InstaWSOP

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:

Stupid interviewing

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:

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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?