WSOP 2010

I've been strategizing about this for going on eight months now. Ever since chopping out the prize pool in the Venetian Deep Stack event last summer in Las Vegas, I've been pondering my chances of making my next poker trip to the desert in 2010. Having had a new baby a couple of months after last summer, I knew the odds were low that Hammer Wife would be readily willing to see me off again on my way to a weekend of gambling, smoking, drinking and other vices while she plays the unenviable role of single mom for half a week. As the months have ticked by, eventually rolling on into 2010, I knew it was getting close to time for me to start thinking about either shitting or getting off the pot, as my life is not such that I can just pack up and head out to Vegas on a whim one Friday like those of you on the West Coast and/or with unemcumbered family and other life circumstances. As I said, I've thought about it about a million times since then, but I just haven't had the nerve yet to bring it up to Hammer Wife, fearing not the severity of the reaction but more just the swiftness and the finality of knowing that I might not be visiting the land of the sand and sun for the first year since my initial foray at the WSOP back in 2006. The longer I didn't mention it, the longer I could go on believing that I might still actually be in Las Vegas this June, making another run at a five-figure score and partying like it's 1999 yet one more time.

And then a strange thing happened this weekend. We were talking about our plans for the annual Hammer family trip to the beaches of the Delmarva penninsula when, out of nowhere, Hammer Wife asked me "Are you going to go to Vegas again this summer?"

I was floored. I mean, she didn't have to bring it up at all, opting to take the same tack that I've been taking so far of just putting off the conversation for another day. At the least, I would've bet you dollars to donuts that if Hammer Wife were the one to first broach the subject, it would have been phrased more like "I hope your heart wasn't set on going to Vegas again this year", or at least "You weren't thinking of going to Vegas again this summer, were you?" or something like that. And I wouldn't have blamed her, really, given our family situation and the fact that I've been out in the desert the past four years running while my wife takes no similar trip herself (though it's been offered to her, many times). But instead, she said it just like I wrote it above. "Are you going to go to Vegas again this summer?" I could not believe it. And with that, the subject had been raised, and more than that, I already knew the outcome of the discussion given the way Hammer Wife phrased it to me from the beginning.

Amazingly, Hammer Wife is cool with me going to Las Vegas this year. I dare say even that she wants me to go.

I guess winning 50 large in Las Vegas last summer has its perks.

So the planning is just starting today, but I've already taken a quick look at the 2010 WSOP schedule to start focusing on a couple of dates. I've put a call in to my brother to try to convince him to join me for the third straight year, which hopefully he will do as having that guy around always makes a Vegas weekend about 100 times more fun and luxurious. Not having spoken with my brother or any other possible companions yet, my initial reaction is that the first week of June is looking like the early frontrunner, at least for me, World Series-wise. Check out this six-day stretch near the beginning of this year's WSOP schedule:

Wed, Jun 2nd
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Event #8: No-Limit Hold’em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now $1,500

Thu, Jun 3rd
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Event #9: Pot-Limit Hold'em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now $1,500

Thu, Jun 3rd
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Event #10: Seven Card Stud Championship
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now $10,000

Fri, Jun 4th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Event #11: No-Limit Hold'em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now $1,500

Fri, Jun 4th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Event #12: Limit Hold’em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now $1,500

Sat, Jun 5th
12:00 PM
4-Day Event Event #13: No-Limit Hold’em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now

This event may take 4 playing days & 5 calendar days to complete depending on field size. $1,000

Sat, Jun 5th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Event #14: 2-7 Draw Lowball (No-Limit)
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now $1,500

Sun, Jun 6th
5:00 PM
3-Day Event Event #15: Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now $10,000

Mon, Jun 7th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Event #16: No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now $1,500

Tue, Jun 8th
12:00 PM
3-Day Event Event #17: No-Limit Hold'em
Structure Sheet Pre-Register Now $5,000

I could see playing in Event #8, #9, #11, #13 or #17, all of which go off during that same one-week stretch. Clearly I will not be in Vegas for a full week, but I can probably pick almost any four-day stretch in that window and make it happen. There are plenty of other tournaments during the Series that I could play in, and I haven't even looked at the Deep Stack Extravaganza schedule for the Venetian to see when that is running during the WSOP as well.

Anybody else planning to be in Las Vegas during World Series time in June?