2010 WSOP, Day 16: On Covering the Ladies Event

Yesterday I helped cover Event No. 22, the $1,000 buy-in Ladies Hold’em Championship for PokerNews. You know, the Ladies Event? The one everyone is talking about.

I was looking forward to this assignment quite a bit. I had not covered the Ladies Event before, and was thus intrigued to witness the event play out first-hand. The Ladies Event always seems to inspire much commentary -- some thoughtful, some less so -- regarding its inclusion in the schedule, its legitimacy as a bracelet event, the vagaries of sexual politics in poker, among a host of other issues. I wanted to learn more about it, perhaps to be better equipped to respond to all that talking.

The debates got ramped up considerably this summer as -- for the first time ever in the history of the WSOP -- men entered the Ladies Event.

As I mentioned yesterday, when I heard the news that a dozen or so men had turned up and successfully bought into the event, my initial reaction was dismay. Amid all the Twittering about what was happening, I couldn’t resist chiming in myself: “I don’t even need 140 characters to state my view: Guys shouldn’t play the ladies event. It’s a ladies event.”

I decided an addendum was in order, and so sent a second message as well: “If you want to debate whether they’re should be ladies events, 140 characters ain’t gonna be enough for that.”

I’ve spent considerably more than 140 characters on the latter here in the past, and so do not plan to do so again today. Probably the most extensive -- and direct -- treatment of the topic came in a couple of posts from a while back titled “Regarding the WSOP Ladies Event” (part 1 & part 2).

Covering Day 2 of the event did turn out to be an interesting experience, although perhaps less dramatically so than it might have been had I worked the day before.

The furor from Day 1 had largely died down by the time play resumed Saturday afternoon. All but one of the men had been eliminated, and the one who returned didn’t last that long yesterday, barely making the cash. There were no full tables getting up for a bathroom break (as happened a couple of times on Day 1). And most of the celebrities had been knocked out already, aside from Jennifer Cox, who played Jan Brady in The Brady Bunch films and who earned her first WSOP cash yesterday.

There were about a half-dozen women well known in poker still in the event, and most were around until the second half of the day. But all were eliminated well before today’s final table.

My friends Michele Lewis, Jessica Welman, and Bellatrix all went out during the first few levels (with the latter two cashing). EPT San Remo winner Liv Boeree was third in chips when she spectacularly busted shy of the top 50 to then second-place La Sengphet in a A-K vs. K-K confrontation. We also saw Karina Jett, Maria Ho, Svetlana Gromenkova, Lacey Jones Mimi Tran, and Evelyn Ng come up shy of the big money. And the First Lady of Poker, Linda Johnson, went out just before the top 30, too.

Someone in the shoutbox noted Johnson’s participation, desiring to see reports of her hands. I wanted that, too, but sometimes you can’t get what you want. I was largely trapped behind the laptop yesterday, being the only blogger while my two reporters gathered hands.

The reporters -- Mickey and Greg -- did an excellent job, I thought. In fact, those chip counts (that other favorite topic-slash-gripe this summer) were especially well tracked, in my opinion. We started with 136 players, and pretty much from the get-go were keeping tabs on every single one of them from start to finish. Few noticed, I imagine, since the Ladies Event tends to have fewer followers and thus draws less scrutiny. But thanks largely to my reporters’ constant hustle, we were all over ’em all day. (And thus perhaps had less opportunity to report hands on Linda Johnson.)

Anyhow, as the night concluded I found myself sitting there in the media box, reporting the final bustouts while a couple of members of the media beside me continued to argue the various issues surrounding the ladies event and the men’s participation this year.

I was tired -- it was past 2 a.m. -- and not really in the mood for heated debate. I found myself trying to sum up in my head the experience of the day, and realized that from a reporter’s perspective, it really hadn’t been that different from covering any other event.

What I mean to say is, whatever Day 1 was all about, Day 2 seemed to me mostly about poker. And perhaps a little about friendship and family.

Nearly all of the women left in the event at the end had groups of supporters on the rail, and it was hard not to appreciate how special the moment was for all involved. That was perhaps a bit different from your typical event in which mostly young men are there at the end -- no families, perhaps a bud or two, but essentially lone poker-playing wolves.

And so that’s what I chose to focus on as play concluded last night. I’d spent the day watching and reporting on a poker tournament. Some won, and some lost, and there was happiness and there was disappointment. And the players were all women and most were not pros.

And they were playing a game. And the game brought excitement and meaning to many people’s lives. And I liked that.

2010 WSOP, Day 15: No Time

The rumors were true. Yesterday was, in fact, my birthday. Third straight year I’ve spent the day here in Las Vegas, helping cover the World Series of Poker.

Funny, in a way. A birthday comes around and reminds one of the passage of time. Another year has passed. Perhaps the occasion encourages some sort of self-assessment. One of my colleagues here also just had a birthday this week and was telling me about having wanted to accomplish more than he had by the age he had reached. (He was half-joking, but I laughed and kidded him a bit, anyway, having crossed his milestone myself some time back.)

However, when live blogging an event such as I was doing yesterday for Event No. 19 -- the final day of the $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw Championship (No-Limit) -- one tends to lose track of time completely. Was so engrossed in the task yesterday that when it was over I had no idea we’d actually crossed midnight and the birthday was over.

By spending the birthday working in the Rio, then, I guess I’ve found a way to combat any potential fretting about time passing. Too damn busy for it. Got no time.

Took a little more than two weeks -- thanks largely to that excursion to the southern hemisphere last week -- but I finally made it to a WSOP final table to cover the end of Event No. 19. Andy Bloch bubbled the eight-handed not-really-the-final-table-final-table. And Daniel Negreanu then went out in eighth, leaving John Juanda and Erik Seidel as the biggest names among the final seven.

Seidel was short and went out in sixth. Juanda was also low in chips, but fought back and had the chip lead briefly with four to go before suffering an especially rough half-hour of play to depart in fourth.

I am definitely a Juanda fan, both for his play and his sense of humor, of which one gets to see flashes when up close. But generally most never get to witness his wit because of his generally soft-spoken, reserved-seeming demeanor.

There were a couple such moments last night, but probably the funniest in the tourney came on Day 2 in hand in which Juanda had Negreanu all in before the draw with 15 players left. This was the cash bubble (14 paid). Juanda had raised, Negreanu pushed all in, and Juanda called. He was standing pat, and when he saw Negreanu’s hand (Kid Poker had a wheel draw and was drawing one), Juanda quipped, “Well, we’re in the money now!”

Pretty funny (I thought), but in a subtle way. As it happened Negreanu caught perfect and made his wheel, and the bubble remained intact. (Here’s that hand.) And it took Negreanu until halfway through the next hand to respond to Juanda’s wryly-delievered trash talk, at which he laughed loudly.

(By the way, I am aware of and following the whole Pokerati-Negreanu thing, but as is becoming kind of a theme here I just don’t have time to address it all. I will say that Negreanu gave those of us covering Event No. 19 late on Day 2 a sort of preview of that follow-up blog post of his, explaining to us that he never meant to criticize those of us doing the legwork, but to lodge a broader complaint about the “system.”)

Of course, the big story last night was David Baker -- a.k.a. “Bakes” or “WhooooKidd” -- taking the sucker down to win his first bracelet. Played brilliantly, it seemed to me, both on Day 2 and last night, and it was certainly exciting to see his girlfriend, Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck there to cheer him on.

If you remember, last week Baker made the final table of the $50K Player’s Championship (Event No. 2), at which he finished sixth, and Maridu was in Lima, Peru for PokerStars playing the LAPT event I was covering. She really wished she could’ve been at the Rio to sweat David then, so obviously it was fun to see her there and witness all of the excitement and joy the two of them got to experience last night.

Prior to the end there, Maridu had been playing in another tourney, the $1,000 buy-in Event No. 22, the Ladies No-Limit Hold’em Championship, though I believe she is out now. That is the one I will be covering that one this weekend (Days 2 and 3).

A ton of buzz yesterday regarding that one, as I’m sure you heard, in particular regarding the fact that about a dozen men played in the event. While this sort of thing has previously happened several times at other ladies-only tourneys elsewhere, this was -- as far as I am aware -- the first time it has happened at the WSOP.

And man oh man did everybody have an opinion about it.

As I say above, I’ve been up to my eyeballs of late and so really didn’t have a lot of time yesterday either to think about the significance of the men playing or to read some of what others have been writing about the subject. I still haven’t, though I plan to take a look at some of the posts and articles I’ve seen have popped up over the last 24 hours or so.

My first reaction to the news was instinctive. I didn’t think men should play in the ladies event. I ended up enjoying a nice dinner with Jen Newell last night during my break -- my colleague for those “He Said/She Said” articles we’ve done over at Woman Poker Player -- and our conversation helped me examine a little further some of the reasons why my initial reaction to the news was negative.

I still have to think it through some more, though. It is an especially complicated situation, fraught with a number of issues, and I have friends whose opinions I respect coming at it from all angles. Don’t want to try to engage this one, then, without having a little more time to consider it all.

Actually getting to report on the event today and tomorrow will certainly give me more to consider. Plus I have some friends still in the sucker -- including Michele Lewis, Jessica Welman, and Bellatrix -- which’ll add a little extra excitement for me personally. They are among the 136 players returning today (from a total field of 1,054).

If you want to see how the ladies-and-a-few-men event continues to play out, head over to PokerNews’ live reporting of Event No. 22 later today to see how I’m spending my time.

2010 WSOP, Day 14: Late Night Draw

Not a lot of time for posting today, I’m afraid. Some times you draw an early night at the WSOP. And sometimes not.

Last night I drew the late night.

The event I’m helping cover, Event No. 19, the $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball Championship (No-Limit), went later than expected, leaving me little time for much beyond grabbing a few hours of sleep, eating a little something, and getting back over to the Rio today for the final day of play.

The plan last night had been to play down to a final seven-handed table or to play ten one-hour levels, stopping with whichever came first. No one expected us to get from 72 to seven in ten levels, so we all were expecting the night to end somewhere around 2:30 a.m. with the end of Level 18.

When the tourney reached 15 players -- one off the money -- and hand-for-hand play commenced, the tourney clock was stopped (as is usually done). And it took an especially long time to have another elimination, probably at least 45 minutes.

In fact, the time it took was lengthened considerably because when hand-for-hand play began, there were a few instances of players deliberately delaying play so as to allow each other a bathroom break. We were only a minute or two away from the end of Level 16 when the 16th-place player was eliminated. Players were in fact surprised we were not going to take a break but play through without stop until the next elimination.

So for the first two or three hands of hand-for-hand play, at least one player at one table spent five minutes before acting so as to allow others to run across the hall. Jessica Wellman (of Bluff and “The Poker Beat”) was hanging out with us a bit and had a line about “pretending to tank to empty the tank.”

While the mood was generally light-hearted (despite the fact they were on the cash bubble), a couple of players were not amused by the tactics and complained. As I say, by the time hand-for-hand had finally concluded, it was already pushing 2 a.m. The players went on their scheduled break, then came back to discover we’d still be playing two more levels and not stopping at 3 a.m. as most expected.

So we continued on into the night. Play starts back at 4 p.m. this afternoon. Still have Bloch, Juanda, Negreanu, and Seidel among the final ten, plus David “Whooookidd” Baker, back to another final table after making the $50K Player’s Championship FT last week. Should be interesting. As always, you can follow the coverage over at PokerNews.

Meanwhile, let me point you to a new Betfair piece of mine up today about being at the WSOP. Have a good weekend, all!

2010 WSOP, Day 13: The Real Tournament of Champions?

“I just hope I don’t deal a flop.”

That’s what a dealer said to me prior to the start of yesterday’s Event No. 19, the $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw Championship (No-Limit).

He had told me he’d only dealt the rarely-spread game once before, and was only half-joking, I think, when noting how he hoped not to slip into the usual routines of hold’em during this event.

Yesterday probably counts as my first superlong day of the WSOP, given that I was up early in the morning, went in to cover an event starting late in the afternoon, and didn’t get back to the home away from home until after 4 a.m. So I was up 20-plus hours, which’ll happen now and again with this gig.

I had gotten to the Rio early for the event, and when I’d mention to people I was on the 2-7 more often than not I’d get sympathetic noises or nods in return, the draw events being for some folks less than desirable to cover.

But I like a diversion from the flop, turn, and river. And with this event -- one that draws (pun intended) just about every top level poker pro one can imagine -- there was constantly something of interest to engage the mind. I’m not going to list all the stars here; go take a quick peek at the chip counts to see how incredibly stacked this field was. You’ll get an idea looking at that list how every single table had four, five, six, or even seven players those of us who are fans of poker would know.

Think about all the bracelets won by the players entered in this event! Not a stretch to claim Event No. 19 to be the real Tournament of Champions.

With all the immediately recognizable names in the field, the chip leader is a fellow named Homan Houshiar, a Canadian player who told us near night’s end that this was only the third or fourth time he’s played deuce-to-seven. You’ll hear stories like that with these less popular games, sometimes. As with the dealers, not all of the players who play an event like this -- even a $10,000 buy-in version of it -- will come to it with a great deal of experience.

Many remember the tale of how Jennifer Harman won a bracelet in this same event in 2000 having never played the game previously, and only receiving a five-minute tutorial from Howard Lederer prior to the event. Indeed, for much of the middle part of play yesterday it was a young player named Stephen Chidwick who’d raced out to the chip lead, and we learned from Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck that he’d only learned the game during the afternoon from David “Bakes” Baker yesterday afternoon!

Donnie and I handled the blogging, with Neil helping us in the field. By the end of the night the three of us had actually managed to enter about 80 of the players’ names into the counts, and were able to keep them all fairly well updated during the latter four levels of play. (During the first four levels players could still use their three allotted “add-on” chips, and so the counts -- while updated -- were not so indicative of how things were going since the chip counts page didn’t show how many of the add-on chips a player had left.)

Probably the funniest hand I witnessed yesterday was one in which Chris “Jesus” Ferguson cheekily raised and stayed pat after being dealt quads. (See the hand write-up here.) Table cracked up afterwards, with the usually stolid-seeming Ferguson laughing the loudest.

There were a lot of other interesting moments during the day as well, not all of which were related to the play.

One was when the dealers quizzed Erik Seidel at the end of the dinner break about the whereabouts of the visor he wore at the 1988 Main Event final table. (That's pic to the left is from Seidel playing that final hand against Johnny Chan -- who busted in Day 1 of Event No. 19 yesterday.)

Seidel said he thought his wife might have thrown it out somewhere along the way, but he agreed with the dealers it would be a hoot if he were to show up wearing it at at some future final table. He will be returning for Day 2 today. Maybe if Seidel makes it back tomorrow he’ll consider some sort of orange visor reprise.

Speaking of hats... during the dinner break I ate in the Poker Kitchen where I saw Jeff Lisandro with a couple of people who appeared to be a salesman and an assistant (I’m not sure). Last year’s WSOP player of the year was trying on hats -- an assortment of bowlers that evoke that Prohibition-era gangster image his style sometimes evokes.

I could only assume he was looking to purchase one or more. He’d put on one, walk across the hall to the restroom to check it out in the mirror, then return to try another. All looked equally cool to me, but then I would like that hard-boiled style.

Mike Matusow was talking a lot at his table, as he is wont to do. Was relating in great detail to the table the screwing he received at UB where he was cheated out of millions, a story he’s told elsewhere more than once.

Billy Baxter is in this event, too. Naturally. He holds seven bracelets, all in lowball events, a fact of which just about every other player seemed aware. Many came over during play -- there was a lot of talk and visiting between tables all night -- to acknowledge “Mr. Lowball” (as John Juanda called him).

Tom “durrrr” Dwan is in this one, too, and at one point early on appeared to have successfully crossbooked action with Baxter. Both players return to similar, above-average stacks today that put each in the top ten.

Have to say I wouldn’t mind at all seeing Baxter make it deep in this one. But then, there are a lot of players I’m pulling for here. Hard not to feel like a fan with such a field.

If you want to follow the action from Day 2, skip over to PokerNews for updates as they play down from 72. The goal today is to reach a seven-handed final table today, although they’ll stop before that if it gets too late.

But if it does go late, we’ll handle it. Will happen now and again with this gig.

2010 WSOP, Day 12: Rejoining the Spectacle

Day started slowly for me yesterday. I had slept away most of Monday -- day and night -- recovering from that red-eye flight back from Peru. Got up Tuesday and made plans with Spaceman for lunch, and we ended up over at the Wynn for a delicious buffet meal.

I joked with Spaceman how we’d enjoyed a decent buffet at the Atlantic City Casino every day while at LAPT Lima, one that included an octopus salad which I had sampled more than once while there, and that I wouldn’t be satisfied if there weren’t octopus also on offer at the Wynn. There was.

We trucked over to the Rio afterwards, where Spaceman was going to work on various items as part of his freelance work for a few different places this summer, including Bluff and PokerListings. Meanwhile, I had decided that even though it wasn’t a scheduled day of work for me at PokerNews, I wanted to go in anyway and spend a few hours with the site, primarily to reacquaint myself with the blog and its various features. After a bit of a stumble out of the gate, the PN site is running quite well now and I just wanted to work with it a little bit when everything was functioning so as to be ready for my return.

Ended up helping out FerricRamsium and TassieDevil over on Event No. 17, the $5,000 NLHE event which had a seriously stacked field. I started out just helping enter chip counts and handling some of the busywork, writing a post or two here and there. At some point later in the evening FerricRamsium wasn’t feeling well and since I was there we sent him home, and I rode out the shift with TassieDevil.

We had a couple of terrific reporters helping on this one (Mickey and Brett), then a third (Neil) join us, too. By the end of the night, we had something like 250 names updated in the chip counts -- that’s out of a field of 792. Still not everyone, obviously, but kind of amazing for a Day 1 (in my opinion). More than anything a testament to the reporters’ knowledge of players and their day-long hustle.

Of course, even less knowledgeable folks could recognize a lot of players in this event. Just about all of the “names” were there, it seemed -- Ivey, Hellmuth, Esfandiari, Cloutier, Obrestad, Lindgren, Ferguson, Negreanu, Seidel, Tran, Mortensen, and many, many more. And the fans were definitely enjoying themselves.

I was reminded at one point how neat the WSOP can be for spectators. A couple had approached our table there asking us where Ivey and a couple of other players were seated, and as we told them you could sense how excited they were -- and surprised -- that they could walk over and watch hands at such close proximity. If you have never been to the Rio during the WSOP, and you are at all curious about what happens, by all means come on down and check it out. The WSOP continues to be special this way, I think, in how it allows fans’ access.

In truth, even players sometimes get a little starstruck at times. Or at least caught up in the spectacle that the WSOP can create.

At one point, I happened to have been standing by a table at which were seated Brandon Adams, Shannon Elizabeth, Dan Heimiller, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Ferguson, and David Williams. Got to witness (and eventually report) from beginning to end a fairly big hand involving the latter four players. Was one of those neat situations, actually, where as a reporter I was able to get pretty much the whole story of the hand -- all of the action, table talk, etc. Something like that can be hard to come by sometimes. (I wrote something about all the factors affecting a hand report last summer in a lengthy post called “Anatomy of a Hand Report.”)

In this hand, Heimiller had opened with a standard raise from the hijack seat, Hellmuth had called from the cutoff, then Ferguson reraised from the button. Williams then called the reraise from the blinds, Heimiller folded, and Hellmuth took some time deciding what to do. At some point in there I noticed Heimiller snapping a photo of the three biggies still in the hand. Elizabeth had taken a picture as well, which I later saw on her Twitter. Kind of funny to be the one there reporting, but seeing the players likewise chronicling the action.

When our event ended for the day, I was curious to go over to the Amazon to see the battle between Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, Jen Harman, John Juanda, Steve Zolotow, and Frank Kassela for the Event No. 15, the $10,000 buy-in Stud/8 bracelet. Ended up taking off, though, mainly because I still don’t have a car here yet, and so had to grab a ride back to the home away from home with our regularly scheduled shuttle.

I see this morning that they ended up playing several more hours, with Kassela outlasting the Chainsaw for the bracelet. Kassela is a friend of Spaceman’s actually -- both are Tennessee guys -- giving the day-slash-night a bit of symmetry.

I’ll be back over at the Rio tonight for a regularly scheduled shift helping cover Event No. 19, the $10,000 Deuce-to-Seven Draw Lowball Championship (No-Limit). Should also be a stacked field for this one, so I’m anticipating more spectacle. And spectators. Follow along over at PokerNews’ live reporting page.

2010 WSOP, Days 4-11: Catching Up

Been away from the WSOP for a little over a week, during which time there has already been a fair amount of drama happening over at the Rio. Felt a little weird to be away like that, but in this golden age of wireless, I never felt too detached from what was happening.

(That’s right -- a Thomas Dolby allusion for you there. Sheesh, can it really be true that album is pushing 30 years old?)

When in Lima, I frequently followed the live reporting on PokerNews, then also checked in on those other sites I recommended in a post last week (“Where to Go”).

As is probably the case for a lot of you, I found Dr. Pauly’s daily recaps mandatory reading for keeping up. Kevmath’s posts at Pokerati were helpful, too. And while Wicked Chops’ photos from the WSOP didn’t necessarily help with the “big picture” the way, say, B.J. Nemeth’s photo blog does (also a must-follow), I nevertheless might’ve checked in over there from time to time as well.

Lots of places to go, then, for someone on another continent wishing to satisfy a WSOP fix. Here were a half-dozen stories I found myself following most closely over the last week-plus while I was away.

1. The “Near Disaster” of Event No. 3

Among the stories from the first week-plus of the 2010 WSOP that got my attention, the first was that “near disaster” (as some have called it) of Day 1b of Event No. 3, the first of the $1,000 no-limit hold’em events, or “The Grand Games” (as one has called them).

I was actually there for that one, reporting on Day 1b, and, indeed, some were sweating it a little there near the end. On Day 1a, 2,601 players showed up and only 276 remained at day’s end. Then on Day 1b -- a day when all seemed to expect at least as many or even more to play -- only 1,744 came out. That meant 4,345 total, which translated to 441 spots paying.

They had to play 10 levels, but they couldn’t allow the 1,744 who showed on Day 1b get below 165 left, or else they’d reach the cash. Can’t do that before consolidating the fields, and so tourney officials were having to decide on the fly whether to stop play short of the end of Level 10 (if needed). Turned out not to be an issue, as there were still about 200 of the Day 1b entrants left when play concluded.

I actually think this story got blown up a little more than it deserved, probably because we were still early in the WSOP and there wasn’t much else to write about yet. Apparently, however, there is a new policy in place going forward to stop play on Day 1a if they get down to 15% of the field, then have the Day 1b crowd stop at the same point so as to avoid any further “near disasters.”

2. The Mizrachi Crunch

Some of us old enough to remember The Golden Age of Wireless are also old enough to remember that “Happy Days” episode in which Fonzie and Pinky Tuscadero enter a demolition derby. They find themselves up against the villainous Malachi brothers. Actually, looking online I am reminded this was a three-parter, with one episode ending on a cliffhanger after Pinky gets caught in the “Malachi crunch” -- i.e., the brothers simultaneously smash her pink car from either side. We had to wait a week to find out, I guess, but Pinky did survive.

Was fairly amazed to see both Michael and Robert Mizrachi making the final table of the $50,000 buy-in Player’s Championship (Event No. 2), with Robert ultimately finishing fifth and Michael earning his first WSOP bracelet. In fact, “The Grinder” knocked out Robert on his way to the victory.

The WSOP site tells us this was the just the third time two family members made a WSOP final table, with the Mizrachis having the best finish of any such pair. In 1995, siblings Annie Duke and Howard Lederer both made the final table of the $1,500 pot-limit hold’em event. Duke finished sixth in that one, with Lederer going out in ninth. And in 2002, brothers Ross and Barny Boatman both made the final table of the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha event, with Ross finishing seventh and Barny ninth.

3. Hellmuth Gets (Sort of) Close

Phil Hellmuth finished 15th in Event No. 8, a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event which attracted 2,341 entrants. Close enough to bring out all of the fans and haters. Dr. Pauly summed up the frenzy well in his post titled “Darth Hellmuth.”

Hellmuth was in the Event No. 3 I covered, though only briefly. He arrived very late on Day 1b and lasted about an hour before pushing his signature hand -- pocket nines -- from the button only to run into a big blind player holding K-K. Despite drawing such huge fields, these low buy-in NLHE events are clearly the Poker Brat’s best chance at getting a 12th bracelet.

Most have heard that some Native Americans believe having one’s picture taken steals one’s soul. The idea is usually linked to the fact that Crazy Horse apparently never allowed his picture to be taken. For some reason, Pauly’s account of a fan of Hellmuth (or “Hellmouth”) taking the Poker Brat’s picture from the rail made me think of that.

“The more photos he took” of Hellmuth, writes Pauly, “the more powerful he became.” Make of that what you will.

4. For the Nguyen; Men Lands Seventh Bracelet

Men “All You Can Eat, Baby” Nguyen won Event No. 10, the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud World Championship event, outlasting an amazing final table that included (in order of finish) Brandon Adams, Steve Billirakis, Nikolay Evdakov, Joe Cassidy, Michael Mizrachi, Vladimir Schmelev (who finished second to the Grinder in the $50K), and Sirous Jamshidi. That’s Men’s seventh bracelet, won in a variety of poker variants (hold’em, O/8, stud, lowball) -- interestingly, all fixed limit games.

I remember covering one of the early events last summer in which Men cashed. It was Event No. 19, the $2,500 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event (won by Brock Parker). Nguyen eventually finished 16th in that one. Just after the cash bubble burst, he stopped me to tell me he’d moved within one WSOP cash of Phil Hellmuth’s record, but a quick check with Nolan Dalla showed he wasn’t quite there yet. (This year’s WSOP Media Guide has Hellmuth with 75 WSOP cashes entering this summer’s Series, with Men in second with 65.)

Besides competing with Hellmuth for cashes and bracelets, Nguyen rivals the Poker Brat in the number of haters he has, too. I’ve heard the same stories all of you have, and as a result am necessarily reserved about celebrating Nguyen’s accomplishments. Still, seven bracelets is nothing to sneeze at.

5. Cool Britannia

The British are coming, apparently. And winning. Lots of success for U.K. players here early on. First, Praz Bansi won Event No. 5 ($1,500 NLHE). Then in Event No. 6, the $5,000 NLHE Shootout event, Neil "Bad Beat" Channing and Stuart Rutter both made the final table, finishing second and third respectively. Then James Dempsey took down Event No. 9, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em event.

Again, check out Pauly’s discussion of this one. Also, be sure to add Snoopy’s Black Belt blog to your regular reading for more on the Brits.

6. Dwan’s Song

Probably the biggest story from the first 11 days of the WSOP was Tom “durrrr” Dwan nearly taking down Event No. 11 ($1,500 no-limit hold’em). Indeed, if Dwan had won the event rather than finishing second, this one might’ve ended up the story of the entire WSOP this summer.

That’s because -- as you’ve no doubt read elsewhere -- side bets on Dwan winning a bracelet this year apparently amounted to something in the neighborhood of $8-$10 million, meaning his winning would’ve scored him a payday that will possibly be even bigger than that enjoyed by the person winning the Main Event.

Terrence Chan wrote an interesting post about how the side bets essentially meant the final heads-up battle between Dwan and eventual winner Simon Watt of New Zealand amounted to the biggest game in poker history. (Thanks to the Black Widow of Poker for pointing me to this one.) According to Chan’s estimates, if one takes the side bets into considerations, the real-dollar value of the blinds were something like $55,000/$110,000 at the end.

Interesting stuff, although I’d add to the commentary that while the blinds may have had that significance for Dwan, Watt -- whom I presume wasn’t on the other end of any of Dwan’s bracelet bets -- obviously wasn’t playing quite so high.

Those are the biggies thus far. That's the way it seemed from 4,000-plus miles away, anyhow.

Have also been following F-Train’s posts about the total numbers of entrants thus far at the WSOP. (Here is the most recent one of those.) And while I haven’t heard anything tangible about our having passed the June 1 deadline for banks and other financial institutions to start complying with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, I’m braced for some sort of news on that front, too.

That's better. Will probably take a day or two before I feel completely back in the swing of things, but I’m looking forward to rejoining the fray. More stories to come!

Travel Report: LAPT Lima, Departure

Back in Vegas I am. Broiling. Up around 105˚ today, with the hot, hot winds making it feel as though you’re walking into a hair dryer. Quite a change from Lima, where it was overcast all week with temps in the upper 60˚s for most of our time there.

I arrived at McCarran early this morning after flying all night, then slept away most of the day here at the home away from home. I’ll be back on the floor at the Rio soon, but thankfully have a little space first to recover and regroup before rejoining my colleagues at PokerNews to help cover the WSOP.

Was a lazy day in Lima yesterday. I managed to do some walking around, heading back down to the Larcomar mall area and its immediate environs. Aside from a few places selling crafts, the mall is essentially made up of stores and restaurants that aren’t any different from what you find in yr average U.S. mall.


Still, it was fun to get out and be among the families and others enjoying a weekend afternoon. (Click pics for enlarged view.)

When walking around the mall area, I did experience what seemed like it must have been a pick-pocketing attempt. A woman ran into me from behind and basically hugged me before moving away with a “lo siento.” If it were a theft attempt, it came up empty as in such situations I tend to go front-pockets-only with whatever items I might be carrying.

As Otis noted over on Rapid Eye Reality, the police presence was significant everywhere I went, with at least a couple on each corner and often more. So if it were a try for my wallet, it was perhaps a bit bold.

Then again, I am quite huggable.

Walked around for perhaps an hour or so, stopping frequently to gaze out on the west coast of South America.






































I shopped a bit for gifts, then made my way back to the hotel. By early evening Otis and I were in a cab to the Jorge Chávez International Airport.

We parted once we got inside, as he was on a different airline with a different destination. I made it all the way through to the gate without incident, other than having unexpectedly to pay $31 for an “airport fee.” That’s the charge for international flights (it is less for domestic, I think), and it must be paid in cash. Was there a couple of hours early and so grabbed a sandwich and hopped on the free wi-fi to follow the end of the Celts-Lakers as well as Tom “durrrr” Dwan’s final table.

Then I went over to my gate and waited with Lynn of PokerNews and Jacob Baumgartner, the end-of-day-1 chip leader at LAPT Lima Peru and eventual 19th-place finisher. He and I talked about his career thus far, including his huge score in the $530 buy-in no-limit hold’em heads up WCOOP event last fall. Baumgartner took second in that one to Eugene “Myrabbifoo” Katchalov, earning a cool $120,000 after an end-of-event chop.

The three of us chatted with a few other travelers as well, including a friendly woman whom I eventually found out -- after the others had been called to board the plane -- was a novelist, about to embark on a publicity tour for her most recent book. She asked lots of questions of each of us about the whole poker thing, expressing incredulity (partially feigned, I decided later) at the idea that Baumgartner was making a living playing.

“Does your mother know what you’re doing?” she asked Baumgartner, who laughed in response. He did a good job explaining his own story and how it is indeed possible for some -- not many -- to be poker pros.

“When is the next tournament?” was her next question. “Tomorrow,” was his reply, and it was Lynn and me laughing this time. Indeed, his plan was to sleep on the plane, then enter that $1,500 short-handed NLHE event (No. 16) that began at noon today.

My next tournament won’t be until Wednesday. Should be good one, the $10,000 buy-in Event No. 19, the 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship (No-Limit), attracting a lot of big names. Meanwhile, I’ll be catching up on the last week of WSOP action, including reviewing Tom “durrrr” Dwan’s near-miss last night at a bracelet -- and cashing in on side bets that sounded like they exceeded what the Main Event winner is going to get.

All in all a fun, interesting week.

Travel Report: LAPT Lima, Arrival
Travel Report: LAPT Lima, Pregame
Travel Report: LAPT Lima, Day 1
Travel Report: LAPT Lima, Day 2
Travel Report: LAPT Lima, Day 3
Travel Report: LAPT Lima, Day 4

Thanks for your patience during my detour below the equator. WSOP reports return tomorrow!

Travel Report: LAPT Lima, Day 4

“That was the most exciting final table ever!”

So said Reinaldo last night about seven o’clock, just after Jose “Nacho” Barbero had won his second straight Latin American Poker Tour title at Lima. Reinaldo reported on the event for PokerStars.la, the Spanish-language blog.

“You always say that!” responded Sergio with a grin, and we laughed on media row. Sergio was writing this week for PokerStars’ Portuguese site.

It had been a wild, at times electrifying final table, made more so by the large, vocal group of spectators that had amassed in the Atlantic City Casino poker room on Saturday afternoon. The final table had been set up on a stage at one end of the room, we were set up over on the side, and most of the space was filled with seats for those interested in watching the action up front and on the several big screens.

Of course, most didn’t bother using those seats, standing instead as they primarily cheered on Erick Cabrera, the lone Peruvian of the final eight. Cabrera grabbed the chip lead with four players left and appeared primed to take it down, but ended up getting pushed out of a few pots, then going out in third.

In Cabrera’s bustout hand, it had been a limped pot (blind-vs.-blind) between him and Barbero, and “Nacho” ended up flopping a ten-high straight while Cabrera had top pair-top kicker. Barbero played it well, checking the blank turn card and letting Cabrera shove all in drawing dead. “Very Erik Seidel-Johnny Channish,” was LAPT media coordinator Thomas Koo’s comment on the hand.

At that point Barbero had a commanding lead -- more than 5-to-1 -- over the American, young Ben Barrows who had made this event via a qualifier on Stars.

Two other U.S. players -- Martin Mathis and Chris Conrad -- had shown up an hour or so earlier dressed as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger to cheer on Barrows. Both Mathis and Conrad had played LAPT Lima, with Mathis making the money in 42nd and Conrad just missing the final table and ending in 11th. Both played well, and Conrad in particular probably deserved better, having endured some unfortunate hands late on Day 3. Very funny stuff, and it actually fit right into the festive atmosphere of the place. Eventually a third fellow (I’m not sure whom) joined the pair dressed as Mickey Mouse.

Barrows had too steep of a hill to climb against Barbero, though, and was out in just a few hands. Click here to see Barbero's post-tourney interview. A really likable, humble guy, although he doesn’t deny he played well, and makes a reasonable point that winning back-to-back titles like this indeed helps make the case that poker involves skill. (Of course, there was that one hand on Day 3 where a little bit of luck was involved!) Barbero now definitely becomes another player to watch at the WSOP this summer, where he is soon headed.

The reporting went well yesterday, although at first it appeared it was going to be a challenge given that we were too far from the table to see chip stacks, the suits of the cards weren’t that clear on the TV monitors, and the announcing of the action was in Spanish. But Melina, the announcer, started adding English to her calls early on, and was very good throughout. Indeed, I thought she added some excitement to the proceedings when she would sometimes turn to the audience to announce a player was all in.

Carlos, our photographer, got some great pics along the way which you can see on the Day 4 live blog and in Otis’ end wrap.

After the event we ended up hanging out with the PokerNews guys and a couple of fellows from the television production crew, Mark and Seamus. That’s right -- Seamus! I did a double-take when he introduced himself to me, and of course had to explain my nick.

While we chatted, the server came over to tell us a gentleman in a red hat was buying a round for everyone. A little confused, we looked over and saw Dennis Phillips chatting with a group nearby. All got Pisco Sours (the new fave which Otis tells about here) while I just got a Coke. We thanked Dennis after, and he shrugged and noted how he knows we work hard reporting on him and everything else and it was the least he could do.

Afterwards some among us shared a couple of other anecdotes about Phillips’ support of those who cover him. I know it’s becoming an increasingly unoriginal observation to say Phillips is a good guy, but he is. So are a great many of the poker players we cover, actually -- even those who don’t buy us drinks.

As those stories about Phillips were being passed back and forth, I couldn’t help but think some afterwards about that recent blog post of Daniel Negreanu’s in which he complains about the WSOP coverage. I could obviously write a long response to what Kid Poker is saying there, but I’m going to refrain. For now, anyway.

I ended up calling it a night around midnight. Went back to the room and slept like a rock for ten hours. Don’t think I even turned over once.

Gonna do a little exploring of Lima today, but time is limited. There is actually more poker happening at the Atlantic City Casino today -- the final of the America’s Cup of Poker. We aren’t covering the event, but I might just stick my head in one last time to see what is happening with that.

Like I say, though, I won’t be messing around too much today, as I will be heading back over to Jorge Chávez International Airport in the early evening to catch the red-eye back to Vegas.

Was definitely a good week and, as Reinaldo proclaimed, an especially exciting final table.

Back in the northern hemisphere soon. Y’all keep holding up yr end of things until I return.

Travel Report: LAPT Lima, Day 3

We’ve made it to Saturday morning, our last full day here in Lima, Peru to cover the Latin American Poker Tour Main Event. The final table starts at noon today. My flight back to Las Vegas is late tomorrow, meaning I’ll be returning Sin City early Monday morning, and will be back on the floor there in the Rio to help cover the WSOP soon thereafter.

I’ve definitely enjoyed the week thus far, and am grateful for having had the opportunity to explore another part of the world like this, even in a limited way. But I have had this weird “twice removed” kind of feeling this week. Am not in Vegas, where part of me feels like I should be just now. But of course that’s not really home either. Will probably be a little strange to go back to LV from here rather than really going home.

Last night Day 3 of the event finished relatively early. Play began around 12:30 p.m. and even with frequent breaks (per the video crew) the tourney had played down from 24 to eight players by a little after six o’clock. Spent a couple of hours afterwards taking care of various things, including writing up a wrap post of Day 3, then a little later a group of us went out in search of some local eats.

We rambled it over to the Larcomar Mall, an extensive, three-level pedestrian shopping area a few blocks from the casino with many restaurants, shops, arcades, a bowling alley, and more. I think there’s a big movie theater down in there somewhere, too. Not unlike what you’d encounter in some American big cities, made more familiar by the presence of Chili’s, Starbucks, and even a KFC (no shinola). We wandered around a bit before settling on Vista Al Mar, a restaurant that offered a large menu of options from which we all found dishes to our liking. I had a plate full of yummy seafood paella, greatly enjoying the food, the conversation, and the oceanside view.

When it came time to pay the bill, a couple of us had Peruvian sol, while others have continued to stick with U.S. dollars (which are accepted most everywhere, it seems). We had the waiter tell us what we would owe in both currencies, and it was clear the restaurant’s not-necessarily-on-the-up-and-up exchange rate meant paying with the American moneys would mean a much larger expense. So the guys with sol paid, and the ones without paid them.

Walked around a little afterwards, and some of our conversation revolved around what was easily the hand of the day on Friday, a huge pot won by Jose “Nacho” Barbero that propelled him into the chip lead to start today’s final table.

The hand was played up on the feature table, located on a stage at the far end of the poker room. A little difficult to follow stack sizes up there, given the access, but we’d eventually learn Barbero had 713,000 to start the hand, while his opponent, the American Chris Conrad, had something like a million or more. There were 11 players left, and the blinds were 12,000/24,000 with a 3,000 ante.

Barbero and Conrad had been involved in a lot of back-and-forthing up to this point, and so there was some history when Barbero opened with a raise, then Conrad three-bet him. “Nacho” shoved all in, and Conrad made the call with his . Barbero then showed his hand -- !

“Nacho” walked around a bit as we waited for the community cards to come. All eyes were on him as people expressed incredulity to one another about his hand. Barbero continued to make a slow circle, collar popped, hands in jeans pockets, and a mischievous-looking grin on his face conveying how he’d been caught doing something that perhaps he shouldn’t have.

But it all worked out -- in most dramatic fashion. Down to the river where only an eight or four would save him, the fell, and Barbero was the chip leader. And the crowd went loco.

That’s been another fun part of LAPT Lima, the highly festive atmosphere created by the fans cheering on the action. Probably something like 120 or more there yesterday, and I expect we’ll see a similar crowd today. There is one Peruvian left in the final eight -- Erick Cabrera -- who was getting a lot of support on Friday. Six other countries are represented as well, including one American, the young Ben Barrows who began Day 2 with less than the starting stack.

As you follow the WSOP coverage over on PokerNews, you can check over at the PokerStars blog to see how it all plays out. Barbero won the last LAPT event at Punta del Este, besting a field of 307 to do so. There were 384 for LAPT Lima, so to make another final table is something in itself.

Should be fun today. We’ll see how things go after that. Might get a chance to explore Lima a little more on Sunday. Then it will be time to leave this home away from home away from home.

Travel Report: LAPT Lima, Day 2

An especially long one yesterday -- about a 16-hour workday, all told. Still a little tired this morning, but ready to get back over to the Atlantic City Casino to see how the story of LAPT Lima continues to unfold.

There were 197 players returning for Day 2 of the $2,700 buy-in Main Event. The plan was to play down to 24. (That picture to the left shows the main feature table starting to be constructed at the far end of the poker room.) After ten one-hour levels there was talk of just stopping things after two more levels (at the end of Level 20), regardless of how many players were left. As it happened, the elimination of Costa Rican player Luis Jaikel in 25th place happened just a few minutes before the end of that level, and so we’ll have the three eight-handed tables as planned when play restarts today.

As the day wore on, I began more and more to notice differences in the way the players interacted and what might be called the “culture” of the LAPT event when compared to, say, the World Series of Poker or U.S.-based tourneys.

As happens at the WSOP, there have been occasional displays of emotion as players react to various situations, most often during the all-ins when a player’s tourney life is on the line. And there have been a couple of dust-ups about rulings and such, but nothing terribly out of the ordinary.

I’ve found it interesting, however, to witness what seems like a lot of genuine human interaction at the tables as well, with much conversation and smiling. You’ll see that at the WSOP, too, now and then, but not with as much frequency as I have here, I don’t think.

For example, another player from Costa Rica, Steven Thompson, is one of the 24 coming back today. He has been kind of a gregarious type, talking and laughing quite a bit. And his tablemates seem often to be following suit. Even a simple blind-vs.-blind hand between Thompson and another player in which one bets the other out of a pot seemed always to elicit a lot of grins and good-natured back-and-forthing.

There was one particularly funny moment yesterday when there were just 51 players remaining. The top 48 spots paid, and so the tension had risen somewhat (and play slowed down a lot). Suddenly I noticed a player at Thompson’s table -- Leandro Csome of Argentina -- standing up with a piece of paper. He had written the number “48” on the paper, and with a huge grin was holding it up over the “51” on the electronic board indicating players remaining.

Csome let out a cheer, and Thompson immediately joined in the celebration, hugging Csome and drawing huge laughs all around. A very funny moment. Felt bad for Csome when he in fact went out soon after, just missing the cash, but he still had a smile on his face as he left.

There were other interesting stories yesterday. American player Martin Mathis started the day with 20,075 chips -- just 75 more than the starting stack for the tourney -- but survived multiple all-ins early on, then showed a lot of savvy to make it into the money before getting knocked out in 42nd.

There were a couple of other huge comebacks yesterday, too. Probably the most remarkable was that of U.S. player Ben Barrows. Sporting a t-shirt that said “Dazed and Confused,” Barrows started the day with just a little over 18,000, but is still in the sucker, currently in 11th place.

Also -- and this is kind of a wild one -- the last woman in the event, Pamela Espinosa of Chile, went out in 31st place, and was followed in 30th place by her husband, Mauricio Zeman! Not quite the Mizrachi brothers both making the final table of the $50K Player’s Championship at the WSOP, but remarkable nonetheless.

The big story as we ended the night -- told by my blogging partner Brad “Otis” Willis over on the PokerStars blog -- is the fact that the two previous winners of this season of the LAPT are first and second in chips heading into Day 3.

Amer Sulaiman, the chip leader, ran especially well during the last hours of play on Day 2, picking up pocket aces at least twice, and seemingly always having the goods when short-stacked players were pushing all in against him. The Canadian Sulaiman won the LAPT Playa Conchal event in Costa Rica last November which kicked off this Season 3 of the LAPT.

And Team PokerStars pro Jose “Nacho” Barbero of Argentina is second in chips. Barbero is an especially tricky player whom I remember covering at last summer’s WSOP when he made a final table in the $1,500 limit hold’em shootout (won by Greg Mueller). Barbero won LAPT Punta del Este in Uruguay this past February.

Both Sulaiman and Barbero had vocal supporters on the rail yesterday, and indeed the scene was pretty raucous at times with a lot of cheering and singing as more than 100 spectators crowded the action.

Incidentally, there wasn’t too much talk yesterday about the Joran van der Sloot situation. We heard he’d been arrested in Chile, but that was about it.

The only other evidence of the story was the fact that a couple of times during the day there were news crews -- not covering the tourney -- shooting segments there near and in the poker room. On the left is a picture of one such segment being shot as I walked in early yesterday.

We expect there will be more excitement today as they play down to the final eight. Check in on the PokerStars blog to see the next chapter of the story.