WSOP Live Blog - Day 28

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Today is gonna be one of those crazy, hazy, summer days at the World Series of Poker. Hookers trolling the floor. Spain vs. Russia. Day 2 of HORSE and sweatin' the DonkeyBomber. Erik Seidel chasing down his 9th bracelet. Plenty of action everywhere. Lots of friends in town. A quick trip to the Rhino for the afternoon shift. Oh and it's Change100's birthday.

Back to five events today.

Event #43 $1,500 PLO8 - Final Table
Event #44 $1,000 NL w/ Rebuys - Day 2
Event #45 $50,000 HORSE - Day 2
Event #46 $5,000 NL Short-handed - Day 1
Event #47 $1,500 Stud8 - Day 1

Erick Seidel will be trying to win his 9th bracelet after he made his 26th final table at the WSOP. He's running hot this year. Runner-up at Aussie Millions. He won a WPT event at Foxwoods. Now this...

Event #43 $1,500 PLO8 - Final Table:
Seat 1: Joseph Haddad (Portland, OR) - 135000
Seat 2: Tom Chambers (Chicago, IL) - 263,000
Seat 3: Larry Wright (McQueeney, TX) - 117,000
Seat 4: Chad Burum (Grants Pass, OR) - 117,000
Seat 5: Michael Fetter (Vallejo, CA) - 288,000
Seat 6: Casey Kastle (Chicago, IL) - 188,000
Seat 7: Jon Maren (North Andover, MA) - 377,000
Seat 8: Martin Klaser (Rheinbach, Germany) - 337,000
Seat 9: Erik Seidel (Las Vegas, NV) - 340,000

And Anguila is in Vegas to play Event #46 but he's conflicted because his hometeam Spain is playing Russia at the same time that the event kicks off at noon. I told him to grease a floorguy to put on the game for him.

Also playing today are a couple of Blue Parrot alum... Coach and Dawn. They are battling in Stud8 which starts at 5pm. The BlueParrot was a regular home that I used to play in back in New York City hosted by our buddy Ferrari. Both FTrain and I have cashed in previous WSOP events and we're hoping that two more BlueParrot players can do the same.

* * * * *
11:41am...

Poolside at Scheckytown. Waiting for Spain vs. Russia to kick off. Today is Change100's birthday. Stop by her blog, Pot Committed, and send her birthday wishes

* * * * *
12:42pm...

Wow. Scoreless first half. Tied 1-1 0-0 at halftime. I love that Irish guy doing the studio halftime report. You know he's got a cocktail underneath his desk and sweating a huge bet on Spain.

* * * * *
2:04pm...

Go Spain. 3-0 over Russia. Weeeee. Spain vs. Germany in the finals.

BadBlood is here and we're gonna do the Procedure. Drinking. Strip Club. Poker. I can't bring my laptop into the Rhino, so you'll have to follow along on Twitter.

* * * * *
4:01pm...

Returned from a visit from the afternoon shift with Bad Blood and MeanGene. I drew the drunk stripper who said that she's been on Prozac for three days. Sloppy is the best way to describe her. As far ability goes... she was below average. Stories? Man, she had an abundance and wouldn't shut up. Stay tuned for another installment of Existentialist Conversation with Strippers.

Event #43 PLO8 Final Table: Down to 6. Seidel is third in chips. Casey Kastle is the chipleader.

Event #44 NL Rebuys: Down to 83. Almost bubble time. Brandon Schaefer busted out recently and did not cash. Joe Tehan out in front.

Event #45 50K HORSE: 13 to go. Three people busted on Day 2; David Levi, Chris Bjorin, and Diego Cordovez are busto.

Benjo updated our prop bet list...

Benjo
Barry Greenstein : 153,700
Doyle Brunson : 137,000
Mike Matusow : 103,300
David Chiu : 71,700
David Singer : 17,900

Pauly
Rob Hollink : 149,400
Mike Sexton : 141,700
Andy Bloch : 101,100
Marcel Luske : 96,200
Daniel Negreanu : 54,200

Of course, the guy I tooled on yesterday, Chris Reslock, is in first place in chips. Erick Lindgren and Finnish boy toy are also at the top of the leaderboard.

Event #46 5K Short-handed: Hevad Khan is one of the chipleaders. No reports of random outbirts and crazy dudes running around with chairs on their heads. Gobboboy is still in but shortstacked. The Eggman and the Unabomber just busted. Shaniac, Liz Lieu, Phil Hellmuth, and Fabrice Soulier are also dunzo.

* * * * *
4:20pm...

Today's smoke break is sponsored by PokerStars!



* * * * *
5:11pm...

Event #43 PLO8 Final Table: Still 6 to go. Seidel third in chips. According to Pojo, he's only played like 4 hands today.

Event #45 50K HORSE: Ray Dehkharghani. Get to know that name. He's the chipeader, and holds a slight lead over Bill Chen.

Tom Schneider is in full blown DonkeyBomber mode as has the hoodie up. He has 138K and stuck at a tough table with Mike Wattel, Andy Bloch, Johnny Chan, and David Grey.

Michalski sighting...

My brother sent me a text and said that my beloved NY Knicks got an Italian player. I'm not thrilled. Is this the next Fredric Weiss?? At least Isaiah the Cancer is no longer with the organization.

The intertubes have been acting up. "It's been great for 27 days. But today it sucks," explain Nolla Dalla to the Rio's tech guy.

Massages: Bruno Fitoussi, Katja Thater, Patrick Bueno, and Nick Schulman are all getting rub downs.

Bill Gazes was fiddling around with his backpack before he pulled out a huge notebook. He scribbled something down in between hands.

Johnny World, Rafi Amit, and Jack Effel were joking around about something.

* * * * *
6:20pm...

Event #43 PLO8 Final Table: Down to 5. Seidel is 4th in chips.

Event #45 50K HORSE: Durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr is one of the chipleaders.

Down to 125. Recent eliminations include... Annie Duke, Andy Black, Frank Kassela, David Grey, David Woo, and Ram Vaswani.

Tony G on life support. The G is one of the shortstacks. He's about to get on his bike and pedal home.

Isabelle was moved to Patrik Antonius and Daniel Negreanu's table.

More spectators on the rail taking pics with flash. The floor guys have to give them a friendly reminder every time a white light goes off. Of course, when that happens, I get a minor flashback.
* * * * *
7:03pm...

Event #43 PLO8 Final Table: Down to 4. Seidel is third in chips with Casey Kastle up front. We will see just how bad Seidel wants the bracelet. He knows that you don't get too many chances these days, so this might be his only shot this year.

Event #44 NL Rebuys: Down to 41. Denmark's Rene Mouritsen is the chipleader. Scandi leading the rebuy event? Yep.

Event #45 50K HORSE: 121 and counting. Players are slowly busting out like Tony G, David Singer, and Soheil Shamseddin.

Benjo's pick David Singer is busto. I hold a slight edge in our bet.

Isabelle likes her new table. She went from one of the middle stacks to one of the bigger ones.

Lyle Berman getting his shoulders worked on by a masseuse.

DonkeyBomber has the hoodie up and is getting his back worked on. He has about 130K.

Event #46 5K Short-handed: Gobboboy still alive.

Event #47 Stud8: Coach had 2800 the last time I checked.

* * * * *
8:04pm...

Event #45 50K HORSE: Down to 112 players. Young Russian Alexander Kostritsyn is the chipleader. Isabelle 6th in chips. That makes Mean Gene happy.

Several more bustouts including Bruno Fitoussi, Brian Rast, Hoyt Corkins, Johnny World, Jesus, and Chau Giang.

Sherkhan Farnood is shortstacked and getting a foot massage. Dario is getting one too.

DonkeyBomber still hovering around 130K.

Matusow has been warming up over the last 30 minutes. You can hear him ranting and raving from all the way up in the press box. He seemed much more calmer and subdued yesterday. Wonder if it is time for more Adderall?

* * * * *
9:39pm...

Listening to Jerry Garcia Band.

Event #43 PLO8 Final Table: Down to 2. Seidel busted out in 4th place. No 9th bracelet for EK. Boooooo. I was hoping he'd win one this year. I suddenly lost interest in the final table. In case you were one of the hordes of Tao of Poker readers from German, Martin Klaser has a decent lead over Casey Kastle for the bracelet.

Event #44 NL Rebuys: Down to 21. Nordberg is still alive. JC Tran recently busted along with Nicolas Levi from France.

Event #45 50K HORSE: Players are back from dinner break.

Down to 109. Recent eliminations? Alex Kravchenko and Eli Elezra.

Shortstacks? The brother of the Grinder and Gus Hansen.

DonkeyBomber had 130K. He's had that all day it seems.

Abe Mosseri and some dude named Doyle Brunson are the chipleaders. Isabelle still running strong and in the Top 5 in chips. She left Las Vegas for a couple of weeks to attend to her ill mother. She returned just in time to play HORSE.

Event #46 5K Short-handed: 210 left out of 805. 2+2 vet Steven 'Cornell Fiji' Ware is the chipleader. Elky is up near the top of the leaderboard. Gobboboy is still alive. Antonio Esfandiari and Beth Shak recently busted.

Event #47 Stud8: Coach is out. He ran into some tough hands. BWOP is shortstacked and Dawn is up to 5K. Johnny Mushroom has chips. "Stud hi/lo is my game!" he joked.

* * * * *
10:34pm...

"Benjo has lost it," deadpanned Otis. "He's tossing water bottles around like a monkey chucking his own feces."

Event #43 PLO8 Final Table: Martin Klaser won the bracelet. Third bracelet for Germany and another bracelet for the Europeans.

Event #45 50K HORSE: Down to 98.

Recent bustouts: Gus Hansen, Mike Sexton, David Benyamine, Howard Lederer, Perry Friedman, and Jason Gray.

Chipleaders: Patrick Bueno, Barry Greenstein, Doyle Brunson, mig.com, and Alexander Kostritsyn.

Maureen Feduniak and Tom McEvoy wandered over to say hello to TJ. Nick Schulman is sitting next to TJ. I dunno if he was alive when McEvoy won the Main Event in 1983.

Girl on girl action! Isabelle Mercier is getting a massage from one of the hot masseuses. Both Jan von Halle and his wife Katja Thater are getting simultaneous massages of two different tables.

* * * * *
11:42pm...

Just got rivered playing PLO on Full Tilt. Booooooooooo.

Event #45 50K HORSE: Down to 91. Currently on Level 10. Will play two more levels tonight. Should get down to around 83 or 84 tonight.

Recent eliminations: Allen Cunningham, Greg Raymer, Patrik Antonius, Nick Schulman, Hasan Habib, Tim Pham, David Chiu, Markus Golser, John D'Agostino, and the brother of the Grinder.

Big stacks: Patrick Bueno, Erick Lindgren, mig.com, Douglas Ganger, and Raymond Davis.

"Yes, yes, yes!" screamed Mike Matusow before he jumped up and unleashed a couple of fist pumps. I didn't see the hand, but I heard Matusow's reaction to it. Everyone in the Amazon ballroom heard it. When I caught up the table, the dealer was pushing two mounds of orange chips towards Matusow.


Photo courtesy of PokerNews.com

* * * * *
12:54am...

The after midnight edition. By now, the room is only filled with drunks and degenerate gamblers. Only the diehard media reps are here covering the last level of play in HORSE.

Event #45 50K HORSE: 75 players left.

Recent bustouts: Last year's champion is out. Freddy Deeb = busto. Jennifer Harman, Dario Alioto, Kirill Gerasimov, Johnny Chan, Bill Gazes, Toto Leonidas, Jan von Halle, and Dewey Tomko.

Big stacks: David Bach, Barry Greenstein, Patrick Bueno, Erick Lindgren,and Mike Wattel

On life support: Todd Brunson and Thor Hansen.

DonkeyBomber Watch: Tom Schneider not looking good. He slipped to 35K.

Benjo was excited since a Frenchman held the chiplead for a while. Although I picked David Benyamine to win it all in an article for PokerNews, he busted out early and it was Patrick Beuno who was out in front of the star-studded field as action passed the Midnight hour.

* * * * *
2:01am...

Event #45 50K HORSE: Down to 69, dude.

Big stacks: Patrick Bueno, Barry Greenstein, Chris Reslock, David Bach, and Mike Wattel

Recent eliminations: Mike Matusow, Ted Forrest, Tom "DonkeyBomber" Schnieder, Todd Brunson, and Change100's favorite player... Too Wang Fu.

Sadly, DonkeyBomber is nevermore. He went out in 75th place. My horse in the HORSE event is out. Oh well. I think it was a worthy investment and I'd take a piece of the DonkeyBomber anytime.

I gotta say that it was a lot of fun having some of my cash in play in the 50K HORSE event. Sure it was only a tiny percentage compared to the staking that some of the big dogs were doing, but that didn't matter. For the first time, I knew what it felt like to be that guy on the rail wanting instant updates on his horse. I had a nice backer's high for almost two days. With DonkeyBomber's departure, I can focus on the Spain/Germany match on Sunday.

* * * * *
2:40am...

That's it. HORSE Day 2 is complete. About 67 players are left. Michael Binger and TJ Cloutier busted out in the last twenty minutes.

Day 3 will start at 3pm local time. See you then.

Thanks for reading. I'm outta here............


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

WSOP Day 27: HORSE - Day 1

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

The average American household earns roughly $50,000. Husband. Wife. 2.5 kids. Car. Dog. Picket fence. Apple pie. Atlanta Braves baseball. God bless America.

148 players forked over the equivalent of one year's salary for the average American to play in the HORSE World Championship event at the World Series of Poker. Think about that for a second. Poker players are putting 50K into play at a shot to win close to $2 million. Only 16 players will actually get paid prize money. So 132 players will leave empty-handed after they pissed away $50,000.

What kind of material items you can buy with $50,000? How many years of college tuition can $50,000 pay?

You've seen those "feed the children" commercials where a bloated and emotionally high-strung Sally Struthers openly weeps for the cameras and guilt trips you into sending her foundation money after seeing photos of emaciated African kids covered in flies. For only the cost of a cup of coffee, you can feed all the starving children in the world.

There are campaigns where you send $8 a month or roughly $100 a year. At that equation, one buy-in to the HORSE event could feed 500 starving children for one full year.

Or how about an example in more practical terms in a manner that my readers can relate to... if you are a pothead, $50,000 can buy you 15 pounds of the dankest bud on the planet. If you are AlCantHang, $50,000 can buy over 2,000 bottles of Southern Comfort.

The third ever 50K HORSE event kicked off at 5pm. Pros usually arrive several minutes late to regular WSOP events in order to avoid the rush and the crowds. But the HORSE event is one of the rare moments when pros arrive several minutes before game time in order to hang out and chat with some of their friends and colleagues that they have not seen in a while.

Pros mingling with other pros. Talking shit. Swapping percentages. Sharing gossip. Repaying loans. Prop betting Phil Ivey. And everyone wanted to hug Isabelle.

DonkeyBomber paced back and forth like a caged Lion while Doyle Brunson stood behind him and was interviewed by a camera crew. The bright light from the camera illuminated Texas Dolly's million dollar smile.

Jeff Lisandro wandered over to talk smack with DonkeyBomber. Nenad Medic and Mike Matusow exchanged pleasantries but didn't show off their new bracelets.

The HORSE event also attracted a second wave of media. Otis and his PokerStars crew arrived including Harold, Bartley, Lina, and Maridu (who had been around - but playing in events, kicking ass, and taking names). There were plenty of hugs exchanged in the press box with more European press giving each other double kisses. Yeah, for the first time since Day 1, there were random vultures that I had never seen before who arrived just in time to pick apart the leftover flesh on the pros who perished over the five day slaughterfest.

I saw some familiar faces that you'd expect to see in the 50K HORSE event like last year's champion Freddy Deeb. And then there's the Big Game regulars like Minh Ly, Chau Giang, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Jen Harman, and Barry Greenstein.

A few pros played the HORSE for the very first time such as German pros Katja Thater and Jon von Halle.

"This is the biggest event we've played to date," mentioned Jan. "We're excited."

It was a good day to be a German, since Germany beat Turkey earlier in the day in the European Championships semi-finals.

Charlie made an announcement that the HORSE tournament area was for media only. A couple of agents and other poker leeches slithered away into the sea of gawking spectators.

At 5pm on the dot, Jeffrey Pollack grabbed the mic to bust out the jams. He said that the HORSE "bracelet is tweaked up just a bit with a couple of extra karats and diamonds."

Tweaked? When I hear that word in Vegas I think about a bunch of tatted up guys in wife beaters cooking up a batch of crystal meth in the Redneck Riviera.

Then reality set in. Pollack asked everyone for a moment of silence for Chip Reese. A last minute reminder that poker is just a game. But was 50K HORSE just a game? Hell no. It was a bare-knuckle brawl and I got a second row seat from high up in the press box.

148 warriors entered the Amazon room. Only one will leave. And that lucky soul will walk away with the most prestigious bracelet at the WSOP and almost $2 million in cash. Oh, don't forget that cheesey WSOP branded coffee mug and the $100 food comp that all of the HORSE players were given before the event began.

Bring out your dead. Gigli on Day 1 was Jamie Pickering. The Aussie strip club owner donked off 50K pretty quickly and busted out first. Tony G took the honors last year. His fellow Aussie Pickering followed suit this year. Also out on Day 1? David Williams and God himself... Phil Hellmuth.

Isabelle Mercier played at the table right in front of the press box. She actually sat right in front of Benjo and the PokerNews' crew (which included Change100, Logan, and Mean Gene). You gotta know MeanGene was nearly jizzing in his pants being so close to Isabelle. She looked perky and actually glowing. Maybe she was excited to be sooooo close to MeanGene?

I have seen many moments in poker. Nothing is more erotic than watching Isabelle Mercier eat a banana.

Of course, the highlight of my night was watching the chick with huge tits stumble into the playing area just as the players were returning from their dinner break. At first I though a drunken tourist snuck past the security guard and wandered up to Marcel Luske for a photo. She then wandered over to Negreanu's table and then to Gus Hansen's table. It turned out she was a working girl hawking her wares. In the middle of the HORSE event. Talk about perfect timing.


Hooker photo courtesy of Wicked Chops Poker
Yesterday I wrote about the dumbest hookers on the planet who tried to cash in Bellagio tournament chips which they got from their johns. Well the working girl who crashed the HORSE tournament might have been the smartest prostitute in Las Vegas. She knew those high rollers and ballers didn't have time to stop at the Hooker Bar. She went right to the source. I wonder if any of those guys are knocking boots with her as I write this?

Yes, Las Vegas is the place where can you have hookers delivered to your table. God bless America.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

WSOP Day 27 - Live Blog

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Today is the first big day at the 2008 WSOP. The five-day $50,000 HORSE extravaganza begins at 5pm. Personally, I feel that 50K HORSE is the most important event at the WSOP, especially with the Main Event final table delay this year.

Who knows what to expect. It could be exciting. It could be totally lame. Bottom line... 100+ of the top players in the world will be in the event along with a few people you say, "Wait? How the hell did XXXX get staked for this event?"

I was fortunate to get a piece of 2007 Player of the Year Tom "DonkeyBomber" Schneider. My money, albeit a small amount, is in play today in the HORSE event. So I'll be definitely be keeping an eye on DonkeyBomber's progress.

There are four events today with one final table...

Event #42 $1,000 Seniors NL - Final Table
Event #43 $1,500 PLO8 - Day 2
Event #44 #1,000 NL w/ Rebuys - Day 1
Event #45 $50,000 HORSE - Day 1

Here's the final table for the Seniors...

Event #42 $1,000 Seniors NL - Final Table:
Seat 1: Marc Fluss (Scottsdale, AZ) - 873,000
Seat 2: Charles Wood (Austin, TX) - 531,000
Seat 3: Ed Clark (Sacramento, CA) - 504,000
Seat 4: Martyn Wilson (Bridgnorth, UK)- 454,000
Seat 5: Peter Silverstein (Houston, TX) - 435,000
Seat 6: Dale Eberle (Akron, OH) - 1,414,000
Seat 7: Fred Berger (Slidell, LA) - 518,000
Seat 8: Dan Lacourse (Toledo, OH) - 1,364,000
Seat 9: Jerry Yamachika (North Las Vegas, NV) - 558,000

* * * * *
12:01pm...

My tech issues seemed to be resolved. I sent my buddy Daddy to investigate. He was equipped with a roll of duct tape and a blow torch. The result? He fixed the intertubes and sent me a cryptic text that read " Anyone ever jerk off into an old mitten? And if so, did you blow into the thumb part, or the combined finger section?"

I'm 35 years old. Most of the people in my life are mentally imbalanced souls, degenerate gamblers, drug fiends, and compulsive masturbators. And those are my close friends.

Arrived early to prep for HORSE, which means I got here early and bet on the O/U for the total number of runners today. I think it's gonna be 169. I have several bets for UNDER 170, UNDER 175, UNDER 180, and OVER 155.

Off to watch Germany vs. Turkey in the Final Four of the European Championships.

* * * * *
1:54pm...

The Germans won 3-2. The feed went out due to a lightning strike, so I went on slight-tilt not being able to sweat my bet. Anyway, the Germans advanced to the finals and I have them to win it all. Spain plays Russia tomorrow. I bumped in Anguila from Madrid. He's in town to play the 6-handed event on Thursday which is set at the same time as Spain's game. He wondered who he has to grease to the get the game on one of the big screens.

Event #44 NL Rebuys: Slew of online guys in this event juicing up the prize pool such as TheWacoKid, BelowAbove, Bond18, ShaunDeeb, Nordberg, and Gobboboy. YelowSub and Terrence "not johnny" Chan are among the chipleaders. Kristy Gazes in in for 9K.

A few moments ago, Lance swore that he saw a guy walking past the press box who looked like Chip Reese. I think it was Chip's ghost returning to sweat his friends.

* * * * *
3:14pm...

Harrahs stooped to a new low when they sold advertising space in the actual urinals. Instead of pissing on a generic plastic freshness, some of them have been replaced with a branded gizmo that even lights up so you'll look down and see what the hell you are pissing on.

I'm waiting for them to start whoring out the toilet paper and when you go to wipe your ass, you'll see an ad for Penn and Teller, before you crinkle it up and wipe away.

Event #44 NL Rebuys: Sad day for Shaniac and Gobboboy fans. They are both out of today's event. Several Europeans have built up stacks in early play such as Nicholas Levi, Dag Martin Mikkelsen, and Thomas Wahlroos. That event is split up between the Amazon Room and the Brasilia Room. I have been taking secret passage ways to peek in on both events to avoid the clusterfuck in the hallway. By day 27, getting pitched stuff like third-rate energy drinks has gotten a old, although I never get tired of the strippers plugging Sapphire Pool.

90+ minutes until HORSE. Only 23 tables set up in an extremely spacious section. I gotta say that I like the set up since they'll be playing in front of the pressbox. Still no official word on how many players signed up. However, Joe Hachem made a Day 2 of PLO8. Wonder if that will prevent him from playing HORSE?

* * * * *
4:20pm...

PokerShrink said there are 136 players registered in today's HORSE. That number should increase a bit... but it's gonna be close if they break last year's number.

Today's smoke break is sponsored by PokerStars!



* * * * *
5:10pm...

Event #45 50K HORSE: HORSE is underway. 90 minute levels. They will play five levels today.

Jeffrey Pollack asked for a moment of silence in memory of Chip Reese.

"We are going to play a poker game he loved the most," said Freddy Deeb before he announced, "Shuffle up and deal."

DonkeyBomber drew Chad Brown, German pro Markus Somethingorother, and Chau Giang's table, which includes a couple of guys I had never seen before.

Access to the floor is limited, unless you are a Milwaukee's Beast girl then you can stroll through the tournament area.

I'm sitting in between everyone's favorite spicy Brazilian dish, Maridu, and Otis in the press box which for the first time since the WSOP began is completely packed. Even photographers are camped out looking for a couple of shots.

Benjo and I had a blind draft. He and I both picked five players who we thought would win. Since we both had Ivey and Benyamine on our lists, both were ineligible. We both picked two more players and our teams were set.

Benjo: Barry Greenstien, David Singer, Mike Matsuow, David Chiu, and Doyle Brunson
Pauly: Andy Bloch, Daniel Negreanu, Rob Hollink, Marcel Luske, and Mike Sexton

We have bets on who's gonna win, who makes a final table, and who cashes.

Sexton is my wild card and Marcel has been running good.

The tournament clock reads... 129 players. Registration is still open. If you have $50K to blow and want to play in a WSOP event, hurry up and come down to the Rio!

Isabelle Mercier sighting. She's glowing and is wearing a tight red shirt. She's sitting at a table in front of the press box snuggled in between Dario Minieri and Jeff Lisandro.

The toughest table I saw so far... Ralph Perry, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Perry Friedman, Johnny World, RW3, and OMGClayAiken. The only unknown at that table is... the dealer.

* * * * *
6:10pm...

Event #45 50K HORSE: Man oh man. The most erotic thin you can see at the WSOP is Isabelle Merceier eating a banana.

John Juanda already hard at work and getting a massage.

TJ was raking in a pot and I swear that he was dreaming of boxcars. He has former WSOP champion Jim Bechtel at his table. When Bechtel won the WSOP in 1993, he won $1 million. That's chump change these days.

Here's another rough and tumble table... Andy Bloch, David Oppenheim, Lyle Berman, mig.com, Jen Harman, and David Singer.

Here's an odd table. Chainsaw Kessler, Andy Black, Sheiky, Bill Chen, and Barry Greenstein. One part of the table won't shut up and the other will just bore you to death.

The following players are not in today's HORSE event: Vinny Vinh, Eskimo Clark, Patrik Antonius, and two-time WSOP bracelet winner John Phan.

No Finnish boy toy. "Something must be wrong," remarked Maridu. "He just doesn't miss something like this. He would take action on a $1 prop bet. I don't care if he has a tonsil sticking out of his neck. Something's not right."

I also didn't see Johnny Chan listed... until he walked in 67 minutes later.

The pressbox is a jam packed with people I have never seen before. Vultures, Hipsters. Fly-by-night reporters. Newbies. Oldies. And a couple of crackheads from Wicked Chops Poker.

Michalksi is a no-show.

When one fan takes a photo with flash, the floor guy gets on the mic and says, "No flash photography please." And then another one goes off five minutes later.

Guys who I think should have saved their money? David Bach and Chris Reslock. Most likely both had backing. Watch, both players will make the final table.

* * * * *
8:27pm...

I'm mainly focusing it on HORSE, but there are a few other events going down.

Event #42 Seniors: We have a new bracelet winner. His name is... Dan Lacourse.

Event #43 PLO8: Erik Seidel shortstacked with 16 to go.

Event #44 NL Rebuys: Newly signed PokerStars pro William Thorson is playing in the rebuys event. With the favorable exchange rate of the dollar vs. Swedish Kronor, I'm shocked that he didn't buy into the HORSE event. Ah, he's a nutty NL player and that's his game. Bond18 is also in the mix along with Johnny Mushrooms. Terrance Chan is among the chipleaders. Sadly Kristy Gazes is busto.

Event #45 50K HORSE: The Great Dane is out in front of the pack. Fear Gus Hansen and his manliness. There are 147 players according to the board. Durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr is one of the young internet pros in the mix. And yes, DonkeyBomber is dwelling in the cellar.last in chips on the leaderboard.

The once packed pressbox has thinned out a bit which makes it more breathable. There are plenty of fans left on the rail, though, snapping pics with cellphones.

HORSE is on a dinner break and will resume at 9:30pm. Registration is still open until 9:30pm. If you have $50,000 and want to play HORSE, your seat awaits you at the Rio.

Dinner break means it is time to binge drink with British journalists and act like football hooligans.

* * * * *
9:21pm...

Event #43 PLO8: Erik Seidel remain alive with 11 to go. Seidel is putting himself in position to make another final table and try to win his 9th bracelet. Once again Seidel flies under the radar. While everyone is focused on the HORSE event, Seidel is quietly chasing history in the Brasilia Room. I think he'd prefer that... to play cards away from the spotlight and out of reach from the cameras and intense media scrutiny.

Event #44 NL Rebuys: Real Estate guru Tommy Vu is playing in the event along with John Phan. Brandon Schaefer is still alive.

Event #45 50K HORSE: Players are still on a dinner break, but there are 148 players listed on the board. Someone bought in at the very last minute.

I heard a rumor that cards were marked by players in the HORSE and had to be removed from play. I'm going to investigate that and dig around.

Update: A dealer mentioned to the floor that there was some shenanigans going on with the cards in the HORSE event. The marked card (an Ace) and entire deck was pulled. Three decks in total were removed from play during the break. I heard a number that was as high as six decks. And the cards that were marked? Aces of course.

As one veteran poker player said, "Heck, some of the biggest card markers in poker are playing in the HORSE event today."

When players returned from the break, a woman with huge boobs asked Marcel Luske for a pic. He obliged, of course. TJ Cloutier was caught by this writer sneaking a peak. Good for TJ.

I later found out that the chick was a hooker who had wandered onto the floor and straight up asked the guys of they needed her services.

* * * * *
10:23pm...

Event #43 PLO8: Final table bubble. Players returned from a break. Shortly before they left, Seidel doubled through German online pro Martin Klaser. That hand pushed Seidel up to second in chips. One more elimination and Seidel makes his 26th final table at the WSOP.

Event #45 50K HORSE: Score one for the math geeks. Bill Chen on top of the chip count. Tony G sat out the first couple of levels before he showed up at dinner break. When he finally arrived, he quickly ordered a masseuse. Last year? The G was the first to go busto.

Who's got the Bose? Several pros are rockin' noise reduction head phones and may or may not be listening to music or simply drowning out the sound. I can glimpse out into the entire HORSE field from the pressbox and noticed that Todd Brunson, Erick Lindgren, Chad Brown, Daniel Negreanu, David Levi,and Eli Elezra all wore noise reduction head phones.

Players just going with simple ear buds... John Juanda, Steve Sung, Dario, Thor Hansen, Gus Hansen, Marcel Luske, and Billy the Croc.

DonkeyBomber raised the hood on his hoodie. He's going full blown DonkeyBomber mode. He wandered over to Matusow's table and the two joked back and forth. Matusow must be on his proper meds today because he's unusually quiet.

* * * * *
11:25pm...

Event #43 PLO8: Final table is set. Erik Seidel is second in chips and will try to win his 9th bracelet tomorrow.

Event #44 NL Rebuys: 180 to go. Bumped into Brandon Schaefer at the break. His face was all red which meant that he was drinking. One of his buddies tried to get him to start at noon, but he held out for a few hours. When he finally gave in, he knocked back Crown & Cokes. Many. Several. Lots. He stopped drinking an hour ago.

Event #45 50K HORSE: Official numbers released. 148 runners. I won a few prop bets. Same number of players as last year.

First player out is Aussie strip club owner Jamie Pickering. He took second in PLO against Vanessa Selbst a couple of weeks ago. He was shithoused drunk at the final table and had a hot stripper girlfriend on the rail sweating him. Well, he was back and way overmatched. He simply donated his PLO winnings to this tough crowd.

DonkeyBomber was near the bottom until he picked up a pot and got back on track. He was looking chipper during the break. Thank God my horse wasn't the first to bust. Although I lost a bet. I know, if The G finds out that I bet him to bust out first, I might get shot. I know what goes down on the streets. After all, I saw Boyz n the Hood six times... Can we have one night where there ain't no fightin'; nobody gets shot?

* * * * *
12:24am...

I went into the Poker Kitchen and it was friggin freezing. They had the AC on full blast. The cashiers were bundled up in hoodies and fleece jackets. The ROlling Stones was pumping on the speakers. Bracelet winner Dan Heimiller sat around with a couple of friends and chomped down on a piece of cold pizza.

Event #44 NL Rebuys: A sober Brandon Schaefer is still alive along with Aussie Sarah and ShaunDeeb. YellowSub is short. I saw Steve Dannenmann signing autographs shortly before he busted out.

Event #45 50K HORSE: 147 left. mig.com racing towards the early chiplead.

Fossilman bantering with fans on the rail. A really drunk guy was double fisting it and cracking jokes with Tony G while wife snapped a photo. He shouted out to Matusow's table, "Yo Mouth!" Matusow gave him a wave and the guy continued to shout out at different pros. A couple ignored him.

In the hallway, Scotty Nguyen posed for a picture with another fan. Scotty was pimpin' the wifebeater t-shirt today. While Mike Sexton is sporting his pink Party Poker shirt.

Dario is in turtle mode. He's getting a massage and his scarf is pulled up over his mouth and nose.

* * * * *
1:27am...

Event #44 NL Rebuys: Day 1 is complete. 116 remaining out of 879 runner. Brandon Schaefer made it to day 2.

Event #45 50K HORSE: Players returned from a break. mig.com is the chipleader. 146 left after Aaron Katz busted.

No respect for Ali! Ali Nejad waked through the players area and was kindly asked by security to leave.

Most of the rail has gone and the once jam packed pressbox has thinned out. Of course, not one Michalksi sighting today.

Lime tossing! Today was Otis' first day and we did a little lime tossing out back for old times sake. We both missed. Push.

* * * * *
2:33am...

Event #45 50K HORSE: Maybe Hellmuth should have sat out Day 1 and showed up on Day 2... one full day late in true Hellmuthian fashion. He busted out during Level 5. He wandered by Juanda and Matusow's table and mentioned something that I couldn't hear. When he left, several players at the table began ragging on Hellmuth.

The online guys are making a run. OMGClayAiken and mig.com are at the top of the leaderboard.

One of the cute dealers, or as Snake calls DILTF, has a down at DonkeyBomber's table. Donkey is past 100K in chips. Wait, isn't that what they started with?

Isabelle went to the headphones and iPod. She's rockin out to something very Eurotrash.

Patrik Antonius ordered massage. He took a couple of minutes while he instructed the masseuse what to do. She was barely listening and couldn't wait to get her hands on the Finnish boy toy.

RW3 has been sporting a wild Hawaiian shirt. He's a Dallas guy and he knows Michalski from Dallas. Last night Michalski asked him to wear a Pokerati patch and RW3 said, "What's Pokerati?"

* * * * *
2:55am...

Event #45 50K HORSE: Day 1 is complete. Action will resume at 3pm. 140 players remaining.

According to Lance, Phil Ivey tipped a floor guy $100 to bag up his chips for him. Ah, the life of Ivey. He also wasted his $100 HORSE food comp because he used the back to write up all the prop bets he had been doing all night long.

That's it. I'm outta here. Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

WSOP Day 26: The Bucket List, Dumb Hookers, and Phan 2.0

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Benjo told me a hilarious story about how Bellagio hookers were trying to cash tournament chips at the cage.

Apparently, a couple of horny and angle-shooting poker players removed $1,000 denomination tournament chips out of play. They used those chips to pay off hookers, who were not very bright and accepted the chips in return for sexual favors. Of course they did not read the fine print on the chips where it said it's not legal tender and only a tournament chip.

Horny Poker Players 1, Dumb Hookers 0.

* * * * *
"Well, playing in the World Series of Poker is on my list of things to do before I die," said Ray.

Ray was in his seventies. The former sales rep from Oregon flew to Las Vegas to play in the Seniors Event. He had just busted out and sat in an empty seat next to me at the All American Bar & Grill.

Ray told me that he had seen the film The Bucket List which inspired him to play in his first ever WSOP event. CHange100 read the original script many years ago when it was titled Things to Do Before I Die...

"The movie wasn't very good. However, when I got home I made a list," said Ray.

"So what else is on your list?"

"Visit New York City and Mt. Rushmore. I also want to try surfing."

The 2008 Seniors event has the largest turnout since the WSOP began Senior events. The majority of players were under 65, but a large amount of the players in their late 60s and above played in the WSOP because they were also inspired by the Bucket List. That's sort of sad and invigorating at the same time. It takes a lot of courage and balls to recognize that you are in the winter of your life and then take the steps to do the things you never did. I applaud the hundred or more souls who made the trek to Vegas.

The WSOP is like Mecca. If you are a poker player, you have to make at least one trip to play in the WSOP before you die.

Tao of Poker reader Lonnie Boeding from Kansas went deep in the Seniors event. He cashed and finished in 43rd place, just a few spots ahead of Men the Master. Congrats to Lonnie for a job well done.

* * * * *
The WSOP crowned their first multiple-bracelet winner in John Phan. The Razor took down the Triple Draw event. FTrain covered the event and mentioned there was a specific incident with Gioi Luong that lit a fire under Phan's ass. Gioi Luong and Phan had been jawing all day. Phan had a massive lead but blew it and found himself the shortstack. He obviously battled back and took it down. Chalk up another bracelets for the Asians.

* * * * *

Tao of Pokerati is back with a new episode. Yeah, I know, we released Episode 14 before Episode 13. Don't forget that Michalski is from Texas and can't add.

Anyway, here's how he described the latest episode:

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....

Download Episode #13: Energy Bucks

And yes, you can visit the Tao of Pokerati archives to listen to older episodes.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

WSOP Live Blog - Day 26

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

Late start for me, due to some crooked doctor and insurance adjuster business. I asked the doc to give me what I need to stay on the field and keep playing. He handed me a jar of Balco and a tube the the clear. I can write everyday for the next three weeks and hit 50 home runs.

Anyway, we're back at the Rio. Four events on the eve of HORSE.

Event #40 $2,500 Triple Draw - Final Table
Event #41 $1,500 Mixed Hold'em - Final Table
Event #42 $1,000 Seniors NL - Day 2
Event #43 $1,500 PLO8 - Day 1

And here's the only final table today...

Event #40 $2,500 Triple Draw - Final Table:
Seat 1: Ben Ponzio (Elmwood Park, Illinois) - 113,000
Seat 2: Shun Uchida (Las Vegas, Nevada) - 200,000
Seat 3: David Sklansky (Las Vegas, Nevada) - 78,000
Seat 4: Gioi Luong (Westminster, California) - 291,000
Seat 5: Robert Mizrachi (Las Vegas, Nevada) - 215,000
Seat 6: John Phan (Stockton, California) - 294,000

* * * * *
4:20pm...

Today's smoke break is brought to you by Borgata Poker blog.


Friedman and Tropical Steve are blogging the main event as we speak. If you don't know, my next reporting gig will be with the Borgata in September. Stay tuned for more details.

* * * * *
4:40pm...

The mega-satellite is running for HORSE. $2,250 buy in. Several familiar faces in the last sat before HORSE tomorrow.

Event #40 Triple Draw Final Table: Down to 4. David Sklansky is out in 6th place. No bracelet for over boy. The Razor is in the chiplead seeking his second bracelet. The brother of the Grinder is the shortstack.

Event #42 Seniors: 126 left. Former WSOP champion Tom McEvoy is one of the chipleaders. Tao of Poker reader, Lonnie Boeding, made the money. He's way above average in chips and looking good. The oldest player in the event, Harold Waite, busted out.

* * * * *
5:20pm...

Event #40 Triple Draw Final Table: Down to 3. All remaining players are of Asian-decent. The Razor has 50% of the chips in play and is trying to win his second bracelet this year. Phan attracts plenty of young hot Asian ass and they have been hanging out on the rail.

Event #42 Seniors: Caught a crazy hand involving Lonnie. He had Aces. His opponent held 9-3s and flopped two pair. All the money went in on the flop. The board paired on the river and Lonnie doubled up to about 100K.

Damn, blogger.com has been acting up today.

* * * * *
6:20pm...

Event #40 Triple Draw Final Table: Still three to go, but Phan lost his lead and is now the shortstack.

Event #41 Mixed Hold'em Final Table: Three to go. The brother of the Binger is first in chips.

Serious technical difficulties today. I'm almost ready to give up and call it a day, especially since HORSE starts tomorrow and I'm not gonna sleep for five straight days.

Who knows if I'll be back...


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

WSOP Day 25: Save the Eskimo, Save the World

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV


Attention Hippies,

The Eskimo needs your help. Put down the bong. Stop campaigning for Obama (Dick Cheney already rigged the November election, the Beijing Olympics, and the next two American Idols) and get your patchouli-smelling ass down the Rio Casino in Las Vegas because the Eskimo needs your help.


The Eskimo in his natural habit before global warming and pre-poker boom
The Eskimo is another casualty of global warming and will slowly melt away with the ice caps. A violent death by drowning awaits, like Al Gore's adorable polar bears.

Every time someone buys an SUV, another bit of Eskimo dies. Eskimo is doomed unless you and your fellow hippies come to his rescue. Hurry up and act now before Phish gets back together and you drop everything you do to follow them around the country hoping to hear Fluffhead for the first time since 9/29/00.

The Eskimo needs your help. Global warming is on the rise and several of your favorite animals are on the verge of extinction including seals, whales, musk oxen, walruses, over a dozen species of migratory birds, polar bears, and the Eskimo.

There used to be a time when the Eskimo's sole enemy were the sharks that infest the Arctic waters and the card rooms of Las Vegas. Now time and an increasing warmer climate are the Eskimo's biggest fears. Climatologists in Norway believe that the Eskimo will be extinct by the 2009 WSOP unless reversals of fortune are made immediately.

The Norwegian Eskimo Institute has been tracking and tagging Eskimo for several years observing them in his natural habit. From the data collected by Dr. Sigbjorn Amdal and his scientists has been widely publicized and the future is grim. For three years, they sought out the answers to two questions... What does the Eskimo do? And where does he go?

"The Eskimo's once fertile feeding grounds have vanished due to an increase in melting arctic ice and the influx of teenaged Scandinavian online poker players feasting on the schools of fish that used to feed the Eskimo's voracious appetite,"explained Dr. Amdal during a keynote speech at the Kyoto Climate Summit in 2007.

"Large masses of ice are breaking up as glaciers melt earlier and earlier every year. Rapid changes to the environment are causing a ecological nightmare which caused the Eskimo to relocate to the Nevada desert where chances of survival are less then 2%. The Eskimo will soon perish."

Act now to save the Eskimo. Help end the war on global warming. Eskimo's blood will be on your hands unless you make immediate steps towards a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Every time you wipe your ass with recycled single ply toilet paper, Eskimo gets another buy in to a satellite.

Every time you install an energy saving light bulb in your home, Eskimo gets another buy in to the 2/5 PLO game in the Amazon Room.

Every time you buy a Prius hybrid, Eskimo gets another buy in to a donkament.

Every time you choose not to fly on commercial airlines, Eskimo gets another buy in to the Main Event.

Only you can prevent Eskimo from drowning. Don't waste water. Reducing your flushing habits. Remember... Yellow = be mellow. Brown = go down.

The fate the of the Eskimo is in your hands. Can you allow another endangered species on this planet become extinct by the evils of mankind and the corporations that control them?

This is my call to all the hippies in North America... to all my brothers and sisters in Vancouver, Boulder, Eugene, Olympia, Bellingham, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Humbolt County, Austin, and Vermont. This is a time for change in America. This is our time to rise up and make an impact on a global scale.

President John F. Kennedy once said, "The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it; and the glow from that fire can truly light the world."

Save the Eskimo. Save the world.

Yours in the bong,
Pauly


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.

WSOP Day 25 - Live Blog

By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV

The Seniors event is today which means lots of players with decades and decades of life experience.

I'm not going to out my fellow media reps, but I must say I was rather disappointed that several people decided to show up late. And the ones that did cracked geriatric jokes. I gave them crap for being ageists. Respect your elders, bitches!

This is another mellow day with four tournaments and only one final table.

Event #39 $1,500 NL - Final Table
Event #40 $2,500 Triple Draw - Day 2
Event #41 $1,500 Mixed Hold'em - Day 2
Event #42 $1,000 Seniors NL - Day 1

And here's the only final table today...

Seat 1: Eric Beren - 640,000
Seat 2: David Woo - 1,090,000
Seat 3: Habib Khanis - 645,000
Seat 4: Michael Glasser - 495,000
Seat 5: Curtis Early - 1,225,000
Seat 6: Jim Paras - 535,000
Seat 7: Matthew Wood - 675,000
Seat 8: Thom Werthmann - 1,600,000
Seat 9: Thanhdat Tran - 1,255,000

* * * * *
3:09pm...

Michalksi sighting in the press box. Shocker.

Event #42 Seniors: The most touching moment of the day was when Charlie the floor guy took the mic and asked everyone to stand up (that was not wheelchair bound). They were going to see who was the oldest person.

"If you are 55 and under, please sit down," he said.

"If you are 65 and under, please sit down," he said a few moments after. Almost two-thirds of the Amazon Room had taken their seat.

Then Charlie started getting specific... 68. 70. 72. 75. 80. 85.

And then he hit the 90s.

Spaceman and I were standing in the press box peering out over the crowd to see if anyone was left standing. It was down to two gentlemen standing in the same section.

"91," said Charlie and one of the guys slowly took is seat.

Charlie walked over the the guy still standing. It was Harold Waite and he was born in 1917.

The room gave Harold a standing ovation. That was the most touching moment at the WSOP thus far.

* * * * * *
4:20pm...

Event #40 Triple Draw: 30 players started Day 2 and seven have busted already included Bill Chen and Antony Lellouche. Fossilman started the day as the chipelader, but hie's slipped a bit. Everyone's favorite poker Lothario, David Sklansky, is still in the hunt for a bracelet... and an 17-year old girlfriend. Then again, aren't we all?

Today's smoke break is sponsored by PokerStars!



* * * * *
5:21pm...

There's a HORSE mega-satellite going on for $2,250. I only see 14 players signed up so far. That might be the only satellite where you see named pros playing in a live setting. Plenty of them are trying to qualify for the Main Event online. Although the satellite area across the hall in the Tropical Room is considered the "lost city of gold" according to poker scribe Michael Craig. The other night he was telling me about a guy who was literally passing out at his table and had to be woken up by the floor person when it was his action. He thought the guy was super sleepy after a long session. I was convinced the guy was riding the H train. Chasing the dragon. Popping the Oxycontin or what the kids used to call hillbilly heroin. Craig was happy to have the waste of life as an opponent. How come I can't get a got to nod out at my table?

Event #39 $1.5K NL Final Table: Down to 6. Chipleader is Woo. Second place is Wood. I wanna see a Woo vs. Wood heads up match. Thanh Dat Tran busted out in 7th place. Say that fourteen times really fast. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran. Thanh Dat Tran.

Event #40 Triple Draw: Ray Davis is a fixture in the LA casinos. He's always pimpin' with a cool lid. He's second in chips. The brother of the Grinder is moving up on the chart. The legendary Billy Baxter is my pick to win it. Fossilman and the always controversial David Sklansky are both shortstacked.

Event #42 Seniors: Official numbers are in... 2,218 runners which is a new record. Top 198 get paid. Tom McEvoy and Men the Master are among the chipeladers. Eskimo Clark is nevermore and among the first players to bust out. Eskimo is another casualty of global warming and will slowly melt away with the ice caps and drown in a violent death like the Al Gore's adorable polar bears. Every time you drive your SUV, another bit of Eskimo dies. Eskimo is doomed unless the hippies come to save him.

* * * * *
6:39pm...

Event #39 $1.5K NL Final Table: Down to three. I might get my Wood vs. Woo heads up match after all!

Event #40 Triple Draw: Down to 14. My new main man Ray Davis busted out in 14th place. According to Christian, he said that Ray Davis and Billy Baxter made a $500 last longer bet. At the time Baxter had 5K in chips and Davis had 35K... and Baxter still took the bet without odds. Man, Baxter won. Unreal. F Train mentioned that he started the day as a shortstack and took over the lead with three tables to go. Fossilman and Dirty Old Man Skalansky are still in the hunt. Did you know that "Fossilman" in Cherokee is loosely translated into "wears socks with sandals."

Event #41 Mixed Hold'em: 55 to go. Fabrice Soulier just busted and is in media row talking with French reps about his bust out hand. Of course, I could be making all of that up since my French is bad and Benjo is not here to translate. Rumor has it that he's on a date with an upstanding woman with a graduate degree in pole dancing that he met the other night. Michalski said that he could neither confirm nor deny the allegations.

Event #42 Seniors: Down to 610. Almost 70% of the field is busto. Capt Tom's Penis is the chipleader. According to Tassie Devil who is covering the event, a lot of the players are here because of their "Bucket List" of things to do before they die. I'm going to write a screenplay... The Bucket List meets Rounders.... where two codgers con the Russian mob and take the money they stole to play in the WSOP. There will be a cameo from Neil Patrick Harris and Sam Farha. And yes, the entire second act takes place at The Rhino.

* * * * *
8:20pm...

I limped down the hallway and walked past the Sapphire Pool booth. A five-foot two Latina beauty with the tits the size of beach balls handed me a free drink coupon.

"Get a free drink at Sapphire pool," she said with a coy smile.

"Will you be at the pool?" I asked

"Yes," she said.

"You fuckin' liar! Your advertising is a false as your num nums" I muttered.

Event #39 $1.5K NL Final Table: I'm almost jizzing in my pants. I might have to put on a condom so I don't wet myself. At last... Wood vs. Woo heads up matchup. Woo holds a slight lead over Wood.

Event #40 Triple Draw: The brother of the Grinder is on top with 12 to go. The Razor has been flying under the radar and trying to make another final table and win his second bracelet this year. Fossilman is shortstacked. He made two final tables last year and is trying to make his first one this year.

I wandered by the HORSE mega satellite and spotted a few familiar faces including Maureen Feduniak, Yosh Nakano, Sheiky, Dr. Roy Winston, and Sabyl Cohen. We'll find out just how many players are broke this year, or simply will not want to fork over 50K of their own money. I don't blame them in such a tough field. It's going to be a a battle among the big stakers and their many horses. A couple of European fat cats will most likely put a few horses in the race.

* * * * *
9:20pm...

Back by popular demand...

Last 5 Pros I Pissed Next To...
1. Paul Darden
2. Tony Ma
3. Jon Little
4. David Chiu
5. Max Pescatori

Event #39 $1.5K NL Final Table: Wooooooooo is the winner. Woo defeats Wood for the bracelet. Another American of Asian-ancestry takes it down.

Event #40 Triple Draw: Dario "I'm not the gay-scarf wearing Italian named Dario" Alioto went out in 11th place. Fossilman busto in 10th. The Razor and Billy Baxter are out in front while Sklanasky is on life support.

* * * * *
11:08pm...

Degen of the Day: The latest bracelet winner, David Woo, actually made a final table in a donkament last year. He was so pissed off with his performance (5th place) that he took all of is 188K winnings and blew it all playing blackjack... in less than thirty minutes. Whatever casino got that score was lucky.

Event #40 Triple Draw: Billy Baxter bubbled off the final table in 7th place. The final table of six is set and consists of three virtual unknowns; Ben Ponzio, Shun Uchida, Gioi Luong... who are up against three big dogs; David Sklansky, the brother of the Grinder, and the Razor... John Phan.

Event #41 Mixed Hold'em: 20 to go. The brother of the Binger is the chipleader. DanDruff is still alive.

Event #42 Seniors: Capt. Tom's Penis is trying to get back on track with the chiplead. He slipped to second.

So Sklansky made a final table and Capt. Tom's Penis is one of the chipleaders in the Seniors event... on the same day. Brandi must be rolling around in her grave right now.


Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.