By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV
And we're back with Day 3 of the 2008 WSOP. The big buzz in the building is the first final table in Event #1 which features several superstars. And of course Day 1B of the first donakment is also underway.
11:55am...
Here's the Final Table for Event #1 $10K PLH:
Seat 1: Mike Sowers - 675,000Final table starts at 3pm local time. Change100 and Mean Gene will be live blogging it for Poker News.
Seat 2: Chris Bell - 455,000
Seat 3: Amit Makhija - 525,000
Seat 4: Patrik Antonius - 230,000
Seat 5: Andy Bloch - 2,115,000
Seat 6: Mike Sexton - 1,130,000
Seat 7: Phil Laak - 425,000
Seat 8: Nenad Medic - 1,200,000
Seat 9: Kathy Liebert - 285,000
12:56pm...
I ran into the Poker Shrink in the parking lot. On our way inside, we had an interesting discussion about the future of poker. He shares a similar view with me in that we both think that the 2008 WSOP might be the high water mark for poker.
I also ran into a devoted reader named Dave. He found me in the press box and mentioned that he played an SNG on FullTilt sometime back with Change100. They got heads up.
"Did she win?"
"Yeah," he said. "I donked off all my chips."
He's playing in Day 1B of the donkament along with Todd from Todd.com. He also stopped by to say hello. He drew Table 1, Seat 1.
I also heard that a pissed off player was looking for me. Tim Vance went into the media room in search of your hero because his mother read the Tao of Poker and gave him a lot of guff for hanging out at a "hooker bar." Did I really say Hooker Bar? My bad. I meant to say "Bible Study" instead. Tim and I were at a bible study class the other night.
There was a rare Jerry Yang sighting at the 2008 WSOP. He uttered the famous words, "Shuffle up and deal!"
I forgot how short Jerry Yang was and about his yoda-like speech patterns. But, hey, he's still the Champ and is the biggest winging dick on the block.
I also spotted the always lovely Liz Lieu. She's playing in today's event and was seated at the same table that Maridu sat in yesterday.
1:57pm...
Oliver Tse sighting at the Rio. I had a lengthy conversation with Oliver about the future of poker. In some regards, his outlook is not bright.
"You got to fix the product," was one phrase that he said which really hit me hard.
So... what's wrong the product? Well that's debatable and it would take Oliver forty-seven hours to explain.
Oliver thought that the Final Table Delay was a temporary solution to the problem. Our conversation ended before we could discuss any long term solutions to help "fix the product."
I ran into my buddy Stormy, who's dealing at the WSOP and downtown at Binion's for their tournament series.
"I prefer dealing at Binion's," he said. "A lot less pressure!"
And talking about dealers, the best poker dealer in Australia made a token appearance in the press box. Slippers is back working for Poker News this summer. He's hardcore. Just like last year, he flew to Las Vegas for a vacation and worked most of it as a floor reporter for Poker News. He's doing the same thing this year. Those Aussies are nuts and love poker.
2:58pm...
Well my source(s) were wrong. According to Lance at Bluff and BJ at Poker News, Antonius signed with Full Tilt Poker and not PokerStars. His final table in Event #1 is kicking off shortly. And, I heard another rumor that Antonius will be wearing a Poker News patch. We shall see.
According to a breaking story at Pokerati, Kathy Liebert will be wearing PokerStars gear at today's final table. It's just a one event deal.
The food at the Rio has always been blah at best. Yes, food choices have improved from the early days of 2005. OK, so if you come to the Rio and eat at the poker kitchen once... well it's not that bad. Day 3? And I'm already sick of it. California Jen got a big plate of cheese nachos. I had one and I said, "That's the first and last time I eat those."
Last year, Otis and I had a prop bet. He said that he would not eat a single slice of pizza from the Poker Kitchen. He remained strong and I lost the bet. Bastard!
I have not eaten a donut since August of 2006. I'm doing my best to extend my streak to two years. That's going to be tempting because of all the Krispy Kreme stands in the hallway and in the Poker Kitchen.
I ate a Capriatti's sub for the third day in a row. Turkey. Again. I promise you that I won't eat a cheeseburger for dinner, which I did on Friday (at the sports book) and Saturday (at In & Out).
That Supersize Me guy should show up at the WSOP and eat Rio food for seven weeks straight. Or maybe we can get Shronk to do it and we can turn that into a documentary. I smell a Palm D'or.
The Quiet Lion (aka Richard Brodie) stopped by to say hello. He caught a major error that I made in my Day 2 recap. Thanks again to QL and Kevin Mathers from Pokerati.
The QL is here to sweat his buddy Andy Bloch.
"He's the reason I started playing poker," explained QL. "If I could have one person play a WSOP event in my place, it would be Andy Bloch."
Bloch is the chipleader at the final table of Event #1 which will be starting soon.
4:20pm...
Smoke break. Today's smoke break is sponsored by Ladbrokes!
Download Ladbrokes
4:49pm...
Phil Hellmuth sighting at the WSOP. He's wearing his NASCAR getup. At one point he was seated at Mekhi Phifer's table.
It feels great to be sitting in the same area as BJ and Flipchip. Reminds me of the good old days.
Over at the final table for Event #1, they are only 30+ hands in and three people are gone including the Unabomber (9th) and Patrik Antonius (7th). At one point Mike Sexton pulled almost even in chips with Andy Bloch, but by the end of the first break, Bloch had regained his lead. Six players left including Daddy's favorite player Kathy Liebert.
A bunch of pros were sweating the final table including Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler, Gavin Smith, Linda Johnson, Erick Lindgren, and Noah Boeken.
After his bustout, the Unabomber conducted an interview with WSOP.com. Jen Tilly was standing behind the cameras a few feet away from me as we both watched the Unabomber ramble on incessantly about the most random things. I really think that he's an alien. Anyway, a group of fans swarmed and pestered Jen Tilly for photos. She graciously obliged.
Over in the donkament, I saw Todd bust a player and finally ran into Liz Lieu. She's looking great as a redhead!
Photo courtesy of Poker News
5:55pm...
Of course, Michalski from Pokerati fame is still a now show. He'll probably stroll in around 9pm and stay for a couple of hours. California Jen says, "I don't think he'll show up at all." Stay tuned for the Michalski Watch...
I had a chat with Snoopy and Dana in the hallway. I told Snoopy about my secret bathroom where I go to drop the kids off at the pool. That's when he recanted a tale about taking a dump in a stall next to TJ Cloutier. He said that he didn't want to make any noise and disturb the legendary poker player.
"Bit worried about the unhealthy sounds from TJ," explained Snoopy. "He needs to change his diet."
I spotted Perry Friedman with the weirdest shit shaved into his head.
One of my favorite 2+2 posters, Tony "Bond18" Dunst stopped by to say hello. He woke up late for today's event at 12:40 and rushed over to play in Day 1B. He busted out a little while ago and mentioned, "I'm going to play every day." He's currently writing a blog on Full Tilt with the theme Around the World in 90 Days.
6:55pm...
Four handed at the final table. Andy Bloch's lead shrunk a bit when he doubled up Medic and Mike Sexton. Chris Hanel told me that today is Bloch's birthday. Wow, it would be cool to win your first bracelet on your birthday.
Over at the donkament, they went on a break. There has been some chatter about Isabelle Mercier's erratic behavior at the tables. I was told she was fighting jetlag which attributed to her loopiness.
9:01pm...
I ate a cold Pizza Hut pan pizza for dinner in the Poker Kitchen with MeanGene and Change100. They told me that Stu Ugar's widow is in the crowd sitting in Mike Sexton's cheering section.
I love the smoker's porch where the dealers hang out. I overhear the funniest shit there. Two dealers were chain smoking Reds and swapping bad beat stories. Actually they were telling bad beats that they put on players since the WSOP began. One dealer was doing satellites. Two players were all in preflop. One of them had A-A and the other 8-8. The Aces flopped top set. The turn was an 8. The dealer said, "I knew it was coming. Bam! Eight on the river."
The funniest thing I saw all day was involved the Chiquita banana chick. I spotted her earlier in the day as she who wandered around the WSOP in the hallways in that funny dress and a bowl of fruit on her head. Four hours later I saw her on the back smoker's porch. She had her head dress off and she was puffing hard on a cigarette and chatting in Spanish with another dealer. Yet another WSOP cliche brought to you by the Tao of Poker.
The final table is returning from dinner break. Four left. Andy Bloch is still the chipleader.
10:02pm...
Mike Sexton was eliminated in 4th place by Kathy Liebert. Three to go. Bloch is the chipleader.
Here's a pic courtesy of Pokerati...
Getting high by sniffing DonkeyBanner on Day 1
11:00pm...
Gary Wise spotted a seven foot black guy walking past the press box.
"He's got to be an NBAer," said Wise.
He asked the guy his name. It was Earl Barron, center for the Miami Heat. He came off the bench and averaged 7.1 pts and 4.3 rebounds a game. We think he was playing in Day 1B of the donkament.
Over at the final table, Kathy Liebert was eliminated in third place in a three-way pot. Bloch lost the chiplead to Nenad Medic.
Everyone's favorite malcontent chain-smoking Frenchman arrived! Benjo is here.
In the hallway some guy in a LA Commerce jacket was screaming into his cellphone, "Every time beat! Every time beat! Every time beat! The river fucking hates me. I want to die."
12:01am...
And that's all she wrote. Andy Bloch finished in second place and failed to win his first bracelet on his birthday. Nenad Medic won his first bracelet and became the first bracelet winner at the 2008 WSOP. He joins an elite group of players who have both a WSOP bracelet and a WPT title.
Wow. I might actually get out of here shortly... only a 13 hour day! Of course I'll be back tomorrow... see you then. Thanks for following along.
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.
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