When Team Pokerati-er Whit Blanton rivered a royal flush at the Hard Rock at the beginning of the Series, I publicly congratulated him but inside poo-pooed his blurry handheld photography. But after flopping one of my own while playing 2/5 NLH at the Rio last night, I think I have a better understanding … as you kinda can’t help but be shaking a bit.
Click below for the uneventful details of how the hand played out:
Scooters are a ubiquitous part of any big poker event .. but at the WSOP NLH-Seniors Day 1 — with 2,707 runners — the Amazon and Rio Convention thoroughfares became more like Sturgis at 4mph.
It seems fitting that Greg “FBT” Mueller won his bracelet on “hockey day” — being that he’s a former professional hockey player. I’m sure that will make his win last night in $10k Limit Hold’em all the more memorable. The Stanley Cup’s presence will also make the 2009 WSOP a special one for Mean Gene, who took this fawning pic of the silvery list of hockey champions in front of the silvery wall of poker champions, as well as others with the Cup in the Amazon Room. I do suppose it isn’t often when an inanimate object gets such celebrity treatment.
Admittedly, hockey is far from my favorite sport. Even hailing from St. Louis Blues country, I’ve never been a hockey fan. So as the NHL Charity Shootout sponsored by PokerStars was underway on the ESPN stage, I wasn’t exactly compelled to check it out.
The decision to grab a pic was more for Pokerati readers than any other reason, but when the security guard told me I wasn’t allowed in the media area, I used Twitter to express my dismay. Within a matter of minutes, WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack was at my work station. “Come with me,” he said in a way that made me think of card counters being taken into the back room to be roughed up nicely. He took me to the NHL game media area, told the security guard I was to be allowed in, and let me know that he simply didn’t want the media to have a bad experience with this event. Done and done. (Later, I’ll see if my new BFF wants to hang out at the clubs.)
Back to the event, three tables full of NHL stars, poker pros, and online qualifiers will play out, and the winners will return to play the final table at 7:30-ish tonight for big money to be donated to their charities of choice. ESPN is filming all of the fun, and Mean Gene is anxiously (understatement of the week) awaiting the arrival of the Stanley Cup around 7pm. Here are a few pics of Table #2 that is still playing out in the Amazon Room.
Covering the afternoon coverage of Sunday afternoon at the WSOP:
Roland de Wolfe became the second player (after Gavin Griffin) to win poker’s Triple Crown (Winning a WSOP bracelet, WPT main event and EPT main event) with his triumph in the $5,000 PLO 8 or Better event, defeating Brett Richey in heads-up play. Dual Omaha bracelet winner Scott Clemens finished in 3rd.
Sweden’sTomas Alenius defeated Jason Tam heads-up in the $1,500 Limit Holdem event. Day 3 chip leader Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri finished 3rd. Fortunately for the WSOP staff, they have Sweden’s national anthem already downloaded.
Round 5 of the $10,000 NL Holdem Heads Up World Championship is down to its final 16 competitors, with one more round of play before the winners return on Monday. Among the survivors: Jason Mercier, Mike Caro, Leo Wolpert, Roberto Romanello, Bryan Pellegrino, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf, Johnny Chan and WSOP runner-up in 2008, Alec Torelli.
A larger than expected field of 436 started the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha event, with 153 returning after the dinner break. The unofficial chip leader is Jesse Rios, with another four levels of play to finish the day.
The $1,500 HORSE event started about three hours ago and a field of 770 left the starting gate. No established chip leaders at this time, but they have eight levels of play to leader going into the first turn. Check out www.wsop.com and give Pokerati a visit during the rest of your Sunday evening/early Monday morning.
We love spreading rumors based on limited information and wild speculation here at Pokerati … but sometimes we can’t help ourselves from setting the record straight …
Padraig Parkinson was on the Poker Show earlier today (www.pokershowlive.com) telling a story about the disappearance of Bill Smith’s picture from the Amazon Room. The rumor supposedly was that lawyers for the deceased 1985 main event winner’s estate wanted Harrah’s to pay a bunch of money for the right to put up his image.
NOT TRUE!
The “real story” is that Harrah’s simply can’t find any pictures of Bill Smith ‘85. He’s not alive, of course, and has no known living relatives, according to WSOP officials who have tried to find them. In fact, they would love to locate a picture of him so they can have a banner of him for the historical record next year and beyond. In fact, they’re so eager to find said image, that the WSOP has partnered with Pokerati to offer a reward for any assistance.
So if you can find such a picture — any picture! — you will get a Pokerati T-shirt and $30 worth of food comps in the Poker Kitchen.
(Nice!)
Smith, who died in 1997, was originally from Dallas and spent his last years playing private games around Texas.
UPDATE: We found one. Blow up and pay up, WSOP!
RE-UPDATE: WSOP says no dice, they need higher “quality”. Pfft, whatever.
Here’s something that’s different this year … a self-service sports-betting terminal at the cash-game cage:
Frankly, I’ve hardly seen anyone use it, but hey, sometimes user hesitance has to be expected when it comes to cutting edge gambling technology. Should be super cool if they can ever turn it into an iPhone app.
Word about the payment processor shizznit was definitely part of the buzz around the Rio today. We should know in about a week whether this is poker’s version of the swine flu, or if it spreads into something far more significant. Supposedly Full Tilt checks are back to clearing. However, at least one major PokerStars affiliate had his check bounce — and that’s money he lives on.
Seen in the Amazon cash game area (reading a story in the New York Post):
UPDATE: Oops, maybe swine flu wasn’t the best comparison.
Before Pauly skipped town to go all hippy on the leeward side of the Appalachian Trail, he and I had a little chat about the press setup at the WSOP (with an unintentional guest appearance by TD Steve) in which he gives off a tell that he might be serious about blowing this joint … And then we have another chat about what goes into backing bloggers in bracelet events and the general strategy employed by guys like Tony G putting players into a donkament.
presented by:
Tao of Pokerati at the 40th WSOP
Las Vegas, NV
The implementation of this year’s WSOP bracelet ceremonies have been a hit thus far, as play is stopped in the Amazon Room for Jack Effel and Jeffrey Pollack to announce the previous day’s bracelet winners, award them the bracelets and Harrah’s Diamond Rewards cards, and play the national anthem(s) of the newest WSOP winners. In general, it seems to go over well each day with players, fans, and media alike. Today? Not so much.
Ville Wahlbeck is a Finnish player, and his ceremony culminated in the playing of the Finnish anthem. Not sure what the song actually was, but Benjo reported that Finnish players seemed perplexed. And according to Benjo’s conversation with Wahlbeck, it was NOT the Finnish anthem. Whoops.
Yesterday, media row received a visit from Dan Frank, owner of a relatively new player representation company called Top Set. He announced that there would be a “can’t miss” formal introduction of the company just after the start of today’s ladies event.
We watched from media row as a line of people marched into the Amazon Room with a bright-lighted camera filmed the entrance. Led by a petite woman, Frank followed, as did a string of rented ladies in Top Set logo’ed skimpy-ish t-shirts and tight pants, and they all paraded around the room. After taking the long route and finally ending up at a table, the lead woman sat down to play in the event, and the rest of the crew took places on the rail to cheer her on. Who was this woman? No one knows. And the Top Set website said nothing whatsoever about her, as there is no woman even listed as one of their clients. None of the media recognized her. And, she was out of the tournament by the end of the first level. Serious flop.
Just talked to one of my dealer sources — a reliable one, with decades worth of experience, not the sort who just likes to bitch after blowing a night’s worth of tips playing video poker … and she tells me, “In the six years I have been dealing here [at the WSOP] this is by far the worst.” She says she knows the economy is bad, “but this year they stiff you all the time. More of them.”
The worst game for dealers is supposedly 7-card stud (no relation to previous post), where she is regularly making $2-$3 a down (a half-hour shift).
Her best down so far has been $57. “But that only happened once.”
The tables that provide the best, or at least most reliable tips: $2/$5 no-limit, and $5/$10 PLO. “But never the highest stakes [$25/$50] PLO. Those guys never tip.”
Two WSOP bracelets were awarded early in the morning on Monday, but the recipients were not new to earning some hardware. First, Vitaly Lunkin took down the 40th Annual $40,000 NL Holdem event, outlasting Isaac Haxton after a three-hour heads-up battle that will surely be boiled down to a few hands on ESPN when it airs in July. After Haxton had knocked out Greg Raymer in 3rd place (the former World Champion earning $774,927), he held a dominating chip lead over the Russian, who won a bracelet last year in a $1,500 NL event. A few hands later Lunkin would take the lead, only for Haxton to take control again. Eventually though, Lunkin’s AA would crush Haxton’s bottom pair on the final hand to earn $1,891,012. Haxton was also able to walk away with a 7-figure payday, earning $1,168,566.
As Dan mentioned in the post below, Thang Luu defended his title in the $1,500 Omaha 8 or Better event for $263,135. Ed Smith, the chip leader at the end of play on day 2, finished in 2nd for just over $162,000. Ming Reslock finished 3rd ($106,373).
More stuff on the next page:
More…
The $1,000 NL Hold’em Stimulus Special looks to be a huge success, as day 1a appears to be sold out with at least 2,800 entered. There’s still some room for tomorrow’s day 1b, but it looks like that field will also be maxed out before play gets underway at 12 noon today. The WSOP Staff Guide projected 5,305 entrants and that has already been exceeded, so I’ll take the cheap win and take the over with a field of 5700 who will eventually play this weekend as the WSOP staff finds a few additional tables to put on the floor to accommodate the field.
The 40th Annual $40,000 NL Hold’em event returns for day 3 action today at 2pm with 23 players playing down to Sunday’s ESPN final table. Justin Bonomo will start action as the chip leader with 2,678,000 in chips, Ted Forrest in 2nd with 2,586,000, and David “WhoooKidd” Baker in 3rd with 2,367,000. Greg Raymer is the last remaining World Champion in the field, in 4th place with 2,287,000. Other notable names include Alec Torelli, Dani Stern, Matt Glantz, Isaac Haxton, David Chiu, Neil Channing, Andy Black, and Andrew Robl.
The $1,500 Omaha Eight or Better also comes back at 2pm today with 197 players remaining from their record field of 918. 2008 winner Thang Luu appears to have returned to his winning form, as he’ll start play today as the chip leader with 73,600 in chips. Other notable names remaining in the field include Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Todd Brunson, and Brandon Cantu. Their final table is also scheduled for Sunday, although with much less exposure than what will be a mix of live and online stars of the 40k event or the WSOP Champions Invitational event, which also starts on Sunday. More to come today, with an update soon (?) if the Stimulus Special has sold out.
8am Update: Under 80 seats left for Sunday.
10:30am Update: 5,839 registered from Da Commish’s Twitter
Earlier this morning, Andrew Cohen became the first bracelet winner of the WSOP as he took down the $500 Casino Employees event. Cohen, a bartender at the N9ne Steakhouse at the Palms, took down $83,833 and will take part in the first bracelet ceremony of the Series at approximately 2:20pm in the Amazon room. Paul Peterson, a barback at the Mandalay Bay, finished 2nd.
At 2pm, the 40th Annual $40,000 NL Event will start their day 2 with 89 players remaining. Bruno Fitoussi will start play as chip leader with 812,500 in chips. Chris Moneymaker is close behind in 2nd with 805,000, with Justin Bonomo in 3rd with 738,000. With the final table scheduled for Sunday, it’s likely they’ll play down to the money today, which will be the final three tables.
The next bracelet event on the schedule will begin at 12 noon with Event #3, $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better. Last year, Thang Luu won $243,342 in a field of 832. This year, the WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 916 for today’s event. Taking into account that tomorrow will be day 1a of the $1,000 NL Holdem “Stimulus Special”, taking the under on this projection looks like the logical play here. I’ll suggest that the field size will be closer to 850. You can check out the WSOP site for updates during the day to follow the action and to see how right or wrong I guessed. More stuff from the rest of the team during the day.
Play officially began for the 40th World Series of Poker as Phil Hellmuth and Jeffrey Pollack bellowed the immortal “Shuffle Up and Deal” for event #1, the $500 Casino Employees tournament. A smaller than expected field of 866 entered the Amazon Room to take part including known names such as Bellagio TD Jack McClelland, Marsha Waggoner, and two-time bracelet winner Pat Poels. Play ended when the money was reached at around 1am PT with 81 players (including Team Pokerati member John Harris). The chip leader going into today’s play is Cesar Chavez (not to be confused with Cesar Chavez) with nearly 110,000 in chips. Those players will return at 2pm to play down to the first bracelet winner of the Series.
The first open event at the WSOP also has the highest buyin for a no-limit holdem event. Event #2, the 40th Anniversary $40,000 NL Holdem starts at 12 noon. Players will start with 300 BBs (120,000 in chips), so don’t expect too much action on day one of the four day event. What will be highly anticipated is the number of entrants for this event. Most are expecting around 225-300 to try and get themselves on the ESPN final table on Sunday afternoon.
My first over/under prediction didn’t go so well, as I was over 200 off and was below the WSOP Staff Guide’s projection for the Casino Employees event. I’ll try to get myself to 1-1 by stating that the field will be well over the 150 projected by the WSOP, with a final field size of 237. More updates to come as the day progresses.
Day 1 of the World Series of Poker is a misnomer, really. Much of the Amazon Room is still being put together, as is the ESPN feature/final table area, and the media room was dark (well, awfully bright, actually, but without staff to hand out press passes). Many of the hallway displays were still being constructed or had not yet even arrived, and cash games were still being played in the Rio poker room in the casino. However, pre-registration was open as promised, and satellites were in full swing in the Convention Center area.
Players were anxiously getting their game on in the satellite room, looking to be some of the first to win their WSOP event seats via the mega-satellites. And there were a few excited faces walking down the hallway after having purchased their first WSOP seats. But the hallways were relatively empty, as they will not be again for the next 50 or so days.
Today is Day 2, when Event 1 allows the casino employees to get their games on before the madness begins. And that will lead us to tomorrow, which is officially noted as Day 3 but will offer up the first of the much-anticipated big WSOP tournaments - the $40K buy-in NLHE (Event 2) - as well as the first final table, which will award the first WSOP bracelet of the year to a casino employee.
At noon today, the World Series of Poker officially gets under away with the first event, the $500 Casino Employees tournament. Yesterday, the Amazon Room officially opened for registration, cash games and satellites, especially the first of two $1,570 mega-satellites for Thursday’s $40,000 NL event. An early report of someone who paid the full $40k yesterday afternoon said he was the 14th to register.
What will hopefully be a daily feature is attempting to outguess the WSOP by doing mythical over/under bets on the field size for each WSOP bracelet event. The WSOP Staff Resource Guide has made projections on the number of entries for each WSOP bracelet event. Last year, this event took place towards the end of the WSOP with Jonathon Kotula, an employee at O’Sheas on the LV Strip, winning $87,929 in besting a field of 980. The Resource Guide set the projection for this year’s Casino Employees’ event at 1,023. I say take the over, as closer to 1,100 will be ramming and jamming their way to tomorrow’s final table. Live coverage of this event will be minimal, but any other news that comes out from the Rio will surely be reported by someone on Team Pokerati, so check back this afternoon for more news.
The WSOP unofficially starts at 9am today as the Amazon Room at the Rio opens for registration, cash games and satellites before the tournaments begin Wednesday with Event #1, the $500 Casino Employees tournament. That’s as good a reason as any to do the preview for this year’s World Series of Poker, so here’s some things to look out for during the Series:
The 2008 World Series has come and gone and will most likely, in a little less than three months, will come again. In the meantime, while cleaning out the computer(s) we’ve come across these “lost” episodes … recorded in the tail days of the main event. But this is everything … there’s no more, OK? At least not for now. So if you’d like to step back into the WSOP for just a few minutes at a time to the vocal stylings of yours truly and Dr. Pauly, by all means, have a listen/download. Some of it actually seems a little extra interesting with the benefit of a month-or-so of hindsight.
For the entire WSOP season click here.
The heretofore unheard old-new episodes, salvaged from the cut-and-pasting room floor:
Episode 30: The Cost of Donuts
Grubby joins the media to talk main event numbers and the price of trendy donuts in today’s oil economy. (3:19)
Episode 31: Scotchy Poker
Dan+scotch early in the WSOP day=talk of Dario Minieri and Isabelle Mercier. (4:02)
Episode 32: French Warfare
Benjo takes over the mic when Dan calls in drunk, and he and Pauly talk more about Isabelle Mercier live from the Day 2 killing fields. (5:14)
Episode 33: New York & Texas
Michele Lewis joins in as Dan and Pauly break down the difference between Texas and New York humor, or at least the difference between Pauly and Dan. (2:40)
Episode 34: Go Team!
Dallas’ Raj Kattamuri is going deep, and Pauly tracks down Dan in the poker kitchen to find out what it takes to be patched up on Team Pokerati. (2:37)
Episode 35: No Wiener
Benjo is not his usual jovial self as the main event comes to a close and he bids farewell to his American friends in the penultimate WSOP episode of Tao of Pokerati. (4:41)
Episode 36: Unhookered
The traditional late-late night poker-blogger farewell binge drinking at the Rio’s Hooker Bar, with guest appearances by Otis and Mean Gene. (3:29)
Pauly’s got up a great recount up of our whole Tao of Pokerati experience at the WSOP. But guess what, we’re not done yet … still have a few more episodes to share with you, and Brian Balsbaugh and Oliver Tse our agents are in negotiations with French authorities over possible continuation of the show.
Meanwhile, one leftover episode — actually it’s a 6-minute double-episode — that seems particularly timely with the benefit of hindsight was recorded from the dead-center of an emptied out Amazon room, shortly after Tiffany Michelle busted out in 17th place. Here Dr. Pauly and I survey the atmospheric damage as “the last hope” of the main event exits the building … and I argue that she was the only one of the final 27 players with true Chris Moneymaker potential — meaning her performance wasn’t so much about her own abilities to win big cash as it was about the future of poker. Comparisons to Scotty Nguyen and college basketball as well, before one of your not-so-gracious hosts goes through severe WSOP separation anxiety.
Today’s the final day of play in the Amazon Room, as the 27 players remaining will play down to the November Nine, as those players scatter around the world an the vultures agents that represent them in an attempt to maximize the profile and sponsorship potential of a relatively unknown group of players looking to win just over $9m early in the morning of November 11th.
To see those final 27, head to page 2:
More…
Just outside the Amazon Room … seriously, this one makes little sense to me. I suppose it’s a reminder that while you can take the World Series out of the trailer park, you can’t take the trailer park out of the World Series?
After it was decided to play one more level after the dinner break, the tournament staff decided to suspend play with just over 38 minutes remaining in level 19. Two possibilities: Since play started an hour later on Friday, ending it at the same time as the other Main Event days would seem right. Also, there was 21 full tables of 9 players when play was suspended. so that there wasn’t a disadvantage to the other tables.
The leader at the end of day 4 is Jeremy Joseph with over 2.18m in chips, Nikolay Losev is 2nd with 2.11m in chips. 46 players start play today with over 1m in chips, among those players include Brandon Cantu, Shawn Sheikhan, Alex Outhred, Mark Vos, David Benefield, and Gus Hansen and Allen Cunningham. Phil Hellmuth is the final remaining Main Event winner with 581,000 in chips.
Tiffany Michelle, Kara Scott, Minna Ritakorpi, Karen Manfrede, and Lisa Parsons, make up the remaining female players. To see how everyone will be seated today, head to page 2:
More…
About 215 players head towards their 90 minute dinner break, knowing that they’re only playing one more level when they return around 9:45pm. At that point, they should be under the magical 175 figure tournament director Jack Effel had mentioned when play could possibly be stopped early. Saturday is scheduled for another 5 two-hour levels, while on Sunday they play down to the final 27.
The chip leader appears to be Jeremy Joseph, currently atr 2.8m in chips, 1m more than Brandon Cantu in 2nd. Today’s been a moving day for many pros (live and online), as Allen Cunningham, David “raptor” Benefield, APT winner David Saab, and Alex Outhred have moved into the top 10, More notable names left include Phil Hellmuth, Gus Hansen, Mike Matusow, Hoyt Corkins, Raja Kattamuri, Chip Jett, and Adam “roothlus” Levy. There’s less than 10 female players left (Alana Morin leads the ladies with 1m in chips), but two of them are more known for their work in front of the microphone, as Tiffany Michelle (Pokernews reporter) and Kara Scott (EPT hostess) survived the dinner break as well.
More updates later, as the Amazon room gets more deserted by the elimination…
474 players remain when play starts again at 1pm, some happy to have made the money, others hoping for a much bigger prize later this year. Brian Schaedlich, who started day 3 with over 800,000 in chips, ended up with a much smaller stack of 22,000. The leader at the start of play this afternoon appears to be Jeremy Joseph, who will have about 1,470,000 to start play today. Jeremiah Smith, the one time tournament reporter over at www.pokerwire.com, will be in 2nd with 1,300,000. Alan Jaffray, who tried to enter the ladies’ event earlier in the Series, is among the top 10. Other notables include 2008 Aussie Millions winner Alexander Kostritsyn, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, Shawn Sheikhan, Phil Hellmuth, Hoyt Corkins, Mike Matusow, Raja Kattamuri, Johnny Chan and Chad Layne looking to keep their head above water in the killing fields that make up the Amazon Room. Another 5 two-hour levels are scheduled for today, will play start slowing down now, or does the carnage continue unfettered? We’ll know more for certain later this afternoon.
To see where your favorite remaining player is starting, head to page 2:
More…
First, some belated congratulations to the winners of the tournaments that started on Monday. The media tournament was won by Brett Collson of pocketfiveslive.com (he donated his $5,000 prize to the Wounded Warrior Project. The casino employees winner was Jonathan Kotula, who works at the O’Sheas casino on the LV Strip.
Day 2b of the Main Event started with almost 2,400 players looking to play again tomorrow for day 3. The dinner break started a few minutes ago, and about 1,400 players are still in action today as they finally got everyone into the Amazon Room at the Rio. The current leader appears to be Steve Lade, who has about 380,000 in chips. Notables near the top: Day 1c leader Hennig Granstad, Victor Ramdin, David Singer, a much slimmer Thomas “Thunder” Keller, Nenad Medic, Evelyn Ng and Chip Jett. You can follow all the action when they return around 8:45pm Vegas time at the WSOP website here.
More updates later…
Another sign of the changing times?
Doyle Brunson busted out of the main event yesterday, and for the first time in as long as I can remember — at least all the way back to 2005 — he exited the Amazon without any announcement or applause. He just hobbled out the side door on his crutch, with a single ESPN camera and boom mike trailing behind.
Truth is, from what I understand, this had more to do with some recent changes to mid-tourney announcement duties. Regardless, unintended consequence or not, some will see it as a blasphemous shunning of poker’s anointed pope, while others might recognize (finally) that in this new poker era, the game is bigger than any single player.
That’s two cashes so far for Schneider. This one paid a net $1,743. Congratulations-ish, Tom.. Nice to book another win, and this one should cover two or three of the many dozens of blinds you’ve defended poorly in the cash games! Don’t call it a comeback!
I ran into Angry Julie in the poker kitchen late last night shortly after Tom had busted out, and she was unusually happy. Giddy, I’d even say. She was buying herself a Krispy Kreme donut and Tom an ice cream using the $15 food voucher you get for playing in a WSOP event. Informed that she wouldn’t get back any change, she looked at the guy behind her in line and said, “How much is what he’s having? ($8) Great, his too!”
The dude was super-thankful, but before he could walk away with a smile, she stood there and wouldn’t let him leave until he tipped the cashier. “Not until you put at least a dollar in there,” she said, pointing to the tip basket in front of the register. I know what Tom would think if he saw this: “Leak.”
Meanwhile, Tom thinks Pokerati should be all over the continuing saga of the Donkey Bomber POY Banner. “My picture the only one without a light - rodney dangerfield,” said a text he sent to me yesterday. I checked, and it’s true — everyone else has a big beam accenting their mugs. But considering that I have to sit right below his banner and I don’t want any additional glare, I think we’ll stick to keeping you posted about his feats busting out of a tournament with only nine tables to go.
With apologies … not even close to the Greatest Deadpan … but it’s getting late here in the Amazon room … (of course the night is just getting started everywhere else in Vegas). Has me wondering why the Amazon room isn’t the Amazon.com room? Poker players like books and other stuff. Or at least they used to.
There’s a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ going on in the Amazon room … The cash-game quadrant is absolutely packed, and the feature-table stadium is going arbusto about something … what I have no clue (kinda weird how the media is prohibited from going places where the general public can; story for later perhaps) … but apparently there’re three righteous internet kids poppin’ for a bracelet in the $1k NLH+R … so lots of excitement and buzz as we kick into the graveyard shift. Only downside: the ATM in the hallway is out of cash.
Meanwhile, on Court 2, I just watched an exciting Razz hand … Tom had supposedly been hemorrhaging chips, and he was in a hand with a total Ginger, who had a very strong 3-5 in the hole, against Tom’s 6 then 4 showing. Robert Goldfarb and another Schneider sweater were going pop-out-of-their-chair nuts when there was all sorts of raising and calling and Tom didn’t even have a made hand yet! By the time he got a 3 on 6th street Goldfarb practically Panteragraphed Tom’s hand to everyone in the small $10,000 World Championship of Crazy Mixed Games quadrant — “RrrrII know he’s GOT an 8 higggghhhh!!!”
Sure enough, Tom check-raised on the river, and the little Ginger called … Tom’s stack was suddenly close to healthy again, and the table broke, as they were now down to 16 players.
UPDATE: They’re down to 14, and Tom’s pretty short-stacked … about 68,000 chips … avg. stack is 280k. He just put a brand-new black hoodie on — I suppose it’s time to get serious. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m feelin’ like 12th, maybe 11th place. Either that or 4th.
Dealers are taking their seats for the $2,000 NLH event that’s about to start — cards in the air in 20 minutes, supposedly … and suddenly, out of nowhere, we have “I Feel Good” blasting on the loudspeakers in the Amazon Room, which is semi-sealed off to keep the players from entering right now.
I wanna make fun, but I think the music thing is working. It’s hard to be grumpy with the tunes going. (I don’t know the name of the song they’re playing now, but it’s pretty uppity, too.
UPDATE: Snake and Charles have educated me … that song was “Jerk It Out” by The Caesars. Simultaneously appropriate and frightening. They also inform me that this musical start has been a daily thing ever since the marching band played.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4h9HBn8Q60
With that in mind, I have decided to open up my shared iTunes playlist for anyone who wants to pick up some Pokerati songs. Right now we’re listening to Trivium’s “The Deceived,” which is about the feeling you have after an opponent shows you a big, successful bluff:
There are 35 big banners hanging up around the Amazon room — a pretty cool ring-of-honor thing going on — honoring 38 years of main event champions and four players of the year … and I couldn’t help but notice one of them doesn’t belong. [Insert Tom joke here.]
Chris Ferguson, whose banner lords over the 75/150 Omaha-8 game that has been going on all night and through the morning, commemorates his 2000 win over TJ Cloutier. But look a little closer and you’ll see this photo is hardly authentic — it bears a Full Tilt logo … branding op for a company that didn’t exist at that time. All the other banner mugs feature pics from the feat in question.
UPDATE: Actually there are two of them like this … The picture of Dan Harrington supposedly from 1995 shows him fully decked out in 888 and Pacific Poker gear.
Good morning. I hope you are having a wonderful day. I am here at the WSOP in the post-wee hours … pretty much just to show up Pauly. And to that extent, I’m gonna bounce around the room a bit, saving and posting as I go along …
Speaking of … funny coincidence. As I was writing this, I had my iTunes on random, and this dueling-recorders interview between me and Pauly in 2005 just happened to come up. Good stuff-ish:
OK, so anyhow, yes … the early hours at the WSOP … things never stop here in the Amazon room, but they do slow down dramatically — no tourneys going on, just five tables of cash action, ranging from a 2/5 NL game where the tired players are mostly just trading chips for the benefit of the rake … to a $25 7-stud game where stacks are in the thousands.
As much as I generally don’t like mornings, the pace here during this time is much more my speed.
The media room at this time:
While just about every change at the WSOP this year has been an “improvement,” one terrible thing — no more free coffee for the media 24/7. Making matters more difficult pre-poker times: the kitchen is closed.
The added bathrooms for the WSOP are a reminder of poker’s trailer-park roots (and its outhouse present).
But poker players expect certain niceties, so where else but the WSOP can you expect to see a port-a-pot with hardwood floors?
UPDATE: The slow period must be over … a sixth table just opened up in the cash area — it’s either a 2/5 or 5/10 game. That’s kinda funny, btw, to think how slow five tables is here — and yet how thrilled any poker room I know would be to be spreading 5 tables of NL (ranging from 2/5 to 10/20), some Omaha, and a big game of 7-stud hi/lo?
Even in Vegas, there’s poker going on elsewhere from the WSOP. The Rio itself has left its Westside poker room open — really, I bet it’s more than a mile away from the Amazon room — offering $1/$3 NL, plenty of low-stakes limit, and $2/$5 NL games with a waitlist more than a dozen long. In previous years the Rio shut that room down during the WSOP. But this year it’s open … and it’s boomin’.
There’re also two other tournament series going down in town that coincide super-intentionally with the World Series to offer a high-thrill tournament experience for buy-ins in the hundreds as opposed to the thousands. Basically you’ve got the Minor League World Series at the Venetian (Deep Stack Extravaganza II) and Little League World Series at the Golden Nugget (Grand Series of Poker). I actually wrote about these two poker festivals over at Thrillist this week … along with some info about a kick-ass new steakhouse at the Monte Carlo, a cool near-daily free happy hour that moves around town, and an apparatus you can attach to your penis for greater comfort at the poker table and beyond.
Check it out, and of course sign up if you want a Vegas-minded weekly email of this important-service ilk …
I can already tell one of the top-quality media sources during the WSOP will be RawVegas.TV.
Check out how their red-carpet vid of a Bluff Magazine pre-WSOP kickoff party at Tao (the nightclub, not “of Poker“) gets a better interview about poker and the fun side of poker lifestyles than anything you see shot in the Amazon room hallways, and even probably what will end up on ESPN:
In this vid not only will guys like Ed get to see a boppity, cleavacious Jennifer Tilly talk about how and why poker players talk about quitting but don’t really mean it, but also they get to hear about Phil Laak’s freak-of-naturely impressive sperm count and how that may or may not lead to strategy-based pillow talk with a cougar.
I’ll also be interested in following RV’s WSOP video blogs from Patrik Antonius, David Williams, Phil Hellmuth, and Daniel Negreanu. These sorts of things have been tried before with moderate success (Negreanu’s were always good), and now that there’s one place where you can find a handful of them regularly with a little party-hearty mixed in — in high-quality video that always seems to work — how could this channel not become Must-See Internet for any serious poker geek following the World Series every summer? [via Wicked Chops]
Yesterday was an easy Day 1 of the 2008 WSOP. Well, in truth, it would’ve been easier had I not been hung over short-tempered out of sorts. But some solid sleep, quiet time at home last night to catch up on articles, and attitude adjustment have done wonders. I’m here with bells on for Day 2.
The empty Amazon Room had a more exciting vibe this morning than yesterday. Before players were allowed in, dealers settled in, and semi-funky tunes were blasted over the intercom system. Michele Lewis did a little running-man demonstration on the media perch, and I did a little chair boogie. Lighter mood to start the day…
And then the players were allowed into the Amazon Room for the first $1500 NLHE event. Yikes! The music kept going as everyone found their seats and got ready for the biggest tournament of the WSOP outside of the main event. Today is maxed out with players in the satellite room and two areas all the way inside the Rio casino. Though a little overwhelming, this is what the World Series is all about. Certainly more amateurs in this field than pros, but it makes for an anything-goes kind of day.
Even though the music stopped once the cards were dealt, there is still some excitement in the air. (Sorry, the poker geek in me is showing.)
The WSOP got underway with a bang and a band. The UNLV marching band entered the Amazon Room with a rendition of “Viva, Las Vegas,” followed by a bit of an uncomfortable silence that was broken by welcome announcements from Jeffrey Pollack and Jack Effel.
Pollack told the crowd of gathering players and media that bracelet winners from years past and going forward will be given Diamond status at all Harrah’s properties around the world. Not a bad perk for the players. A few other welcoming comments and new rule advisories from the duo, and the cards were in the air.
And we’re off. Or we’re on. The $10,000 Pot Limit Hold’em World Championship has begun, and though we still await the final numbers, it looks like about 350 players signed up for Event #1. The cash games are buzzing, media is getting settled in, and players are excited to be here, with the exception of those who have already busted.
More updates to come!
We’re still trying to figure out the best way to let you know what people are posting over on the Citizen Stack Reporter page … but in the meantime I’ll let you know that we just got word from Tom that his oversize head is now up, lording over the Amazon room, as if he’s actually somebody important. Visual confirmation TK.
UPDATE: Big picture of Tom=Yuck
From Tao:
There’s a new mural of the DOnkeyBomber right above my head.
“DonkeyBomber stinks,” said Lance.
I’m thinking… BO? Shitty poker player?
“Smell the banner. It’s brand new and has that chemically smell.”
I inspected the banner and took a huge whiff. Wow. talk about a buzz. My head is still spinning.
Took a little trip over to the Rio today to check out the set up. Good things so far.
The Amazon Room was empty except for the ESPN crew setting up the stage, Harrah’s employees finalizing the set-up of the room, and a few cash game players wandering in. The Rio seemed to be trying to get the cash game players to the Amazon Room before they close the casino poker room for the WSOP.
The satellites were getting going around noon in their separate room (where the poker kitchen and media room were in 2007), and a handful of players were sauntering in. Greg Raymer was roaming around the hallways, already being stopped by the few tourists who walked down to see if the WSOP had begun.
While the poker kitchen itself wasn’t open for business, I could see that it is in a building where the poker tent was in 2007. It seems like a much sturdier structure than that tent - more like a shed, a really large shed. Don’t know what’s on the menu, though, since it was closed. BUT, there are numerous other food options set up at different points in the hallways. Besides the full bar (yum!), there was a Pizza Hut stand that offered its signature pizzas, along with salads, sandwiches, and fruit bowls. Directly across was a Java Coast coffee stand with a Krispy Kreme donut oven ($2 per donut!).
Best of all, there was a huge sign for a sushi and noodle kitchen! Set-up is not complete, but the thought of having some great sushi available makes this Cali girl quite happy.
It seems that the Harrah’s/WSOP folks have listened to space and food complaints and made some very positive steps in the right direction. Good times and food ahead!
(On the way to the car, Eskimo Clark was on his way in - alive and kickin’ and presumably lookin’ for backers! Some things never change…)
