All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 44 Live Blog
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!
A Legend Will Rise: Day 2a/b
It’s day 2a/b ofEvent 61: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event. Of the 1066 entries, 657 will be returning. Some of the notables resuming play this afternoon include, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst (168,350), Jamie Armstrong (120,440), Faraz Jaka (115,775), Ryan Welch (110,425), and Team PokerStars Pro George Danzer (84,000). You can view a list of today's starting chip countshere.
The field figures to be well rested and refreshed after a day off. We’ll be talking to several of the pros to find out how they spent the free time in preparation for today. We caught up with Danzer in the Pavilion for a quick chat.
How are you feeling heading into day two?
Feeling good. I got about 84k (in chips).
Did you have chance to check out your table draw today?
Yes, there are two players I know, Robert Varkonyi, and Tim Flanders. I’ve played with Tim in London before. The table draw is perfect for me.
You have a healthy stack to start the day, what’s your game plan?
I have a lot of flexibility with my stack and I like how I line up with the other stack sizes at my table. I’m gonna continue putting pressure on my opponents and maintain aggression.
How did you spend your day off?
I went to a BBQ with friends. It was nice to get away from poker for a while.
MLB All-Star Game
Kansas City will host the MLB All-Star game today in Kauffman Stadium. NL starter Matt Cain will square off versus AL starter Justin Verlander. The wining side will gain home field advantage in the World Series. We spotted this gentleman sporting aKansas City Royal jersey, which begs the question, who’s your pick to win the game?
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WSOP Crop Circles
Is it a labyrinth? Is it the Nazca lines in Peru? Crop Circles? Does it unlock the secrets to the Mayan Calendar? We're not exactly sure, but with this year's Main Event money bubble bursting at 666 runners on Friday the 13th, you can bet we'll be searching for answers.
On Break
We spoke with Leo Margets and Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov during the first break of the day in Event 61: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event.
Margets has gotten off to a fast start.
“I doubled up like on the fifth hand of the day, so I’m happy about that,” Margets said. She likes her table draw as well, especially after witnessing two players butting heads in a three-bet pot with Qx3xversus 5x6x, all-in, on a 3x4x7x-rainbow flop for 30 big blinds. “At first I thought the table was not the best for me, but now I see a lot of dead money at the table.”
How did Margets unwind before the start of day 2a?
“I chilled a lot in the pool here at the Rio, and hung out with friends, and watched movies.”
Katchalov has had a rollercoaster couple of hours thus far.
“I started off not so good. I lost 20K (from 92K starting stack). Then I got moved, so I have a decent table draw now and I was able to get that 20k back."
When asked how he spent his day off, Katchalov replied, “Just relaxed, so I can prepare for what will hopefully be a long haul.”
Its Always Sunny In Somerville
Poker pro Jason Somerville leads the field today with 255,000 chips. With over $2million in live tournament winnings and a WSOP bracelet under his belt, Somerville figures to be a force.
Check out this picture he tweeted of his big stack:
Who Wore It Better?
Check out these two wild mustaches seen in the Brasilia room today - one belongs to Steve Zolotow, he's had this mustache since before some of us at PokerNews were born, and the other was featured in The Muck 3 days ago at the start of the Main Event! It's grown out a little more since then, and is perhaps even more vogue than it's finely groomed cousin we saw last weekend.
Creepiest Runner At The Main Event?
With all the queer goings on this week (666 person bubble on Friday the 13th) we've been keeping an eye out for the creepiest people in the Main Event today. Creepy runner number one is clad in a funeral suit and has a poker face like he's been turned to stone. Creepy runner number two is wearing what I suppose might be some sort of celebratory funeral dress and hat, coupled with a sickly sweet smile that lures you in...
The gentleman is apparently a character that the poker media has dubbed "The Devil."
And the woman is none other than J.J. Liu who is one of the top female poker players in the world.
Marafioti Implosion Number 768
Matt Marafioti's doing what he does best again: having an extended outburst on twitter. Victim in this week's edition is Dublin born Eoghan O'Dea, who made some comment on twitter towards Marafioti and was barraged with abuse over a 5 hour period this morning. Check out the tweets.
Ringers In The Rio
We found Greg Raymer and Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker in the Pavilion today, except they weren’t playing the $10,000 Main Event, but its red headed stepchild, the $235 Rio Daily Deepstack. Unfortunately, both former main event champs failed to advance to day two in Event 61: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em. The Rio Daily is actually a great value tournament, with first placing netting up to $50,000 on high volume days.
We asked Raymer if he had any type of last longer bet with Moneymaker.
“No, I wasn’t even aware he was playing it.”
We spoke to a player that was seated to Moneymaker’s right, Todd Croft, and asked his thoughts once he realized that the 2003 Main Event WSOP champion was at his table.
“Surprised to say the least,” Croft said. “It’s cool, I’m glad he’s here.”
Croft noticed the table playing timid in Moneymaker’s presence.
“Yeah he raised like five or six times in a row and everybody folded. One guy challenged him and won a pot, but then Moneymaker won the very next one.”
Another player we spoke too, seated to Raymer’s left, showed no signs of being intimidated. When asked how he felt about the “Fossilman” at his table, the player replied, “He’s just another poker player.” Hmmm...and the Mississippi River is just another body of water.
Can You See In Those Things?
Today's 'can you see in those things' is one of the biggest label junkies of the WSOP so far! As well as his PokerStars headphones and his 3B hat he's got a patch for Antonio Esfandiari's spray tan salon 'Spray La Vie'. Question is, can he see in those things?
The Card Protector Chronicles: Day 44
We found some fun card protectors today - and four of them belonged to the same guy! This grinder had a village of smurfs dutifully guarding his cards. In there we can see Papa Smurf, Baby Smurf, Greedy Smurf and, er, Dalmatian Smurf...
Above we can see one playful rounder's Donkey figurine, pushed as far out onto the felt as the dealer would allow. Donkey's are always popular mascots in the pokers due to their symbolic significance - the live donkey is getting rarer and rarer in these fields but you still get your fair share...
For Example.
We Missed One!
There was one celebrity in the field that we almost missed today, but our live tournament reporters did manage to catch his bustout. René Angélil, manager and husband of Celine Dion, was in the field today. That is of course until he ran his KxKx into AxAx and bricked out of the main event.
Angélil also played at least one other tournament this year, but he didn't manage to make a cash. He may not be the biggest A-list celebrity we've seen in the field over the course of the World Series, but we are certain that his chips will go on.
Dealing Up A Storm: Part 2
Seems like every few days that go by there is some new drama happening in the high limit cash game section – affectionately re-titled ‘The Snake Pit’. This week we heard about a strange ruling which caused uproar in a deep 5/10 NLHE game. Here’s how it went down.
A small pot was being played and was checked to the river where one Asian player, with about $7,000, first to act, open mucked 42s face up for the nut low to the board – the worst possible hand. After he mucks his hand, the player jokingly says ‘All-in’.
As the next player is about to act, one player at the table says ‘he’s all in, his hand isn’t dead if it’s face up'. Anothe player agrees while other players at the table protest, saying it clearly wasn’t his intention. The dealers informs the table that technically it’s enforceable and that the player will be all in. At this point, the all in player understandably loses his temper while the other players ponder the decision they now have to make.
The very next player to act thinks for a moment and announces ‘All in’ for $5,000. The other players fold, disappointed. The second player is set to ship the pot.
The floor is called at the request of some players at the table, and he instantly rules in favor of the dealer and confirms that the second player will win the entire pot. The Asian player shouts a little more, picks up his remaining $2,000 and leaves the arena.
Another day, another catastrophy.
Catching Up With Gold
We ran into 2006 WSOP Main Event champion Jamie Gold in the halls of the Rio. Gold will be playing tomorrow in day 2c Event 61: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em. We spoke to Gold about his preparation for day 2c, dietary habits, and table talk.
What are you doing to prepare for day two?
I’m on a 14-day detox, with one cheat day. I take nothing artificial, nothing processed. No alcohol. I’m not even drinking water out of water bottles. It’s hard just with the natural toxins you get in the air and water. I’m eating a lot of All American Dave. I try to get a lot of sleep. I also practice meditation.
Do you work out with All American Dave as well?
No, I have found the perfect lazy man diet. I’m not saying people shouldn’t workout; it’s clearly good to do so. I just do what works for me.
Your table chatter was a great weapon for you during the 2006 Main Event. Is it something you still use?
It’s a natural part of me. I know I’m not the best player; I just try to be the best that I can be. I play poker to have fun and be social. Poker is my best hobby. I’m fortunate enough to only be a part-time professional. I like the balance in my life. I wouldn’t be happy if poker occupied 24 hours of my day.
Have you changed your table-talk tactics over the years?
People now talk at me. I don’t talk as much as I used to. I use my table talk now in very specific situations. I did get a warning from the Rio staff in day 1 of the Main Event.
What happened?
This guy went into the tank for like 12 minutes, and finally the table called the clock on him. At this point I really wanted to get the hand over with, either way. I said to him ‘Look, you know I’m gonna show you anyways.’ The guy finally calls (with 99) and doubles me up (Gold had QQ). The Rio staff actually gave me a warning. I can talk to my opponents during a hand but I can’t negotiate with them.
Cash Game Watch: Main Event Edition
We took a stroll down to the Rio snake pit to check and see if there are any big cash games going, possibly involving players who have already busted out of the Main Event, but we found very little. We did see a very fun game going on however between ESPN Host Ali Nejad, 2007 Player of the Year Tom Schneider, and several other players. The gentlemen were playing hi-low chinese poker for $25 a point. It was very interesting to watch Nejad playing, as usually he is the one doing the announcing for poker, but he seemed to be enjoying himself, and even winning a little bit. We'll try to catch up with him later and see how his session went.
Tatty-Cats?
A few days ago we brought you a story about howTatjana Pasalic had lost a prop bet with her boyfriend Mclean Karr that got her stuck in a catsuit for the entirety of day 1 of the 2012 Main Event.
We caught up with Pasalic today who was still sporting some catty gear:
Tatjana's custom cat Addidas cannot be found in stores, so we assume that they must've cost a pretty penny, and could've even been hand made.
"Mclean also has a pair of these!" Tatjana told us. "I made him wear them on day 1 too, so I wouldn't be the only one dressed up. It was part of the deal."
PokerNews Bloggers Look Alike
We saw this gentleman in the field at the same table as Tatjana Pasalic and we almost had to do a double take:
The reason we did a double take is because he looks just like PokerNews Blogger Kevin 'TayKe2' Taylor:
We'll be bringing you more PokerNews Blogger lookalikes as we see them.
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
We feel it's slipped over our heads a little bit to bring you the best and the worst hair dos and hair don't of the World Series of Poker. But it's the main event and we still of course have time to catch up and bring you some of the best and worst from the world's most prestigious tournament.
The best of today's hair dos belong to this gentleman that we saw in the Brasilia room rocking a half mohawk, half mullet. We're going to dub this one "The Mohullet".
Since it's a Mohullet, it's 110% party! There is no business in the front, and there's extra party in the back. This superb hair do is perfect for any rager that you're throwing, and just the type of hair we expect to see here in Las Vegas.
The worst of today's hair don'ts belong to this gentleman who was on the rail sporting yet another absurdly bad toupee:
first of all, you can clearly see that the hair does not go into the skin on his head. Second of all, the hair color is atrociously jet black! You could've at least found a toupee that matched the color of your eyebrows sir!
We'll be bringing you more of the best and worst hair dos and don't for the rest of the Main Event so make sure you stay tuned.
Twitter Metagame: The Bigest Main Event Prank
A few days ago we brought you a piece about the twitter metagame, which is something that players can use to describe something they are or aren't doing on twitter to give their opponents at the table false tells about their play. Well Live Reporting Global Manager Donnie Peters has been pulling off one of the longest running pranks of the Main Event so far using twitter metagaming.
Using twitter, Peters effectively tricked many followers into thinking that he was not only selling action for the Main Event, but also that he had sold out and would be playing in the event. Here's the tweet that began it all, along with several other tweets describing some fake play and chip counts he made up.
Here is one of the responses from a follower that he tricked:
Peters was even able to trick Jason Mercier, who offered quickly via text message to buy action for the event. Bernard Lee, Host of ESPN's Inside Deal, even asked Peters to describe some of the hands he wrote on twitter for an article he was writing for the Boston Herald, Peters told us.
Either way, Peters finally ended the joke tonight when he announced to twitter that he actually wasn't ever playing in the Main Event. Still, this was one of the funniest things that the PokerNews crew was able to partake in.
We'll let you know of any more Main Event pranks that we hear about, but it will be hard to top this one.
Chip Stack of the Day: Day 44
We're always on the lookout for players who stack their chips in an interesting way, but today we found a really weird one.
The gentleman had his chips stacked exactly like Stonehenge! It certainly was a sight to see, and he had quite a bit of chips last time we saw him. We can only imagine how much he is tilting his opponents. If he gets more chips, what will he do with them?
Hats on Hats on Hats
At it once again in today's field is the always animated Kennii Nguyen, once again wearing his three lucky hats:
Everyone seems to be getting a bit tired of Nguyen and his hats though including Faraz Jaka and his paisley shirt, who was seated at Nguyen's table:
Poor Jaka. It looks like Nguyen has built up yet another monster stack though, so we might be seeing a bit more of him and his hats. It might be time to get an interview with Nguyen so we can see where the hats came from, where he learned the game, and much more. If he makes it to day 3, we promise to grab one.
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