All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 14 Live Blog

June 10, 2012

All Mucked Up is a live blog of all the stuff you want to know at the 2012 World Series of Poker, besides hand histories and bad beats. Well, we might add a few in here, everyone loves a good bad beat story — unless it happened to you. Check back often for polls, soundbites, celebrity sightings, and who knows what else!

The Morning Grind

The Rio is alive for the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Event. We're seeing all the usual faces around the Rio this morning, a lot of young kids who dream of winning a bracelet. One such kid is Mickey "MementMori" Petersen, who has been grinding hard this summer, in early every day, in search of his first bracelet.

We asked Petersen whom he didn’t want to see at his table today and he told us he didn’t want to see his friend Jeff Rasmussen.

Young Hopefuls

Obviously the smaller buy-in events such as today’s Event #21: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em attract a lot of players who don’t usually play in big tournaments, but wanted to play one. The field out there seems soft with a lot of pros telling stories about strange plays and unsteady tourists.

We spoke to John "Nikolak" Kim, who seemed focused and excited for the day told us, “My table seems pretty good, it’s going to be fun.”

We also saw this tweet from Mike "Timex" McDonald, who points out some of the out of the ordinary plays he’s seen so far in Event #21.

As the event unfolds, we’re guaranteed to hear some fairy tale rags-to-riches stories emerge; this is life changing money for the majority of the field today.

Outfit Of The Day

Our favorite outfit of the day so far belongs to this elderly gentleman, for his utilization of a pretty gangster pink neckerchief.

All Eyes On Ivey

While more than 1,500 players duke it out in Event #21 $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em, all spectator eyes are on the final two tables of Event #17 $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em where Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari and other big name pros fight for a bracelet.

The rail is long and thick and people try to catch a glimpse of Ivey in action.

Ivey himself seems excited, sending out a very rare tweet alerting his fans to his prominent position in the event, and thanking them for their support. The last time Ivey tweeted was in April when Amarillo Slim died.

The Guessing Game

Speaking Of Notable Twitter Absentees, Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan has been tweeting a bit lately about his life in Macau, talking about haircuts and poker.

Yesterday he tweeted a hand and followed it by saying he paid a player $2,500 dollars to see his hand, and that we might be able to guess the monster stakes that he’s playing from that amount.

Motto To Live By

This man in Event #21 $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em has forgone bright colored, flamboyant hats for a witty slogan. Brian ‘Stinger’ Hastings just tweeted this picture, and the motto on the baseball cap which reads :

"Every Old Man Is a Young Man Wondering What the F*** Happened"

Ivey Won't Like This

Phil Ivey famously doesn't like when media or fans stare at him and bother him when he's playing, I wonder what he thinks of this gentleman peering down his binoculars at him during hands. I wonder if the intimidation factor of the Ivey stare gets multiplied by the lenses too?

Squeak Strikes Again

Squeak never seems to disappoint. Yesterday he was a dinosaur, and today he's wearing a tiger outfit. I'm sure he's hoping he'll do "Greeeeat" today. We'll try to catch him on break and find out where the inspiration for his wardrobe comes from.

Jared Bleznick In The Building!

Jared ‘Harrington25’ Bleznick was just sighted in the high limit cash game section of the Pavilion room here in the Rio. Talk of the ‘Jared Bleznick challenge’ has been rampant the last few weeks, where Jared offered to play any bracelet winner heads-up in the game that they win the bracelet in, and give 10% of their losses back.

The arrival for Bleznick is likely to be a catalyst for some big action, as the confident young man has no qualms about taking on all comers, at any stake. If we see Phil Ivey enter the fray this could get ugly, the two have played a lot online with each other in the past and both will feel they have unfinished business.

We’ll try to catch up with Jared later on today, and find out just how serious he is about the ‘Jared Bleznick challenge’.

First WSOP Cash for DoubleDave22

We caught up with Dave “doubledave22” D’Alesandro, as he was making his way back to his seat in Event 19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em. The money bubble just broke and there is 164 players left.

We asked Dave how his day was going.

“I’ve got 170k right now (currently 3rd in chips).”

How does it feel getting your first ever WSOP cash?

”Feels good,” D’Alessandro said.

DoubleDave22 made his bones online, accumulating close to $2,000,000 in lifetime cashes. He’s also coached scores of online players and is an instructor at PokerXfactor.

We asked him how the transition has been since Black Friday.

“I’ve been a bit rusty, but I’ve taken advice from friends; fold less to the young guys and fold more to the old guys.”

We’ll be sure to keep tabs on D’Alesandro's progress throughout the day.

Race For The Record

With Phil Ivey chip leader in Event #17 Pot-Limit Hold’em Final Table and closing in on his 9th bracelet tonight, he will have one eye on Phil Hellmuth’s record 11.

Undoubtedly aware of this challenge, Hellmuth’s looking to put some more space between himself and the rest of the competition, going for an incredible 12th bracelet himself. Hellmuth is chip leader at the final table of Event #18 $1,500 Seven Card Razz.

With the two tables likely to go on late into the night tonight, it’s thought that two of the biggest names in poker will draw record railbird crowds to the Rio. It should make for an exciting night, check in here for the latest updates.

Read more about this long standing battle here.

Scooter Race Warm Up

Is PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree preparing for her much anticipated scooter race versus Doyle Brunson? We spotted Galen Hall and Boeree racing at break in the halls of the Rio. PokerStars pro Vanessa Selbst greeted Hall in the winner’s circle. Selbst, also gave us a quick recap of EDC.

In A Gambling Mood?

Something in the water at the Rio today has players trying to book action left, right and centre. Check out these tweets posted in the last while.

Who Wore It Better?

We had to do a double take when we came upon this table in Event 19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em. They’re dressed exactly the same and coincidentally seated next to each other. Which begs the question, who wore it better?

Hat of The Day

Looks like this gentlemen wants to "Send out the Clowns" with this hat; Frank Sinatra would be proud.

PokerNews App

Make sure you download the new PokerNews App. Here's Brett Jungblut checking out the latest PokerNews info on his iPad.

Phil Hellmuth Refuses To Move

Brandon Cantu, who is seated in the six seat, just asked Phil Hellmuth, who is in Seat 5, if he could scoot down a bit given the players in Seats 3 and 4 have been eliminated.

"No," said Hellmuth. "This is my lucky seat." Cantu seemed taken aback that such a simple request was denied and asked the floor if he'd request Hellmuth to move down a bit. "Even six inches," Cantu said.

The floor politely asked Hellmuth if he'd be willing to move down and again the "Poker Brat" refused. Cantu asked for a little help and the floor said he could check with his superiors, which prompted Hellmuth to say, "You better call Jack [Effel]."

Despite his unwillingness to budge, Hellmuth did say with sincerity, "I love Brandon Cantu." Hellmuth's stubbornness may just be a result of superstition, though it appears he has scooted down a bit.

To see more of Hellmuth's and Cantu's antics at the Event #18: $2,500 Seven Card Razz final table, make sure you're following the live reporting blog.

This Rail Is Huge

We've been following the action on Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey all day. There is not an open seat in the house for either tournament and people are elbow to elbow on the rail. Here's what the rails look like for Event #17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em:

Here's the rail forEvent #18: $2,500 Seven Card Razz:

We were also able to grab some pictures just after Shaun Deeb was eliminated in 6th place for $84,668 from Event #17:

And one of Hellmuth playing in Event #18 as well:

We'll try to catch up with some railbirds from each of the events to see what people are saying.

Olivier Busquet Exposes Hand

Olivier Busquet posted a blog entry yesterday that’s getting a lot of positive feedback from the poker community. A renaissance man of sorts, whose interests and passions include everything from politics, history, philosophy, art, and science, Busquet’s latest blog entry is a personal one that aims to, in his own words, “expose myself a little more.”

Doc's Analysis Of Final Table

We caught up with Doc Sands just as he was taking his turn in the commentator booth for the final table of Event 17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em. They’re currently four handed and Phil Ivey has the chip lead.

Sands did some commentary earlier in the day as well and we asked him how it went.

“Good, it was fun. Jason Koon did some commentary earlier too.”

We also asked what commentators he enjoys watching.

“Olivier Busquet was really good in last year’s WSOP. He breaks things down for the laymen and is able to commentate on a high level as well. I like Antonio (Antonio Esfandiari) too.”

A Tender Moment With Phil Hellmuth

We caughtPhil Hellmuth while we was on break with his family. As the chip leader in Event #18, Hellmuth was taking his dinner break and was spending it eating with his oldest son, Phillip, and wife, Katherine.

In between eating on the rail, Hellmuth was pacing back and forth among the bracelet cases on the secondary feature table stage. He seems a bit nervous, but determined to stay focused on his conquest for his twelfth bracelet.

Fashion Faux Pas

At the final table of Event #17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em, Andy Frankenberger decided to wear a pair of salmon pink pants along with a pair of bright red shoes. What we wanted to know is if you think the pants should stay, or go. Let us know in the poll below.

Marchese’s Take On Ivey's FT

Only three players left in Event 17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em. Phil Ivey is the chip leader at break. Tom Marchese, Doc Sands, and Bart Hanson are doing the commentary for the final table live stream. We spoke to Marchese and asked him for his impressions of the final table thus far.

Marchese said there’s a lot of “timid play” and it seems they're “in hopes of people busting out and "there’s a lot of limping." If someone "played more agro they’d be picking up a lot of chips.”

We also asked him his impressions of Phil Ivey’s play.

“Ivey’s playing well. Looks like he’s trying not to make a big mistake. He’s taking advantage of his opponents post flop.”

Hellmuth and Ivey both Heads-Up

Both Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey are now heads-up at their respective tables:

The rail has just about tripled in size over in the Pavilion room.

We're heading over to the Amazon room to catch some action from Phil Ivey's final table now.

Tales From The Rail

Among the packed house in the Amazon watching the final table of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em wasDwyte Pilgrim. We asked Pilgrim whom he’s rooting for.

“I’d like to see Andy (Andy Frankenberger) win. Fellow New Yorker, you know. He’s one of the best deepstack players in the world.”

Among the loudest in the arena was Phil Ivey super-fan, Lester Gonzales. After one significant pot Gonzales yelled, “You’re gonna catch Hellmuth this year!” (Referring to Hellmuth’s number of WSOP bracelets)

“I’ve been a fan of Ivey for 10 years,” said Gonzales. 'I sold my ticket to a show just to be here tonight. My girlfriend is at the club right now."

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