2010 WSOP Day 9: God Save the Queen Reprise and Seven for Men

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV


Snoopy is the Oracle.

One of my favorite British writers made me look like a genius. During the first week of the WSOP, I catch up with the European press and they let me know who's hot, who's not, who's broke, and who's MIA. Just the other day, I had a long talk with Snoopy about British players I should keep an eye on all summer. Based on what he told me, I penned a post, The Marvelous British Invasion.

Snoopy is admittedly very British -- he's polite, reserved, and extremely humble. Here's an example...

I blame the Queen. She's taught us to be too reserved. Is it only Brits who apologise when someone bumps into them. If I bumped into one of the douchebags here at the Hard Rock, they'd probably yell, "Watch where you're fucking going," and tell me to get a tan. Even if I did say sorry, he probably wouldn't understand me. No one seems to understand what I'm saying here...I wouldn't mind, but even when I am understood, people ask me what it's like living in Australia.

When Snoopy suggested that 2010 is going to be a good year for the Brits, I took that as an understatement. I ran around booking as much as I could on a British player winning another bracelet (Praz Bansi had won one a day earlier).

"We have a couple of young hotshots emerging," Snoopy said. "Like James Dempsey, Sam Trickett, James Keys, Dan Carter and Stuart Rutter. If Chris Moorman can get a bit of luck at the right time he can win (a bracelet) this year."

James "Flushy" Dempsey was the first player that Snoopy mentioned. 48 hours later, he won his first bracelet. Coincidence?

Snoopy is the Oracle. Does that make me Morpheus? And where do I get the red pills? And if I did score the red pills, how much can I sell them for in front of Starbucks?

I wish I had talked to Snoopy before I placed my Belmont Stakes wager. I'm gonna start consulting him on all prop bets even if he doesn't know squat about pro basketball.

I recall the infamous and feisty Flushy (born James Dempsey) back in the day on the Blonde Poker forums. I first came across Blonde Poker, a website owned by Dave Colclough and Tony Kendal, shortly before the 2005 Main Event. I had met one of the Blonde Poker reporters, Jen Mason, who posted updates on (mostly) British and Irish players in their forums. Blonde Poker covered events all over Europe and I befriended many other Blonde reporters over the years -- Jen, Snoopy, Homer, Dana, and Rod. I soon discovered that the British scribes at Blonde and elsewhere were amazing writers... Simon Young, Howard Swains, Stephen Bartley, Marc Convey... just to name a few. One of the best parts about covering the EPTs were getting to hang out in hotel bars with the Canadians from Poker Listings (Owen, Marty, Showell), the Brits from PokerStars and Blonde Poker, a random German blogger, Mad Harper, and one chain-smoking Frenchman (Benjo).

Sorry for the tangent... Flushy was infamous on the Blonde Poker forums for being the player who got banned the most.

"That's probably why he bought Blonde Poker," said Dana, former Blonde reporter.

Flushy owns a piece of Blonde Poker (exact details unclear -- my contacts from the UK are currently getting sloppy celebrating a second British bracelet since Wednesday) and he's been known to stake a stable of the young Brits in town for most of the summer. In one of those weird twists, although Flushy backs a lot of players, he is currently staked by Chris Moorman.

"Staking a staker?" Snoopy wondered. "Bit of a paradox, isn't it?"

Moorman's instincts would be right because Flushy.

The Stud 10K Championship was reserved for the TV stage, while the PLHament played out on the Beef Jerky stage in front of what used to be the Beast Light Lounge. A gaggle of Brits on the rail brought their own booze when they couldn't flag down the cocktail servers who were bringing tray after tray after tray of mixed drinks and beers.

Flashback. 2006. WSOP. I walked into the Tilted Kilt and ordered a Stella. Conrad, a British colleague, gave me tons of shit for ordering "wife beater beer" because that's the beer of choice for British white trash. Since then I've also called it Wife Beater Beer, and whenever I've ordered Stella in front of a British writer or player, they always gave me shit.

OK, so the Brits busted my balls about Stella, yet forty or fifty of them were pounding Beast Light... in cans. I did that in the 90s in my fraternity when we were shotgunning Beast cans for breakfast, doing an hour of power (Beast fueled) before poli sci class, and then trying to construct a bong out of an empty can.

Much like the night when Praz Bansi won his bracelet, a united front of Brits cheered on and supported their fellow countryman. I'm giving them guff a bit with the "binge drinking" slander. In reality, Brits are very shy and reserved. I'm guessing that they need to have a few beers and cocktails in them in order to loosen up and find the liquid courage to get a little rowdy. The booze must have helped.


JJ
Flushy thwarted JJ Liu's shot at a bracelet. I dig JJ. She's one of a kind and sticks out of the crowd. I have no idea what she's wearing or how she comes up with her ensembles, but I always envision her as a character from from a futuristic Philip K. Dick sci-fi thriller... maybe like a cabaret singer in a hole in the wall club, or the grieving widow of a millionaire but who is also a suspect in his murder.


Heads Up in the PLHament
JJ busted out in third place, and although Steve Chanthabouasy began the final table as the chipleader, he couldn't hold off Flushy and his overwhelming crowd of supporters. The Brit won his first bracelet, and for the second time this week, we will hear God Saves the Queen played at the Rio. The staff played the "proper" version for Praz's ceremony on Saturday afternoon. Don't forget to ask before playing the Sex Pistols...

* * * * *
Bouncin' Round the Room on Day 9....

Let's just kick things off with an oldie but goodie. Back by popular demand...

Last 5 Pros I Pissed Next To...
1. Eric Mizrachi
2. Fossilman
3. David Chiu
4. Nick Schulman
5. Minneapolis Jim Meehan

Event #14 NL Triple Draw: You gotta love these "fetish" events with 250 runners. DonkeyBomber busted out just before Day 1 ended. Also in the field but busting... Archie Karas and Annette15. Chino Rheem ended the day in the Top 5 in chips.

Event #13 Donklus 2.0: Only a fucking rookie would set foot into the Pavilion to check out Day 1A of a Donkulus. I have nothing to report. The only reason I went inside the Pavilion was to investigate a monster cleavage (as pointed out by the Poker Grump) inside the cash game section.

Event #12 Limitament: I lost interest in the event when Liz Lieu busted. David Williams and Terrane Chan were both going deep. I have to give Chan an edge here. He's won three LHE events online and might be one of the best limit players who advanced to Day 2. The Devil advanced to Day 2 and he was seated near one of the pressboxes. I happened to be passing by his table when the Belmont stakes went off.

Event #11 Donkament Day 2: The money broke early on Day 2. Sadly, LJ busted out on the first hand on a cooler. I didn't really sweat this event but had to wade through the donkey guts because the re-start was played out in front of the media box.

Event #10 Stud 10K Championship: 12 players returned to action. One of the tables featured The Grinder, Brandon Adams, Men the Master, and MrSmokey1. The other table included two Russians, Joe Cassidy, and Dan Heimiller. I have to say something about an un-hygienic Men the Master. I don't mean to bust on him, but I'm a germ-freak these days and saw two Men sneezes that horrified me. On Day 1 and Day 2, I saw Men the Master sneeze into his hands, then rub it on his jeans, only to reach for chips moments afterwards. Sweet Jesus. If you get a strain of the Men Flu this summer, you know who was patient zero. Dan Heimiller bubbled off the final table.

Nikolay Evdakov and Vladimir Schmelev started the final table 1-2 in chips, while the Grinder began as one of the short stacks. Men the Master was in usual form -- drinking, tanking on every hand (even with no TV as noted by FTrain), and he even slow-rolled Brandon Adams. Stay classy, bro.

Schmelev couldn't get anything going and tumbled out in 7th. The Grinder busted in 6th, which meant no chance at a second bracelet. Joe Cassiday went out in 5th, and the other Russian in 4th. Men the Master took out MrSmokey1 in third place. And then only two were left....


Men held a 3-2 edge in chips over Brandon Adams when heads up began. Men the Master struck first and extended the lead. Adams could not overcome the powerful (and shitfaced) Men the Master and he bowed out in second place.

With the Stud victory... Men tied Phil Ivey and Billy Baxter with 7 bracelets.

Cliche of the Day: Mike Matusow bitching about chip counts on Poker News.

Photos courtesy of Harper/Benjo/Wam-Poker