War! The Republic is crumbling under the attacks by the Separatist leader, Count Dooku. There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere. -Title card, Star Wars Episode III, Revenge of the Sith Good against remotes is one thing. Good against the living, that's something else. -Han Solo, Star Wars, Episode IV, A New Hope For weeks I have thought about the battles going on in Las Vegas, at the World Series of Poker. I was in town to play last year while the series was ongoing. It's like that first scene in Revenge of the Sith where the two Jedi fighters swoop down and you see the battle above Coruscant for the first time. Republic Star Destroyers blasting Trade Federation capital ships, swarms of fighters, the chaos of battle. You're playing your own little games at the Horseshoe. Meanwhile, Sammy Farha is battling Johnny Chan heads up at the Golden Nugget to take the edge off a hard day's work at the Main Event. You shouldn't miss this for anything. In contrast, poker in Atlanta seems so calm, so far away from it all. My friends and I play for buy-ins we can afford. Even online it's hard to sink a bankroll. (But I've tried!). But Las Vegas is different. You never know what to expect, who you'll run into. Every time I see a pair of crutches at the Bellagio, I look around -- Doyle Brunson must certainly be near. On my way up to get chips once, I brushed by a pink-haired Annie Duke walking the other way -- after she cashed out a stack of hundred dollar bills. Mark is coming back from Chile for good and we've built a trip around him for next month, to coincide with the starting days of the Main Event. But as luck would have it, I have a couple days free next week and I'm going by myself. The original plan was to fly to Chicago and see my parents -- and take in the suburban riverboat casino poker rooms. But the flights were way expensive. Even using award travel, it cost as many miles to fly there as it would to go to ... Las Vegas. Now there's a plan. I thought about it. Looked into the logistics. Yep. It's certainly doable. A small weekend in the middle of next week can net me about five four-hour sessions if I take my time about it. I have to go. In the past I was hesitant about deployment to Las Vegas and certainly gunshy after suffering some bad beats at the tables. But now I feel like I'm ready. I've been playing -- and winning -- online at the betting limits I would play in the casinos. I think a year has made a difference in my skills and play. And I'm looking forward to a punishing postseason schedule -- in three weeks, Las Vegas, Tunica and Las Vegas. It'll be interesting to see what appears in these columns next.

Source: Poker Cats