190 k paying 32. Getting big hands won me a lot of chips, but getting big hands can lose you a lot of chips, too! So with the blinds at 1000-2000 and 200 ante, I raised in 1st position with K-K. The button shoved 40 K with 10's. I called, 10 flops. Ten hands later I lost 80K when my A-A lost to Q-Q. One more time-out for my English outburst and the end was near.
The poker may not have worked out the way I wanted, but I did leave Uruguay meeting some real cool people, like the father and son combination, Charles & Charlie (helloimnew88) and Brent(Yankees31) & Erin. They were a lot of fun to hang out with while we got to see some of the sites of the country together. Thanks and hoping to see you in Aruba! It's is a guaranteed great tim You will think Uruguay was a church picnic!
