Welcome to the gambling ramblings of Pauly... a writer, traveler, and degenerate

 
The Ghosts of Key West Gambling

By Pauly
Key West, FL


Change100's chip sculpture
The gambling ghosts over the past week appeared in three different forms during the Key West trip:

1. Online poker
2. Live poker
3. Degenerate prop bets

I squeezed in six straight days of online poker during the start of my trip. I played a little at my friend Jerry's house in Miami and then played several hours per day at the AlCantHang Compound (ACHC) in Key West. It had been five or six months since I could find unfettered chunks of time to play online poker without any distractions. A couple of years ago used to play 8 hours a day online... on a slow day. Now, I'm lucky if I can get in a couple hours per week.

I eventually slipped into ultra-laid back Key West mode. I've been traveling so much over the last few years that I can quickly adapt to the vibe of where I am. It usually takes me 24 hours to adjust. The routine in Key West during the first few days was usually the same. Here's the 16 Steps to Island Insanity:

1. Wake up courtesy of a screaming rooster.
2. Fight hangover and curse off all liquor products.
3. Ingest 2 Motrins, 1 Vicodin, and various herbal supplements.
4. Drink six glasses of water.
5. ATM to withdraw money for breakfast and the "Key West Save the Stripper Foundation."
6. Find something to eat that won't make me to puke.
7. Write for two or three hours.
8. Wandering over to the ACHC.
9. Consume alcohol and other bongolicious activities.
10. Play online poker on the deck until it's too hot or starts raining.
11. Go inside the house and watch the WSOP in HD on ESPN while playing online poker.
12. Dinner.
13. Bars on Duval Street.
14. Strip clubs; The Classy Joint followed by The Dive.
15. Pass out.
16. Repeat.

By mid-afternoon in Key West, I found myself bogged down in three to four hour sessions of LHE multi-tabling at 10/20 and 15/30 on PokerStars and 8/16 on Full Tilt. I took a shot at the 30/60 tables and broke even. I also played a ton of 1/2 PLO and some 2/4 PLO over at PokerStars. Here's a look at my four-day slide at the ACHC:

9.24: -312
9.25: -323
9.26: -335
9.27: -100

I won a bit playing PLO and that covered a few hits at the LHE tables. I consistently lost about $300+ over the first three days in Key West but those results are insignificant due to the stakes I played. All of that damage happened by three morbid beats; A-A and K-K and Big Slick were cracked by inferior hands via river suckouts. Bad beats in Paradise. That's life.

I forgot how boring grinding it out at the limit tables could be. Playing ABC poker is profitable but not fun. That's why the additional PLO table kept my inner action junkie entertained.

After blowing over $420 on the first night in Key West, I fired up PokerStars and Full Tilt in order to fund the rest of the adventure. Sadly, I couldn't win enough money to cover my strip club loses. The entire week, I kept looking for ways to get unstuck. That's when AlCantHang busted out the poker chips.

* * * * *
Starting Monday, we played a six-handed NL game that lasted until Thursday. The players included myself, AlCantHang, Brian, Landow, BigMike, and Lewey. I had been looking to exact revenge on Lewey. The first time I ever met him (along with AlCantHang and the rest of the crew) was during a poker game in Bucks County, PA. Lewey maliciously cracked my Kings with a junk hand and that sent me on mega-Lewey tilt. If you don't know, Lewey is a terror at the tables. They named a hand after him... the 6-4o. That crew plays The Lewey like it's A-A or the Hammer.

The game started out low stakes at 25c/50c blinds with a $40 buy-in. After the first orbit or two, I soon realized that this would be a "shove then rebuy" game. By the end of the first day, I was stuck a couple of buy-ins. I missed a couple of draws. I was outdrawn a couple of times and then picked up a cooler.

I had just rebought for the third time. I looked at my cards and found K-K. I opened up for a raise then AlCantHang on my immediate left popped me for a re-raise. I re-raised all in and he quickly called.

"Oh shit," I said. "That was quick. I hope you have Kings or the Hilton Sisters."

"Nope," AlCantHang said as he tabled his pocket Aces.

I didn't even bother seeing the flop and got up to buy more chips. That pot pushed AlCantHang into the chiplead. He never looked back.

On Wednesday, I finally made a comeback and won back all of my previous buy-ins. I doubled through BigMike and then I picked up two big pots from Lewey.

On the first hand against Lewey, I held 7d-5d and flopped bottom two pair on a Queen high board. We got it all in on the flop. Lewey called with Q-10. My two pair held up and I doubled through Lewey.

An hour or so later, I felted Lewey. I found Ks-9s in the big blind. AlCantHang limped from under the gun and Lewey raised. Five more callers for a family pot. The flop was K-J-3. I checked as did everyone else. The turn was a 5. I checked again. Lewey fired out a pot-sized bet. Everyone folded to me and I check raised him about 5x the pot. Lewey quickly shoved.

"Oh no," I said. "I hope you don't have 5-3 suited. Or worse, how about J-5? That's what I get for trying to trap you."

I called and flipped over Ks-9s. Lewey shook his head as he showed J-10. My hand held up and I found myself ahead for the first time all week.

When some other friends eventually arrived into by the weekend, the short-handed game was called. We settled up. AlCantHang was the big winner followed by Brian and myself.

* * * * *
I played in two more cash games. including a brief session on Friday after a visit to the Hemingway House and Museum, and then a group of us played a marathon session on Saturday where a game lasted from about 3pm to 1am.

I don't recall too much from the Friday game except that I sat in between BG and Sweet Sweet Pablo. I only remember one hand... where I busted my brother and my girlfriend at the same time.

Change100 opened up for a raise and Derek called. I found 8c-6c in the big blind and called. The flop was 7-5-4 rainbow. I looked up and said, "Someone is getting felted on this hand."

Everyone laughed and I checked. Change100 threw out a continuation bet. Derek called and I called. The turn was the Qh. I bet about 1/2 the pot. Change100 raised and Derek moved all in. I quickly called and Change100 went into the tank. She didn't have too many chips behind and couldn't put any of us on a hand. She reluctantly called. Derek flipped over A-A and Change100 showed K-Q. I tabled 8c-6c. I flopped the joint and it held up. Derek and Change100 had to rebuy as got unstuck for the session. The game broke about an hour later.

On Saturday, we all stumbled over to the ACHC for a massive cash game. Gracie and Pablo brought over their chip set and the game lasted for almost 10 hours with the a short break for food. BG cooked up some fish that a few of the gang caught on Thursday.

The players changed every few hours and included AlCantHang, Gracie, Sweet Sweet Pablo, Drizz, Derek, The Rooster, F Train, Change100, Maudie, Mary, Iggy, JoeSpeaker, Grubby, Donkey Puncher, and myself. The swings were crazy for a 25c/50c blinds game. It was a pushfest and some of the most fun I had playing poker in a very long time.

I play poker for different reasons. I play to make money. I play because I'm an action junkie and need the fix. I also play because of the social attributes which accompany a poker table. It had been a very long time since I spent time with my friends, especially at a poker table.

I rarely see my brother and my friends with a hectic work schedule and constantly being on the road. The people I met through poker four years ago have become close friends over the years. They have been extremely supportive of my endeavors and that makes me miss them more. Whatever free time I have is devoted to my career and personal writing projects. I have to squeeze family and a long-distance relationship in there as well. My free time has shriveled up and my friends get the short-end of the stick.

I never have a chance to play in blogger tournaments, so I don't see them online. They pop up in Las Vegas during the WSOP, but that is the worst time to socialize and hang out since I'm stressed out making deadlines and working sick hours every day and night. The WPBT gatherings twice a year have become too large. Some of my closest friends have skipped the last couple of them and even if they do make an appearance, I don't get to spend quality time with everyone.

Even though we ventured to the southernmost point in the continental US for AlCantHang's 40th birthday, I took it as an opportunity to spend time with everyone I missed over the past year. I busted my ass and cultivated a writing career and get flown all over the globe, but the biggest sacrifice I had to make was to spend less time with friends. That's why I soaked up every second of the Key West trip. I don't know when I'll get to be around these folks next.

The Saturday poker game was a definite highlight. Chips were flying around the table. Everyone was partying and having a blast. People were getting busted on every other hand and everyone was quick to rebuy. The game was crazy and I got felted by my brother a few times who ended up issuing a few bad beats to everyone.

Around 11pm or so. Derek tilted Sweet Sweet Pablo big time. Everyone straddled except Derek who was on the button. He looked at his hand and moved all in. Everyone folded to Pablo and he went into the tank for six minutes before he called with A-J. Derek flipped over 8-3o. The flop was A-7-3. The turn was another 3. The river was a blank and Derek doubled up against Pablo. Sweet Sweet Pablo had morphed into Tilt Tilt Pablo.

Two hands later, I became Derek's next victim. I sat out for about an hour when I ran down the street to the ATM and then the corner store. When I returned, I played with Change100's stack (she had about 11 bucks left) and I got $12 more chips from Iggy, Gracie, and Derek for buying them smokes at the store. I started with a tiny stack of 23 and ran that up to 350 in a short time. Then I ran into Derek's Bad Beat Machine.

Mary raised in EP. Derek called. I found Kc-Qc from the button and raised. Mary and Derek called. The flop was K-x-x. Mary checked. Derek bet the pot and I raised 4x his bet. Mary folded and Derek moved all in. I quickly called. Derek showed K-9.

"You know what's coming," said Grubby.

I shook my head. I knew what was coming too. I was the button and had to deal my own fate. I burned and then quickly turned the turn card. The fuckin' 9s. The river didn't help me and Derek doubled up with two pair.

Tilt!

At least I didn't have to rebuy. There were three other hands of note. One involved Maudie. Another was with Gracie. And the last one was with Derek and Mary (again).

During the first hour of play, Maudie raised and I re-raised in LP and Maudie called. The flop was all rags. She bet, I raised all in and she went into the tank. I took a picture of my hand.

Garcie and Mary at the far end of the table were whispering about my potential bluff. I said that I would show them the picture first as soon as Maudie made a decision. Maudie thought and thought. She had no idea what I held. I was playing lots of junk hands. When she eventually called, I passed my camera down to her and the rest of the table. They saw this:


"Aw shit!" said Maudie.

She had 10-10 and my Aces held up. I busted Maudie and she dug into her pockets for a rebuy.

This hand happened late into the session shortly after I left to reload at the ATM and pick up ciggies for everyone. Derek raised preflop. I re-raised. Mary, Garcie, and Pablo called. The flop was 7 high with all rags. Gracie bet almost 50 and I raised to 125 and was all in. Everyone else got out of the way. Gracie tanked for five minutes. I took another photo of my hand. She eventually called and I tossed my camera down to the other side of the table.


Gracie held 10-10 and I doubled through her. That's how I built up my stack.

The last hand I'm going to write about was one of the most interesting hands of the session. It involved a massive laydown. It was a three-handed pot with Mary, Derek, and myself.

Derek had been raising a lot of pots. He opened up from UTG with a raise. I re-raised him with Jd-5c. Mary re-raised both of us from the cut off. We both called. The flop was 10d-5h-3d. Derek bet about 1/2 the pot. I called and Mary raised. We both called. The turn was the 4d. Derek bet the pot. Mary let out a sigh. I knew she didn't like that card. I had second pair with a flush draw. I counted out my chips and then said, "Ahh, I just call."

Derek glanced over at me as did Mary. They both gave me that look like, "You just caught your flush. Boooo!"

Mary went into the tank as she agonized over the call. She said something about possibly folding the best hand. She's a tight player so I put her on a big pair. She eventually folded. Derek dealt the river card. It was a blank and didn't fill in my flush. Derek bet about 1/3 of the pot.

"Shit," I said. "I guess you have the flush."

I called and tabled Jd-5c. Derek flipped over the Ad and then showed the 7s. The tourist was no good for him. He missed his flush draw and I won the pot with a pair of fives. I'm glad that the flush didn't come on the river or I would have been in trouble.

Mary dug her cards out of the muck and showed K-K. Yeah, I got her to fold the best hand. She put one of us on two pair and the other on the flush. Despite the hit, she ended up among the big winners along with Sweet Sweet Pablo.

Me? I won a few bucks overall. But the fun factor was priceless.

* * * * *
Once my friends arrived on Thursday, the prop betting began. It peaked out on Friday night and started with the turtle races. Yes, they have turtle races in Key West. The gang showed up at the bar on the pier. We proceeded to get shitfaced and then wagered on the turtles.

The bartenders passed out tickets numbered one through five. It was only a five turtle race. Since we all got similar numbers we had to break off and play an SNG turtle race format. $20 per person. Winner scoops $100. I had StB, Derek, Change100, and Gracie in my pool. Change100's turtle won and she couldn't have been happier. It got her unstuck from the poker game. My turtle came in next to last place. Bastard. If he doesn't improve his performance, he'll become turtle soup for tourists.

After the turtle races, the action shifted locales. Below the Classy Joint, there's a sports bar. In the back of the sports bar, there are pool tables, videos games, and a "boxer" machine. The boys liked to bet on who could hit it the hardest. F Train and I stood on the sidelines as Drizz, Donkey Puncher, and Roberto Colunga were going apeshit.

(Editor's Note: Roberto Colunga is the artist formerly known as Bobby Bracelet. He's part of the crew that needs a new online identity. I came up with a new moniker for the guy and now he's named after a famous Mexican soap opera actor. FYI, I shall be making references to another friend of mine as Benny Hiroshima in a future post. I will no longer be referring to either gentlemen by their former names.)

Anyway, F Train and I wanted to get in on the action without dislocating our shoulders. The boxer game measures a punch by a point system. We decided to bet on the outcome of the last digit while the rest of the gang punched. F Train picked evens. I had odds. It was a coinflip. We love betting coinflips, especially at $20 a pop.

The boys went back and forth for almost an hour. I started out slow and found myself down 60 right away. I eventually broke even, then I went on a rush. I was up 160 for a while. We went back and forth and F Train cut the lead in half to 80. I won a couple of more punches. He was stuck -100 and that's when he asked to stop the prop betting. And guess what? The next four punches all ended in even numbers. He would have eventually got unstuck if he played another ten minutes.

I played pool with Maudie who is a shark. She tried the old routine, "Oh, I haven't played in a while." Then she wiped me out. I couldn't catch a break and missed a few crucial shots down the stretch. Maudie won and took over the table. It would be a while before someone beat her. Fear Maudie. If you ever see her with a pool stick in her hand... run the other way.

Grubby showed up and we quickly got in some action. We're always betting on something. We invented betting on wheel spins at The Excalibur in December of 2004, which had become a big hit among our friends. In the past, my former Las Vegas roommate and I have bet on weekend grosses of Hollyweird films (I won his car once betting on weekend grosses), the astrological signs of our waitresses, and even bet on the sex of the next person who walked through a doorway. Our degenerate prop betting continued in Key West when I told him about the odds and evens boxer game.

"Ooooooh! $20 on odds and evens? I'm in," he said. "It's just enough action to keep it interesting."

I offered him to pick any side and told him about F Train's issues with evens. Grubby didn't care and went with evens anyway. It got ugly for him. I was up a quick $100 before things settled down. An hour later, I emerged $40 richer.

We migrated over to the video games. There is a hunting game with shotguns where you shoot different things like deer, moose, and antelopes. Two play simultaneous and Grubby and I went to work. We bet on who could kill the most animals. Grubby lived in major cities most of his life. He's an urban guy like myself. We never shoot things like hunting rifles so I felt the game would be evenly matched.

I ended up the winner in the hunting game. Grubby kept shooting innocent animals, while I racked up points in the bonus round when we went duck hunting. Drizz took Grubby's spot and I got my ass handed to me.

"I'm a redneck from Minnesota," joked Drizz. "Of course I'm good at this."

Drizz admitted that he's been hunting before. I wish he told me before we started betting. Hustled at video games.

The latest big bet involved Grubby and myself. If you walked around Key West, you spotted the signs for mayoral candidates. They were everywhere. On picket fences. Inside the windows of stores. On random utility poles. I went with Jimmy Weekly and Grubby picked Morgan McPherson. We have $100 riding on the election. I joked that I was going to donate $99 to Weekly and pimp him on my blog so I can push him over the top... just to win $1 against Grubby.

And yes, vote for Jimmy Weekly for mayor.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/30/2007 10:23:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Existentialist Conversations with Strippers, Vol. III: Identity

By Pauly
Key West, FL

Editor's Note: This originally appeared on Tao of Pauly under the title AlCantHang and I Walk into a Bar...

Key West. It had the vibe of a Caribbean island without the color. The streets were flooded with sunburnt white people clutching souvenir bags and digital cameras. The AlCantHang Compound (ACHC) was off the beaten path, down a secret alley off a side street, definitely away from tourist central.

A few hours after the Sunday arrival, the guys hung out in the pool while I sat in the shade with AlCantHang and Big Mike. We drank and swapped Amsterdam tales. Most of the crew eventually wanted dinner. AlCantHang's primary objective was booze. They went for food while we walked over to Irish Kevin's, a bar on Duval Street which was an AlCantHang favorite.

From the view outside on the street, Irish Kevin's was located in the first floor of a two story structure, but from the inside, only one humongous space existed. We wandered inside the narrow bar, maybe three tables or four tables wide, with high ceilings. It was one of the longest bars I had ever seen running almost the entire length of the property which was at least thirty or forty yards.

A guy in a blue t-shirt and cargo shorts stood on stage with am acoustic guitar. He played popular cover songs like Jack and Diane and Sweet Home Alabama in a wacky manner. He interacted with the audience and encouraged them to sing-a-long and participate in his random goofiness like busting on people from New Jersey, changing the words to the songs, and guilt-tripping pedestrians to come inside and get shitfaced with everyone else.

It was exactly 8:08pm when I entered an Irish Bar in Key West with AlCantHang. Whenever you walk into a bar with AlCantHang, you're immediately assuming full responsibility for your actions. You always know what you are getting yourself into. There's no false pretense. You will drink and drink and drink and drink as life unfolds around you. You surrender to the flow of the liquor.

One of our friends described AlCantHang as a walking party. And when the party plops down at an Irish bar, you're knee deep in the depths of a serious mind-altering drinking binge. The best you can hope for is that your liver manages to escape with minimal damage and that the hangover the next day won't be devastating where you're clutching the porcelain god at sunrise with the worst case of the dry-heaves that you've had since the earliest days of the Clinton administration.

I knew the three basic tenants of the AlCantHang party-like-a-rock-star rules.

1. Pace yourself.
2. Drink lots of water.
3. And eat as much as possible.

I followed two but not the third. I drank on an almost empty stomach and by the sixth or seven beer, I got hit with a sledgehammer. We were seated at the end of the bar next to a kid, who barely looked old enough to drink. He was with his pretty girlfriend and they sipped some sort of rum and coke drink.

The musician onstage asked who was in the military. The kid raised his hand and said he was in the Army. AlCantHang quickly bought him a shot. That's when he discovered that the kid and his girlfriend lived in the town next to AlCantHang's. Small world.

Enter the Germans. Originally we thought they were Irish since they knew all the words to Irish Rover. As soon as the song ended, they screamed out,"Johnny Cash!"

The Krauts were fans of the man in black and over the next hour, that's all they screamed. In due time, AlCantHang bought them shots. The one German kid almost hurled when he downed a shot of Jim Beam black label. He told us that he'd been in America for two weeks and saw a bunch of cities, but none more fun than Key West.

AlCantHang pulled a $20 out of his wad and rushed up to the stage. He tipped the musician $20 to play Johnny Cash. Ten minutes later, he busted into Folsom Prison Blues.

"Since I got tipped $20 to play Johnny Cash from AlCantHang," the guy on stage said. "I'm going to play two songs."

The Germans went nuts. The entire bar sang along. Inside of a couple of hours, AlCantHang became the King of the Bar. Even the owner was buying him shots. If you've done any drinking under the AlCantHang Experience, you fully comprehend his magical powers.

The rest of the crew eventually joined us for a round or three in the back of the bar while a second musician took the stage. He was a black guy from New York City. He has some sick chops and was twenty-times the musician as the goofy guy, but he lacked the charisma of the first guy.

That's when AlCantHang said, "Time for some tits. And ass!"

Like Moses parting the Red Sea, AlCantHang darted through the crowd as the drunks in Irish Kevin's made a path for him to the front door. We walked fifteen meters and we reached the establishment that I will call, "The Classy Joint."

Editor's Note: I have been informed by my legal counsel to omit the actual name of the gentleman's clubs and change the names of the strippers in order to protect the innocent. Like they are giving me their real names anyway? I also refer to the first strip club as "The Classy Joint" because there will be a second establishment mentioned in this post that is made the first place look like the Rhino in Las Vegas.

The Classy Joint is located at the top of a slippery wooden staircase. Thousands of horny men and other wayward and desperate souls made the same climb. The cover charge was $5 but I got in for free since Lewey flashed his VIP card, which gave him and a guest free admission. I realized that the entire crew had a VIP card with the exception of me.

Big Mike scouted out a spot. The space was fairly large with a stage in the middle of the room with two stripper poles on opposite sides. Twenty or so chairs were around the stage while a long bar nestled against the back wall. There was a hallway off to the side which led to the Champagne Lounge. Next to that was a room with group of red velvet couches where the adult entertainers performed their infamous exotic lap dances under the sultry hues of red, purple, and pink neon.

We set up camp near the stage. One or two of us would take turns sitting at the stage and tipping the girls $1 bills. Except the AlCantHang crew were serious ballers. They were tipping a minimum of $5 or $6 and up to $20.

That's their game plan. It was the first night in town and they made it known that they were in Key West for a week. What at first seemed like they (well I guess it's the collective 'we') we recklessly splashed money around, it was all done on purpose to establish the fact that we were not cheap tourists looking to see some ass for next to nothing. As Big Mike explained, we were conditioning the natives. That way the next time we ventured inside, we got quick and attentive service. (And that would happen when we returned less than 19 hours later and you'll read about that in another post.)

Overtipping became the norm and within minutes our crew got all of the attention in The Classy Joint, even though it was crowded for a Sunday night. Everyone became secondary to the AlCantHang Experience. Big Mike took care of our waitress with a nice pre-tip. She was an attractive Cuban woman and didn't look as skanky as the girls on stage. That made her the most sophisticated lady in the club.

"How come you don't dance," asked Big Mike.

"I'm a mommy. Mommies don't dance. Would you like to see your mommy dance?" she said.

"Are you kidding me? The fuckin' whore? I'd love to see her actually get off her ass to make a dime," Big Mike honestly said.

The majority of the girls were average looking strippers. They would be working a second-tier club in Las Vegas or stripping during the day at one of the bigger clubs. But in Key West, they were the cream of the crop. And even though they were some of the better looking pieces of ass in town, they still had the wild reputation that Key West strippers have. The word "dirty" comes to mind.

Most strip clubs in Las Vegas implement a strict hands-off the dancer policy. The majority of the girls at the Rhino or Crazy Horse Too don't shower you with special attention unless you shower them with $100 bills. It's all business for the Las Vegas girls and if you want any sort of extra attention or groping, you have to fork over big bucks for an adventure in the VIP room. Of course, that's the biggest scam in Las Vegas next to the 99 cent shrimp cocktail.

At the Key West establishments, all you have to do is pay $20 for a naughty session which includes (and not limited too) crotch grabbing and getting your face used as a punching bag as the ladies slap their poorly designed fake-breasts into your face.

Sure, we all had fun. But our primary goal was to make sure AlCantHang had fun. And he did. Of course, we lost Lewey for sometime. He went into the back and didn't come out for a while. And when he finally reappeared he had a wry smirk on his face.

I befriended a stripper from the Czech Republic. She stood about five-foot ten with dark hair and natural breasts. She reminded me of Phoebe Cates and had a tattoo of a scorpion on her ankle. What looked like four cigarette burns peppered the inside of her thighs.

By the second lap dance, we had been discussing lesser known Milan Kundera books like Identity as she stood upside down on her hands and rubbed her shaved crotch on my chest.

"Your country was invaded my the Soviets," I rambled on during the fourth lap dance. "They set up a puppet government that eventually crumbled after the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. Your formerly behind the Iron Curtain nation-state was broken up into two republics and instead of staying behind in your new land of freedom, you fled to Key West where you strip for a bunch of old farts who are in town for a few hours when their cruise ship docked. Or you're grinding away for horny servicemen on leave taking every cent of their slave wages that our government pays them?"

"I like the warm weather," she cooed. "And I'm trying to earn enough money to bring my mother here."

Of course, she was trying to sell the old routine, "I'm only let potential serial killers and politicians pull my hair and fondle my breasts for $20 a pop so I can bring my mother to America."

She was a hustler, a decent one at that. The vixen almost had me convinced. But I've been around the block a few times and been to enough strip clubs that I could write a book about it. The American bimbos use law school or business school as their faux cover. The foreign ones like to bring up their mothers and highlight the hardships in their motherland. This one was down here to hook a big whale. Perhaps a lonely and well off retired businessman with a yacht and a multiple million dollar homes.

"Everyone loves their mothers," I said. "Don't you love money?"

"Of course," she said as she continued to dance to a random hip hop sing with fellatio lyrics.

"But do you love money more than your mother?"

She paused and said, "I love them equally both."

"But your mother is still washing dirty underwear for tourists in Prague, right? Because if you really loved her, she'd be in paradise with you, washing dirty underwear for tourists in Key West."

She didn't blink and tried to get me off the topic. She grabbed my junk for four long seconds and twisted my nipples until I begged her to stop.

I don't recall how long we spent at The Classy Joint. I was shitfaced drunk when I left the Irish bar and drank steadily at the strip club. We finally left and walked down the street. We made a turn down a dark alley next to a couple of abandoned buildings. A faint pink light could be seen and that was the strip club on the other side of the tracks.

The Dive was a step down on the stripper food chain. A couple of rungs. It reminded me of those horrible and sad clubs in shitbag towns and third-rate cities where career strippers end up when they hit 40 or on their last breaths before they croak from a speedball OD in the tiny bathroom of a no-tell motel freaking out the chubby married business man from the Midwest who hired the strung out vixen to suck his toes for $20 a toe.

"This is the place where Key West strippers come to die," said Landow in a straight face as we walked inside.

There was no cover charge. For obvious reasons. The place looked the basement of my fraternity house, except with a stripper pole. There was one dilapidated stage off to the left and a tiny bar to the right. Several old guys sat at the bar. Two of them had girls sitting on their laps. One was atrocious looking as her double-D sized books spilled out of her top. The better looking one seemed out of place until she smiled and I realized that she was missing three teeth. I didn't want to touch anything because I was afraid of contracting an STD.

As soon as we walked in, the best looking dancer in the club wandered up. She looked gorgrous at first glance, but underneath the lights, the wrinkles gave her away. Twenty years ago she was the hottest stripper in town. The Dive is like her retirement home.

"Aren't you AlCantHang?" she asked.

AlCantHang told her that he was and she mentioned that one of the girls they knew was due to dance on stage next. Years ago, the crew befriended a stripper. I guess we'll call her N. When N saw AlCantHang and his crew, she bubbled over with excitement.

For the next hour or so, they all caught up over a couple of beers as I watched the various dancers take turns running to the bathroom to rip a few lines before it was their turn to dance.

The Dive was sketchy because they cut off all songs at the 2 minute and 10 second mark. I counted. So if you got a lap dance, you got cheated. The standard lap dance at traditional clubs is about three minutes or so. I refused to go into the back room with those ladies. At some point you have to draw the line somewhere. For me, it was The Dive.

I don't recall leaving the second strip club. I vaguely recall trying to find a slice of pizza. Then I blacked out. I woke up in my bed at the hotel. A fuckin' rooster woke me up. There are all these free range chickens and roosters wandering around Key West. One in particular caused me to awake from a dead sleep.

My head was ringing. I had a category three hangover on the verge of dehydration. I managed to avoid puking and chugged the rest of the water I had as I quickly popped two Motrin and one generic Vicodin. I looked at my digital camera. It was a scene out of Momento where I had to piece my life back together using a couple of random images, mostly from the Irish bar. The strip clubs had a no photography policy, so there were no shots of that debauchery.

I grabbed the wad of cash out of my pocket. It looked healthy until I unfurled it and began counting. Wait, were did all the hundreds go? And all those twenties were replaced by singles. I did some quick math and figured out between the Irish bar and the two strip clubs, I had blown about $420.

I sat down at the table near the window overlooking Duval Street. Despite the hangover, I fired up the pipe and the laptop and began writing about the previous 48 hours. That's when the tour trolley stopped in front of the hotel. I looked out of the window and a guy on a microphone pointed to the hotel. He muttered something about this being, "a historical landmark almost as old as Key West itself."

One woman snapped a quick photo. I wonder if the tour guide stopped his trolley at The Classy Joint or The Dive and said the same thing?


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/25/2007 04:20:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Lizard Tails

By Pauly
Key West, FL

"Don't bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality." - Bob Marley

Rusty. I was a little rusty. I had not played a substantial amount of poker since I fled Las Vegas after the WSOP. I had not played a single live session since then. I'm fortunate that I didn't lose any money over the rest of the summer. Usually I experience a downswing at the online tables after the WSOP.

This year, it was different. Overall, I steadily won. I hit and run during a dozen or so online sessions in August. I had one amazing day and one atrocious day. I took a few shots at 30/60 limit again and broke even.

I never had a session last more than an hour until I arrived in Amsterdam. I played a decent amount in the apartment since both of my roommates were playing a ton of online poker. Oh, by the way, congrats to old roomie, Johnny Mushrooms. He made the final table and took third in one of the WCOOPs at PokerStars.

Anyway, I played a couple of hours a day in Amsterdam. It felt good to grind it out at the limit tables and fire up a PLO table or two to have some fun. I discovered the proper balance of playing poker for enjoyment and playing for money. The tedious and boring grind of ABC poker at the limit tables were offset by the fast-paced action at the PLO tables. More often than not, my winnings at the limit tables covered the big swings at the PLO tables.

I had the opportunity to play everyday since I got back from Europe. Like most things in life, you have to constantly work and practice at your particular craft if you expect to improve over the long run. It doesn't matter if it's poker, writing, or relationships. You constantly have to work at those aspects.

My schedule for the remainder of 2007 is still hectic, but I'm going to make an effort to play more poker between now and Christmas. I have only one more big tournament reporting assignment (the PokerNews Cup in Melbourne in October) and I'm looking forward to concentrating on writing, my side projects, and playing poker.

Here are some random online poker and miscellaneous incidents that occurred over the last few days.

* * * * *
20 Sept @ 4:14pm, New York...

My broker called to wish me a happy birthday while I was playing 1/2 PLO on PokerStars. My big stack had taken a hit when my straight flush draw missed against a guy who flopped two pair and another who turned a straight. Then the phone rang. A Colorado number. It was one of the rollover lines from my broker's office in Boulder. I guess he finally got bored of hacey-sacking with spun out hippie chicks and put down the three-foot bong to extend birthday greetings to me.

He had been ducking my phone calls over the last three weeks. Our investments were losing money and I wanted to give him shit over that. He knew that's why I had called and purposely avoided me. My overall investing goals were for the long hall, but sometimes it just feels better to be an asshole on a power trip. Besides, he has the easy life in Colorado and I'd like to think he actually gets work done in between ski trips and his yoga classes.

I guess that I'd rather have a hippie broker than an immoral and unscrupulous eel of a suit. I had only gotten birthday wishes from my mother, brother, and girlfriend. In that regard, it was a nice gesture, but it was the cheapest trick in the old playbook. We used to call that faux-sentiment. I did it all the time during my stints in the trenches on Wall Street. Pretend that you actually care about your client, when you are just buttering them up before you extract their life saving and convince them to buy some dog shit stock that your analysts are telling you to force-feed down your clients' throats. Then you call them up three weeks later with another hot lead. Churn and burn. That's how I used to make my money before I became a chip counting doofus.

I pretend to like the players at my table whenever I'm playing live. I'm lying. I'm acting. I'm pseudo-laughing at their poorly delivered jokes. I appear fascinated by their banal stories. I seem sympathetic to their personal problems.

"Yeah, my dog had worms too once. We had to put him down. I was eight, and that was the first time I shot a gun."

In reality, I'm trying to make them like me. They might fold on the river instead of calling me down. They might fold to my raises. They might let me steal pots.

Sometimes it's hard not to be the table captain and go off at the atrocious plays you see people make. Then I recall that old saying.

Don't tap the glass.

Was that a Bob Dylan lyric or an old Buddhist saying?

In short, the bigger the fish at the tables, the nicer I am to them. I want them staying in the game. I shower them with more encouragement inside of an orbit than their parents have given them in their entire lifetime. I want them to piss away the profits that they picked up from the other bitter souls at the table.

Nothing is more satisfying then tilting someone already on tilt. For example, at Red Rock Casino before the WSOP began, I got seated at an interesting table. One guy in Seat 3 got his Kings viscously cracked in an ugly pot from an uberfish with donkeylike tendencies that played J-6 and ended up rivering trips. That guy flew into a rage and unleashed a Hellmuthian tirade. I snickered underneath my breath and felt sorry for the guy for about fifteen seconds. Then I came to my senses and made both the fish and the tilty guy as my marks.

Some players have such low self-esteem that they can't let the hand go. Identify them and attack. Instead, of shaking off that hand and getting ready for the next one, the angry guy lost focus and instead of playing his game... he just wanted to get his money back from the fish. He started playing differently and deviated away from his style. The result was that he lost more chips to the fish trying to enact a personal vendetta.

That's when I swooped in and blindsided the tilty guy. I won a few pots from said fish with junk hands. The guy grew more angry because I got paid with his money as he slid deeper into tilt. When I woke up with a hand and he decided that I was bluffing and he promptly paid me off which forced him to dig into his pocket for another humiliating rebuy. Most pros don't think twice about rebuying. It's part of the game. But for angry, tilty people with self-esteem issues, they are playing into your hands. Say hello to the ATM sitting in Seat 3 and don't leave until he leaves.


* * * * *
23 Sept @ 5:12am, Miami, FL...

I sat at the dinning room table in my friend Jerry's house. He and his family were still alseep as I logged onto PokerStars to play PLO. Jerry's cats scurried around looking for attention. I spotted a tiny lizard and pointed it out to the cat. With one swift move, the cat pounced and tore the lizard's tail off. The lizard limped off and ran towards the wall. The chase ensued with the cat trapping the lizard in the corner.

I looked down at my feet and say a tiny piece of tail flopping around. It was trippy. I went to pick it up when another cat came over and swallowed it whole. Cats eating lizard tails. Just another Sunday morning in Miami.

1/2 PLO. I got dealt Ad-Qs-Qc-10d on the button. I called a raise from middle position. Five players in the pot. The flop was Kd-8d-4s. The big blind bet out about half the size of the pot. The original raiser, put out a pot-sized raise. I called with a nut flush draw as did one other player. Three players left. The turn was the Qh. The big blind checked. The original raiser bet the pot. I potted with a set of Queens and the nut flush draw. The big blind called and was all in. The other player called. The river was the 4c. It was checked to me. I bet about 1/3 of the pot with a full house and he called. Big blind showed a busted Jack-high diamond flush draw. The original raiser had Aces up with a baby flush draw. I took down the biggest PLO pot since my return to the States.

I looked down and the cat finished last bit of the lizard. Figure out your own metaphor.

* * * * *
23 Sept @ 8:08pm, Key West, FL...

I joined AlCantHang for a week long of various alcohol-soaked liver-eroding activities down in Key West. At 8:08pm on a Sunday evening, I walked into an Irish bar with AlCantHang. Eight hours later, I had visited two strip clubs and was stuck $420. You can read about some of the misadventures over at Tao of Pauly and stay tuned for another installment of Existentialist Conversations with Strippers, Vol. III.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/24/2007 07:21:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Transatlantic Bad Beat Story, Friday Pimp, and Fantasy Sports Live

By Pauly
New York City

Here's some quick pimping or I'll forget:

First, you have Jean-Robert Bellande, a poker player on Survivor China.

What's next? Sheiky to appear on 'To Catch a Predator'?

Thanks to Wayne at Cactus Jack Poker for mentioning the Tao of Poker on Texas Hold'em Radio.

Check out Flipchip's Las Vegas photo gallery. Some great stuff in there on various subjects including poker and Las Vegas.

* * * * *
The effects resemble a hangover. That's the best way to describe what working a ten-day tournament does to the mind, body, and soul. Earlier in the week, I had been suffering from post-WSOPE malaise. The last thing I wanted to do was talk, write, or play poker for a few days. I had pre-written a post-WSOPE post in my head, but I let most of those thoughts evaporate into the hallways of my mind. Alas, the meat and the heart of the post is a distant memory. Either I'm too lazy to write up a new one or I'm simply uninspired. I'm no longer in London and my scattered mind is trying to focus on other things. Maybe if I find sometime, I'll organize my thoughts on the WSOPE in a long-winded rambling post. For now, I'm glad to be back.

The last 48 hours in London were bittersweet. Rarely do I look beyond the moment (or the day at hand). I wanted to soak up the last days in London since I didn't know when I'd be there again. However, I couldn't wait to return home. Well, I really don't have a home. Alas, I wanted to get back to America, or at least NYC, which one of my favorite writers Spalding Gray once described as that tiny, yet eclectic island off the coast of mainland America.

I had a few hundred British pounds leftover and cashed them into US dollars before my flights home. It felt good to handle US currency again, even though a fistful is worth about the same as a sheet of toilet paper in Europe.

Change100 and I both had connecting flights in Amsterdam from London-Heathrow. In Amsterdam, my connecting flight headed to JFK, while Change100 took a different one to LAX. They both left about one hour after our arrival time in Amsterdam. Our flight from London was late about ten minutes. I caught the first wave of luck. My gate was just 20 meters away. Change100 wasn't so lucky... her gate was located in the next terminal. She had to sprint to get the only direct KLM flight to Hollyweird. Alas, she made it with plenty of time to spare, while mine was delayed. Bad beat number one.

I had some Euros left in my wallet and bought a water while I stood in a long security line. At Amsterdam airport, they often screen your carry-on stuff a second time at the gate. Once I passed through security, I noticed about 80 or so Ethiopian refugees. They were mostly old women in tradition clothing and small children in matching running suits. They all carried some sort of bag from a humanitarian entity. I assumed they were en route to America... the land of opportunity, Starbucks, and 3,218 cable TV stations.

I had 17H, an aisle seat, something I prefer on long flights. I rarely sleep on planes and want to have the freedom to walk around and stretch my legs or get my laptop out of my carry-on bag if/when the creative juices strike and I want to write 35,000 feet up in the air.

A beautiful teen aged Dutch girl with cowboy boots and a jean skirt sat in the seat next to mine. She said hello as I settled in and read my book by Michel Houellebecq. Five minutes later, a grumpy old guy in a wrinkled blue pinstripe suit told her that she was in the wrong seat. She was supposed to be sitting two rows behind us in 19J and the old man kicked her out. That was the second bad beat of the flight.

The old guy smelled horrible and that enraged me. The young Dutch girl smelled like a field of flowers. The old guy smelled like three-day old fish as the scent of death lingered around his collar.

Enter the Ethiopians. My flight just got worse. They took over the entire middle section across from me. At that point, the entire plane smelled like goat shit combined with a sweaty jockstrap. I'm pretty sure that the main culprit was the old man next to me.

I jotted down something in my notepad... Did he soak his socks in cat urine before he boarded the flight?

I was not going to sit through seven or eight hours of that madness. The Ethiopians were a plighted people. They got a pass in my book, but I was concerned that I might catch the Ebola or the bird flu from the runny noses of the little ones. Plus, the old guy was atrocious. I plotted my escape away from the peasants and into the high life with the uber-rich business travelers, whose companies were pissing away profits on a better meal and spacious chairs, devoid of the unwashed masses in the economy section.

My drug supplies were low. I only had two generic vicodins left and had to ration. I popped a half and asked the KLM flight attendant in the powder blue uniforms if they could upgrade me to business class. I was ready to spend $3,000 to escape the malodorous old man and the foul scent of animal urine and feces that lingered around the back half of the plane.

"We're all booked sir," the KLM rep told me. "We have ice cream today though."

Great. My sanity for a cup of freezer-burned ice cream. Thank the Lord that KLM served free booze on their flights. As soon as drink service started, I busted into the Heinekens and popped the other half of the generic vicodin. My potential flight rage was averted courtesy of pain killers and luke warm beer.

The Ethiopians must have been tired and freezing since they slept the entire flight with blankets over their entire emaciated bodies while I watched three movies. The old guy next to me could not figure out how to work the entertainment system. He'd tap me on the shoulder every ten minutes to tell me that he shut it off by accident or that he didn't like what he was watching. I couldn't catch a break.

Then they served the meal. Fish or pasta. I prayed that the old man didn't get the fish. "Please don't get the fish!" I screamed inside my head. "For the love of God, avoid the fish!"

He got the fish. The series of bad beats continued. Ten minutes later, he rushed for the toilet. The food service wasn't over yet, so I had to hold the trays as he fled to the bathroom trying not to spray the Ethiopians with his fecal seepage. He made a dozen more trips over the next three hours. At least he stopped pestering me about the movie system.

I watched Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Ocean's 13, and The Factory. Ocean's 13 was much better than their second installment. It actually made me miss Vegas a bit and I thought about Grubby trying to rig slot machines.

When the flight crew passed out immigration cards, the old smelly guy asked me to help him write his out. He handed me his passport. He was from Iran. I filled out the stuff and when I asked him questions about what he was carrying, he didn't understand and I left it blank. I started freaking out because I left my finger prints on an Iranian passport. I feared that the federalies would think that I was lending support to the evil doers and toss me into Gitmo.

When the plane arrived in JFK, I sprinted out of the plane faster than I had ever run in my life. The line at immigration was short and I waited twenty minutes for my luggage. My bag was the 32nd piece off the belt. Yeah, I counted. I had set the line at 37.5. That's how bored I was. At least my bags were there.

* * * * *
I haven't been able to jump head first into football since I was away when the first two weeks began. I'm excited to be back in America so I can follow all the hype and track my picks, bets, and fantasy football matchups.

I've always had a weakness for donuts, blondes, and any sort of gambling action. I stopped eating donuts over a year ago and have been donut-free since I left the apartment I shared with Grubby in Henderson. Of course, I've been dating a blonde for the last year and a half. Yet, I can't seem to shake the action bug.

I'm fortunate that I'm not hooked on slots, blackjack, poker, or craps. I have obvious lingering issues with Pai Gow. It's a semi-abusive relationship and I have no reasons or explanations on why I slide into the depths of depravity and embark on foolish ventures like betting $200 a hand on a $5 table at the Imperial Palace at 4am on a Monday.

Sports betting is my biggest weakness. I encountered tremendous five figure swings during March Madness at Red Rock's sports book. And then I found myself betting two dimes on NBA playoff games at the Bellagio and Caesars Palace in late May during the WPT Championships. It could have been ugly. I was stuck so bad (let's just say, you could buy a KIA) and somehow, I managed to break even. I made a promise that I would not bet on any sports over the summer and wait until the NFL season started after Labor Day.

I was jonesin' all summer, yet stayed clean. I did not bet on any sports. Sure, I was an admitted degenerate when it came to lime tossing with Otis, but I avoided betting on baseball and the WNBA. When the football season started, I finally got my fix. I'm not betting as much as I have in the past. Just enough to quell the insatiable fire inside my belly and to keep my inner action junkie satisfied... and not too much where I could do serious damage. Of course, I quickly found myself stuck in London at the sports betting parlors that are on every block. I only got unstuck courtesy of the big bet I put on Annette_15 to win the WSOPE main event (she got 6-1 at the final table).

The other thing getting me through the weekends, is Fantasy Sports Live. I not only own a piece and pimp it, but I also play on it. I have been participating in the Blogger Fantasy Football Battle (BFFB).


It's perfect if you don't have too much time to devote to a fantasy football team. You can play on any Sunday that you are free.

Welcome to the SNGs of the fantasy sports world thanks to Fantasy Sports Live.com.

The first annual Blogger Fantasy Football Battle (BFFB) sponsored by FantasySportsLive.com will bring together poker bloggers from around North America to compete in MTT style Fantasy Football contests that will run each week of the football season. $500 minimum will be added to the prize pool by FSL.

Every Sunday, FSL will run 10-player $10 fee contests with BFFB in the title. Each contest will pay out $90 to the top three finishers that week. The results of all bloggers will be pooled together each week to determine the weekly BFFB results. Points will be awarded to the top 50% of finishers each week based on the PokerStars TLB formula. Points will be accumulated throughout the season to determine the overall champion. Added prizes by FSL are listed below. Also, any weekly overall winners will be invited to a Tournament of Champions at the end of the season.

Prize Pool Breakdown:
1st Place Overall $100
2nd Place Overall $50
3rd Place Overall $25

1st Highest Individual Weekly Fantasy Score $100
2nd Highest Individual Weekly Fantasy Score $50
3rd Highest Individual Weekly Fantasy Score $25

Tournament of Champions:
$150 minimum added to prize pool

Results will be posted weekly at blinderspoker.blogspot.com, and more info can be found here.

You can chose to compete weekly for your best chance at the season title, or just enter as many as you can. Even with a single weekly entry you are eligible for the highest score prize or with a win an entry in the tournament of champions. What we are doing with the BFFB has never been done before, and would not be possible without the daily contest format that we use. This format allows us to apples to apples compare 100s of fantasy football entries, which is impossible with standard fantasy offerings. Please help us make the BFFB a success, and spread the word about FSL.

Hope to see you there. If you do not have a FSL account, join today using my bonus code... pauly.


Bonus Code: Pauly

Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/21/2007 11:19:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOPE London Pic Dump

By Pauly
London

Here are a couple of pictures that I took over the last week or so...


The G playing at the final table of the PLO event at the WSOPE


Gus Hansen at the featured TV table


Tournament chips


Across the felt at the final table


Heads up...


What £1 million looks like...


Happy Snoopy -- drinking heavily within minutes after our ten day assignment was over



Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/19/2007 01:09:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Annette_15 Wins WSOPE Main Event & Becomes Youngest Bracelet Winner

By Pauly
London

Annette_15 is three days shy of her 19th birthday. She's been playing poker for almost four years. And guess what? Not only did she win the WSOPE main event, she also became the youngest bracelet winner in the history of the WSOP.

I got goosebumps when she won, because she burst into tears when Jack Effel announced that she was the winner of the main event. It was a genuine moment. She's such a sick poker player, you almost forget that she's just a teenager. When I was a few days shy of my 19th birthday, I was dropping liquid sunshine and following The Grateful Dead.


Annette_15 won the equivalent of $2 million US for her epic victory in the WSOPE main event. She busted Annie Duke and Jen Harman en route to her first place finish.

The little Norwegian chick got me unstuck for the weekend. I took a pounding betting on the NFL. I took Annette_15 at 6-1 odds. Ship it!

Here's a video that Tiffany Michelle conducted moments after Annette_15 won:


Stay tuned for more details about the final table.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/17/2007 12:38:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOPE Day 10 - Main Event Day 4: Gus Hansen Bubbles Off Final Table

By Pauly
London

362 players bought into the first ever WSOPE £10,000 main event championship. After one grueling week of poker, spread out over three different casinos, we have our final table of nine fortunate souls, one of which will take home a first place prize of £1,000,000. In US dollars, that's a cool $2 million. Of course, the prize pool fell short of that mark, but BetFair.com added prize money to the pool so first place could win £1 million.

The payouts were top heavy and not much different between 11th and 36th place. That meant action on Day 4 was fast paced. There were 10 bustouts in the first two hours of play.

WSOP Main Event Final Table (with seating assignments and chip counts):
Seat 1: Johannes Korsar (Uppsala, Sweden) - 1,134,000
Seat 2: Oyvind Riisem (Bergen, Norway) - 664,000
Seat 3: John Tabatabai (London, UK) - 982,000
Seat 4: Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad (Sandnes, Norway) - 697,000
Seat 5: Dominic Kay (London, UK) - 490,000
Seat 6: Matthew McCullough (Cherry Hill, NJ, USA) - 1,278,000
Seat 7: Theo Jorgensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) - 605,000
Seat 8: Magnus Persson (Gothenburg, Sweden) - 1,231,000
Seat 9: James Keys (Bury St. Edmunds, UK) - 172,000

Final Table Payouts:
1 - £1,000,000
2 - £570,150
3 - £381,910
4 - £257,020
5 - £191,860
6 - £152,040
7 - £114,030
8 - £85,070
9 - £61,540

Gus Hansen bubbled off the final table in 10th palce on a cooler. He went out with the Hilton Sisters versus Matt McCullough's pocket Kings. That hand propelled McCullough into the chiplead. He's the only American at the final table. When I asked him if her preferred to or by Matt or Matthew, he said, "Matt. Unless I win, then it will be Sir Matt!"

All eyes are on Annette_15. I predicted that she'd win in yesterday's post. She took over the chiplead at one point, then got crippled when she three-bet all in with 3-3, only to lose to the Hilton Sisters. She looks like she's in high school (because she is). She speaks nearly perfect English and has been chatting it up with Change100 all week.


Here's the bio that I wrote about her for Poker News:

Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad
Hometown: Sandnes, Norway
Chip Count: 697,000

If you play online poker tournaments, you have probably come across Annette_15. She's been taking the poker world by storm over the last few months. Her real name is Annette Obrestad. The 19-year old student is from a coastal town in southwest Norway that was once considered the herring capital of the world. These days, it's the home town of one of the best online poker players in the world.

Some people consider her to be the best female No-Limit Hold'em player in the world. Some consider her the best NL tournament player under 21-years old in the world. And others consider her one of the best online NL tournament player... period. It's hard to argue with her outstanding record.

Her appearance at the final table marks her coming out party. For the first time, the poker world can catch a glimpse of the prodigy. She's often in the top spot on Pocket Five's leaderboard and has won their Triple Crown. Most people don't know about her yet, because she's not old enough to play in US-based tournaments.

Annette_15 has been crushing the competition online over the last year. In the first two weeks of May of this year, she's earned over $68,000! That's substantially more money than most adults make in a single year. She final tabled the $2,500 buy-in World Championship of Online Poker main event on PokerStars last year. Last month, she took down the $500K on Full Tilt, where she put on a clinic at the final table.

There's a rumor floating around that she started playing online poker at the ripe age of 15, hence the screen name Annette_15. She got her first exposure to poker from her father who taught her how to play five-card stud and seven-card stud as a young girl. She eventually signed up for an online poker account and as the legend goes, her mother refused to let her fund an account with a credit card so Annette_15 ended up winning $9 in a freeroll and has not looked back since.

At the tables, Annete_15 is fearless. She's tough to read and is willing to play any two cards. She's an aggressive player and will re-raise you with absolutely nothing if she senses the slightest weakness. She's a shark at the tables and often destroys veteran NL players, which is mind blowing because most girls her age are more interested in going to the mall or spending endless hours on the phone instead of multi-tabling several tournaments.

Annette_15 busted Annie Duke at the featured TV table on Day 4. She also busted Jen Harman. At one point Annette_15 held the chiplead. She comes into the final table 5th in chips. She is trying to become the youngest WSOP bracelet winner of all time.

* * * * *
Join PokerNews.com on Sunday at 2pm London time (9am NYC time or 6am for all you Left Coasters) for all the final table action. We will be providing live hand-for-hand updates, chip counts, color commentary (from yours truly), photos, videos, and our state of the art Final Table Live hands simulator.

Come back at the Tao of Poker for a wrap up post and final thoughts.

For all you fantasy sports junkies, check out our new site... Fantasy Sports Live.


Bonus Code: Pauly

Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/16/2007 05:15:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOPE Day 9 - Main Event Day 3: Bursting the British Bubble

By Pauly
London

Tilt. For a $300 US dollar a night hotel (minus taxes), I have to sit in the hallway to use the wifi. It has not worked inside my room in over a week. I ignore the bizarre glances from the Polish maids that wander the hallways with stacks of pristine white towels in their arms. One clueless security guard quizzed me about what I was doing sitting down with a laptop while wearing boxers and a Meadowlands Racing t-shirt at 8am. I told him, "Hey Chachi, why don't you do something useful like fix my wifi problems. Otherwise, bugger off."

I'm on internet tilt and cranky after an exhausting Day 3. 84 players started and the money bubble was at 36. Jack Effel wanted to get down to 27, but for some strange reason... that would not happen. We were stuck on 32 players for what seemed like an endless eternity. He stopped the action and told everyone to come back on Saturday. Booooo. On Saturday, we have to get from 32 to 9. I hope that happens before 4am.

Anyway, I was assigned the featured TV table once again. This time it was rigged. Well, not really, but that's what the pros were joking about. Erick Lindgren got the easiet draw at the Empire Casino. Only one player (out of the other eight players) had actually cashed in a live tournament. That was the opposite end of the spectrum compared to the TV table...

Seat 1: Patrick Antonius - 283,200
Seat 2: Erik Joergensen - 22,100
Seat 3: Magnus Persson - 165,600
Seat 4: Matthew Carter - 58,400
Seat 5: Daniel Negreanu - 31,700
Seat 6: Will Durkee - 92,600
Seat 7: Sam Norman - 29,600
Seat 8: Gus Hansen - 349,400
Seat 9: Sergey Feklisov - 115,500

As Gus Hansen joked, "Get me off this fuckin' table."

Will Durkee won a bracelet at the 2007 WSOP. Gus Hansen and Patrik Antonius were the top two in chips when the day began. It was an interesting table for sure and during the first couple of hours... there was plenty of action, especially when the new chipleader Janne Lamsa was moved there and he recklessly splashed chips.

Both Antonius and Hansen doubled up Daniel Negreanu. Everyone's favorite Canuck cracked Aces... twice. With sooted connectors too, while Hansen and Antonius had sets of Aces as well. Negreanu flushed out Hansen and then he rivered The Wheel on Antonius.

At one point before the dinner break, Hoyt Corkins was moved to the TV table. It attracted plenty of pro railbirds such as Phil Hellmuth, Kirk Morrison, Todd Brunson, Lee Nelson, and Jeff Madsen.

Anyway, 32 players out of 84 runners survived Day 3. Here's some info...

End of Day 3 Chip Counts:
Aleksander Vathne 470,500
Theo Jorgensen 457,000
Dominic Kay 430,500
Gus Hansen 405,000
Oyvind Riisem 401,500
Jakob Paulsen 383,500
Johannes Korsar 370,000
John Tabatabai 335,000
Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad 311,400
Karl Mahrenholz 297,000
Annie Duke 286,500
William Durkee 264,500
Magnus Persson 260,000
Steven van Zadelhoff 259,500
James Keys 247,500
Patrik Antonius 200,000
Tino Lechich 184,500
Abishek Khaitan 178,500
Andreas Bergren 175,000
Pat Scanlon 170,000
Henrik Waltersson 159,500
Matthew McCullough 150,000
Terry Cook 147,000
Marco Traniello 101,500
Nicolas Levi 98,000
Janne Lamsa 95,000
Julius Colman 78,000
Marcello Marigliano 65,000
Kenny Tran 64,500
Erick Lindgren 54,500
Patrick Jouven 39,500
Shaun Needham 39,000

Day 4 Starting Seating:
Table 1:
Steven van Zadelhoff - 259,500
Annie Duke - 286,500
Julius Colman - 78,000
Theo Jørgensen - 457,000
Oyvind Riisem - 401,500
Terry Cook - 147,000
Erick Lindgren - 54,500
Patrick Jouven - 39,500

Table 2:
Dominic Kay - 430,500
Marco Traniello - 101,500
Will Durkee - 264,500
James Keys - 247,500
Kenny Tran - 64,500
Nicolas Levi - 98,000
John Tabatabai - 335,000
Marcello Marigliano - 65,000

Table 3:
Tino Lechich - 184,500
Karl Mahrenholz - 297,000
Henrik Waltersson - 159,500
Aleksander Vathne - 470,500
Shaun Needham - 39,000
Jakob Paulsen - 383,500
Abishek Khaitan - 178,500
"Annette_15" Obrestad - 311,400

Table 4:
Patrik Antonius - 174,000
Janne Lamsa - 120,000
Magnus Persson - 238,500
Pat Scanlon - 200,000
Andreas Bergren - 215,000
Matthew McCullough - 182,500
Gus Hansen - 398,000
Johannes Korsar - 346,000

There are some pretty big names left as you can tell. Day 4 starts at 2pm local time on Saturday and will not stop until we're down to nine players. Check out PokerNews.com for all the live updates.

* * * * *
Bouncin Round the Room...

DaveShoelace and I had a couple of prop bets going. We had last longers involving female players, good looking Scandis, and former WSOP champions.

Annie Duke (DS) vs. Annette_15 (Pauly)
Gus Hansen (DS) vs. Patrik Antonius (Pauly)
Johnny Chan (DS) vs. Jamie Gold (Pauly)

The Chan/Gold bet was the only one that we have a result. Chan busted out while Gold made the money. I bumped into Jamie Gold and told him about the bet. "You made a great pick," he said. "I don't have a lot of chips left, but I won't let you down."

DaveShoelace also gave me the featured TV table vs. the rest of the field for a bet on the eventual champion. At the time, it looked like a lock for me. But now, I'm starting to think that Annette_15 is going to win it all.

There's no outlets near the TV table, so I have to use my laptop on battery power and sit off to the side on a folding chair. I have to go behind the bar (the TV set is located in what is the casino's disco) to juice up my laptop. No less than a dozen people asked me for drinks. In a piece of random Tao of Poker trivia, one of the last jobs I had before I started writing about poker... was a bartender in NYC.

Oh, then there was Jamie Gold's Kebab. He apparently order a snack and then busted out before he could eat it. Snoopy had been eying it for almost an hour before he finally swooped in to have a bite. It was so newsworthy that we dedicated an entire post to it on PokerNews.

Ah before I forget, thanks to the folks at 441 (ESPN's poker production crew) for checking out coverage of the WSOPE at the Tao of Poker. Those guys and gals are the best in the business. They have great senses of humor so the next installment of Pissing Pros is dedicated to Matt and the gang.

Last 5 Pros I Pissed Next To....
1. Hoyt Corkins
2. Johnny Lodden
3. Magnus Persson
4. Daniel Negreanu
5. Jeff Madsen

* * * * *
Come back at the Tao of Poker for daily recaps and head over at PokerNews for live coverage and updates including chip counts, photos, and videos.

My buddies Johnny Walker and Friedman are blogging for the Borgata. Check out their coverage of The Borgata Poker Open!

For all you fantasy sports junkies, check out our new site... Fantasy Sports Live.


Bonus Code: Pauly

Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/15/2007 05:57:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOPE Day 8 - Main Event Day 2b: The Biggest Game in Town

By Pauly
London

I had hit the wall about a wall about one week into covering the WSOPE. That marked the fifth week on the arduous European adventure (Amsterdam, Stockholm, Barcelona, and London) and I was exhausted and mentally drained. Being in London made me homesick for New York City, more than I had ever been on the road over the last three years following the carnival-like atmosphere of tournament poker. I'm the type of person who lives in the moment, and rarely gets caught up with dwelling on the past or anticipating the future. However, when I woke up on Thursday, the last thing on my mind was being here. All I could think about was the day that I get to fly home to NYC.

When I walked past the Ladbrokes betting parlor on my way to the Empire Casino, my thoughts drifted to sitting on my brother's couch and watching NFL games. When I wandered past the tube station, I longed to be on a downtown #1 train. And when I shuffled into the casino past the bulky Eastern European security guard wearing a black suit, I had become comfortably numb and transformed into chipcounting zombie, right out of Shaun of the Dead.

The first few hours on Day 2b were a struggle for me. I was assigned the featured TV table, something completely different that previous assignments. That held my attention most of the time, but I kept eying the tournament clock. I couldn't wait for Day 2b to end.

That's when I ran out of juice on my laptop and had to return to the makeshift media row. Michael Craig wandered over and asked me if I could take dinner break earlier and join him and some other friends. I looked at the clock. I still had ninety minutes to go and had to decline.

"Too bad," Craig said in his distinct Midwestern accent. "Would you still like to meet Al Alvarez?"

I jumped out of my stool and gave him a look like, "Fuck yeah!"

We fought our way past the crowded rail and walked into the bar. I immediately recognized Tony Holden, author of Big Deal and Bigger Deal. That's when a group of people parted and I caught a glimpse of Al Alvarez, author of the most influential piece of poker, Las Vegas, and gambling literature, The Biggest Game in Town.

Michael Craig said something to the effect, "This is Pauly, one of the premiere poker writers in America."

I shook Alvarez's hand and was certainly pleased to introduce myself.

He said in a whispered tone, "I have heard about you."

Alvarez celebrated his 78th birthday last month and lumbered around with a cane. I was told later that his hearing is not the best these days so he probably said, "I can't hear you." Regardless, I stood in awe and began to sweat. Aside from the first week of the 2005 WSOP, I have not been geeked out about meeting anyone in poker. That initial bombardment of excitement had escaped me years ago. Yet, for the first time in very long time, I stood in the presence of three great writers of my genre... Alvarez, Holden, and Craig.

Their group shuffled off to the Asian restaurant and Tony Holden stayed behind for about five minutes to shoot the breeze with me. Mad Harper initially introduced me to Holden at the 2005 WSOP. We had a brief encounter but finally had a proper chat. Holden sipped a glass of wine with his dinner jacket slung around his shoulder, while I asked him a dozen questions. He was happy to answer each of them, despite the fact his friends were already seated at dinner. I wanted to know how long it took to write both of his books, which occurred twenty years apart. I asked him about the pressure of having to write something that was being anticipated by a flock of hungry vultures. It's not too often you get to chat with a high caliber writer such as Tony Holden, and I soaked up every minute. That's when I wished I had blown off work to join them for dinner instead.

Before we ended our conversation, Holden invited me to play poker with the writers on the Bigger Deal blog. I told him I couldn't wait. Then I excused myself to get back to covering the featured TV table with Daniel Negreanu. That's when he paid me the ultimate compliment. "I love your writing. Don't change a thing."

As I walked away, I did the Kirk Gibson trademarked fist pump, just like he did as he rounded the bases in the 1988 World Series after hitting a pinch-hit game winning homerun against Dennis Eckersley. That's the best way to describe how I felt. I started the day completely homesick and on work tilt. All of that vanished after bumping into Michael Craig.

As I walked over to the final table to get a chip count on Negreanu, I couldn't believe that I didn't have the balls to ask Alvarez if he ever gave Sylvia Plath a good rodgering.

Moving on...

The featured TV table started out with Howard Lederer, Lee Nelson, Daniel Negreanu, and WSOPE PLO bracelet winner Dario Alioto. 19-year old Adam Junglen was moved to the table, to which Negreanu quickly starting joking around.

"No. We don't want him. He has too many chips. Those crazy internet kids!"

The introduction of Junglen to the table inspired some interesting table chatter. Lederer and Negreanu started the old, "When I was your age..." bit. When Lederer was the same age as Junglen, he dropped out of Columbia to follow the Grateful Dead. That's what I was doing when I was Junglen's age.

Here's what I wrote over at Poker News...

Table Talk: "When I was your age..."

With the addition of 19-year old Adam Junglen to the featured table, the veteran pros are feeling very nostalgic.

Daniel Negreanu: "Do you know how Ted Forrest used to live? True story. When he was grinding out 1-5 Stud in Las Vegas, he was so poor that he'd steal ketchup packets from McDonald's and eat it on white bread. You kids have it easy! Staying in nice hotels, being able to play poker online at any time. You kids have the good life."

Howard Lederer: "In my thirties, the biggest game in Las Vegas was 400/800 Limit Hold'em. It would run about three times a week."

Negreanu: "These days, there are 16-year olds playing three 400/800 tables at once! As Doyle said, back when he played in Texas, you were worried about getting cheated. Or getting robbed. Or getting shot. Or arrested by the police. Now you don't have to leave your house to play poker."

Junglen went to work early and busted Alioto. Eventually, their table was broken up and new blood was brought in for the cameras. Basically, Lee Nelson and Negreanu were moved to Johnny Chan's table... which they brought up to the featured table. Also at that table were Jon "Pearljammer" Turner and Hendon Mob's Joe Beevers.

I sat off to the side away from the rail next to the camera guy. I helped the SkySports producer get chipcounts and occasionally got to go inside the production room. I was away from the rest of the tournament and totally high after the conversation with Holden and meeting Alvarez.

Anyway, 44 players survived Day 2b. There are 84 players who advanced to Day 3. Here's some info...

Top 5 End of Day 2b Chipcounts:
Patrik Antonius - 283,200
Aleksander Vathne - 231,200
Theo Jorgensen - 174,100
Magnus Persson - 165,600
Dominic Kay - 163,700

Day 3 Starting Chipcounts:
Gus Hansen 349,400
Patrik Antonius 283,200
Janne Lamsa 253,800
Pat Scanlan 240,000
Aleksander Vathne 231,200
Annette Obrestad 214,400
Annie Duke 191,700
Theo Jorgensen 174,100
Magnus Persson 165,600
Dominic Kay 163,700
Marigliano Marcello 151,200
Johannes Korsav 148,400
Karl Mahrenholz 144,600
Huseyin Yimaz 143,500
Jacob Paulsen 129,200
Jan Sorensen 118,500
Johnny Chan 118,300
Terry Cook 117,700
Oyvind Riisem 116,500
Firlisov Sergey 115,500
Jamie Gold 115,000
Paul Ephremsen 113,700
Nicolas Levi 109,700
Erick Lindgren 108,800
Patrick Jouven 108,200
Dave Colclough 105,800
Farzad Bonyadi 102,300
Lechich Tino 101,500
Aloishek Khaitan 98,400
Kenny Tran 94,000
Will Durkee 92,600
Andreas Berggren 91,000
Joe Le 85,100
Tony G 76,600
Matt Larsh 76,000
Stephen van Zadelhoff 72,800
Mats Gravatin 72,000
Tom Dwan 70,600
Ian Frazer 70,500
Shaun Needham 70,000
Henrik Waltersson 69,500
Azzy Ashgar 69,200
Csaba Kureheszki 69,000
Hoyt Corkins 61,200
Philip Hilm 60,200
Matthew Carter 58,400
Martin Johnson 58,200
John Ridge 57,000
Julius Colman 55,500
Jeff Buffenbarger 50,900
Robert Stain 50,700
Matthew Gilbert 50,600
Lee Nelson 49,000
Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke 48,100
Sergey Rybachenko 48,000
Matthew McCullough 47,800
Marco Traniello 45,700
Joe Beevers 45,400
Jon Turner 44,800
Krzysztef Gluszko 44,200
Bob Willis 43,700
Jennifer Harman 42,200
Victoria Cohen 39,500
Daniel Zink 39,400
Matt Kay 38,200
Peter Murphy 37,500
Martin Vallo 36,800
Neal Pearson 32,800
Daniel Negreanu 31,700
Jeffrey Lisandro 31,100
Sam Norman 29,600
James Keys 26,500
Rehme Pedersen 26,000
Ryan Fronda 25,900
Roland Israelashvili 22,500
Erik Joergensen 22,100
Gary Jones 21,700
Matthew Hankins 21,200
Mark McCluskey 16,900
John Tabatabai 13,500
Simon Wing 12,700
Phil Hellmuth 10,500
Jani Sointula 5,600
Stephen Rynne ??????

Day 3 starts at 2pm local time on Friday. The top 36 win prize money.

* * * * *
Bouncin Round the Room...

I bumped into Stephen Bartley, who is one of my favorite British poker journalists. He paid me for his entry in the Pauly's Pub football pool. He admitted he knew nothing about "American football" which means he'll probably win it all.

I also saw Jeffrey Haas from the Asian Pacific Poker Tour and Conrad from PokerStars. Matt Parvis, the editor at Bluff Magazine, stopped by the featured TV table. After the WSOP ended, Parvis hired me to write a column of my choice. I pitched him a series called On the Road with Dr. Pauly and he loved the concept. I sent him my first piece which details my highjinks in Amsterdam and Sweden with Benjo and Johnny Mushrooms. It should appear in the next issue of Bluff. Keep an eye out for it. I finally get to do some real writing and I'm totally excited about the opportunity.

Change100 and Jen were downstairs in the poker room covering those tables and having to deal with people jumping onto their laptops when they went inside the ropes. Upstairs, DaveShoelace and Snoopy had to deal with drunken and rowdy railbirds who thought they were at a football match. Dave Shoelace had a great line and said that there was a 2 to 1 chance that someone puked on his laptop before the night ended. James Keys had an entourage of drunken hooligans that were giving Jamie Gold a tough time. The TD had to give them a warning to calm down. One of them wandered up to Dave Shoelace and told him to write bad things about Gold in the blog, particularly on one hand where Gold took some chips from Keys.

Tony G was shortstacked after dinner break but went on a tremendous run. He doubled up then busted Isabelle Mercier. She was cordial at the table, but walked away muttering a slew of x-rated words. The G was being old-school Tony G. The guy is from the streets, yo. He had Big Slick against Mercier's Hilton Sisters. She was ahead until the King spiked on the river. "Yes!" screamed The G as he threw up his arms in celebration. "The Butcher of Baghdad is back!" You can't make this stuff up.

Snoopy was happy that his model friend, Patrik Antonius continued his run. Here's what Change100 wrote in a quick fashion report:

"He's wearing his Martin's Poker shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest. in the words of Rachael Ray, 'Yum-o!'"

Gus Hansen had been lurking around the featured table (mugging for camera time as a railbird) and over to the other tables sweating Patrik Antonius, who also finished Day 2b as the chipleader. To quote the always funny Dave Shoelace, "This has turned into the World Series of Good Looking Scandinavian Men."

Last 5 Pros I Pissed Next To....
1. Jamie Gold
2. Willie Tann
3. Roland De Wolfe
4. Daniel Negreanu
5. Erik Friberg

* * * * *
Come back at the Tao of Poker for daily recaps and head over at PokerNews for live coverage and updates including chip counts, photos, and videos.

For all you fantasy sports junkies, check out our new site... Fantasy Sports Live.

Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/14/2007 05:30:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOPE Day 7 - Main Event Day 2a: The Gus Hansen Experience

By Pauly
London

Since the field at the WSOPE main event was smaller than anticipated, TD Jack Effel broke up Day 2 into two flights in order to have everyone play at one venue... The Empire. Day 2a was made up of 111 players, while Day 2b will feature 119 players. Out of the 362 entrants at the £10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event championship, only 130 advanced to Day 2.

On Day 2a, 40 players advanced to Day 3 on Friday. Day 2b begins shortly and around 45 players are expected to survive the day.

The action started out slow on Day 2a and slowly built up momentumn. Most of the action went down after the dinner break and monster stacks began to emerge. The biggest... from Gus Hansen.

The Great Dane had been sitting at the feature TV table for most of the day and he took out Greg Raymer and Ram Vaswani en route to a 349,000 stack. Nothing could slow him down. And he did most of that damage by playing good cards. Seriously. He busted Raymer with 7-7 (and flopped a boat) and took down Vaswani with pocket Kings.

Norwegian teenager, Annette_15, also went on a run late on Day 2a and jumped to the top of the leaderboard.

Here's the chipcounts...

End of Day 2a Top 10 Chip Counts:
Gus Hansen 349,400
Janne Lamsa 253,800
Pat Scanlon 240,000
Annette_15 d 214,400
Annie Duke 191,700
Johannes Korsar 148,400
Huseyin Yilmaz 143,500
Jan Sorensen 118,500
Terry Cook 117,700
Sergey Feklisov 115,500

The Rest:
Paul Ephremsen 113,700
Erick Lindgren 108,800
Dave Colclough 105,800
Farzad Bonyadi 102,300
Will Durkee 92,600
Joe Le 85,100
Steven van Zadelhoff 72,800
Tom "Durrr" Dwan 70,600
Amat Ashgar 69,200
Hoyt Corkins 61,200
Phillip Hilm 60,200
John Ridge 57,000
R W Stain 50,700
Matthew Gilbert 50,600
Sergey Rybachenko 48,000
Marco Traniello 45,700
Krzysztof Gluszko 44,200
Jennifer Harman 42,200
Vicky Coren 39,500
Matthew Kay 38,200
Peter Murphy 37,500
Neil Pearson 32,800
Jeffrey Lisandro 31,100
Rehne Pedersen 26,000
Gary Jones 21,700
Matthew Hankins 21,200
Mark McCluskey 16,900
Simon Wing 12,700
Phil Hellmuth 10,500
Jani Sointula 5,600

Day 2a eliminations included... Devilfish, Paul Jackson, Ram Vaswani, Bruno Fitoussi, Greg Raymer, Humberto Brenes, Paul Wasicka, Beth Shak, Patrick Bruel,Thor Hansen, Barry Greenstein, Pascal Perrault, Pamela Brunson, sbrugby, Sarah Taylor, Fabrice Soulier, Sherkhan Farnood, Jesus, Erik Seidel, ActionJeff, Thomas "The Eggman" Wahlroos, Brandon Adams, and Sorel Mizzi.

Out on the floor, most of the attention was given to Phil Hellmuth's table. He busted Jesus early on after Jesus shoved with a shortstack and A-Q only to get rivered by Phil Hellmuth's A-10. At one point, there were 18 total bracelets at his table (Humberto Brenes, Jan Sorenson, Farzad Bonyadi).

Hellmuth had been jawing back and forth with Bonyadi for most of the day. He also mounted a relentless assault on Ramzi Jelassi. Apparently, the young Swede made a few faux pas and breached poker etiquette. Hellmuth was quick to point out the kid's mistakes and unleashed a barrage of Hellmuthian insults.

"You need ammunition, kid. You have no bullets. How can you fight without any bullets in your gun?" he constantly told Jelassi.

Hellmuth eventually busted Jelassi with K-4 against the Swede's A-9. Brenes and Lindgren (who moved to his table) gave him a ton of shit for playing K-4.

Then, it got ugly. Hellmuth lost two big pots and he exploded spewing venom over everyone and anyone.

"Nice fucking dealing in this place!" he screamed after he doubled up Mark McCluskey.

Hellmuth held 7-7 and McCluskey had J-J. The flop was J-7-4 and that's when all the money went into the pot.

"That's the fuckin' second time I've been coolered," screamed Hellmuth. "Unfuckin' believable."

Hellmuth was crippled to 7,000 and attacked the dealer. She was on her way out of the box and Hellmuth told the new dealer, "Don't push her. Let her deal me one more fuckin' cooler. That was twice in ten hands. Nice fuckin' dealing."

Of course, there is no specific f-bomb policy at the WSOPE so Hellmuth avoided a ten minute penalty for his Hellmuthian tirade.

Mark McCluskey told Snoopy that he had been waiting a decade to get back Hellmuth. In 1996, Hellmuth slow rolled him in a hand. McCluskey never forgot and savored every minute of the Hellmuthian Meltdown.

Hellmuth eventually managed to calm down and he didn't make any mistakes with a short stack. He managed to double up and although he was among the shortstacks, he advanced to Day 3.

* * * * *
Bouncin Round the Room...

It was another long day in the trenches. The internet connection is piss poor and we've been having issues over the past week. There's also a serious lack of space for us to work which means I'm sitting in high traveled public areas. It was not uncommon to come back from the tables and find someone using my laptop or any of my co-workers laptops! One guy had the balls to ask me to wait while he finished up writing an email. I had to install a password protection to keep those peasants away.

There's a media room across Leicester Square in the basement of a hotel. But that's not safe. Two guys from Betfair got their iBooks stolen. As one member of the European media pointed out, "This is supposed to be the WSOP. They are treating us like shit."

I got smacked in the head with a TV camera as they rushed to get an all-in. I'm used to working with the surly ESPN camera guys and know the spots to stand around the table where I can see the action, stay out of their shot, and avoid getting tangled up with the sound guys or cameramen. However, the film crew working this event has never done poker before. Virgins. Ugh. There were moments when I had to tell the camera guys that they were focused in on the wrong player. DaveShoelace had similar experiences. We've been frequently helping direct the cameras. One instance, I got into position behind the dealer and whack! I got banged up pretty good on my noggin. I was in the right place and the camera dude wasn't and rushed over without seeing me.

I also got two beers spilled on me covering Phil Hellmuth's table. The rail was super tight and everyone in the Empire wanted to catch a glimpse of Hellmuthian greatness. After the second beer and feeling the bump on my head, I had one of those dreaded moments... I can't wait until the day is over so I can drink myself silly. Yes, sometimes I drink to escape my reality.

There was a Liz Lieu sighting at The Empire. She played Day 1 at the Fifty and busted out. I had not seen her since EPT Barcelona. There was a lot of wrong information written about her in Barcelona, particularly by Card Player. Here's what happened two weeks ago. Liz was at the same table with Isabelle Mercier. I wandered over and Isabelle was all in. I wrote down Isabelle's bustout and during the hand, Liz got a phone call. I was focused on getting down all the information in the hand and when I looked up, Liz was in tears. She told me that her father had passed away. My heart sank. I was 3,000 miles away from home when my grandmother died and it's the most helpless feeling in the world. I pulled her aside and sat her down at an empty table as crocodile-sized tears poured out of her eyes. It was one of those moments where poker didn't matter and life was more important. Luckily, Alex her business partner was there to help take her back to her hotel and arrange travel to Vietnam. I respected Liz's privacy on a post at Poker News and wrote that she had to leave the table due to a personal family emergency. I left out that her father died and Liz appreciated my use of discretion. I have no idea how CP fabricated a story about Liz left the table in tears after an argument with Isabelle Mercier. I wanted to clear up all of that mess with a mention in this post.

Anyway, Liz left Barcelona in the middle of the tournament in order to fly to Vietnam to attend her father's funeral. Last week, she emailed me to say that she'd be in London to play in the WSOPE. We finally had the opportunity to catch up and spoke about the importance of family and the catch-22 situation of trying to earn a living on the road and the sacrifice that a lot of us make in this industry. Liz is a good friend with a big heart and told me about more charity work she is going to be doing back home. As always, I wished her the best.

* * * * *
Come back at the Tao of Poker for daily recaps and head over at PokerNews for live coverage and updates including chip counts, photos, and videos.

For all you fantasy sports junkies, check out our new site... Fantasy Sports Live.

Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/13/2007 05:39:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOPE Day 6 - Main Event Day 1b: The Antonius Factor

By Pauly
London

Oh to be young and good looking and sitting with the big stack in life. We're just ugly satellites floating around the universe of Patrik Antonius, the uber-pretty boy toy from Finland. Model. Tennis pro. Poker God.

He's also Shronk's man crush. To quote Shronk, "Patrik Antonius is so godlike that when he folds his cards they turn into doves and fly away."

Antonius ended Day 1b as the chipleader after busting a slew of people who dared to mess with the chosen one. Other players that accumulated chips on Day 1b included Adam Junglen (the 19-year old whiz from Ohio who made a final table at the EPT Barcelona ten days earlier), Kenny Tran (50K HORSE finalist), Jesse Jones, Pearljammer, and everyone's favorite canuck, Daniel Negreanu.

End of Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts:
1. Patrik Antonius 76,150 Fifty
2. Shaun Deeb 71825 Sportsman
3. Tino Lechich 71,725 Fifty
4. Adam Junglen 69,275 Empire
5. Kenny Tran 67,025 Empire
6. Gerry Kane 66,675 Sportsman
7. David Lionel 65,825 Fifty
8. Jesse Jones 64,950 Fifty
9. Jon "Pearljammer" Turner 60,975 Empire
10. Daniel Negreanu 60,900 Empire

Notable Stacks:
Jamie Gold 53,400
Theo Jorgensen 50,825
Johnny Chan 47,250
Lee Nelson 46,450
Johnny Lodden 46,125
Tony G 44,750
Dario Alioto 42,225
Juha Helppi 42,025
Dan Shak 39,900
Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo 39,000
Barny Boatman 37,725
Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke 36,975
Harry Demetriou 32,975
Isabelle Mercier 32,400
Roland de Wolfe 32,250
Magnus Persson 31,400
Joe Beevers 26,000
Howard Lederer 20,450
Marc Goodwin 16,900
Steve "MrSmokey1" Billirakis 16,375
Willie Tann 16,150
Ben Roberts 12,950
Martin Johnson 12,200
Allen Cunningham 10,550
Neil "Bad Beat" Channing 10,475
Michel Abecassis 9,875
Kristian Kjondal 8,025

Day 1b followed the same format of Day 1a. The action was spread out over three casinos. I covered The Empire and the mood was more subdued compared to Day 1a. The action crawled along and went super slow. I couldn't explain why.

The big story at the Empire was the early elimination of Texas Dolly. He busted out on the third hand courtesy of ZeeJustin. When I saw the table draw (Brunson had ZeeJustin and Adam Junglen at his table), I anticipated some sort of shoot out between the grizzled veteran and the two young guns. ZeeJustin shot first and sent Brunson packing.

The flop was 10s-5d-4c and all the money went in on the turn when the As. Brunson showed 4d-4h for a set, while ZeeJustin had ZeeWheel (and picked up a flush draw). The 7d could not save Brunson and he limped to the rail with the assistance of his crutch. Always a class act, Brunson smiled for the cameras and took the time to do an interview with SkySports.

And over at the Fifty, Change100 told me that Brandon Schaefer busted out when his K-K ran into A-A. Ouch. Schaefer headed over to the Empire to sweat his buddy (and youngest WSOP bracelet winner) MrSmokey1.

MrSmokey1's record might be in jeopardy since the WSOPE allows players under 21 to particpate. That's why Annette_15, Gobboboy, and Adam Junglen are in the mix. And there's also the story of Mike Macdonald. Here's what I wrote on PokerNews:

Mike Macdonald's 18th Birthday Ruined By Jamie Gold's Two Outer

What did you do on your 18th birthday??

Well, American player Mike Macdonald turned 18 years old today, which means he can finally compete in his first live poker tournament. He forked over £10,000 for a chance to fling around chips with the big boys. He was recently moved to the featured TV table which included former WSOP world champion Jamie Gold and Kenny Tran. Macdonald raised with Jacks pre-flop and Jamie Gold called. On a ragged flop, Gold pushed all in and Macdonald instantly called. Gold showed pocket threes and was way behind. The turn gave Gold a set when a three spiked. The river was no help for Macdonald and he headed to the rail.

And you know what? The kid took the bad beat like a man despite getting berated by Jamie Gold.

When I asked my fellow media reps what they were doing on their 18th birthday, Change100 admitted that she was in high school playing the lead of Carousel. Me? I was in Atlanta, GA shitfaced on tequila at a classy joint on Cheshire Bridge Road called Tops N' Tails (infamous for their Monday Night hot oil wrestling).

And Snoopy? Snoopy takes the prize. He was in a pub near his university in the UK. His friends hired a stripper who dressed up like a bobbie. She stripped him down (the expression he used was "full monty") and started spanking him with a whip, which she "accidentally" shoved up his bum. Poor Snoopy. Anally-violated by a stripper on his 18th birthday.

"I think I would have preferred the two outer," he said with a straight face.

* * * * *
Bouncin Round the Room...

Negreanu almost hit me in the junk while practicing his golf swing. I'm not saying that he tried to "cop a feel" but he got way to close to the fopping my nuts. That was a little too close for comfort, Monroe Ficus.

Sportswriter Martin Johnson played on Day 1b. He's famous in the UK and writes for various outlets. He admitted that he knew very little about poker and found himself sandwiched in between Pearljammer and Phil Gordon. Lucky for Johnson, Gordon took him under his wing to give him a few tips. That must have worked. Everyone's favorite Tiltboy busted out before dinner break, while Johnson went on to advance to Day 2.

Snoopy could not eat his dinner without getting bombarded with local pros telling him bad beat stories. Poor kid. He said he's going to have to eat in a stall in the men's bathroom to avoid the maelstrom of bad beats.

Devilfish has been all over the hot mid-drift exposing massage therapists. We can't keep our eyes off of them. We got Felipe to take a few stealth photos...


Chad Brown busted out at the feature table at the Empire minutes after his gal pal Vanessa Rousso busted out at the Fifty. Vanessa rushed over to the Empire and asked me where Chad was. I told her that he busted and rushed past me in media row. I assume he was headed over to The Fifty to check up on Vanessa.

Last 5 Pros I Pissed Next to...
1. Kenny Tran
2. Ben Roberts
3. Ted Forrest
4. Devilfish
5. Kristian Kondjal

* * * * *
Come back at the Tao of Poker for daily recaps and head over at PokerNews for live coverage and updates including chip counts, photos, and videos.

For all you fantasy sports junkies, check out our new site... Fantasy Sports Live.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/12/2007 07:45:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOPE Day 5 - Main Event Day 1a: The Phil He11muth Show

By Pauly
London

The first flight of the £10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event of the WSOPE kicked off on Monday afternoon in three different casinos scattered over London. Some of the pros were bitching that they paid $20,000 US and booked a $400/night hotel near the Empire Casino only to discover that they are playing on the other side of town.

As of Monday afternoon, 323 players bought in with registration still open until Tuesday. Half of that field played on Day 1a in either The Empire, The Sportsman, or The Fifty. Snoopy, Jonno, myself (along with Shronk & Tiffany) covered The Empire. Schecky and Change100 were at the swanky The Fifty. And Jen and Barry aka DaveShoelace were kicking it at The Sportsman. We had to cover just seven tables per casino. I know, I know. 21 tables and you couldn't squeeze that in one venue?

The rumor was that the big wigs were going to cut The Sportsman out of the mix and only use The Empire and The Fifty. The result? The Sportsman got wicked pissed at that possibility since the WSOPE organizers promised that they would be hosting part of the event. I guess it's not Harrahs fault that they over-estimated the popularity of the main event. There would have been more players in the main event if the buy in was lower at £5,000 ($10K US) or at least £7,500 instead of a whopping £10,000. If you add the cost of travel, expensive hotels, the rapage of taxi fares, and pricey restaurants... the US based pros would have to spend about $25,000 just to play in the main event.

As is, the higher entry fee meant that only the top tiered US-based pros (minus Phil Ivey) would appear in the WSOPE main event. You have to factor in that there were not many online satellites available to US players. Then again... maybe that's what the suits at Harrahs wanted... a smaller and manageable field comprised of the top players in the world with a handful of uber-wealthy Londoners and Europeans. Hmmmmmm....

Anyway, the structure gave players 20K in chips to start with two hour levels. Day 1a and Day 1b would only be four levels each. Jack Effel was worried about the possibility of too many players busting out on Day 1a, so he decided to end play at four levels or roughly 12:35am.

Ironically, not as many people busted out than everyone anticipated. I told Jonno one of my theories involved the size of each field in different casinos. When you sit in a massive area like the Amazon Ballroom at the Rio that has hundreds of tables, that induces action. When you are sitting at six tables, your mentality changes and you think that you're playing in a smaller field so you play tighter. My other theory is more plausible... lack of internet pushmonkeys.

By the end of Day 1a, 111 players remained out of the 164 runners in the field. Perhaps they should have played five levels instead of four in order to fit everyone in one casino at the start of Day 2. The last rumor I heard was that Day 2 will be spread out over two casinos (The Empire and The Fifty) and not three.

Compared to earlier events, Monday was the most crowded I had seen The Empire... and there were only seven starting tables with 54 players milling around. We had a few big names at The Empire such as Andy Bloch, Jesus, Erick Lindgren, Bruno Fitoussi, Bet Shak, Jani Sointula, Ted Forrest, Andreas Noilvoid, Annette_15, Vicky Coren, Per Ummer, WSOPE bracelet winner Thomas Bihl, William Thorson, Thor Hansen, Barry Greenstein, Jen Harman, and of course... Phil Hellmuth.

The notable names at The Sportsman included... Ram Vaswani, David Williams, Pam Brunson, Philip Hilm, Devilfish, The Grinder, Hoyt Corkins, Fabrice Soulier, Todd Brunson, Paul Wasicka, Freddy Deeb, and Annie Duke.

Over at The Fifty, the pros included... Brandon Adams, John Juanda, Liz Lieu, Noel Furlong, Greg Raymer, Erik123, Pascal Perrault, Robert Mizrachi, Erik Seidel, Action Jeff, sbrugby, Jan Sorenson, Imper1um, Lee Watkinson, and the Eggman himself, Thomas Wahlroos.

Day 1a eliminations... William Thorson, Thomas Bihl, John Juanda, WSOP main event champion Noel Furlong, Freddy Deeb, Todd Brunson, David Williams, Andy Block, Nenad Medic, Dario Minieri, Liz Lieu, The Grinder, The brother of The Grinder, Lee Watkinson, Ted Forrest, and Per Ummer.

How about some Day 1a chipcounts?

Top 10 End of Day 1a Chip Counts:
1. Janne Lamsa - 115,850 Fifty
2. Huseyin Yilmaz - 99,575 Sportsman
3. Phil Hellmuth - 82,825 Empire
4. Andrew Feldman - 76,650 Empire
5. Patrick Bruel - 71,225 Empire
6. Priyan De Mel - 67,900 Fifty
7. Gary Jones - 65,425 Fifty
8. Paul Ephremsen - 64,875 Fifty
9. Simon Wing - 64,150 Sportsman
10. Terry Cook - 63,700 Sportsman

Notable Stacks:
Ram Vaswani 61050
Humberto Brenes 56200
Dave Colclough 54100
William Durkee 48750
Jennifer Harman 48500
ActionJeff 48375
Gus Hansen 46925
Jeffrey Lisandro 46700
Erik Seidel 45000
Jan Sorensen 45000
Thor Hansen 44600
Annie Duke 44200
Annette_15 43375
Erick Lindgren 42028
Greg Raymer 41300
Farzad Bonyadi 39925
Philip Hilm 39475
Rehne Pedersen 38875
Paul Jackson 35425
Bruno Fitoussi 34475
Beth Shak 34150
Sherkhan Farnood 31050
Devilfish 29100
Jani Sointula 23650
Barry Greenstein 22875
Marco Traniello 19900
Hoyt Corkins 19300
Vicky Coren 18750
Paul Wasicka 18400
Brian Townsend 18025
Pascal Perrault 16075
Chris Ferguson 15525
Brandon Adams 14850
Pamela Brunson 11250
Imper1um 8975
Fabrice Soulier 6350

The 111 players who survived Day1a will come back to play on Wednesday.

* * * * *
Bouncin Round the Room (on Main Event Day 1a at The Empire)...

I covered the poker room downstairs specifically two tables. One table had Thor Hansen and Barry Greenstein. The other had WSOPE bracelet winner Thomas Bihl and William Thorson.

On the third hand of the tournament, Thomas Bihl busted out after donking off his chips and made some random British hot chick, Sarah Taylor, the chipleader. Taylor limped from UTG. William Thorson called. Thomas Bihl raised to 1,200 from the big blind. Taylor called as did Thorson. I put Bihl on a big pair. The flop was 9d-6s-4d. Taylor bet out of turn and was told by the dealer to take her bet back. Bihl checked. Taylor then bet 1,000. Thorson called. Bihl check-raised to 6,000. Taylor and Thorson called. The turn was the 6h. Bihl checked. Taylor bet 8,000 and sat back in her chair... a signal of strength. She was also shaking uncontrollably. My gut told me that she had 6-6 and turn quads. The chick was shaking for fucks sake. The ever cool Thorson folded and Bihl went into the tank for a minute before he check-raised all in. What the fuck? Taylor quickly called. I expected Bihl to have A-A or at least 9-9 or 4-4 for the full house. Nope. He flipped over Qh-Qd. Taylor tabled 6d-6c for quads. Bihl was drawing dead as the dealer put out a meaningless 5h on the river. Bihl headed to the rail as Taylor dragged the pot and jumped out to an early chiplead. Two days earlier Bihl won a bracelet after he came from behind and beat Jen Harman in the HORSE event as he made history and became the first ever player to win a bracelet in Europe. Then he donked off his chips to an amateur who obviously held a monster hand. I can only assume that Bihl is primarily an online player who doesn't study the physical reactions of players as much as he should. I mean, Taylor was shaking. How could he not know she had a hand?


Sarah Taylor (photo by Felipe)
At one point there was another all in at Taylor's table and French actor Patrick Bruel shouted, "Where are the fucking cameras?!?!" During any all in at the table and the dealers were instructed to halt action while the film crew got into position to film the remainder of the hand. The flop was Kd-Jh-5c and a monster of chips in the middle of the table. The pot was about 30,000 and Bruel was all in for his last 5,000. Sarah Taylor called his all in bet as Bruel wondered where the cameras were. The crew eventually arrived he asked if the Queen was there too. Bruel had flopped a set with Js-Jc and Taylor was way behind with 10h-10d. Bruel turned a boat and doubled through Taylor. By the end of Day 1a, Bruel would be among the chip leaders.

William Thorson busted out early which sucked because all the hot Swedish railbirds followed him out of the poker room. Booooooooooooo!

Top 5 Stupid Questions We're Asked in Media Row...
1. "What are you doing?"

2. "Is that someone famous?" (While pointing to an unknown player.)

3. "Can I check BetFair.com to see how my cricket bets are going?"

4. "Where's that Italian kid with the scarf?"

5. "Where's Bill Ivey?"

Phil Hellmuth made another Hellmuthian grand entrance. He had hired a double decker bus to take him around the city as booze flowed and 11 skanks dressed up like bobbies were also there (representing his 11 bracelets). The bus had been blasting rap music and it feature a photo of Hellmuth flashing 11 for the camera. A few pedestrians shouted things like, "You suck Hellmuth!"

Jonno wrote one of the funniest things of the day alluding to the fact that the bus was intact and Hellmuth didn't crash it around a light pole in front of teh casino, like he did the day before the main event at the WSOP in July.

Hellmuth was at the feature TV table with Marco Traniello. The table was quiet during the first hour or so and Hellmuth told everyone that they needed to start talking otherwise they were going to get moved. That loosened the table up and a few more people were chatting and joking around. Hellmuth was in full on abusive mode. He berated Traniello for the first three levels and Traniello pretty much shrugged it off. He wouldn't let Hellmuth bully him around in pots and frequently played back at Hellmuth. Supposedly, Hellmuth got tanked at dinner and when he came back Thor Hansen was moved to his table. Those two jawed back and forth. Thor Hansen is a hilarious guy. This was my favorite exchange from the day...

Phil Hellmuth: "I'm going out tonight, to this club. You wanna come?"
Thor Hansen: "Why? Is it a gay bar?"

Johnny Chan railbirded the TV table and brought a bottle of champagne over to drink. At one point, Chan was shotgunning from the bottle and pouring Hellmuth glasses. Hellmuth was so pissed drunk that he knocked over his glass, which crashed to the ground.

The Empire played the Monday Night Football game on the big screen. That was clutch since I had money on the game. I tried to get unstuck after my awful betting parlor losses (Soccer on Saturday and NFL on Sunday). I headed to Ladbrokes before work on Monday and decided to go double or nothing. Luckily, the Bengals won and I got unstuck. Ship it!

Last 5 Pros I Pissed Next to...
1. Bruno Fitoussi
2. Ted Forrest
3. Jesus
4. Gary Jones
5. Sherkhan Farnood

* * * * *
Come back at the Tao of Poker for daily recaps and head over at PokerNews for live coverage and updates including chip counts, photos, and videos.

For all you fantasy sports junkies, check out our new site... Fantasy Sports Live.


Bonus Code: Pauly

Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/11/2007 05:25:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOPE Day 4 - Dario Alioto Rips Tony G Apart at PLO Final Table

By Pauly
London

I left the casino at 5:30am, shortly after Dario Alioto became the third Italian to win a WSOP bracelet joining Max Pescatori (2006) and Walter Farina (1994).

Tony G took third place in the 5K PLO event. The G held the chiplead at one point but could not win his first bracelet. He was entertaining, as always, and a little bummed out he didn't win. He played great.

Here's a list of final table money winners:
1 Dario Alioto £234,390
2 Istvan Novak £137,280
3 Tony G £94,380
4 David Callaghan £65,520
5 Antoine Arnault £49,530
6 Sherkhan Farnood £38,220
7 Sampo Lopponen £30,420
8 Andy Bloch £22,020
9 MH Razaghi £16,380

I wish I could write more, but I'm pressed for time. The main event starts in less than thirty minutes and I have to spring into action. Hopefully, I'll have more time to write after Day 1a is over and I can delve deeper into the inner workings of the WSOPE and tell you about who I pissed next to.

By the way, here's one little blurb I wrote in my notepad...

3:01am... Isabelle touches my arm. Somewhere in Western Pennsylvania, Mean Gene weeps. Somewhere in G-Vegas, Otis goes on mega-tilt.

Oh and I forgot to mention, I finally met Pinky (and Mrs. Pinky). They stopped by The Empire to check out the action. He's the first British blogger that I ever read. Nice to finally meet him.

Anyway, I'm out of time. Come back later when I'll bitch and moan about more betting parlor losses at Ladbrokes.

* * * * *
Go read Snoopy's blog because he groveled for a link.

Come back at the Tao of Poker for daily recaps and head over at PokerNews for live coverage and updates including chip counts, photos, and videos.

For all you fantasy sports junkies, check out our new site... Fantasy Sports Live.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/10/2007 08:23:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOPE Day 3 - German Thomas Bihl Beats Jen Harman for First European Bracelet

By Pauly
London

Last night, around 3:30am local time, I wrote something in the final table live updates alluding to the infamous quote from Teddy KGB from the film Rounders. I said, "The kid has alligator blood in his veins." That perfectly described Thomas Bihl, the German who came out of nowhere to top one of the strongest fields in tournament poker that I had seen in the last three years.

On Day 2 of HORSE, we confused two players and thought Bihl busted. He qualified through WSOPE sponsor Betfair and one of their reps mentioned to us about the error. I jokingly said something to the effect that, "Bihl's going to make the final table now."

Well, not only did he make the final table, he won the whole thing becoming the first ever player to win a bracelet outside of Las Vegas. And his feat was not an easy task. He had to outlast a final table comprising of some of the best players in the world.

Alex KGB? Some would argue that he had one of the best runs aside from Donkey Bomber at the 2007 WSOP.

Jesus? He's one of the best tournament players of all time and made a total of 27 final tables at the WSOP.

Jen Harman is often regarded as the best female poker player of all time. She only has two bracelets because she prefers the biggest cash games in the world. She's also the only female to have won two bracelets in open events (Non-Ladies or Non-Seniors events).

Kirk Morrison is a sick player. He's a true gambler and a tad bit insane. That's part of the reason he disappeared for seven plus years after winning a bracelet in 1997. Ask guys like Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, and Allen Cunningham about what they thought about Morrison's ability over a decade ago. They all started out roughly at the same time. Had Morrison stayed on the circuit, he could have amassed five or six more bracelets. But Morrison would be the first to admit, he might not have lived until 2007 had he stayed in Sin City due to his inner action junkie. If there's anyone I met on the poker tour who has a an amazing thirst for life and living in the moment... it's Kirk Morrison. By the way, he was knocking back beers an hour before the final table began. Morrison is a balls to the wall kinda guy and has become one of my favorite players over the past six months.

Brits Joe Beevers (nicknamed "The Elegence" by Vicky Coren) from Hendon Mob fame and Gary Jones (nicknamed "The Choir Boy" sporting lime green hair) are savvy players. Unfortunately, they were both shortstacked and made early exits.

And the online player, Yuval Bronshtein from Atlanta, played amazing over the last couple of days.

Yeah, not only did Thomas Bihl outlast a field of 105 runners consisting of the world's premiere players, he bested a tough as shit final table.

And I forgot to mention that grueling heads-up battle between himself and Jen Harman, which lasted 127 hands. After Kirk Morrison busted out in third-place, they were even in chips. She increased her lead to over 300,000 at one point, but Bil stormed back in the last hour of play.

Let's put this into perspective for Jen Harman... first place paid about £70K pounds or roughly $140K US. She plays in The Big Game in Bobby's Room at the Bellagio, which is the biggest cash game in the world. The paltry prize money means nothing to her. She was playing for a bracelet and a shot at history. She wanted to win badly. As Michael Craig mentioned to me, she's a fierce competitor.

"If she were flipping coins for $2, she'd want to win every one," explained Craig.

There was a moment in the tournament when Harman was the short stack with four players left. She was down to her last 85,000. Kirk Morrison had a monster lead at that point, but Harman doubled up to avoid elimination. She hung on and Jesus busted out in 4th. Then she took two monsterpottens off of Morrison during Razz to get back into contention. Morrison didn't recover at that point, as the three final players (Bihl, Morrison, Harman) were all even in chips.

Harman played remarkably and was so close to winning. But last night was Thomas Bihl's moment. And he was a humble winner as he thanked the crowd and his parents (who were in Germany) for their amazing support.

Moving on...

Change100 and Jen covered the final table, as the guys (myself, Barry, Snoopy, Jonno, and Schecky) covered £5,000 PLO Day 1. There were 157 players in the event and they only got down to 44. They suspended play at 2pm which was a controversial (and wrong move in my opinion.) The PLO event was supposed to be a two-day event and they should have played as long as possible before action was suspended. The majority of the players wanted to continue, but Jack Effel made a decision to stop play around 2am.

Now the remaining 44 players have to come back at 2pm local time. They won't stop until a winner is declared, or until 6am when the casino closes. It's going to be close call. Oh and yeah, the main event starts on Monday.

Anyway, the field in the PLO event was another stacked tournament. PLO is more popular among Europeans and English players, so they got more runners than anticipated. The big dogs made early exits such as Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Fuckin' Chan, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Fossilman, Robert Williamson III, and Barry Greenstein. Also failing to advance to Day 2 included online players Annette_15, Gobboboy, ActionJeff, sbrugby, Imper1um, and ZeeJustin. Pros missing the cut included Annie Duke, John Juanda, David Williams, Julian Gardner, Max Pescatori, Jesus, Kirk Morrison, The Grinder, The Milk Bar Kid, Don O'Dea, Humberto Brenes, Marcel Luske, Hoyt Corkins, Marco Traniello, Michael Binger, Thor Hansen, Juha Helppi, Pascal Perrault, Jeff Lisandro, Barny Boatman, and Johan Storakers.

Here's who advanced to Day 2... notice that my boss Tony G is among the chipleaders!

PLO End of Day 1 Chip Counts:
John Persson 186500
Dario Alioto 185500
Ted Lawson 160000
Tony G 142500
Erik Friberg 130500
Istvan Novak 125500
Roland De Wolfe 124500
Andy Bloch 119500
Magnus Persson 101500
Bruno Fitoussi 95000
Dan Bitsch Pedersen 92000
Sampo Lopponen 89500
John Duthie 86500
Chris Bjorin 85500
Julian Adamson 82500
Kenny Tran 81500
Eli Elezra 81500
Antoine Arnault 81000
David Lloyd 80500
Sointula Jani 80000
Andreas Hagen 70500
Brandon Adams 69500
Sherkhan Farnoos 67100
Nenad Medic 63000
M H Razaghi 63000
Phil Gordon 58500
Erik Seidel 56000
Ted Forrest 55500
Rafi Amit 54500
Tim Flanders 49500
Will Hayden 48000
Rupert Housden 47000
Jesse Jones 43000
Martin Vallo 39000
Allen Cunningham 37500
David Callaghan 24000
Richard Ashby 22500
Vegard Nygaard 21500
Michel Abecassis 21500
Tony Cooney 20000
Noah Jefferson 18850
David Finney 14500
David Ulliott - UNKNOWN CHIPS

As you can tell, there are plenty of big names left in the hunt. You can follow the action over at Poker News where Barry, Snoopy, and I will be providing live updates.

* * * * *
Bouncin' Round the Room on WSOPE Day 3

Kirk Morrison and Jesus were two-tabling on Day 3. They both made the final table of HORSE and played their stacks in the PLO on breaks. They both busted out of PLO and Jesus was eliminated for two tournaments in the same hour.

The floor guys, Charlie and Steve, have great senses of humor. They rushed over to tell us about an amazing hand in the PLO event... "Quads over quads over quads." We couldn't believe we missed the hand until a light bulb went off... that hand would be impossible. They got a good laugh out of it, as did we. The floor guys bust their ass and log tough hours and it's nice to have a light-hearted moment from time to time.

I took my first betting parlor bad beat of the trip. Mike Lacey, an Irish player from Antes Up fame, stopped by the Empire. I had not seen him since the WSOP. Anyway, he told me about a great tip on a football (soccer) match. Ireland was playing Slovakia. We both bet Ireland and Ladbrokes around the corner were giving me good odds. I'd win £80 if I bet £50. I rushed over on one of my breaks and fought through the crowd in Leicester Square to get to the betting parlor. I realized I had no idea what I was doing and the guy in the booth helped me out. You write down your bet on a slip and they book it. Your receipt is a photocopy of your slip, with a barcode on it. Anyway... I watched the second half during dinner break at the bar with Lacey. Ireland was up 2-1 when it reached 90:00. Of course, during extra time, at 91:30, Slovakia scored a goal to tie it up. Ties lose and that was my sports betting bad beat of the day. Time to get it back with the NFL...

Change100 and Jen kicked ass during their final table. hand for hand is tough in Hold'em and they pulled it off for HORSE! That's an amazing feat that only a handful of people in the poker media can successfully accomplish. The suits at Harrahs were impressed as were everyone at PokerNews. Great job, ladies.

When PLO finished, I headed into the final table area located in the disco. I did some color commentary for the last two hours. The bartender left and Jeffrey Pollack ducked behind the bar to grab a sparkling water. A drunk dude wandered up to the bar and ordered a drink. Pollack said something like, "Ummmm... I don't work here." A funny moment. It would have been funnier if he mixed the guy a cocktail.

Johnny Mushrooms made an appearance at the Empire. He was kind enough to bring me a drink while I was working. Of course, he brought me the girliest drink in the casino... a strawberry and raspberry mojito. It came with a tampon.

During one of the first breaks of the PLO event, Phil Hellmuth was desperately looking for someone to play Chinese Poker with. He tried to get Bary Breenstein to play, but Barry was super tired after flying all night and arriving that morning.

I spotted Doyle Brunson and Eli Elezra playing heads up Chinese during one of the later breaks. Later in the evening, they were sitting next to each other and playing props. Eli was keeping track on a piece of paper and Brunson was giving him shit for being in the hole so badly that first place prize money wouldn't even get him unstuck.

Doyle Brunson was decked out in his Johnny Cash all-black cowboy look. Texas Dolly is a bad ass.

* * * * *
Come back at the Tao of Poker for daily recaps and head over at PokerNews for live coverage and updates including chip counts, photos, and videos.

For all you fantasy sports junkies, check out our new site... Fantasy Sports Live.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/09/2007 08:08:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOPE Day 2 - We're Simply Spectators in Jen Harman's Universe

By Pauly
London

After a long day of poker, Jen Harman emerged as the chipleader as she made the final table of the £2,500 HORSE event. 105 players bought into one of the toughest filed of players I have ever seen since I started covering poker tournaments. Jen Harman plays in the biggest cash game in the world, which happens to be a mixed-game format. She's the chipleader in a tournament where she held an slight edge over the rest of the field. She's going into the final table with the chiplead and we'll see if she can hold off Kirk Morrison, Jesus, Alex KGB, and the young American Yuval Bronshtein.

£2,500 HORSE Final Table:
Seat 1: Jennifer Harman - 204,000
Seat 2: Gary Jones - 30,000
Seat 3: Joe Beevers - 74,500
Seat 4: Kirk Morrison - 172,500
Seat 5: Thomas Bihl - 130,500
Seat 6: Yuval Bronshtein - 185,500
Seat 7: Alex Kravchenko - 114,500
Seat 8: Chris Ferguson - 142,500

Day 2 Money Winners:
9th - Jan Sorensen - £7,219
10th - Eric Dalby - £7,219
11th - Mark Vos - £6,562
12th - Barny Boatman - £6,562
13th - Tom Nightingale - £5,775
14th - John Juanda - £5,775
15th - Marc Goodwin - £5,250
16th - Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke - £5,250

You can follow the action of the final table over at PokerNews starting at 2pm local time. Change100 and Jen will be providing the coverage of the final table.

Several big names failed to make the money on Day 2 including... Stephen Ladowsky, David Levi, Nikolaus Jedlicka, Rafi Amit, Jeff Madsen, Brandon Adams, Max Pescatori, ZeeJustin, David Williams, Pascal Perrault, Andreas Hoivold, Donnacha O'Dea, Mark Tenner, Bruce Yamron, Annie Duke, Allen Cunningham, Lee Watkinson, Jeffrey Lisandro, Neal Friets, Barbara Lewis, Erik Seidel, Eli Elezra, Mel Judah, Hansen, and Ola Brandborn.

I get to cover my favorite event at the WSOPE... £5,000 PLO. Should be fun. Barry, Snoopy, and I will be bringing you that action and drama starting at 2pm local time. I wonder if they will get 100 runners for that event? Stay tuned to find out.

* * * * *
Bouncin Round the Room on Day 2

The players complained about the stuffy poker room and the final seven tables were played out on the casino floor. It gave a much better view for the spectators and media and the players seemed to be happy. The railbirds are much more orderly in London, even for a Friday night where everyone held a pint in their hand, and seemed to be having a joyous time. They actually apologize when they bump into you or discover that they are in your way.

Peter Birks stopped by the Empire twice to check out the action. On dinner break, he took us on a quick tour of some of the seedier side streets in Soho. He also took us to a great curry house for dinner. Good food and great conversation.

We also bumped into Katkin from Murders' Row fame. He used to play in HDouble's infamous West LA homegame and now he lives in Dublin and came over for work reasons. He said he was getting cold decked at the Three-card Poker tables.

When Tiffany Michelle was conducting an interview with John Juanda in front of the casino during one of the breaks, Shronk was harassed by a man in a bear costume dressed up like a Beef Eater. I wish I had that on tape. I pushed the bear aside and told him to stop fucking with our camera guy. I pointed to a group of tourists that he should bother instead. He told me to "Piss off," and walked away. Pauly 1, Freaky People in Bear Outfits 0.

I forgot to write about this... I had a homeless person ask me for spare change while I ate dinner the other night with Change100. We sat at a table outside the restaurant and he said, "Governor, can you spare a pound?" Governor? What the fuck? Are we reenacting a scene from a Charles Dickens novel or something? That was a bittersweet moment. I have always wanted to be addressed as "Governor" but he had the audacity to ask me for the equivalent of $2 US. At least the bums on the subway in NYC simply ask for spare change.

Johnny Mushrooms sighting! Even though he's not playing in any of the WSOPE events (too expensive for his tastes), Johnny Mushrooms made an appearance at the casino and railbirded his fellow Aussie Mark Vos.

The internet at the Empire Casino has been spotty (at best) over the last two days and of course, the wifi at my $300 a night hotel room has crapped out. I'm writing this piece while sitting in the hallway as I get odd glances from the housekeepers cleaning the adjacent rooms. I'm staying 15 days at this hotel and Change100 and I are dropping $4,500 US out of our London travel budget. You figure they would hook me up with some decent wifi. Talk about the bad beat of the day. Maybe I'll tell Tony G and he'll rip the hotel staff apart so hard...

The only good thing is that the hotel is a few steps away from a Ladbrokes betting parlor. I'm ready for some NFL action!

Thanks to Greg, Chris, and Andrew for pointing out the NFL schedule on SkySports. I'll do my best to watch the Jets-Pats game on Sunday. I hope they show it in the casino. Now do any of you gusy know where I can watch college football???

* * * * *
Come back at the Tao of Poker for daily recaps and head over at PokerNews for live coverage and updates including chip counts, photos, and videos.

For all you fantasy sports junkies, check out our new site... Fantasy Sports Live.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/08/2007 06:15:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOPE Day 1 - Think of London, Small City

By Pauly
London

I kept wondering if the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) would be a bust? Poker is extremely popular outside of North America. All you have to do is look at the success of the EPT, the Aussie Millions, and the newly formed APPT. The question of all of the poker insider's minds was... could Harrahs establish their brand across the pond and create a series of tournaments that would appeal to Europe's premiere poker players? Harrahs' suits were gambling with the biggest brand in poker as were the folks at Bluff and PokerNews since the WSOPE was also included in their exclusive coverage deal.

I suspected that the biggest issue would be lack of available space. And on Day 1 of the WSOPE, that was evident. Casinos in Europe were not built with poker in mind. The majority that I have attended are substantially smaller than what you would find in Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Most of them do not have a hotel attached to it and very few have a sizeable poker room, let alone a space to hold a massive poker tournament.

Part of the problems that occurred at the EPT Barcelona last week were due to the lack of physical space. This is an issue that folks like John Duthie have to address in the future due to the explosive popularity of the EPT. The poker room at the Barcelona casino was small to begin with and they had to break of Day 1 into two flights to accommodate almost 600 players. The EPT Championships in March had to be held in a ballroom adjacent to the Monte Carlo Bay Casino. That was due to Monaco's gaming laws but due to the high volume of participants, spectators, and international press, they needed a large area to hold the event.

The limited space problems that the European Casinos have to deal with is something that also challenges American casinos and tournament organizers. The two largest poker rooms on the East Coast (Foxwoods and the Borgata) utilize ballrooms to host their tournament series and WPT events. As does Commerce Casino in LA for their LAPC events. Those are arguably the three largest poker rooms on the planet and they use a different space for their events to alleviate congestion. At the same time, it generates more income for the casino since it frees up their poker rooms for serious cash games. That model has proven to be successful and the medium-sized card rooms and casinos in America are replicating the methods employed by Borgata, Foxwoods, and Commerce.

One of the major factors for why Harrahs picked the Rio to host the WSOP was due to their large convention area. There have been rumors over the last two years that Harrahs would move the WSOP over to Caesar's Palace but that has always been debatable due to their lack of facilities (when compared tot he Rio). And even then, the Rio had plenty of problems over the last couple of years such as the Poker Sauna and the Poker Kitchen. The Amazon Ballroom is a massive space and yet, they still could not accommodate fields over 2,000 players. Some of you who played in those $1,500 donkfests might have been stuck playing in the Rio's poker room or the hallway near the Hooker Bar. And some of you sweated your asses off in the Poker Sauna during the 5PM tournaments. In an interview with Michele Lewis, WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack mentioned that there will not be another "Poker Tent" in the upcoming future.

Poker is popular. Too popular for the facilities that want to run poker tournaments. When concert organizers wanted to host music festivals, they had to explore alternative options outside of a simple sports arena or stadium. Some of them picked places in the middle of nowhere and built the infrastructure from the bottom up. The Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, TN is a perfect example. They picked a farm in the middle of nowhere and made it a venue for a yearly music festival. The band Phish wanted to host an end of summer multi-day festival and often rented out abandoned Air Force bases in Maine and Vermont in order to accommodate their rabid fan base who followed them out to the middle of nowhere to partake in their passion.

Harrahs picked the Rio for the WSOP and as much as everyone (me included) like to bitch and moan about how they ran the event, they had very little options to begin with. Just think about the problems that the Horseshoe would have if the WSOP was still theirs. I covered the last final table inside Benny's Bullpen (when Joe Hachem won in 2005) and that place was a freakin' zoo. In previous years (before the Moneymaker/TV/internet boom), the WSOP spilled over into other downtown casinos and tables at the Four Queens and the Golden Nugget.

The space problems that every tournament organizer fears were among the issues at the WSOPE. When I heard that the main event would be spread out over three London casinos, I knew that would be a nightmare, not just for us at the media trying to cover the event, but for the players and organizers. London is not like downtown Las Vegas where you walk across Fremont Street past a bum soaked in his own urine and can easily get from the Nugget to the Horseshoe. The three London casinos that will host the main event are not that close. You have to take the tube to get from the Empire to the Sportsman.

Obviously, Harrahs had to make due with what they had. The brand new Empire Casino is extremely swanky but it's simply too small to host a prestigious tournament such as the WSOPE. They were forced to use other casinos for the main event. For the first two events (£2,500 HORSE and £5,000 PLO) they are only using the Empire Casino.

The inaugural event of the WSOPE was the £2,500 HORSE tournament which featured 105 players. The poker room consisted of only nine tables on the ground floor and there were spillover tables upstairs near the entrance which housed the remainder of the players. The poker room was cramped to begin with and several of the players complained about how hot the room was (compared to the freezer at the Rio). There was a tiny space roped off for unofficial media. A few spectators snuck in and camped out in an area equivalent to the size of a Las Vegas Strip hotel bathroom.

When I saw legends such as Texas Dolly and Johnny Fuckin' Chan cramped into that poker room, I could not help but think that Harrahs jumped the gun. They should have took more time to find a better space for their event. Unless they did that and all the only solution they could come up with was the Empire.

Anyway, that was the big story on Day 1 of the WSOPE. If they expect to expand the most prestigious poker tournament into Europe, they have to come up with a solution with the lack of space.

On the good side, the 105 person field in the £2,500 HORSE was stacked with the best players in the world. It reminded me of the 50K HORSE event where each table had four or five superstars. One table had Phil Hellmuth, Jeff Madsen, Tony G, Andy Bloch, Brandon Adams, Pascal Perrault, and Jen Harman. I felt bad for that random guy who drew that table.


Hellmuth, Madsen, Adams, and The G getting massages
"This is a tough field," mentioned Jesse Jones. "The tougher, the better!"

Several pros failed to advance to Day 2 including The Grinder, Robert Mizrachi, Kenny Tran, Ted Lawson, Lee Nelson, Ted Forrest, Todd Brunson, Robert Williamson III, Michael Binger, Andy Bloch, Doyle Brunson, Jesse Jones, Phil Hellmuth, Dave Colclough, Humberto Brenes, Dan Shak, Tony G, Andy Black, and Marcel Luske.

Kirk Morrison and Jen Harman topped the leader at the end of Day 1, board along with Atlanta native and FOWCP Yuval Bronshtein.

Here's who advanced to Day 2:

Kirk Morrison 40000
Jennifer Harman 37500
Yuval Bronshtein 35400
Jan Sorensen 33000
Scott Fischman 33000
Alex Kravchenko 31500
Pascal Perrault 31200
Marc Goodwin 30000
Gary Jones 29500
Jan Ola Brandborn 29100
Annie Duke 27500
Chris Ferguson 26700
John Juanda 26500
Nikolaus Jedlicka 25000
Barbara Lewis 24000
Jeff Madsen 22500
Lee Watkinson 21100
Barny Boatman 20400
Gus Hansen 20200
Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo 19800
Jeffrey Lisandro 19600
Bruce Yamron 18700
David Williams 17800
Torstein Iversen 17300
Allen Cunningham 17200
Mark Vos 16400
Rafi Amit 16100
David Levi 15200
Max Pescatori 13800
Farzad Bonyadi 13500
Vegard Nygaard 13400
Eli Elezra 12200
Marissa Chien 11700
Thor Hansen 11200
Thomas Bihl 11100
Brandon Adams 11000
Michael Craig 10200
Joe Beevers 10000
Donnacha O'Dea 9800
JJ Hazan 9000
Jon 'Pearljammer' Turner 8200
Marco Traniello 7500
Bruce Atkinson 7400
Erik Seidel 6700
Howard Lederer 6500
Jani Sointula 6000
Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke 5800
Mel Judah 5700
Patrik Antonius 5500
Richard Ashby 4700
Scotty Nguyen 4600
Bruno Fitoussi 3200
Phil Gordon 2800
Dominic Wells 2500
Andreas Hoivold 2400
Johnny Chan 2100

The top 16 players will win prize money. Action will resume at 2pm London time and not end until we're down to 8 players. Check out the live updates of Day 2 at PokerNews.com.

* * * * *
Bouncin' Round the Room: £2,500 HORSE - Day 1

There's a bar along a narrow passageway that leads to the poker room. That's where PokerNews is set up... along the last four spots at the bar. I always wanted to live blog a poker tournament from a bar and I finally have my chance.

When players go on breaks, they are forced to walk past us single file to get out into the casino area. That's how I do a chip count. I don't bother actually counting chips, I'd say things like, "Hey Kirk, how many you got?" Some folks like Gobboboy and Marissa Chien would come over to me and tell me their counts.

Before the tournament started, Phil Hellmuth conducted a series of interviews with various British media outlets. Of course, he referred to himself in the third person and rattled off all of the family members that have one of his 11 WSOP bracelets.

I overheard one Empire Casino gaming executive that he will not accept Harrahs chips as a form of payment to buy into the events. Lots of pros carry around large denomination Bellagio chips as a form of currency, which they use to get cash from other players or pay high stakes prop bets. I assume they won't take $25K Bellagio chips either.

Charles from Wicked Chops Poker is among the media reps covering the WSOPE. Owen and Arthur from Poker Listings was around along with Benjo, who is covering the event for various French outlets. Their press room is in the basement in a hotel across Leicester Square, which is about a five minute walk past all the high school girls dressed up like hookers who are standing in line waiting to get into movies. (I gotta give Stephen Bartley credit for that line).

Michael Craig played in the HORSE event and mentioned that one of the guys at his table was reading a Noam Chomsky book. Only in Europe.

Patrik Antonius looked pleased to be back in Europe. After living in Las Vegas for a brief stint, he decided to move back. Kirk Morrison was another player who is overly fond with Europe. "I'm staying. I'm not going back. I love it here!" he said. Melissa Hayden mentioned that she was trying to convince her boyfriend Allen Cunningham to stay in Europe for a full year so they can play and travel.

The poker room opened up a 5/5 PLO game. That would be about 10/10 US. I almost jumped in after my shift ended! But rushed home to do my football picks before the NFL season started.

I tried to find the Indy-Saints game on one of the three SkySports channels that I get in our hotel room. No luck. One showed ECW wrestling, the second showed rugby, and the third showed... billiards! I got shut out. When I was in Australia, their version of ESPN showed NFL games as did at least one of the three FoxSports stations. Maybe I'll get something on Sunday.

There is a legal sports book 10 meters from my hotel. Ladbrokes has a betting parlor on the corner and they will take action on the NFL. Schecky and I went to a parlor near the casino the other day with Change100 and Jonno. They have special wagers that are called "triple" for a three team parlay and "accumulator" for four and up. I have to get in on the action for this Sunday. Gonna bet those home dogs heavily.

And now, the first ever WSOPE version of...

The Last 5 Pros I Pissed Next To...
1. Brandon Adams
2. Phil Gordon
3. Jeff Madsen
4. Patrik Antonius
5. Jani Sointula

* * * * *
Come back at the Tao of Poker for daily recaps and head over at PokerNews for live coverage and updates including chip counts, photos, and videos.

For all you fantasy sports junkies, check out our new site... Fantasy Sports Live.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/07/2007 06:19:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Truckin' - September 2007, Vol. 6, Issue 9

1. Monk's Siberian Dream by Paul McGuire
Brain dead. Deep into the sixth day of a foggy bender, I had forgotten the day of the week. Frisatursunday? I’d successfully lost time. The demoralizing result was that my conversational skills had dwindled down to a few muttering sentences... More

2. The Rubber-less Traveler by Brad "Otis" Willis
Breathless, confused, and sick to my stomach, I arrived at the British Airways gate and looked at the departure board. The flight was delayed for an hour. This is how I travel. I run to nowhere to fly to somewhere where I see little, do much, and find myself asking questions like, "Why do they sell condoms in airport bathrooms?" ... More

3. It's Not Like I'm Dishonest; Honest by May B. Yesno
I'm a private investigator. A damn good private investigator. I have a wife, a very expensive wife. She likes the good things in life. We're matched. I like good things too... More

4. Coming Home by B Kemp
Some of my former friends think that she is using me for my money. It doesn't seem right to them that a man my age would "throw it all away," leaving my career for a life of unpredictability and adventure. My old friends are naturally suspicious of younger women wanting to spend their money, rightfully so I suppose... More

5. The Confetti of Life by Sean A. Donahue
I read the love letters that my grandfather sent to his wife. I could see the tears in my grandmother's eyes as she read them, touched them for one last link to him. I shed many a tear today, ones that no one saw, because I left the room before they fell... More

And we're back to being on time with the latest issue of Truckin'! The September issue features a magnificent piece by Otis and includes returning authors May B. Yesno and Sean A. Donahue. Both have shared many other pieces in the past and we're fortunate to have them back. I wrote something about my time in Amsterdam last month. And there's also a new writer in the mix. B Kemp submitted a gem called Coming Home.

If you like these stories, then please tell your friends about your favorite stories. It takes a few seconds to pass along Truckin'. The writers certainly appreciate your support. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail if you know anyone who is interested in being added to the mailing list.

Thanks again to everyone for wasting your precious time month after month with Truckin'.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/07/2007 04:52:00 AM | Permalink |

 
London Calling

By Pauly
London


In front of the Empire Casino on Wednesday
The first day of the ten day WSOP Europe will kick off at 2pm GMT at the LCI Empire Casino in Leicester Square. The WSOP Europe is a series of three tournaments (and according to commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, all three are bracelet events) which includes £2,500 HORSE, £5,000 PLO, and the £10,000 main event NL Hold'em championship. In case you were wondering, £1 = $2 US.

On Wednesday, I spotted a slew of pros such as Kirk Morrison, Hoyt Corkins, Max Pescatori, Jen Harman, Marco Traniello, Jesus, Andy Bloch, Robert Williamson III, Gobboboy, ActionJeff, and Todd Brunson. I crashed the players party at the Empire Casino as they were about to start a charity event for Ante Up for Africa. I hung out for a little bit before bailing.

Several other of the big boys are rumored to be playing in London including Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, and Phil Ivey.

I will be providing live updates over at Poker News along with Jonno, Barry Carter, Snoopy & Jen (from Blonde Poker fame), and Change100. Felipe will also be here snapping photos and Shronk has Schecky and Tiffany Michelle behind the camera doing interviews with players. So head over to Poker News for complete coverage.

Click here to view the live updates for Day 1 of £2,500 HORSE.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/06/2007 05:33:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Fantasy Sports Live: Blogger Fantasy Football Battle (BFFB)

By Pauly
London

Dear degenerate action junkie sports bettors and gamblers... are you ready for some fantasy football? The folks at Fantasy Sports Live.com (and that includes yours truly) have come up with something designed to meet all of your NFL and inner sports junkie needs.

We are proud to announce, the the first annual Blogger Fantasy Football Battle (BFFB) sponsored by FantasySportsLive.com!

The BFFB will bring together poker bloggers from around the country (and dare I say world?) to compete in MTT style Fantasy Football contests that will run each week of the football season. $500 minimum will be added to the prize pool by FSL.

Each week starting September 9th, FSL will run 10-player $10 fee contests with BFFB in the title. Each contest will pay out $90 to the top three finishers that week. The results of all bloggers will be pooled together each week to determine the weekly BFFB results. Points will be awarded to the top 50% of finishers each week based on the PokerStars TLB formula. Points will be accumulated throughout the season to determine the overall champion. Added prizes by FSL are listed below. Also, any weekly overall winners will be invited to a Tournament of Champions at the end of the season.

Prize Pool Breakdown:
1st Place Overall $100
2nd Place Overall $50
3rd Place Overall $25

1st Highest Individual Weekly Fantasy Score $100
2nd Highest Individual Weekly Fantasy Score $50
3rd Highest Individual Weekly Fantasy Score $25

Tournament of Champions:
$150 minimum added to prize pool

Results will be posted weekly at blinderspoker.blogspot.com, and more info can be found here.

You can chose to compete weekly for your best chance at the season title, or just enter as many as you can. Even with a single weekly entry you are eligible for the highest score prize or with a win an entry in the tournament of champions. What we are doing with the BFFB has never been done before, and would not be possible without the daily contest format that we use. This format allows us to apples to apples compare 100s of fantasy football entries, which is impossible with standard fantasy offerings. Please help us make the BFFB a success, and spread the word about FSL.

Hope to see you there. If you do not have a FSL account, join today using my bonus code... pauly. Hurry up! The season starts on Thursday.


Bonus Code: Pauly

Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/04/2007 11:33:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Scandis Continue to Dominate the EPT

By Pauly
Barcelona


Sander Lyllof at the final table
A former chess wizard and world class backgammon player named Sander Lyllof from Denmark won the EPT Barcelona. He beat Mark Teltscher (UK) heads up for the title and prevented Teltscher from becoming the first player to win two EPT events. I don't know if there was anything shady going on or if the top two cut a deal... but they were very open about the fact they were roommates in Barcelona.

They both outlasted a final table that feature two Americans under 21-years of age... Adam Junglen and Greg Dyer. Junglen is a frequent poster on 2+2 and he played great all week. Dyer is a Harvard student who took third. I had both of them in the media pool against Howard Swains from PokerStars Blog.

I picked up a couple of random prop bets during the final table. Schecky bet me that I couldn't integrate a title of a Led Zeppelin song D'yer Maker into a title, which of course I was able to do so.

When TD Thomas Kresmer announced the winner, he said, "Congrats to our winner Sander Lyllof from Copenhagen, Norway."

To which I jokingly shouted out, "Wait, I thought that Copenhagen was in Sweden?"

The Swedish media reps thought that was hilarious and couldn't stop laughing. As soon as the press conference in the media room/disco was complete, we hauled ass out of the casino.

A quick note about the atrocious rail. It seems that my complaints to the powers to be (and an honest post from Change100 on her blog) helped to improve the hectic and combative situation on Saturday. Mad Harper is a goddess and helped us out once again. If the casino got an F grade for their ability to police the area in previous days, they got a B for their work on the final day. There was a noticeable difference in helping give the media a proper space to do their jobs. Of course that was four days too late.

There were still a few incidents when several asshats managed to infiltrate the media section. Schecky got into it with one guy who refused to clear out of the roped off media area. He pulled the "I don't speak English" routine and Schecky busted out some Spanish and called his bluff. They had a heated exchange. When the fucktard refused to budge, Schecky went to get security. I didn't bother to wait. I shoved the guy aside and got into position to get a better view of the table since I was given authorization to use physical force if necessary. Bullies don't like to be bullied and he backed off. When I was pushed or elbowed, I pushed back three times as hard. It felt like I was playing in a Knicks-Heat playoff series from the 1990s.

In another unfortunate incident, one guy had the audacity to grope Change100 after she politely asked him to move out of the way so she could do her job. He cursed at her then grabbed her ass. She bitch-slapped him! I found out about this after the final table ended. She was afraid I would have pummeled him to death if I discovered what happened. I'm willing to accept the fact that sometimes we have to work in a hostile environment, but no one should have to put up with that sort of abuse. Completely unacceptable.

Shronk and Schecky had to deal with a lot of nimrods while taping interviews for Poker News. During the Daniel Negreanu bit on Day 1b, I stood behind Shronk (the camera dude) and acted as a bouncer. I grabbed people from blatantly walking in the way of the shot even though we were in a roped off area. The funniest moment was when Schecky physically kicked someone out of the way to prevent them from ruining an interview. It's funny now after the fact and we can joke around about it, but during the tournament it was extremely frustrating dealing with the rudeness of the spectators and the lack of cooperation of the casino staff.

Oh, and yes, the other day I punched a guy in the arm for cutting the line and pushing Change100 as we tried to queue up to head into the casino. The same guy must be a degenerate gambler because he was rushing to get inside as soon as the doors opened at 3pm on Saturday. He tried to cut the line again and when I felt someone pushing me I whirled around and shouted, "Stop!"

The old guy recognized me from the day before and threw his arms in the air like, "Please don't hit me again!" He said that he was getting pushed from behind and sure enough a dozen other folks were rushing the line. I'm glad that I don't have to deal with that crap anymore.

Moving on...

The final table ended shortly after Midnight and we immediately hit the bar around the corner from our apartment in El Born. We were pretty shitty when we stumbled out of the bar and immediately bought cans of Estrella from a guy with a backpack who sold them in front of the Santa Maria del Mar church. Late night I lost a few throwing things prop bets. There's narrow alley that separates our apartment building that Change100 rented and the building across the way. Small balconies pepper the old buildings and the bet was to see if I could toss little pieces of a baguette and make it stay on various balconies without falling below to the street. I managed to miss the easy ones and nailed the one balcony with the highest degree of difficulty.

That's when I was offered free money to piss off the balcony. I needed to get unstuck. I whipped it out and let loose. After consuming a fair amount of beer, my tank was loaded and ready to go. I managed to water the spider plant belonging to the woman next door and almost urinated on a couple of people as they walked down the alley below. One of my favorite past times is public pissing and it was a sheer pleasure to get paid to do something I'm passionate about.

I woke up early on Sunday and played online poker on our balcony as the church bells rang and the street cleaners hosed down El Born. I had been on a nice run ever since I arrived in Europe hitting and running at 30/60, 15/30, and 10/20. I also had good results at the 1/2 PLO tables before I lost a monster pot at FT playing 8/16 LHE. The betting was capped on every street. There were six of us in until the flop and five of us went to the river. The board was A-9-5-4-Q with two clubs. Two of us had A-K (including me), one guy held A-Q, one guy missed his flush draw, and the clownfish with 3-2o dragged the monsterpotten. Ouch.

In other random betting news, I went 9-1 in my college football picks on Saturday missing Notre Dame. Why oh why do I constantly pick the Fighting Irish? I can't wait for the NFL season to start.

Checkout my Barcelona photo gallery over at Flickr featuring 72 photos that I took over the past week. If you dig Flickr slideshows, Click here for the Barcelona slideshow.

Anyway, my time in Barcelona is coming to a close. Next stop... London for the WSOP-Europe.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 9/02/2007 06:06:00 PM | Permalink |

 
EPT Barcelona - Day 3

By Pauly
Barcelona

Worst. Day. Ever.

In three years on the tournament circuit, I never experienced a more horrendous day of work due to severe lack of crowd control and unruly drunk spectators. Media was not allowed inside the ropes and we had to get updates from the rail... except that the rude spectators that were camped out on the rail would not let you close to the action. If you stood on the rail, you were subject to physical abuse. I was punched, elbowed, knocked off a chair (three times), and had no less than five drinks spilled on me.

The best solution was to stand on a chair six or seven people behind the rail in order to see the action. When there was an all in at a specific table, a mad rush of people surged knocking down anything in their way. Poor Change100 got shoved off a chair while she stood up to get a better view of the action in order to do her job. She sprained her ankle and burst into tears. I was ready to beat the living piss out of the guy but the coward he ran off when he saw what happened.

I attempted my best efforts to stay professional and roll with the punches (literally), but the situation got so bad that I started pushing back. I had not thrown that many elbows since I played pick-up games of basketball on the playgrounds of the Bronx.

Mad Harper was the only person who attempted to help us! The casino staff were nowhere to be found and when something was mentioned to them, they shrugged their shoulders. I've had random incidents over the last three years with drunk railbirds and assholes, but nothing compared to Friday's debacle.

I was having an amazing time in Barcelona up until yesterday.


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posted by Pauly at 9/01/2007 04:35:00 AM | Permalink |