2010 WSOP, Day 43: Following the Action

Yesterday was the first of two separate Day 2 flights at the World Series of Poker. A total of 2,412 players who made it through Days 1a and 1c came back yesterday to play eight more hours’ worth of poker. Actually not all of them played eight hours; in fact, only a little under half of that group (1,200 even) made it to the end of the night and will return on Monday for Day 3.

Eight hours -- even with a 90-minute dinner break stuck in there -- makes for a short day of work, relatively speaking. It was intense, of course, but there were many cool hands and incidents to report, making the day quite interesting.

Probably the most curious hand I reported on happened right as the dinner break had arrived.

I had spoken to B.J. Nemeth before the break about interviewing him for a future Betfair piece, and so was in no hurry to rush off once the break had come. I was stationed yesterday in the Media box over in the Red section of the Amazon, which curls around one of the “feature” tables. Carlos Mortensen had been playing at that table for much of the day, but following his bustout another WSOP Main Event champion, Chris Moneymaker, was brought over.

As the break began, I was writing up a hand involving Billy Kopp -- the last hand played before the break at his table -- and when I finished I noticed Moneymaker and another player, Bryan Pellegrino, left behind at their table playing out a hand. Looked like someone was making a big decision, so I checked it out.

The river had been dealt, Moneymaker had some chips before him as a bet, and Pellegrino sat motionless. It appeared as though Pellegrino was in the tank contemplating what to do. In fact, a tourney official came over at one point and asked me whose action it was, and I whispered to him it looked like it was on Pellegrino.

A full ten minutes passed. B.J. was there and had time to snap a number of pictures of both players as waited. (That is one of them above.) Moneymaker stood up and began pacing around a little, looking a bit agitated about how long things were taking. Finally -- and apologetically -- Moneymaker said he was going to have to call the clock.

That’s when Pellegrino said he had already declared himself all in, much to the surprise of Moneymaker, the dealer, and all watching. In fact, Pellegrino said he was about to call the clock on Moneymaker (which would have been something to see). Once the situation was understood, Moneymaker quickly called with just top pair, and Pellegrino instantly mucked his hand -- in fact, he may have mucked even before Moneymaker showed his. (Here is the write-up of that hand over at PokerNews.)

B.J. and I then spent the first part of the break hanging out with the All 360 Poker guys and eating some El Pollo Loco chicken. Then I interviewed B.J. -- primarily about his experiences photographing the WSOP -- and that was very interesting and should make for a neat piece next week.

There were some other interesting hands yesterday, including one near the end involving Annie Duke in which she made a straight flush. Things are starting to get a bit more exciting, and of course once the money bubble approaches, then bursts, then the field starts to shrink, that’s when the real excitement starts.

I get one last day off today, then another tomorrow as the entire Main Event is taking Sunday off to ready for the coming week. Got various things planned, including some visiting with friends and a couple of freeroll tourneys on Sunday. Meanwhile, I’ll be checking in some over at PokerNews’ live reporting today to see how Day 2b plays out.

Enjoy your weekend, all. The action is on you.