Las Vegas, NV
Welcome to Day 1.... no wait. It's Day 2. Right? Day 2A, I believe? I always lose time in Las Vegas. I have no idea what actual date it is. July... something. 6th? 7th? And it's Montuewedthursday? I blame Las Vegas. All of that pure casino oxygen warps the brain and messes with your circadian rhythms.
740 is the special number today. I bet my French colleague that there will be 740 or more runners who advance to Day 3 from this flight. He thinks that the number will be way lower. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
No special ceremonies today. No Chaka doing shuffle up and deal. Just 1,476 players who are desperately trying to be among the chosen few who advance to Day 3. Since Day 1A and Day 1B played four levels instead of five, they will play our five levels today.
Here's the Top 5 Chipcounts:
Brandon Demes - 137,075Some of the players I'll be keeping tabs on today? Loren Finkelstein, Kara Scott, Louie Cohen, Johnny Mushrooms from Australia, LJ, Anguila from Spain, and Ilya Gorodetskiy from Russia.
Redmond Lee - 134,275
Andrew Gaw - 126,100
Jean Docquier - 122,755
Nick Maimone - 122,500
12:40pm... Kara Quads; Where's Gobbo
Sorry for the delayed blog. I was busy covering the Michael Jackson funeral for a music magazine. Now that's over, let's get back to some poker.
There were a handful of tables set up in Brasilia, but they have been moved one by one into the Amazon Ballroom.
The lovely Kara Scott flopped a set then rivered quads in early going.
I'm just going to cut and paste the following sentence: John Duthie looks relaxed while getting a massage.
Jimmy 'Gobbo' Fricke is currently a no show. Jimmy, if you are reading this right now, get your ass down to the Rio! Or if Gobbomom is reading this, call Jimmy and tell him he's getting blinded off.
Gavin Smith is seated next to Billy the Croc. Talk about two of the more interesting characters in poker... the fun=loving soused Canuck and the Aussie bookie.
I found Louie Cohen and he was moved over into the red section. And Loren Finklestein is seated at Greg FBT Mueller's table.
1:40pm... Germans Down While DonkeyBomber & Frenchies Soar
Chip Leaders: Fabrice Soulier, DonkeyBomber
Recent Eliminations: Johnny Chan, Gus Hansen, Johnny Mushrooms, Brian Townsend, Pearljammer, Richard Brodie, Jen Tilly, Johannes Strassmann, Sandra Naujoks, Rene Angelil, Katja Thater
Lost of bustouts in the first level including Jen Tilly and German pro and "Shooting Star' Johannes Strassmann. Another German, the sultry Sandra Naujoks is also busto along with former bracelet winner Katja Thater. Former WSOP champion and All-In energy drink shyster Johnny Chan also hit the rail. And yes, the Great is never more. Expect to see him at Bobby's Room or one the nose bleed tables on Full Tilt shortly.
And yes, Celine Dion's husband is also out along with Johnny Mushrooms. Dammit. My favorite Aussie pro is busto.
And yes, a Frenchie is out in front... Fabrice is chipping up despite playing a lot of small ball. And the DonkeyBomber is out in the front pack.
2:40pm... George Is Getting Chips
Chip Leaders: Fabrice Soulier, DonkeyBomber, Jason Alexander
Recent Eliminations: 96-yr old Jack Ury, Jerrod Ankenman, Anthony Nardi, Mike Caro
Yes, it's true. Jason Alexander is accumulating chips and among the leaders. He's obviously drawing the attention to the most of the media in the room.
The oldest player in the Main Event, Jack Ury, is out.
Anguila has Erik Seidel to his left and an ESPN Camera crew hovering over his table. Part of the rail is sparse while the other part is unnavigable. Lots of stanky Eurofans clogging up the aisles. At least it doesn't smell like shit.
We just had "All in an a call!" three consecutive times within fifteen seconds. I whiffed on my prop bet with Benjo. Even Matt Savage was ragging on me for my pick. I'm gonna offer Benjo a buy-out.
3:40pm... Day in the Life... LJ Out... Gobbo Wakes Up
Chip Leaders: Fabrice Soulier, DonkeyBomber, Jesus, Andy Black, and some unknown Eurodonk with a soccer jersey three-sizes too small
Recent Eliminations: Tony G, LJ, Newhizzle, Barry Greenstein, Sam Khouiss, Johnny World, and The Unabomber
I made the rounds and got followed into the bathroom by a poker agent. A Tao reader stopped me when I popped into the Brasilia Room and he unleashed a bad beat story without giving me a dollar. Then I watched a guy break up with his girlfriend in the hallways as crocodile tears ran down her face. I have to avoid the hallways.
As I returned to the floor a ESPN cameraman kidney punched me as he rushed to a table to capture a hand with Joe Sebok. Of course, nothing happened in the hand. Was it worth being a douchebag to waste tape?
I checked in on Loren Finklestein and he's got about 63K. Louie Cohen is sitting at the same table as French old school pro Michel Abecassis. He studied to become a doctor and got the degree and didn't practice for too long because he discovered Bridge and became one of the top players in the world. He got into journalism and became editor of several magainzes before he discovered poker in 2000. He's one of the Ambassador of French Poker. Lucky for Louie Cohen, Abecassis is short stacked.
I never made it over to see LJ, she busted out and tweet'd, "i must learn to fold when i'm deep."
And the almighty Tony G is out. I heard he's been betting six figures on Aussie rules football. What's 10K? Toilet paper, that's what.
Jesus sat over at the secondary table while his look-a-like sat next to Thor Hansen, except the fake Jesus had a PokerStars patch on his brimmed hat.
Gobbo woke up. Finally. He arrived late and his tablemates wished that he slept in after picking up Aces on one of the first hands he played. He's now up to 75K.
4:20pm... Smoke 'em if you got 'em
Today's smoke break is brought to you by PokerStars...
And yes, Ray Rahme? He chain-smokes like a champ. If smoking on a break was am Olympic sprint, then Rahme is Carl Fuckin' Lewis. e should get sponsored by Marlboro.
5:20pm... Waitin' Around to Die
Chip Leaders: FBT, Andy Black
Recent Eliminations: Michael Craig, Jason Mercier, Shaun Deeb, and Raymond Davis. Shit those four should live together in a small apartment and film it as a sitcom.
5-Bets against Aces? No good for Shaun Deeb, who lost a chunk of his stack before the break. Jason Mercier is
also busto.
I took a straw poll in the press box and inquired aout suggest sel-mutilation music. This was the results...
Music to cut yourself to after busting out of the Main Event...
1. Cold Play
2. Morrisey
3. Townes Van Zant's Greatest Hits
4. Joy Division
The airwaves are filled with frequent bellows of "All in and call!"
The media event this year is being run by Dream Team Poker which will include a team format this year. My team is called Tao of Poker. I'm the captain and I'm playing with Mean Gene and Change100. Our jerseys were finally ready and Mean Gene asked if he could tag along. For the first time in a long time, there was a spring in is step. We picked up a large plastic bag with the blue sleaveless softball jerseys. Mean Gene could not wait until we got back to the press box and while we stood in the rotunda, he tore into the bag like a kid on Christmas morning. I had not seen him that happy since I took him to the Rhino last year. Anyway, the media event is in two days. We're the team to beat.
6:20pm... Those Aren't Pillows
Chip Leaders: Samer Rahman, FBT, Andy Black, DonkeyBomber
Recent Eliminations: Hoyt Corkins, Mel Judah, and Beth Shak
Players Remaining: 1,078
Samer Rahman is way out in front, while Kara Scott slipped to 75K.
Mean Gene and I passed Beth Shak in the hallway. She was obviously doing the walk of shame and speaking into her cell pone as she recanted a bad beat story.
"No way those are real," I blurted out.
"No way," said Mean Gene.
Players are going on dinner break. See you at 8:20 local time.
In the meantime, listen to the latest episode of Tao of Pokerati where Benjo fills in for Michalski and we discuss the Day 1D debacle...
Episode 11.30: The Day 1d Debacle featuring Benjo (5:51)And if you don't know, Tao of Pokerati is brought to you by Dream Team Poker...
8:44pm... Mouth Busto; 890 to GO
Chip Leaders: Samer Rahman, FBT, Andy Black, DonkeyBomber
Recent Eliminations: Mike Matusow, Loren Finklestein, Wendeen Eolis, Michael DeMichele, Alex KGB, Mike Gracz
Shorties: Roland de Wolfe
The hallways were empty. A rare sight for a Main Event. In the hour after the dinner break, you could only see a handful of bored folks sitting on benches. Some had books. Others thumbed through the free reading material dispersed throughout the convention center which included a rag or two that I wrote for. Those uninspired folks were the ones who came to sweat their friend, significant other, or family member in the WSOP but had no idea that poker.
890 to go and I'm toast for a the O/U. Loren Finklestein just busted after he was taken out by Greg FBT Mueller. Loren said that FBT was running over the table and playing phenomenal. Looks like FBT's confidence and run goodness is spilling over into the Main Event.
Matusow is busto. I didn't see the hand, but he as holding court in front of the press box before he moved into the center of the Amazon Ballroom. The entire film crew stood around for several minutes while the Mouth rattled on and on, while few fans patiently waited to get an autograph from their favorite pro.
DonkeyBomber is sitting in front of the pressbox at Pam Brunson's table. She had been building a stack until the DonkeyBomber took away a nice chunk.
I saw Otis bite into kangaroo burrito that he scored in the poker kitchen.
Quote of the day from one of the Pocket Fives reporters: "Everytime you hear 'All in and a call, a donkey gets its wings."
9:44pm... Frenchies Down
Chip Leaders: Samer Rahman, FBT, Andy Black, DonkeyBomber
Recent Eliminations: Arnaud Mattern, YellowSub, Gavin Smith, Aussie strip club owner Jamie Pickering, Todd Brunson, Antony Lellouche, Billy the Croc, and Nikolay Evdakov
Shorties: Roland de Wolfe
I made the rounds...
French cash game specialist Antony Lellouche hit the rail. My Aussie bookie Billy the Croc is also busto.
Gavin Smith failed to make Day 3 along with Jeff 'Yellowsub' Williams.
Frenchman Arnaud Mattern is also out. He'll be in the VIP section at the Rhino shortly.
Godfather of Scandi poker THor Hansen was in the middle of a massage.
Jason Alexander was seated at the featured TV table with Greg Raymer. Alexander has two bottles of water and a red bull sitting on a small table behind him, way out of view of the cameras. There are also two unopened bags
of beef jerky. All featured table players get spammed with free samples of beef jerky. over on the secondary table, Jesus is sitting with Newman.
Dutch pro Rolf Slotbloom lost a pot to Pam Brunson. Her brother Todd is already out and her father busted on Day 1. She's using Doyle's Ghostbusters lucky cardcapper.
11:24pm... Anguila, Brad Garrett, and Slim Eliminated
Chip Leaders: Bradon Deems, Samer Rahman, FBT, Andy Black
Recent Eliminations: Angulia, Amarillo Slim, Brad Garett, Mandy Baker, Dewey Tomko
Shorties: Roland de Wolfe
Kara Scott can't paid off with quads. How many times is she gonna get them? This last time... quad Aces. Gobbo has been up and then down and now back up to over 100K.
I ran into Anguila in the hallways. The Spanish pro from Madrid busted out before the last break. He started at a a tough table with Erik Seidel to his left. As soon as his table broke, he found a better table where he quickly went to work and almost doubled up. His biggest disappointing hand? All in with A-A vs. A-A for a chopped pot. I told him it could have been worse and he could have been four flushed out of the tournament. He hit the rail soon after with Big Slick. Anguila played three Main Events and the Spaniard busted from all three with A-K.
Mean Gene has been stealing me Kit Kats out of the UB suite and hooking me up in media row. If Hellmuth finds out, I might get cut off.
I passed an irritated Eskimo Clark in the hallways as he argued with a guy in a bright yellow shirt who looked like a tweaker. He spoke in a drawl and insisted that Eskimo give him Eskimo's car keys. He muttered something about a spilled beer and the guy darted into the bathroom. An infuriated Eskimo stood and glared down the near empty hallway. Eskimo slowly shuffled away. A few seconds later, the guy in the yellow shirt bolted out of the bathroom. The two exchanged words again and Eskimo snatched his car keys out of the guys hand. It almost seemed the guy asked For Eskimo's keys so he could snort crank in the bathroom.
Anyway... back to more hallway hijinks... I passed a working girl at the Rotunda. I was headed towards the casino and she was headed towards the Amazon Ballroom. Talk about fast service.... bust out of the Main Event and hate fuck a hooker after a wicked bad beat. If someone has no qualms about burning $10,000, they won't blink twice about forking over $400 for an hour of chocolate love.
Hookers and poker have a long lasting relationship, like Cracker Jack and baseball games. It's hard to think about one and not the other.
12:44am... Day 2A COmplete
Chip Leaders: Bradon Deems, Samer Rahman, and FBT
Recent Eliminations: former WSOP champion Berry Johnston, Eli Elezra, Juha Helppi, and APPT Sydney Champion Grant Levy
At Midnight there was 657 players remaining, and Aussie cricket God Shane Warne was closing in on 180K. When they ended it looked like 625 or so players were left. They all advanced to Day 3 which will be played on Friday.
Louie Cohen has 16.9K. Poor guy has to stick around until Friday and then bust in the first 5 minutes.
As the night winded down there was plenty of speculation about Day 2B. With almost 3,000 runners there was not enough space to fit everyone. Feldman from ESPN suggested that they are going to have some tables play 10-handed.
"I hear they are seating tables in the toilets and three in the parking lots," said Johnny Mushrooms.
"They are even playing inside the Bally's pool," added Benjo.
Johnny Mushrooms is part of ChipMeUp, an Aussie staking site. He said that they are putting a koala in the Main Event next year.
Copared to Days 1C and 1D, today was fairly slow. It was simply an extension of the smaller yet low-energy fields on Days 1A and Day 1B.
Well, that's it for now. See ya tomorrow for Day 2B, which should be a crazy day. Can they get from 3K to 2K players in only four levels? Tune in to find out.
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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