Zimba Blog:
Instead of going to the twoplustwo forum party at the Wynn, I refueled with a Hot and Sour soup from the Poker Kitchen and decompressed for a few minutes from the long day. Then I headed over to the final table of the $5k PLO Hi/Low event, which was the last event #57 before the Main Event #58. The final table was stacked with good players including Phil Laak, Nick Shulman, David Bach (who won the $50k Players Championship a couple years ago), Nick Binger and Allen Kessler. Although it wasn't played in the "Mothership featured table area, it still drew an interesting rail. Often times during the day, you are so busy running around, you don't get the time to stand and watch a table or rail for extended periods. I had a number of interesting interactions with the $5k PLO Hi/Low rail that I would share with you:
The first interaction was with the manager of Olivier Busquet, known as livb112 online, and another guy who runs a staking site and backs some players in the WSOP. We discussed their players a bit, but focused more on the 20% fewer than last year's first day turnout and what it meant for the final numbers of players for the 2011 Main Event.
The second and third interactions involved pro players Jonathan Little and Raymond Davis. Little had come to check on one of his "horses." He admitted that he had bought action on the twoplustwo marketplace forum of some 40 or more players playing the World Series of Poker. This player he was checking on was his best result yet and he hoped to come out of the red and make his summer of pieces a positive one. The funny part is that he didn't even know what the guy looked like as he had conducted his research ind transaction online. It turned out to be a young guy named Trevor Reador who finished in fifth for a roughly $100k score.
When Little left suddenly with a friend, the chatty and enebriated Raymond Davis started to share his story. He had finished 10th in the $50k Players Championship a couple years earlier, knew all the big players and claimed to have given Brian Rast his ideal seat in this year's $50k Players Championship because he influenced when and how he registered. He enjoyed sharing how he knew Phil Ivey and that Phil has changed numbers a month ago, not notifying any of his friends of the action he would later take regarding Full Tilt Poker. He said he knew where in Europe Phil was hanging out now. The other pro that Davis was having fun with was Phil Hellmuth for still driving a 1999 Lexus around Vegas when he could afford to drive a newer and nicer car.
The fourth interaction involved watching the lovely Liv Boeree and Xuan Liu standing next to me as they railed Nick Binger. You could sense many eyes directed next to me, and many poker players came up to chat up the two young poker beauties.
The fifth interaction involved seeing Lee Childs. He had just flown in tonight for his WSOP Main Event experience and was also railing his friend Nick Binger. It was nice to see him again and catch up as we had first bonded in 2007 when I reported on him every day for the entire tournament through his final table experience.
On my way back to the press box, I spotted Benjamin "psychobenny" Spindler playing in the Main Event. I had researched and written a player profile on him a few weeks ago detailing his climb from StarCraft gaming circles to becoming an internet cash games specialist killing the games. As the players were bagging up chips at the end of the night, I introduced myself and we will try to arrange an in depth interview in the next few days. Now it's after 2 a.m. and time for me to post this and grab some sleep so I can be back here at 10:30 again.
Instead of going to the twoplustwo forum party at the Wynn, I refueled with a Hot and Sour soup from the Poker Kitchen and decompressed for a few minutes from the long day. Then I headed over to the final table of the $5k PLO Hi/Low event, which was the last event #57 before the Main Event #58. The final table was stacked with good players including Phil Laak, Nick Shulman, David Bach (who won the $50k Players Championship a couple years ago), Nick Binger and Allen Kessler. Although it wasn't played in the "Mothership featured table area, it still drew an interesting rail. Often times during the day, you are so busy running around, you don't get the time to stand and watch a table or rail for extended periods. I had a number of interesting interactions with the $5k PLO Hi/Low rail that I would share with you:
The first interaction was with the manager of Olivier Busquet, known as livb112 online, and another guy who runs a staking site and backs some players in the WSOP. We discussed their players a bit, but focused more on the 20% fewer than last year's first day turnout and what it meant for the final numbers of players for the 2011 Main Event.
The second and third interactions involved pro players Jonathan Little and Raymond Davis. Little had come to check on one of his "horses." He admitted that he had bought action on the twoplustwo marketplace forum of some 40 or more players playing the World Series of Poker. This player he was checking on was his best result yet and he hoped to come out of the red and make his summer of pieces a positive one. The funny part is that he didn't even know what the guy looked like as he had conducted his research ind transaction online. It turned out to be a young guy named Trevor Reador who finished in fifth for a roughly $100k score.
When Little left suddenly with a friend, the chatty and enebriated Raymond Davis started to share his story. He had finished 10th in the $50k Players Championship a couple years earlier, knew all the big players and claimed to have given Brian Rast his ideal seat in this year's $50k Players Championship because he influenced when and how he registered. He enjoyed sharing how he knew Phil Ivey and that Phil has changed numbers a month ago, not notifying any of his friends of the action he would later take regarding Full Tilt Poker. He said he knew where in Europe Phil was hanging out now. The other pro that Davis was having fun with was Phil Hellmuth for still driving a 1999 Lexus around Vegas when he could afford to drive a newer and nicer car.
The fourth interaction involved watching the lovely Liv Boeree and Xuan Liu standing next to me as they railed Nick Binger. You could sense many eyes directed next to me, and many poker players came up to chat up the two young poker beauties.
The fifth interaction involved seeing Lee Childs. He had just flown in tonight for his WSOP Main Event experience and was also railing his friend Nick Binger. It was nice to see him again and catch up as we had first bonded in 2007 when I reported on him every day for the entire tournament through his final table experience.
On my way back to the press box, I spotted Benjamin "psychobenny" Spindler playing in the Main Event. I had researched and written a player profile on him a few weeks ago detailing his climb from StarCraft gaming circles to becoming an internet cash games specialist killing the games. As the players were bagging up chips at the end of the night, I introduced myself and we will try to arrange an in depth interview in the next few days. Now it's after 2 a.m. and time for me to post this and grab some sleep so I can be back here at 10:30 again.
First Zimba Blog: I Want That Feeling, One Time!
Second Zimba Blog: Sunday Poker Diatribe
Third Zimba Blog: Thoughts and Experiences with Cheating in Poker
Fourth Zimba Blog: The Myth of Money Won in Poker
Fifth Zimba Blog: Poker Super Powers - The Cloak of Invincibility
Sixth Zimba Blog: The Good News About The Portuguese Prodigy
Seventh Zimba Blog: Finding Your Place In Poker
Eighth Zimba Blog: Poker Empathy
Ninth Zimba Blog: Poker - A Global Game
Tenth Zimba Blog: 10 Things I Learned From My First Week Not Playing Poker
Eleventh Zimba Blog: The Blame Game
Twelfth Zimba Blog: Commentary On FSG 218 Pros List
Thirteenth Zimba Blog: Poker News or Perspective?
Fourteenth Zimba Blog: WSOP Memories Redux
Fifteenth Zimba Blog: WSOP Memories Redux, pt. 2
Sixteenth Zimba Blog: Grandfathered In
Seventeenth Zimba Blog: Full Tilt Poker and the $60 Million Cost of Business
Eighteenth Zimba Blog: WSOP Bracelet - What is it worth anyways?
Nineteenth Zimba Blog: Down the Rabbit Hole
Twentieth Zimba Blog: Full Tilt Poker Misplayed Their Hand
Twenty-first Zimba Blog: U.S. Poker: 180 Days and Degrees
Twenty-second Zimba Blog: Women's Event: Life EV Trumps Poker EV
Twenty-third Zimba Blog: Zimba WSOP Blog: The Calm Before The Storm
Twenty-fourth Zimba Blog: Zimba WSOP Blog: ThDay 1A
