2012 WSOP, Day 37: Wake Up

“You look tired.”

So said a smiling Jennifer “Jennicide” Leigh to me as I made yet another circuit around the Brasilia room last night, passing in and out of tables in search of hands, stories, big chip stacks, and so on.

“No, no... I’m wide awake!” I replied, eyes wide and grinning back. She laughed and suggested one of those 5-hour energy drinks, and I nodded and continued with my rounds.

Leigh was playing in Event No. 56, the $1,500 no-limit hold’em event, a tourney I was essentially reporting on by myself yesterday. Again, Brett came around for a few hours in the middle, but it was basically up to me for most of the day to figure out how to report on the nearly 2,800 players spread out all over the Brasilia, Amazon, and Pavilion rooms.

The day began at noon and went until about 1:30 a.m. It was sometime after midnight Leigh correctly pegged me as starting to run low, energy-wise. It was my sixth straight day of working, and 11th out of 12. The shortest day has been about 11 hours, and the longest 15 or 16.

So yeah, I’m tired. But I survived. So did Leigh in the tourney, as did my buddies Rich and Ducky, which I was glad to see.

Things look different today, though, with a day off (at last) and a chance to recharge. I will be heading into the Rio later in the day to check out the finale of Event No. 55, the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop, the eight-handed final table for which is kicking off right about now.

It was during a break last night that I happened to have walked over to see the Russian businessman Ilya Bulychev eliminated in 10th place to go out on the biggest friggin' bubble ever. Zero for 10th, and $1,109,333 for ninth (where Mike Sexton would finish shortly after).

In fact, I’m sitting in my room right now watching the “almost live” coverage of the final table (with hole cards at showdown) kicking off on ESPN2. Kind of uncanny to watch, after just being there... and planning to go back over later. And to think... $18,346,673 for the winner.

Sort of thing wakes a person up.