Tao of Poker

2008 WSOP Day 41: Main Event Day 2B - Formula of Donkey Liquification

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Should we take a glance at the history books to get an indication of the days to come?

Benjo crunched the numbers on Day 2s from 2006 and came up with his now famous Formula of Donkey Liquification which almost precisely predicted the number of eliminations on Day 2A and Day 2B this year.

"Day 2 is all about being a donk show," said Benjo.

Almost 2,000 were decimated on Day 2B. Erased. Destroyed. Dunzo.

I hit up my archives from the 2006 and 2007 main event to try to figure out what will happen on Day 3 and the ensuing days.

* * * * *
Flashback. 2007. Day 2B.

I wrote about Gus Hansen's sick puppy and the cryptic journey of Vinny Vinh where he told Lance from the Poker Biz... "If I win this year, I die. So I'm not gonna win."

Here's what I wrote last year...

He showed up, to everyone's surprise. He was eating an ice cream bar as he looked over his table as the rest of his opponents unbagged their chips. He moved all in on the second hand of the day... and busted out. Then he vanished into thin air. No one has seen him since.

Vinny Vinh and his missing chair was one of the big stories last summer. And Day 2B was the closing chapter in his 2007 saga.

* * * * *
Flashback. 2006. Day 2B.

Used car salesman Dimtri Nobles ended the day with a monster stack. We also were introduced to he most adorable little thing since Webster... Dario Minieri.

Here's what I wrote two years ago on Day 2B...

Who the fuck is Roma Dario? I don't want to steal Wicked Chops Poker thunder and bust on Card Player, but I have to in this instance. I've been following Dario Minieri since Day 1. He's a PokerStars qualifier from Rome and we've been covering him on PokerStars Blog. He speaks only a little English. CardPlayer didn't even have him on their radar for most of Day 1, even when he had a ton of chips in front of him. On Day 2B, they had his name wrong and listed him as "Roma Dario" up until 10pm. At one point they had both Roma Dario and Dario Minieri on the Top 10 Chips Leaderboard.

Little did we all know that little Dario would grow up, win a bracelet, and take a whirl on the Isabelle Express.

* * * * *
Flashback. 2005. Day 2.

And then there's the groggy halcyon days...

I woke up to the sounds of things breaking. My wake up call this morning was a "domestic dispute" and it involved a meth-addicted couple up on the third floor of my unit at the Redneck Riviera. It looked like a scene from a bad romance movie. The skinny guy with bad tattoos was standing outside while his girlfriend threw all his stuff off the balcony and shouted obscenities. The last remains of a VCR were scattered on the walkway while he dodged the heavier items. Dozens of articles of clothing were spread out while several onlooker gawked until Las Vegas metro police showed up. I expected to see a COPS camera crew jump out of a production van. Just another Sunday morning. Don't any of these people go to church?

* * * * *
What did I learn from wasting an hour on warm fuzzy flashbacks while The End by The Doors played on repeat?

Day 2 was really an extension of Day 1 and the big stories don't develop for another day or so. Plus, it's not until Day 3 when the field is combined for the first time and they flirt with making the money late in the evening

The big question... will the (Day 1a + Day 1b = Day 2a) players have an advantage over the (Day 1c + Day 1d = Day 2b) players?

I'm gonna say yes and point towards the NFL... does the bye week help or hurt your team? The extra time to physically rest and the extra time to prepare gives bye week teams an added edge. And as far as poker goes, I think it was Dan Harrington who pointed out that it will be hard for someone over 40 years old to win the WSOP due to the physical requirements it takes to go deep into the main event.

"You try sitting in a hard chair for 15 hours," said Flipchip. "It's not as easy as you think. Then do that for two weeks straight."

Flipchip is one of the folks who think poker is a sport. I think it's more show business and entertainment than a sport.

Here's some reason why I don't think poker is a sport....

You can get massages in the middle of playing poker so it's not a sport. It's one thing for pros to get worked on at halftime, on the bench, or in between sets in tennis. But you don't see Derek Jeter up at the plate with a hot masseuse working on hi neck. And you won't see a hottie massaging LeBron's toes when he shoots a free throw.

You can drink beer while playing poker so it's not a sport. Scotty Nguyen. Men the Master. Minneapolis Jom Meehan. They all like a good cocktail at the tables. Sure, old school professional athletes drank during games like Night Tran Lane and Babe Ruth probably knocked back a cold one in between innings while he stuffed his face with hotdogs. Joe D used to smoke in the dugout and the bat boys used to make sure he had a lit ciggie waiting for him when he came off the field and into the dugout. But today? You couldn't see Pedro Martinez walk to the back of the mound, bend over, and take a huge pull off of a tallboy. I'd love to see Mikael Samuelsson do a shot of tequila on the bench before a line change. But that's just not gonna happen.

I could go on an endless rant about if poker is a sport or not, but I kinda want to go to bed before sunrise, so I'll leave that discussion for another time.

Ah, before I go, congrats to Brandon and Iggy for advancing to Day 3.


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.