Gambling Thrills

The annual WSOP will again be held at the Rio in Las Vegas.  The following is the scheule of events:

2009 WSOP Schedule

With the WSOP quickly approaching us, I thought it would be fun to post some interesting historical facts and put a little perpective on the time when WSOP was introduced.

When the first annual WSOP was held in 1970:

• The cost of gasoline was 36 cents
• The average value of a single-family home in the United States was $65K
• The average cost of a domestic car was $3,708
• The average income household income in the US was $8,734
• Federal minimum wage was $1.60
• “Midnight Cowboy” won an Academy Award for Best Picture
• “Bridge Over Trouble Water” by Simon & Garfunkel topped Billboard Hot 100
• Richard Nixon was President of the United States

The WSOP has been in existence longer than:

• The right of 18-year-olds to vote in federal elections (1971)
• The Hacky Sack (1972)
• Legos (1973)
• Roe vs. Wade (1973)
• The Rubik’s Cube (1974)
• The VCR (1975)
• The Post-It-Note (1977)

By the Number (WSOP 1970 - 2008)

• $867,253,377 - Total prize money awarded to date
• 286,993 - Total number of participants who have competed in WSOP
• 27,685 - Number of entrants that have cashed in a WSOP event
• 36,979 - Total entrants to complete in the WSOP Main Event
• 731 - Number of gold bracelets awarded (In 1974, The Main Event winner received a gold bracelet.  In 1975, became the first year all event winners received a gold bracelet. In 1982, gold watches were awarded instead of bracelets.)
• 11 - Number of bracelets won by Phil Hellmuth, the most of any player in history
• 53 - Number of multi-millionaire created by WSOP
• $0 - Amount Johnny Moss won for winning 1970 Main Event (He won a Silver Cup instead)
• 6,843 - Number of people Peter Eastgate beat to became champion in 2008 WSOP Main Event
• 6 - Number of people Johnny Moss beat in 1970 to become champion (by vote of his peers)
• 94 - Age of Jack Ury in 2007, the oldest person ever to complete in a WSOP event
• 22 - Age of Peter Eastgate, youngest Main Event champion in history
• 124 - Number of nations represented at the 2008 WSOP (80 nations were represented at the 2006 Winter Olympics)
• 1 - Number of countries represented at the 1970 WSOP
• 40 - Number of cameras ESPN uses to cover WSOP (NBC used 35 to cover Super Bowl XLIII)
• 1970 - Year the first WSOP was held at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas
• 2009 - Year that the 40th Annual WSOP will be held at the Rio in Las Vegas

Holdem Poker Radio

Holdem Poker Chat has pulled out the stops once again with their new Holdem Poker Radio.  The station will be offering music, game commentary, interviews and lots of poker talk.  As part of the Holdem Poker Chat Network, Holdem Poker Radio promises some of the best programming and even some one-of-a-kind features.

With the WSOP coming up, HPC will be there broadcasting live for a couple of the later events in June.  Several members of HPC, including myself, will be there for events 51 &/or 54.  Hopefully they can snag some poker pros for interviews.  Either way it will be a great broadcast and one you don’t want to miss.

Check them out today at Holdem Poker Radio

I have to admit, I am rather disappointed in myself over this past weekends marathon.  As a previous IronWoman for playing every game in the last marathon, my goal was to retain that title for this marathon and, once again, play each and every game over the 24 hour period.  Well, that didn’t happen.  :(  Why?  I guess I have good reasons, excuses, or whatever you want to call them.

This weekend was also my daughters birthday party with a bunch of her friends.  I can’t really use that as an excuse because she is 15 now and she did not need mommy holding her hand and giving directions during the sleep-over.  They didn’t want to play the kiddie games they did when she was younger.  They pretty much wanted to be left alone and do their own thing.  I was more than happy to oblige and resumed my playing.

The issue was with Sunday.  I was hosting yet another birthday gathering for my boyfriends son, Dillon.  He was turning 10 and we invited family over for the celebration and cook out.  What was I thinking??  The girls from my daughters sleep-over were leaving around noon.  The new group of visitors was arriving at 2:00pm.  That gave me time to clean-up after the party and prepare for the new one.  And I thought I would still be able to pull off playing the entire marathon.  I may be an IronWoman, but I am not Wonder Woman!  I just couldn’t do it.

I realized it about 4:00 am.  I had a couple cups of coffee to keep me awake, but then again coffee has never stopped me from going to sleep if I was tired enough, no matter how much I drank.  I checked my position in the rankings and saw I was in about 29th place or so.  I would have to pull off a miracle and win (or at least finish in the top 3) several of the remaining games.  I would have to do this in a zombie stage with everyone making crazy decisions because they were also tired, strung out on energry drinks, trashed from large amounts of alcohol, and grumpy for all the above.  I made a decision - to throw in the towel around 6:30.  I realized I had to get some sleep so I wasn’t a total bitch on wheels for the Sunday festivities.  Yes, I gave up and quit.

Regardless, I still had a great time as always during these events.  The chat room at HPC was booming, the radio was playing good music and great commentaries of the game play, and some great fun at the tables.

I will be back next time to reclaim my title as IronWoman, just you wait and see.

Well, I didn’t get to the Silk’s Room to play live poker last weekend (big sigh).  I’m not sure why I didn’t go.  I don’t recall having to do anything last weekend.  Oh yeah, I remember…..I had too much freaking homework.  Yep, this old lady of 41 is in college.  I’m trying to get that magical piece of paper that proves to my boss that I am capable of thinking, planning, managing, and whatever else it proves.  I am on the last leg of it, so I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I have about another year left before it is all over.  It has been a long stretch since beginning in 2006.  This semester I have two classes that require quite a bit of writing.  The classes I take are only 8 weeks, but it crams 16 weeks of normal classes into have the time, which means twice as much work in a shorter time.  UGGGGHHH.

Anyways…..This blog is not for me to complain about my school.  It is suppose to be about poker!  So allow me to resume…..

Okay, in addition to working on my poker skills both in Holdem and Omaha, I need to work on my disapline for keeping up on this page!  I need to stop letting so much time go by between posts.

Things have been pretty quiet in the the poker world for me lately.  I have played a few private forum games, but no big public games, sitngos or cash games.  Big mistake with Vegas coming up in a couple of months.  I need to be playing more, not less.  I was in a couple games tonight, but had my boyfriend play them because I had school.

That has been my challenge lately…..school.  I have classes twice a week, Wednesday and Thursday.  Then there is reading and homework to do during the week.  But regardless, if I am going to make a good showing in Vegas, I have got to play more, especially live.

Have I played live at all you ask?  No!  Shame on me!

I have a little over two months to prepare for Vegas.  It is time to get off my butt and start playing, especially live!  So this weekend my goal is to hit The Silks Room at the Tampa Bay Downs and play live!

Next report will be that play…….wish me luck!