By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV
Wow. I wrote 30 for the first time. It seemed like only a few days ago that I reached the double digits in covering the WSOP.
Today is a Saturday which means a slew of donkeys, pigeons, and other assorted farm animals will be shitting their brains out in the hallways while the rest of them will be slaughtered in the killing fields.
HORSE is in the fourth of five days and there are two final tables.
Event #45 $50,000 HORSE - Day 4And yeah, two bracelets will be given out today. Sklansky is in the hunt for one in Stud 8. There are still two tables left in that event and they will play down to a champion. The short-handed final table includes 200 bracelet winner David Kitai...
Event #46 $5,000 NL Short-handed - Final Table
Event #47 $1,500 Stud8 - Final Table
Event #48 $2,000 NL - Day 2
Event #49 $1,500 NL - Day 1
Event #46 $5,000 NL Short-handed - Final Table:Yep, today will be the last crazy weekend before the Main Event begins next week.
Seat 1: Sam Trickett (Nottingham, UK) - 1,000,450
Seat 2: Davidi Kitai (Belgium, Brussels) - 298,000
Seat 3: Joe Commisso (Las Vegas, NV) - 1,961,000
Seat 4: Richard Lyndaker (Chaumont, NY) - 2,345,000
Seat 5: Tom Lutz (Dayton, OH) - 1,493,000
Seat 6: Edward Ochana (Elgin, IL) - 928,000
2:01pm...
In position in the press box. 2,700+ entrants in today's noon event. A sea of dead money before me. I'm glad we have donkey repellent in the pressbox. Today is gonna be a long day.
Event #45 50K HORSE: Action resumes in one hour. For now, here's the table draws courtesy of Poker News...
Table#1:And Benjo and I have 2 players each in our last longer.
Seat 1: James Mackey - 151K
Seat 2: Farzad Bonyadi - 365K
Seat 3: Ralph Perry - 1.043M
Seat 4: Joseph Michael - 647K
Seat 5: Lyle Berman - 939K
Seat 6: Barry Greenstein - 1.311M
Seat 7: Mike Wattel - 474K
Seat 8: Phil Ivey - 145K
Table #2:
Seat 1: Michael DeMichele - 1.351M
Seat 2: Andy Bloch - 421K
Seat 3: Brandon Adams - 290K
Seat 4: Huck Seed - 190K
Seat 5: Chad Brown - 81K
Seat 6: Patrick Bueno - 806K
Seat 7: Gabe Kaplan - 360K
Seat 8: Scotty Nguyen - 1.033M
Table #3:
Seat 1: Matt Glantz - 521K
Seat 2: Raymond Davis - 438K
Seat 3: Erick Lindgren - 485K
Seat 4: Edwin Ting - 261K
Seat 5: Daniel Negreanu - 1.226M
Seat 6: David Bach - 801K
Seat 7: Michael Mizrachi - 701K
Seat 8: Doyle Brunson - 777K
Pauly: Negreanu 1.2M, Bloch 421KIt's gonna be close. Top 16 get paid. We have bonuses for players who cash, final tables, and the overall bracelet.
Benjo: Greenstein 1.311M, Brunson 777K
3:02pm...
Event #48 2K NL: Nikolay Evdakov broke a record for most cashes in a single WSOP. Several players were tied with 8. He was eliminated from Day 2 but secured his ninth cash.
Event #45 50K HORSE: Day 4 just kicked off. 24 players left. Top 16 get paid.
David Bach is already getting a massage.
Several agents were slithering around the HORSE area seeking out new clients (that did not have representation) or recently signed clients.
Lyle Berman was all smiles as he took his seat.
First fuck up of the day by Harrahs? Putting HORSE in the wrong part of the orange section. Imagine a rectangle and the final three tables inside. Well only one of the four sides could house railbirds. Two sides were adjacent to the dokament tables. The third was against the wall and used by tournament staff. That left only one side for the hundreds of railbirds. HORSE attracted the biggest crowd I have seen so far at the WSOP. By using the area closest to the main doors, the directly caused a major traffic jam with people trying to enter the Amazon Room. The lack of viewing space on the rail made it almost impossible for non-official media to get their jobs done. All in all, it's a big clusterfuck for the biggest event at the WSOP.
Their intentions were good but execution of their plan was poor. Big 'F' for day 4 before it has even started.
Yes, the poker fansare seven and eight deep on the rail. Several of them are hanging over the ropes, the saliva dripping from their mouths and onto the tables. Poor Daniel Negreanu needs an umbrella to shield himself from the drooling spectators. The rest of them need sunglasses to block out all of the flashes that are going off ever few minutes. What good is having a rule when no one listens to it?
4:03pm...
Event #45 50K HORSE: 21 players remaining.
Recent eliminations: Mig.com, Chad Brown, and Gabe Kaplan
Big Stacks: Ralph Perry, Michael DeMichele, Daniel Negreanu, Matt Glantz, Barry Greenstein
Mr. Kotter is out. Boooooooo.
There will be some changes at the first break. They will move one of the tables away from the rail which will mean that Danny Boy will be dry.
I feel bad for the surly security guys. They had their hands full keeping out the unruly railbirds who thought they were slick by doing an end around to try to get cellphone pics of their favorite pros. Other non-official media reps were trying to sneak inside and get pictures even after they were kicked out numerous times. One Harrahs official had to physically remove a photographer who refused to abide from the rules.
The spectators were cleared out of the room a few minutes before the other event went on a break which alleviated the congestion on the rail. So for a few moments, the reaming 21 runners can play in peace until the vultures return shit all over the place. I think the smell of spilled donkey blood from the other side of the Amazon Room has gotten everyone restless.
Welcome back to the Saturday killing fields.
4:20pm...
Congrats to my brother Derek. He won Saturdays with Dr. Pauly! Congrats bro!
Today's smoke break is sponsored by PokerStars!
* * * * *
5:03pm...
By the way, head over to Pokerati and vote for Tao of Poker in their latest poll.
Event #45 50K HORSE: Down to 20.
Recent eliminations: The Grinder
Big stacks: Ralph Perry, Michael DeMichele, Scotty Nguyen, Matt Glantz, Daniel Negreanu
Michael DeMichele is locked in and focused. "He lost a pot but it didn't affect him. He's playing on negative tilt," mentioned one of the PokerNews reporters.
The staff moved up the one of the tables so more spectator drool flooding Negreanu's table. The spectators are back and standing nine deep on the rail hoping to catch a glimpse of Texas Dolly. Flashes keep going off. Several spectators have professional cameras with lenses that rival Flipchip's. Despite Brooks the floor guy's plea for "no flash photograph" the fans still click away.
There are a few cute railbirds, but nothing of interest to the horny hombres at Wicked Chops Poker.
Event #46 5K Short-handed: Down to three.
Event #47 Stud8: Down to a final table. Finally. David Sklansky busted out in 8th place. Since it's Saturday night, he'll be back to trolling MySpace profiles looking for 16 year old white-trash nymphomaniacs with daddy issues.
Event #49 1.5K NL Kristy Gazes playing in today's event. "Oh my God!" she said. "I have a table of 12 year olds at my table."
6:02pm...
Event #45 50K HORSE: 17 players remaining. We're on the money bubble.
Recent eliminations: Farzard Bonyadi, Brandon Adams and Edwin Ting
Big stacks: Ralph Perry, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Raymond Davis, and Scotty Nguyen
Big racks: there's one chick on the rail who is holding up two melons. She must have horrible back problems, I mean, with gravity and all. Good lord, them some 'tig ol bitties' for sure.
On life support: Mike Wattel is super short and praying for a miracle.
Very impressed with Scotty Nguyen. He's actually been flying under the radar. He
s not drinking which you will often see him doing. Focused Scotty.
During hand-for-hand Lyle Berman got up and chatted with his son who is sitting on the rail. Most of the players are standing around and chatting it up with each other. Ivey sat and talked with Huck Seed.
Danny Boy getting a massage.
Event #46 5K Short-handed Final Table: Heads up for the bracelet between Joe Commisso and Richard Lyndaker.
7:06pm...
Event #45 50K HORSE: 16 to go.
Recent Eliminations: Mike Wattel = Bubble Boy
Big Stacks: Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Matt Glantz, Ralph Perry, and Lyle Berman
The final 16 players all cashed and made the money. David Bach made me look bad. He cashed when I thought he'd be one of the first to go.
TeamPokerStars bloggers and suits are jizzing in their pants right now with Greenstein and Negreanu one-two in chips counts. I might have to hand Otis a towel to clean up all the spooge in the pressbox.
One of the PokerStars Supernovas (second every to become a supernova behind Elky) Joseph Michael is still alive with chips. He was saving up for an Aston Martin. He got a down payment to his house paid for by PokerStars. Talk about the hook up. He also bought into the 50K HORSE event with his FPPs.
Final two tables redrew for seats. Here's the breakdown:
Orange 32: Patrick Bueno, Huck Seed, Joseph Michael, Scotty Nguyen, Phil Ivey, Barry Greenstein, Doyle Brunson, David BachBenjo and I both have two picks left.
Orange 39: Erick Lindgren, Ray Davis, Michael DeMichele, Lyle Berman, Andy Bloch, Ralph Perry, Daniel Negreanu, Matt Glantz
During the break of the donkament, a horde of players tracked losers' blood in the HORSE area as they stopped to sweat the final two tables of action. I nearly slipped and barreled into one of the cocktail waitress wearing those rendunkulous shirts that Harrahs whore out to the highest bidder.
According to Brian B, Lindgren put only three horses in the 50K HORSE this year as compared to 8 last year.
I set the O/U for 3:13am with Otis. He took the over. Otis also purchased a Pai Gow snack....
* * * * *
8:01pm...
Event #45 50K HORSE: Down to 14.
Recent Eliminations: Andy Bloch and Doyle Brunson
Big stacks: Matt Glantz, Ray Davis, Scotty Nguyen, David Bach, Huck Seed
On life support: Joseph Michael is super short, but tripled up to avoid elimination.
Two former world champs are in the lead pack. Erick Lindgren silently inching his way into contention.
Benjo and I were taping another episode of Tao of Pokerati when Doyle Brunson busted out. He got loud send off from the crowd and quickly exited the side door. He cashed and finished in 16th place.
Andy Bloch went out in 15th place. He was one of my picks in a last longer. And since Benjo picked Brunson, we both lost a player. Down to one each... Negreanu vs. Greenstein. I got Danny Boy.
ESPN is shooting some b-roll of the final two tables. Scotty Nguyen perked up once the cameras showed up at his table. He started laughing and the crowd of media around the table collapsed and moved in to get a closer look of the action.
Joe Sebok is on the rail sweating his dad Barry Greenstein. Brad Berman was here earlier sweating his old man. Didn't see Todd at all.
Security did another sweep and kicked out a lot of spectators who trickled into areas where they did not belong. More flashes. More drooling yardbirds. More flashes.
"Where's Bill Hellmuth?" one guy asked.
"Is that Scotty the Master?"
"Is that John Popper?"
Event #49 1.5K NL Kristy Gazes is still alive. In her last text: "Playing 1500 lotto...2nd break...5500k"
8:41pm...
Event #45 50K HORSE: Down to 13. Players on a dinner break.
Recent bustouts: Joseph Michael
Big stacks: Erick Lindgren, Matt Glantz, Huck Seed, David Bach, Scotty Nguyen
Just before players headed to dinner, Lindgren jumped into the chiplead. He slowly accumulated chips during the first three levels.
Daniel Negreanu and Patrick Bueno are both shortstacks.
9:42pm...
Event #45 50K HORSE: Players are back from their dinner break.
Patrick Bueno ordered a massage right away. The rail behind Negreanu's table is thick and dense with a wall of spectators. The droolfest returned as Negreanu was in rare form. The salesman in him quickly took advantage of the ESPN cameras. His time might be limited with a short stack.
Event #47 Stud8 Final Table: We have a new bracelet winner.... Ryan Hughes.
10:40pm...
Event #45 50K HORSE: 13 players remaining.
Big stacks: Matt Glantz, Huck Seed, Erick Lindgren, Ralph Perry, and Michael DeMichele 1,390,000
Daniel Negreanu is the shortstack and talking it up for ESPN's cameras. Scotty Nguyen wandered over and the two chatted it up.
"Get in the zone, baby!" was the advice Scotty offered up to Negreanu.
"I'm trying. I'm waiting for Stud 8 and then I'll get in the zone," said Danny Boy.
Sitting next to Negreanu is a surly Ralph Perry. He's been trying to get a drink for several minutes. "Someone call a cocktail chick over before Ralph Perry completely loses it," said one media rep who overheard Perry steaming over his inability to get a drink.
11:58pm...
Event #45 50K HORSE: 11 players remaining.
Recent eliminations: Phil Ivey, Daniel Nergreanu
Big stacks: Matt Glantz, Erick Lindgren, Ralph Perry, Huck Seed, and David Bach.
Daniel Negreanu was holding on for his dear life with a short stack before and after the dinner break. He finally busted out. Ivey also headed to the rail. He failed to win a bracelet and time is running out for him this year.
Benjo is freerolling our last longer. He only gets paid if Greenstein is among the final eight and more if he wins it all. Nice catch, pigeon.
Ralph Perry has been bitching and moaning about something that was reported yesterday on PokerNews. Perry slowrolled Gene Fisher (one of the nicest guys in poker) and it was reported. Perry didn't even read it. His wife read it and said something almost a day later to Ralph. The result? Another pissed off player ambushing PokerNews bloggers on a break.
There's always been a frigid relationship between The G and Ralph. The entire "feel my powah" and "Get on your bike" theme stemmed from the Tony G vs. Ralph Perry bouts in the Intercontinental Poker Championships.
Event #46 5K Short-handed Final Table: Joe Commisso from Las Vegas won the bracelet.
Event #48 2K NL: Down to 21. Russian Kirill Gerasimov is among the chipleaders.
Event #49 1.5K NL Kristy Gazes up to 24K. Weeeeeeeeeeee.
1:01am...
Event #45 50K HORSE: 11 players remaining.
Big stacks: Erick Lindgren, Scotty Nguyen, Matt Glantz, Michael DeMichele, and Patrick Bueno
On life support: Ray Davis
Patrick Bueno went from being a short stack to one of the big stacks. Nice rush this past level. Lindgren is back on top.
The railbirds are still here. There are not as many of them, but the ones left are drunk and rowdy and a bunch of anarchists breaking rules.
Mean Gene was trying to take a few pictures when a group of spectators rushed in front of him and stood in an area they were not supposed to be in. The security guy tossed them out. "Family and media only," he barked.
One drunk guy pipped up, "My wife gave Doyle Brunson a hand job once. Does that count for something?"
Norman Chad wandered by and watched about three minutes of the action before he left. That's a lot for Norm. I rarely see him sweating the action. I've been her for 30 days and only saw him a couple of times.
Scotty Nguyen is drinking Michelob Ultras. His face is red and caught a buzz. Scotty likes beer.
Event #49 1.5K NL Day 1 is complete. Kristy gazes cashed and advanced to Day 2. She ended with 20K.
2:03am...
Event #45 50K HORSE: 10 players remaining.
Recent eliminations: David Bach
Big stacks: Erick Lindgren, Scotty Nguyen, Matt Glantz, Ralph Perry, and Barry Greenstein
On life support: Ray Davis
Action slowed down a bit before David Bach busted out in 11th place. Greg "FBT" Mueller walked by and shouted, "Hey Huckleberry, stay awake."
Seed had a bag of trail mix underneath his chair. Somewhere nearby, there was an empty Dibs container. One of the messy railbirds got hungry, stuffed his face, then left his trash behind. At this time of night, plenty of empty beer cups and cocktail glasses cluttered the adjacent unused poker tables and empty beer bottles are tossed on the ground by the drunks.
On their last break, I spotted Scotty Nguyen walking back from a fan encounter. He headed back into the Amazon Ballroom. I followed behind the two fans as they discussed their brush with the former world champion.
"You should have said, 'What's up baby!'" one guy said.
"I should have asked for a picture," the other said. "Jimmy is never gonna believe that we saw Scotty."
I wandered into the casino to get something to drink. Jesus was in front of Buzios and got stopped by two different groups of fans. He took pics with both.
2:22am...
Event #45 50K HORSE: Final table set! 8 players remaining.
Recent eliminations: Ralph Perry and Ray Davis
Ray Davis went out in 10th place. He wasn't happy. The final nine players consolidated to one table. On the very first hand... Ralph Perry went out in 9th place on the final table bubble. In the immortal words of Tony G, "Get on your bike!"
The final table will be... Erick Lindgren, Scotty Nguyen, Barry Greenstein, Lyle Berman, Matt Glantz, Michael DeMichele, Huck Seed, and Patrick Bueno.
Lindgren and Greenstein going after their second bracelets of the 2008 WSOP. Lindgren starts the final table as the chipleader.
Final table is at 3pm local time.
Thanks for following along. You've been a great crowd. See everyone tomorrow.
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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