2008 WSOP, Day 7: Mixed Event Look-In

Had told myself I wouldn’t. But I couldn’t resist.

Had just finished watching the Celts take game one, playing a bit of PLO online as I did. Haven’t played all that much online since arriving in Vegas; just a bit of PLO and H.O.R.S.E. now and then. Haven’t played all that much live, either. Not much time for it, and to be honest watching poker being played for dozen-hour stretches somehow doesn’t give me the urge immediately afterwards to run out and play myself.

My purpose today was to rest up for another three-day stint covering the WSOP for PokerNews, this time Event No. 11, the $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout event. I think, also, that the Vegaspalooza crowd is arriving in Vegas tomorrow, and I’d like to have some energy left perhaps to meet some of that contingent in between my shifts.

So I mostly stuck around the temporary homestead, and even cooked up a variety of vegetables and had a decent dinner for a change. (I think yesterday the most substantial things I ate all day were a few handfuls of sunflower seeds and a box of Whoppers.) Took a peek at the reports from Event No. 8, the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event, and saw Tom Schneider was hanging in there, sitting right in the middle of the pack with about 30 players remaining.

Hell, it’s just up the road, I thought. So even though I’m probably going to be spending most of my waking hours in the Amazon Room for the next three days, I hopped in the rental and drove over to the Rio for a quick look-in.

I had my credentials hanging around my neck, but I ended up just railing with the non-credentialed herd for a while, not wanting to step into the rarified air of the final four tables among which my colleagues were roaming as they counted chips and watched hands develop.

Like events No. 1 and No. 4, this one will surely produce a final table filled with high-profile, highly-respected players. By the time I arrived, 27 players remained, including Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Gus Hansen, Johnny Chan, Lee Watkinson, Eli Elezra, Sam Farha, Doyle Brunson, Chad Brown, Jeff Madsen, Greg Mueller, and Schneider. Schneider’s table was six-handed, with Farha to his immediate left, and Dwan and Vanessa Rousso at the other end.

I stayed for just a few hands of 2-7 triple draw. Saw one develop between Farha and Schneider. On all three rounds, both players took cards. And on all three Farha called Schneider’s bets. With each discard, Farha leaned back and showed the railbirds the cards he was discarding -- mostly face cards -- making comments as he did. Clearly most were there to see “Mister Cool.” The hand concluded with Schneider showing a decent low hand (eight-low, I believe), Farha mucking, and Schneider dragging the medium-sized pot.

I see they are now down to hand-for-hand play. The cash bubble is about to burst, and then the 24 remaining players will play down to the final nine. I’ll learn in the morning who made it. For now, I better go hit the hay.