We\’re 19 players away from the magic evil bubble at the start of my writing this post. Hands began to accelerate dramatically — lots of all-ins over the past half-hour, almost frantically so — and now here come the brakes … and the time where the (knowledgeable) big stacks superbully, the pros pick off blinds and antes, and everyone else, like Iggy, folds folds and folds their way into the money, or, of course, out of it.
UPDATE: 17 players away … now 15.
Damn, maybe I\’m wrong, but I really expect this thin to come to a screeching halt. They\’ll be going hand-for-hand once they get down to 9 players before the bubble — the hope being that three or so will drop out right there upon announcing the hand-for-hand grind. Think about it … going h4h with nearly 75 tables, with lots of major decisions on the line.
The players I\’m paying attention to:
Team Pokerati
Pat Poels — about 210k
Whit Blanton — looks a little more nervous, though really he\’s fine, with about 140k
Friends of Pokerati
Raj Kattamuri is scooping pots every time I check on him. He seemed to be up over 400k last I saw, though fyi, my margin of error on his stacks could be + or -100k, because he\’s just got so damn many. Phil Hellmuth is at his table, btw.
Danny Fuhs — not sure of his status. Sorry, unofficial media shut out at this point, and official media has no mention of him. But about a half-hour before bubbletime, he had 100k or more.
Pokerati Also-Rans
Iggy is up to 112k in chips.
Tiffany Michelle is short stacked in the 50ishk area, and is doing what she has to do — not afraid to push all-in, which she did with AK, only to get a call from a big-stack
Kido Pham — Dallas guy who started out strong, is now clinging to life, and accused me of being \”not nice\” by taking a picture of his tiny stack. \”I have lots of readers in Dallas, though,\” I told him, \”They want to know how you\’re doing.\”
\”But I told my friends in Dallas I already busted!\” he answered, \”so they stop texting me.\”
Jeremiah Smith — He\’s supposedly running good, and different media members are already starting to talk about his destiny. Raising all-in with 6-9, getting called by queens and a flop of 7-8-10 is pretty much the definition of \”running good.\” But most curious to me about this former employee of PokerWire is that he\’s wearing a Hard Rock Poker Room shirt. The Hard Rock Poker Room, of course, doesn\’t exist yet. But it will in August. Wondering what\’s his gig there.
UPDATE: We are at H4H — 674 players remain
Other Pros et al.
These players also have caught my attention for some reason or another:
UPDATE: We are 3 away from the money, going H4H.
Victor Ramdin — 511,000
Sean Sheikhan — 510,000
Gert Jans — 530,000 — some amazing PokerStars Swedish bad-ass, who has been at Iggy\’s table most of the day
Jon Friedberg — 448,000
Matt Matros — 448,000
Hoyt Corkins — 355,000
Chip Jett — 340,000
Brandon Cantu — 330,000
Alex Outhred — 320,000
Phil Hellmuth — 310,000
Gus Hanson — 310,000
Evelyn Ng — 305,000
Hasan Habib — 300,000
Mike Matusow — 295,000
Larry Wright (Texan) — 290,000
Robert Mizrachi — 290,000
Steve Billrakis
Allen Cunningham
Nenad Medic
Ray Henson (remember him from last year)
Jean Robert Bellande — 213,000
Johnny Chan — 194,600
Van Nguyen — 190,000
Hevad Khan — 178,
Bubble is bursting … sorry, gotta presh publish.