Trip Report

Last week I flew down to Costa Rica with Diego Cordovez and Adam Schoenfeld to play in the Russ Hamilton Gamblers Golf Tournament. The itinerary included two days of golf with poker in the evenings at the new Horseshoe Casino. I haven't played golf in a few years, and had to quit because I went on tilt on the course. Golf tilt isn't as bad as poker tilt, because I don't gamble on the golf course. Anyhow, I played poker on the flight down with Diego. We played an eight-game rotation and I lost $34. I didn't catch him cheating, but I am sure he did. How else could I lose to a hack like that? One of the games was deuce-to-seven triple draw. I am new to this game, but I did learn that position is more important in triple draw than any other poker game I have played.

When we arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica, they grouped us all into foursomes. As I mentioned earlier, this was a gambling golf tournament. My foursome included Diego, Adam, and Robert Williamson III. Adam is pretty much a scratch golfer, I figured I would shoot about 110, and Robert and Diego had never played before. On the bus to the golf course, Russ Hamilton said that gambling rules applied and we were allowed to grease the clubs. Greasing a club means putting Vaseline or lotion on its face, which enables a golfer to hit the ball straight. I don't think I will ever play golf again without greasing my clubs.

Our round ended up taking six and a half hours to play, because Robert took about 15 minutes on every tee. After we finished, with the average score in our foursome being about 150, I learned that most groups were betting about $5,000 per hole. Why play on the PGA tour when you can play with these chumps and make more money?

In the evenings I played pot-limit Omaha. I am relatively new to this game, but I love it. I think the key may be to play any hand and get lucky. I am sure that is why the game filled up every time I sat down.

Also, I actually did some real work in Costa Rica. One of Adam's friends, who goes by the name of "Knuckles," runs a race and sportsbook called Triple Crown Race and Sportsbook, and he bought a few ads in the magazine. Check out the promotion in their ad on Page 33.

I left Costa Rica early in order to get back to Las Vegas to watch the opening night of the World Poker Tour and have a chance to win the World Poker Challenge championship. My poker confidence is at an all-time high, and I figured that Reno would be my first opportunity to make a televised final table. Before leaving for Reno, I packed a suit and tie because I wanted to look good on TV. I arrived in Reno at 11 a.m. and the tournament started at noon. I was knocked out by 2:30 p.m. What a disaster! Had I rushed, I could have caught the losers flight home at 3:15 p.m. with Erik Seidel, Huck Seed, and Carlos Mortensen. Instead, I waited for the 4:30 p.m. flight. Ron Rose ended up winning the championship. Others at the final table were Cal Dykes, Tony Le, Paul Magriel, Mark Edwards, and T.J. Cloutier. Good job, Ron!