The second session of Round 1 matches at the NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship was set to begin Friday afternoon and the Caesars Palace poker room-turned-TV-studio was at capacity.
Little did I know that this vacant seat was about to cost me some of my sacred Las Vegas bankroll.
As the NBC crew began to holler "clear the set," I noticed poker pro Phil Gordon at the room's entrance waving me down, asking if the empty seat was taken. I shook my head "No" and Gordon and his 6-foot-8 frame began to uncomfortably make his way through the crowd to claim the last open seat in the house.
Shortly after the 39-year-old Gordon took his seat, Heads-Up TV hostess Leeann Tweeden did her intro for the cameras and then the cards were in the air. Seconds later, Gordon – whose first-round match in the event was scheduled for later on in the third session – asked me whom I liked to win the Annie Duke-Andy Bloch match that was being played directly in front of us.
"I like Bloch," I said. "You math guys always seem to do well here."
"Yeah, I like Andy too," Gordon said. "But if you give me 8-to-5 odds on Annie, I'll take it. I'm looking for some action."
If you know anything about me, you won't be surprised to hear that I was more than up for having some "interest" on the matches. But I also wasn't going to be bullied. Phil Gordon has nearly $2 million in career earnings, mountains and mountains more cash than yours truly has ever come close to winning when it comes to gambling. But, even still, I didn't just fall off a turnip truck outside on the Las Vegas Strip.