2009 WSOP Day 32: Undercover and What Does Benjo Think?

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Chatter from the rail.

I love it because it's so absurdly stupid sometimes. There's a small and elite group of fans who know almost every pro, but on the other hand, there's a large percentage of fans from fly over states who don't have a clue.

I ducked into the crowd and mingled with the masses on the rail for the $50K HORSE. I wanted to blend in so I bought a bag of Twizzlers and a beer. I decided to stuff my face on the rail, drink like a frat boy on Spring Break, and take photos with flash like the majority of the citizen paparazzi. While embedded with the railbirds, I eavesdropped on a few conversations.

"Scandinavian players are some of the best in the world," one overweigguy said to two sorta clueless folks with fanny packs and gold visors. "I played against a few and they destroyed me."

The conversation got boring real fast and I moved down the rail and nearly stepped on Rene Angelli (aka Mr. Celine Dion). A guy with a French-Canadian accent blindsided Rene with a bad beat story that busted him from a satellite. At least, that what I think he said. Mon francais est tres mal. So, I don't have a fuckim' clue. He could have been pestering Rene for tickets to Bette Midler for all I know.

As I scribbled down a couple of snarky notes, I overheard someone in a southern accent ask, "Excuse me, where are all the players I'd know from TV? Like Jen Tilly and Shannon Elizabeth?"

A familiar voice answered and I looked up. Poor poor Otis was flagged down by a gaggle of redneck tourists because they saw his badge and thought he was a tour guide or some sort of authority figure. Otis is still fresh after arriving a couple of days ago and had yet to develop that thousand yard stare where you look past anything and everything in front of you. Otis gave a stern yet polite answer. I snickered and moved down the line.

"Who's the guy who looks like Jerry Seinfeld?" someone asked as they snapped a photo of Ralph Perry.

"Is that Johnny Chan?" asked a myopic retiree with a Golden Nugget hat who poked me in the ribs and pointed towards Chau Giang.

One guy in a John Franco NY Mets jersey nearly knocked me over as he grabbed a friend of his in front of me. The kid was in the middle of taking a photo of Gus Hansen, when his friend yelled, "Come over here to this side!" Franco pointed towards the other half of the Amazon Ballroom that included the $3K Triple Chance event. "There's more pros I know over here. Like that guy! Over there. With the green hat. I've seen him on TV before!"

After a couple of minutes on the rail, I decided to retreat before my cover was blown. I gathered enough material for a half-baked post and wanted to get the hell out of the tourist stampede before I got bombarded with stupid questions like, "Where's Bill Ivey?" and "Where's the Hooker Bar?"

The rail started to thin out after the biggest sharks were eliminated and quickly headed to a local juicy cash game or over to the internet. Day 3 of the 50K HORSE would determine the flow of the rest of the tournament. At the onset, I was skeptical if they could make it to the money (final 16) by the end of Day 3. However, by dinner break, the field had shrunk to 31 players which meant they were on pace to hit the bubble towards the end of the evening.

Among the early causalities on Day 3? Phil Ivey , David Benyamine, Barry Greenstein, Jesus, Erick Lindgren, Fabrice Soulier, PearlJammer, Boosted J, Doyle Brunson, and Alex Kravchenko.

When the night ended, only 19 remained with Russian bracelet winner Vitaly Lunkin as the chipleader, and Erik123, Freddy Deeb, and Ville Wahlbeck not too far behind. The top 16 players get paid which means the money bubble should break early on Day 4. Action resumes at 2pm local time.

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Bouncin Round the Room on Day 32....

I popped in on Coach a few times over in the Stud 8 event. He played in Brasilia Room and sometimes that room is humming more than the Amazon Ballroom. Coach had a tough draw as is with Paul Darden at his table, but after Barry Greenstein busted, he bought into Stud 8 and took a seat to Coach's right. Coach held his own for most of the night and even took down a multi-way pot against the two sharks, Darden and Greenstein. He chipped up to 6.3K after he scooped Greenstein. Sadly, Coach did not advance to Day 2 and headed to the rail with about 200 players to go. His three pair was flushed out.

I wondered about my favorite Norwegian, Johnny Lodden. I had not seen the Team PokerStars Pro since my return to Las Vegas, and then all of a sudden... he magically appeared in the $3K Triple Chance event. He inspired a high stakes gambling event in London last September called What Does Johnny Lodden Think that was played among Phil Laak and some of his cronies.

I turned to Otis and said, "Let's gamble on something called What Does Benjo Think?" Otis thought it was a brilliant idea and we figured out ten questions to ask Benjo. We would each alternate and pick a question and then predict Benjo's answer....

What Does Benjo Think...

1. Who is the worst U.S. President?
Otis: Nixon
Pauly: W Bush

2. Who is the biggest influence on rock & roll in America?
Otis: Beatles
Pauly: Bob Dylan

3. Hottest chick in poker?
Otis: Alexia Portal
Pauly: Lacey Jones

4. The home state of the next American girl he hooks up with?
Otis: Arkansas
Pauly: Texas

5. How big is Tony G's bankroll?
Otis: $20 Million
Pauly: $17 Million

6. Between an enema, a vasectomy, and a punch in the nose... which one would you prefer to wake up to?
Otis: Enema
Pauly: Punch in the Nose

7. Who is your favorite character on the Sopranos (not including Tony Soprano)?
Otis: Paulie Walnuts
Pauly: Silvio

8. Who is the best looking male in poker?
Otis: Patrik Antonius
Pauly: Random Scandi

9. How many shots of Southern Comfort does it take to get AlCanthang drunk?
Otis: 7
Pauly: 14

10. Which sex tape of a poker couple would you like to see?
Otis: Benyamine/Schoenberg
Pauly: Harman/Traniello

Again, we're betting on what we think Benjo will say. The actual answers were surprising.

1. Who is the worst U.S. President?
Benjo said, "Nixon. Because I just watched Frost/Nixon."

2. Who is the biggest influence on rock & roll in America?
Benjo said, "It has to be a British band. Led Zeppelin. Because the Beatles is pop and Dylan is folk."

3. Hottest chick in poker?
Benjo snapped called with, "Lacey Jones"

4. The home state of the next American girl he hooks up with?
Benjo said, "California."

5. How big is Tony G's bankroll?
Benjo said, "$1.5 million."

6. Between an enema, a vasectomy, and a punch in the nose... which one would you prefer to wake up to?
Benjo said, "Punch in the nose."

7. Who is your favorite character on the Sopranos (not including Tony Soprano)?
Benjo looked up characters on the internet and then blurted out, "Johnny Sac."

8. Who is the best looking male in poker?
Benjo almost went for Patrik Antonius, before he refused to answer the question because we'd give him guff and unleash a round of 'gay' jokes. He picked Dan Harrington.

9. How many shots of Southern Comfort does it take to get AlCanthang drunk?
Benjo asked how big were the glasses of SoCo that Al drank. After we told him, he said, "27."

10. Which sex tape of a poker couple would you like to see?
Before I could complete the question, Benjo blurted out, "Benyamine. Anything he does? I'm interested in."

The final tally? Otis 2, Pauly 2 with 6 answers that we both whiffed on. Otis and I pushed our bet, but we found something to keep us entertained for the next few weeks.

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Don't forget, you can follow some of my WSOP hijinks over at Twitter. My feed is @taopauly.

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