Tao of Poker: Dr. Pauly's WSOP Poker Blog and Sports Betting Discourses

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Ah, the joys of living on the West Coast. Sure we have a layer of ash on Change100s car from the Los Angeles Station fire, but we also get to watch the WSOP three hours earlier. It airs at 5pm which was a welcomed afternoon break from the grind of writing.

And in case you missed last night's episodes...

Actor Jason Alexander was one of the players at the featured TV table with Jon Eaton and Greg Raymer. As per usual, the Norm shtick was unbearable at times with too may Costanza jokes. Fossilman sang falsetto lyrics to Flash Gordon was a definite curveball, but I got flashbacks from hearing that song too many times on the Amazon Ballroom's musical play list.

On the first hand of note, Costanza rivered a back-door two pair after flopping a spade flush draw. He missed the draw but caught a lucky non-spade to take a pot from a Russian sportswriter.

Jesus runs like God. He flopped a boat and got a newbie to ship his entire stack after hitting a gutshot Broadway straight on the river.

"Losing streaks are a mathematical fact," proclaimed Jesus in his couch interview. Jesus mentioned his losing streak during the 2009 WSOP (only one cash prior to Main Event) but he's banking seven digits a month with Full Tilt. No wonder he doesn't care and seemed nonplussed about the dismal state of his WSOP.

At one point, Raymer had the Ruskie sportswriter on the ropes, but the sly Ruskie caught a runner-runner straight to double up. The Ruskie had a little good karma come back his way after he got sucked out by Costanza.

Call this one... Old Man Slow-Roll. 96-year old Jack Ury called an all in on a board of 7-6-6. His opponent had 7-6 and Ury took a bit of coaxing before he revealed his hand... the nuts with 7-7.

"Old man slow rolled. I love it!" I screamed.

"I don't think he knew he had him beat," said Change100.

"Who cares. Old Man Slow Roll. Gotta love it. Get him an eight ball and take him to the Rhino!"

Costanza tried to pass off Blazing Saddles line in his couch interview. Aside from that, he's pretty funny with his snarky comments. But he did quote himself at one point. "Was that wrong?" is supposedly is favorite Costanza line from Seinfeld.

Gus Hansen got rivered by a boat, after getting all his money in with a straight against a set. The board pair and the Great Dane was never more.

The guy who busted Jen Tilly, follows me on Twitter.

I have never seen a Jack's Links beef jerky commercial until the WSOP broadcasts. It's a clever campaign... a wookie on a golf course. But it doesn't make me want to buy beef jerky.

Gavin Smith gave Todd Brunson shit about losing a last longer bet to his sister, moments after Todd busted out

Joe Sebok got some face time... with a chopped pot! You know you're running good when ESPN shows a chopped pot on their broadcast.

Another Main Event newb shipped his stack to a major pro... Raymer picked up easy chips when his opponent rivered a flush on a board with two jacks and two eights. Raymer had a boat and a guy with a smaller boat was smart enough to get out of the hand.

Jani Sointula is AlCantHang's clean shaven cousin from Finland. Jani took a pot off of The Unabomber.

When Johnny Chan busted, I was in the back hallway chatting with Michalski when the doors flew open and Chan rushed past us and left the building through the back entrance. That's how I knew he was out of the Main Event.

Jesus got another newb (logo'd up in UB nonetheless) to piss away chips with an unimproved Big Slick on a board with two queens. Jesus held... A-Q.

Evy Ng's boy toy, Lex Veldhuis, got busted by Jonas Danielsson, who was rumored to be the infamous online player 'martonas'... they mysterious player who ran up his roll to $3 million this summer then pissed it away to durrrr at the $500/$1000 NL tables.

Costanza's Aces held up in a multi-way pot. I picked up a tell. After he bet he took a strong swig of his drink. He got lucky when he didn't lose his stack to Raymer when they both flopped trips. Raymer's TPTK was way ahead of Costanza's Q-3 suited.

Raymer got a newb to fold Kings preflop after a four-bet with Jacks. Wow. Norm made fun of the guy for doing that. Yikes.

Pam Brunson won a hand against DonkeyBomber, and Loren Finklestein from NYC got some mentioned when FBT Mueller took a pot from him.

Raymer rivered a rich Canuck when he it his gutshot, and he made a big laydown to Costanza. Raymer flopped top pair but Costanza turned trips. Somehow, Raymer got away from his hand. Costanza showed his hand... he never should have. Anyway, Constanza and his new buddy Raymer both advanced to Day 3.

Roland "Hungry Like" De Wolfe doubled up with A-3 against A-K. Awesome. Nice job, mate. He won his bracelet in PLO8... in an event he had never played before. He then doubled up with a set of 8s against an angry Gee's pocket Queens. Gee would lose even more chip when Roland flopped another set against him.

In the NUTS segment, in a a heads up golf match with Norm, Dewey Tomko uses the putter similar to Al Czervik used in Caddyshack.

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Media wandering around in the background? Chicago sportswriting legend Steve Rosenbloom made a rare cameo as he stood in the background of the scene when Jen Tilly busted and was talking to the Unabomber. Rosenbloom was spotted again wen Unabomber busted.... Matt Showell was snapping photos of Berry Johnston during a hand with Brad Garrett. During the same scene, you can find me in the deep background chatting with TD Steve Frezer.... In a hand with Dewey Tomko, Garry Gates and Don Peters from PokerNews knew the hand was going to get on ESPN, so they wore sunglasses and pretended to talk on their cell phones in the background of that scene.... Eric Ramsey was writing down the hand when the boxer busted... Vin from Casino City Tines was hovering around Brad Garrett's table when he busted.

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And you can always check out my recaps of Day 2s of the WSOP...