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.
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: Benjo Adieu
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: A Hooker Bar Farewell
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)
Shame on me. On August 5, I was wishing the best to my good friends at PartyPoker, who turned 7 years old last week. But I forgot about Pauly – a presumably better friend and fellow blogger and my personal podcast partner and guy whom I speak with regularly and read sometimes as much — whose poker blog, Tao of Poker, celebrated its 5th birthday on that very same day.
(Yeow Yao, sorry dude, I’m not too good with birthdays unless MySpace reminders are involved.) But yo, happy B-day, man … and thanks for all the weed inspiration, ass-kickings, and entertainment you’ve provided all these years.
While I don’t think any of the poker-blogging “old dogs” ever thought when they started that they’d still be around after five — we gotta still be in single digits for the electronic scribes in this niche who have reached that milestone — I’m sure now his fear is that he will still be around when Tao turns 15.
Poker archaeologists recently unearthed this episode of Tao of Pokerati, an ancient recording that carbon-dates back to Day 3 of the main event of the 2008 WSOP. In it, Dr. Pauly and I survey the tournament remains after the slaughter of 6,111 players and speculate on what human life is like so close to the money bubble. Ah, yes, it was a fascinating era — one that witnessed the death of Eric Morris and the survival of Ignacious Rex; a time where players Pauly identifies as “Average Joes” heavily outnumbered “unknown” pros like Pat Poels who knew all too well that further bloodshed and eventual extinction was all but inevitable.
This seems as good a time as any to share with you another leftover bonus! episode of Tao of Pokerati … where Dr. Pauly chats with Change100 (his personal fashion yogini) about Tiffany Michelle’s attire before her Ultimate Bet patchwork became such a major wardrobe malfunction. It’s sickeningly cute as this pokerblogging duo draws the fine line between rocker-chick chic and Tijuana hooker — and further fashion analysis tries to differentiate between the new-money stylings of Alexander Kostritsin, typical “online douchebag” and Mean Gene, and the poker-prep ways of Shronk and Brandon Adams.
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.
I continue to work the hallways and set up executive-journo shop this time outside the payouts cage — where Pauly teaches me how to figure out who’s really backing whom … but not before we get distracted by a player sponsorship deal taking shape right before our very eyes, as a PartyPoker representative exchanges pleasantries with guys who clearly love the show Entourage agents from Poker Royalty. (Nothing would become of these pre-negotiations, however, as the lone remaining PartyPoker player would go from chip leader to out in 71st place in less than a day — falling just 62 spots short of the ever-valuable final table that various poker bizzers are jockeying for a piece of.)
Recorded a couple days ago, as we were nearing the bubble … Benjo dropped by Tao of Pokerati studios to give his opinion on poker agents (they suck the blood out of the poker economy), France’s best WSOP hopes (they’re all gonna make the money), and how bad at poker Polacks are (can’t even win their own tourneys … zee eediotes).
For some reason that’s really kinda hard to figure out, everyone likes Mike Matusow … maybe its because he encompasses the issues of every emotionally disturbed pre-adolescent boy any of us knew or were. So when you can be entertained by his downswings, how can you not celebrate his successes and root for more? After all, if this guy who clearly got in lots of trouble in elementary/Hebrew school can do it, why can’t we, right?
That’s just a guess, really, on my part. But Pauly tries to get down to the brass tacks of it all by talking with the Poker Shrink, who happens to be working on Mike’s autobiography with Amy Calistri. And in doing so, we learn not only about Mike’s strategy that brought him to Day 5 and what he’s looking to do moving forward, but also the Shrink tells us about Mike’s performance enhancing drug use — and the mutual benefits of Adderall, a drug that keeps certain people sane and happens to help them focus on the poker at hand.
A little leftover T-o-P audio, recorded late-night on Day 2B, as I throw the entire observant media for a loop by setting up shop outside the standard media home bases for the biggest Day 2 in the history of poker. People are baffled, and some want to know who’s winning … when all we really know is that about 200-an-hour aren’t. Special appearances by a tournament floor supervisor and some Euro-friends from PokerListings, PokerStars, etc. devolves into prop-betting over the gender and race of people emerging from a set of doors.
The 2008 main event gets into the money, and 666 players in the World Series of Satan Poker experience $20,000+ of pleasure. It’s an exciting time as a bunch of people take pleasure in one man’s demise (who then get’s called up on stage to see if he can resist screaming “Fuck You!” to the whole crowd. Before all is said and done, Juan from PokerNews-España informs us of one player — Fernando Gordo — who didn’t show up for Day 3 and survives with two chips and a chair. Can you imagine how fast his table must’ve wanted to play while the others were wanting to go slow? Regardless, forget imagining … listen for yourself, and experience the only “sport” where 667th place comes with such intense agony and ecstasy.
Sorry for the brief delay in getting new episodes of Tao of Pokerati to you. Our production crew was being held hostage by our fellow podcast colleague/competitors at Poker Road and ESPN! They apparently went to all lengths possible to keep the T-O-P down, but we knew it was only a matter of time before the military arrived, freed the T-O-P crew, and deprogrammed the secret mental suggestion they implanted in the hosts’ brains to drink more and podcast less.
This special double-album episode starts out with an update from my undercover investigative reporting on the trials and travails of branding players with sticky fabrics, and from there, Dr. Pauly and I dig in to what’s at stake in some of the cutthroat agent warfare going on inside and outside the ropes during the main event.
Pauly and I step into the Poker Kitchen to discuss Ante Up for Africa — essentially the We Are the World of poker tournaments — and in doing so chew on the difference between ’80s famine and Darfur genocide, life outside the WSOP bubble, the mindset of pros playing for a good cause with a tournament underlay, and a lack of charity signage in what’s supposed to be a charity WSOP VIP lounge.
I meet up with Pauly in the Amazon Room, observing the end of Day 1A, where we speculate on on the over/under for the overall main event field size and the price of my watch. Otis then jumps in with tales of being forcibly removed from the tournament area by a mocking floorman amid fears of over-soiled chips and accusations of semi-murder at the tables.
Poker pros, poker media, WSOP execs, agents, and interns convened a couple days ago at the Sapphire Club for the Bluff Magazine party — a delightfully rancorous fête celebrating the end of regular WSOP season and kicking off the main event playoffs … and of course, Tao of Pokerati was there. In this episode, Pauly gets a lapdance, I miss my days in the strip-club biz, and Otis tries to arrange a $1,000 beer pong game with Doyle Brunson. All in all, the poker field trip to the industry’s favorite Vegas titty bar leads to lower-midstakes ballin’ at its most pathetic finest.
We take you into Tao of Pokerati studios on a random Sunday evening bustling with action. Pauly and I look at Kiddie Table HORSE and discuss how a new player-of-the-year point system — with Scotty Nguyen and Erick Lindgren at the Big Dog HORSE final table — presents real possibilities for a WSOP Triple Crown. Special appearances by Isabelle Mercier, David Benyamine, Donkey Bomber, Jerry Buss, Cyndy Violette, Richard Brodie, and Chris Ferguson.
The Daily Show had its Stephen Colbert and Happy Days gave us Mork from Ork. At Tao of Pokerati we’ve got Benjo, the sometimes Angry, sometimes -orny Frenchman. While a little drinky at the Gold Coast, the top blogger in all of Europoker stepped up to the mike for the betterment of American and non-American listeners alike. In these episode add-ons, Benjo reports on what you learn from watching poker on a colleague’s computer; Bellagio tournament chips being used to pay (stupid) hookers; and the under-the-table pressures on a grown-up French schoolboy working the WSOP …
Tao of Pokerati walk across Valley View Blvd. to enjoy cheap (but good) beer, low-stakes gambling, and conjugal visit weekend as the WSOP gets ready to kick into high gear.
Pauly and I take the Tao of Pokerati studios remote — and set up shop in the Milwaukee’s Best Light Lounge to watch the chipstacks of a PLO/8 final table (on dinner break) as Eric Seidel goes for bracelet #9 (against Casey Kastle) in what may or may not be a record final table. While Phil Hellmuth has the decades left to stay ahead of the pack, Seidel stands a better chance than Doyle Brunson of catching him, chronologically at least.
And Tao of Pokerati is all over it a day and a half ago! Listen live, or at least semi-live, as Pauly and Benjo (filling in) speculate on my whereabouts (and the Pokerati sex slave business empire) when their hardcore reporting and potential slander of California Jen is interrupted by Doyle Brunson’s cashing for $124k in the Big HORSE event.
Sorry for the ToP delays … but Tao of Pokerati gets back to the mike … this time railbirding the $50k HORSE masseuses as we have our first semi-topless guest on the show (from a distance) and question massage strategy.
All In Energy buys the shirts off the WSOP waitstaff’s backs … and fuels a large-ass playing field with All In “energy water” — meaning it’s “powered by” PokerNews proprietary water molecules that have been personally purified by Johnny Chan!
This time, your Tao of Pokerati hosts discuss the Nascar-ization of Poker, one poker-medio’s addiction to a liquid Chan enterprise, and what the success (or failure) of a pseudo-freeroll bounty tourney just before the main event means for the future of poker. Damn, that’s a lot to swallow in three(ish) minutes … hence the need for a chaser.
Yeah yeah, I know … this is really Episode 13. But Pauly and I figured this edition about hallway backing deals was a little more timely — we get ahead of ourselves sometimes — and I’m a faster typer than I am a click-and-dragger, so it’s easier for me to explain why the numbers don’t line up than it is to go in and actually change a couple file names, re-upload, click OK a few times … actually, huh, that probably wouldn’t have been too hard, but hey, I’m a busy guy … and we’re no PokerRoad.
Anyhow, a couple days ago, your ToP hosts camped out in the hallway between the Amazon Room, the Satellite Room, and the Payout Cage to discuss some hallway wheelin’ and dealin’, and end up in our own negotiation over a sliver of the action in $50k HORSE; the fine line between Layne Flack’s life coach and Eskimo Clark’s backer, too. Yep, Tao of Pokerati serves up lots for you to chew on in three minutes … but hopefully is giving you a good taste of the real WSOP.
Dan and Pauly discuss getting over the WSOP hump, and what kind of pressures build on players, backers, media, and just about anyone else who camps out for the duration — providing a glimpse of what weekend WSOP warriors may be stepping into when they fly in for a $1,500 “Donkament”. (Hi Karridy!)
Oops, I may have been drawing lots of conclusions from the WSOP about the state of the poker economy under a false assumption pretense … Tao of Pokerati listeners have probably heard me ramble incessantly about how there’s so much less online money here this year. While technically that is true … the lack of online-company hospitality suites is not necessarily a recessionary indicator. As WSOP title-sponsor Everest Poker has opened up a suite, and other European sites have partnered up to open “The Champions Lounge” … the real reason that there’s no Full Tilt suite, no PokerStars Lounge, etc. is simply because sites that accept American players aren’t allowed the Rio exhibition space this year.
Will seek confirmation on this … but until then, just know that wherever poker’s fiscal health stands, the pure Europeans will be the ones living the cush life during the main event this year.
I swear this isn’t some sort of tribute to Pauly just because his heart recently skipped a few beats and his head may or may not be more messed than usual … his car accident just reminded me: Oh shit! I forgot to post the next podcast … um, I mean are you OK? Need anything? OK … yes, so WSOP … post podcast.
This time Dr.P and I take a leisurely stroll through the Amazon room while discussing bad t-shirts, sunglass technology, and the relationship between Milwaukee’s Best Light, the WSOP, college kids, and Annette_15.
Today’s topic is cliche imagery at the WSOP. Frankly I think Pauly and I hardly scratch the surface this go-round … but we do shed some light on old guys using Doyle Brunsony scooters, broke suckers that just won’t go away (and a new dynamic in rail-sweating as everyone looks for their piece of a shrinking poker pie), and, in ‘08, the relative lack of hussies and swag.
Lance Bradley wrote a prescient article in the current issue of Bluff highlighting five online young-guns to watch out for at the 2008 WSOP, and two weeks into it, all of them had cashed and then some. But at the same time, they’ve hardly dominated or taken the Series by storm. In this episode, Pauly attempts to educate me on who’s who when it comes to crossing over from online studliness to WSOP success. Durrr, Gobboboy, Yellowsub, and Good2cu, previously of the shipithollabolla crew, et al.
Facts and Figures from the WSOP so far, at the end of play early Friday morning:
Number of entrants: 20,141
Bracelets awarded: 20
Most cashes: Nikolay Evdakov - 5
Most final tables: Theo Tran, Erick Lindgren - 2
Current ESPN POY: Erick Lindgren 175 points
Leading money earner: Grant Hinkle - $831,462
A review of the week 2 action at the World Series of Poker:
Today the good doctor and yours true venture into the new 65-table Brasilia Room … and contemplate what a $2,500 PL Hold’em/Omaha tourney in this new locale may or may not mean for the WSOP, and what it says about the state of the greater Las Vegas economy. Yo … heavy.
The ladies event is always, um, special. In this episode Pauly and I scope out potential sugarmamas from the remaining $1,000 no-limit hold’em field as the female players fight to get deeper into the money.
I didn’t get to the Rio until way late yesterday — like 11:30 pm — so you’re getting yesterday’s episode today … which seems strangely appropriate considering in this episode Dr. Pauly and I are watching Vinny Vinh and his ever-encouraging railbirds at and around the final table in the $1,500 limit event from the Milwaukee’s Best Light No-Limit Lounge.
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.
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