The gambling ramblings of Pauly -- a writer, traveler, and degenerate

 
Deep Stacks? Good or Bad?

By Pauly
Denver, CO

Matt Savage wrote an article called Are Deep Stacks Good for Poker Tournaments? Check it out to get a perspective on deep stacks from one of the most respected tournament directors in the game.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/31/2009 02:25:00 PM | Permalink |

 
The Video: What Does Benjo Think?

By Pauly
Denver, CO

Every year at the WSOP, Otis and I come up with one activity that we do to keep things interesting when we're bored or to keep us sane during the insane moments. In 2005, it was the Hooker Bar. In 2006, it was the Tilted Kilt. In 2007 and 2008, it was Lime Tossing. And in 2009, we came up with... What Does Benjo Think?

If you have no idea what we're talking about, here's the premise...

Real questions by degenerate gamblers. Real answers from an angry Frenchman. It's a prop betting game that Otis and myself play where we wager on what we think Benjo would answer a series of random questions. It was a prop betting game popularized by Phil Laak and Antonio Esfiandari when they used Johnny Lodden for a game called Lodden Thinks.

Anyway, we played this game over the last few weeks of the WSOP. We never taped or recorded a round... until now. It's the last ever edition of What Does Benjo Think? This one is Volume 6.



For the original installments....

What Does Benjo Think Vol. 1
What Does Benjo Think Vol. 2
What Does Benjo Think Vol. 3
What Does Benjo Think Vol. 4
What Does Benjo Think Vol. 5

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/29/2009 04:20:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Liz Lieu Tuesdays: Mirror Images and Railbird

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Back by popular demand... here are two pictures for today's viewing pleasure.

The first one is self-explanatory. I love art.




The second one? That's Anh Tran. She was Liz Lieu's teammate for Dream Team Poker. After Liz busted out, she came by to sweat Anh. As you can see, Anh is quite the dish. Anh is relative newcomer and went deep in the Donkulus, but luckily she didn't go very far in Dream Team. She was sitting at my table (Schecky was also at my table) and directly across from me. She busted out kinda early which help me since her enamoring beauty was a distraction. When one guy eventually busted her, everyone at our table gave him shit. Because both her and her railbird, Liz Lieu, quickly left. I gave the guy who busted Anh a ton of grief and pointed towards Schecky and said, "You had to bust the hot Asian chick when there was a perfectly viable fat balding white guy at that end of the table!"



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.
posted by Pauly at 7/28/2009 12:45:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Laydowns

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

I make plenty of pat-myself-on-the-shoulder laydowns when I play NL cash games. Most of the time, I simply know that I'm beat and I'm folding to very obvious value bets on the river. Other times, I have been able to avoid suspicious behavior and betting patterns that reveal a much stronger hand than myself.

I had been working on the laydown part of my game because I have been folding too many made hands where I think I'm beat. I've been getting bluffed too much and needed to take more chances and try to pick off more opponents.

In tournaments (particularly during the amazing run during Dream Team Poker), I made a slight adjustment which brought plentiful results. I switch gears frequently, but during my tight-aggressive gear, I have been leading out on the flop with slim to marginal holdings only to fold to raises and/or check-raises. In cash games, I would three-bet and four-bet more in those situations (when I missed the flop with A-K and holding a big pair when a scare card hits the turn), so I decided to incorporate that move against opponents whom were more prone to fold.

I always find myself in a situation when I say... "I know he has nothing... but so do I, but I don't have enough chips or enough balls to shove, so I gotta fold."

That happened early on during the Dream Team event. There was an extremely loose player, a dealer from one of the California casinos, who was picking on me in the early levels. He had been playing 50% of the hands (often limping ot limp-calling raises behind) and he quickly built a stack with post-flop aggression against our table filled with weak-tight players including me, who played non-confrontational poker at the outset.

He limped in EP and I popped him to 1,300 with A-K from the cut off. He called. The flop was Q-6-2 rainbow. He checked. I bet 2,600 and he check-raised to 6,000. Normally I would have folded but I decided to tank and let him sweat it out. During that moment, I was looking for an excuse to call. I carefully examined his hands and his neck in an attempt to pick up any tells. My gut told me that he had nothing of significance, because he would have raised preflop with any pair or strong hand. The hand I was worried about was 2-2, but he'd wait until the turn to check-raise me with a set. He could have had a Q-J to Q-9 and even lower if they were suited. If I raised, would he be able to fold top pair with a crappy kicker. Even if he had a Queen, I still held two overs. He could have been check-raising me with A-6 or something like that, maybe 7-6 and flopped second pair and was trying to push me off A-K. It was about to work, but I just didn't believe him. I didn't want to fold so I had only one option.

"I'm all in," I said.

The guy tilted his head back and looked up to the heavens. He immediately took off his sunglasses. If he had flopped a big hand, he would have already tabled his cards. I knew that I was in good shape with every second that had passed as he muttered things under his breath. He said he had a middle pair and folded without showing his cards. I raked in a decent pot and more importantly, he stayed out of my for most of the night.

In that instance, who knows if I was ahead or behind. Bottom line... I avoided the once automatic fold during a live tournament.

Online cash games, especially limit hold'em, is a total different universe. I enact an ABC poker game plan when I multi-table LHE. Premium hands are tough to come by, so whenever I do find them, I play them hard and fast especially in multi-way pots. I'm gonna make my opponents pay to suck out on me. In the worst case scenario (or the common situation where I have K-K and 97.4% of the time an Ace will flop), I'm gonna lose one or two big bets by check-calling the turn and river with a big pair with an overcard on the board. Once in a while, someone gets fancy and tries to bluff. It's not going to cost me much to sniff that out... but it can get pricey over the long haul.

Some of the tougher situations are capped hands pre-flop between three or more opponents. If I have J-J thru K-K, I'm assuming one of my opponents has Aces or has a pocket pair above me. And if I have Aces, I have to assume that one of them has a big pair. So when I have A-A and it's capped three or more prelfop, I nearly shit a brick when a Jack, Queen, or King hits the flop because one of those fuckers must have flopped a set to sink my Aces.

In LHE, even though I know I'm beat, I'm still a sadist and call them down all the way to the river by the rare chance one of them is bluffing with the Hammer. Do people still do that these days? Since it's only costing me a limited amount of money to call... I brazenly do so. In NL, I'd have to make those decisions on the flop to head for the hills or make a stand for the rest of my chips. Folding is easy when you have your entire stack at risk. Folding is tougher when the bet is so insignificant relative to stack size. That's why LHE is tough to beat for some folks.

I'm always trying to plug leaks in my game. I found myself chasing down sets with pairs even though I knew I was beat (and not getting any odds whatsoever to call the flop or turn). I'd say only once in a blue moon do I actually hit my two-outer, although it seems to happen against me every fuckin' time. I decided to reduce those loose calls and play more disciplined. I haven't seen the instant results, but over the long term, I expect to save several hundred big bets over the remainder of the year.

I had one of those situations arise over the weekend. I was multi-tabling 5/10 with CMitch. Those tables have a mixture of solid players and scores of dead money. The swings can be huge, but there are times when I've been able to hit and run for a few hundred in a matter of minutes... which is astonishing for a full ring LHE table. And think about this... those tables used to be softer!

Anyway, here's the hand that I was able to fold...

I found K-K on the button. JimmyG limped. Zeus called. Canterberry called. I raised. Small blind re-raised. The big blind called. JimmyG folded. Zues called. Canterberry called. I capped it and everyone called. Five players. I figured that I was behind against Aces in the small blind.

The flop was Jc-8d-3s. Both blinds checked. Zeus checked. Canterberry bet out. Fuck. He flopped a set of Jacks, that shithead. I called anyway. The small blind check-raised. The big blind folded and Zeus folded. Canterberry capped it. Action came back to me and I was looking at being way behind A-A and set of Jacks. Time quickly expired from my time bank and I folded.

The As hit the turn. I felt better about folding Kings because I'd be drawing dead even if I spiked a King on the river. The river was the 10d.

Guess what the players had?

The small blind showed Jd-Jh for top set, while Canterberry flopped bottom set with 3-3. Well, I figured that I was way behind one set but two? Yikes. In that case, it was pretty easy to fold Kings. It saved me a few big bets or a half a bag of weed.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/27/2009 07:27:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Donkey Kiev, EPT & APPT Schedules, and the Top 5 Rejected Circuit Stops for PokerStars

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

"Nyet!"

The Ruskies stiff-armed PokerStars and gave the finger to the entire poker industry after the Russian government unleashed sweeping reforms revoking poker's status as a "sport" and shutting down all casino operations in Mother Russia save for a handful of approved state-run casinos. According to the NY Times...

"Casinos in Russia are now to be confined to the Altai region of Siberia; the coastal area of the Far East, near the border with North Korea and China; Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania; and the Azov Sea region in the south."

Plenty of jokes were passed around that the PokerStars.com EPT stop in Russia was being moved from Moscow to Siberia. Although casinos were on the banned list, it initially appeared that poker was going to be spared since it was classified as a sport in Russia. However, in the last few days, that exception is no longer valid.

Marianna Tishchenko wrote, "Russian officials announced that an error was made in 2007 when poker was added to the list of official sports. As a result, poker clubs will also be illegal under the antigambling law."

Yikes. Supposedly, once Russia outlawed casinos, the folks at the EPT scrambled to find an alternative venue in order to avoid a fiasco such as LAPT Mexico last December when the federales shut down the event during Day 1. The EPT pegged Kiev as one of the few viable options if the EPT Moscow. As soon Russian officials nullified poker as a sport, Kiev went from being a possibility to being a reality.

Alas, the EPT Moscow is never more and the EPT Kiev will be replacing them. Here's the press release from PokerStars...

The PokerStars.com European Poker Tour (EPT) is pleased to announce an alternate venue for its August event, now scheduled to be held in Kiev, the largest city and capital of Ukraine, at the Kiev Sports Palace, from August 18-23, 2009. The "EPT Kiev Sports Poker Championship" is to be held under the regulation and authority of the Ukrainian Ministry of Youth, Family and Sport, and in partnership with the Ukrainian Poker Federation. This event is expected to be the largest poker tournament ever held in the Ukraine.

The Kiev event replaces the previously-scheduled 2009 Russian Open poker tournament due to be held at the Radisson SAS Slavyanskaya, Moscow from August 18-23, 2009. That event has been cancelled because our ability to run the event was placed in doubt due to the recent closure of all casinos in Russia.

Euro Poker Tour Ltd. sincerely apologises to all players who were intending to attend the Moscow event, but unfortunately these circumstances were beyond our control. Players are encouraged to consider attending the Ukrainian event instead, and to participate in the opening of the EPT's sixth season.

PokerStars advises its players who qualified online for the Moscow event that their packages (including buy-in and hotel) will be converted to EPT Kiev packages; however they will also be eligible to take a credit for a future event, or receive the cash equivalent value as alternatives.

The buy-in for the "EPT Kiev Sports Poker Championship" Main Event will be 5,000 EUR (4,700 + 300).

Players should note that the Ukraine does not require visas for citizens of the European Union, United States or Canada (among many other countries) when travelling to Ukraine for less than 90 days. Players from other countries should check this webpage (http://www.mfa.gov.ua/uk/en/2322.htm) or with their local embassy for more information.

We appreciate the opportunity to bring the EPT to beautiful and historic Kiev, and look forward to exploring the sights, sounds and flavors of the rich Ukrainian culture.

So the good news is that you don't need a visa since the Ukraine is in the EU. But the bad news is that Kiev is not Moscow. Sure, Kiev has its own charm, but it's no Moscow. In other venue changes of note, Budapest is out, but Portugal is in.

EPT Season 6 Schedule - Part 1:
Aug 18-23 EPT KIEV (Ukraine) - 4,700 + 300 EUR
Sept 4-9 EPT BARCELONA (Spain) - 8,000+300 EUR
Oct 2-7 EPT LONDON (UK) - 5,000+250 GBP
Oct 20-25 EPT WARSAW (Poland) - 23,500+1,500 PLN
Nov 17-22 EPT VILAMOURA (Portugal) - 5,000+300 EUR
Dec 1-6 EPT PRAGUE (Czech Republic) - 5,000+250 EUR
Jan 4-14, 2010 PCA (Bahamas) - $10,000+600 USD

And if you have exotic tastes and are longing to travel to the Far East or Down Under, then you should take ashot at those soft satellites to various APPT events. Here's the schedule...

2009 APPT Schedule:
Aug 25-30 APPT Macau (China) - 40,000 HKD ($5,160 USD)
Sept 17-20 APPT Seoul (South Korea) - $3,000 USD
Oct 14-18 APPT Auckland (New Zeland) - $3,250 NZD ($2,100 USD)
Nov 12-15 APPT Philippines - 100,000 PHP ($2,150 USD)
Dec 1-6 APPT Sydney (Australia) -6,300 AUD ($4,920 USD)

If you don't have a PokerStars account, you can download the PokerStars software here.

* * * * *
And before I go, here's a little fodder....

Top 5 Rejected Circuit Stops for PokerStars:
1. Kazakhstan Open (SPT - Stan Poker Tour)
2. Kabul Cup (SPT - Stan Poker Tour)
3. Baghdad Championships (MPT - Mesopotamia Poker Tour)
4. Honduras Grand Slam of Poker (PUCAPT - Politically Unstable Central American Poker Tour)
5. Somalia Poker Classic (SSAPT - Sub-Saharan Africa Poker Tour)

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/26/2009 04:20:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Solanthos Wins Saturdays with Dr. Pauly

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

It was a sincere pleasure to host this year's only edition of Saturdays with Dr. Pauly. Hard to think it's been almost seven months since the last one (won by Alexe55 when he beat Change100 heads up). I've been too busy this year and didn't have the necessary time to host a lengthy series, but I was itching for the PLO action and camaraderie. I threw this together at the last second and was stunned that we got 48 runners for this event. Last year, we had only one week where we had more than that number (and that was when I added a $215 seat to the Sunday Million to the winner) so you can say that the turnout this weekend was stupendous.

Since we had 48 runners, the top 9 got paid out. You had to make the final table to get your money back and even then it was top heavy.

My Starting Table:
Seat 1: Solanthos
Seat 2: chompy_jr
Seat 3: Skow-go
Seat 4: Zestaaayyy!
Seat 5: April (TX)
Seat 6: Your Hero
Seat 7: markoflnk
Seat 8: SmBoatDrinks

Yeah, we had a Supernova playing in the event and I had to draw him to my friggin' table. Zestaaaayyy! is an Aussie pro and I'm sworn to secrecy about his real identity.

Chitwood unfortunately took down Gigli honors. He was crippled to his last 100 chips when Change100 took him out in 48th place.

I lost most of my chips to April early on with set over set. I busted out shortly after in 39th place. I got it all in on the flop with Ah-Kc-Qd-2d. I had top pair and a flush draw against markoflnk's set of Kings. I turned top two but whiffed on the river. Busto.

By the first break, twenty players busted while DrChako held the chip lead with 6K. Then it was time for on_thg to go to work. He was a vacuum and sucked up chips at a rapid pace. For most of the tournament, no one was close to catching him except DrChako, that was until BigSwede emerged as the one to beat.

Sidney Lane bubbled off the final table in 10th place with Big Swede holding the lead. Yeah, a Scandi was in the top spot ith nine to go and plenty of familiar faces including two players who had won Saturdays with Dr. Pauly in the past.

The Final Table:
Seat 1: DrChako (8402)
Seat 2: on_thg (14725)
Seat 3: zagga (5750)
Seat 4: BIGSWEDE_2 (18289)
Seat 5: Solanthos (5790)
Seat 6: MinDaddy (8670)
Seat 7: mean g (4150)
Seat 8: markoflnk (3534)
Seat 9: Hatchet826 (2690)

On_thg snagged the lead when he busted MeanGene in 8th place. On_thg held the chiplead at the second break, until BigSwede jumped back into the top spot wit 6 to go. The two battled back and forth for the lead with their 20K plus stacks, while the other four players jockeyed for position.

The last Brit in the mix, Acornman, hit the rail in 6th in when DrChako rivered a straight to snap off Kings. That decisive hand propelled Chako into the chiplead, but he doubled up Solanthos on the next hand to lose it.

DrChako regained it after dragging a monsterpotten against the BigSwede when his Aces held up. The BigSwede was crippled and went out in 5th place on the next hand. With four to go, DrChako was closing in on 30K as the chip leader. That's when his rush continued. He had on_thg outchipped 2-1 when they were involved in the largest pot of the tournament up until to at point. It was the battle of the blinds... DrChako opened to 2.4K. On_thg made it 7.2K. DrChako bumped it up to 21.6K which essentially put on_thg all in... and on_thg called.

DrChako: Ac-Ad-4d-4h
on_thg: Qd-10s-9s-8d

The board ran out... Ah-6s-3h-9c-10c... and DrChako won the 31K pot wit a set of Aces while on_thg was busted in 4th place.

Once it got three-handed, the action went fast. Cliff took the lead when he flopped a set of Queens against DrChako. Then MinDaddy was eliminated in third place setting up a showdown between an Iraq War veteran in DrChako and Solanthos (otherwise known as Cliff Fisher, one of Michalski's boys from Dallas).

The heads-up showdown lasted just one hand. Cliff had almost 2-1 lead on Chako, but that did not matter. DrChako opened to 2.4K from the small blind and Cliff called. The flop was Ks-5c-4s. Cliff fired out 3.2K. DrChako raised to 14.4K. Cliff shoved for 44.1K and he had DrChako covered. DrChako called.

Solanthos: Kd-Qd-8s-3s
DrChako: Kc-9s-7d-6c

Both players flopped top pair, but DrChako picked up an OESD. The turn was the 4h and the river was the 5h. Cliff faded the straight draw and won the pot with Kings up and a better kicker. And in one hand... it was all over. DrChako bowed out in second place, while Cliff won Saturdays with Dr. Pauly.


Cliff going deep in the WSOP Donkulus where he finished 285th out of 6,012

The Money Winners:
1st: Solanthos (Cliff) - $144.00
2nd: DrChako - $96.00
3rd: MinDaddy - $57.60
4th: on_thg - $48.00
5th: BIGSWEDE_2 - $38.40
6th: zagga - $31.20
7th: markoflnk - $26.40
8th: MeanGene - $21.60
9th: Hatchet826 - $16.80

Thanks to everyone who played and pimped the event. I had so much fun, that I'll try to sneak in at least one more of these sometime this year. Stay tuned.

* * * * *
If you're an avid reader of Tao of Poker, you might know Cliff as one of the pros who I signed up to TAO Management. Yes, I'm Cliff's sleazy agent, but I assure you that there were no shenanigans in this tournament. It was a sheer coincidence that I happen to rep him and he went on to win it all.

FYI... I'll be sending out a press release shortly pimping my clients deft PLO skills. Here's a sampling from Tao of Pauly Media...

Fisher Beats Iraq War Veteran for PLO Victory Worth Over 2,500,000**

Cliff Fisher outlasted an international field of players to win one of the most prestigious online poker tournaments. Fisher's victory in Saturdays with Dr. Pauly on PokerStars was an astonishing feat considering that it was his first ever Pot-Limit Omaha tournament.

The Dallas, TX native survived several difficult tables which included Ricky Bobby (Atlantic City cash game legend) and an anonymous pro from Australia (rumored to be Tony G playing incognito). It took only one hand for Fisher to knock out DrChako, a popular internet figure most known for his patriotic service during a tour in Iraq.

"Even though this was my first PLO tournament, it was an easy game in my humble opinion," said Fisher in his interview with the Huffington Report. "I've played PLO cash games but I mainly learned Omaha playing hi/lo limit in an illegal game in the back of a strip club in Fort Worth. It feels great to take it down. It's a confidence booster. Dreams can come true. I can't credit the team at TAO management enough. They're the reason why I won today."

"We couldn't be more excited," said Paul McGuire, Fisher's agent and President of TAO Player Management Services. "This victory should get him sponsorship to the upcoming PokerStars Arctic/Antarctica Tour. Get used to hearing about Cliff Fisher. He's already a huge star in Belgium and it's a matter of time before everyone knows about him on all seven continents."

**currency units are in Vietnam Dong

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/25/2009 08:33:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Top Referrals During the WSOP

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Here's where I thank the folks who sent traffic to the Tao of Poker over the last two months during the WSOP festivities. Your links were more than appreciated!

Tao of Poker's Top 15 Referrals:
1. Poker Road
2. LasVegasVegas
3. Wicked Chops Poker
4. Benjo
5. Twitter
6. Pokerati
7. Conservative Grapevine
8. Tao of Pauly
9. Shaniac
10. Iggy
11. Busted Coverage
12. Coventry Music
13. The Big Lead
14. Wam-poker.com
15. Wil Wheaton

Thanks also to everyone else who sent eyeballs here during the WSOP. Good karma is coming your way.

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/24/2009 04:20:00 PM | Permalink |

 
The Poker Beat

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


I'll be one of the guests on The Poker Beat co-hosted by Scott Huff and John Caldwell. The Poker Beat is Poker Road's radio/podcast version of the sports reporters.

You can listen in here. We sound off about National Poker Week, Tiffany Michelle & Maria Ho on The Amazing Race, and the November Nine.

The last time I sat in with the gang at the Poker Beat was just before the Main Event started. We taped that edition in the hallways of the Rio. You can listen to that episode here.

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/23/2009 11:11:00 AM | Permalink |

 
The Story of the Ghost

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

I stayed up very late in Las Vegas as night blended into day and wrote many things that never made the cut on the Tao of Poker, Tao of Pauly, or some of the other places I write. Sometimes they were rambling thoughts that were too long for twitter.

Here are some of those orphaned lines and thoughts in no particular order that faded in and out of my head during the WSOP as I stared out the window of the Gold Coast and glanced over the Las Vegas Strip and the sprawl in the Valley...

* * * * *
There's the beginning and an end. The alpha and the omega. The city sprung up and slowly crawled out to the base of the mountains that surrounded it below. The original blueprint did not resemble the current Google map of the city and suburbs of Las Vegas. Paved over desert with imported water that slowly drying up. Unless it starts raining regularly in Las Vegas, where will they get all the water?

The security guard rushes in to save those who cannot be saved... the poor drunks shriveled up in piss-stained bathroom stalls and the fools slumped over at the end of the bar, their clammy hands clutching onto their souvenir drink cups.

Young girls in black cocktail dresses and high heels glide across the casino floor with heavy rocks on the lanky fingers. Old ladies spitting sunflower seeds as the wheels spin and spin.

Grieving wives walking out of the little white chapels and holding back tears during their shotgun weddings. They know it's the beginning of an era and the end of the rest of their lives as they know it.

Players busted out WSOP events and tip toe through the maze of slot machines and ignore the cries of crushed puppies and other ambient casino sounds like the soused woman shrieking at a blackjack table and the shitfaced frat boy falling down after seven too many Jager Bombs.

Too many games to count as the numbers flashed back and forth. The action was non-stop. Exactas. Parlays. Overs. Humans. Horses. European soccer players. They all are a part of the see-saw action at the sports book, where WWII vets clamped down on cigars so cheap that I wouldn't even split open to roll a blunt.

There's no difference in the age of the octogenarian at the slots and the 20-something online poker prodigy. Their veins burst with excitement just the same. Dragging a monsterpotten or snagging a big score at the penny slots. A win is a win. And the rush? An avalanche of endorphins.

I'm surrounded by people with undesirable qualities, such as the weak ones succumbing to the paralyzing fear of being ordinary. Glasses clinking from the party people, annoying pep talks from life coaches, and angelic movements of adorable Facebook friends replaced by limping working girls. They all haunt me in my waking dreams.

Misunderstood souls wandering down the hallways of the convention center and grimacing. Some where tying to chase down a dream, others were fulfilling their destiny, and still others were running away from their realities.

The wicked dreams of the slot addicts keep their fingers punching away at the machines that gobble up their money. They feed green pieces of paper, their last $33, into the slits hoping to win back 23% of their losses. Sometimes, they play long enough to get a free drink, a free buffet, a free room, maybe even a free show that they have no desire of seeing in the first place.

The unclosed eyes of the zombies destroying little pieces of themselves in the pits. They were the invisible causalities that you chose not to see. The halos from angels has withered in the heat. They have to dart in and out of pedestrian traffic on the Strip trying to scrape the fallen ones off the scorching pavement. The angels assigned to Nevada are the most lonely ones in the universe. Some of them wander into the Rhino and sit in the VIP section for hours on end hoping to have the grittiness of the day wear off with an intense session of grinding from Romanian girls.

A lot of people starve in this world and live in disease-infested conditions. But to starve to feed a curable habit is unbearable. Sometimes I want to play a song by Sly and the Family Stone for them and let them know that they have a chance to pull themselves out of the melancholy. The pursuit of greed and wealth has made many a man and woman screwballs and walking cliches. Shit stains on their shoes. Red wine stains on the shirts.

The once beautiful skylight was purposely blocked out by the architects, who keep you trapped inside a box where it's impossible to escape. Time passes by unceremoniously with the only time stamp of importance? The 24 hour period in between maximum withdrawals at the ATM machines.

Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's oxen. Thou shall not bang a $350/hour working girl. Responsibilities fly out the window of a car speeding down the Strip, and the yellowing of the virgin white pristine souls and sing bittersweet scat like a strung out Billie Holiday preaching to the somber drunks in the audience.

"Overdoses are suicides," debated two off duty cops comparing their daily bad beat stories. Every day, another person kills themselves in Sin City, and another life is conceived after a night of feral sexual intercourse.

One of the last true gamblers freed themselves from every day burdens and they carve out their own path. They take chances and assess risk. What normal society frowns upon gets celebrated in a city of sinners, where even the most religious of folks sip of bottom shelf whiskey to warm up your insides.

Tired bartenders topping off beers for half-way house rejects longing for the unconditional love of a foster mother. There are thousands of bottles of booze, yet my cup remains empty. Some day, I will unscrew the top and pour out a couple of shots in succession to celebrate all of my friends who had their life forces decimated by this town.

Every few seconds, another tourist loses the key to their hotel room. The green light flickers red and they have to shuffle back downstairs to the antiseptic lobby with the late arrivals with stuffed luggage with squeaky wheels.

"This place used to be wonderful," said the bald cabbie in thick Brooklyn accent. "It is from the outside, but on the inside it's disgusting and dingy and full of addicts."

The image of the little girl in the elevator holding a teddy bear as she hugged her father's leg bothered me. I have no idea why they would subject their children to the plight. Just two doors down, the muffled screams of a whiskey tango chick getting tagged team by two drunken sailors kept everyone awake on the hall while the aroma of burnt smoke wafted by. Someone threw a lit cigarette into the trash and the dense and smoky smell masked the faint aromatic flavors of marijuana toked by a gaggle of online poker players multi-tabling in the darkness of their hotel rooms, with days old room service trays scattered about with had eaten pieces of wheat toast, lightly buttered and heavily burned.

The dice dances on the felt like a nimble ballerina leaping through the air, only to fall onto the side of desperation. Superstitious gamblers with disappointment in their eyes light candles pray to false gods in hopes that their bad run will cease. Start playing those lucky numbers you see inside fortune cookies.

Tender conversations with strangers while sitting on a bar stool, miserable and weakened by the impossible to beat video slots, dreaming about white sandy beaches in Mexico. Las Vegas is no place to go to get away from it all. It's the belly of the beast.

After years and years living without any semblance of passion, the ambivalent locals were always thinking about leaving all the time, but unable to pull the trigger. They were trapped in quicksand while their entire lives were being pulled into the void.

"The only way to get clean is to sweat it out," mused an old humble junkie who spoke to a group of a dozen chain-smokers inside the basement of a church. The mainstream media loves to paint a picture of glitzy Vegas, but they should include audio excerpts of testimonials at different AA, NA, and GA meetings. The masses seem to forget about the evil that lurks in the shadows, that disappear when the sun rises over the mountains. What happens in Vegas gets discussed in AA meetings.

This is the city of endless days when it's always day and the night never ends, the seasons all change inside of one continuous day. The ghosts wander the hallways in hopes of running into the most desperate of people, because they will actually talk to them. I saw one. I saw many. But they never answered my questions about human frailty.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/22/2009 03:16:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Existentialist Conversations with Strippers: Sunshine, Jesus Freaks, and the Afternoon Shift

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

"This work is an attempt to understand the time I live in." - Albert Camus

Bad Blood flew into Las Vegas for a little post-WSOP hang time. After five summers, he's the only one of my friends who figured out that poker media types have zero to little time to socialize during the WSOP. He strategically picked the days after the completion of WSOP to get sloppy as we embarked on some of the best misadventures that I had in a very long time.

Bad Blood and I go back, way back to the warm and fuzzy Party Poker days shortly after Moneymaker's epic win in 2003. We used to play several times a week together and developed a bond that has lasted over a half of a decade. Bad Blood was the one who introduced me to the Procedure; a three-pronged evening that entails drinking, strip clubs, and poker.

I've been fortunate to have taken part in more than one Bad Blood-captained sojourns to strip clubs in both Las Vegas and his hometown of G-Vegas. In fact, just a month earlier during my time away from the WSOP, both Professional Keno Player Neil Fontenot and I had the pleasure of tagging along with Bad Blood to one of the local South Carolina gentleman's clubs. Talk about the other side of the tracks. The best looking dancer in G-Vegas could possibly hump the day shift at the Rhino if she could somehow kick her meth habit and drag her three kids across country with her.

The afternoon shift at the Rhino features the bottle of the barrel for Rhino girls, however, when compared to the rest of the stripping gene pool, they are still the tip of the sword. Most of the girls who end up on the afternoon shift at the Rhino are usually damaged goods in some form or another. It's a place for newbies to the pole who are desperate for cash, 40+ year old strippers a few years past their heyday, and single moms with multiple children who couldn't find decent day care. Where as some work places in Europe have day care centers on site for their employees, the Rhino doesn't exactly have a swing set out back. There's a Romper Room in the darkest corner, but the activities in that place should not be viewed by anyone under 21. Let's just say, that the Rhino does not actively promote "Take your daughter to work day" unless she happens to be a 18 year old former gymnast that knows how to shake her booty to Flo Rida's latest album.

Bad Blood arranged free passage from the cab driver since they get kick backs to funnel horny walking ATMs to various clubs around Sin City. The Rhino looked different during the day as you approached it. It was 110+ degrees and the mid-afternoon scorching sun gave everything outside a white glow. Even with shades on, your eyes were bombarded with the glare. It took several moments to adjust to the darkness inside the Rhino. Murky figures moved quickly in the shadows, sort of like the Vietcong ready to spring an ambush on a batch of fresh grunts in the jungle.

In the past, I made a beeline to the bar since it was the only lit area in the place. I was able to inspect the goods better that way. That time, however, we sat down at a table near the stage. Bad Blood turned down the first young girl in a plaid skirt who saddled up to him. He did not resist the second wave... a 6 foot tall Nordic beauty with breasts the side of medicine balls... sat down next to him.

Someone snuck up from behind and put her hands over my eyes.

"Guess who?" she said in in twang.

It sounded Southern maybe even East Texas. I didn't know who it was. She was just a random bleach-dyed blonde stripper with collagen injected lips who decided to pounce on me. It was her lucky day. My girlfriend approved of the trip to the Rhino and I had a wad of bills in my pocket after a score in the Dream Team Poker event.

"I'm Sunshine. Can I sit down?" she asked.

I nodded and a waitress wandered over. I had a two drink tickets and offered to buy Sunshine a cocktail.

"Sorry honey, I don't drink," she said as she leaned in to whisper, "I'll have an ice water. Get a double and ask for a water back. That way they won't charge you for the water."

I nodded and repeated her suggestion to the waitress. By that point, Bad Blood's bald head had disappeared into the bosoms of his girl.

"Where are y'all from?" asked Sunshine.

"I'm from South Carolina," said Bad Blood. "And he's from... where you calling home these days?"

"L.A.," I answered. "These days it's L.A."

"How do you know each other?" asked Sunshine.

"We went to school together," said Bad Blood.

"Yeah, we played hockey at Cornell together."

Bad Blood's girl stroked his head and Sunshine hopped on my lap.

"So you're hockey players?"

"Not anymore. That was like 15 years ago in a galaxy far far away."

"What do y'all do now?"

"He designs hot air balloons. He used to be a pilot but now he's a designer. Me? I'm a writer."

"In Hollywood? For who?"

"I'd rather not say."

"That's so cool. I knew there was something special about you. We're very similar. I'm a creative person too. I wrote, directed, and acted in my own film last year."

For the next five minutes, Sunshine revealed the intricate details of her film... a low-rent inter-galactic gangbang flick with sci-fi undertones.

"I even did my own stunts and we have special effects! In the final scene I fuck this alien with two cocks."

"Are you influenced by Philip K. Dick?" I asked wondering if she was also a fan of my favorite sci-fi writer.

"Bill Dick? Is he the black guy with the 14-inch cock who gives all those girls facials in Cumfiesta?"

Philip K. Dick. Bill Dick. Same guy.

An aging porn actress latched herself onto me. Luckily she seemed more interested in discussing the arts instead of trying to hustle me for lapdances in the VIP room.

Some of the entertainers perform under a persona and role play during their shift. You never learn anything about them since they're supposed to be globs of clay and become whatever erotic fantasy that you wish. Others just change their name and have no qualms telling you their daily bad beats and tragic "how I ended up on the pole" stories. Within three minutes Sunshine gave me the run down on the last three decades. She grew up in Texas near the Louisiana border. She got pregnant in high school and had a back alley abortion that got botched. So she could no longer have kids. She lived in New Orleans for a spell and married a Cuban coke dealer who went to jail for killing an undercover narc. She was afraid that the thugs who he worked for were going to come after her, so she fled for El Paso, then worked in Las Vegas for a spell before she ended up in Chatsworth, CA. If you know that little enclave in the Valley, then you know it's the porn capitol of the world.

Sunshine was one of the thousands of workers who fell into the booming sex industry in the 1980s. VCRs made it possible for any pervert to wank off to pornographic material without leaving their own homes. Dingy and sticky porno theatres became a thing of the past. At the time, she was a raging sex addict and cocaine addict. The porn industry catered to both of her needs. One year turned into a decade. Her 20s were a daze. All of a sudden, she woke up one day and it was 1999 and she was strung out, completely broke, and accumulated thousands of dollars in medical bills for a lacerated rectum after a tragic dildo incident.

She spent the last decade in and around Vegas. For a while, she hustled whales at the Mirage as a high end escort but that didn't work out after she got thrown over a couch by her pimp and broke seven ribs. While she healed, she worked in a call center specializing in bondage fantasies. She did everything possible to extract the credit card numbers and other personal info from her sex-deprived callers. One of her bosses used that info for an international identity theft ring. She got arrested but her boss fled town. After a short stint in jail, she was released and ended up on the pole to pay her legal fees.

In the last few years, she used the money at the Rhino to fund her own porn films. She told me her website name and made me say it out loud five times so I would not forget. Since she loved sci-fi stuff she wanted to incorporate those themes into her orgies on film.

"That's a remarkable way to target multiple audiences," I said. "Plus sci-fi geeks usually can't get laid so they'll be the ones buying this porn in bulk."

She offered up a lap dance first before we headed into the VIP room.

"I want you to test drive the car before you buy it," she said as she stood up and pulled me into the corner.

Before she danced, she asked if she could give me a psychic reading. She closed her eyes and put her hand on my chest above my heart. She said that she then asked the universe for a sign. Images pop up in her head and that's her psychic vision.

"I'm envisioning your father. He's not a creative person like you. He wore a gray uniform. I'm seeing a large bus. Was he a bus mechanic? I have this vision of a man in gray fixing a bus."

I told her she was wrong. However, she was almost correct and onto something. My old man was a suit who humped a desk job for an insurance company in midtown Manhattan. He wore a gray suit every day and took the subway to work. Either Sunshine was somewhat psychic, or full of shit and got lucky.

I arranged a very good deal for the VIP room at a discount. I even greased the bouncer to make sure we got a few extra songs. Bad Blood was in one of the dark corners while I sat in the other. Sunshine revealed her average sized breasts under a bluish light. She was in her mid-40s but her body was well maintained and had curves like a 30 year old.

"You used to have implants?" I blurted out.

"How did you know?"

I rubbed the scar underneath one of her breasts.

"I'll probably get them again in ten years when they really start to sag. For now, all of my money for cosmetic surgery goes to my face."

She pointed to her lips, eyes, and forehead.

Over the next few minutes, she gave me a sampling of her raunchy phone sex lines. She also revealed that she hasn't done coke since 9/11. She's been sober from booze for thirty months and that she attended Sexaholics Anonymous meetings twice a week and had not had sex since Christmas 2007. She admitted that she blew a guy on July 4th of last year, but that was because he offered her $5,000 for her a suck and a swallow. She was late on her rent and the AC on her car broke. Everyone has a price. Even those who are recovering addicts trying to live life on the straight and narrow.

She abruptly changed the subject and spoke about her recent relationship with Jesus that had been intensifying. She mentioned how she tries to channel all of her sexual frustration towards the heavens. She has been getting into a couple of Christian rock bands and often masturbates to the Kronicles. At that point, I had to cut her off. I didn't like the path she was leading me down. I was either trying to convert me or about to tell me some freaky shit involving a crucifix that I really did not want to think about. After all, I was on vacation and all I wanted was to have her rub her titties in my face while she told me some great stories about her daily encounters of life as a sex industry worker. Jerking off to Jesus was not one of the topics listed on the Rhino's afternoon symposium.

Before I left the VIP room, she asked to give me another psychic reading. She put her hand on my chest and close her eyes. She quickly opened them and said, "I had this vision that you gave me a $100 tip."

Talk about a sneaky hustle. I shrugged my shoulders and started to walk out when she grabbed my arm.

"I know you got it. I felt that bulge in your pocket."

"I'll tell you what. Why don't we play a game. You close your eyes and count to twenty. That will give me enough time to pull out my ca..."

Before I could finish, she put her hands over her eyes and started counting loudly.

By the time she got to seven, I snuck out of the VIP room.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/20/2009 05:43:00 PM | Permalink |

 
WSOP and Numbers

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA

Here are a few things I kept track of during the 2009 WSOP...

Days Missed: 20
Phish Shows I Caught: 12
Episodes of the Poker Beat I recorded at the Poker Road Booth: 1
Total Lime Tossing Losses: -80
Times LJ Asked to Watch Lime Tossing: 47
Number of People Who Saw Lime Tossing: 2
Number of Emails I Got in Praise of 'What Does Benjo Think?': 82
Time Benjo said, "420 Bob" in the Pressbox: 420
Times Change100 Threaten to Kill a Flamer in the Chatbox on PokerNews: 11
Times AlCantHang Was Rolled By A Stripper: 1
The Devil Sightings: 7
Times Otis Tiled by Seeing The Devil: 4.5
Times I Saw Tela the Hooker: 1
Times I Asked My Colleagues for a Confirmation on How to Spell... KOALA: 2
Members of the Brazilian Media Who Think I Speak Portuguese: 2
Portuguese Photographers Who I Tilted During the Media Event: 1
Episodes of Tao of Pokerati That Were Not Published: 214
Times Oliver Tse Followed Me into the Bathroom: 1
Members of the Media Stricken by the Donkey Flu: 43
High Score in Beer Bowling at Gold Coast: 172

3x3 at In-N-Out Burger Consumed: 12
Bags of Steak Nuggets I Consumed: 2.5
Kangaroo Burgers from the Poker Kitchen I Consumed: 0
Pizza Hut Pizzas Consumed: 3
Times I Went to McFaddens (formerly the Tilted Kilt): 0
Kit Kats That MeanGene Snuck Out of the UB Suite for Me: 6

Brits Who Loved the Queen, But Hate Jeffrey Pollack: 12
Brits Who Hate the Queen and Love Jeffrey Pollack: 137
Number of Times Jeffrey Pollack Was Spotted in Jeans by Change100: 3
Times I Got in Trouble With Harrahs: 1
Food Comps I Got from Harrahs: 7

Times Charles Barkley Walked By Me: 1
The Average Age of Girls Who Devilfish Would Be Walking Around With: 20 years and 8 months
Total Events My Former NYC Pot Dealer Played In: 2
Steve Chidwick Sweating Maridu at a TV Table Sightings: 1
Annette15 Sightings: 3
Hugs from Liz Lieu: 2
Times I Pissed Next to Arnaud Mattern: 2
Times I Saw Either Ray Davis or Paul Darden in the Back Hallway Asking Phil Ivey for a Stake: 3
Times AngryJulie Screamed When DonkeyBomber Won a Pot: 63
Times Tom McEvoy Walked Around Sleeveless: 1 too many
Times a House Full of Foreign Poker Players Were Robbed by Hookers: 2.5
Times Lou Diamond Philips Asked to Use My Lighter: 1
Times I Saw Vinny Vinh Smoking in front of the Poker Kitchen: 1

Finish in Media Event: 3
Finish in Dream Team Poker's WSOP event: 13
Times I Went to the WSOP Cage: 2
Money I Loaned During the WSOP: $4,500
Players I Had Action On in the Main Event: 1
Dealers Hauled Off in Handcuffs at 3am: 1
Drunks Hauled Off in Handcuffs During the Main Event: 1
Stripclubs I Attended During the WSOP: 1
Stripclubs I Attended Within 16 Hours of the WSOP Ending: 1

Number of People Who Followed @taopauly On Twitter: 2,345
Number of People Who Unfollowed @taopauly on Twitter: 2,269

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/19/2009 11:11:00 PM | Permalink |

 
Germans, Goths Chicks, and Mai Tais

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

I went to the Venetian to tilt-a-local. It's a post-WSOP tradition where I hit up the tables and do everything possible to throw a local player off kilter through a series of maniacal moves and plays. After a lengthy assignment, I'm always seeking out a little fun at the tables. And nothing gives me more pleasure than getting people to piss away their stack to me.

The gang was embroiled in a juicy 4/8 Omaha 8 with a half-kill. I'm a PLO-high junkie but limit 08 is not my cup of tea, despite the fact that AlCantHang, Poker Shrink, Otis, Change100, and Bad Blood were at the table. Heck, there was even a cameo from Amy Calistri early on.

I signed up for a 1-2 NL game and eyed the 2-5 tables. Since there were a bunch on the list, a new table was opened for us. I love it when a poker room starts a new table because everyone is evenly stacked (for the most part) and no one has a solid read on everyone else yet. I tend to process information in a shorter time period than the average poker playing tourist so I always feel like I can exploit that edge in the small window that it presented itself. Before we even played a hand, I had more than half the table pegged. Before the first orbit ended, I had already made a move on one player.

The Table:
Seat 1: Middle-aged convention guy
Seat 2: L.A. Douchebag #1
Seat 3: Matt Stout-look-alike
Seat 4: L.A. Douchebag #2
Seat 5: South American tourist
Seat 6: Crazy Asian 20-something (girlfriend of L.A. Douchebag)
Seat 7: Your Hero
Seat 8: German female 20-something tourist
Seat 9: Hipster with girlfriend sitting behind him
Seat 10: Innocuous young tourist

The hipster insisted on straddling. Both L.A. Douchebags raised the pot to $20 preflop. They didn't know each other, but one of said douches had his girlfriend at the table. She was a calling station so most of the time, there was $60 in the pot before action got to me.

There was one hand where everyone limped (the straddle bet) and I bumped it up with Qc-Jc. Three players called. The flop was Ax-Qx-3c. Action checked to me and I bet 2/3 the pot. The hipster called. The turn was the 10c. I slid out a stack of red birds. He tanked for three minutes while he executed every single chip trick possible before he flashed A-J to me and folded.

I didn't show but when he asked me if I had Big Slick, I nodded.

"I knew it!" he said as he turned around to tell his girlfriend about the "sick laydown" he just made. I smirked while I stacked up his chips.

One orbit later... I was the button. Hipster was the big blind. The guy in Seat 10 straddled. UTG called. L.A. Douchebag #1 re-raised to the standard $20. Matt Stout's doppelganger flat called. L.A. Douchebag #2 called along with his girlfriend. I found A-K on the button and almost jammed but just called. The German girl to my left re-raised to $121 from her small blind. Everyone got out of her way except the L.A. Douchebag #2 who tanked for a few minutes. I used the extra time wisely and tried to get a physical read on the German.

Like most Europeans, she gave off very little info. She barely spoke aside from an incident when she initially sat down and the cocktail waitress harassed her about not having an ID. The German girl looked young, maybe in her early 20s, but without an ID she was not going to get served. All she wanted was a Mojito and could not understand why she was getting carded after playing there every day for over a week. The waitress left without serving her and a few minutes later, a bulky thick-necked security guard tapped her on the shoulder. He said something about needing to see her ID and how it's against the law to be inside a Nevada casino without a picture ID. She gave him her players card but he demanded that she go up to her room to grab her ID. She wasn't happy but complied.

At that point (this is still a flashback), I thought she was Russian by her thick accent. We didn't find out that she was German yet. She had light brown eye brows but her hair was dyed black. I started to wonder if she was on the lam and part of a criminal team of operatives from the Russian mafia. I expected her to not return. I was a bit surprised when she returned with her German passport and showed it to the security. He gave her the thumbs up and the cocktail server took her order. All she wanted was a Mojito.

"I'm sorry sweetie," said the server. "We're out of mint."

"I'll have a Mai Tai," said the German.

I said a few works in German and she perked up. Aside from the initial greeting, she retreated into her shell. She looked like Isabelle Mercier's goth cousin from Munich with black fingernails and black hair and black eye liner. The only thing missing were the fresh scars of cut flesh. Then again, I never asked to see her wrists.

Back to the hand... the German girl was already having a rough day before she got in the hand. There was about $120+ in the pot and she raised to $121. The L.A. Douchebag #2 folded along with his girlfriend, so it was back to me. My initial thought was that she jammed with A-K because that's what I should have done with my hand. I really couldn't get a read on her but there was so much dead money in the pot. She had around $50-60 behind, so I knew that I'd be calling off $160 more of my stack. Even if I called, we'd get it all in on the flop... even if I missed. It was shove or fold. If I wasn't running so hot at the tables, I probably would have folded. I was in a gambling mood. At worst, I was a coin flip against a middle pair and up to Queens. At best, I caught her with A-Q or below. I never considered that she would have K-K or A-A.

I called for time and pulled a quarter out of my pocket. I said, "If it's heads, I'll call."

I flipped it up and the L.A. Douchebags thought it was the funniest thing they ever saw. It landed on the back of my clenched hand. I covered it up and then peeked at the my favorite hemp-growing former President's head... George Washington.

"I'm all in," I said.

"Call," she said quickly and tabled... K-K.

"Oh, shit. Fuck me," I said.

I counted out $180 or so and was ready to ship it to her as the dealer fanned out the flop. All low cards and a rainbow. The turn was another blank. I stood up and then the dealer burned and dropped the river card. He flipped it over and the table exploded when the Ace of spades spiked.

She unleashed a short burst of obscenities in German. Change100 heard the commotion and rushed over from the other side of the room as the L.A. Douchebags quickly discussed about how sick of a beat that was.

Yeah, I three-outered a German goth chick. And she wasn't happy.

She said something about losing a $500 pot on a two-outer the night before. When you run bad... the world is against you. When you run good, the world is a magical place full of unicorns and rainbows and spiking your Ace on he river to stack a European tourist.

I got a ton of action after that and won a few more pots while the German goth girl pounded Mai Tais. She was trying to drink off her tilt which is never a good thing. It just leads to more gloom and doom.

The game started to lose players and we were five-handed at one point with me, the German goth chick, and L.A. Douchebag #1. That's when I stacked her again. L.A. Douchebag opened. I popped him and she smooth-called from the button. I had A-K and the flop was K-x-x. I checked to the German and she bet half the pot. I called. The turn was another blank. No straights. No flushes. I checked. She shoved and I called. She didn't turn over her hand and I assumed she had some sort of King with a crappy kicker or a middle pair. My hand held up and she got stacked a second time. More German swear words came out of her mouth.

She stood up and bolted out of the poker room, but I was worried that she might return with a sharp object and shank me while I walked to the cage cashing out a few racks of redbirds.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/18/2009 04:20:00 AM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Main Event Index

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV


The November Nine
Photo by MeanGene

Day 37 - Main Event Day 1A: Summer of George?

Day 38 - Main Event Day 1B: Theme from the Bottom

Day 39 - Main Event 1C: Welcome to the Psychedelic Circus

Day 40 - Main Event Day 1D: No Soup for You

Day 41 - Dollar Bill Blues and What Does Benjo Think, Vol. 4

Day 42 - Main Event Day 2B: Schadenfreude

Day 43 - Third Place for Charity

Day 44 - Main Event Day 3: Two Frenchies, One Cup

Day 45 - Main Event Day 4: Bubbles, Leap Frog, and What Does Benjo Think Vol. 5

Day 46 - Main Event Day 5: Rapido and The Rise of the DonkeyBomber

Day 47 - Main Event Day 6: When I'm 64

Day 48 - Main Event Day 7: Evil Lurks on the Cusp of Greatness

Day 49 - Main Event Day 8: Phil Ivey Advances to November Nine

Thanks for following along. See you in November for the conclusion of the WSOP Main Event...

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/17/2009 04:20:00 AM | Permalink |

 
WSOP Day 49 - Main Event Day 8: Phil Ivey Advances to November Nine

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV


Phil Ivey? Yes, Phil Ivey. Meet the newest and most popular member of the next November Nine. He needs no introduction.

Maybe there should be a re-vote for the WSOP Player of the Year? Sure Jeff Lisandro won three bracelets, but Ivey won two and faded a field of 6,494 to advance to the November Nine.

I've witnessed many feats in the last five years, but nothing matched the enthusiasm and excitement and orgasmic buzz that nearly lifted the Amazon Ballroom off the ground when Phil Ivey made it to the final ten players.

I said this on Twitter... "Ivey is like the friggin' Beatles."

The final table area was jam packed. Fans. Suits. Media. Citizen paparazzi. ESPN crew. Security guards. Tournament staff. Every single inch of space was taken up in and around the featured TV table set. I had never seen it that claustrophobic before as a mob descended upon the center of the poker universe.

The one open spot on the rail included drooling fans who stood ten deep on the rail attempting to catch a glimpse of the one and only Phil Ivey. The area above the TV table in the beef jerky lounge was so densely packed that the floor shook a bit as I squeezed by the cluster of bodies. I was worried that the makeshift lounge was overcapacity and on the verge of collapsing so I stepped back a bit. It reminded me of the eerie calm moments before a wooden grandstand buckled a Guatemalan soccer game and thousands of fans were stampeded.

Tournament poker is rather boring as a spectator sport, but Phil Ivey made every second enthralling. It was sort of like watching Michael Jordan glide down the court take off from the foul line and throw down a dunk. Ivey is Jordan, Einstein, Picasso, and Mozart all rolled into a one professional gambler.

Every single poker fan rushed to the final table from all over the convention area. The few people in offices and the hallways scattered and dashed to the TV table. Entire parts of the casino emptied out, including the Hooker Bar. Even the harlots were intrigued when whispers that Ivey advanced to the final ten. Players spilled out of the poker room,and ven the guys sweeping the floors ran down to the Amazon Ballroom with their brooms and dustpans in tow. Players playing online poker in their hotel rooms quickly left in the middle of twenty-tabling and made a bee-line downstairs. Locals jumped in their cars and sped to the Rio.

Phil Ivey was on the cusp of the final table with history about to be made and no-one wanted to miss it.

However, that frenetic energy was short-lived when Jordan Smith bubbled off the final table when his Aces were snapped off by Darvin Moon's set of eights. And in the blink of the eye, the final ten transformed into the November Nine.

2009 November Nine:
Seat 1: Darvin Moon - 58,930,000
Seat 2: James Akenhead - 6,800,000
Seat 3: Phil Ivey - 9,765,000
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel - 12,390,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter - 29,885,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman - 34,800,000
Seat 7: Joe Cada - 13,215,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout - 9,500,000
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman - 19,580,000

Darvin Moon will retain the chiplead for the next few months until the players return to the Rio in November to play out the final table.

The WSOP as we know it is finally complete... for now. See you in November.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/16/2009 02:04:00 AM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 8

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

And here we are. The moment you have all been waiting for. The final 27. The fate of the 2009 November Nine is on the line.

Main Event Stats:
Players Remaining: 27
Avg. Stack: 7,215,556
Chip Leader: Darvin Moon
Number of Entries: 6,494
Prize Pool: $61,043,600
Places Paid: 648
1st Place Prize: $8,546,435

Today's Payouts:
10-12th - $896,730
13-15th - $633,022
16-18th - $500,557
19-27th - $352,832

Today's Seating Assignments:
Table 1
Seat 1: Jesse Haabak - 2,750,000
Seat 2: Ian Tavelli - 4,385,000
Seat 3: James Calderaro - 6,475,000
Seat 4: Jonathan Tamayo - 3,300,000
Seat 5: Warren Zackey - 5,485,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman - 10,005,000
Seat 7: Leo Margets - 1,530,000
Seat 8: Tommy Vedes - 5,070,000
Seat 9: James Akenhead - 8,615,000

Table 2 - Featured TV Table
Seat 1: Phil Ivey - 11,350,000
Seat 2: Happy Shulman - 10,170,000
Seat 3: George Caragiorgas - 1,615,000
Seat 4: Nick Maimone - 1,545,000
Seat 5: Andrew 'LuckyChewy' Lichtenberger - 5,625,000
Seat 6: Marco Mattes - 5,285,000
Seat 7: Joseph Cada - 6,565,000
Seat 8: Darvin Moon - 20,160,000
Seat 9: Jordan Smith - 4,510,000

Table 3 - Secondary Table
Seat 1: Jamie Robbins - 9,795,000
Seat 2: Antonio Esfandiari - 4,470,000
Seat 3: Francois Balmigere - 1,440,000
Seat 4: Ludovic Lacay - 5,610,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter - 11,885,000
Seat 6: Ben Lamb - 9,410,000
Seat 7: Antoine Saout - 11,135,000
Seat 8: Kevin Schaffel - 11,245,000
Seat 9: Billy Kopp - 15,970,000

18 of the above players will go home and never seen again. Nine of them will return to Las Vegas in November to play out the final table. Stay tuned to find out who.

Cards went in the air at 12:02pm. There is 7:17 left on the clock in this level... Blinds are 50K/100K with a 10K ante.

* * * * *
12:20pm... Leo Margets Busto


Photo courtesy of WickedChopsPoker
The last female standing... the lovely Leo Mergets from Barcelona, Spain was the first player to hit the rail today when her A-7 ran into Warren Zackey A-10. She finished in 27th place and collected $352,832. Down to 26 in a very quiet Amazon Ballroom. The hallways are even quieter.

Media Pool - Pauly's Picks: Darvin Moon, Ludovic Lacay, Tommy Vedes, Ben Lamb, Jeff Duvall, Leo Margets, Marco Mattes, Eugene Katchalov, Lucky Chewey

* * * *
12:59pm... Down to 24; Jesse Habbak and Francois Balmigere = Busto

Jesse Haabak is no longer with us after Warren Zackey busted him. Francois Balmigere also hit the rail which leaves two Frenchman remaining. He was taken out by Billy Kopp who rivered a straight against Francois' Jacks.

Darvin Moon ran into LuckyChewy's luckbox abilities when he snapped off Aces with... J-9 sooooted. Chewy flopped two nines.

Former G-Vegas underground player, Nick Maimone shoved with a short stack and doubled through Phil Ivey's pocket Jacks. The young gun from the Carolinas is still alive.

* * * **
2:02pm... French on French Hate; Ivey Hates Jacks; Antonio Esfandiari = Busto

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp and Darvin Moon
Recent Eliminations: Antonio Esfandiari
Players Remaining: 23
Shorties: George Caragiorgas

Two Frenchies, One pot. Antoine Saout took a pot for Ludovic Lacay when he rivered an Ace against Lacay's pocket tens. Ludovic Lacay slipped to 3M.

Nick Maimone caught some more luck when he doubled through Jordan Smith. His 7-7 kicked 10-10 in the junk when a seven fell on the turn. The kid from Carolina doubled up twice today and his fans up in the Beef Jerky Lounge went batshit.

Phil Ivey took a hit when he doubled up Marco Mattes short stack. Marco's Queens held against Ivey's Jacks. He lost twice today with Jacks against short stacks. Maimone bested his Jacks earlier in the day.

Antonio Esfandiari just hit the rail when he ran into Steven Begleiter. One of his female railbirds nearly had an orgasm when he won the hand. The only other big named pro not named Phil Ivey is out. No mas, Antonio.

* * * * *
3:02pm... Down to 21; Germany and South Africa = Busto

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp, Darvin Moon, Steven Begleiter
Recent Eliminations: Warren Zackey and Marco Mattes
Players Remaining: 21

Marco Mattes from Germany hit the road when his fives ran into eights. He can now return to being a backup singer in a Menudo cover band.

The South African Warren Zackey held the top spot as the chipleader at a couple of points during the tournament. He could not hold on and fizzled out in 22nd.

Wow, both players hit the rail after the break. Maybe they should take a break every hour instead of every two?

And the nicotine addicts went scrambling to find places to fire up. The usual smoking area near the Poker Kitchen (or the big white shed where kangaroos go to die) was closed off while they dismembered the shed.

Here's some interesting non-tits and ass story over at the hombres at Wicked Chops Poker... Jeff Shulman to Renounce WSOP Bracelet If He Wins.

"You should actually win before you make that statement," snarked Benjo.

* * * * *
3:45pm... Maimone Running Like God; Down to 18

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp 26M and Ben Lamb & Darvin Moon with 17.5M
Recent Eliminations: George Caragiorgas and Tommy Vedes
Shorties: Ludovic Lacay

"Running like God. So epic," joked Nick Maimone about his play so far today. The deck continued to hit him in the face when he turned quad Kings against George Caragiorgas on 20th place.

Ivey is around 5M and Ludovic Lacay slipped to 2.1M. Chewy has 65.M.

It's time for a pay jump to $500,000. Yikes.

Thanks to Change100 for the final two table draws...

TV Table:
Seat 1: Phil Ivey
Seat 2: Ian Tavelli
Seat 3: Steve Begleiter
Seat 4: Antoine Saout
Seat 5: James Akenhead
Seat 6: Eric Buchman
Seat 7: Joe Cada
Seat 8: Jamie Robbins
Seat 9: Nick 'FU_15' Maimone

Secondary Table:
Seat 1: Ben Lamb
Seat 2: Kevin Schaffel
Seat 3: Jordan Smith
Seat 4: Andrew 'LuckyChewy' Lichtenberger
Seat 5: Happy Shulman
Seat 6: Darvin Moon
Seat 7: James Calderaro
Seat 8: Billy Kopp
Seat 9: Ludovic Lacay

According to Benjo, Ludovic has yet to sit on the featured TV table. He's been on the second table a few times though.

* * * * *
4:20pm... Lucky Chewey Not So Lucky

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp and Darvin Moon
Recent Eliminations: Andrew 'LuckyChewey' Lichtenberge
Players Remaining: 17
Shorties: Phil Ivey and Ludovic Lacay

Chewy ran into Darvin Moon's Kings when he had Jacks. That was all she wrote for Chewy. With his elimination, they are down to 17.

Phil Ivey slipped to 5M until he picked up a pot when he opened for a 420K raise. No joke. He's up to 7M but one of the three shortest stacks along with Ludovic Lacay.

As always, today's 4:20 smoke break is brought to you by... PokerStars and FantasySportsLive!





* * * * *
4:53pm... Lacay Out in 16th Place

Two bustouts on the last hand before the break to go down to 15. Ludivuc Lacay is the latest casualty when he lost a race against Happy Shulman.

Ian Tavelli headed to the rail in 16th a few moments before Lacay's exit.

Down to 15 where the pace has gone a little faster than expected. The action should slow down. Which they keep say. The they? The people inside my head.

Oh and I'm getting smoked like cheap schwag in the media pool...

Media Pool - Pauly's Picks... Darvin Moon, Ludovic Lacay, Tommy Vedes, Ben Lamb, Jeff Duvall, Leo Margets, Marco Mattes, Eugene Katchalov, Andrew Chewey Lichtenberger

Here's who cashed today...

16 Ludovic Lacay $500,557
17 Ian Tavelli $500,557
18 Andrew Lichtenberger $500,557
19 Tommy Vedes $352,832
20 George Caragiorgas $352,832
21 Jonathan Tamayo $352,832
22 Warren Zackey $352,832
23 Marco Mattes $352,832
24 Antonio Esfandiari $352,832
25 Francois Balmigere $352,832
26 Jesse Haabak $352,832
27 Leo Margets $352,832

* * * * *
5:45pm... Nick Maimone's Run Over

The kid from Carolina went much deeper than anyone imagined today. He was running better than good. He suggested that he was running like God... except against Eric Buchman. He could not draw out and hit the road in 15th place. Down to 14.

And yes, Steven Begleiter, is your chipleader.

* * * * *
6:30pm... Happy Lamb

Chip Leaders: Steven Begleiter

Ben Lamb doubled through Happy Shulman when his tens held against Shulman's K-J sooted. Shulman opened and Lamb shoved for about 3x more. Shulman tanked for about ninety seconds before he sighed and called. Shulman did not win his race and Lamb doubled up much to the delight of his contingency.

Ivey is up to 7M and Lamb is still the short stack despite his double up.

* * * * * *
7:05pm... Dinner Break

On the last hand before the break, James Ankenhead cracked Aces when he flopped two pair with K-Q.

Still on 14 players. Five more to to before the November Nine is set. Eric Buchman is the chipleader by a slim margin.

Let's hope the dinner break can make everyone play a little looser. At least all of the drunk and annoying fans will leave the Amazon Ballroom for a few minutes.

Chip Counts...
Eric Buchman 28.67M
Steven Begleiter 27.26M
Darvin Moon 25.4M
Jordan Smith 18.84M
Joseph Cada 18.4M
Billy Kopp 13.5M
Jeff Shulman 13.5M
Antoine Saout 12.42M
Kevin Schaffel 10.63M
Phil Ivey 8.4M
Ben Lamb 6.6M
James Akenhead 5.09M
James Calderaro 5M
Jamie Robbins 1.34M

See you back at 8:35pm.

* * * * * *
8:05pm... The Last Supper

I hope you're well fed, because this might take a while. On my way back to the Rio, I peeked inside ESPN's staging area where they serve their catered staff meal during the dinner break. Oh my! Talk about a spread. My mouth salivated at the prospects. An efficient army is a well fed army and the troops have replenished and reloaded and ready for the long haul. I'm prepped for another 8-10 hours. I have 4:20am as the stop time. Regardless, the sun will be piercing my eyes as I take my initial steps of freedom as I exit the Rio for the last time until November.

One drunk got carted off by security. Alkies beware, you're belligerent drunken tomfoolery will not be tolerated. (P.S. All media reps should sneak through the side door).

* * * * * *
9:15pm... Lamb-Kebob and See Ya Calderaro

Ben Lamb hit the road along with his rowdy railbirds. He finished in 14th place and within minutes James Calderaro made a quick exit. In the first forty minutes after dinner break, two players are eliminated. Down to the final 12 and a pay jump to $896,730.

Eric Buchman is one of the first players to pass the 30M mark but Darvin Moon and Steven Begleiter are not far behind.

Three more to go until the November Nine. Two more bustouts until the final ten players consolidate to one table.

Phil Ivey is around 7M in chips but at the far end of the pack.

* * * * *
9:55pm... Welcome November Nine Bubble

Chip Leaders: Darvin Moon
Recent Eliminations: Jamie Robbins (11th) and Billy Kopp (12th)

Phil Ivey busted Jamie Robbins in 11th place. The crowd unleashed a jubilant cheer when Robbins failed to come from behind to double through Ivey. With ten players remaining, Ivey is on the cusp of making his first ever

Every one in the room has a collected hard on... hoping that Ivey makes the final table. The suits and media types have over-sized dollar signs in their eyes. They can almost count the money.

Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. By the way, Darvin Moon is back into the chiplead and became the first player to pass the 40M mark. he didn't even both hitting the 20M mar, he went straight from the 20M to 40M when he busted Billy Kopp in 11th place.

Action was paused while they prep the final TV table. The remaining ten players were consolidated to one table.

The Final 10:
Seat 1: Darvin Moon - 44,300,000
Seat 2: Jordan Smith - 15,430,000
Seat 3: James Akenhead - 5,100,000
Seat 4: Phil Ivey - 10,210,000
Seat 5: Kevin Schaffel - 13,080,000
Seat 6: Steven Begleiter - 26,495,000
Seat 7: Eric Buchman - 36,780,000
Seat 8: Joe Cada - 13,400,000
Seat 9: Antoine Saout - 10,200,000
Seat 10:Jeff Shulman - 17,900,000

Final Table Payouts:
1 - $8,546,435
2 - $5,182,601
3 - $3,479,485
4 - $2,502,787
5 - $1,953,395
6 - $1,587,133
7 - $1,404,002
8 - $1,300,228
9 - $1,263,602
10 - $896,730

Thanks to Change100 for the chippies.

Here's the sponsorship... 4 - Full Tilt, 1 - PokerStars, 1 - UB, 1-Everest, 1-CardPlayer, an 2 No-Logos )(Smith & Moon). Thanks to Benjo for the research.

6,494 players began what seems like a month ago. We're down to the final ten including the man, the myth, and the legend... Phil Ivey.

10:46pm... The Zoo

The final table area was jam packed. Every single inch of space was taken up. I had never seen it that claustrophobic before The one open spot on the rail had people standing ten deep trying to catch a glimpse of Phil Ivey. The area above in the beef jerky lounge was so densely packed that the floor shook a bit. I was worried that it was going to collapse so I stepped back a bit. It reminded me of the eerie calm moments before a wooden grand stand collapsed at a Guatemalan soccer game.

I said this on Twitter... "Ivey is like the friggin' Beatles."

It's true. Everyone rushed to the final table from all over the convention area. The few people in offices and the hallways scattered and dashed to the TV table. Parts of the casino emptied out. The poker room was nearly empty. Even guys sweeping the floors ran down to the Amazon Ballroom with their brooms and dustpans in tow. Players playing online poker in their hotel rooms, quickly left and made a bee-line downstairs. Locals jumped in their cars and sped to the Rio. Phil Ivey was on the cusp of the final table. History was about to be made and no-one wanted to miss it.

* * * * *
10:52pm... Darvin Moon = November Nine Chipleader

Wow. The November Nine is set. It happened so fast that I barely had time to settle inside the rail and take notes. Anyway, Jordan Smith busted out when his Aces lost to Darvin Moon's set of 8s. It was pretty insane. We couldn't believe it ended so quick.

2009 November Nine:
Seat 1: Darvin Moon
Seat 2: James Akenhead
Seat 3: Phil Ivey
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter
Seat 6: Eric Buchman
Seat 7: Joe Cada
Seat 8: Antoine Saout
Seat 9: Happy Shulman

One Frenchie, one Brit from the Hit Squad, a hillbilly from West Virginia, a former Wall Street guy, a controversial son of a media mogul, and Phil fuckin' Ivey. Should make for an interesting final table.

Stay tuned for a recap and end of day chip counts.

Thanks for following along. See you in November.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/15/2009 02:48:00 PM | Permalink |

 
WSOP Day 48 - Main Event Day 7: Evil Lurks on the Cusp of Greatness

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Spectators lined up outside the Amazon Ballroom to gain entry into the greatest show in Las Vegas. As soon as the security guards opened up the doors, several fans sprinted towards the feature table while others took up space on the rail. As usual, the more popular players had the most railbirds... Phil Ivey and Joe Sebok. If the WSOP is a high school microcosm, then Ivey is the best athlete in the history of the school and Sebok is the coolest kid in school who transcended all cliques.

As soon as the doors opened, fans flocked towards their heroes. And even the media rushed to get the best spots on the inner perimeter. A gaggle of unshowered foreign faux-journalists even grabbed chairs to camp out in narrow moat designed for the media. A couple of fame-seeking reporters strategically placed themselves within camera shot so they can get some face time on TV. They were part of the vultures that have been swarming around and pecking apart the carcasses of the remaining players... unscrupulous agents, broke players, sleazy women, overbearing backers, and other scheming shysters were all looking for a handout or a cut of the big cheese. On Day 7, the action intensified inside the ropes, while on the rail, the salaciousness increased exponentially. Even the Sapphire girls wandered around inside the Amazon Ballroom, yet they did not seem out of place in the all-too-familiar circus.

The battle for product placement on the remaining 64 players went on behind the scenes while cash were exchanged for logos, patches, and hats pimping the major online poker rooms. The slithery middlemen ducked in and out of the shadows long enough to rear their ugly heads and shakedown unsuspecting players. With the rules in place about only three players per TV table can wear the same online poker logo, there has been less long term deals going around. Some of the deals are even lower than ever, unless you are the last woman standing then you can garner a big sloppy fat check (because well... she has boobs you you don't) while the unknowns are left in the dust with pedestrian deals. And if you're not a pretty person with a beer gut and have a short stack? You're lucky to get Chico's Bail Bonds to sponsor you.

According to Otis, "A sleazy poker agent just tried to pay one of my writers $25,000 because he thought he was a WSOP player. Gooooooo incompetence!"

Even I got approached by an agent because he thought I represented a European poker site.

"They are everywhere," spat Benjo. "Those vampires tried to ambush a French player in the hallway. He needs to focus on the game and not be pressured for a deal five minutes before dinner ends."

That's just part of the game. Last year at this time, there was a whirlwind side drama going down for the Battle of Tiffany Michelle's Breasts between the Tony G junta, PokerStars, and UB. And this year? Some of the same, yet behind closed doors. Leo Margets already collected a snazzy cup for winning Wicked Chops Poker's Last Woman Standing prize. And now? She's the most sought after property and while you were sleeping, the wheels were in motion. Could she and would she switch up sites? And will online poker rooms gamble on her since she's the second shortest stack left?

Even Ludovic Lacay, who has been a sponsored player on Team Winamax, popped up on the radar of the big boys. For now, he's staying loyal to his fellow countrymen and his friends. But will several million dollars change his mind?

One player quickly juggled online rooms on Tuesday. He had been wearing PokerStars all week before he showed up on Tuesday with a FullTilt patch. Sometimes, it just takes a little money and some arm twisting. That's the Vegas way.

64 players began Day 7 including Joe Sebok, His shoddy luck is renown and he's such a laid-back guy with a self-deprecating sense of humor that he can joke about his bad fortunes. He was finally looking to get that monkey off his back. He finally cashed in the Main Event and made a remarkable run despite being shortstacked for most of not all of the tournament. He had several days where he was ridiculously card dead, yet advanced to the next day. And midway? Sebok caught the dreaded Equus Africanus Asinus Flu that has been going around. He looked so ill at one point that he probably should had been resting in a hospital bed with an IV instead of sitting in Seat 5 in the Amazon Ballroom.

But that's what makes Joe Sebok tick. He's one tough ass motherfucker who refused to give up. Not only did he go deep, but he also drew plenty of attention to his media site... Poker Road.

With Sebok gone, all eyes are on Phil Ivey. He's been in this spot twice before in the last eight years. One bad hand against Chris Moneymaker in 2003 shaped the rest of the poker industry. Perhaps Ivey will get karmic payback and make a run at the November Nine.

If Phil Ivey can advance one more day... everyone wins. The fans. The suits. ESPN/441 Productions. The online poker moguls. The corporate sponsors. Purina's Puppy Chow. The show shine guy in front of the Hooker Bar. Everyone. That's what the public wants... more Phil Ivey. And the deeper that Phil Ivey goes... the more money that everyone makes. Me included. Shit, I might just join in with his rabid fans on the rail and chant, "Ivey! Ivey! Ivey!" every time a dealer ships him a pot.

27 players to go. 18 players will fade into obscurity while the last nine standing will become poker's next superstars.

End of Day 7 Chip Counts:
Darvin Moon - 20.16M
Billy Kopp - 15.97M
Steven Begleiter - 11.885M
Phil Ivey - 11.35M
Kevin Schaffel - 11.245M
Antoine Saout - 11.135M
Jeff Shulman - 10.17M
Eric Buchman - 10.005M
Jamie Robbins - 9.795M
Ben Lamb - 9.41M
James Akenhead - 8.615M
Joseph Cada - 6.565M
James Calderaro - 6.475M
Andrew 'Lucky Chewy' Lichtenberger - 5.625M
Ludovic Lacay - 5.61M
Warren Zackey - 5.485M
Marco Mattes - 5.285M
Tommy Vedes - 5.07M
Jordan Smith - 4.51M
Antonio Esfandiari - 4.47M
Ian Tavelli - 4.385M
Jonathan Tamayo - 3.3M
Jesse Haabak - 2.75M
George Caragiorgas - 1.615M
Nick Maimone - 1.545M
Leo Margets - 1.53M
Francois Balmigere - 1.44M

* * * * *
Don't forget to check out Flipchip's WSOP photos.

Don't forget, you can follow along with my hijinks via Twiiter. My feed is @taopauly.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/15/2009 01:26:00 PM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 7

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

We only started ten minutes late today. Some players were slack with filling out their bio sheets for ESPN. 64 players returned and only 27 will advance to Day 8. There's a few familiar and popular pros left in the field (like that Phil Ivey and Joe Sebok character) while the unknowns are on the verge of becoming household names.

Today also features a couple of big pay jumps. 63rd place will win over 100K while 36th place jumps to a quarter of a million. Play should slow down as we reach the final four tables. There is no set time limit today. Last year, this point of the tournament lasted less than twelve hours and had more returning players. The stacks are a bit bigger this year, so I'm expecting a longer day.

Plenty of the online sportsbooks released their odds and as expected Phil Ivey was listed at 5/1 to win it all.

Here's the starting tables... this list will be almost useless after the first elimination because they will break a table when they reach 63.

Table 1
Seat 1: Steven Begleiter - 6,315,000
Seat 2: Craig Boyd - 650,000
Seat 3: Ryan Fair - 2,940,000
Seat 4: Ian Tavelli - 1,985,000
Seat 5: James Akenhead - 1,655,000
Seat 6: Hung Pham - 1,006,000
Seat 7: Mark Ader - 1,610,000
Seat 8: Warren Zackey - 1,400,000
Seat 9: Adam York - 3,515,000

Table 2
Seat 1: Darvin Moon - 9,745,000
Seat 2: George Caragiorgas - 2,670,000
Seat 3: Jimmy Calderaro - 1,810,000
Seat 4: Ben Jensen - 1,553,000
Seat 5: Thai Tran - 2,495,000
Seat 6: Joseph Ward - 2,575,000
Seat 7: Jordan Smith - 830,000
Seat 8: Adam Bilzerian - 3,305,000

Table 3
Seat 1: Happy Shulman - 4,745,000
Seat 2: Scott Cook - 3,095,000
Seat 3: Jonathan Tamayo - 2,680,000
Seat 4: Leo Margets - 3,650,000
Seat 5: Jason Brice - 2,825,000
Seat 6: Grayson Ramage - 1,215,000
Seat 7: Andrew 'Chewey' Lichtenberger - 3,190,000
Seat 8: Scott Bohlman - 865,000

Table 4
Seat 1: Ludovic Lacay - 5,965,000
Seat 2: Marco Mattes - 3,470,000
Seat 3: Scott Sitron - 1,330,000
Seat 4: Christopher Bach - 2,765,000
Seat 5: Manuel Labandeira - 765,000
Seat 6: Tommy Vedes - 5,430,000
Seat 7: Fabrice Soulier - 3,025,000
Seat 8: Phil Ivey - 6,345,000

Table 5
Seat 1: Marc McLaughlin - 2,895,000
Seat 2: Hieu Luu - 4,755,000
Seat 3: Kevin Schaffel - 3,685,000
Seat 4: Billy Kopp - 8,245,000
Seat 5: Tom 'DonkeyBomber' Schneider - 2,895,000
Seat 6: Charlie Elias - 4,190,000
Seat 7: Blair Rodman - 2,130,000
Seat 8: Luis Nargentino - 3,825,000

Table 6
Seat 1: Miika Puumalainen - 3,200,000
Seat 2: Francois Balmigere - 2,025,000
Seat 3: Dennis Phillips - 2,305,000
Seat 4: Joseph Cada - 3,880,000
Seat 5: Steve Sanders - 3,360,000
Seat 6: Joe Sebok - 1,000,000
Seat 7: Nick Maimone - 4,900,000

Table 7
Seat 1: Antoine Saout - 5,195,000
Seat 2: Bradley Craig - 2,445,000
Seat 3: Montagna Corrado - 860,000
Seat 4: Jeff Duvall - 3,935,000
Seat 5: Michael Jansen - 820,000
Seat 6: Gabriel Vezina - 1,250,000
Seat 7: Prahlad Friedman - 840,000
Seat 8: Eugene Katchalov - 3,300,000

Featured TV Table:
Seat 1: Martin Lapostolle - 940,000
Seat 2: Eric Buchman - 2,495,000
Seat 3: Antonio Esfandiari - 5,610,000
Seat 4: Ben Lamb - 4,975,000
Seat 5: Jamie Robbins - 2,895,000
Seat 6: Jesse Haabak - 3,345,000
Seat 7: John Martin - 3,080,000
Seat 8: George Saca - 3,020,000

* * * * *
1:11pm... Joe Sebok Eliminated.... Down to 55

Chipleaders: Ludovic Lacay and Darvin Moon
Players Remaining: 55

Prahlad Friedman was the first player to bust out today. He was one of the shortstacks and hit the road within the first ten minutes of play. George Saca went out next in 63rd place.

The DonkeyBomber and Joe Sebok were seated at tables right next to each other so I can keep an eye on both. All of Sebok's friends were nearby and cheered on their hero... until he lost half his stack. He busted out soon after in 56th place to a hearty cheer from the crowd.

Fabrice Soulier drew a tough table with fellow Frenchman Ludovic Lacay and Phil Ivey. Fabrice's girlfriend was so nervous that she did not sleep last night. Sometimes, you forget that the friends and family of the players are not professionals and are unable to handle the high stress that accompanies a deep Main Event run. Even Barr Greenstein looked a little on edge while he sweated Sebok... and he does this for a living. On the contray, AngryJulie is always excited and hyper when her husband DonkeyBomber drags a pot.

Today is Bastille Day, so expect that the Frenchies to do well as they draw inspiration from their special holiday. Lacay is up to over 8M after he took a 2M pot early on. And Fabrice is holding his own against Ivey and Lacay.

The following players won $108,047:
55 Craig Boyd
56 Joe Sebok
57 John Martin
58 Scott Bohlman
59 Miika Puumalainen
60 Benjamin Jensen
61 Mark Ader
62 Michael Jansen
63 George Saca

The following player won $90,344...
64 Prahlad Friedman

Apologies to Scott Bohlman for flubbing his name via Twitter. Scott took a tough beat when his pocket tens were snapped off by Lucky Chewy's A-7.

* * * * *
2:10pm... The DonkeyBomber Wins and AngryJulie Perks Up

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp and Darvin Moon
Recent Eliminations:
Players Remaining: 54

Phil Ivey is still in the Top 5 in chips with around 7M. Ludovic Lacay is up to 7M.

DonkeyBomber said that he was feeling sick until he won a huge pot and AngryJulie exploded on the rail with an orgasmic shriek. I was sitting in the press box almost 100 yards away from the action but I knew that he had won the pot because of AngryJulie's jubilant cheer that echoed throughout the entire Amazon Ballroom. He doubled up but then lost a pot quickly after. He's hovering around 4M.

The Poker Kitchen was closed yesterday and in the middle of being dismantled. It sot of looks like a grocery store in New Orleans post-Katrina that had been looted. Lots of empty boxes. I heard that Eskimo Clark moved in there with all of the other broke dick players who went busto during the WSOP. Some people have set up tents in there and it's become known as Pollackville.

In the hallways, most of the stands have been taken down. They are in the middle of packing up the Cardoza book that was hawking Mike Matusow's new book. The free wine tasting and the political entities have already hit the road days earlier.

The Milwaukee's Beast girls are still in the hallways handing out free gear , but not free beer. Lame. One girl in her milk maiden light blue Alice in Wonderland outfit was leaning over a speaker and an old guy wandered up from behind utterly speechless. He almost had a heart attack while he locked in on her booty.

* * * * *
3:15pm... B-52... DonkeyBomber Eliminated in 52nd Place

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp, Darvin Moon. Phil Ivey, Ludovic Lacay
Recent Eliminations: DonkeyBomber
Players Remaining: 49

DonkeyBomber lost a couple of pots before the break. AngryJulie went to fetch him a pizza so he could snack on his break. The railbirds are an integral part of the team in some cases, like a Nascar pit crew.

Bomber was short and made a stand with A-7. A French-Canuck called with 9-9. AngryJulie stood on the rail with an obstructed view and could not see the hands. "Do you have the pair or A-7?" she shouted.

"I have the Ace," mumbled DonkeyBomber.

"That's OK. I like it."

The flop missed DonkeyBomber but he turned a seven to pick up a few outs. His Main Event came to an official close when he whiffed on the river. The DonkeyBomber was nevermore. A dejected AngryJulie fought back cheers as she joined in with a shower of applause. DonkeyBomber somberly walked over to the payout desk as his named was announced over the PA system, "The 2007 Player of the Year Tom Schneider from Scottsdale, Arizona was eliminated in 52nd place."

"I'm proud of you!" shouted AngryJulie.

The two were followed by a camera crew as they walked through the vast emptiness of the Amazon Ballroom. At one point, they stopped and embraced for several seconds amidst the dimly lit room as a delicate clattering of chips echoed in the background. He disappeared into the crowd $138,568 richer, but he'll tell you that this is the worst day of his life.

* * * * *
4:20pm... 46 to Go

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp, Darvin Moon, Phil Ivey, and Ludovic Lacay
Recent Eliminations: Fabrice Soulier
Players Remaining: 46

Fabrice Soulier is out and mentioned, "I feel very sad."

The dreaded slow down has begun...

So here's my media fantasy picks that I randomly selected getting numbers generated by AlCantHang and Otis correlating to their position in chips at the start of the day. I took eight of their numbers and added Ludovic...

1 Darvin Moon
5 Ludovic Lacay
7 Tommy Vedes
9 Ben Lamb
14 Jeff Duvall
18 Leo Margets
20 Marco Matte
24 Eugene Katchalov
26 Andrew Chewey Lichtenberger

As always, today's 4:20 smoke break is brought to you by... PokerStars and FantasySportsLive!





* * * * *
5:20pm... Dennis Phillips Eliminated

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp, Darvin Moon, Phil Ivey, and Tommy Vedes

You won't hear the truck horn anymore. And the clones? They'll disappear. Dennis Phillips is out. The November Niner was trying to repeat... but that quest came to a halt. He received a warm applause when his name was announced. With his elimination, that's one less "familiar" face that it the rail.

All hopes are on Ivey and Esfiandari. Oh, and the chipleader Billy Kopp...


Billy Kopp & Ivey
Photo by MeanGene

The following players won $178,857:
37 Martin Lapostolle
38 Gabriel Mezina
39 Eugene Katchalov
40 Scott Cook
41 Adam York
42 Jeff Duvall
43 Montagna Corrado
44 Manuel Labandeira
45 Dennis Phillips

The following players won $138,568:
46 Hung Pham
47 Adam Bilzerian
48 Hieu Luu
49 Fabrice Soulier
50 Bradley Craig
51 Thai Tran
52 Tom Schneider
53 Charlie Elias
54 Steve Sanders

* * * * *
6:20pm... 34... Ivey = 2nd Chips

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp, Phil Ivey, and Antoine Saou
Recent Eliminations: Christopher Bach in 36th place
Players Remaining: 34

We've reached the $250K mark in prize money with four tables to go. Min payout is now $253,941. Next money jump is at 27 and it's $352,832.

Ah, the unknown Frenchie Antoine Saou leapfrogged into the Top 5 in chips, while Ludovic Lacay slipped to 4.2M.

Ivey up to 11M while his fans on the rail are screaming "Ivey! Ivey! Ivey!" every time he wins a pot.

The other overlooked pro Blair Rodman has around 1M, while Antonio Esfandiari is up to 5M on the featured table.

Chewy is down to 4M.

The last Brit standing, James Ankhead is under 5M, while Happy Shulman is up over 7M and making grumpy comments at his table. The hombres at Wicked Chops Poker have the scoop.

New Yorker Tommy Vedes is in the Top 10 in chips and sporting a Poker Battle logo.

Pauly's Randomly Generated November 9 Picks: 6 Alive... Darvin Moon, Ludovic Lacay, Tommy Vedes, Ben Lamb, Leo Margets, Marco Matte, and Chewey

There's a major discussion right now about the length of tonight. Ivey has been arguing to play five levels, when there's talk about stopping at 27 like originally scheduled. Stay tuned for that drama.
* * * * *
7:20pm... 29 to Go; Dinner Break

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp, Phil Ivey, Antoine Saou, and Tommy Vedes
Players Remaining: 29

The eliminations happened at such a fast pace that there were quick discussions and back hallway meetings among the cabal of suits to determine the fate of the rest of the night. A quick decision was made... players are heading on dinner break and will play down to 27 when they return. Then, that's it.

Pauly's Randomly Generated November 9 Picks: 6 Alive... Darvin Moon, Ludovic Lacay, Tommy Vedes, Ben Lamb, Leo Margets, Marco Matte, and Chewey

The following players won $253,941:
30 Marc McLaughlin
31 Ryan Fair
32 Scott Sitron
33 Jason Brice
34 Blair Rodman
35 Grayson Ramage
36 Christopher Bach

Ivey's still near the top, while Antonio Esfiandari, Leo Margets, and Chewy are bringing up the rear.

* * * * *
9:20pm... 28 to Go

Chip Leaders: Billy Kopp, Phil Ivey, Antoine Saou, Happy Shulman, and Tommy Vedes
Recent Eliminations: Luis Nargentino
Players Remaining: 28

Luis Nargentino from Queens busted from Phil Ivey's table. Down to 28. One more bustout and we're done for the evening.

* * * * *
9:20pm... The Slowdown

28 players remaining. Top 5 in chips? Billy Kopp, Darvin Moon, Steven Begleiter, Phil Ivey, Jeff Shulman

Durrrr even mentioned on a 2+2 thread that he'll have to pay up 1M to Phil Ivey if he wins the Main Event. Supposedly, he was getting 100-1 odds.

Anyway, we reached the dreaded slow down. There were three all ins involving short stacks, but they all doubled up including Antonio Esfiandari at the TV table with Aces versus Jacks.

* * * * *
10:30pm... Down to 27; Day 7 Complete

Wow, I spoke too soon. Joe Ward headed to the rail in 28th place on one of the last hands of the round before a scheduled break. With his elimination, we're down to 27 players and action will resume tomorrow at noon where we'll play down to the final 9... the November Nine.

The following players won $253,941:
28 Joe Ward
29 Luis Nargentino

Thanks for following along. Stay tuned for official information including chip counts.

End of Day 7 - Chip Counts:
Darvin Moon - 20.16M
Billy Kopp - 15.97M
Steven Begleiter - 11.885M
Phil Ivey - 11.35M
Kevin Schaffel - 11.245M
Antoine Saout - 11.135M
Jeff Shulman - 10.17M
Eric Buchman - 10.005M
Jamie Robbins - 9795M
Ben Lamb - 941M
James Akenhead - 8615M
Joseph Cada - 6565M
James Calderaro - 6475M
Andrew Lichtenberger - 5625M
Ludovic Lacay - 561M
Warren Zackey - 5.485M
Marco Mattes - 5.285M
Tommy Vedes - 5.07M
Jordan Smith - 4.51M
Antonio Esfandiari - 4.47M
Ian Tavelli - 4.385M
Jonathan Tamayo - 3.3M
Jesse Haabak - 2.75M
George Caragiorgas - 1.615M
Nick Maimone - 1.545M
Leo Margets - 1.53M
Francois Balmigere - 1.44M

See ya tomorrow.

Original content written and provided by Pauly at Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
posted by Pauly at 7/14/2009 03:09:00 PM | Permalink |

 
WSOP Day 47 - Main Event Day 6: When I'm 64

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

When I get older losing my head many years from now... will anyone remember about 63 of the final 64 players? Probably not. Only one person out of the remaining players has a chance at immortality. Even if they never do anything of significance for the rest of their life, no one can take away the prestige and honor and glory that accompanies a World Series of Poker Main Event World Championship.

There are a handful of former champions that I know nothing about or had never seen play before. But you know what? They're still gods among mere poker mortals. Not only are their ominous portraits enshrined above the playing field in the Amazon Ballroom,but their names will forever be known and a part of an elite group of men who lay claim to a significant feat that not too many other people have done. It's sort of like climbing Mt. Everest or walking on the moon.

And in this day and age with the massive-sized fields, winning the Main Event a second time (let alone twice in a row) seems virtually impossible. Greg Raymer took his shot in 2005 and missed when he took a sick beat in Benny's Bullpen. Joe Hachem made a deep run in 2006 but fizzled out in 238th place out of 8,773 runners. Scotty Nguyen nearly bubbled off the final table in 2007 when he finished in 11th place. Hellmuth went pretty deep last year yet finished in 45th place.

And in 2009? Both Hachem and defending champion Peter Eastgate were trying to make it through Day 7, yet both failed in that quest. Eastgate's reign is officially over with his elimination late on Day 6. One of the final 64 will gladly take his place as the next poker superstar.

Day 6 was the bitter end for Elky. The one time chipleader could not hold onto his lead and eventually headed to the rail. Two of Elky's fellow Frenchmen, David Benyamine and Julian Brecard, also busted out on Day 6.

Meanwhile, a couple of other Frenchies continued their magnificent run. The rugged Fabrice Soulier and aloof Ludovic Lacay are the most known French pros left in the field. Fabrice is about average while Lacay had one of those lucky days. He held the top spot for a bit after he snapped off Aces with pocket Kings. Le ouch!

The DonkeyBomber had a rough day with a couple of table changes and nursed a volatile stack. He started the day on the featured table, then moved back out to the floor, and then he returned to the bright lights. Luckily, DonkeyBomber had support on the rail such as his lovely wife, AngryJulie (aka Mrs. Bomber) and Robert Goldfarb.

Joe Sebok was the most popular guy in the room and seemed like he was fighting for his tournament life. He had friends and his army of Poker Road interns constantly sweating him and checking up on his progress. Sebok advanced to Day 7 with 1M in chips despite another crazy day as the shortest of shortstack. Survival. He was in survival mode for the last few days. Sebok has been clinging on for dear life... and somehow, he advanced to Day 7. He just made it happen. He's determined and focused. And you know what? Just like Ponce de Leon's desperate pursuit for the Fountain of Youth, Sebok is trudging through the killing fields and trying to be the last man standing. He's on the cusp of immorality. He just needs to last two more days...

Main Event Stats:
Players Remaining: 64
Avg. Stack: 3,044,063
Chip Leader: Darvin Moon
Number of Entries: 6,494
Prize Pool: $61,043,600
Places Paid: 648
1st Place Prize: $8,546,435

Top 10 Chip Counts:
1 Darvin Moon (Oakland, MD) - 9,745,000
2 Billy Kopp (Erlanger, KY) - 8,245,000
3 Phil Ivey (Las Vegas, NV) - 6,345,000
4 Steven Begleiter (Chappaqua, NY) - 6,315,000
5 Ludovic Lacay (Paris, France) - 5,965,000
6 Antonio Esfandiari (Las Vegas, NV) - 5,610,000
7 Tommy Vedes (Queens, NY)- 5,430,000
8 Antoine Saout (Saimr Martin des Champs, France) - 5,195,000
9 Ben Lamb (Las Vegas, NV) - 4,975,000
10 Nick Maimone (Charlotte, NC) - 4,900,000

The Rest:
11 Luu, Hieu - 4,755,000
12 Happy Shulman - 4,745,000
13 Elias, Charlie - 4,190,000
14 Duvall, Jeff - 3,935,000
15 Cada, Joseph - 3,880,000
16 Nargentino, Luis - 3,825,000
17 Schaffel, Kevin - 3,685,000
18 Leo Margets - 3,650,000
19 York, Adam - 3,515,000
20 Mattes, Marco - 3,470,000
21 Sanders, Steve - 3,360,000
22 Haabak, Jesse - 3,345,000
23 Bilzerian, Adam - 3,305,000
24 Katchalov, Eugene - 3,300,000
25 Puumalainen, Miika - 3,200,000
26 Lichtenberger, Andrew - 3,190,000
27 Cook, Scott - 3,095,000
28 Martin, John - 3,080,000
29 Fabrice Soulier - 3,025,000
30 Saca, George - 3,020,000
31 Fair, Ryan - 2,940,000
32 McLaughlin, Marc Etienne - 2,895,000
33 Robbins, Jamie - 2,895,000
34 Tom 'DonkeyBomber' Schneider - 2,895,000
35 Brice, Jason - 2,825,000
36 Bach, Christopher - 2,765,000
37 Tamayo, Jonathan - 2,680,000
38 Caragiorgas, George - 2,670,000
39 Ward, Joseph - 2,575,000
40 Buchman, Eric - 2,495,000
41 Tran, Thai - 2,495,000
42 Craig, Bradley - 2,445,000
43 Dennis Phillips - 2,305,000
44 Blair Rodman - 2,130,000
45 Balmigere, Francois - 2,025,000
46 Tavelli, Ian - 1,985,000
47 Calderaro, James - 1,810,000
48 James Akenhead - 1,655,000
49 Ader, Mark - 1,610,000
50 Jensen, Benjamin - 1,553,000
51 Zackey, Waren - 1,400,000
52 Sitron, Scott - 1,330,000
53 Vezina, Gabriel Gatineau - 1,250,000
54 Ramage, Grayson - 1,215,000
55 Pham, Hung - 1,006,000
56 Joe Sebok - 1,000,000
57 Martin, Lapostolle - 940,000
58 Bohlman, Scott - 865,000
59 Corrado, Montagna - 860,000
60 Friedman, Prahlad - 840,000
61 Smith, Jordan - 830,000
62 Jansen, Michael - 820,000
63 Labandeira, Manuel - 765,000
64 Boyd, Craig - 650,000

Day 7 starts on Tuesday at noon. It will not end until 27 players remain. Can Phil Ivey continue his run? Will the final three tables have a few more named pros? Can Joe Sebok and DonkeyBomber live to fight another day? Which Frenchie will make the November Nine?

Stay tuned 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.
posted by Pauly at 7/14/2009 08:27:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Tao of Pokerati Wins Dream Team Poker III

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Stop the presses... Tao of Pokerati won first place in Dream Team Poker III for a cool $33K. Although LJ busted early on Day 1, Michalski and I both advanced to Day 2 (the final three tables) and although we both missed the final table, we managed to have a low enough score to win overall first place in the team category. I finished up 13th overall and Michalski took 17th.

Congrats to Kenna James for winning it all in the individual category. He was by far the most experienced player among the final 27 players. I'm glad he won because I shipped my stack his way on my elimination hand. My A-7 lost to his 6-6. I could not come from behind to double up and I busted out in 13th place, while Kenna went onto win.

Thanks so much for the gang at Dream Team Poker for putting on a festive event. And the entire vibe of the tournament would have been possible if it weren't for the jovial and upbeat performance of Alex Outhred rocking the mic as the emcee.

Here are some pics courtesy of Mean Gene...




And you can check out our winner's interview from Raw Vegas TV...

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/14/2009 05:20:00 AM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 6

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Today is one of those days when we start to get to see the big stacks and big stories develop. I thought it would be yesterday, but that

I'm pulling for Julien Brecard. He's the most unknown Frenchman out of the Le Grand Frommage 5 who are still remaining. Also Benjo has at least 1% of him so we all know that he's pulling for his good friend.

And of course, I'm partial to the DonkeyBomber. I had a piece of him in the 50K HORSE and he's a sometime contributor to Pokerati. Good news for Donkeybomber fans, he drew a spot on the featured TV table with Prahlad Friedman.

How could I forget about Joe Sebok, who's like the coolest kid from your high school that everyone loved. The mastermind behind Poker Road is looking to avenge all of those near misses, final table bubbles and nasty beat beats that he incurred over the last few years.

Another huge table? Jordan Morgan drew Phil Ivey and David Benyamine's table. All are top pros but very quiet players who rarely speak at the tables. I guess that's why they're not on the featured TV table.

I'm playing in Dream Team Poker at 2pm and as soon as I busted out, I'll be back to live blogging here. I'll be doing updates as much as I can. You can always head over to wsop.com for chip counts.

* * * * *
12:32pm... Jordan Morgan Eliminated

Chip Leaders: Warren Zackey
Players Remaining: 170
Recent Eliminations: Paul Baron, Michael Merichko, Jordan Morgan, Tony McGlone, Leonard Greer, Bob Lauria, Harry Kazazian, Scott Eskenazi, Alessandro Longobardi, Jamin Stokes, Paul Smith, Viet Nguyen, Ludovic Lachance, Dan Bilzerian, Mike Minetti

I'm So Lucky's run is over. Jordan Morgan hit the rail in 173rd place. He was one of a dozen or so eliminations in just the first thirty minutes of play.

I was told that there was no specific amount of players they want to get down to and that the goal is to play a full five levels today.

* * * * *
1:35pm... Adventures with Angry Julie

Chip Leaders: Warren Zackey
Recent Eliminations: Adam Latimer, Marty Zabib, Taher Alisheik, Christian Heich, Seth Thomsen, Billy McMahon, Bob Riley, and Michael Greco
Players Remaining: 158

I snuck into the audience at the featured TV table. Why? Because spectators have better access that cedentialed media. I hid my badge and went undercover. I sat in the first row and did not realize that I was next to AngryJulie who is the DonkeyBomber's better half.

There was a sweet old guy in the the stands. He told me that this was his first ever poker tournament as a spectator and he was super excited. He was pestering AngryJulie with basic questions and giving his best color commentary on DOnkeyBomber's progress. He had slipped under 3M and the old guy said, "He only lost 300K and played for an hour, that's great!"

"Obviously you're not a gambler," snapped AngryJulie.

Anyway, she was on the rail sweating her husband which was a reversal of roles this year since the DonkeyBomber spent most of the time on the rail while Julie went deep in a handful of events including a final table finish in the Triple Draw event.

The following players won $36,626.:
163 Adam Latimer
164 Marty Zabib
165 Taher Alisheik
166 Cristian Heich
167 Seth Thomsen
168 Bob Riley
169 Billy McMahon
170 Michael Greco
171 Paul Baron
172 Michael Merichko
173 Jordan Morgan
174 Tony McGlone
175 Leonard Greer
176 Alessandro Longobardi
177 Ludovic Lachance
178 Scott Eskenazi
179 Harry Kazazian
180 Dan Bilzerian
181 Paul Smith
182 Jamin Stokes
183 Viet Nguyen
184 Mike Minetti
185 Bob Lauria

* * * * *
5:14pm... 111 Players Remaining

Recent Eliminations: Blair Hinkle, ELKY, Thierry Van Den Berg, Theo Tran, Jose Rosenkrantz, Joe Serock, and Steven Levy.

Anyway, we're down to 111 players. Some big bustouts? Sarne Lightman just went out in 112th place. Ely busted in 122nd place and was the first Frenchman to bust today.

DonkeyBomber is under 2M in chips after he lost a monsterpotten to Ludovic Lacay. He's up to 4M. Julien Brecard is under 2M. He's had an up and down day. He's wearing a Winamax logo, but according to Benjo, a rival site offered him 25K to wear their logo. Wow. Julien politely declined.

David Benyamine and Phil Ivey are both still in. Joe Sebok is short. Pray for him.

Oh, and yes, Team Tao of Pokerati won Dream Team Poker. We took first overall in the team division and I finished in 13th place. I won $1,420 for my individual prize and our team netted $33K.

* * * * *
5:40pm... 106 Players Remaining; DonkeyBomber Back Up

Recent Eliminations: JC Tran

Dennis Phillips busted JC Tran according to Otis.

A few more bustouts happened in the last few minutes including two international players... from Chile and Romania. Plenty of Frenchies left including Fabrice Soulier who has a decent stack.

For my Dutch readers or Noah Boeken fans, he's down to 1.3M from his starting stack of 2.3M.

DonkeyBomber got back some of his lost chips when he took a pot from John Martin. DonkeyBomber's stack is back over 3M.

The following players won $40,288:
106 Anh Van Nguyen
107 Joel Patchell
108 JC Tran
109 Randy Propson
110 Cristian Tardea
111 Joseph Sanders
112 Sarne Lightman
113 Dwayne Stacey
114 Karl Mahrenholz
115 Chuck Clark
116 Danny Smith
117 David Diaz
118 Roy Vazquez
119 Ryan Gafford
120 Dag Palovic
121 Mihail Stoykov
122 Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier
123 Joe Luht
124 Eric Cloutier
125 Theo Tran
126 Jim Routos
127 Michael Casella
128 Abraham Mourshaki
129 Blair Hinkle
130 Mark Abrantes
131 Eli Adler
132 Don Tran
133 Igor Sharaskin
134 Jim Hartley
135 Edward Teems
136 Bolivar Palacios
137 Nasr El Nasr
138 Thierry van den Berg
139 Herbie Gelman
140 Robert Allen
141 Steven Levy
142 Jose Rosenkrantz
143 Ian Woodley
144 Alex Prendes
145 Joe Serock
146 Joey Lawrence
147 Paul Johnson
148 Michael Comer
149 Maurizio Saieva
150 Craig Crivello
151 Greg Thompson
152 Eracles Panayiotou
153 Brian Hansen
154 Scott Blackman
155 John Monnette
156 Chris Bjorin
157 Salvatore Bonavena
158 Bryan Kerr
159 Cary Katz
160 Carter Swidler
161 Vesa Leikos
162 Cole South

* * * * *
6:40pm... Joe Hachem and David Benyamine Eliminated; Peter Eastgate Alive and Lurking

Chip Leaders: Darvin Moon
Recent Eliminations: Adam Latimer, Marty Zabib, Taher Alisheik, Christian Heich, Seth Thomsen, Billy McMahon, Bob Riley, and Michael Greco
Players Remaining: 101

David Beanymine hit the rail when his Aces lost to a set. $40K is chump change to a high stakes player like Benaymine. He tosses $25K chips to the Bellagio valets as a tip.

Joe Hachem got a thunderous send off when he busted from the featured TV table.

Noah Boeken took a hit when his Kings were cracked by A-Q. He's super short, along with Joe Sebok.

The following players won $40,288:
102 David Benyamine
103 Joe Hachem
104 Alex Gurevich
105 Bob Whalen
106 Anh Van Nguyen

Players are about to go on a dinner break for ninety minutes.

* * * * *
9:25pm... Lacay = Chipleader

Chip Leaders: Ludovic Lacay
Recent Eliminations: Noah Boeken, Julien Brecard, Hac Dang
Players Remaining: 95

Luck of the Frenchies? Ludovic Lacay snapped off Aces with pocket Kings in one of the largest post of the tournament. He moved up to over 5.7M according to Benjo and leap frogged into the chiplead. Sadly, his fellow Team Winamax buddy Julien Brecard did not fare so lucky. He had gotten it all in with Kings versus Aces... only a few minutes after Lacay. Julien was not as lucky and his Kings lost and he finished in 96th place.

I happened to be at the cage when Noah Boeken walked in with a long look on his face. He busted out in 97th place.

Owen Crowe has had an up and down day. He dragged a pot get to around 2M.

Sebok has been short all day, heck all tournament long. He's gotten the flu like four times since the Main Event started two months ago. He even acquired Malaria, Typhoid and got shanked by a tweaker in the parking lot.

The following players won $47,003:
91 Bobby Law
92 Brennan Hanson
93 Minh Nguyen
94 Kasper Cordes
95 Tien Shou
96 Noah Boeken
97 Julien Brecard
98 Hac Dang
99 Ryan Hart

The following players won $40,288:
100 Bernhard Perner
101 Royal Wiseman

* * * * *
10:25pm... Kenny Tran Out

Chip Leaders:
Recent Eliminations: Kenny Tran
Players Remaining: 81

The players are busting out at a steady pace... still.

I railedbirded the DonkeyBomber for a bit. He folded a hand to a flop raise and slipped a bit. He has AngryJulie and Robert Goldfarb on the rail supporting him. He also has Ludovic Lacay to his left and Happt Shulman to his right.

The following players won $57,991:
83 Jose Gomez
84 Elad Magidov
85 Alper Sar
86 Kenny Tran
87 Loic Degrou
88 Wesley Ismay
89 Jamie Brown
90 Aaron Coulthard

Players are going on a break... the last of the night. They will return and play one more level. There's nine tables remaining.
* * * * *
11:35pm... No Repeat for Eastgate

Chip Leaders: Darvin Moon, Billy Kopp Phil Ivey, and Ludovic Lacay
Recent Eliminations: Peter Eastgate, Owen Crowe
Players Remaining: 72

The DonkeyBomber got moved tables which he desperately needed since he had a tougher table with Ludvic lacay to his left with the chiplead. At his new table, the DonkeyBomber doubled up with A-K versus A-Q. His wife, AngryJulie, went nuts on the rail. She's a very enthusiastic woman, especially when DonkeyBomber wins a pot. He picked up another one... I only know because I heard her cheer from the other side of the room.

I sweated Joe Sebok on the featured TV table. He was with Peter Eastgate and Dennis Phillips. When I was there, Sebok moved all in without a caller and then Eastgate busted on the next hand.

One of the two remaining females, Nichoel Peppe, just hit the rail. She got a loud sendoff. I chatted with her husband on the rail for a bit.

Phil Ivey is sitting on the secondary TV table with Blair Rodman. They are both wearing Poker Road patches. Ivey is closing in on 5M or so.

The following players won $68,979:
73 Daniel Neilson
74 Tim Kahlmeyer
75 Nichoel Peppe
76 Brent Catalano
77 Kent Goulding
78 Peter Eastgate
79 Owen Crowe
80 Alex Jalali
81 Matt Affleck

The following player won $57,991:
82 Frank Rusnack

* * * * *
12:50am... After Midnight; 64 Players Remaining

The dreaded slowdown... The DonkeyBomber got moved to the featured TV table, while Joe Sebok got taken off for the last hour of play.

The night ended with 64 players remaining. They will play down to 27 tomorrow.

The following player won $90,344:
65 Fernando Gordo
66 Brian Powell
67 Hamid Nourafchan
68 Clayton Newman
69 Rifat Palevic
70 Reed Hensel
71 Andreas Flakstad
72 Jake Abdalla

Two Frenchies are left along with Joe Sebok, the DonkeyBomber, and Phil Ivey.

Action will resume at noon on Tuesday.

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/13/2009 03:21:00 PM | Permalink |

 
WSOP Day 46 - Main Event Day 5: Rapido and The Rise of the DonkeyBomber

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

For a second day in a row, the action developed so fast in the Main Event, that there was not a chance for a series of stories to evolve. The tournament staff reduced the amount of playing time once again because players were busting out at an accelerated rate.

407 players started Day 5 and only 185 survived the cut. Warren Zackey, the plumber from South Africa, emerged as the chipleader when he took down a significant pot against an UB qualifier.

DonkeyBomber (born Tom Schneider) snagged the top spot for a brief moment after he won a monsterpotten against young gun Kevin Saul. The DonkeyBomber had a blah series in 2008 and a shitty 2009 compared to his magnificent run in 2007 when he won two bracelets and also collected WSOP Player of the Year honors. This might be his opportunity to demonstrate to the poker world why he's the best pro who never heard of.

On the flip side, there's still some well known talent left in the field. That Phil Ivey character continues to go deep and deep. Nothing would be better for a November Nine than to have Phil Ivey, Joe Sebok, and one of the former champions (Eastgate or Hachem) at the final table. Sweet Jesus, we'd all make shitloads of cash if that happened and the we, I meant the media and online gaming entities in the poker industry and their corporate sponsors.

Eight Frenchies are lurking five of note... the enigmatic David Benyamine, the dashing Fabrice Soulier, the ultra-relaxed Julien Brecard (manager of Team Winamax) from Paris, Elky the rockstar, and the always cagey Ludovic Lacay. The previous years were dubbed the Year of the Scandi or The Year of the Ruskies. Can this be the Year of the Frenchies? They have eight chances at snagging the spot light in the November Nine.

Missing the cut on Sunday included actor Lou Diamond Phillips. His run was remarkable against a field of established pros and amateur dreamers, yet LDP fell short when he busted out on the last hand of the day.... "Ritchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhie!"

And there are two females left... Nichoel Peppe and Leo Margets. They are vying for Wicked Chops Poker Last Woman Standing Cup.

Hijinks of the day? Here's a story from Nolan Dalla...

"As players bust out, tables are broken down and consolidated. This requires players to pick up their own chips and transfer to new tables. Deep into Level 18, a player was walking across the room and accidentally bumped into a camera crew. Two full racks of assorted chips crashed to the floor and rolled off in different directions. There was a mad dash by the player and tournament staff to recover the stray chips. After a few minutes, all chips were gathered and the player finally took his new seat. Mischievous-minded Jimmy Sommerfeld decided to have some fun at the player’s expense. As the player was re-stacking his chips into neat rows, Sommerfeld put on his best stone face. He informed the player that any chips that hit the floor would be ruled technically out of play. After a momentary expression of shock, the player quickly figured out he was the target of a gag and play resumed."

Anyway, the action on Day 6 should slow down a bit. There's three more days of poker left before the November Nine is set.

Here's some info...

Main Event Stats:
Players Remaining: 185
Avg. Stack: 1,053,081
Number of Entries: 6,494
TPrize Pool: $61,043,600
Places Paid: 648
1st Place Prize: $8,546,435

Top 10 Chip Counts:
1 Warrn Zackey (Honeydew, South Africa) - 4,872,000
2 Kasapr Cordes (Copenhagen, Denmark) - 4,352,000
3 Darvin Moon (Oakland, MD) - 3,218,000
4 Tom 'DonkeyBomber' Schneider (Scottsdale, AZ) - 3,168,000
5 Bernie Perner (Austria) - 3,022,000
6 Miika Puumalainen (Kuopip, Finland) - 2,894,000
7 Matt Affleck (Seattle, WA) - 2,882,000
8 Charlie Elias (Sydney, Australia) - 2,780,000
9 James Akenhead (London, United Kingdom) - 2,692,000
10 Steven Begleiter (Chappaqua, NY) - 2,621,000

Notables:
12 Noah Boeken, Noah 2,338,000
24 Ludocic Lacay 1,817,000
32 Fabrice Soulier 1,663,000
45 Phil Ivey 1,380,000
53 Hac Dang 1,286,000
54 Blair Hinkle 1,284,000
55 Steve Levy 1,278,000
56 Happy Shulman 1,266,000
58 Antonio Esfandiari 1,227,000
60 Julien Brecard 1,211,000
61 Theo Tran Theo 1,205,000
62 Jordan Morgan 1,202,000
76 Joe 'Not Sebock' Serock 1,014,000
78 Dennis Phillips 1,009,000
80 Joe Sebok 992,000
82 ELKY 973,000
83 Peter Eastgate 927,000
85 Blair Rodman 905,000
91 Sarne Lightman 889,000
101 David Benyamine 764,000
102 Kenny Tran 752,000
106 JC Tran 720,000
107 Prahlad Friedman 715,000
110 Chris Bjorin 693,000
123 Owen Crowe 640,000
124 Rosenkrantz, Jose 630,000
137 Joe Hachem 540,000
180 Cloutier, Eric 212,000

* * * * *

Bouncin Round the Room...

I was running around on Day 5 because of the Dream Team Poker event. I apologize for the lack of updates. That was the negative side of going deep into the Dream Team tournament. On a good note, both Michalski and I advanced to Day 2, as LJ busted out yesterday. You can read the recap for more details on that. Suffice to say, Team Tao of Pokerati has a shot at winning the overall first team prize for Dream Team Poker. Unreal, if you ask me, but pretty cool.

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/13/2009 11:56:00 AM | Permalink |

 
Making Day 2 of Dream Team Poker's WSOP Event

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

I run good in Dream Team Poker tournaments. Just the other day, I made the final table and took third place in the media event run by Dream Team Poker. There was no money invovled in that freeroll, but I managed to win money that would be donated to the Nevada Cancer Institute.

But on Sunday, Dream Team Poker had their third event regular event. Each team entry cost $1,500 or $500 per person. I missed the first one last November but Michalski and I played with Shaniac for Team Tao of Pokerati at the previous event at Caesar's Palace in March.


Team Tao Pokerati
This time, with Shaniac not available and his alternate the DonkeyBomber going deep into the Main Event, we added LJ to the roster. She had a decent score earlier in the WSOP when she made the final two tables of a HORSE event.

I don't have too much time to go into details, but both Michalski and I cashed and advanced to Day 2 or the final three tables. 122 teams signed up or 366 total players. Since we're the only team with two players remaining, the overall team championship is well within our grasps. We both have to make it to the final two tables to win it outright.

I finished Day 1 top 8 in chips with 158K. My highlights included sitting across from a shirtless Tom McEvoy and finding out that he sold his Corvette for $27,000 . He won it for winning the Champions Invitational. I also busted Men the Master's wife when I won my coinflip. And it was cool that Michalski's dad was in town and cheering us on from the rail. He was very excited whenever we won a hand. And it was definitely a treat to have friends and colleagues stop in and check up on our progress. Thanks for the support.

Here's how Dream Team Poker works.., they split the prize pool and pay out the Top 10 teams and the Top 36 places. They only count the top two finishers per team.

Total Prize Pool: $177,510
Team Prize Pool: $106,506
Individual Prize Pool: $71,004

Team Pay Outs:
1st $33,017
2nd $18,106
3rd $10,651
4th $7,988
5th $7,455
6th $6,923
7th $6,390
8th $5,858
9th $5,325
10th $4,793

Individual Player Pay Outs:
1st $16,473
2nd $7,810
3rd $5,680
4th $4,260
5th $3,621
6th $3,160
7th $2,485
8th $1,775
9th-10th $1,598
11th $1,527
12th-14th $1,420
15th-16th $1,243
17th-18th $1,065
19th-27th $710
28th-36th $639

Photo by Owen Laukkanen
Yeah, the re-start is for 2pm on Monday in the Brasilia Room. I'll be updating my progress via Twitter, so follow along if you care.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/13/2009 04:20:00 AM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 5

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Day 5. WSOP Main Event. 407 players remain. This is the day when the compelling stories emerge, scandals are revealed, and when the remaining pros garner more media attention than they have ever seen before. Let's not forget about the unknowns who all of a sudden become known players.

Today could be another abbreviated day since the goal is 175 players or five levels whichever comes first.

The Amazon Ballroom is substantially less crowded. The cash games are no longer in service and the thick-necks from the cage removed all of the lock boxes. There's a decent sized crowd for a Sunday morning. Some of the fans are still drunk from the night before. I can smell the booze seeping through their sweat glands from all the way up in the press box.

* * * * *
12:01pm.... Day 5 Begins...

The featured TV table is stacked with Elky, Happy Shulman, Rolf, Slotboom, Andy Black, and Tyler Patterson from Seattle.

DonkeyBomber has a tough table that includes... Tony Bagels, Jose Rosenkrantz and Kevin Saul. Another tough table... Prahlad Friedman, Vitaly Lunkin, and Jimmy Tran.

Julian Brecard has fellow Frenchman Fabrice Soulier and the legendary Bobby Baldwin at his table.

Sarne Lightman has lots of bullets and he's gonna need them at is table that includes Blair Rodman and David Benyamine.

Within seconds of cards going in the air, a player was busted on the first hand.

* * * * *
1:05pm... Bobby Baldwin Eliminated; Down to 348

Chip Leaders: Gabe Wells, Ludovic Lacay, and Matt Affleck
Recent Eliminations: Bobby Baldwin, David Levi, Jon Eaton, Sorel Mizzi, and Thor Hansen
Players Remaining: 348

The tables are breaking faster than I can keep up. Every few minutes, another table is broken and the room gets just a little bit smaller and colder. Kara Scott and Joe Hachem were together at the same table for a brief moment until they got broken.

I was sweating Julian's table who happened to have two shortstacks in Bobby Baldwin and David Zeitlin from NYC. Zeitlin is still alive, but Baldwin is out. His Jacks ran into Julian's tens. The lucky Frenchman flopped a ten and his set held. Baldwin is nevermore.

Dan Harrington is sporting a neck brace. Yesterday, he was without one. ESPN announcer Lon has been hobbling around on crutches and said something about knee surgery. That's what happened when you try to jump over parking meters for prop bets.

* * * * *
2:05pm... Vitaly Lunkin Eliminated; Down to 320

Chip Leaders: Gabe Walls and Ludovic Lacay
Recent Eliminations: Vitaly Lunkin, Burt Boutin, Hungarian cash game guru Richard Toth, CK Hua
Players Remaining: 320

I spoke to Ilya, my Russian colleague and he mentioned that Vitaly Lunkin had some bad karma coming his ay after he won a crazy hand on Saturday with K-7 against A-A and K-K. Shit happens, but today it was Lunkin's turn to get on the short end of the stick. He had Aces snapped off by 5-2! That hand crippled him and he was out soon after.

Dave Z from NYC has 150K. He picked up a small pot when someone raised from MP and he shoved from the button with A-Qo. No action for Dave Z, but he's still alive and might be one of the shortest stacks left among the final 300+ players.

Julian Brecard is up to 1.8 million. He now has a fourth story added to his chip stack. He's slowly amassing the Eiffel Tower of chip stacks. Since Elky and Ludovic slipped, Julian is the overall French chipleader. Benjo has 1% of Julian. I have 0%. But Julian said he'd buy me my own In-N-Our Burger franchise if he won the Main Event.

Here's an unofficial and incomplete list of players who busted today...

The following players won $27,469:
361 Kevin Mccarthy
362 Jeremy Kottler
363 Mo Hammoud
364 Gene Castro
365 Matt Molinari
366 Sorel Mizzi
367 David Whalen
368 David Levi
369 Marla Schwartz
370 Michael Reed
371 Charles Chrysostomou
372 Tyson Marks
373 Soutchay Chansombath
374 Michael Bisutti
375 Jon Eaton
376 John Bunch
377 Chris Viox
378 Arjan van Bavel
379 Rellie Sigua
380 Fergal Nealon
381 David Rubin
382 Brian Kennedy
383 Nick Brancato
384 James Bayer
385 Dariusz Paszkiewicz
386 Jeffrey Anderson
387 Thor Hansen
388 Thad Wolff
389 Christopher Adlesh
390 Ray Deruyn
391 David Blatte
392 Amir Esfandiary
393 C.K. Hua
394 Daniel Rudd
395 Vincent Curry
396 Todd Lundwall
397 William Robertie
398 Peter Debaene
399 Matthew Waxman
400 Ross Mallor
401 Jarrod Holmes
402 Jeff Kimber
403 Isidro Martinez
404 Emma Grace
405 Keith Burt
406 Joseph Michael
407 Leo Labbe

The live updates will be sporadic because I'm playing in the Dream Team Poker event which starts at 2pm in the Brasilia Room. My team is called Tao of Pokerati. My teammates? Michalski and Lana 'LJ' Maier. She's a last minute replacement for Shaniac and our X-factor.

You can follow my progress in Dream Team Poker via Twitter or come on down to Brasilia Room to sweat the action.

* * * * *
3:15pm... Go DonkeyBomber!

Chip Leaders: Gabe Walls and DonkeyBomber
Recent Eliminations: Nick Binger, Kevin Saul
Players Remaining: 265

DonkeyBomber crippled Kevin Saul with A-A against Saul's Big Slick. Kara Scott just doubled up.

Phil Ivey is having a rough afternoon. He took a hit with set over set.

Sorry for the lack of updates... over in Dream Team Poker, I have almost 14K. I have John 'Schecky' Caldwell's table and 2009 WSOP bracelet winner Michael Davis at my table. Oh, and there's a sizzling Viet-hottie who is on Liz Lieu's team. Hubba Hubba.

* * * * *
6:25pm... 190 Players Remaining

Chip Leaders: Warren Zackey
Recent Eliminations: Dan Harrington, Kara Scott, Mickey Mills, Tyler Patterson, Carl Olson, Justin Henry, Tony Bagels
Players Remaining: 190

Elky and Hachem have been playing at the featured TV table and the defending champ is still alive.

Play will be over shortly. Stay tuned for more info...

Sorry for the lack of updates... I'm still in the Dream Team tournament. LJ is out, but Michalski is up to over 50K while I have 42K.

* * * * * *
9:34pm... Day 5 Complete

Here's who won money today...

The following players won $36,626...
186 Lou Diamond Phillips
187 Huub Verdonschot
188 Paul Lieu
189 Eugene Fouksman
190 Corey Hochman
191 Mike Linn
192 Adam Sanders
193 Adam Croffut
194 Charles Wood
195 David Fox
196 Daryl Jace
197 Jonathan Cohen
198 Jaroslaw Jaskiewicz
199 Ilosvay Zsolt
200 Kevin Jenkins
201 Steven Doebler
202 Hans Hein
203 Estelle Denis
204 Brian Brubaker
205 Nick Schulman
206 Adam White
207 Mickey Mills
208 Kyle Wilson
209 Joe Monro
210 Tyler Patterson
211 Joseph Baldwin
212 Mark Fisher
213 Benjamin Kramer
214 Tom Lutz
215 Claudio Baptista
216 Kevin O'Donnell
217 Oliver Klatt
218 Richard Washinsky
219 Carl Johnson
220 Donald Crabtree
221 Patrick O'Malley
222 Saar Wilf
223 Guy Calvert
224 Alfio Battisti
225 Wayne Lewis

The following players won $32,963...
226 Amir Lehavot
227 Patrick Hanoteau
228 Pedro Fernandez Cavazos
229 Antonio Cavezza
230 Kyle Bowker
231 Ed Perry
232 David Russell
233 David Patent
234 Robert Preston
235 Justin Henry
236 Michael Castaldo
237 Todd Hunter
238 Kara Scott
239 Gabe Walls
240 Samuel Edwards
241 Ashley Cheung
242 Mads Andersen
243 Will Haydon
244 Vijayan Nagarajan
245 Jordan Rich
246 Benjamin Kang
247 Dan Shak
248 Jonathan Wertheim
249 Jeffrey Papola
250 Bruce Perry
251 Luis Silva Salinas
252 Dan Harrington
253 Sean Nolan
254 Carl Olson
255 Casey Sobczewski
256 Chad Awerbuch
257 Maxim Semisoshenko
258 Scott Baumstein
259 Markus Gonsalves
260 Thong Tran
261 Dominik Kulicki
262 David Zeitlin
263 Rolf Slotboom
264 Meyer Rainer
265 Steve Garfinkle
266 Charles Lehr
267 Craig Ivey
268 Gordon Eng
269 Sean Lew
270 Andrew Li
271 Frank Lomanno
272 Jesse Chinni
273 Ken Harbaugh
274 Brendan Taylor
275 Steve Phung
276 Vincent Mack
277 Sven Mol
278 Michael Shvartsman
279 Matt Schwarmann
280 Peter Kremenliev
281 Osmin Dardon
282 Jeremy Wien
283 Josh Tieman
284 Jeffrey Cuccurullo
285 Jacob Avital
286 Henrik Warn
287 Jeremy Maher
288 Rebecca Campbell
289 Mauro Corsetti

The following players won $29,911...
290 Allen Kennedy
291 Matthew Kurtz
292 Gjorgji Chuchuk
293 Nicholas Binger
294 James Keys
295 Lasse Nielsen
296 Kirk Banks
297 Adam Knepp
298 Fabian Ortiz
299 Nicholas Niergarth
300 Roger Pruzansky
301 Scott Buller
302 Jason Ramirez
303 Patrick Stemper
304 Erik Van Den Berg
305 Jamie Shaevel
306 Gregg Turk
307 Quentin Lae
308 Kevin Saul
309 Kenny Hsiung
310 Cornel Cipman
311 Olivier Busquet
312 Zhehao Zhang
313 Paul Houston
314 Niclas Elfstedt
315 Robert Lederer
316 Roger Goa
317 David Wickman
318 Craig Zotter
319 David Hong
320 Joshua Chait
321 Felix Osterland
322 Scott Mayfield
323 Kyriacos Dionysiou
324 Jose Carlos Paz Gutierrez
325 Igor Holiday
326 Zachary Walker
327 Thomas Koral
328 Stan Jablonski
329 Andrew Tuttle
330 Brian Taylor
331 Vincent Bartello
332 Mikael Ay
333 Antoine Dugast
334 Thomas Eggers
335 Huynh 'Coba' Cao
336 Tome Cardoso
337 Robert Lipkin
338 Burt Boutin
339 Raul Paez
340 Benjamin Eilers
341 Jaime Roberts
342 Joshua Mancuso
343 David Lovelace
344 Ron Amos
345 Jared Bluestein
346 Vitaly Lunkin
347 Rudy Carson
348 Dieter Albrecht
349 Sander Lylloff
350 Remy Biechel
351 Andy Black
352 Bobby Baldwin
353 Nicholas Power
354 David Pacheco
355 Shawn Pilot
356 Michael Brooks
357 Nicklas Flisberg
358 Richard Harrington
359 Thuyen Doan
360 Richard Toth

And here's some official info...

End of Day 5 - Top 10 Chip Counts:
1 Warrn Zackey, Waren (Honeydew, South Africa) - 4,872,000
2 Kasapr Cordes, Kasper (Copenhagen, Denmark) - 4,352,000
3 Darvin Moon, Darvin (Oakland, MD) - 3,218,000
4 Tom 'DonkeyBomber' Schneider (Scottsdale, AZ) - 3,168,000
5 Bernie Perner (Austria) - 3,022,000
6 Miika Puumalainen (Kuopip, Finland) - 2,894,000
7 Matt Affleck (Seattle, WA) - 2,882,000
8 Charlie Elias (Sydney, Australia) - 2,780,000
9 James Akenhead (London, United Kingdom) - 2,692,000
10 Steven Begleiter (Chappaqua, NY) - 2,621,000

Notables Who Advanced to Day 6:
12 Boeken, Noah 2,338,000
24 Lacay, Ludovic 1,817,000
32 Soulier, Fabrice 1,663,000
45 Ivey, Phil 1,380,000
53 Dang, Hac 1,286,000
54 Hinkle, Blair 1,284,000
55 Levy, Steve 1,278,000
56 Shulman, Jeff 1,266,000
58 Esfandiari, Antonio 1,227,000
60 Brecard, Julien 1,211,000
61 Tran, Theo 1,205,000
62 Morgan, Jordan 1,202,000
76 Serock, Joe 1,014,000
78 Phillips, Dennis 1,009,000
80 Sebok, Joe 992,000
82 Grospellier, Bertrand 973,000
83 Eastgate, Peter 927,000
85 Rodman, Blair 905,000
91 Lightman, Sarne 889,000
101 Benyamine, David 764,000
102 Tran, Kenny 752,000
106 Tran, J.C. 720,000
107 Friedman, Prahlad 715,000
110 Bjorin, Chris 693,000
123 Crowe, Owen 640,000
124 Rosenkrantz, Jose 630,000
137 Hachem, Joe 540,000
180 Cloutier, Eric 212,000

See ya 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.
posted by Pauly at 7/12/2009 03:22:00 PM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Day 45 - Main Event Day 4: Bubbles, Leap Frog, and What Does Benjo Think Vol. 5

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Day 4 was so short that there was barely any time for any stories to develop. Jack Effel decided to shorten the day from five levels to four (or until they got down to 400 players whichever came first) before Day 4 started. As the day progressed, he made the decision to stop play completely at the end of the third level (before the scheduled dinner break). In only three levels of play, the field was cut from 789 to 407. The Bubble finally burst after a dramatic and lengthy 13 hands during hand-for-hand play that lasted almost two hours.

In that period of time, Elky lost the chiplead while fellow Frenchman Ludovig Lacay battled for the top spot and an unknown from Seattle named Matt Affleck finished in the lead while he did everything possible to fend off ill-informed media to explain, "No, I'm not Ben's brother."

Several named pros are still alive and a few of them have a substantial amount of chips... Phil Ivey, DonkeyBomber, Dan Harrington, Joe Hachem, Prahlad Friedman, Kenny Tran, Dennis Phillips, David Benyamine, and Fabrice Soulier. Can one of them continue their run and become one of the named pros at the November Nine?

According to Nolan Dalla, players busted at a staggering rate in the first level of play on Day 4. One player hit the rail every 52 seconds as cries of "Seat open!" filled the room.

Two former champions were eliminated including Phil Hellmuth late in the day and Jesus Ferguson. Both cashed. The other former world champs still left? Bobby Baldwin, Dan Harrington, Peter Eastgate and Joe Hachem.

The Bubble Boy was Kia Hamadani. He will get bought into the Main Event next year courtesy f the beef jerky junta. I feel bad for the poor schlep who busted in 650th place. He got jack shit.

So besides Jesus and Hellmuth, who cashed but busted out on Day 3? Mike Sexton (420), Kelly Kim (423), Ramzi Jelassi (425), Patrick Bruel (428), Surinder Sunar (452), Paul Wasicka (480), Alexander Kostritsyn (498), Sarah Hale (502), Diogo Borges (588), Kristy Gazes (592), Anthony Roux (604), Trond Eidsvig (633), and Scott Ian from Anthrax (637).

Day 5 will kick off at noon. They will play an unspecified amount of levels. I honestly don't know what they will play down to since they have been altering the schedule on the fly.

Main Event Stats:
Players Remaining: 407
Average stack: 478,673

End of Day 4 - Top 10 Chip Counts:
1 Matt Affleck (Seattle, WA) - 1,819,000
2 Ludovic Lacay (Paris, France) - 1,608,000
3 Tom Lutz (Las Vegas, NV) - 1,600,000
4 James Akenhead (London, UK) - 1,572,000
5 Charlie Elias (Sydney, Australia) - 1,540,000
6 Miika Puumalainen (Kuipio, Finland) - 1,492,000
7 Jordan Morgan (Tulsa, OK) - 1,489,000
8 Bernie Perner (Austria) 1,426,000
9 Blair Hinkle (Kansas City, MO) - 1,399,000
10 Ben Jensen (Herning, Denmark) - 1,394,000

Notables:
15 Ivey, Phil 1,276,000
16 Grospelier, Bertrand 1,253,000
20 Tyler, Patterson 1,168,000
39 Brecard, Julien 938,000
41 O'Donnell Kevin 912,000
42 Dang, Hac 906,000
48 Lightman, Sarne 865,000
64 Rodman, Blair 798,000
65 Schneider, Tom 797,000
72 Lylloff, Sander 764,000
79 Shulman, Nick 746,000
88 Crowe, Owen 720,000
96 Olson, Carl 702,000
103 Harrington, Dan 659,000
108 Cloutier, Eric 646,000
114 Phillips, Lou Diamond 607,000
134 Bjorin, Chris 546,000
152 Sebok, Joe 502,000
154 Boeken, Noah 499,000
156 Esfandiari, Antonio 496,000
159 Hachem, Joe 490,000
163 Friedman, Prahlad 484,000
182 Levy, Steven 433,000
188 Tran, Kenny 415,000
194 Benyamine, David 405,000
200 Soulier, Fabrice 400,000
201 Kara Scott 399,000
202 Eastgate, Peter 397,000
203 Saul, Kevin 396,000
210 Black, Andrew 374,000
217 Shak, Daniel 369,000
231 Greenburg, Suzanne 338,000
238 Eaton, Jon 320,000
242 Shulman, Jeff 314,000
248 Mizzi, Sorel 305,000
268 Keys, James 272,000
272 Lunkin, Vitaly 268,000
280 Kang, Benjamin 254,000
309 Boutin, Burt 230,000
311 Slotboom, Rolf 229,000
319 Baldwin, Bobby 219,000
340 Bowker, Kyle 185,000
345 Levi, David 180,000
354 Tran, JC 163,000
355 Binger, Nick 162,000
373 Hua, C.K. 137,000

* * * * *
Bouncin' Round the Room....

Sadly, Oliver Tse will be leaving the poker industry as an agent. If you don't know Oliver, he was a former member of the poker media and used to be a heavy contributor to the 2+2 forums. He frequently set up shop in the hallways. In previous years, Tse represented JJ Liu and Jerry Yang, not to mention several Latin American players. Robert Cheung was Tse's last represented player in the Main Event and when he busted out on Day 4, that was it. Tse is pulling the plug on his management company as of July 31st. Farewell, Oliver. Best of luck in your new venture.


Oliver working late into the night during the 2008 Main Event
(pic courtesy of Benjo)

* * * * *
And now, it's time to report the results on your favorite degenerate prop betting game that's not called Lime Tossing. Yep, it's time for a new installment of What Does Benjo Think?...

What Does Benjo Think, Vol. 5

Real questions by degenerate gamblers. Real answers from an angry Frenchman. It's a game that Otis and I play in the press box to keep things loose. We wager on what we think Benjo would answer a series of random questions...

1. How deep will Elky go in the Main Event?
Otis: 120th place
Pauly: 27th place
Benjo said: "First place. I want him to win it all."
Result: Push (0-0-1)

2. If you could have sexual relations with an animal which would it be?
Otis: Dolphin
Pauly: Horse
Benjo snapped called and said, "A koala. Because they are small and furry and sleep 22 hours a day."
Jen Creason tweet'd, "You can't just sleep with a koala. They don't have rib cages; you'll crush their organs and kill them."
Result: Push (0-0-2)

3. If you could have any former WSOP Main Even Champion as your real father, who would it be?
Otis: Stu Ungar
Pauly: Dan Harrington
Benjo said, "That's is an excellent question, but since I have some Spanish blood, I have to pick Carlos Mortensen. If Stu Ungar was my father, I would have been born a crack baby."
Pauly said, "You're not born a crack baby, unless your mom was smoking crack during her pregnancy."
Result: Push (0-0-3)

4. If you could be any female pro, who would you be?
Otis: Erica Shcoenberg
Pauly: Isabelle Mercier
Benjo said, "Kristy Gazes. She's got big boobs. I would stay at home and just play with them."
Result: Push (0-0-4)

5. Out of everyone left in the field, whohas the best chance of making the November Nine?
Otis: Ludovic Lacay
Pauly: Elky
Benjo said, "With 400 players left and 25% of the field PokerStars qualifiers, I have to say that it will be an unknown PokerStars player."
Result: Push (0-0-5)

6. If you could play one professional sport in America, what would it be?
Otis: Tennis
Pauly: Basketball
Benjo said, "Competitive eating?"
Otis said, "That's not a sport."
Pauly said, "Yet. It's sports entertainment, like poker."
Benjo said, "Then it will be golf. Those guys are so fuckin' rich and I'd get to hang out with the Phil Ivey of golf."
Result: Push (0-0-6)

7. If you could have sex with a male Full Tilt red pro, who would it be?
Otis: Devid Benyamine
Pauly: Gus Hansen
Benjo said, "Gus Hansen because he will probably bring a girl or two or three..."
Result: Pauly wins (1-0-6)

I took down this round where it seemed that Otis and I were way off base with Benjo's answers. Stay tuned for a new installment of What Does Benjo Think?

* * * * *
Don't forget, you can follow along with my hijinks via Twiiter. My feed is @taopauly.

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/12/2009 12:54:00 PM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 4

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Today is the most exciting day in all of poker. I know what you're thinking. But Pauly, what about the final table of the Main Event? Ummm... not really. That's an important historical moment but it's by far not as exhilarating as the Bubble.

Even the ever melancholy and navel-gazing Otis will tell you, "I love the Bubble is my favorite part of the World Series."

789 players showed up for Day 4 and 141 players will go home utterly disappointed. Today will be the most depressing day of the year (and maybe in their entire life) for those unfortunate 141 players who do not cash. I have razor blades and a Death Cab for Cutie CD waiting for you if you choose to end your existence upon your elimination. Just come up to the press box to pick up your gift bag.

* * * * *
12:05pm... Day 4 Begins

Cards went in the air at 12:05pm after they announced the Dealer of the Year winner... Dennis.

After a quick scan of the room, here's some table draws of note...

Joe Sebok and Ludovic Lacay are at the same table. LDP and JC Tran are also at the same table. Elky has CK Hua at his table, and I've played with both. The Big Randy has David Levi at his table. Fabrice and Thor Hansen are at the same table.

Blue 50 is interesting... Richard Toth (Hungarian high stales cash game player), Peter Eastgate, Bob Feduniak, Joe Hachem, Surinder Sunar, and Burt Boutin.

Table 69 had the first "All in and a call!"

* * * * *
1:05pm... Ivey Quads, Big Randy Out, and Elky Still Runs Good

Chip Leaders: ELKY and Ludovic Lacay
Recent Eliminations: The Big Randy, J.C. Alvarado, FBT, Maridu
Players Remaining: 709

The DonkeyBomber dragged a pot when his Aces held up, sadly the other member of Team Pokerati, The Big Randy, is busto. My hopes of representing a November Nine players was flushed down the toilet.

Phil Ivey is sitting up on the featured TV table. He's got quite a following in the stands who erupted early on when he nailed quads.

The secondary table is Blue 50 which is includes two former champions... Joe Hachem and Peter Eastgate.

Everyone's favorite spicy Brazilian dish. Maridu gave me a hug when she saw me. She was pissed off at her shitty performance at the TV table on Day 2. She battled on Day 3 and ended up with a decent stack by the end of the night. However, she busted out on one of the first hands of Day 4.

According to F-Train, Andy Black asked the waiter for a Tequila Sunrise, but was just joking and asked for a water instead. One of his tablemates protested over Black's decision to drink a non-alcoholic beverage... "What kind of Irishman are you?"

Alex Kostritsyn has someone at his table with a SARS mask.

German pro and PokerStars Shooting Star Ben Kang was super short and doubled up with... the Hammer. Kang was all in with 7-2o and doubled up against Big Slick. Beware of Germans wielding hammers in Las Vegas.

They are playing 4 levels today or down to 400 players... whichever comes first.

"400 today, fellas," said Commish as he passed through the press box.

"How about, 420?" asked Benjo.

* * * * *
2:05pm... Bubble Looms

Chip Leaders: ELKY and Ludovic Lacay
Recent Eliminations: Brian Lemke, Thierry van den Berg, Robert Cheung
Players Remaining: 660

Random story about Dutch pro... Thierry van den Berg. During the first WSOP-Europe, I once challenged him to a fistfight in Liecester Square in London. I thought that he was giving my girlfriend a hard time and I incorrectly singled him out for a fist pummeling. He got scared and insisted that it wasn't him and I quickly found out that it was two drunk Germans standing next to him that were being rude assholes. I apologized to Thierry and then challenged the Germans to step outside. Of course, they backed down and Charlie the floor guy 86'd them from the tournament area. Never a dull day on the road.

Scott Ian from Anthrax is sitting in front of the pressbox. His table is the next toget broken.

At 1:45pm, all spectators were booted from the room as the staff prepped for the Bubble with less than 670 to go.

I sweated some of the DonkeyBomber's table. Here's the lowdown on his table.

The Opponents...
Seat 1: DonkeyBomber
Seat 2: Eurodonk from Holland in Garish Hoodie
Seat 3: Retired guy in ugly Hawaiian shirt
Seat 4: Crazy Asian in white hoodie
Seat 5: Online pothead pro
Seat 6: Country club guy from fly over state
Seat 7: German Eurodonk in soccer jersey
Seat 8: Jose Rosenkrantz aka cagey Costa Rican
Seat 9: Online qualifier playing in first WSOP

As you can tell, I like DonkeyBomber's table. He does too. He's well over 500K.

There are 658 players remaining. Hand-for-hand will begin with 653 players to go.

* * * * *
2:35pm... H4H

We're now hand-for-hand with 653 players remaining. Five people will go home with... nothing but heartache. Dreams crushed. Future squashed.

What are the shortstacks nitting it up for? $21,365.

* * * * *
3:05pm... Getting Close... 651 to Go

Chip Leaders: ELKY, Ludovic Lacay, James Akenhead
Recent Eliminations: Marco Esquondales, Hevad Khan and David Daneshgar

651 players remaining. I had the Bubble bursting at 4:20pm PT. It might get there a good 70 minutes earlier at this pace.

Ylon Schwartz is sitting in a seat at an empty table. He's obviously sweating someone on the verge of cashing. A short stack perhaps? As Otis noted, "He's waiting to walk whoever to the cage."

At this point of the Main Event, backers might be waiting for their horses to payback a shitload of makeup. Nothing is worse than busting out of the Main Event and walking to the cage with one of your creditors and having to hand over half if not more of it after a stressful week of poker.

The guy in the Indian head dress busted out before the Bubble. Otis saw him in the hallway within minutes of his elimination and he was slumped up against the bar shitfaced drunk.

"Not the best way to fulfill a negative racial stereotype," he said.

As I wrote a few hours ago, today is the most depressing and demoralizing day in the life of a poker player. When players bust out they often disappear for days, weeks, and even months. It takes them that long to shake off the tilt or they finally take that long-awaited vacation to a quiet place on a beach with white sand and rum drinks where there's no internet connection to tempt them to play online poker.

Only two players busted in 20 minutes of hand-for-hand. Kevin Saul was so bored that he tweet'd that he was bored and ordered a massage.

Lina, one of the writers from Sweden said, "Hand by hand... boring like hell!" If Scandinavians are complaining about the bleakness of the never-ending bubble, you know it's bad.

And Phil Hellmuth? What the fuck is he talking about in his latest tweet that MeanGene read aloud in the press box? "Mistakes!! I am still way too human!!"

So if Phil is not 100% human, what is he? A god? Machine? Alien? An alien-terminator hybrid?

* * * * *
3:24pm... One to Go

We are one more elimination away from the money bubble! 649 players left. Who will be the Bubble Boy?

* * * * *
4:05pm... Hurry Up... and Wait

Still here. On the bubble. Hands are lasting around ten minutes a piece. I learned a lot about my fellow media reps in that time... mostly about how much people will commit murder for hire. $420,000can get you a lot of your dirty work done if you are interested.

A handful of players have been sneaking out during the hand-for-hand to smoke cigarettes. Andy Black and Kelly Kim were among the hordes of nicotine addicts who headed for the smoking area in front of the Poker Kitchen.

On a good note, the DonkeyBomber is closing in on 780K. Bobby Baldwin avoided elimination when he doubled when he spiked a flush draw.

* * * * *
4:20pm... Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

As always, today's 4:20 smoke break is brought to you by... PokerStars!


And yes, I lost my Bubble Prop bet. I picked 4:20pm. One player was all in with A-A against a big stack's A-J. Everyone in the room chanted for a Jack. The flop was J-x-x and all of a sudden a Bubble Boy Bustout was probable. Sadly, he whiffed on the turn and the river. Some players booed and the short stack with Aces doubled up.

Still 649 to go.

* * * * *
4:34pm.... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

After two hours of hand-for-hand and 70 minutes of eagerly awaiting the Bubble Boy to bust... we're in the money in the WSOP Main Event! All 648 remaining players win at least $21,365. Kia Hamadani the Bubble Boy was humiliated by a public display of tomfoolery where Jack Link's notified him that he'd get a buy-in into the 2010 WSOP Main Event.

Hand for hand was 13 hands. Jack added 39 minutes (or three minutes per hand) to the clock. They also banned all electronic devices and head sets. No mas iPods.

Get ready for like 67 bustouts on the next hand.

* * * * *
5:55pm... 567 Players...

Chip Leaders: ELKY with 1.7 M, Ludovic Lacay, James Akenhead
Recent Eliminations: Trond Eidsvig, Scott Ian, Anthony Roux, and Kristy Gazes
Players Remaining: 567

We will be playing four levels or down to 400 players. We're fifteen minutes into Level 17 or the third level of the day. There will be a dinner break at 7:40pm.

Julian Brecard busted a player with A-K off vs. A-K off. Ouch. Nice catch, Poisson!

Sadly, Kristy Gazes' run is over at the WSOP when she busted out 592nd place.

Scott Ian from Anthrax is no longer here. However, LDP is going strong for the celebs.

Kara Scott and Carl Olson are both in. Olson has Kenny Tran at his table with a 1M stack. DonkeyBomber is over 600K, while Tyler Patterson is up to 750K.

So who cashed once the Bubble broke?

The Following players won $21,365...
505 George Abdallah
506 Luka Gojcaj
507 Kenneth Weiner
508 Van Nguyen
509 Babak Razi
510 Jason Adler
511 Paren Arzoomanian
512 Marc Goldman
513 Russell Kamer
514 Christopher Brammer
515 Peter Jetten
516 Eduardo Santi
517 Bingjian Wu
518 Steven van Zadelhoff
519 Antonio Abesamis
520 Colin Tang
521 Philippe Castella
522 Thomas Tyszkiewicz
523 Jesper Hougaard
524 Dan Makowsky
525 Armando Munoz-Calero
526 Jordan Seigel
527 Andre Schneider
528 Dumitru Filipescu
529 Bryan Swift
530 Robert Perelman
531 George Mazelis
532 Robert McLaughlin
533 Terry Garner
534 Raymond Muster
535 Nelson Dantas
536 Charlie Chang
537 Mark Sykes
538 Balazs Botond
539 Mark Gregorich
540 Romica Mihailov
541 Brian Shapiro
542 Ronald Wasiel
543 Ronald Cook
544 Cal Namihira
545 Joey Lovelady
546 Bjoern Wiesler
547 Alexandre Roos
548 Gylbert Drolet
549 Nikhil Persaud
550 Mark Wilds
551 Joas Mudde
552 Terry McKerchie
553 David Rohm
554 Clyde Nooris
555 Claus Vallo
556 Nuno Goncalves
557 Dennis Drescher
558 Farshad Fardad
559 Chris Verkerk
560 Dean Petersson
561 Jesus
562 Keith Wintermans
563 Nathan Hays
564 Mark Weil
565 Edwin Muller
566 Christopher Giannell
567 Magnus Persson
568 Robert Mobley
569 Steve Chung
570 Eldon Elias
571 Kyle Brown
572 Michael Mayhood
573 Brian Brunner
574 Joao de Lima
575 Edward Riordan
576 Michael Katz
577 David Postar
578 Michael Terhaar
579 Uffe Holm
580 Kevin Dean
581 John Scarpaci
582 David Schnettler
583 Jason Sackler
584 Clarence Willingham
585 Gavin Emrich
586 Kevin Allen
587 Michael Kinney
588 Diogo Borges
589 Mikael Thuritz
590 Ari Levy
591 David Sapery
592 Kristy Gazes
593 Preben Norup
594 Robert Slezak
595 Lee Pope
596 Thomas Werthman
597 David Williams
598 Jason Su
599 James Campbell
600 Steve Pestal
601 Luc Viry
602 Farukh Tach
603 David Wells
604 Anthony Roux
605 Frederick Kennedy
606 James Cain
607 Christina Renz
608 Michael Nye
609 Matthew Lawrence
610 Richard Kane
611 Benjamin Tang
612 Charles Pacheco
613 Matthew Casterella
614 Sylvester Geoghegan
615 Jason Lademan
616 Sol Bergren
617 David Black
618 Brian Hodhod
619 Melanie Banfield
620 Dana Kellstrom
621 Amir Marmar
622 Stuart Schrenzel
623 Morten Erlandsen
624 Carson Nunez
625 Paolo Gomes
626 Andrew Sayegh
627 James Massar
628 Erik Wilson
629 Miguel Gutierrez
630 Max Casal
631 Matthew Lubawski
632 Todd Flecther
633 Trond Eidsvig
634 John Olds
635 Joseph Gordon
636 Jaroslaw Osinski
637 Scott Ian
638 Trevor Savage
639 Gregory Merson
640 Maxwell Greenwood
641 Gabriel Vallejos
642 Magnus Meltzer
643 Edward Jones
644 Robert Roos
645 Matthias de Meulder
646 Robert Hauke
647 Staffan Fagelberg
648 Jay Chase

Stay tuned for more bustout info. Please note that this info is not 100% official or accurate.

* * * * *
5:55pm... 468 Players...

Chip Leaders: ELKY, Ludovic Lacay, and Jordan Morgan
Recent Eliminations: Jesus, Paul Wasicka, Jesper Hougaard
Players Remaining: 468

A couple of the named pros hit the rail in the last hour including Jesus and 2006 runner-up Paul Wasicka.

Elky lost a sizable pot but he's still up in front.

There was also a money jump... almost $2,000!

There's about one hour left in this level. I think that the 400 number will come first than the 4th level. But can that happen before this level ends?

The following players won $25,027:
439 Christopher McCoy
440 Clark Curry
441 Jason Tremblay
442 Justin Bonomo
443 Joshua Kay
444 Jason Maxwell
445 Jeff Patrik Carlsson
446 Edward Harris
447 Randall Armitage
448 Nicholas Voyatzis
449 James Rumptz
450 Anthony Scherer
451 Michael Tucci
452 Surinder SUnar
453 Phil Mader
454 Ryan Franklin
455 Shayne Heine
456 Michael Krescanko
457 Karec Terrell
458 Geoffery Herzog
459 Julius Malzanini
460 Dino Brivati
461 Jerry Connor
462 Christopher Overgard
463 Dario Tosin
464 Maxwell Kirkpatrick
465 Richard Sinclair
466 Sean Dorn
467 Frank Szabo
468 Daniel Carter
469 George Medina
470 Henry Mlekoday
471 Kyle Brossia
472 Steven Feren
473 Radek Chvala
474 Martins Adeniya
475 Bryan Pimlott
476 Douglas Campbell
477 Robert Campbell
478 David Olson
479 Daniel Vorbeck
480 Paul Wasicka
481 Mohamedazam Razabsekh
482 Jason Melnick
483 Michael Graydon
484 Michael Lesle
485 Daniel Lococo
486 Carlos Oliveira
487 George Lusby
488 Fabrizio La Spada
489 Lennart Konst
490 William Brewin
491 Matthias Kuerschner
492 Jeffrey Freedman
493 Adrian Moreno
494 Not yet collected prize
495 Stephen Buchanan
496 Steven Dunkelberg
497 Leo Kam
498 Alexander Kostritsyn
499 Ronald Lee
500 Ryan Brauer
501 Anders Taylor
502 Sarah Hale
503 Jean Moussa
504 John Hammer

* * * * *
7:55pm... Day 4 Complete; Phil Hellmuth & Mike Sexton Eliminated

Chip Leaders: Ludovic Lacay and Jordan Morgan
Recent Eliminations: Patrick Bruel, Phil Hellmuth, Carter King, Matt Brady, Zee Justin, and Alexander Kostritsyn
Players Remaining: 407

It was a weird day. Before action started, there were rumors about having a shortened day. And just before action began, it was confirmed that Day 4 would end when action dwindled down to 400 players or through four levels of play... whichever happened first.

The first level featured rapid fire eliminations and when action resumed after the first break, we were hand-for-hand with 5 eliminations off the money bubble. It would take two hours from that point to bust the bubble.

Immediately following the bubble, a slew of eliminations ensued. The field was being busted at such a fast rate that the staff decided to end action at the completion of level 3. There was no reason to send players on a ninety minute dinner break and then have them come back until one or two more tables broke.

Anyway, we currently have approximately 407 players left on Day 4. Elky started the day as the chipleader, but lost it late in the day. His fellow countryman Ludovic Lacay had snagged the lead and was one of the first players past 2 million in chips. He ended the day with a lot less but still is among the leaders.

The following players won $27,469:
408 Thomas West
409 Antoine Amourette
410 Victor Greeley
411 Paulus Valkenburg
412 Julian Parmann
413 Fredrik Hellstrom
414 Robert Ching
415 Jeffrey Norman
416 Kenneth Kessler
417 Mark Lisinsky
418 Lance Gettler
419 Mathieu Jaqmin
420 Mike Sexton
421 Michael Hibler
422 Stan Sinclair
423 Kelly Kim
424 Craig McConville
425 Ramzi Jelassi

Stay tuned for official information, chip counts, and an end of Day 4 recap. Thanks for following along.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/11/2009 02:43:00 PM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Day 44 - Main Event Day 3: Two Frenchies, One Cup

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

"Who is Ludovic?" asked one clueless member of the American media.

"Ah, he's one of those hyper-aggressive players who likes to do blow and bang hookers," extolled one of my British colleagues.

"Tell me something I don't already know," I snapped. "You just described every single European pro on the circuit."

* * * * *
For most of the afternoon, I kept a watchful eye on Ludovic Lacay who sat at a table in front of the press box. I only knew him because of Benjo. Lacay was one of the first players to be signed to a sponsorship deal with Winamax, the largest online poker site in France. The law student from Toulouse soon realized that his future was in tournament poker and Lacay never finished his studies. Instead, he spent the last few years traveling the world and playing on the grueling tournament circuit. Lacay was a fixture on the EPT (and the runner-up at the WPT Barcelona Open in 2007) and he lived in Las Vegas the last few summers while he played in the WSOP.

On Day 3 of the Main Event, Lacay often wandered up to the press box to tell Benjo his chip count. Since I sat next to Benjo, I often heard them chatting about hands. A few times Lacay broke into English because he noticed that I struggled to keep up with their rapid-fire French.

Lacay was a machine and vacuumed up chips. He acquired a fair amount of his stack with 9c-7c in a nasty hand where he snapped of Kings. Out of most of the French pros, Lacay is one of the most adept at building a stack, but on the negative side, much like Norwegian pro Johnny Lodden, Lacay is prone to implosions. Lacay could easily dust off 500K as fast as he accumulated it.

Lacay has a lot of gamble in him, including proposition gambling. He once lost a bet with Brice Cournut. The loser had to play an entire day of a tournament with a tooth brush in their mouth. Lacay lost the bet and did not back down. He played Day 2 of the EPT Hungarian Open in Budapest with a toothbrush. I happened to be there covering the event.


Ludovic Lacay in Budapest during the EPT Hungarian Open
Lacay plays fast and loose. Although he knows how to shift gears, he doesn't do it as often as he should. On Day 3, it didn't matter as he jumped out to the chip lead. Benjo insisted that he would be the first player to pass the 1 million mark. Lacay ran over his table as he closed in on 1 million and if Nick Shulman wasn't moved to his immediate left, Lacay might have finished the day with the overall lead.

Instead of Lacay, another Frenchman ended up becoming the first player to pass 1 million and that was none other than Elky. Born Bertrand Grospellier, Elky spent most of his formative years in Nancy before moving to Korea as a late teenager to pursue a career in video games. After he became a Starcraft rock star in Korea, he turned his focus to poker and quickly picked up on the similarities of the online poker game. The rest is history. He earned almost $6 million playing in tournaments... since January of 2007. He's been rumored to have gone busto a few times but he always bounced back.

Benjo spent a lot of time with Elky which was the crux of his cover story in this month's Bluff Magazine. They both share a flat together in London. The French pro is indeed the real deal and has been running incredibly good over the last year. He parlayed that into the chip lead at the Main Event. Elky has all the skills including the patience and discipline to know when to shift gears. He has an uncanny ability to read his opponents and he always knows which buttons to push.

As Day 3 reached the midnight hour, both Lacay and Elky were on top of the leader board, while the popular Phils (Ivey and Hellmuth) were hounded by the press and ESPN cameras. Lacay operated under the radar for the entire day. Elky spent some time under the bright lights but by now, he's used to the spot light.

At one point, Ivey was moved to Elky's table, but Elky retained his focus as the two managed to avoid each other.

"Ivey is probably the best player in the world," said Elky. "I respect his game very much. I was not going out of my way to get involved with Ivey. There were so many other weaker players left, so I went after them."

Indeed, a tale of two Frenchman. By the time the day ended, Elky was close to 1.4 million while Lacay finished up with 900K.


Elky and his million dollar stack
Photo by Benjo

* * * * *
Day 3 Stats

2,044 started Day 3 and only 789 players made the cut. The top 648 will win prize money and the money bubble should break before dinner time on Saturday.

End of Day 3 - Top 10 Chip Counts:
1 Elky (London, UK) - 1,380,500
2 Ludovic Lacay (Paris, France) - 896,000
3 Jason Brice (Sugar Land, TX) - 858,500
4 Ben Jensen (Herning, Denmark) - 835,500
5 Kasper Cordes (Copenhagen, Denmark) - 796,000
6 James Akenhead (London, UK) - 794,000
7 Billy Kopp (Erlanger, KY) - 792,000
8 Tyler Patterson (Everett, WA) - 784,000
9 Adam Bilzerian (Frigate Bay, St. Kitts) - 767,000
10 Christian Heich (Mengesdied, Germany) - 735,500

Notables:
11 Morgan, Jordan 705,000
20 Tran, Kenny 666,500
57 Saul, Kevin 523,000
59 Bonomo, Justin 517,500
65 Phillips, Dennis 510,000
67 Dang, Hac 505,500
71 Crowe, Owen 500,000
75 Hellmuth, Phil 485,000
77 Tran, Theo 483,000
89 Kara Scott 456,500
109 Jelassi, Ramzi 417,000
113 Sexton, Mike 414,000
117 Lightman, Sarne 404,000
126 Lemke, Brian 388,000
132 Benyamine, David 381,500
148 Ivey, Phil 371,000
157 Phillips, Lou Diamond 359,500
162 Shak, Daniel 354,500
170 Kim, Kelly 346,000
171 Borges, Diogo 345,500
176 Kostritsyn, Alexander 340,500
221 Brady, Matt 307,000
231 Boutin, Burt 302,500
235 Lylloff, Sander 300,500
236 Esquondoles, Marco 300,000
241 Sebok, Joe 297,500
242 Mizzi, Sorel 297,000
247 Wasicka, Paul 294,000
249 Eastgate, Peter 292,500
258 Soulier, Fabrice 289,500
269 Esfandiari, Antonio 283,500
279 Black, Andrew 277,500
283 Julian, Brecard 274,500
287 Hevad, Khan 272,500
306 Gruzglin, Vadim 256,000
329 Bruel, Patrick 245,500
331 Daneshgar, David 245,000
340 Hachem, Joe 239,500
343 King, Carter 238,000
352 Jesus 232,500
354 Schneider, Tom 231,000
394 Baron, Isaac 208,000
410 Levi, David 198,500
419 Shulman, Nick 194,000
420 Baldwin, Bobby 193,500
421 Olson, Carl 193,000
425 The Big Randy 190,500
435 Harrington, Daniel 187,500
436 Levy, Steven 187,500
446 Slotboom, Rolf 181,500
450 Boeken, Noah 180,500
491 Hansen, Thor 164,000
497 Lunkin, Vitaly 159,500
526 Hougaard, Jesper 148,000
562 Gazes, Kristy 128,500
586 Tran, J.C. 119,000
605 Wells, David 113,000
613 Eaton, Jon 110,000
628 Botwin, Nancy 105,500
629 Gregorich, Mark 105,500
644 Maridu 102,500
645 FBT 101,500
646 Hua, CK 100,500
676 Phan, Tim 85500
677 Alvarado, J.C. 85,000
734 Hale, Oklahoma Sarah 61,000
761 Bell, Chris 41,000

* * * * *
Don't forget that I'm also covering the WSOP via Twitter. You can follow me by clicking here.

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/11/2009 04:20:00 AM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 3

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Today's an important day. More than 50% of the field will go home after almost a week of work with nothing. Zilch. Nadda. The rest? They get to live for one more day... but they're still not guaranteed a cash in the Main Event. If anything, today is about survival for many.

And for the few players who have big stacks? They're looking to maintain their advantage as part of the lead pack, while the pros that are left are hoping to snag a bit of the spotlight as the list of named pros gets smaller and smaller every few minutes.

2,044 players remaining today. We will be playing five levels. The rumors about playing six levels or down to 750 was just bogus and nothing more than bad whispers.

Cards went in the air almost on time. Jeffrey Pollack introduced a former Vietnam veteran... Capt. Tom Franklin. He said the official words, "Shuffle up and deal!"

Here's some quick stats...

Day 3 Main Event Stats:
Players Remaining: 2,044
Chipleader: Amir Lehavot

Top 10 Chip Counts:
1 Amir Lehavot (Weston, FL) - 610,500
2 Peter DeBaene (Shelby Township, MI) - 465,000
3 Troy Weber (West Terre Haute, IN) - 453,200
4 Dan Bilzerian (Tampa, FL) - 439,500
5 Franklin Grigsby (Austin, TX) - 424,400
6 Gabe Walls (Billings, MT) - 417,900
7 Mikael Thuritz (Los Angeles, CA) - 395,400
8 Andrew Gaw (Philippines) - 386,800
9 Eric Cloutier (Quebec ON,Canada) - 383,500
10 Jason Brice (Sugar Land, TX) - 376,100

Notables on Day 3 (Thru Top 420):
17 Ivey, Phil 346,200
33 FBT 287,300
34 Tran, JC 284,600
46 Tran, Kenny 273,000
80 Lisandro, Jeff 229,300
83 Benyamine, David 228,800
86 Saul, Kevin 227,800
93 Bonomo, Justin 223,300
97 Dang, Hac 221,800
103 Lemke, Brian 217,700
107 Black, Andrew 215,700
126 ELKY 207,900
139 Kostritsyn, Alex 202,600
163 Phillips, Lou Diamond 192,300
170 Phillips, Dennis 190,200
178 Borges, Diogo 186,500
182 Alvarado, J.C. 186,000
185 Karam, Marc 185,200
186 Wasicka, Paul 184,900
197 Harrington, Dan 181,400
212 Crowe, Owen 178,000
215 Hougaard, Jesper 176,800
227 Warne, Shane 173,700
239 Sexton, Mike 169,000
246 Mizzi, Sorel 166,400
254 Ludovic, Lacay 165,400
260 Boyd, Dutch 163,600
274 Binger, Nick 161,900
307 Levi, David 154,400
310 Boutin, Burt 153,300
319 Christian, Dragomir 151,600
324 Esquondoles, Marco 151,100
362 Soulier, Fabrice 145,800
371 Nicolas, Levi 144,500
383 Hellmuth, Phil 142,900
404 Kara Scott 139,500
405 Poels, Pat 139,400
406 Brunson, Pamela 139,300
408 Hachem, Joe 138,900
409 Gobbo 138,300
412 Bellande, Jean-Robert 137,700
416 "Mr. Rain" 137,000
420 Lunkin, Vitaly 135,900

Friends of Tao of Poker:
1795 Liz Lieu - 30,500
1733 Shaniac - 34,200
1950 Pinky - 18,800
1976 Louie Cohen - 16,900

* * * * *
12:12pm... Shane Warne and the Ashes

There's a major cricket tournament held every other calendar year between Australia and England called The Ashes. Shane Warne is retired from Team Australia but he was paid big bucks to do color commentary. Since he's still in the Main Event, he skipped out on the first match in this series.

Garth wrote a bit about the potential hot story brewing on his blog. Warne is buddies with Joe Hachem and their friendship is already paying off dividends. Ad if you don't know about Shane Warne, he's like the all time greatest bowler of all time with a spinner... which would be the equivalent of a pitcher who had such a nasty breaking ball that no one could touch it.

Anyway, Warne started the day with 173K and he's looking to extend his American holiday.

P.S. Consider this a pitch to a potential book publisher...a fish out of water American reporter stumbles upon the dark side of the cricket scene while covering The Ashes. Let's make it happen. I'd love to cover the Ashes in 2011. I'd love to write it after the Phish book and before the Mexican drug war book.

* * * * *
1:30pm... Sediel and Hungry Like de Wolfe = Busto

Chip Leaders: Andrew Gaw, Phil Ivey
Recent Eliminations: Erik Seidel, Micon, Eric Morris, Roland de Wolfe, Jesse Jones, Jason Young, and Bill Gazes.

Bryan Micon is busto and he immediately tweet'd... "Going to play Venetian $500. Yes I am king of all Degenerates."

Kara Scott added a few chips when her aces held up.

I found Shane Warne and the Donkey Bomber playing in the Brasilia Room. They have already broken an entire section of that room and they're on the cusp of breaking down tables in another section. DonkeyBomber's table got broke. He was sitting with a short stacked Tim Phan.

Warne pulled a rock star move when he left Las Vegas on Day 1 and flew to the UK to play in a cricket match for the Queen. He hopped back on a plane and arrived late to Day 2 before he finished out the day strong.

1,900 players remaining...

* * * * *
2:30pm... 1,680 and Counting...

Chip Leaders: Andrew Gaw and Phil Ivey
Recent Eliminations: Nicolas Levi

Jason Alexander recently doubled up according to Change100. The former Seinfeld actor is sitting in front of the table where she's set up. I watched him pick up one pot with Jacks up.

Nicolas Levi wandered up to the press box and sadly told Benjo his elimination hand. Today will be the worst day of the year for 1,200 or so players as they go home busto.

Shane Warne's table was moved from Brasilia to Amazon. The floor guy said, "Congrats gentleman on making the final... room."

One guy asked how far they were away from the money.

"If you don't make it to the end of the day it won't matter."

Warne needed a change of scene. He spewed over 200K in chips yesterday like a drunken Scandi. He's on life support with under 50K and needs to get his shit together. Otherwise, he'll be booking the 5pm flight to London on Virgin Airlines so he to cover the Ashes as a TV commentator.

One of the tables in the Brasilia Room included Jesus seated next to the guy in the Indian headdress. As I left the room, I passed Carlos Mortensen's table. He had all of his chips perfectly stacked and each marking aligned. Anal retentive? Bored? Or a true artist?

* * * * *
3:30pm... Mayor Gus

Chip Leaders: James Akenhead, Amir Lehavot, and Elky
Recent Eliminations: Ilya Gorodetskiy, Jen Harman, Ville Wahlbeck, Freddy Bonyadi, Matt Hawrilenko, Steve Brecher, Rizen, and Christina Lindley.

Who smokes during the middle of the levels? Andy Black and Chau Giang. They sneak out at special times to get their fix before sprinting back to play.

Ilya Gorodetskiy from Moscow is out, He stopped by the press box to tell me his bustout. Theo Tran took him out with set over set in a 350K pot. Flop was Q-9-2. Tran's Queens held against Ilya's nines. You can catch Ilya's doing the Russian commentary on EPTLive.com.

Ludovic Lacay is pushing towards 314K. I overheard him tell his chipcount to Benjo. My French is improving. I actually knew the proper numbers. At Lacay's table there was a woman who unnecessarily called a clock on player when she wasn't in the hand. She totally pulled a Tiffany Michelle. Supposedly karma swung back her way and she busted out when she shoved with Kings into Lacay's Aces.

I made the rounds and sweated the action from the rail. Luckily the Big Randy and DonkeyBomber are right next to each other at adjacent tables. The Big Randy is also my client, so I'm hoping he goes deep and we can make some big bucks from the local stripclubs and Icelandic sports books.

Gus Hansen is the mayor of the Amazon Ballroom. He was signing t-shirts and one old lady stopped him for his photo. It was cute, she even asked the Great Dane to cop a feel and he obliged. Afterwards, Gus wandered over to Phil Hellmuth's table and the two talked some smack.

"How many bracelets you got?" Hellmuth ego screamed across the room.

"Zero," said Hansen's penis. "But I threw up on eleven models since breakfast."

1,540 players and counting... and I think Shane Warne is busto. He's MIA.

* * * * *
4:20pm... Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

Chip Leaders: John Hammer and gabe Walls - over 600K each
Recent Eliminations: Terrance Chan, Bill Edler, Dario Alioto, Sammy Farha, Andre Akkari

I watched in astonishment as Chau Giang got his armpit massaged by an unlucky masseuse. I wonder if she made farting sounds for him and gets paid extra to work on those obscure areas of the human body. If Tony G can get his feet massaged at the tables, then Chau can get his armpits rubbed.

Phil Ivey was moved to Elky's table. Should be an interesting battle... if they decide to play against each other. Or they decide to avoid each others' big stacks and carve up the table between the two of them.

According to Terrence Chan's twitter feed... he's out. Bill Edler is no longer as well. Liz Lieu avoided elimination... but she's still short.

A Scandi reporter in a NY Yankees cap chatted with Thor Hansen for a significant amount of time. I could only wonder if Thor was giving him advice on who to bet on in Swedish soccer or he was recanting a wicked bad beat.

As always, today's 4:20 smoke break is brought to you by... PokerStars!


* * * * *

* * * * *
5:20pm... 1,300...

Chip Leaders: Gabe Walls and James Akenhead
Recent Eliminations: former champions Greg Raymer and Carlos Mortensen, Shane Warne, Adam Junglen, Adam Schoenfeld, Jean-Robert Bellande, and Darus Suharto

Average stack is around 140K.

Chainsaw Kessler might get some ESPN face time since Jordan Farmar is playing at his table. The cameras have been keeping an eye on that table.

Joe Sebok's lady friend Amanda stood on the rail with Joe Stapleton, who chowed down on McDs while sweating his Poker Road companion. Stapes devoured McNuggets drenched in BBQ sauce, while Sebok nursed a supershort stack.

Kristy Gazes is in the middle of a massage while two tables away lurks Phil Ivey and Elky's table. Squeezed in the middle of those two? David Levi to make it even tougher. And in the 5 seat? A dude in a PokerStars t-shirt who looks like he shit his pants. Elky is sporting his usual garish hoodie.

A guy on the rail pointed towards the red section, "This is so fuckin' cool. Look? Phil Hellmuth is there and Phil Ivey is here. Get out your camera and take a picture!"

"This just doesn't do it for me," she sighed as she dug through her purse.

The catatonic Hevad Khan stacked his chips in a peculiar manner, but he has so many that it doesn't matter.

The DonkeyBomber and the Big Randy are both in. DonkeyBomber has Tim Phan still at his table, while the Big Randy's table included Greg FBT Mueller, who attracted ESPN cameras.

Up on the featured TV table, Joe Hachem and Jeff Lisandro sat across from each other. Two Aussies. One the former world champion and the other? A three time bracelet winner in 2009 and Player of the Year winner.

Maridu is sporting a teal-colored bandana with white skulls. Like most Brazilians who worship a hybrid of Catholicism and Voodoo, she has summoned her deceased ancestors to guide her through any rough spots on Day 3.


* * * * *
6:20pm... Chainsaw Nevermore

Chip Leaders: Ludovic Lacay, Gabe Walls and James Akenhead
Recent Eliminations: Gobbo, Chainsaw, JohnnyBax, Marco Traniello, Pamela Brunson, Thomas Koo

Ludovic Lacay is over 570K after he dragged a pot with 9c-7c against pocket Kings.

DonkeyBomber is over 200K and looking good after taking a bit of Tim Phan's stack.

Chainsaw Kessler is out. When I told the pressbox about his departure, Benjo shook hos head and said, "No min-cash for Chainsaw."

Also gone? Gobbo and JohnnyBax.

Bobby Baldwin is sitting near the press box. I asked Nolan Dalla is anyone atthe table knew who he was? Or his legendary past? Maybe he likes it that way so he can fly under the radar. Young gun Steven Levy is sitting across from Baldwin. I dunno if he was even born when Baldwin won his Main Event crown.

According to his twitter feed, The Big Randy put "FBT on a little FBT!"

Players are heading out to a dinner break shortly. We're well above 1,150 or so players...

* * * * *
8:35pm... Ludovic = New Chipleader; Joe Sebok Springs Back to Life

Chip Leaders: Ludovic Lacay
Recent Eliminations: Alexia Portal, Kent Senter, Raymond Rahme, Tony Hachem, Mark Teltscher, Miami John, Liz Lieiu, and Paola Martin

The BigRandy had over 200K until he lost a pot to FBT Mueller. He was barely above average at the dinner break.

Joe Sebok has been ill for the last few days. He caught the nasty bug that has been going around the last week or so. When I got back from Phish tour, several people wee already sick and it hit me for a few days last weekend. Poker players are not the most healthy types in the world and with all of these germ infested chips in play, I'm shocked that no one has acquired Hepatitis B yet.

Anyway, Joe Sebok won two heady pots after the dinner break and is up to 150K.

Ludovic Lacay is now over 600LK and closing in on 700K and the chiplead. Benjo said that his fellow Frenchman will be the first player to reach 1 Million in chips. It was a bold prediction and if players continue to bust at their rapid pace (like 200 per hour at one point), he very well might be around that much.

Phil Iey's table broke and he was moved near Change100's work station. She said that as soon as he walked into the Blue section of the Amazon Ballroom, he was bombarded with autograph requests. Although Ivey doesn't say much, he accommodated and filled every single request.

ESPN cameras have been hanging out at the table in front of the press box with Antonio Efiandari. Also at his table? The Brother of the Grinder and someone who I think is Arnold Spee.

1,071 players returned after the dinner break, and about twenty or so minutes in, there's around 1,050 to go.

* * * * *
9:35pm... Owen Crowe & ELKY = Million Dollar Man

Chip Leaders: ELKY, Ludovic Lacay and OCrowe
Recent Eliminations: Joe Awada, Taylor Caby, Jose Barbero, John Juanda, Lee Watkinson, Luca Pagano
Players Remaining: 999

Ludovic Lacay raced passed 900K easily as he inched closer to 1 million in chips. Owen Crowe was not far behind and ended up the first North America player to pass the 1 million barrier. Elky snagged close to 1.2 million.

Lacay's fellow members of Team Winamax, Patrick Bruel and Julian Brecard (team manager), are on a different table, but seated right next to each other.

Bobby Baldwin doubled up according to Benjo. And Joe Sebok was on Death Watch for most of the day with a super short stack and since then he's gone from low 30s to over 250K.

* * * * *
10:35pm... 900 More Bust Outs Until the November Nine

Chip Leaders: ELKY, Ludovic Lacay and OCrowe
Recent Eliminations: The Brother of the Grinder, Martha Herrera, Amit Makhija, Dutch Boyd, Nam Le, Joe Reitman, and a bunch of Eurodonks.
Players Remaining: 909

The Big Randy is under 200K. He's slightly below average. The average stack on the bubble will be around 300K. I did that math quickly in my head, so I really have no clue. It just sounded right.

Lou Diamond Phillips, Jason Alexander, and Scott Ian from Anthrax are all still thriving among the celebrity category. In the lovely ladies department... Kara Scott and Kristy Gazes are both alive. Kara is chipping up while Kristy is card dead.

At this pace, we'll end up a round under 800 or players. That's the magical over/under today. I have the over and Benjo has the under.

I wandered over to the Miranda Room and they were in the process of breaking it down completely and removing all tales and chairs and plasma screens used as clocks. The Brasilia Room is also empty but they are keeping those tables until Dream Team Poker finished their event. It starts on Sunday and ends on Monday.


Empty Miranda...
Photo by Mean Gene

* * * * *
11:35pm... Two Frenchies, One Cup... and George COstanza = Busto

Chip Leaders: ELKY and Ludovic Lacay
Recent Eliminations: Jason Alexander, Ivo Donev, Krazy Kanuck, and Josh Arieh
Players Remaining: 860

The two Frenchies are atop of the leaderboard after Owen Crowe took a hitand slipped out of the top spot.

Jason Alexander took a wicked beat on the river over at the featured TV table. His jacks got snapped off by trip sixes. The anti-Christ. Alas, the Sumemr of George has come to a close.

Out on the floor, Kristy Gazes was moved to Mike Sexton's table. While Jeff Lisandro moved next to ZeeJustin.

I watched Kevin Saul pick apart an online qualifier. Saul opened and the online satellite winner from Omaha decked out in a PokerStars shirt and a PokerStars hat re-raised from the button. Saul didn't even think twice before he announced that he was all in and nonchalantly slid out a intimidating tower of orange chips. The online qualifier nearly hit an egg roll and went into the tank, while Saul riffled his chips several times in succession. The online player took off his sunglasses and placed them on his cards while he counted out his meager stack. He exhaled and shook his head before he folded.

* * * * *
12:35pm... Day 3 Complete; 784 Players Remaining

Chip Leaders: ELKY and Ludovic Lacay
Recent Eliminations: Jeff Lisandro
Players Remaining: 784

By Midnight, all of the tables in the red section or cash game section were broken. The WSOP champion is somewhere in the orange, blue, or green sections as the field is down to under 800 players.

The Big Randy and DonkeyBomber from Team Pokerati both survived and advanced to Day 4. They'll have a shot at the money.

Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro's run is officially over after John Myung took him out.

Hellmuth was seated at the same table as young Russian Alex Kostritsyn, but the two avoided each other. Hellmuth is cruising with about 420K.

The top 648 players win prize money (min cash is $21,365), which means the money bubble should break around 4:20pm. Sweet. 134 til the money. 784 to go.

Stay tuned for official numbers and end of day chip counts.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/10/2009 03:00:00 PM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Day 43: Third Place for Charity

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Some of you might be surprised when I tell you that I did not play a single of hand of poker since I arrived in Las Vegas just before Memorial Day weekend to cover the World Series of Poker. In fact, I played more hands of Pai Gow poker than Texas Hold'em or even PLO. In that short span of time, I've spent substantially more time proposition gambling on random things such as number of Main Event runners, end of day numbers, Lime Tossing behind the Rio with Otis, and how a malcontent chain-smoking Frenchman would answer obscure yet sexual perverse questions.

Bottom line... I was simply too busy with work to play cards.

Media tournaments are always crapshoots with accelerated blinds. It's sort of like working in a restaurant and getting a staff meal... except it's served in ten minutes and you have to gobble up your gruel before it's time to go back to work.

I'm gonna be honest, aside from my first ever media event in 2005 (an epic day when it used to be called the Celebrity/Media tournament I busted Shannon Elizabeth when I cracked her Aces with set of Jacks... on the river), I did not enjoy the other media tournaments. I even skipped last year's completely (mainly due to some serious back problems after a car wreck a few weeks before) because I knew it was going to be a blah time. Sadly, in 2006 and 2007, after working seven straight weeks at the Rio, I always got stuck sitting at a table with so-called media that I had never even seen or had met before. In short, it wasn't fun and more like a waste of time playing a pushfest with strangers on your rare day off.

When I heard that the 2009 media event was going to be a part of the Dream Team Poker format, I certainly perked up. I was fortunate enough to play in the last installment of DTP at Caesar's Palace. I went the deepest on Team Tao of Pokerati (with Michalski and Shaniac) but more importantly, I had some of the most fun I had had playing in a poker tournament in a very long time. Probably the last time I had that much fun inside a casino was at the Aussie Millions in 2008 when I played a private and drunken 1/2 NL game with Gavin Smith, Paul Wasicka, and Matt Savage at the Crown Casino.


Photo courtesy of Caco from PokerPt.com
Not only does Dream Team add a nice spin to the event, it's downright... fun. I couldn't wait to put a team together and joined forces with my girlfriend, Change100, and my buddy MeanGene. Team Tao of Poker. MeanGene was especially excited and couldn't wait to see the team jerseys. He tagged along with me to pick up the jerseys and quickly tore into the plastic package. I had not seen him that happy since we went to the Rhino last year. Dream Team Poker has that effect on people.

Seriously, anyone who has played will tell you that Dream Team Poker puts the fun back into poker. 160 or players showed up to play in the Brasilia Room, as I checked out everyone's jerseys and team names. Some were better than others, but without a doubt my favorite team name was Joe Balls. We had a heads-up overall bet against the gang at PokerStars Blog. Otis and the Brits (Howard & Bartley) had jerseys that read EAM POKERSTARS BLO. I knew they were doomed.

I wandered into the room and sat down at the first table since I knew the dealer. I figured that was a good sign and even sat in Seat 1. The rest of the players slowly trickled in.

Nolan Dalla asked for a moment of silence for a few of our fellow media reps who had passed away in years past including this year... Lee Munzer, Justin Shronk, Andy Glazer, and Byron Ligget to name a few.

Starting Table:
Seat 1: Your Hero
Seat 2: Paul from Joe Balls
Seat 3: Tassie Devil from PokerNetwork
Seat 4: Katkin from Le Grand Fromage
Seat 5: Chops from Team Lacey
Seat 6: Parvis from Team Bluff
Seat 7: Elaine from Team Wicked Chops Poker
Seat 8: ?
Seat 9: John from Poker Road Nation
Seat 10: Jess from Team Presto

Garry Gates busted out on the first hand and got the booby prize... an upside down trophy. He was all in with 10-4 against Seth Palansky's A-2. As Bryan Devonshire explained, "You guys obviously play poker on the internet."

My table was much tighter. No one busted out and it took a while before one of us was all in. Parvis opened for a standard raise and I shoved with two black tens. Katkin was kinda short and he also shoved from the big blind (with two red tens). Parvis tanked and called with Big Slick. 10-10 vs. 10-10 vs. A-K. I faded the overs and I almost doubled up through Parvis. A few hands later, I was moved to the front of the room to a table that featured Seth Palansky, Sean from Bluff Australia, and Felipe from PokerNews Portugual.

Palansky had the biggest stack at the table and was among the chipleaders. I won a small pot from him with pocket Aces. I through out such an overbet that I was praying that he'd call with junk... but he folded. That would be the only time I had a monster hand the rest of the tournament. Aside from the A-A and 10-10,I would not be dealt a pocket pair higher than 9-9 for the rest of the tournament. Yet, somehow, I built a stack to advance to the final table.

I built my stack courtesy of a tilted Portuguese photographer from PokerNews who I have worked with many times in the past. Felipe is a great guy and solid player, but can be a hot head sometimes if you can send him on uber-tilt. Felipe sometimes plays like a crazy Scandi and opens pots with junk hands. He tried the old Scandi min-raise from UTG. I found Ad-3d from the small blind and shoved.

The result? The dreaded Eurotank. That was a term that Marty Derbyshire come up with while we covered European Poker Tour events. The Eurotank is when a Eurodonk overthinks a hand for several minutes before he folds in very undramatic fashion.

Felipe headed into the Eurotank and I knew he was going to fold. All I wanted to do was make sure I tilted him along the way. He tried to talk and talk and even tried to get me to show him one card but the dealer wouldn't let him. He finally folded and I showed the 3d and tossed my other card towards the muck. Felipe has quick hands and snatched up the card before the dealer would scramble it into the rest of the cards. Felipe tabled Ad and muttered something in Portuguese.

"Did I just tilt you?" I asked.

"Motherfucker! I should have called," he said.

I was setting him up and luckily found my spot less than one orbit later. I found A-K in early position and limped because I knew that Felipe would shove behind me with a shortish stack. Sure enough, he moved all in and I couldn't wait for action to come around to me before I insta-called. I flipped over Big Slick and he muttered more curse words in Portuguese before he tabled K-Q. My hand held up and Felipe hit the rail. One tilted Portuguese photographer down.

I was over 12K at that point. Change100 was already out in 152nd but MeanGene was still alive going into the first break. MeanGene busted around 48th place. Somehow, I managed to be among the final 27 players and we re-drew for seats. Dennis Phillips was among the final 27 players and he was kind enough to buy pizza and beer for everyone who had busted early. There was no pizza left at that point and all I wanted to do was make the final table to give my team Tao of Poker a shot at the overall title. I also wanted to make the final table because after all, all the money went to charity... the Nevada Cancer Institute.

I found myself moved to the same table as the lovely Lacey Jones. She sat in Seat 2 across from me and it seemed like most of the cameras were focused on our table. She had about the same stack as me when we got involved in a monster of a hand. I looked down and saw 4-4. That was the best hand I had seen in a hour after my stack started to slip. Since 4-4 is the favorite hand of my buddy Professional Keno Player Neil Fontenot, I decided to shove all in from the cutoff. Lacey woke up with A-K and called. We both tabled our hands, and emcee Alex Outhred called out the action as a wall of media and spectators and everyone's busted teammates gathered around the table.

The dealer exposed the door card... the Ace of hearts and Lacey jumped up in the air. She didn't see the dealer fan out the rest of the flop... Ah-4c-7d. I flopped a set and maintained the lead as everyone surrounding the table went bonkers. The turn was the 7d which gave Lacey a few outs. I faded them when the 2h fell on the river. I doubled up to almost 25K.

A few hands later, I got involved in a decisive pot with two short stacks. I opened with Kc-Jc. The small stack to my right from Team Overfed and Underwashed shoved. One of the Aussies from Poker Network also shoved. I called.

Aussie: K-9
Overfed & Underwashed: A-K
Pauly: Kc-Jc

Um, yeah with three Kings out, I was not looking good and ready to double up the guy to my left. I started to cut down chips from my stack before the dealer fanned out the flop. There was an Ace out there and I figured that I was toast. I didn't see the turn card... a ten... but I heard Alex Outhred say, "Dr. Pauly just picked up a couple of outs."

I looked up and saw that I was drawing to gutshot. Any queen would do.

I begged the dealer, "How about the Queen of hearts? Queen of spades? How about the Queen of diamonds. Diamonds are nice. Queen of diamonds."

I pointed to where the river card would fall. He quickly burned, then slowly dropped the Queen of diamonds on the river. The room exploded and I jumped out of my chair. I nailed a Broadway gutshot to bust both players which whipped everyone up in a frenzy. That sort of jubilation is absent from most poker tournaments and it felt cool to be a part of that exhilarating moment.

Check out this photo by Rob Gracie. You have to click to enlarge it to see the reaction on the faces of the people watching the action... especially Lacey's reaction.


I turned around and saw AlCantHang standing over my shoulder. He was in a very similar spot in 2005 when I needed a two outer to bust Shannon Elizabeth from the media tournament. Unreal.

I was up to 33K and got moved again when there were two tables left. I busted Diana from Joe Balls in a very ugly fashion. Action folded to us in the the blinds. I shoved with 7d-5d. She called with... 10-7. Yikes. The flop was 6-4-3. Sweet Jesus, I run lucky. I kicked Diana in the junk and she was out. Roland de Wolfe happened to be sweating the table and saw that ugly hand.

"Doctor, you lucky bastard," said Roland.

Lacey Jones bubbled off the final table of ten in 11th place (as Julio busted in 10th before we were consolidated to one table). Lacey won a Chaka beef jerky bobblehead doll and Diana D got to spank her as part of her bounty.

The Final Table:
Seat 1: Amanda from LuckBox
Seat 2: Jeremy Firth
Seat 3: Diana D.
Seat 4: Rizzo
Seat 5: LJ from Team Lacey
Seat 6: Your Hero
Seat 7: Matt from Image Masters
Seat 8: Brandon (Harrah's intern)
Seat 9: Jerome (aka some French guy)

Since Lacey finished in 11th and LJ had made the final table, they locked up first place in the team category. Everyone who made the final table won prize money (that would end up being directly donated to the Nevada Cancer Institute). I achieved my goal. Dream Team Poker awarded three silver cups to the Top 3 finishers and they handed out Gold cups to Team Lacey. LJ proudly displayed her winner's trophy in front of her stack.

Diana D busted out in 9th place followed by Matt the photographer in 8th. The last standing Harrah's intern, Brandon, busted in 7th followed by Jeremy Firth who had to leave. The media tournament was already one hour longer than scheduled and blinds levels were accelerated. Firth headed out in 6th while the lucky Frenchman Jerome hit the rail in 5th. I was super short with four to go, but LJ got involved in a monsterpotten with Rizzo and she was out.

Heck, I was short with three to go and was more than happy with my results even though I was super super short. I shoved with 9-4 and Amanda tanked for a few seconds. I tweet'd my hand... 9-4 offsuit. And that tweet popped up on the big screen behind the final table, since Dream Team Poker had their Twitter page displayed for everyone. If Amanda turned around she would have seen what I had! She didn't have to and called with Ace-rag. She was ahead until a nine spiked on the river and I doubled up. I didn't last too much longer. I got it all in with Q-7 versus Amanda's J-10. Alex Outhred said, "Since your up against Team Luckbox with the best hand, you're toast." He shook my head and we both knew what was coming. My fate. The bitter end. I busted out in third place and couldn't have been happier. Especially because Commissioner Pollack tweet'd my elimination!

Amanda finished in second place and Rizzo took it down. Congrats, bro. Third place for me? I'll take it and the cool silver loving cup. I'm more than thrilled that the money was donated to a worthy cause.


Alex Outhred presenting a third place trophy
Photo by BJ Nemeth
Team Lacey won overall with Conch Chowders in second place. Tao of Poker tied with Team Mutt for third overall.

I sincerely hope that they keep the Dream Team Poker format for future WSOP media events. It's not only fun, but it really creates a positive and happy environment for otherwise suicidal and grumpy media personnel.

* * * * *

Thanks to the gang at Dream Team Poker for hosting the best media event that I ever played in. And kudos to Alex Outhred for an awesome performance rocking the mic.

If you don't know, there's a real Dream Team Poker event going on this Sunday at the Rio. It cost $1,500 per team. Visit the Dream Team Poker website for more information.

Michalski and I will be reprising team Tao of Pokerati for this event. Since Shaniac is still going strong in the Main Event, we're going to have a special third team member. Stay tuned for that announcement.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/10/2009 12:10:00 PM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Day 42 - Main Event Day 2B: Schadenfreude

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Schadenfreude took on a whole new meaning the first time I stepped inside the Amazon Ballroom in the summer of 2005.


There's not a better word which describes the cut throat nature of tournament poker in Las Vegas. Players get off on their opponents' utter misery and failure. I admit, when I see another player at my table absorb a huge hit from a suckout, I perk up in my chair and can't wait to go after the victim. After all, you know their going to be on the slightest of tilt and if they can't handle the psychological effects of a bad beat, then it'sa matter of time before they spew their chips in your direction. Wounded players are always a target. As that saying goes, sharks smell blood from miles away...

On Day 2B of the 2009 Main Event, there were a record number of players who returned for the re-start of the original Day 1C and Day 1D fields. As you already know, players were turned away on the morning if Day 1D because there were no more spots available after that flight filled up. And if they had allowed an extra 500 or 1,000 players? Then Day 2B would have turned into a logistical nightmare. They were already past peak capacity and additional players would have plunged the remainder of the WSOP into anarchy after players would be told they have to play in the parking lots.

Mean Gene and I were joking around the other day as we wandered through the back area of the convention center and passed thousands of unused banquet tables and chairs stacked two stories high. We both decided that Harrah's should have set up tables outside in the parking lot or on the roof to play in the blistering sun for those players who showed up late on Day 1D and demanded to play. That solution would have accommodated the players and at the same time punished them for showing up late.

Alas, players were shut out and after seeing the staff scramble to get Day 2B underway, I had a clearer understanding on why players were turned away. For Day 2B, the staff used every nook and cranny in the Amazon Ballroom for tables. During the first hour of play, they closed off the Amazon Ballroom to spectators (with the exception of the featured TV table that included God's gift to all poker... Phil Hellmuth). Tables were set up in the middle of pedestrian aisles. As soon as tables were broken, little maintenance guys in black uniforms swooped in and quickly dis-assembled the table and whisked away the chairs.

Both the poker room and the area outside of Buzio's was utilized to accommodate the 2,922 (down from the initial report of 2,924 person) field. Even though the day was shortened to just four levels, only 1,436 players survived the cut on Day 2B and advanced to Day 3. Overall, there are 2,044 players left in the Main Event.

More than 50% of the field on Day 2B was decimated in a mere eight hours of play. It was one of the quickest and ugliest slaughterfests that I had seen since the 2006 WSOP. Players, both amateurs and pros, were disappearing at a rapid pace. It was hard to find players with all of the tables collapsing and the entire field spread out over the casino and convention center. At one point, three of the ballrooms were utilized. Unless you specifically knew where a player was sitting, you had a pain in the ass time finding them.

Most of my conversations go like this...

German Media Rep: "Ver iz _____ (insert name of hot female pro)?"

Pauly: "I think I saw her in ____ (insert ballroom name)."

British Photographer: "No. She was there on ___ (insert Day 1 flight) sitting next to that wanker ____ (insert douchebag online pro's name)."

Pauly: "Ah, that's right. I saw her in Amazon section ____ (insert name of a color) and she got stacked that nimrod _____ (insert name of overrated TV pro who everything thinks is richer than Warren Buffet, but can't even afford to pay for the $6.95 breakfast buffet at the Gold Coast)."

I had to remind myself that the tournament was simply too vastly spread out for me to cover by myself on Day 2B, and like most of the other media, we slowed down to a jog. Once everything gets inside the Amazon Ballroom, then it becomes less time consuming to gather stories and I can sprint around like a hellcat.

Phil Ivey always looks disinterested when he's playing tournament poker. It's just how he acts. Aloof. Then again, playing the Main Event seems like a nuisance and something in the way of his real passion... playing high stakes cash games. On his days off, Ivey focuses on cash games and begrudgingly heads to the Rio where he knows he's gonna have to experience the claustrophobic nature of being Phil Ivey. Bobby's Room at the Bellagio was created to give the high stakes pros in the Big Game a sense of semi-privacy to play poker. But the WSOP is a made-for-TV event and quite the spectator spectacle. Ivey. Ivey. Ivey. He walks into the room and it starts buzzing.

Ivey spent all of the day under heavy media scrutiny and if he continues to go deeper, it's only going to get worse. ESPN cameras hovered and fans tried to catch a glimpse of their favorite pro. While on the other side of the room, the defending Champion Peter Eastgate struggled to stay alive with a shortstack. Scandis with big stacks are more dangerous than tweakers with a newly cooked batch of crank. But a Scandi with a shortstack is an anomaly, like a black swan floating by.

Only nine former champions are still alive in the 2009 Main Event. Eastgate advanced to Day 3 along with Bobby Baldwin (1978), Hellmuth (1989), Jim Bechtel (1993), Dan Harrington (1995), Jesus (2000), Carlos Mortensen (2001), Greg Raymer (2004), and Joe Hachem (2005). Will one of them actually advance to the November Nine? Chances are slim to none.

Celebrities try and take shots at the poker spotlight every summer. A few go deep and bask in the warmth of media attention (unless you're Toby Maguire and act like a total asscock).

The most famous celebrity (worldwide) who is left in the Main Event? Do more people watch cricket or Seinfeld? I'm gonna give the slight edge to cricket God Shane Warne only because I've traveled to plenty of exotic places/countries/continents where cricket is more a part of everyday vernacular than "shrinkage." Both Warne and Shane Alexander are alive with healthy stacks.

Patrick Bruel is one of the most famous people in France according to Benjo. The singer/actor is still alive along with LDP... Lou Diamond Phillips. The Simpsons producer Sam Simon and L.A. Laker Jordan Farmar both advanced to Day 3. I watched Farmar play a few hands... one he played poorly and the other he played marvelously. He's going to have to stay consistent if he wants to make Day 4.

Busted celebrities? Marlon Wayans, Torrie Wilson, John Salley, Ray Romano, Sully 'Late Seat' Erna, Shannon 'Was that really 11 years ago?' Elizabeth, and Brad 'I'm so rich that I get to bang 19-year olds' Garrett.

When action re-srats on Friday for Day 3, here's the players on the leaderboard that everyone will be wondering if they can continue their run or will they fizzle out and become the next Dimtri Nobles?

Day 3 Top 10 Chip Count:
1. Amir Lehavot - 610,500
2. Peter DeBaene - 465,000
3. Troy Weber - 453,200
4. Dan Bizzerian - 439,500
5. Gabe Walls - 417,900
6. Mikael Thuritz - 395,400
7. Andrew Gaw - 386,000
8. Eric Cloutier - 383,000
9. Jason Brice - 376,100
10.Ed Perry - 370,000

* * * * *
Bouncin' Round the Room...

God bless Flipchip for taking this photo of Vanessa Rios. Click to see an enlarged view. Be careful, it might poke your eye out.


Click here to view more Flipchip photos. And for photos of tits and ass, head over to Wicked Chops Poker and wank away.

Back by popular demand...

Last 5 Pros I Pissed Next To...
1. Steve Sung
2. Arnaud Mattern
3. Trond Eidsvig
4. Durrrr
5. Alex Kravchenko

Thursday is a semi-day off. The Main Event is not playing and will resume on Friday at noon. The media event is scheduled for 1pm and will be taking on a Dream Team Poker format. I'm the captain of Tao of Poker and I'm playing with Mean Gene and Change100. We already have a huge heads-up team wager going against Team PokerStars Blog, or EAM POKERSTARS BLO as their jerseys read. I'm waiting for Otis and the Brits to ship it...


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/09/2009 01:03:00 PM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 2B

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Today is one of the shortest and busiest days of the Main Event. Day 2B included the consolidation of the two largest flights of this years' Main Event. Somehow, they managed to squeeze every single player inside.

But before I begin, here's a quick update on what happened yesterday on Day 2A... 607 players survived Day 2A out of 1,478 players who returned for the re-start. Here's who advanced to Day 3 on Friday...

End of Day 2A - Top 10 Chip Counts:
1 Andrew Andrew (Philippines) - 386,800
2 Eric Cloutier (Quebec,Canada) - 383,500
3 Ed Perry (Beechwood, OH) - 370,000
4 Brandon Demes (Tempe, AZ) - 369,800
5 Miika Puumalainen (Kuopio, Finland) - 361,200
6 Jamie Brown (London, UK) - 360,400
7 Jerry Wong (Plattsburgh, NY) - 348,100
8 Samer Rahman (Bong, Sweden) - 334,700
9 Brian Hansen (Norman, OK) - 333,500
10 Kyle Wilson (Vancouver) - BC, Canada 306,000

Notable Day 2A Survivors:
FBT 287,300
Black, Andrew 215,700
Crowe, Owen 178,000
Warne, Shane 173,700
Sexton, Mike 169,000
Mizzi, Sorel 166,400
Makowsky, Daniel 166,300
Ludovic, Lacay 165,400
Boutin, Burt 153,300
Christian, Dragomir 151,600
Soulier, Fabrice 145,800
Kara Scott 139,500
Brunson, Pamela 139,300
Fricke, Jimmy 138,300
Lunkin, Vitaly 135,900
Sointula, Jani 135,600
Caby, Taylor 133,700
Gruzglin, Vadim 131,800
Rahme, Ray 131,300
DonkeyBomber 123,700
Sebok, Joe 122,800
Jones, Jesse 122,100
Persson, Magnus 114,100
Gardner, Julian 114,100
Raymer, Greg 95,900
Bong, Paul 89,300
Hansen, Thor 86,900
Gorodetskiy, Ilya 85,400
Hood, Harold 85,000
Slotboom, Rolf 82,800
Roux, Anthony 82,700
Baron, Isaac 81,800
Eaton, Jon 80,200
Hua, CK 79,200
Olson, Carl 76,200
Jesus 76,000
Farha, Sam 67,500
Bruel, Patrick 64,500
Pinchot, Dale 64,000
Boatman, Barney 63,200
Edler, Bill 57,300
Young, Jason 57,200
Seidel, Erik 55,600
Bechtel, Jim 55,000
Gallen, Aurelien 40,200
Pagano, Luca 36,900
De Wolf, Roland 21,200
Cohen, Louie 16,900

* * * * *
12:22pm... And They're Off...

Let's get down to Day 2B... where 2,924 players are trying to fade half the field today in order to advance to Day 3.

Due to the overwhelming size of the field, Day 2B started 15 minutes later than usual as the staff scrambled to get everything in place. Every possible table was used (including the poker room and Buzio's) and a few tables were seated 10-handed. The Amazon Room added tables by subtracting spectator walkways and jamming in more tables around the featured table set up. Once those tables are broken, the spectators will be allowed inside the Amazon Ballroom. For now, it's just media and players only.

Even with the delay, Jack Effel managed to hype up Day 2B which he called "The largest re-start in poker history!"

Within seconds of cards going in the air, we heard the first declaration from a dealer of... "All in and a call on table ___!"

* * * * *
1:22pm... Early Exits: Isabelle, Parvis, Lindgren

Chip Leaders: Troy Weber, Jeff Lisandro
Recent Eliminations: Isabelle Mercier, Matt Parvis, Rafe Furst, Erick Lindgren, 2 Eurodonks in soccer jerseys, and 3 guys in PokerStars hats

"Your company stole my money!" Todd Wittless chastised Phil Hellmuth at the featured TV table. Score one for the one of the NeverWin guys who had the cojones to stand up to UB's pitchman. I'm sure that exchange will not going to make the ESPN broadcast.

Tables broke fast as the maintenance staff were literally hauling away empty tables that were stuffed into pedestrian walkways inside the Amazon Ballroom. As soon as they were removed, spectators were allowed inside the Amazon Ballroom. The bustouts occurred at a steady pace. Lots of short stacks going out. A few cooler hands and your usual amount of donkilicious play.

MeanGene is a professional cooler. As soon as he walked by Isabelle's table... she busted.

"I was staring at her bottomless eyes," said MeanGene and now she's on the rail.

Benjo insists that Steve Brecher looks like George W. Bush. Brecher is sitting in front of the press box along with Chainsaw Kessler who is across Prahlad Friedman and one of the guys from the Hendon Mob.

* * * * *
2:22pm... The Devil Walks the Line

Chip Leaders: Troy Weber, Carter King, David Benyamine, ELKY
Recent Eliminations: Math champion Bill Chen, PokerStars Team Pro Victor Ramdin, E-Fro, Paul Darden, German pro Sebastian Ruthenberg, online pro Andrew Robl

I watched the last 7 tables in front of Buzio's during the end of the first level. A few international players were in mix including Nacho Barbero from Agrentina and Germany's Ben Kang.

As I made my way back towards the other rooms... I passed the Devil in the hallway carrying a white plastic bag with him. He glared at me and I quickly looked away as I felt a burning sensation on my soul. The Devil was super short to start Day 2B and he failed to make it to the first break. Mean Gene snapped a photo of him in the hallway doing the walk of shame. Otis is convinced that the Devil will now hang out in front of his hotel for the remainder of the WSOP.

Two people were using the internet pay-kiosks in the hallway to play online poker. One guy ad eight tables up. Junkie.

The Milwuakee's Beast Maidens were passing out free hats in the hallway, while a couple of sorority girls were getting drunk off of the free wine sample in front of the gift shop.

Scott Ian and Phil Ivey were among the big names left in the Miranda Room.

The worst thing I hate about the press box? Pros lingering after they bust out. It's one thing to vent a bad beat or a frustrating bustout to your friends or your fellow countrymen so they can get properly updated, but it's something else to whine and moan and linger around. It's like they think you're only here to cover them and only them.

Almost 2,000 players are on a break. The hallways are a zoo and the toilets are a madhouse. The smoking area out back became shaded by the thick cloud of second hand smoke from several hundred chain-smokers. The heavy smoke created a cloud cover that blocked out all the sun.

* * * * *
3:22pm... 600 Eliminated?

Chip Leaders: Troy Weber, Josh Arieh, David Benyamine
Recent Eliminations: DanDruff, Vanessa ROusso, Jon Little, Shannon Shorr, Steve Wong, Jeff Markley and Gank
Shorties: Lee Childs and Neil 'Bad Beat' Channing

Bluff's Jeff Markley was taken out by Elky. That French kid runs good, eh? SO much for the cover jinx. If you don't know, Elky was on the latest cover of Bluff.

The big borad reads 3,006 players left (overall), which means 2,358 are approximately in the field on Day 2B. Then again, the bustouts are happening a steady pace it's hard to keep up. That number could be much lower.

Quote of the Day in the press box? "Watching models puke up In-N-Out burger would give me such a boner," said Benjo.

* * * * *
4:20pm... Smoke Break & Dinner Break

Chip Leaders: Troy Weber, Josh Arieh, David Benyamine
Recent Eliminations: Alex Outhred, Rob Hollink, Scotty Nguyen, Christian De Leon, and Kathy Liebert

At this point, we're heading into the dinner break (playing only four levels today), and there are less than 2850 players left overall.

Hellmuth continues to hold court at the featured TV table where the ESPN suits are praying Helluth has a meltdown to spruce up the episodes. Out on the secondary table, there's the Grinder, Dennis Phillips, and Maridu. Everyone's spicy Brazilian dish took a hit when she lost a pot that she admitted she played poorly. Plenty of Dennis Phillips clones on the rail clad in white oxfords and red St. Louis hats. One older clone wandered over to Maridu and asked her for her autograph. She happily signed his red hat.

Peter Eastgate is sitting at a table near the crossroads of the Amazon Ballroom. ESPN's cameras are hounding his table as the defending champion gets a thorough massage. The rail is three and four deep as spectators elbow for position to catch a camera phone pic of the youngest ever Main Event champion.

Howard Lederer is sitting in front of the press box and he's rapidly ascending the leaderboard due to a glitch. That extra 0 can be the difference between a short stack and a decent one.

Dutch pro Rob Hollink is dunzo along with everyone's favorite sloppy drunk Scoty Nguyen.

And today's smoke break is brought to you by...



* * * * *
5:20pm... 2,095...

At the break, there are a shade under 2,100 players remaining. With two more levels to go, the field should dip under 1,600. I hope. I have a lot of under bets at that level.

On the dinner break, I went back to my hotel room. When the dinner breaks are 90 minutes, players take advantage of the longer break to rest up in their rooms, especially with a break in the late afternoon. When I exited the elevator of my hotel, standing right in front of the elevator was former Main Event champion Berry Johnston. He was noshing on ice cream and snubbed me when I nodded at him, to let him know that U knew who he was.

I walked back to the Rio with a steady stream of players from the Palms and Gold Coast. I overheard a fair share of bad beats and post-dinner strategy plans.

Players usually loosen up after a dinner break, let's hope that's the case.

* * * * *
6:45pm... Under 2,000 Remaining...

Chip Leaders: Troy Weber, Josh Arieh, David Benyamine
Recent Eliminations: Gavin Griffin, Lee Childs, Brett Richey, Howard Lederer, The Grinder
Shorties: Humberto Brenes

A bunch of mayhem unfolded... three-way all in with AA vs. KK vs. KK. One of the guys with Kings four-flushed on the river and won the monsterpotten. He screamed, "Heart! Heart!" And one of them spiked.

With about thirty minutes into this level after the dinner break, there's not much to report aside from this is the time when people start disappearing.
* * * * *
7:45pm... Ivey Rising; Eastagte Falling

Chip Leaders: Phil Ivey, Troy Weber, Brian Lemke
Recent Eliminations: David Sklansky, Maya Geller, Robert Williamson, AprStyles
Shorties: Defending champion Peter Eastgate

French actress Alexia Portal is sitting at a table in front of the press box. She doubled with Aces vs. Kings. Also near us is Cyndy Violette and her lucky stones.

But that's not all... Phil Ivey has chips. Look out. He's closing in on 250K, but Troy Weber is over 400K ad nearing 420K.

Little Stevie Chidwick is sitting in the audience at the secondary table. He's sweating on his friend Maridu. If you don't know, Chidwick supposedly won 100 different seats to the Main Event last year. I wonder how many he won this year.

Humberto is quiet and shortstacked. Once the cameras pass by, he perks up. For now, the chark is starving.

The Big Randy is over 100K and as long as he doesn't do anything stupid, he should squeak into Day 3.

Helllmuth continues to draw a crowd at the TV table, and Peter Eastgate is also shortstacked. He's been attracting all the gawkers and picture hounds.

I wandered into the poker kitchen where one-eyed Michalski has set up shop. Not only was their a bird flying around, but I also saw Eskimo Clark wandering around aimlessly. Last night, around 3am Benjo spotted Eskimo throwing wadded up pieces of paper at a cash game table.

* * * * *
8:45pm... Last Level; 1,750 to Go

Chip Leaders: Phil Ivey, Troy Weber, Brian Lemke, Elky
Recent Eliminations: Johnny Lodden, Durrrr, Bryan Devonshire, Ylon Schwartz, Bernard Lee, and Tim Vance
Shorties: Defending champion Peter Eastgate

At the start of Level 9, there were less than 1,750 players left.

I took a tour of Brasilia. I watched a couple of hands of Nicolas Levi's table. He has around 170K. Most of the cameras were surrounding Bill Gazes table, even though he had a stack that was slightly below average. Jen Harman, Cahu Giang, and Noah Boeken were among some of the familiar faces I knew.

And Durrrrr is out. Now he can focus on nosebleed cash games and try to finish his 50K hand challenge against Patrik Antonius before next year's WSOP begins.

* * * * *
9:45pm... Under 1,600...

Chip Leaders: Phil Ivey, Troy Weber, Brian Lemke, Elky
Recent Eliminations: Marlon Wayans and David Plastik
Shorties: Devilfish and Eastgate

Paul Wasicka was moved next to Joe Hachem. Peter Eastgate is on life support. Phil Ivey is getting most if not all of the attention in the room.

The field has dwindled to under 1,600. With less than an hour to play, I'm hoping it dips below 1,500 so I can collect a winning prop bet.

I was told that the staff prefers a field under 1,500 so that way, they won't have to use the Miranda ballroom and they can contain Day 3's entire field to just the Amazon Room and Brasilia.

* * * * *
10:45pm... Day 2B Complete

Chip Leaders: Phil Ivey, Troy Weber, Elky
Recent Eliminations: Hal Lubarsky, Paul Magriel, Marlon Wayans

And action for Day 2B has come to a halt. There wasn't too much of significance to report over the final level. The pace of most of the day was very quick with rapid fire eliminations. However, that pace slowed down as players nitted it up in order to say they made Day 3.

Tomorrow is a rare day off so Day 3 will kick off at noon on Friday. Both Day 2s will combine and I heard rumors that they will try to play down to 750 players on Saturday... even if it takes an extra level (six instead of five).

End Day 2B Top 10 Chips:
1 Amir Lehavot (Weston, FL) - 610,500
2 Peter DeBaene (Shelby Township, MI) - 465,000
3 Troy Weber (West Terre Haute, IN) - 453,200
4 Dan Bilzerian (Tampa, FL) - 439,500
5 Franklin Grigsby n (Austin, TX) - 424,400
6 Gabe Walls (Billings, MT) - 417,900
7 Mikael Thuritz (Los Angeles, CA) - 395,400
8 Jason Brice (Sugar Land, TX) - 376,100
9 John Hammer (Coquitlam, BC, Canada) - 359,400
10 Phil Ivey (Las Vegas, NV) - 346,200

Stay tuned for a recap....

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/08/2009 02:51:00 PM | Permalink |

 
WSOP Day 41: Dollar Bill Blues and What Does Benjo Think, Vol. 4

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

"Fuck him. Like the great philosopher Sun Tzu said... 'when you’re done fucking your enemies, fuck 'em some more.'" - Ari Gold

Good news folks. I have finally made the jump from the media to the big time. I started my own talent and management company called T.A.O. Management. I partnered with the 24th richest man in Sweden. He's going to be focusing on teenage online poker pros and biatheles in the Nordic countries. I'm developing a player management company for poker players and competitive eaters. This new business venture is going to be bigger than the British Crown's stranglehold on opium in the 18th century.

It all started with a guy named Cliff from Dallas. He's one of Michalski's Pokerati boys and Michalski had been exploiting Cliff's by making him wear a Pokerati patch for an appalling low sum of money. I stepped in and negotiated a much better deal. After Cliff went deep in the Donkulous, I saw potential in his poker ability and knew he'd be a perfect person to help build upon a new budding player management empire.

On just a 285th place finish out of 6,000+ runners, I worked out a sweat deal for Cliff on one of the new Latin American poker circuits. I scored him juicy sponsorship with an gaming company called GoombaSportsbook.com. They gave him a house, maid, driver, security detail, and access to other extracurricular activities.

And two days earlier, I signed another former Team Pokerati player, the Big Randy, who was another one of Michalski's boys from Dallas. The Big Randy was a legend on the strip club poker circuit and he even went deep in the 2005 Main Event. He advanced to Day 2 of this year's Main Event, and we worked out a deal with an Icelandic sports book that launched a new poker site called ScandiDonk.com.

The Icelanders loved the idea of adding a hotshot Texan on their team of sponsored players, which includes 13-year old online phenom Lars 'Sn00p_420' Liqöör from Helsinki and former Norwegian adult film star Karl Hungus, who might know from such films as Logjammin'.

The heart and soul of T.A.O. Management are the Dallas boys... Cliff and the Big Randy. The DonkeyBomber is next on my list along with his lovely wife, AngryJulie. They are not my clients... yet. I have grandiose plans for the former WSOP Player of the Year and two-time bracelet holder along with his wife, AngryJulie, who made the final table of Triple Draw.

I also signed a controversial French poker pro named Pierre Fromage. He had a shady past including an alleged incident involving sexual misconduct with a poodle. Despite the fact that it was never proven (the pictures were way too blurry) that Pierre routinely felated canines, the major French online poker sites did not want to sponsor him. That's where I came in and introduced him to some special people. The Nevada sex industry greeted Pierre with open arms. We inked a deal with Glitter Gulch and Asian Delights Massage (not the one on MLK Blvd., but the one on Warm Springs behind the Jiffy Jube... look for the pink neon sign). Pierre is expected to crush the French Poker League against all of those Francodonks and he's going to take a shot at EPT Siberia and WPT Slovakia.

I also have one non-poker client, and his name is Hiroshi Nagai. Remember that name. He's going to be a huge star on the competitive eating circuit.


Hiroshi is currently living in Boulder, Colorado and training for his debut on the World Eating Tour at the next Krystal Square Off. He's expected to upset the world champion Kobiyashi in a few weeks. GoombaSportsbook.com has him listed at 420-1. Lock him in now before the line moves after he destroys the field next weekend in Fort Collins, CO's annual flapjack eating content.

Lucky for us at T.A.O. Management, Hiroshi is being courted by Abe Frauman, the Sausage King of Chicago. I have a multi-year sponsorship deal on the table including free frozen sausage biscuits for life.

Back to poker... as the Main Event rolls along, I'm keeping tabs on players who have the potential to go deep so I can sign them and exploit their marginal talent, overbearing egos, and severe psychological personality flaws to generate millions of dollars in revenue.

For my team, I want to represent very intelligent individuals who have a deep passion for the game and a firm grasp of reality. I'm looking for versatile players who can speak multiple languages, handle themselves eloquently at the table and in front of the cameras. I'm seeking out grounded, family-oriented and environmentally conscious people.

And if that doesn't work, I'll find the hottest chick with the biggest tits still left in the tournament and slap a patch on her mountainous regions.

With a mobbed up sports book in Costa Rica and a sports betting exchange in Iceland, I have plenty of options to place potential clients. Oh, and let's not forget about the local adult entertainment industry. The future is more than bright... it's blazing with the November Nine around the corner and the newly formed PokerStars Arctic/Antarctic Poker Tour. I'm gonna be like Sham-Wow rich. I can almost count the millions.

And my newest client? Dan Michalski. Stay tuned for a special announcement involving sponsorship of his new eye patch.

* * * * *
What Does Benjo Think, Vol. 4

Real questions by degenerate gamblers. Real answers from an angry Frenchman. Here's the latest installment of What Does Benjo Think? It's a game that Otis and I play in the press box to keep things loose. We wager on what we think Benjo would answer a series of random questions...

1. What is weight (in pounds) of a whale's vagina?
Otis: 120 lbs
Pauly: 500 lbs.
Benjo said, "Fish have proper sex organs? Whales have vaginas? Someone actually weighed one?"
Otis said, "Yes. Whales are mammals so they have vaginas."
Benjo said "I have to say 50 lbs."
Result: Push 0-0-1

2. If the WSOP gets a new sponsor in 2010, what industry will it be in?
Otis: Alcohol
Pauly: Feminine Hygiene
Benjo said, "Well, the WSOP have taken a step down from Mr. Peanut to beef jerky. I have to say that a new sponsor will be something like diapers for incontinent old people. At the Seniors event instead of free beef jerky, you get free diapers. Smaller lines at the bathrooms on the break."
Result: Push (0-0-2)

3. If you could date one female pro for one month... Isabelle Mercier, Kathy Liebert, Erica Schoenberg, and Vanessa Rousso... who would it be?
Otis: Erica
Pauly: Vanessa
Benjo said, "That is tough, but Erica. I'm interested in everything that David Benyamine does. Although my second choice is Isabelle."
One random European media rep passing through the press box piped in, "Oh Isabelle? I'd pick her. Everyone that I know who slept with her says she's crazy in bed."
Result: Otis wins (0-1-2)

4. How many tricks does an Amsterdam window hooker turn in an average day?
Otis: 13
Pauly: 11
Benjo said, "Let me see, if they work 8 hour shifts and each guy is twenty minutes, but maybe five minutes if he cums fast, so I'd say 25."
Result: Push (0-1-3)

5. In a 100 yard dash... which writer from Poker Stars Blog would win? Otis, Bartley, Howard, or Lina?
Otis: Lina
Pauly: Bartley
Benjo said, "Otis? Out of the question. No offense. He could beat me in a race though. Lina? She smokes, so no. Howard is slim and is a non-smoker. Bartley is a ginger. No way. So, I have to say Howard."
Result: Push (0-1-4)

Otis won this round and has taken a slight lead. He has 6 correct answers to my 5. We also pushed 14 times when we could incorrectly predict Benjo's answers. Stay tuned for a new installment of What Does Benjo Think? Only at the WSOP can we gamble on angry chain-smoking Frenchmen!


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/08/2009 04:20:00 AM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 2A

By Pauly
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 - 137,075
Redmond Lee - 134,275
Andrew Gaw - 126,100
Jean Docquier - 122,755
Nick Maimone - 122,500

Some 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.

* * * *
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.
posted by Pauly at 7/07/2009 03:33:00 PM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Day 40 - Main Event Day 1D: No Soup for You

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

I knew something was rotten in Denmark when I walked into the Rio and it smelled like shit. I figured that a sewer pipe had busted or all of the donkeys gearing up to play in Day 1D defecated all over the hallways. From that moment, I should have known that we were in for a long and controversial day.

At 8am on Monday, WSOP officials had to close registration for the Main Event. They had reached capacity and were sold out. Players with $10,000 in cash were turned away... something that had never happened before.

The WSOP's decision to turn away players on Day 1D was "the biggest single challenge we have faced in the last four years" according to WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

And for the few hundred or so that got the short end of the stick? They were wicked pissed. So much so, that a special press conference was set up so Pollack could address the denied players.

I navigated a jam-packed hallway in order to get to the Poker Palooza, where the meeting would be held. The massive ballroom, which once house the Poker Palooza, was empty aside from players sitting in the middle of room. A security guard called them over to the far corner of the room where a small room was set up with 120 or so chairs. Players quickly filled the seats and among them were Minh Ly, Capt. Tom Franklin, and Melissa Hayden. A dozen or so media reps gawked on the sidelines while a dozen suits stood in front of the room in silence. I had not seen that much firepower from Harrah's in sometime as Jeffrey Pollack stepped up to the podium.

"We are sorry and I am sorry," said Commissioner Pollack as he addressed the restless crowd. "The last thing we want to do is deny players entry into our events... we simply reached capacity today... we are unable to accommodate any more players for the Main Event this year. We're disappointed about this. I wish more people had played other days of the Main Event. I wish that we accommodate you, but we can't... I apologize for this. You have my word and my promise that this is going to be topic #1 as we plan for 2010."

"Why can't we play from Midnight to 12?" one player screamed as a few others walked out.

"What about alternates?" asked Melissa Hayden.

"No. We have not alternates for this event and will not start now," explained the Commish.

Pollack when he was grilled by one player who had first-hand knowledge of a well-known European pro who got into after registration was closed.

"As far as I know, there was no special treatment," said Pollack. "There should not have been any special treatment."

Well, actually, there are several instances and stories and rumors where that was not the case. One family member of a former world champion was given a late seat. A significant other of another bracelet winner also got seated a few hours after start time. And another well-known pro and multi-bracelet winner helped his buddy get in at the last minute.

And then there was documented stories about rock star Sully Erna and high stakes pro Patrik Antonius. At the onset of the tournament, ESPN had reported that both Antonius and Erna were shut out and later on that both were eventually seated.

A French reporter asked David Benyamine how exactly did Antonius get in and he gave a suspicious non-answer. He flat out remained silent and did not say a word. The explanation that I was given was that someone from the Bellagio had bought Antonius... yet he somehow forgot and tried to buy himself in. Do you actually believe that story? I'm dubious. (Editor's Note: After a glimpse of Day 1D starting list, Antonius was not among the entrants.)

Several players shouted out suggestions such as alternates, playing Day 1E, or even starting action at Midnight and playing until the next morning. All of those ideas and many more at some point were considered, but ultimately were rejected.

"We are pretty well versed in the mechanics of a large poker event. We are simply at capacity and there's nothing else we can do today," said Pollack.

"Why can't we play from Midnight to 12?" one player screamed as few others gave up and walked out.

"We do not want to be in the business of turning people away," said Pollack. "This is not our preferred outcome. Operationally, we are at capacity today. It's unfortunate."

One player from Europe said that he traveled a long distance to play and his dreams to play in the WSOP was crushed.

"It crushes me as well," said Pollack. "It crushes all of us."

When asked about making Day 1D ten-handed tables, Pollack answered... "We're not comfortable running today ten-handed when we started the other days nine-handed."

"What is the worst thing that can happen by opening this up?" one player asked.

"It would not be appropriate for us to simply allow people in this room in. We have already drawn the line this morning and that is obviously unacceptable to some people," said Pollack.

"What part of $3 million don't you like? Let's play some poker!" screamed one guy.

"Let them play!" one player shouted from the back obviously pulling a line out of a Bad News Bears sequel.

"I apologize. I apologize," were Pollack's last words before the Commissioner ended the press conference.

Several players spoke out while others tried to talk over one another. But it didn't matter what they said or pleaded. A decision had been made by the Harrah's junta. At the end of the press conference, the head of security motioned that Pollack and the rest of the executives exit through a side entrance in order to avoid any confrontations or potential altercations from angry players. I gotta say that despite the angry players, they all kept their cool unlike the scene I witnessed in Mexico when the federales shut down the LAPT in the middle of the tournament, and a group of drunk and rowdy Venezuelans almost started a riot.

I asked former WSOP TD Matt Savage his thoughts on the fallout of Day 1D's sellout... "While I am fully aware of their concerns," said Savage, "This is the first time in 40 years that a player with $10,000 and a dream has been shut out of the Main Event. 10-handed play and alternates, while not ideal, were options and it is sad for those that came so far had to miss an opportunity of a lifetime. However, it is hard to feel sorry for those that had ample opportunity to register and chose not to. Year after year Harrah's has made improvements when needed and I am sure that they will have this as top priority for 2010."

"Every player has a cosmic right to play in the WSOP, but in this instance it was not possible," said Joe Sebok who understood both the appeal to play and also knew Harrah's limitations.

Sean, one of my Australian colleague summed it up, "What a day. No winners, just WSOP management shrugging their shoulders and angry players walking the hallways."

"Sadly, this is one of those times where everyone gets screwed," said MeanGene. "You had the very strange scene of 150 poker players demanding that Harrah's take their $10,000, and a score of men in suits holding up their hands and saying, 'We're very sorry, we can't take your money.' It was surreal."

Did logistics outweigh greed and overall number of entrants? The Poker Shrink thought that in the history books the 2009 WSOP Main Event entrants should contain an asterisk (just like Roger Maris) next to it. Without the cap, the number would have surpassed last year's mark.

Although most of the people I spoke to said that the players were ultimately responsible, there were definitely a few steps that Harrah's could have done since ten events had sold out at the 2009 WSOP prior to the Main Event.

"They really should have been better prepped for this possibility," added BJ Nemeth.

Then again, registration was open for 24 hours since the WSOP began. Seth Palansky, Communications Director for Harrah's Sports & Entertainment Division, said it best, "You had plenty of time to register. Why didn't you show up earlier?"

Harrah's had repeatedly warned the masses about an impending sellout. Some people dismissed it as PR spin since the first two days attracted the lowest fields since the WSOP was moved to the Rio.

On Sunday afternoon, the press corp received an email from Harrah's stating...

Media: Please help us alert any potential WSOP players that there is a good chance Main Event Day 1D tomorrow may reach capacity. Seating is limited and first come first serve and once all available seats are sold, the tournament officially closes. Players are encouraged to get to the Rio as soon as possible if they intend to play in the Main Event.

Of course, several hundred players ignored the warning.

"Poker players are procrastinators. It's the nature of the beast," said Flipchip who has been around the WSOP since its infancy in the 1970s at the Horseshoe, when no player was ever denied entry to the Main Event. "Let's go back to the old system where you pay your $10,000 and get your seat assignment and that's it. You play when they say you play."

That used to be the policy of the Main Event until enough players complained, so Jeffrey Pollack and company changed that rule and allowed players to pick their starting day. That eventually backfired and it appears that privilege might not be around next year.

"It's most unfortunate about TJ Cloutier," explained Flipchip about the Hall of Famer. "You know he probably just scraped the money together, too. For TJ, this might be the first Main Event that he's ever missed. When you get to be TJ's age, how many more years do you have left to play? These days, they throw you out of you drool on yourself."

TJ failed to get into the Main Event, maybe because he lacked the connections that some of his counterparts had. In life, it's not what you know... it's who you know. And these days, aside from craps dealers, TJ doesn't have quite the pull like Phil Ivey. supposedly Ivey was able to avoid playing on one of the featured TV tables, even though his table was picked before the day started. Somehow, Ivey managed to keep himself out of the spot light.

Yes, there's star system in poker, much like there is in real life. Stemming all the way back to high school when the dumbass jocks get to bang all of the hot cheerleaders, and leading into today's poker world, if you're one of the elite, you control the power and get to call the shots.

The big scandal on Day 1D was not the fact that players were turned away because of a sell out. That was an unfortunate byproduct of mismanagement by (pick a side... players or Harrah's). In my eyes, the atrocities occurred when players were able to get into the Main Event in favor of other lesser known players and amateurs.

The system is inherently corrupt on all levels and players were able to circumvent the safeguards in place by exploiting the weaknesses of some of the staff. In a city like Las Vegas, where cash is king, that's not very hard to do.

Whether personal favors were called in or people were straight up bribed... I don't know. But it's hard for me to ignore all of the whispers from people in the industry whom I trust the most that tell me they know for a fact that certain players gained entry after the supposedly cut off point that WSOP officials made at 8am on Monday.

The room where the press conference was held already had a somber tone to it before Commissioner Pollack spoke. It almost reminded me of those bizarre FEMA press conferences after Katrina decimated New Orleans where a slew of helpless politicians just stood there and pretty much said, "We're fucked. You're fucked. There's nothing we can do about it."

At this point, the 2009 WSOP Main Event is not even out of its first official day and it will always be known as the one where players were shut out.

"We have come to a solution," joked one Harrah's executive. "Next year, we will have flights starting with Day 1A and ending with Day 1R."

That's a grand idea. Start the WSOP in late May and let it run five and a half months with the Main Event running over two months. At least that way, there will be no more final table delay.

* * * * *
Post Script: Inconsistencies

Kudos to Kevin Mathers for doing his homework and checking the player list from Day 1D. He posted on a 2+2 thread about four players who appeared in the 10 seat, despite assurances that action would not be 10-handed...

Jeppe Nielsen - Amazon Green 143/10
Joe Reitman - Amazon Green 144/10
Marco Bertaccini - Amazon Green 145/10
Dale Poynter - Amazon Green 146/10

* * * * *
Day 1D Numbers and Stats

The crack unit of math interns at Tao of Poker came up with these numbers...

2009 Main Event Runners:
Day 1A: 1,116
Day 1B: 873
Day 1C: 1,696
Day 1D: 2,809
Overall: 6,494

Survivors:
Day 1A Survivors: 655
Day 1B Survivors: 821
Day 1C Survivors: 1,106
Day 1D Survivors: 1,816

Day 2A Runners: 1,476
Day 2B Runners: 2,922
Overall Remaining: 4,398

End of Day 1D - Top 10 Chip Counts:
1 Troy Weber (West Terre Haute, IN) - 353,000
2 Tyson Marks (Missoula, MT) - 196,500
3 Stephen Costello (East Longmeadow, MA) - 192,000
4 Mads 'Not Wizzing' Wissing (Copenhagen, Denmark) - 185,750
5 Jose Sanders (Lima, Peru) - 175,800
6 Mikael Ay (Gothenburg, Sweden) - 173,900
7 Carter King (Columbia, SC) - 170,000
8 Mark Weil (Cincinnati, OH) - 168,575
9 Paul Wolfe (West Palm Beach, FL) - 163,000
10 Alessandro Pastura (Guidizzolo, Italy) - 160,900

Notables (Thru 420 Places):
15 Tran, J.C. 139,975
17 Hougaard, Jesper 138,675
20 Arieh, Josh 135,700
21 Kalmar, Jon 135,050
26 Banghart, Jeff "Mr. Rain" 132,650
30 ELKY 127,475
35 Friedman, Prahlad 124,125
41 Boyd, Dutch 121,050
57 Dang, Hac 112,525
87 Dypvik, Borge 103,300
119 Boeken, Noah 94,175
161 Levi, Nicolas 87,400
169 Kostritsyn, Alexander 86,400
173 The Big Randy 85,625
174 Norce, Mike 85,420
186 Ivey, Phil 84,025
199 Benyamine, David 81,700
200 Esquandoles, Marco 81,420
253 Esfandiari, Antonio 75,025
275 Gazes, Bill 73,300
279 Hilger, Matthew 73,000
293 Alvarado, J.C. 71,600
296 Beevers, Joe 71,450
305 Baldwin, Bobby 70,900
311 Shaniac 70,400
341 Violette, Cyndy 69,000
374 Phillips, Lou Diamond 66,650
388 Tran, Kenny 65,600

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/07/2009 05:45:00 AM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 1D

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Welcome to the zoo. It's more like a clusterfuck. The Main Event was sold out by 11am because everyone decided to wait to the last minute to register despite numerous warnings from this scribe and plenty of other media outlets.

Lots of angry players were livid after learning they could not buy a ticket to the richest tournament in poker. Rocker Sully Erna got shut out and according to Andrew Feldman from ESPN,a few late arriving high rollers such as Patrik Antonius and Brandon Adams were told that they would not gain entry. And even poker Hall of Famer TJ Cloutier was denied entrance.

This is the most crowded I have seen the Rio since the Main Event began. Players are sitting in front of Buzio's and Miranda is full, but there's a potential melee about to break out in the hallways.

Lon and Norm from ESPN said, "Shuffle up and deal!" Lots of schtick. Too bad they could not cover up the turnmoil going on outside in the hallways.

* * * * *
12:20pm... Mutiny?

I bumped into a loyal reader from Sweden named Fredrick. He said that he won a $5 satellite on Party Poker to win his seat into the Main Event. He was supposed to play today, but Party Poker fucked up his registration. Supposedly, a dozen or Party Poker qualifiers are in the same boat. They were originally shut out but placed on a waiting list. Their qualifiers were told that they would get seated after 1pm. Is Harrah's making an exception or rectifying an error on their part?

One media rep walked into the pressbox and said, "I have something more for the Jack Effel Is Full of Shit File. Jack told everyone that every single available table was being used for action today. Yet there's cash games running in the poker room!"

More Effelshit to shovel around today. I don't envy the suits and the Commish who have to tell the late players that there's nothing they can do and that it's the players fault for not taking advantage of early registration.

* * * * *
1:20.... Day 1E?

There's a rumor that 1,000 players were turned away and there's a potential riot in the hallways. There's rumblings of a Day 1E to accommodate the lagtards who decided to wait to the last minute to register.

"They are all idiots," said Benjo. "They deserve to be shut out! They would have busted out on Day 2 anyway. They are saving their money by not getting in."

More wisdom from Benjo.

One of my British colleagues, Homer, said, "You know what, if you didn't get in, it's your own fucking fault. You've had four days to choose from, and more than enough time to buy in."

Yeah, players had more than four days... almost two months.

According to the Poker Shrink... "(Overheard) Start the late reg. players at 3 PM, have them play four levels and toss them in with the Day 1A-B players tomorrow."

According to Aaron, players in the "Diamond Registration" room were told to come back at 3pm and they would get seated. Sully Erna managed to get in despite being originally turned away.

* * * * *
2:20pm... Antonius = In the Field

Big Stacks: Josh Arieh and Kristy Gazes
Recent Eliminations: Dario Minieri.... insert your own joke here _____.

I'm finally had a chance to check in on some friends who I'm gonna try to feature on Tao of Poker such as Shirley Rosario and Matt Parvis. Shirley flopped a set of nines on the first hand against Aces and won a small pot, while Matt took a hit early on.

Lots of conflicting reports about the players who were turned away. Feldman from ESPN originally told me that Antonius was turned away, but it turns out someone had bought him in so he's in today's event after all.

In case you were wondering... Erick Lindgren is on the featured TV table, while Peter Eastgate is on the secondary table.

I asked around and one Harrah's official said that they do not have an official number as of yet. However, I'm off to the Poker Palooza where Commish Pollack will be making an announcement and addressing the angry players. Stay tuned for more info on this debacle.

* * * * *
3:20pm... The Meeting

I navigated a jam-packed hallway in order to get to the Poker Palooza. The massive ballroom was empty aside form a hundred or so shut out player sitting in the middle of room. A security guard called them over to the far corner of the room where a small room was set up with 120 or so chairs. Players quickly filled the seats, about 150 players who were shut out. Among them were Minh Ly, Capt. Tom, one of the Lerner twins, and Melissa Hayden. A dozen or so media reps stood on the sidelines while a dozen suits tood in front of the room. I had not seen that much firepower from Harrah's in sometime.

"We are sorry and I am sorry," said Commissioner Pollack as he addressed the crowd. "The last thing we want to do is deny players entry into our events... we simply reached capacity today... we are unable to accommodate any more players for the Main Event this year. We're disappointed about this. I wish more people had played other days of the Main Event. I wish that we accommodate you, but we can't... I apologize for this. You have my word and my promise that this is going to be topic #1 as we plan for 2010."

"Why can't we play from Midnight to 12?" one player screamed as a few others walked out.

"What about alternates?" asked Melissa Hayden.

"No. We have not alternates for this event and will not start now," explained the Commish.

Several players spoke out while others tried to talk over one another. But it didn't matter what they said or pleaded. A decision had been made. At the end of the conference, the head of security motioned that Pollack and the executive exit through a side entrance in order to avoid any confrontations from angry players.

I will be working on this story throughout the day. For the meantime, I apologize for lack of updates.

Personally, I want to see everyone who wants to play... get a chance to play.But I also understand the logistical issues that Harrah's has to deal with that makes it impossible from their end.

This reminds me a quote from Full Metal Jacket... "It's just one big shit sandwich and we all gotta take a bite."

* * * * *
4:20pm... Mayor Ivey

Chip Leaders: Nicolas Levi, Matt Hilger, Phil Ivey, and Josh Arieh
Recent Eliminations: WPT founder Lyle Berman, Scott Montgomery, John 'Spider' Salley the former Rambling Wreck from GA Tech and Detroit Pistons fame.

Shirley Rosario is up to 60K after flopping another set, but Frenchie Nicolas Levi jumped out to the lead at the end of Level 2. Matt Parvis is alive and well with almost 50K.

Supposedly, Phil Ivey's starting table was supposed to be on the feature table. Every morning ESPN hangs signs over tables telling them to report to the featured TV table or the secondary table. However, he's currently sitting on the floor at Orange #90. His table was never moved. I'm hearing whispers that since he's Phil Ivey, he called the shots and asked to remain on the floor. Ivey is not a guy who wants to mug for the cameras. He just wants to play poker. Ivey is the real mayor of Las Vegas. This is Phil Ivey's world and we're just paying rent.

Today's smoke break is brought to you by... PokerStars!


* * * * *
5:20pm... Unofficial Numbers: 2,808 for Day 1D

Chip Leaders: Nicolas Levi, Matt Hilger, Phil Ivey, and Chad Brown
Recent Eliminations: Torrie Wilson

Phil Ivey runs good. I caught the action on the flop as a crowd was huddled around Ivey's table. He was all in with pocket Kings against a player with 10-9 who flopped two pair. Ivey turned a King for a set and his hand held up to win the pot. Wow, I actually wrote up a poker hand on Tao of Poker.

Ivey is trying to go deep undercover. He's got a hoodie pulled up over his baby blue Full Tilt hat.

I forgot to mention that Chad Brown is sitting to Shirley Rosario's right.

Day 1D unofficial official numbers... 2,808. Overall? 6,493 runners in the Main Event.

* * * * *
6:20pm... Rapid Bustouts

Chip Leaders: Nicolas Levi, Dutch Boyd, Phil Ivey, and Chad Brown
Recent Eliminations: Jeff Madsen, Torrie Wilson, Olga Varkonyi, Roy Winston, former champions Huck Seed, OMGClayAiken, Nordberg, Mimi Tran

Brad Garrett has a hot girlfriend. Either she loves those Everyone Loves Raymond resdiual checks, or he's swinging a paint can between his legs.

Shirley Rosario went heads with Chad Brown. Downtown Brown wins with a set over set. She slipped to 30K.

A flurry of bustouts over the last hour or so including a couple of online legends (OMGCLayAIken and Nordberg) and a couple of bracelet winners in Jeff Madsen and Huck Seed.

Players will be heading to dinner in about thirty minutes. I'm still waiting for official numbers of entrants. 2,808 is the unofficial number.

* * * * *
7:20pm... Official Numbers

Official numbers for WSOP Main Event...

6,494 runners.

Day 1C? 2,809.

Prize pool = $61 million.

Top 648 places pay out.

Winner? $8.5 million.

November Nine 2009 Payouts:
1st - $8,546,435
2nd - $5,182,601
3rd - $3,479,485
4th - $2,502,787
5th - $1,953,395
6th -$1,587,133
7th - $1,404,002
8th - $1,300,228
9th - $1,263,602

* * * * *
8:30pm... LDP, Marlon, and Soccer Coaches

Chip Leaders: Blair Hinkle, Nicolas Levi, and Chad Brown
Recent Eliminations: Mark Seif, Charlie Ciresi, French soccer coach Raymond Domenech
Shorties: Sweet Svetlana Gromenkova, Lynette Chan, and the sixth richest man in France Phillipe Rouas

2,371 players returned from the dinner break and they will play out two more levels. It was the first really crazy break since the Main Event started. With so many people on the premises, the restaurants were packed.

On the celebrity note... one of the Wayans brothers is playing and still alive. Marlon was put in by PokerStars according to Otis, Bartley & Howard at PokerStars Blog. AlCantHang swore that he saw AJ Soprano walking around, but we can't find him on the player list. PokerStars put in a few hoops players including John Salley (who already busted), Torrie Wilson (the busty WWE star who also busted) and Jordan Farmer from the Lakers. Lou Diamond Phillips (whom my brother loves to call LDP) was also in the mix and backed by PokerStars.

The coach from the French national soccer team, Raymond Domenech, played on Day 1D until he busted. He is supposedly so far left on the French political system that he might as well be a communist... not that Benjo cares, because he's also a commie pinko bastard. Where's my Freedom Fries?

* * * * *
9:30pm... "All in and a call!"

Chip Leaders: Blair Hinkle, Nicolas Levi, and Chad Brown
Recent Eliminations: 2008 runner up Ivan Demidov, Shirley Rosario, Alex Gomes, Lynette Chan, Sweet Svetlana Gromenkova, Yuval Bronshtein, and Christian Harder
Shorties: Paul Darden

This is the time of the day when you hear frequent cries of, "All in and a call!"

Players are busting out, but are they going fast enough? Hmmm... With less than 2,300 players to go, about 420 or so have to bust to have a managable Day 2B (1,106 survived yesterday) otherwise there will be a chance that they will have problems seating 3K plus players.

A handful of Russians have hot the rail including former Ladies bracelet winner Sweet Svetlana and last year's runner up Ivan Demidov. I didn't see the hand, but Shirley Rosario is out. And yes, I know she's not Russian.

Shamus told me a funny exchange at Robert Varkonyi's table. The former champ is seated next to NBAer Jordan Farmer. Players and fans were asking Farmer for his autograph, but passed over Varkonyi. The always overlooked Varkonyi felt left out, like a red-headed step-child at a family picnic.

Rafe Furst was in the middle of an arm massage, while Kristy Gazes sported a Redondo Beach Police hat. I asked her if she got busted by the federales and had to wear the hat in exchange for her freedom. She said that it was her boyfriend's favorite and lucky hat.

Quote of the Day: Overheard floor supervisor tell a dealer, "Although you should be terminated tonight, you won't be. We need dealers."

* * * * *
10:30pm... Raymond Felted, Chau Loves His Eyebrows Rubbed

Chip Leaders: Blair Hinkle, Dutch Boyd
Recent Eliminations: Ray Romano, Dag Martin Scandi, Grant Hinkle, Lika Gerasimova, Paul Snead, Raptor, TheWacoKidd, Mimi Tran, Luis Velador
Shorties: Amir Vahedi

David Benyamine said three words to Benjo and the kid cannot contain himself. Benjo asked Benyamine if he had trouble registering and Benyamine said that e did so a few days ago. When Benjo asked the more important question about Patrik Antonius' questionable entry, Benyamine went silent. Like a mime.

Speaking of Frenchies, Nicolas Levi is no longer in the top spot. Elky was up over 100K for a while until he lost a pot. He rattled off 5 hands inside of 17 seconds to Benjo.

I wandred into Brasilia and made a pass by Matt Parvis' table. He was short-stacked and doubled up to 20K. Homer told me about a hand when Phil Tom slowrolled an opponent. Phil is the father of Scott Tom who everyone allegedly knows is one of the original superusers at Absolute Poker.

Jen Harman looked like Liittle Red Riding Hood, except she was wearing a grey hoodie.

Chau Giang was in the middle of an intense head and eyebrow massage. I wonder how much the masseuses charge to rub his nipples in counter-clockwise motions?

Annette15 passed me in the hallway and asked where the ladies room was. She has no clue since she hasn't played in a single WSOP event since she's not 21 yet. But why is she roaming the halls? Hmmmmm.... I wonder who she's been backing into the Main Event this year.

* * * * *
11:30pm... The Last Hour...

Chip Leaders: Troy Weber, Blair Hinkle, Dutch Boyd
Recent Eliminations: Luis Velador, Archie Karas, Aussie fashion guru Chris Chronis, Amir Vahedi, Shawn Sheikhan, and David Williams
Shorties: Scott Clements, Robert Varkonyi

Oliver Tse only client, Luis Velador, busted out. Velador is #1 on the All Time Mexico money list.

According to Twitter... Rafe was super short and he hasn't hit any flops, and Matt parvis is barely holding on by the skin of his balls.

Lucko is up to 54, while Troy Weber is one of the first players to pass the 200K mark.

Rare sightings? Kirk Morrison is here. Kristy Gazes was moved to his table.

Sorry for the lack of comprehensive updates. I spet 45 minutes in two different, yet diverse conversations... talking to a Harrah's exec about today's sell out and discussing strip club banter with a French pro. I won't say which one... but his name rhymes with pattern.

* * * * *
12:30am... Day 1D Complete

Chip Leaders: Troy Weber, Carter King, Dutch Boyd
Recent Eliminations: Michael Binger, Steve Sung, LarsLuzak, Chip Jett, Pat Pezzin

One of the more interesting days of the 2009 WSOP came to a close. It started out with a potential mutnity when several hundred players were told that Day 1D was sold out. A press conference was called at 2:30 to address the angry players but that's all they got was an apology from Commissioner Pollack and assurance that would not happen again.

And before the night was over, the WSOP experienced one the more deviant prop bets went down involving durrrr and 10 shots of tequila. Matt Marafioti collected a cool $5,000 for downing ten shots of Patron in 15 minutes... without puking.

Stay tuned for a recap of today's sellout debacle.

Thanks to everyone who followed along today. I'll be back to live blogging Day 2A tomorrow afternoon. See you then.

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/06/2009 03:22:00 PM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Day 39 - Main Event 1C: Welcome to the Psychedelic Circus

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

I love a spectacle.

"This is the day of the freak show," muttered my French colleague as he angrily pecked away at his keyboard. "We have the crazy Indian, the Devil who scares the fuck out of Otis, and Phil Hellmuth."

The circus descended upon Las Vegas on a Sunday. Dreamers. Entrepreneurs. Politicians. Disaster capitalists. Brainwashed masses. Even a couple of animals or two filed into the Rio for the greatest show on Earth. The only thing missing was a glint of lysergic acid diethylamide to transform the surreal into the real.

It's hard to explain my specific role to my friends outside of poker who ask me about the daily grind as a poker writer. I mean, my life seems very normal to everyone in the poker industry... I travel the world watching people gamble large sums of money and write about it. That's pretty much it.

But outside of poker, my friends think we live in this glamorous universe with rainbows and strippers where everyone is richer than God. How do I explain to my friends what happened on Sunday? That I waited for thirty minutes with a rabid menagerie of fans and international media for a performance of epic proportions as a grown man, a professional at the top of his field, carried into a convention center by four other half-naked men, while a cavalcade of eleven women in body paint trailed behind while the hallway was adorned with one hundred scantily clad women who clapped at the one and only Phil Hellmuth's stately entrance.

Phil Hellmuth as Julius Caesar? That was the crux of the gauche publicity stunt by the heart of Hellmuth's UB machine. But let's not forget history... the almighty Caesar was stabbed to death by his colleagues.


Photo by Benjo
In the last few years, I've seen Hellmuth enter the Amazon Ballroom in many diverse forms, which demonstrated the gigantic size of his ego along with his showmanship ability. After all, poker is not a sport, rather it is sports entertainment.

Hellmuth was once flanked by bodyguards upon his arrival inside the Amazon Ballroom. To out do that gimmick, he arrived in a stretch limo and greeted by ESPN cameras.

The next year? He crashed a UB race car. That PR gaffe sorta fell apart the day before when Hellmuth rammed a race car into a pole in the parking lot, but Hellmuth arrived the next day very stiff and looking like a Nascar driver with eleven models (representing all 11 bracelets that he had won).

And last year? Hellmuth arrived in a military convoy as he went for the General Patton look with models decked out in camouflage. The Caesar spectacle was his latest attempt to signal out his greatest (while subtly drawing attention to UB) as his entrances to the Main Event grew more and more theatrical, so much so that it became the story of the day in what has been a lackluster WSOP.

What's going to happen next year? Maybe Hellmuth's entrance will be coordinated by Michael Bay and he'll skydive onto the roof and crash through one of the ceiling panels... with eleven models following behind and lots of explosions, of course.

I wandered out into the densely packed hallway and watched almost one hundred leggy models line up. I actually counted seventy-two. Anyway, they wore tight white dresses with UB patches. Even the skanks were logo'd up. The models each stood arms length and awaited the arrival of God's Greatest Gift to Poker.

Security guards pushed back the surging media, ogling spectators, and citizen paparazzi trying to capture a digital image or video of Hellmuth dressed like an extra from the porno version of Ben-Hur called... Bend-Hur Over.

Most of the crowd was comprised of Hellmuth haters and people wanted to see how high on Douchebag Meter would Hellmuth's stunt would register. While conversely, eager fans camped out for hours for a perfect viewing spot as they anticipated the first glimpse of Hellmuth.

One lady was so confused that she thought the grand entrance was set up for Phil Ivey. I politely corrected her and told her that a low profile guy like Ivey usually snuck in the back door.

"This extravaganza was all set up to promote the greatest living hold'em player of all time... Phil Hellmuth," I assured her.

"Oh? That asshole?" she snickered and walked off elbowing one of the models.

Hellmuth made his way down the hallway and the area plunged into mayhem. One guy played a trumpet and another banged on a drum to signal Hellmuth's grandiose arrival just in case the flurry of cameras and cannibals in the media didn't tip you off. I snagged a few photos and listened to the chatter among the jaded fans and disgruntled members of the press. Some of the models had no idea who Phil Hellmuth was, let alone what a poker tournament was. They're just on an assignment and turning a trick like the rest of us.

Hellmuth eventually took the secondary stage amidst an avalanche of flashes from fans' cameras. An ESPN film crew captured his every move as he took he seat. Someone in the crowd screamed, "Idiot!"

All of that happened inside of an hour. So when my friends ask me what I do for work, how do I explain that spectacle?

"I work in the circus. You know the guy who stands behind the elephants and cleans up all the shit? Well, I'm the guy who glistens up the turd and helps pass it off as entertainment."

* * * * *
Day 1C Numbers and Stats

The crack unit of math interns at Tao of Poker came up with these numbers...

2009 Main Event Runners:
Day 1A: 1,116
Day 1B: 873
Day 1C: 1,696
Day 1D: Expected... 2420

Day 1A Survivors: 655
Day 1B Survivors: 821
Day 1C Survivors: 1,106

End of Day 1C - Top 10 Chip Counts:
1 Joe Cada (Shelby Township, MI) - 187,225
2 Tyler Patterson (Everett, WA) - 179,500
3 Sebastian Stier (Heidelberg, Germany) - 160,050
4 Chance Kornuth (Denver, CO) - 150,025
5 Ariel Schneller (Blacksburg, VA) - 147,275
6 Jeff Lisandro (Salerno, Italy) - 146,950
7 Tim Little (San Antonio, TX) - 133,650
8 Kelly Kim (Whittier, CA) - 132,475
9 Raul Mestre (Valencia, Spain) - 131,575
10 Matt Palmucci (Nashua, NH) - 131,550

Notables (Through 420):
Le, Tuan 110,000
Bonomo, Justin 103,425
Fuller, Rick 101,850
Khan, Hevad 97,800
Bolotin, Alex 92,500
Watkinson, Lee 91,050
Saul, Kevin 87,850
Poels, Pat 87,200
Hachem, Joe 84,550
Van Alstyne, James 82,900
Junglen, Adam 80,475
Harrington, Daniel 76,025
Dang, Di 75,300
Habib, Hasan 72,800
O'Dea, Donnacha 70,650
Hawrilenko, Matt 67,150
Chan, Terrence 67,075
Kessler, Allen 65,525
Phillips, Dennis 62,325
Lederer, Howard 58,300
Nguyen, Scotty 57,075
Koo, Thomas 55,625
Shak, Daniel 55,200
Juanda, John 54,875
Little, Jonathan 53,125
Dill, Gordon 53,100
Hollink, Rob 52,075
Bellande, Jean-Robert 51,950

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/06/2009 04:20:00 AM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 1C

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Five levels today according to Jack Effel. Some players are pissed, but not all of them. I heard the rumor about 15 hours ago and it's true.

Today's field is much larger than the initial two flights. The hallways were crowded with players and fans and supporters. It finally looked like the Main Event.

As you already figured out, the Main Event is so big that it's hard to keep track of people (even with Twitter). I have a handful of players (both amateurs, pros, and friends) who I keep tabs on during the tournament. Today's Tao of Poker's featured players? John "Schecky" Caldwell, Liz Lieu (in a sexy pink outfit) and Action Bob from the Borgata. Nolan Dalla called the legendary Action Bob, "the tightest player in the tournament."

Otis is already on tilt. There's a guy that he refers to as The Devil. He sends Otis on mega-tilt.

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) spoke for a few minutes before he uttered "Shuffle up and deal."

After Frank spoke, the Devil jumped up and slammed two cymbals four times. The floor staff rushed over and gave him a warning for excessive celebration. He's now into the SCMODS system and has been yellow-carded.

Cards went in the air at 12:09pm. The almighty Phil Hellmuth will be arriving in a chariot around 1:30pm with 11 muses and 100 girls following around him.

* * * * *
1:01pm... 1,600?

Bluff is reporting that 1,566 runners today. Brasilia is definitely being used today along with most of the tables in the cash game section.

The buzz in the hallways is about Phil Hellmuth. He always has a grand yet late entrance. Some media reps refuse to cover his hijinks. I think it's absurd, but this is show business. Hellmuth is one of the most successful businessmen in poker and his entrance proves why. He knows how to create buzz and he knows that the popularity of future Main Events (along with the future of online poker) is driven by the TV exposure on ESPN. Yes, I'm awaiting the Hellmuthian arrival.

The Dennis Phillips clones returned with red hats and white oxford shirts. I even think that I heard the truck horn.

According to Change100, someone is holding a stash of dank nugs in the Blue section. In the words of Clonie Gowen, "It smells like a skunk."

And the Indian headdress guy is here. I was told that he was one of Commissioner Pollack's stalkers. As luck would have it, both the Indian and the Devil are sitting at the same table. ESPN cameras are hovering on that table.

The Devil? I heard a story that he registered and un-registered no less than four times in order to secure his favorite seat. One floor guy told me that he wandered through the Amazon Ballroom one night when it was empty and walked around feeling the backs of the chairs. I guess he was scooping out the vibrations. I have no idea. He's the Devil for fuck's sake. Anyway, the Devil ended up at Table 88 Seat 8. 888. That's a very special number in many Asian cultures.

* * * * *
2:01pm... Hellmuthian Entrance

Hearing rumblings that the current count 5,670 including today and some of tomorrow's entrants. That number should swell to over 6,000. Get t hose hedge bets in now!

Liz Lieu gave me a hug and one of the Poker News floor reporters ran over and asked if he could smell the last remnants of Liz's perfume on my lapel. She's sitting right in front of the press box much to the delight of F-Train. We've given him a bib to keep the drool off of his laptop. I have one myself. I told the Poker Diva that she looked sensational (as always in a tight pink outfit and red highlights in her hair) and she suggested that the allure was her "knee high boots." Hubba Hubba.

Jamie Gold is already down to 13K. The former champ took a hit early on in the Brasilia Ballroom.

Schecky is sitting at Table 50 right on the corner to accommodate his huge legion of fans on the rail. He spent a few moments in front of ESPN cameras. Someone asked who he was and he said, "Chris Moneydingle." He's had lots of people stop by and check on his progress including a bevy of photographers. Someone on the rail asked me who he was and I said that he was one of the Blowfish in Hoootie and the Blowfish. Anyway, Schecky lost a couple of small pots already but only slipped to 23K.

I wandered out into the densely packed hallway and watched the leggy models line up . They wore white togish dresses with UB patches. They each stood arms length and awaited the stately arrival of Phil Hellmuth, God's Greatest Gift to Poker. It was a mad frenzy in the hallway as security guards pushed people back. Media. Spectators. Citizen paparazzi. Executives. Cameras. Cameras. Everyone was buzzing with anticipation. Most of the people wanted to see how big of douchebag Hellmuth was going to be, while eager fans couldn't wait for the pomp and circumstance. In short, everyone was anticipating the first glimpse of Hellmuth.

One lady was so confused that she thought all the hinjinks were for Phil Ivey. I politely corrected her and told her that Ivey usually sneaks in the back door.

"This was all set up to promote the greatest living hold'em player of all time... Phil Hellmuth."

"Oh? That asshole?" she snickered and walked off elbowing one of the models.

I heard that Hellmuth was to arrive on a chariot, but he was carried in on a sedan chair by four guys dressed as ancient Roman slaves as he burst into the convention center. 11 hot chicks adorned in body paint followed behind as his muses, each of which designated one of his 11 bracelets.

As God Hellmuth made his way down the hallway, the area was plunged into mayhem as a guy played a trumpet and another banged on a drum. I did my best to snag a few photos and listen to the chatter among the fans and disgruntled media. Some of the models had no idea who Phil Hellmuth was. They're just on an assignment, like all of us.

Hellmuth eventually took the stage as someone in the crowd screamed, "Idiot!"

I reminded my friends in the press box that Julius Caesar was eventually stabbed to death by his colleagues. All Hail, Hellmuth.

* * * * *
3:00pm... The Grand Entrance

Here's the RawVegas video of Hellmuth being Hellmuth...

Thanks to the hombres at Wicked Chops Poker.

At this point, we're thirty minutes into Level 2. Things appeared to calm down a bit after all the Hellmuth excitement. There was some buzz in the far end of the room, but that was someone who got quad jacks and won $100 worth of beef jerky.

Terrence Chan is sitting in front of the press box. He's among the early chip leaders and sporting an apple near his stack. An apple a day keeps the donkey away.

* * * * *
4:01pm... Danny Boy Dunzo

Chipleaders: The Devil, Some French douchebag that Benjo can't stand, and an internet kid who can't stop four-betting with air who never had sex
Recent Eliminations: Danny Negreanu, The Maven, and Evy Ng
Shorties: Jamie Gold and Neil "Bad Beat" Channing

We're at the end of Level 2 and a couple of well know pros hit the rail. Daniel Negreanu's stint at the featured TV table was shorter than short. He barely had time to mug for the cameras before Danny Boy was busto. His fellow Canuck, Evy Ng, is out as well and they're both probably playing video games together.

The bobbular Lacey Jones has three Frenchies at her table and two of them are drooling Winamx qualifiers. Benjo has no idea who they are because they're a bunch of internet Eurodonks, but if any of them ask Lacey out on a date, he's gonna be pissed off and put his Gauloise cigarette out in their eye sockets. That's how they roll in Lille.

Celebirty Death Watch? Jamie Gold and UK cash game guru (and Snoopy's boos) Neil Channing are on life support.

Rare sightings? Isabelle Mercier playing in the Main Event... her first tournament aside from Ante Up for Africa.

"The most interesting thing is seeing David Sklanasky reading an actual newspaper," said Katkin. I asked him if Sklanasky was checking the personals.

* * * * *
4:20pm... "Smoke 'em if you got 'em!"

Today's smoke break is brought to you by... PokerStars!


* * * * *
5:01pm... Senter's Wish

Chipleaders: Jeff Lisandro, Yan Chen, The Devil
Recent Eliminations: 2008 November Niner Chino Rheem and 2009 bracelet winner Matt Graham
Shorties: Jamie Gold and Liv Boeree

Everyone's spicy Brazilian dish, Maridu, was moved to fellow Team PokerStars Pros Joe Hachem's table. She's got around 55K after she sniffed out a bluff from Hachem.

Schecky slipped to 21K. He has a soft table, but has been unable to take advantage of it. I stopped sweating him because there's a smelly guy also on the rail who is sweating someone at the adjacent table. I can't stand the foul odor. Foreign travelers in Nevada during the summer? Atrocious.

Liz Lieu is sitting on 30K or so. ESPN is filming Terrance Chan's table. He's chipping up and racing past 60K. His buddy Thomas Koo is also in today's field and sitting on 30K or so. Rizen is down to under 20K.

Matt Clark told me a touching story about 55-year old Kent Senter. He's a blue collared guy from Pittsburgh, PA. He used to unload trucks for a living until he suffered an accident. When the doctors administered an MRI, they discovered that he had Multiple Myeloma otherwise known as the Jimmy V Disease. Senter's doctors gave him six months to live. One of the tings he always wanted to do was play in the WSOP. Senter got his wish courtesy of PokerStars. Right now, ESPN's cameras were filming a few hands that he played. Senter has around 20K. He took a couple of beats early on but compared to his struggles with cancer, his rough patch at the onset of the Main Event is a cake walk.

* * * * *
6:01pm... Bored Boobs

Chipleaders: Jeff Lisandro, Yan Chen, ZeeJustin
Recent Eliminations: Durrrr's dad, William Rockwell and Jacobo Fernandez
Shorties: Jamie Gold and Liv Boeree

I wandered around (or dare I say, bounced around the room) and here's what I saw...

Liz Lieu finished off a Caesar Salad.

A couple of lazy media reps played online poker in the press box.

Schecky is not quite plush and was around to 24K until he took two massive hits. He had flopped a straight and lost to a runner-runner flush. Shortly after he ran Aces into A-Q. The flop? Q-Q-x. Ooooooooooooomph. He's now short-stacked Schecky.

A very bored Lacey Jones was doing chip tricks and studying her opponents. Smelly Italians on the rail taking pics of her boobs. When she's not looking, the old French guy sitting next to her is sneaking a peak at her sensational cleavage every other hand.

Antonio Traver was also bored and had his arms crossed. He seemed more interested in what was on one of the TVs.

Action Bob is seated with Jon Little. Action Bob slipped to 12K. At the table next to him is Joe Hachem and Maridu.

Tom McEvoy and a healthier looking Maimi John Cernuto are seated at the same table.

* * * * *
7:01pm... 1,696 and Schecky & LaceyJones = BUSTO

Chipleaders: Jeff Lisandro, Yan Chen, Mark Naaldan
Recent Eliminations: John Caldwell, AC grinder ActionBob, Jamie Gold and LaceyJones
Shorties: Annie Duke and Matt Savage

There are 1,698 runners on Day 1C. Day 1D is rumored to be sold out with tables in Buzio's seafood restaurant if need be.

Action Bob busted out before the dinner break. He was short and could not mount a comeback. LaceyJones also hit the rail. As soon as I left her table, she busted.

And poor poor Schecky. He made a run and got back up to 33K before he ran Kings into Aces.

Scotty Nguyen is here and walking back and forth in front of the press box. He took a seat at Antonio Tarver's table. AlCantHang noted that he has a beer in front of him. If Scotty fucks off too much, Tarver will bury him.

Rare sighting? I think I saw Brandon Schaeffer in field.

Yep, it's chow time. Wow, our first legit dinner break instead of eating around 4:30 with the geriatrics the last two days! Action will resume around 8:20pm local time. When players return they will play 2 more levels.

* * * * *
9:01pm... Two More Levels

Chipleaders: Jeff Lisandro, Hevad Khan, Yan Chen, Mark Naaldan
Shorties: Annie Duke and Matt Savage

Pinky, a friend of mine from London, is playing today. I totally forgot. I have a small piece of him and he was up to 38K at the break.

The clock lists that 594 places will get paid, which means they are approaching 6,000 players.

John Juanda is getting a massage, as per usual. He sitting in Seat 1 at Terrance Chan's table.

Our favorite mulleted an bling encrusted Scotty Nguyen returned from break with a Michelob Ultra.

* * * * *
10:01pm... Brasilia Tales

Chipleaders: Jeff Lisandro, Hevad Khan
Shorties: Annie Duke and Antonio Tarver

I went into the Brasilia Room to sweat Pinky. He had an Aussie to his right and Gabe Thaler to his left.

Since the Main Event spill over shares the area with satellites, I had to dodge a few broke dicks who were desperately trying to win their seat in the Main Event. It just reeks of losers over there. I knew one guy who I tried to avoid as he made a beeline for me. He asked me to stake him into one sat. I refused and then he asked to borrow $200. I ducked underneath the ropes into the playing area so he wouldn't follow me.

Erica Schoenberg and Chainsaw were both near the rail. Erica fumbled around on her iPod while Chainsaw looked bored off his ass. Sarne Lightman is sitting at a table with James Van Alstyne and Steve Dannenmann. Van Alstyne is one of the short stacks.

Don Peters told me about one guy who had a shirt that read "Slavery Gets Shit Done." The floor staff made him put another shirt on to cover up the one that some people might find offensive. It's a full moon tonight, right?

* * * * *
11:01pm... Getting Tired

Chipleaders: Jeff Lisandro, Hevad Khan, Igor Borukhov
Shorties: Marcel Luske, Alex Jacob
Recent Eliminations: Eric Liu, Annie Duke, Chad Batista, Antonio Tarver, former champion Tom McEvoy, David Singer, the lovely Erica Schoenberg, 2009 bracelet winner Brandon Cantu

Liz Lieu has been having problems with her phone which has been slowing down her tweets.

I got word that there is over 6,000 players in the Main Event with 2,400 runners on the lost for tomorrow. They might get a few hundred more walk ups tomorrow. Yikes. Talk about a heullva Day 2B.

As Michalski said, it looks like people are tired, especially Dan Harrington. This was the part of the night that Day 1A and Day 1b players did not experience.

The rail has thinned out a bit and Scotty Nguyen is still cackling with a beer in front of him. Same shit. Different year.

Sorry for the lack of meat in this update, I was out taping a few episodes of Tao of Pokerati.

* * * * *
12:01pm... After Midnight Edition

Chipleaders: Jeff Lisandro, Hevad Khan, Igor Borukhov
Shorties: Marcel Luske, Alex Jacob
Recent Eliminations: Marcel Luske, Liv Boeree, Alex Jacob, JJ Liu, Abe

Mosseri, Frank Kassela, Matt Savage, Brett Richey, Matt Matros

Irish pro Don O'Dea moved to Pinky's table. He's still alive with 35K or so. My horse might advance to Day 2. He has to survive just thirty more minutes.

The hallways are sparse aside from me passing a priest and Eskimo Clark within minutes of each other. Otis tweet'd that he spotted a priest in the hallway. We suspect that he was conducting an exorcism for the Devil.

The Devil has been short the last hour or so, but he's been hanging on.

There area handful of poker window's sleeping on benches in the hallway. Haven't seen that yet this year.

In Lime Tossing News...

Sunday Lime Tossing Results: Otis +120, Pauly +40
Overall: Otis +80, Pauly -80

It was a tough battle. I stepped up first and tossed a lime that landed in the $200 grid, but skidded out. My second toss landed in the $40 grid for a mark. Otis went too far right on his first throw, but he nailed a $120 grid on his second. I won $20 on Saturday to pull even, but Otis regained the lead with a strong Sunday night performance.

* * * * *
12:40am... That's a Wrap! Day 1C Complete

Players are tagging and bagging their chips. They survived five levels and advanced to Day 2B. Terminally ill Kent Senter was among the players who made it.

Stay tuned for official info and a recap.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/05/2009 12:01:00 PM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Day 38 - Main Event Day 1B: Theme from the Bottom

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Happy birthday, America.

We proudly celebrated the July 4th holiday that my British counterparts call "the day the colonies revolted and pulled away from the Crown." My favorite quote about July 4th comes from Richard Linklater's epic flick Dazed and Confused, "Don't forget what you're celebrating, and that's the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn't want to pay their taxes."

And that's what makes poker so special. The WSOP is an extension of the American Dream. Go west young man and win millions of dollars in the richest poker tournament in the world. For many individuals, poker was an alternative way to live life and earn a living without having to be dependent upon the system.

And winning WSOP? The ultimate fulfillment of the American Dream... that anyone at any given time can rise up from the depths of despair and seize the spotlight. These days, I don't think many Americans (or international players for that matter) care about getting their Andy Warhol-laden fifteen minutes of fame, as much as they want $15 million in cash.

If given the choice between fame and money? I'll take money every time.

This year's Main Event winner will not win $15 million, but you get my point. However, a few million is definitely up for grabs to the one person who can fade a field of 6,000 or so players. Day 1A saw 1,116 runners while Day 1B had a lot less with 873. Overall, 1,989 entrants are in this year's Main Event. The numbers for the last two flights have been discussed thoroughly among executives, players, and media. Sources indicate 4,000 players will show up on Sunday and Monday.

If 2,000 or more players buy into the last two flights, there's a potential problem because after four levels, there will be too many players returning to Day 2B. The Rio can't handle 3,000 players in one sitting unless they seat players in the Poker Kitchen and at the Hooker Bar.

One rumored solution? Playing out five levels on the final two flights and re-adjusting the levels on Day 2. For example, Day 2A (comprised of players who survived Day 1A + Day 1B) will play five levels because they originally played four. Meanwhile Day 2B (made up of flights 1C + 1D) will play four levels because they started out with five. That way guarantees that every play who advanced to Day 3 played the same amount of levels (nine).

None of this would have been a problem if they simply played out 5 levels on the first two days. Alas, this murky situation was what I heard being discussed in the press box over the last level. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens on Sunday. What will TD Jack Effel do?

Aside from the low turnout on Day 1B, there was not much going on during Day 1B except an inebriated player who disappeared in the middle of the tournament. A reader of the Tao of Poker known as SenatorKevin was seated at a table with someone I'll refer to as the drunk guy. According to SenatorKevin, the drunk supposedly claimed that he played weekly tournaments at the Borgata. When he sat down, he asked if first place in the Main Event was going to win $1 million. When he was told that a few members of the November Nine might win that much, the drunk guy was completely stunned. It was as though he had no clue how about the payouts in the Main Event! At that point, the drunk guy was actual sober but then proceeded knock back Chivas in bulk. Large glasses of booze.

At one point, the drunk guy promised to blow another guy at the table if he won a pot with pocket deuces. Later on in the level, SenatorKevin thought the drunk guy was going to blow chunks at the table. And this was just in the first few hours of play. Their table eventually got broken and drunk guy was sent into the blue section.

Sometime after dinner break, I got wind of a player who left his table with almost all of his chips minus a single 100 denomination chip. The players at that table told the floor staff that an inebriated player bailed with about 3K to 5K in tournament chips. They thought he went to the bathroom, but he never came back. Ah, it was the same drunk guy from SenatorKevin's table. Supposedly,the drunk has revealed his name as Santo and that he was a wiseguy from New Jersey who obviously loved Chivas.

The chips were ruled void as soon as he left the table with them. The drunk guy's 100 chip was eventually blinded off and he was eliminated from the tournament. The staff tried to figure out who the drunk guy was. They had just one clue... Santo from New Jesey. I looked up the player's list for Day 1B. Sure enough, there's a Santo from New Jersey on the list. His last name included three vowels and ended in one too. I don't mean to play on ethnic stereotypes here, but I grew up in the Bronx with people named Vinny the Barber and Nine-and-Half Fingered Vinny. (And yes, they were all married to girls named Marie).

The drunk guy was identified by the staff (by process of elimination and high tech surveillance cameras) and using SCMODS, the vast computer networks at their finger tips, the figured out he was a guest at a sister property of the Rio. Yes, Big Brother is watching your every move in Sin City. He knows when your sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good and that street walker that you picked up on Tropicana.

A couple of thick-necked security types went to the drunk guy's room to investigate if he still had WSOP chips in his possession. I have no idea what happened after that. After all, there are a lot of holes in the desert. The staff seemed to think that he was just a drunk dude and not some cheat. Based on SenatorKevin's observations, that theory seemed to fit. He was indeed just some drunk wanna-be wiseguy splashing around $10,000. If he really wanted to cheat and pass off chips to his friends, he would have waited until the first break and palmed a bunch of orange chips. That's what some of the cheating teams have done in the past.

It almost seems too good to be true. Drunks spewing chips at the WSOP.

Anyway, 655 players out of 873 advanced to Day 2A, which will play out on Tuesday. After the dinner break, Russian cash game pro Vadim Gruzglin emerged as one of the chipleaders. He ended the night 10th overall.

End of Day 1B - Top 10 Chip Counts:
Brandon Demes (Tempe, AZ) - 137,075
Andrew Gaw (Philippines) - 126,100
Nick Maimone (Charlotte, NC) - 122,500
Samer Rahman (Sweden) - 122,400
Max Casal (Burbank, CA) - 121,100
Jim Bookstaff (Pigeon Forge, TN) - 120,750
Craig Hopkins (Chesterfield, UK) - 118,850
Aaron Fang (Las Vegas, NV) - 118,725
Jesse Rios (Salida, CA) - 117,150
Vadim Gruzglin (Moscow, Russia) - 116,100

Notables:
Soulier, Fabrice 97,725
Sebok, Joe 78,800
Fitoussi, Bruno 58,100
Davis, Raymond 58,000
Eslami, Ali 56,425
Deeb, Shaun 55,100
Demichele, Michael 54,325
Kravchenko, Alex 53,650
Levy, Grant 52,225
Dragomir, Cristian 49,475
Preston, "Amarillo Slim" 48,075
Helppi. Juha 46,325
Slotboom, Rolf 46,100
Boutin, Burt 46,000
Corkins, Hoyt 45,325
Raymer, Greg 43,750
West, Tim 40,550
Young, Jason 40,325
Pagano, Luca 40,125
Matusow, Mike 37,875
Hansen, Thor 34,950
Brunson, Todd 32,950
Bechtel, Jim 30,000
Carli, Douglas 'Rico' 29,175
Crowe, Owen 27,000
Brunson, Pamela 24,850
Ferguson, Chris 24,050
Ury, Jack 23,075
Newhouse, Mark 22,925
Johnny Muhsrooms 21,575
Bruel, Patrick 18,925
Greenstein, Barry 18,900
Rash, Allen 18,800
Ankenman, Jerrod 17,100
Mortensen, Carlos 15,425
Lester, Jason 13,850
Edler, Bill 13,800
Cohen, Louie 11,000
McConnell, Page 10,900
Caro, Mike 10,850
Billy the Croc 8,575

Only 218 unlucky souls flushed $10,000 down the toilet last night. Heck, these shortened Day 1s does wonders for your self-esteem even if you squeak into Day 2! Anyway, the players who survived on Saturday will play on Day 2A on Tuesday with the 821 players who survived Day 1A.

* * * * *
Bouncin' Round the Room...

Since it was sort of a slow day, Otis and I continued our prop bet madness with another episode of What Does Benjo Think? We asked Benjo five questions and gambled on the answers...

What Does Benjo Think, Vol. 3

1. What is the combined weight of Doyle Brunson, David Benyamine, and Steve Diano?
Otis: 1200
Pauly: 1100
Benjo said, "That is tough. I say 1000."
Result: Push (0-0-1)

2. How many pros were rolled by a hooker last night?
Otis: 1
Pauly: 3
Benjo said, "Rolled by hookers? Three."
Result: Pauly wins (1-0-1)

3. In a fight between Melissa Castello and Dario Minieri, how long does it take Melissa to win?
Otis: 2 minutes
Pauly: 30 seconds
Benjo said, "Dario has little fists that hurt. He can punch fast. If he has a proper helmet, he can last three minutes."
Result: Push (1-0-2)

4. If Dario is allowed one non-lethal weapon to use in the ring against Melissa, what would it be?
Otis: Scarf
Pauly: Piano Leg (getting 2-1 on this selection)
Benjo said, "Scarf. He'll tie it around her neck and choke her."
Result: Otis wins (1-1-2)

5. What Michael Jackson song will Benjo sing on American Idol?
Otis: Billie Jean
Pauly: Beat It
Benjo said, "The Jackson 5 song I Want You Back. It was the greatest song of the 1960s."
Result: Push (1-1-3)

Stay tuned for a new installment of What Does Benjo Think? Only at the WSOP can we gamble on angry chain-smoking Frenchmen!

* * * * *
Around the Horn...

Here are some of my daily reads...

Benjo's French poker blog for all things French poker
Hard Boiled Poker for stellar writing
Wicked Chops Poker for tits and ass
Las Vegas Vegas for Flipchip's photos
Poker Shrink for head shrinking on the pros
Poker Road for BJ Photos
Pokerati for world standings
World Series of Poker for official chip counts

And don't forget you can follow me on Twitter.

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.
posted by Pauly at 7/05/2009 09:09:00 AM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 1B

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

It's the Fourth of July, a day when America celebrates their independence from tyrannic rule from those monarch-loving folks across the pond who drive on the other side of the road and add an necessary 'u' to words like humour and colour.

Don't worry. They won't be playing God Saves the Queen today, although it would be pretty bold if they did. Instead, the walk in music was U2's greatest hits.

The doors opened promptly at 11:45pm 11:45am and ESPN's camera followed Robert Varokinyi inside. The lovely Kara Scott (most known as the EPT hostess who went deep in last year's Main Event) is sitting at a table in front of the press box.

We're playing four levels today and expecting a couple of less runners than yesterday's anemic number of 1,116. Will this be the lowest Day 1 of the WSOP since it was moved to the Rio?

Jack Effel reminded everyone about the quad Jacks promotion. They get a lifetime supply of beef jerky. OK, that's not true. They only get $100 worth of beef jerky.

"This is the slowest structure ever for the Main Event!" proclaimed Jack Effel after he told everyone that have them 30,000 in chips this year.

Effel also reminded players that if they cause any trouble and given an infraction, their name will be added to SCMODS (State County Municipal Data System), which is Harrah's way of tracking pedophiles and WSOP troublemakers.

As many of you know, I don't do chip counts because I can't count. Click here for chippies if you're that kind of person.

* * * * *
12:20pm... Day 1B Begins; Day of Champions

Cards went in the air at 12:07pm after we heard the national anthem. Even Benjo and the Germans stood up to honor America.

96 year old Jack Ury is playing in the WSOP today. Just like last year and the year before, he was the oldest player at the Main Event. He's was born when back when Vegas was nothing more than a Mormon mission.

Also in the mix are a slew of former Main Event champions including a late arriving Jamie Gold, Greg Raymer, Carlos Mortensen, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Chris Moneymaker, and Jim Bechtel.

Notables in Day 1B... Jeremiah Smith, Barry Greenstein, Bill Edler, Burt Boutin, David 'The Dragon' Pham, Neverwin, Erik Seidel, Hoyt Corkins, Todd Brunson, Pam Brunson, Jason Lester, Owen Crowe, Jason Young, Jerrod Ankenman, Mike Caro, Joe Sebok, Shaun Deeb, and Kara Scott

Euros in the field? Jani Sointula, Fabrice Soulier, Barny Boatman, Juha Helppi, Patrick Bruel, Kirill Rabtsov, Luca Pagano, Thor Hansen, Vicky Coren, and Rolf Slotboom.

Oh, I walked by the Brasilia Ballroom? It's empty aside from some satellite players. That's an indication that there will be less players today. They used a few tables in Brasilia yesterday.

* * * * *
2:01pm... Pokerpalooza?

Chipleaders: Ray Davis, Jeremiah Smith, Carlos Mortensen, Kara Scott

Sorry for the lack of updates. I wandered into the Pokerpalooza to look around. Joe Hachem has a new book out called Pass the Sugar. I hung out at the Aussie Millions booth and chatted up with some old friends from the Crown Casino including Jonno and Mike. Awesome guys and we shared some old stories about my time Down Under. I covered the Aussie Millions twice and had to skip this year in order to cover the PCA in the Bahamas for PokerStars Blog.

Anyway, the Pokerpalooza is kinda lame. A friend of mine was joking around that the convention area is filled with people who have poker-related products that are going to miserably fail. Those cool poker-themed t-shirts and card protectors and pooper scoopers might have sold during the poker boom, but in these troubled times, it's tough to get broke people to buy those kitchy items.

Pre-UIGEA, the Palooza was called the Expo and online poker sites hired the skankiest chicks in town to hawk their goods. Do you remember the BoDog loft? Where they had scantily clad models engaging in chubby-inducing pillow fights? Sweet Jesus.

You know it's bad when a bunch of Jesus freaks rented out space in the Palooza and are hawking the Lord and reminding us that we're going to hell for having fun in Sin City.

* * * * *
3:01pm... Free Wine and Hose Water

Chipleaders: Ray Davis, Jeremiah Smith
Short Stacks: Greg Raymer, and Joe Sebok, Barry Greenstein, Chris Moneymaker

Free wine in the hallway. They are giving out free samples for some booth that is hawking their different wines. I'm not a wine snob. I just like drinking stuff that will not give me a hang over. When I visited Australia for the first time, I got addicted to the their different selections of Shiraz. I could drink it in bulk without acquiring a nasty hangover the next day.

The lovely Kara Scott had some ESPN camera hovering around her for a bit. They left her alone and now she could go back to playing poker.

What happened to All In products? I notcied earlier in the WSOP, that their energy drink was no longer offered and Red Bull was back in the mix, much to the pleasure of Red Bull-addicted players (e.g. Burt Boutin). They were still serving All In water, which was probaly water from a hose poured into fancy plastic bottles that may or may not give you testicle cancer. Nothing is worst that cancer of the nut. Anyway, I noticed that the cocktail servers are back to serving... Rio water bottles. I'm gonna go into the major drink station in the back hallway and snoop around. Some of the cooler folks at the WSOP are the people who handle the beverages. They blast classic rock tunes while they pour drinks.

There's a French player sporting a Zidane jersey. Benjo refuses to cover him. "He's such a douche, trying to show up Americans with his idiotic nationalist pride."

* * * * *
4:01pm... Money & Winky = Busto

Chipleaders: Shaun Deeb, Ray Davis, Jeremiah Smith
Players Remaining: ????
Recent Eliminations: Pro boxer Winky Wright and Chris Moneymaker
Short Stacks: Joe Sebok and Barry Greenstein

I might be the cooler today. I made the rounds and thirty seconds after I passed Chris Moneymaker's table, he headed to the rail after he ran his pocket tens into Aces, according to a French player sitting at next to Moneymaker. And after I wandered by the secondary table with Doyle Brunson, boxer Winky Wright busted out.

At one time, he was a light middleweight champion. Some of the better fights I saw with my brother were the Sugar Shane Mosely and Winky Wright fights back in 2004. Last summer, Winky lost a fight to Bernard Hopkins when Hopkins head-butted him resulting in a bloody gash. In previous WSOPs, Lenox Lewis and Antonio Tarver played. Neither managed to go deep.

I watched the featured table for a few hands and noticed that Mike Matusow was unusually quiet. The crowd was hanging on for dear life and praying and hoping and awaiting one of his infamous blow ups where he goes batshit apeshit. I love using the word shit and throwing an animal in the front of it. Dogshit. Donkeyshit. Oceletshit. Anyway, the media were lurking about hoping for a a sound bite from Matusow to spice up their coverage.

I'm still awaiting on official numbers. At this point, the few tables that were using in the cash game tables were broken.

* * * * *
4:20pm... "Smoke 'em if you got 'em!"

Today's smoke break is brought to you by... PokerStars!


* * * * *
6:01pm... Back from Dinner; Two Levels to Go

Chipleaders: Vadim Gruzglin, Shaun Deeb
Players Remaining: ????
Recent Eliminations: David Steicke and Ralph "Up My Sleeve" Perry
Short Stacks: The Dragon

Still trying to get an official number of entrants. I'm hearing anywhere from 950 to 1,000.

Dinner break was at 4:30pm with the old folks. There will be two more levels tonight. It's been rather slow for July 4th. The drunks have yet to show themselves tonight.

"Everything seems pretty thin on the ground," said my colleague Homer about the first two levels.

Yeah, much like Day 1A, it's been kinda dull. On a good note, Johnny Mushrooms and Kara Scott are both alive, as Shaun Deeb raced toward the front pack. And a Russian is out in front and one of the first players to pass the 100K mark.

* * * * *
7:01pm... 873 and Benjo Ends Strike! New Episode of Tao of Pokerati

Chipleaders: Vadim Gruzglin, Nick Maimone
Players Remaining: 830 out of 873
Recent Eliminations: Jeremiah Smith, The Dragon

Official numbers courtesy of TD Steve Frezer... 873 runners on Day 1B. 1,989 through the first two days. They will have to average 2,006 runners over the last two days to break 6,000.

Ilya, one of my Russian colleagues, gave me some background on one of our chipleaders named Vadim Gruzglin. It appears that Gruzglin is one of the two SuperNova Elites on PokerStars. He's a big cash game player who plays up to 20 tables at a time online. He's a former gamer turned poker pro. Hmmmm.... sounds familiar. Vadim Gruzglin might have come out of nowhere, but he's been well known on the Russian poker scene for some time.

Interesting table... Billy the Croc, Alex Kravchenko, and Greg Raymer.

And yes. All of you Benjo fans can breathe a sigh of relief. He returned to the Tao of Pokerati and filled in for a sick Dan Michalski. We recorded an episode earlier today. We caught the tail end of the National Anthem and Texas Dolly kicking things off with "Shuffle up and deal." Then Benjo proceeds to go off on French donkeys with soccer jerseys. He also rags on how Americans refer to football as soccer.

Check it out...

Episode 11.29: Poker de la Liberte with Benjo (3:06)

* * * * *
8:01pm... Doyle Brunson Busto and Walk Away with Chips

Chipleaders: Vadim Gruzglin, Nick Maimone
Recent Eliminations: The superstitious Frenchman Pascal Perrault, Doyle Brunson, and Vicky Coren the former scribe turned pro from the London
Short Stacks: Eddy Sabat

The always lovely and talented Team PokerStars pro Vicky Coren hit the rail mid-way during level 3. And the legendary Texas Dolly has been ill the last few weeks. He didn't look like his usual chipper and smiling self during 50K HORSE. He's out of the 2009 Main Event. According to Twitter, "i'm freaking out again. some guy went nuts with a gut shot aganist my hidden trips. all the money went in on the flop...geeeez"

Everyone's favorite EPT hostess Kara Scott has 35K according to her last tweet.

Apparently, one player walked away from his table with 3K to 4K in tournament chips. He left a single 100 denomination chip on the table. His tablemates assumed he left for the bathroom, yet he never came back. Homer knew one of the players at the table and said that the fellow was a "wiseguy from New Jersey and very very very drunk." His drink of choice? Chivas?

Tournament rules state that once a chip is removed from a table (with exception of in a rack during a table change) they are no longer valid. If they player ever returns, all chips will be null and void. If he's trying to help a friend cheat? He's a moron and should have left when he had a 30K stack. If he's a drunk? Then well, he's a drunk. Nice way to piss away $10,000. If he wanted a soused adventure, he should have given me $10,000 and I would have hit him over the head with a tequila bottle and given him a hit of liquid sunshine.

I got to the bottom of the lack of All In drinks at the WSOP. They were serving All In water prior to the Main Event and now it's just regular Rio bottled water. I asked the Eastern European bartender in the back what was up. He joked that the company probably went out of business. I wouldn't doubt it. Did anyone really drink that third-rate sugar water that made your pee turn bright shades of fluorescent orange?

This is why I love Wicked Chops Poker. Hubba Hubba.

Players are going on break. When they return, they will play one more level.

* * * * *
9:01pm... Here Come the Russians?

Chipleaders: Vadim Gruzglin, Nick Maimone
Players Remaining: 684/873
Recent Eliminations: David Icke (not the British author who believes in reptilian shape shifting aliens who are conspiring among us)
Short Stacks: French actor/singer Patrick Bruel

Erik Seidel is getting a massage. Joe "Not Serock" Sebok issued a bad beat and is up to 63K. Seriously. I'm hurting for content tonight.

Johnny Mushrooms and Kara Scott are both alive, but both below average.

So who's playing from overseas?

13 Aussies
2 Austrians
6 Brazilians
2 Chileans
1 Colombian
4 Fins
6 Huns
2 Kiwis
4 Norwegians
and 21 Russians

And I think there's a hooker hanging out on the rail. I have no idea who she's waiting for.

The NL cash games are in full swing. Best time to play cash games? Over the next few days with all this dead money floating around.

* * * * *
10:01pm... 5 Levels on Days 1C & 1D?

Heard from a few sources that due to the high turnout of players expected for Day 1C and Day 1D (which is supposedly sold out), that they will play 5 levels tomorrow and Monday. That means Day 2A players will play 5 levels and Day 2B players will play 4 levels to even things out.

Again, this is just a rumor if numbers are substantially high (over 2,000 each day) and only four levels are played, there's a chance that 3,000+ players return for Day 2B.

I heart Jack Effel's audibles.

* * * * *
10:30pm... Day 1B Complete

And we're done with the smallest flight of the Main Event since the WSOP was moved to the Amazon Ballroom at the Rio. Here's some stats from Change100...

Day 1B 2006 - 2,182
Day 1B 2007 - 1,545
Day 1B 2008 (also played on July 4th) - 1,158
Day 1B 2009 - 873

Stay tuned for official information, chip counts, and a recap from yours truly.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/04/2009 02:46:00 PM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Day 37 - Main Event Day 1A: Summer of George?

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

It all began with an itch.

Every single player (1,116 to be exact) who bought into Day 1A of the $10,000 Main Event championship each had one thing on their mind... winning millions of dollars in the most prestigious poker tournament in the world. It doesn't matter about the faltering economy or waning popularity of poker. What does matter is that Las Vegas (and specifically the Rio) over the next two weeks has been transformed into the Mecca of poker. Players, both amateurs and pros alike, have traveled lengthy distances to take their shot at the big time.

Several pros have a tinge of self-awareness and know that they are a long shot to win the Main Event. While other amateurs are blinded by the tantalizing allure of seizing their moment in the bright lights while bathing themselves in stacks and stacks of money.

Dreamers. The Amazon Ballroom was filled with dreamers on Day 1A and thousands more will show up over the next three days. They each paid their $10,000 for a ticket to a lottery of a lifetime.

Yet, only nine players will advance to the November Nine. As most pros note, the worst day of the year is when they bust from the Main Event. These days $10,000 means a lot. It's a nice chunk of change even for the pros with the deepest of pockets. And for the broke dicks out there? It's just another hunk of cash that they owe their backers.

Day 1A kicked off on time. Kudos for the tournament staff for launching the Main Event in a timely matter. The only travesty was the hairy beast and the mascot from WSOP sponsor Jack Link's Beef Jerky kicked off festivities with "Shuffle Up and Deal!" Actually the Chaka on steroids couldn't even speak, but grunted the words.

Alas, just a quick reminder that the WSOP has gone corporate these days. I wished they would have focused on the rich history of the WSOP and allowed a former WSOP champion or a Hall of Famer to do the honors. After all, they survived the gritty days when poker was full of lying scumbags, cheats, criminals, and other people of ill repute. It's the elders in poker who deserve a nod and recognition, and not some a guy in a fuckin' monkey suit.


Chaka tries to eat Commissioner Pollack
Photo by MeanGene
The biggest story of Day 1A involved the number of entrants. I knew my OVER bets were toast when cash games were still running in the Amazon Ballroom at the start of the tournament. I also took note of the handful of tables utilized in the Brasilia Ballroom. Overall, only 1,116 runners were in the field on Day 1A, down from 1,297 the year before.

That number meant that last year's Main Event tally of 6,844 might not be broken. Some suits were worried about the 6,000 level not being reached. At this point, I'm guessing the overall number will be somewhere in between. 6,420 is a solid bet.

TD Jack Effel also announced that action would be reduced to four levels instead of the usual five. That was done in order to make sure the money bubble does not break before Day 3 due to the smaller amount of runners. Many conspiracy theorists suggested that the real reason was to generate cash for the various Harrah's proprieties since they're keeping more people around for the next few days while they wait to play Day 2. As much as I'm partial to my fellow media reps who sport tin foil hats and subscribe to Alex Jones newsletters, I gotta say that the staff was looking out for the best interests of the players in this instance... however, they also welcomed the byproduct of their decision... that more players will be lingering around to spend money.

Day 1A was one of the most subdued opening rounds of the WSOP that I had seen since the WSOP was moved to the Rio. Even media director Nolan Dalla had similar feelings. I told him that the room lacked a certain frenetic energy like in years past. The Amazon Ballroom and the hallways used to be a zoo with a carnival like atmosphere. Not this year. Much more mellow. I could walk from one end to the room with relative ease.

When I covered the 2006 WSOP for the PokerStars Blog, I was responsible for covering their pros. That year, it seemed like 40% of the room was filled with players who sported PokerStars gear. Hats. Hoodies. Shirts. What have you. This year? There was a serious lack of branding in the Amazon Ballroom. The only obvious branding occurred with the players who managed to reach the featured TV table or the secondary table. Agents were swarming and hounding those lucky players who were moved under the bright lights. It appeared that the three online poker rooms (PokerStars, Full Tilt, and Ultimate Bet) were the most aggressive and locked up as many unknown players as the could. The battle for the hearts and minds of online poker players still continued, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Most of the railbirds clocked to Gus Hansen's table. The Great Dane sat at Blue #5, right on the corner of the crossroads inside the Amazon Ballroom. An ESPN camera crew hovered over his table for most of the last two levels as spectators, fans, and women with wet snatches stood five and six deep to catch a glimpse at one of the more popular pros in the room. One douchebag in a wrinkled Margaritaville shirt literally shoved me out of the way to catch a glimpse. At the time, I had hidden my badge and was undercover and embedded with railbirds. It seems that drunk assholes treat their fellow spectators with the same amount of disdain as they do media reps. I told the soused Parrothead to stop pushing me and the second time he did it, I just gave him a quick elbow to the ribs. It's a dirty, yet effective trick I learned from playing basketball on the mean streets of the Bronx,. He spilled his beer all over himself and stormed off.

Most of the buzz involved the starting table with two celebrities... Nelly and Jason Alexander. Nelly's claim to fame is that he's the dude with the band-aid on his face who belted out the ever popular, "Hot in Herre." I still have no idea why there's the extra 'R' and if I get a cance to interview him, I'll ask. And Jason Alexander is most known for his role as the ultra-neurotic and sex-crazed George Costanza. Nelly busted out early on and Alexander ended up accumulating chips at a much faster rate than both his celebrity peers and everyone else in the room. When the day ended, Alexander was among the Top 31 in chips.

End of Day 1A - Top 10 Chip Counts:
1 Eric Cloutier (Canada) - 150,750
2 Redmonf Lee (London, UK) - 134,275
3 Jean Docquier (Paris, France) 122,755
4 Marcucci Gianluca (Claviere, Italy) - 118,000
5 Peter Buermann (Parts Unknown) - 117,400
6 Ebrahim Mourshaki(Irvine, CA) 116,025
7 Balazs Botond (Budapest, Hungary) - 113,000
8 Alexander Grishchuk (Moscow, Russia)- 111,875
9 Guinther, Jimmie (Hudson, NH) - 110,425
10 Arthur Rhea (Indianapolis, IN) - 109,275

Notables:
Alexander, Jason 89,575
Warne, Shane 87,625
Elezra, Eli 83,375
Olson, Carl 80,825
Schneider, Tom 79,600
Serock, Joseph 78,700
Williams, Jeff 77,550
Naujoks, Sandra 76,725
Hennigan, John 76,250
Maier, Lana 75,600
Sexton, Paul 70,350
Lunkin, Vitaly 68,300
Nguyen, Van 66,550
Jelassi, Ramzi 66,525
Mahmood, Ayaz 65,750
Fricke, Jimmy 63,425
Arnaud, Mattern 62,575
Lawson, Ted 60,000
Gracz, Maciek 59,375
Black, Andrew 56,475
Baker, Amanda 56,400
Lellouche, Antony 55,150
Pickering, Jamie 53,650
Ludovic, Lacay 53,425
Laak, Phil 53,025
Rahme, Ray 52,125
Nardi, Anthony 47,775
Rasmussen, Thayer 45,700
Pinchot, Dale 42,400
Tony G 42,325
Mizzi, Sorel 41,375
Finkelstein, Loren 41,125
Mercier, Jason 41,125
Sexton, Mike 41,000
Hansen, Gus 38,075
Baron, Isaac 37,500
Etayo, Javier 37,300
Garrett, Brad 36,625
Caby, Taylor 36,600

(Editor's Note: I only posted notables from the Top 420 players)

Controversial former hockey pro Eric Cloutier ended Day 1A as the chipleader. That made all the Canadian media smile, despite all of his tax evasion and fraud charges.

LJ ended up 71st in chips! Spanish pro/blogger Anguila also made the cut.

My buddy Carl 'The White Phil Ivey' Olson finished the day 50th in chips. A couple of Frenchies also survived along with AC pro and Borgata regular Dale Pinchot.

Aussie cricket legend Shane Warne finished in 35th overall while online pros such as YellowSub and Gobboboy all advanced to Day 2A.

Day 2A will start on July 7th, while Day 1B will begin at noon on Saturday which is the 4th of July.

Don't forget, you can follow along with my Twitter updates. My screen name is @taopauly.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/04/2009 11:11:00 AM | Permalink |

 
2009 WSOP Live Blog - Main Event Day 1A

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

This is the day that everyone has been waiting for. The 2009 WSOP Main Event starts in less than three hours at Noon (Pacific Time). The Tao of Poker will be providing coverage. I dunno if updates will come every ten minutes or every hour. That's the beauty of it all. Rest assured, this is the place to get the straight dope on the Main Event.

And don't forget, I have been utilizing Twitter a lot this summer (along with last summer). You can follow along with my Twitter updates. My screen name is @taopauly.

* * * * *
8:58am... New Tao of Pokerati Episodes

Yeah, last night I went to the Bluff party at Sapphire. Last year, it was the party of the year. This year? I have no clue, because I skipped all the other parties. This year was tons of fun as expected. Hung out with lots of friends who were attending their first ever Bluff party. How could I complain about the free booze and the strippers? I was molested by a Russian duo. I think they loved the porn stash.

As soon as I walked into Sapphire, AlCantHang had a brown chest-heavy beauty on his lap. He had his glasses off and the two largest glasses of Southern Comfort adorned the table.

Anyway, even though Michalksi could not attend due to a medical matter, I recorded two episodes of Tao of Pokerati with special guest hosts...

Episode 11.27: The Best Party of the Year with AlCantHang (1:27)

Episode 11.28: Grindcore Poker with Change100 (2:51)

For older episodes of Tao of Pokerati, feel free to visit the archives.

Time to shrug off the hangovers and go to work...

* * * * *
11:11am... Beef Jerky Spam?

There are people in red shirts wandering through the tournament area and spamming the tables with free samples of beef jerky. The Everest people have already spammed the chairs with Everest Poker seat cushions. We're gonna use the leftover ones in random throwing things prop bets.

But for the most part, it's very calm in the Amazon Ballroom. Ah, the calm before the storm.

The first song over the P.A.? Jessica by the Allman Brothers Band. Makes me wanna gobble a fist full of mushrooms.

* * * *
11:33am... Prop Betting on Main Event Runners

Lots of speculation on the official numbers. I have a few bets that are all over last year's numbers and I have one over 6,900 and 7,000. For today's action, I placed a small bet on 1,600 OVER for Day 1A against MeanGene. I have a couple of other bets 1,500 OVER for today and tomorrow.

The Shrink thinks the overall numbers will be less. "The glitch getting money out of Full Tilt and Poker Stars might affect numbers," said the Shrink.

One interesting note... the hallways are not as crowded as in previous years. Is that an ominous sign?

* * * * *
11:47am... The Doors Open...

The security staff opened the doors and allowed players and spectators to wander inside. They didn't knock down the door, like in previous years. The slowly walked inside and wandered over to their seats as TD Jack Effel mentioned a few things over the PA. Most of that was ignored as many first timers soaked up the fulfillment of their dream... to play in a WSOP Main Event.

Interesting note... the cash game area is currently running cash games. In the past, those tables were shut down and turned into Main Event tables. With Brasilia and Miranda, there's no need to convert cash game tables. After all, once players bust out, the suits want them to stick around and play cash games. Churn 'em and burn 'em.

I always tell my friends that the best time to play low limit cash games? During the WSOP Main Event. Hit up the Rio in late afternoon. Players who bust are playing and players who are scheduled to play the other days will be biding their time at the tables. Definitely find out where all of the internet qualifiers hang out... the PokerStars qualifiers are usually put up at Palms. The cash games there are more than juicy. Just ask Otis.

* * * * *
12:00pm... Wow, On Time Start!

Commish Pollack introduced TD Jack Effel who said that any player with Quad Jacks will get a special gift from Jack Link's. I think it's free beef jerky. Go figure.

AC pro and Borgata regular Dale Pinchot gave me his free bag of beef nuggets. He said I need it to keep up my energy level. I would have preferred Adderral.

Players start with 30,000 in chips. I heard whispers that they are only playing 4 levels today instead of 5. Bad idea. Very bad idea. Unless numbers are so atrociously low, this is a bad idea.

The Jack Link's mascot is here. He's like Chaka from Land of the Lost, but on steroids. The beast did the honors for "Shuffle up and deal!" I can't recall a beer can doing that last year.

Cards are in the air. The Main Event officially begins.

* * * * *
12:16pm... Donkey Down

We have our first elimination. Most of Amazon Ballroom cheered at one guy's misfortune.

I asked Otis to name five pros sitting in the section in front of the press box. He was struggling. I didn't blame him. Lots of unknown faces in the crowd. I did spot Taylor Caby and Perry Freidman and saw Ray Rhame wandering around.

* * * * *
12:24pm... Steve Rosenbloom Sighting

The infamous Steve Rosenbloom made a cameo in the press box. He's the only legit sports journalist in the building. It's an honor to be in his presence and I always learn something about life and writing.

* * * * *
1:01pm... Slim Pickins in Brasilia

To be honest, this crowd doesn't have the "feel" of a Main Event. The Amazon Room is definitely buzzing, but it lacks the intensity of previous Day 1s.

I wandered over to the Brasilia Room. Only 11 tables are used. A few others have just a dealer sitting and waiting to accommodate late registrations.

Biggest fear? Players getting shut out on Day 1D because they wait until the morning of that day to buy into the Main Event. Just a word of advice, if you want to play on Day 1C or Day 1D, I suggest you register ASAP.

Jimmy 'Gobbo' Fricke is sitting in front of the pressbox. I can keep great tabs on him for Gobbomom. He showed up thirty minutes late along with a handful of other [pros who wanted to avoid the initial crush such as The Unabomber, who quietly snuck into his seat.

Katkin told me that Nelly and Jason Alexander (aka George Costanza) was seated at the same table. Sure enough, they were. Right next to each other.

The biggest international celebrity in the room (not named Nelly, but I argue that a cricket God is more well known than a pop/hip hop star) has to be Shane Warne. He's like the Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth of the cricket world. I met him in Australia many moons ago because he's mates with Gaz, who I used to work with at Poker News. Warne can't walk down the street in Australia without a mob gathering around him. Even my British friends (who rarely display any inkling of emotion) ere giddy when I told them that I met Warne. Cricket is huge in the former British colonies and in countries like India and Pakistan and the Caribbean. Alas, this is one of the few places where Warne can just be another guy playing poker.

* * * * *
2:01pm... Who's Here?

The Main Event always attracts a handful of celebrities. This year? Jen Tilly, Nelly, Jason Alexander, Brad Garret, Shane Warne, Voitto Rintala (Finnish metal singer) and Orel Hershieser are all in the mix on Day 1A.

Change100 got a Dodgers hat for Orel to sign for her father, who is a huge Dodgers fan, but she left it back in our hotel room. On the break, she managed to score a baseball. I tried to show Benjo how to grip it and throw a two-seam fastball. He seemed unimpressed.

Other notables included Michael Craig, DonkeyBomber, Gavin Smith, YellowSub, Gobbo, and LJ who is somewhere out there in the killing fields.

Jerry Yang is here. Thankfully Oliver tweet'd his seat assignment so I can keep tabs on the former champion.

Recent Eliminations: First player of note to hit the rail? John Phan.

Still waiting on official word of the number of runners today.

On the first break, DonkeyBomber told me that he had 1,500 more than he started with. The former WSOP Player of the Year had an awful summer and cashed in one event out of something like 20 events that he played. His wife, Julie, went 2 for 2 including a final table in Triple Draw. Combined, them might have broken even for this WSOP. Anyway, DonkeyBomber, like many pros who were shutout this summer, is hoping that his luck turns around for the Main Event.

* * * * *
3:01pm... Surviving the First Break

Chipleader: Tony G (wow, will The G go deep this year?)
Players Remaining: UNKNOWN at press time
Recent Eliminations: George "The Original Scarf Boy" Danzer

Players returned from a break and were greeted by a bracelet ceremony for David Bach's victory in the 50,000 HORSE event. As I walked into the Amazon Ballroom, one online pro rushed passed me into the hallway. He refused to watch the national anthem. He was American and not being un-patriotic. Rather, he thought the entire thing was bullshit and detracted from the Main Event. He said he was here to play poker. I walked inside and stood next to Joe Sebok as they played the Star Spangled Banner.

I first wandered by one of the massage stations where six or seven massage girls gathered. They exchanged bad beat stories from the opening level. Two were absolutely disgusted at the foul smelling beasts that they had to work on. Another was shocked that a European player asked her to come up to his room on the dinner break for some oral relaxation therapy.

"I would have done it to Gus," one of them joked. "And for free to."

The first break of the Main Event is always interesting if you like to eavesdrop and listen into people's conversations. Several amateurs could not contain their excitement as they phoned their loved ones back home and told them about their progress. Some had stories about sitting at a table with a pro, while others bitched and moaned about bad beat stories. I definitely heard more international chatter. Lots of groups of five or more players from a random European country standing around chain-smoking cigarettes and making fun of Americans.

I gotta say, that I prefer the no smoking rules in the hallway. My first WSOP in 2005? It was bloody awful to have to walk through a hallway filled with thick second-hand smoke. It feels good to be able to breathe.

* * * * *
4:01pm... Where's the Hooker Bar?

Chipleader: Ludovic Lacay

Recent Eliminations: Japanese industrialist Masaaki Kagawa, online pro Mike Sowers, Belgium pro Davidi Kitai, and German pro Jan Von Halle.

Who's getting massages? Will 'The Thrill' Failla and Shane Warne.

Been hearing whispers about 1,100 entrants today, which means my overall numbers are in jeopardy along with today's wagers! Plenty of theories swirling around on the real reasons they will be playing four levels. The tin foil hat kids think this was a plan to keep the players on property to play cash games or table games. After talking to a few floor people who explained me their thought process, I'm understanding that they're anticapting a smaller field than last year and don't want the money to break on Day 2.

At least three of the members of the international press asked me the precise whereabouts of the Hooker Bar. It's become a landmark.

I walked over to the Brasilia Room and two tables were broken. They have around ten left in there.

More late arrivals included Johnny Chan and a wobbling Gus Hansen. "Gus might be drunk," said one member of the Aussie press.

* * * * * *
4:20pm... "Smoke 'em if you got 'em!"

Today's smoke break is brought to you by... PokerStars!


Just so you know, there will be a dinner break at 4:30pm. I know. Who eats dinner at 4:30pm besides your grandma down in Florida? The WSOP Main Event players, that's who. Since we're playing four levels tonight, the break is after level 2.

* * * * *
6:05pm... Grub Time Over; Two Levels To Go

Chipleaders: Ludovic Lacay and YellowSub
Recent Eliminations: AC's Nicky Frangos

Did you enjoy your Early Bird dinner specials? I wonder how players today are at a disadvantage because they didn't know about four levels and a 90 minutes break at 4:30 instead of closer to 7pm. Some poker pros are creatures of habits. They need their meds to kick in at certain times or know how long to space out meals.

We don't know how many players remain. I can guestimate that 1,100 or so were in today's event. I heard some rumblings from the dealer's smoking porch that the number might be lower tomorrow.

Benjo's buddy Ludovic Lacay is among the chipleaders. Could this be the year of the Frenchie? Or will Lacay be that guy who jumps out to an early lead on Day 1, only to fizzle out before the money? It's almost like a curse to go into Day 2 of the Main Event with the chiplead.

Gobbo, Dale Pinchot, DonkeyBomber, and LJ are all alive.

Alas, two more levels to go. I'm gonna hit the floor and check out the Poker Palooza.

* * * * *
7:05pm... Officially 1,116

Chipleaders: Dragan Galic(who Benjo says is a "Croation Donk"), DonkeyBomber
Recent Eliminations: UK wizard Chris Moorman, Aussie ad boy Mark Vos, I love this name... Wooka Kim, 'My Main Man' Freddy Deeb, AC mixed game grinder Matthew Glantz, and Nelly. Poor Nelly couldn't make it to a shortened Day 2!

It's official. 1,116.

I saw one horrible hand. All in preflop. 6-6 vs. A-5. 5 on the flop. 5 on the turn. 6 on the river. I love poker.

Norm Chad was wandering around the tournament area glad handing fans. A few were trying to convince Norm to give them face time on ESPN.

I spotted a slender Vinny Vinh roaming the hallways. I asked him what day he was playing and he shrugged his shoulders.

Marcel Luske bought me Starbucks. Chris Moneymaker wandered through the Orange section of the Amazon Ballroom. By now, all of the Brasilia Room tables have been broken. The rest of the Main Event players are all inside the Amazon.

* * * * *
8:05pm... One More Level

Chipleaders: Dragan Galic, Eli Elezra

Aussie cricket legend Shane Warne slowly walked past the press box. I wondered if he had to piss or if he went busto?

Not as much online poker room branded players like I saw in previous years. In 2006, half the room was draped in PokerStars. This year, aside from a few patches and international poker sites, the room looks fairly normal.

Still alive? Taylor Caby, Michael Craig, Dale Pinchot, and Gobbo, who's getting a massage.

The action has been mellow and lacking that frenetic energy like previous Main Events. The rail is very quiet and not a zoo. Let's see if things get interesting during the last level. Mayb more of them will start drinking and get rowdy.

Level 3 is going on a break. When players return they'll play one more night.

* * * * *
9:05pm... Orel, Yoda, and Mr. Kotter Strike Out

Chipleaders: Dragan Galic, YellowSub
Players Remaining: 910/1,116
Recent Eliminations: Orel Hershieser, Jerry Yang, Gabe Kaplan, and Perry Friedman

More celebrities goes busto on Day 1a. Mr. Kotter is nevermore and L.A. Dodger pitching ace, Orel Hershieser, hit the rail shortly before the break. Luckily, Change100 was smart enough to get his autograph for her old man before the dinner break just in case he busted out.

An ESPN camera crew hovered over former champion Jerry Yang's table. He was super short and on life support. According to Change100, he was all in preflop with "Jd7d vs. AK. 7 on flop, K on turn." And Yang hit the rail at the start of Level 4.

Gobbo lost half his stack earlier but after the massage, he's cruising as he slowly builds a pyramid of chips. He's already starting a second story on his stack.

YellowSub and Galic (who is actually German, but Benjo calls him the Croatian Donk) are among the first players to pass the 100K mark.

EPT Dortmund champion, Sandra Naujoks from Berlin, is among the chipleaders. Lots of people are curious of the German bombshell.

I asked the cashier in the gift shop about this year's sale. She said that they were not as good as last year. A couple of popular t-shirts sold out while no one has touched other gaudy items like jackets. The gift shop is selling old school hardback editions of Super System for $150.

According to Ted Lawson's wife, a player got hit by a taxi in the parkinglot on dinner break. Despite the injuries, he returned to play in the Main Event. I hope he knows a good lawyer.

So who played today? According to the official list...

39 Germans
2 Albanians
3 Belgians
5 Czechs
13 Russians
4 Fins
3 Kiwis
6 Norwegians
and 1 player from Flevoland.

I'm not making this up. His name is Stephan Swillens and he's from a small province in the middle of the Netherlands.

* * * * *
10:05pm... On the Cusp of Advancing

Chipleaders: Redmond Lee, DonkeyBomber, Jason Alexander
Players Remaining: 890/1,116
Recent Eliminations: Scandi wunkerkind Soren Kongsgaard, Isaac Haxton, David Grey, and Darryl 'Deep' Dicken

The most railbirds in the room surrounded Gus Hansen's table since he as on a corner table. An ESPN crew continuously taped Hansen until he played a pot.

I forgot to mention that Johnny Chan and Jerry Yang were at the same table before Yang busted.

French pro Arnaud Mattern rushed past the press box. It seemed like he was doing the "I can't wait for the break because I gotta piss now" walk. He returned a few minutes later and headed back to his table. Fellow member of Team Winamax Ludovic Lacay slipped out of the chiplead.

Over on the two TV tables (the featue table and the secondary table), a couple of unknown players scored a few extra bucks to wear online poker gear. Savvy agents hung out near the tables and convinced these guys to wear PokerStars, Full TIlt, and Ultimate Bet. At Sam Farha and Greg FBT Mueller's table, three guys proudly displayed brand-spanking new UB hats.

With about twenty minutes to go, players tighten up because they want to make it to Day 2. Perfect time to start picking up chips.

LJ, Gobbo, Dale Pinchot, and Carl Olson who John Caldwell was nicknamed 'The White Phil Ivey'.


* * * * *
10:30pm... Day 1A Complete

Chipleaders: Redmond Lee
Players Remaining: ???/1,116
Recent Eliminations: Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Men the Master, MrSmokey1

Wow. The fastest Day 1A that I've ever covered. 4 levels or just 8 hours of play. In that short time, Jason Alexander jumped out to the lead pack. We'll have to wait and see for official chipcounts to see how far up the food chain that the actor ended up with on Day 1A. He started the day with Nelly at his table. Although Nelly and a handful of other celebs hit the rail, Alexander flourished.

Just before the day ended, a couple of high caliber Full Tilt pros, Allen Cunningham and Andy Bloch.

Players who survived Day 1A will return to play on Day 2A... or Tuesday.

Day 1B will begin at noon local time. See you then for live updates.

And stay tuned for an official end of day recap.


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.
posted by Pauly at 7/03/2009 11:54:00 AM | Permalink |