MAJOR UPDATE!!!!

WIN DAN PERRY’S GOOGLE FRIDGE! OWN A PIECE OF HISTORY!

(Guest Post by Dan Perry who writes about Google, Golf, SEO and other things!)

Hey Dave,

I entered the poker tournament because I thought it would be a great networking event (which it was). Sometimes it’s tough to find a common ground to meet new people at conferences. Everyone migrates to their respective cliques, making it tough. Of course, the Friday Pubcon event is great for that, but I wasn’t able to stay for that, thus the Poker tourney for sure.

Got there early enough to watch the “real” poker players. The Travel Channel (I think) was recording a heads-up tournament between two pros. It was for the season finale of the WPT. I knew one of the guys (Allen Cunningham, who eventually won) so I watched them a while. The table was full of stacks of $100 bills. Gotta love that!

Finally got situated to play, and just sat down wherever seemed right. I ended up sitting next to TheMadHat, and meeting him for the first time. Great guy. Once we started, it really seemed to fly by. 5 ½ hours… really?

I remember switching tables about 3 or 4 times, which, in retrospect, is a good thing. One play I remember vividly was when I was ready to put Jon (from Manchester UK) all-in. We had been playing together for most of the night, and had actually become as good of friends as you can become in a few hours at a poker table. I had played pretty tight all night, and he had a handful, and took WAYYY too long to decide. Finally, he asked me “If I fold, will you show me your cards?”, and I agreed. Normally, I don’t show my cards, but since he was leaning the direction of folding, I felt it the right thing to do. I actually had a really good hand prior to the flop, but once the cards started appearing, my hand got weaker, but I was committed. He eventually folded, and I showed my 10 and Ace of Hearts. The table just about flipped. It wasn’t originally intended to be a bluff; it just sort of evolved into one. John ended up making the final table, and took 4^th Place.

Moving to the final table, and being seated next to Shoemoney was great. As soon as I sat down, I introduced myself, and he the same (I liked that he introduced himself as Jeremy; although he is a celebrity, the ego isn’t there, which is always welcome). He then said, after looking over the final table, that he picked me to win. Of course, I immediately told him to stop trying to jinx me! Anyway, great camaraderie, and a really great guy.

After the picture of the final table was taken, it kind of turned into a blur for awhile. I was seated at the right hand of the dealer, so I basically couldn’t see the entire left hand side of the table. I could see about 5 of the final 9 without having to move. I played pretty tight, and watched Jeremy’s stack just grow and grow. I’m sure there’s a picture somewhere, but his stacks of chips were HUGE! Of course, at the same time, mine were dwindling.

So much of this game is luck. At the point where your chips are getting low enough that you’re contemplating going all-in, my cards always seemed to be great. I went all-in, and won a big pot, which put me back in position to play tight and let everyone else just start fading away.

When it got down to heads up with Jeremy, again he picked me to win, and this was with significantly more chips than I had. Again, I told him to stop trying to jinx me, but I think he was being sincere.

At one point, I actually felt kind of bad for him. He had Lasik a couple days before, so he could barely see the cards in the middle of the table, and in addition, his cheering section had grown to a point where it was distracting for him. He actually asked a few people to back off a little as they were crowding him. It was much easier for me as the underdog; no pressure and no distractions.

In the end, I started building my chip pile up again, and betting much more aggressively. My raises were at least $20k or $25k each for quite awhile. When your heads-up, you have to remember that sometimes, a 10-2 off-suited may be a good hand. All you have to do is beat the other guy, and he may have a 9-4 off suited. This type of hand happened quite a bit near the end.

I don’t remember what cards I had for the final hand. All I remember is that Jeremy couldn’t have been more gracious. I don’t think I’ve shaken one person’s hand so many times in a period of 20 minutes in my life. I tipped the crew at the table $95, and gave an extra $500 to the wife of the fireman who passed, and walked out with $2600, a hell of a lot of free burrito cards (from Chipotle, which my wife and I LOVE), and the biggest smile in Vegas.

—

Dan Perry

Note from dk – Were you the happiest SEO in Vegas? Got a poker story from the event? I would love to post it here!