barracuda's blog

I'm in San Francisco now - I highly recommend it for anyone who has spent the last 10 months playing and watching poker. I'm here for a week with a couple I know very well, techo computer types, in Silicon valley. You know where they do all the breast implants.

Vegas has been fun but it's time to go home soon, so I am visiting to acclimatise with the real world.

The WSOP specifically - great fun this year. On the aussie side, Joe Hachem came second and fourth in two events, Sticky Micky second and third, Emad Tahtouh seventh, Jeff Lisandro ninth, seventh and 17th in the Main Event and Mark Vos a bracelet.

Me - exactly square.

Thanks to Party Poker for the opportunity.

Thanks to Dan Michalski for being Dan, the most enthusiastic person I have ever worked with ( hmmm preposition - "with whom I have ever worked" , sounds a bit formal ).

AND big thanks to John Caldwell of PokerNews for putting me forward - I hope to see John in Melbourne in January for the Aussie Millions at CROWN Casino and dinner ( or something ) will be done.

and as Douglas Adams in his "HitchHikers guide to the Galaxy" radio plays and books once said

"So Long and Thanks for All the Fish"

although I'm too sure he meant it to apply to poker - LOL

barracuda

Quick before this thing ends ( I'll probably regret typing that )

Joe Hachem had some business in LV in May and was staying at Caesar's Palace. I went down there to say hello and see what he was up to.

While sitting by the pool, we were still discussing his amazing win and how surreal it all seemed. Now I'm a bit mathmatical and the following occured to me.

If he had got his supporters to stand with rubbish bins at all the entrances to the tournament room for the three first days, he could have asked for each person coming in to deposit $1334.99 which he would later enjoy.

Amazing really, 5618 people each left that amount just to get in to play which will go to the winner.

This year the 8772 needed to deposit 1367.98 for the winner - either Gold, Wasicka or Binger as I write.

barracuda

Sometimes your stories just fall in your lap and so it was as I was sitting in the media room during the dinner break.
This delightful couple came wandering into the room obviously on a mission but not with media badges. They wandered over to where I am sitting which is next to the platform the most recently busted player gets to answer in depth questions as they are filmed and recorded.
As they approached me they asked if it would be OK to take a photo using the RIO - WSOP backdrop. Not for me to say no - so I offered to to take a photo of both of them. That completed I sat down but continued to chat to them.
Paul a police patrolman on the streets of San Francisco had been playing poker for 25 years, in home games mostly. He has ventured into the internet to play mostly sit'n'gos. There is a home game ( can't see that one getting raided ) which has been ongoing for a number of years. The get together usually starts with a small two table tournament.
Paul's partner Mei Ling ( mei as in may ) also plays. They met in college and she plays in another home game with Paul, not the "boys" one. She also dabbles with the sit'n'gos and has been playing for 2 1/2 years. But wait for this she loves to watch! Sorry, no unmarried sisters, I asked. I was told she ripped up the 2-4 limit game at Binions when they were there the other day.
Both play at the two casinos near San Francisco, Bay101 and Lucky Chances.
Paul played in one of the 1500 NLH events and is keen to return next year to do similar and hopefully make the main event through a satellite. Mei Ling just says she is "working on her game" , until then she works for WHOTELS of San Francisco in human resources.

I guess that these are the people other than the 18yo internet experts who make up a good part of the new poker scene.

If you check Jennifer Browning's photo of the chip leader, for most of this tournament, Jamie Gold, you will see the different coloured chips he has in front of him. They represent different value amounts, of course.

I noticed the colours have changed for the largest value chips this year from last, no doubt for TV purposes.

The largest value chips are the green and black ones, value 100,000.
Next are the orange and black ones value 25,000.
There are 10,000 and 5,000 value ones as well still in play. Lower value ones, down to 25, have now been removed from the table as their relative value is now meaningless compared to the size of the blinds, which sit at 100,000 small blind and 200,000 big blind.

But what do these chips represent.

Well each of the 100,000 ones can be seen as the buyins of 10 players, so each of the chips represents 10 people that, in this case, Jamie Gold has captured. So when he bets 1.3 million as he recently did I often visualise him moving 130 people into the pot to do battle for him. Maybe it's my mind but it just seems to be a good analogy of what is happening when you play tournament poker.

Or maybe I've been here too long - hehe.

Jamie with his "troops" on the parade ground in near perfect formation

barracuda

A few nights ago when we had our second team dinner , at the Italian restaurant here at the Rio, Antonio's, we sat near the middle of the room. We ordered and ate and drank. Then midway through our stay two people I know sat down two tables up from us. I watched them for a while to figure out the nature of the conversation.

Just a very quick one. This was the scene in the Amazon room yesterday, Wednesday as the playing area and surrounds were being set-up. You can just pick out the couches on the right which were moved up on to the platform in the middle of the shot, over-looking the final table. Should be a luxurious day , for some. I wonder if they are for the media - lol. Not apologising for lack of picture quality but the area was almost completely dark.

barracuada

Look I know we shouldn't make fun of this ( especially as I used to do the same or worse when doing live coverage) BUT........

Just now from the guys "Doing it Live" at CardPlayer

"Chop Chop
With no raises, Michael Binger and Dan Nassif see a flop of 754. Both players check. The turn brings the 7. Binger fires out $200,000 and Nassif just calls. The river brings the 7 and Binger checks to Nassif who bets out $500,000. Binger calls and shows Q-7 for 7-7-7-5-5. Nassif, however, also shows a seven with K-7 in his hand. The players chop the pot. "

Hmmm - two lots of Quads - FLOOR !!!!!!

That's it my one and only cheap shot - unless I see a BEAUTY

barracuda

As the Main Event of the WSOP winds down with leading stacks getting taller and taller the daily $1500 NLH event plays out in another corner of the room. This was from yesterday but I suspect a similar thing happened today. The 462 player field was dotted with “pro” players. I had run into friend , Mel Judah, the day before in the corridor and asked him was he going to play in any more events - the 1500s at the Rio or the 10,000 at the Bellagio. He instantly said the WSOP events “they are bracelet events”. So there it probably lies - The Bracelet.Pics inside

Jeffrey Lisandro describes himself as a traveler of the world. I met him about 5 years ago when he came back from Russia where he had been living to play in various events at the CROWN Casino main tournament fortnight in Melbourne ( not Florida but Australia ). That year there was a $5,000 PLO event, a $5000 heads-up event and the Main Event was also $5,000 . Why Australia though? Well this 41yo had spent the first 19 years of his life in Perth, Australia. If you hear him speak you have no doubt of his early upbringing, the accent is unmistakable. Since then he has lived in Italy, Russia for 6 years and several European countries in between.

Oh No I’ve succumbed to using photos of girls representing “men’s clubs” .Victoria on the left and Shannon the right. ( both looked like they were winning by the way - never judge a poker player by his/her cover ) Well, I felt justified, they were playing live poker on a 4-8 Limit table and it is somewhat representative of the way Day 5 of the main event went.

Mark Zajdner couldn’t get through Day 4. As you can see here he had chips but so did the guys at the table he got moved to shortly after I took this photo. I had been watching him most of the day off and on but the end can come quickly and I missed the final stanza.

One of his opponents, in seat, 8 on table 155 said it had been a two hand process. Mark had Queen Jack ( not sure how he knew this as Mark reportedly folded ) and my storyteller had Ten Ten. The flop had come down three low cards and was checked when a Jack came on the turn, the Tens hand bet a substantial amount and Mark folded, presumably face up. THEN the guy with the Tens showed them. He said Mark got upset and the very next hand lost the lot with 8 6 with a 7 and 5 on the board with no improvement. Well it might have happened that way, I didn’t see it BUT well done Mark if you read this for the overall effort and the $42,882 going into the poker bank. I expect we will hear from Mark again. Aussies inside

While the number of players in the Main Event at the World Series slowly reduces in one part of the room there is an opportunity to win a bracelet in another section. Each day now a $1500 NL tournament starts with several hundred players and they play a two day event for the cash and piece of jewelry.

Yesterday’s event eventually brought two of the stars to the one table, Phil Helmuth and Steve Dannenmann - last years runner up in the main event. Steve is only a relatively newcomer to big tournament poker but has taken it on with a passion. I have seen him playing in the two Tournament Of Champions since last years WSOP main event and I have seen him playing in the relatively small daily tournament at the Wynn Hotel/Casino.

In last years TOC he went very deep and found himself on the final table with Phil and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow. Steve and Mike have seemed to have formed a friendship and Mike is always baiting Phil so Steve has fallen into that role also. I am quick to point out that I don’t believe any of the banter is heart-felt and is more for the crowd than anything else.

Anyway in last night event Steve either takes a phone call or makes one and Phil jokingly says is that Mike ( Matusow ) and Steve says, yes, here, and gives him the phone.
In actual fact it’s Steve’s mom and Phil being the diplomat that he is has a 2 minute conversation with her.

And here’s the photo to prove it.

What's That You say, Dump the chips to Steve?

Without a doubt the biggest hand of the tournament so far was just played out on a table in the bottom of the room next to the podium being used to run the tournament now.

The player in seat 5 being second to speak pushes his last 93,000 in with what eventually we know as Jacks, to steal the blinds and antes. An opponent in seat 8 calls the the 93 cold, he has about 480 more and when his hand is revealed it is two Queens. Then the button checks his cards looks around at the other live hands and goes all in for an extra 40,000. He has Aces. The small blind, Weikai Chang, thinks for a while then calls the whole 143,000, he has Tens and the Queens make up the difference.

Lu the dealer sorts out the money into two piles, main and side as a large crowd starts to gather ...

Quick one.

Joe Hachem is at a new table today in the centre of the room.

He often chats with the waiters and waitresses and one he knew came by today, Hector.

"Here, good luck" , he said, and gave Joe something.

No it wasn't all the yellow chips - just the rock.

I've experienced a problem this morning, well two actually. I've have another of my head colds which has kept me in bed until 11:30 and then in upon rising to post my aussie update I find another more debilitating problem. If you have lived in Las Veags for a while, I've been here ten months now, you will know the power supply is not all that reliable. I guess it is a massive air conditioning load which puts the presuure on. So I'm up I'm off to the batthroom and flick the swith for the light - NOTHING. Pics inside - not of me in the dark but the aussies left in

Twelve Aussies join 1159 others today to try to "make it through the money":

Jeff Lisandro
Joe Hachem
Mark Vos
Russell Davies
Sam Khouiss
Sam “The Colonel” Korman
Tony Dunst
Gareth Edwards
Rayan Nathan
Justin Huxley ( Nzeder )
Brian McDonald
Toby Atrochenko

Don’t you just hate it when you type out some reasonably informative stuff and your computer disconnects from the internet just before you post it. I do. Retyping now ( in WORD so I won't lose it - unless the hard-drive stops )

barracuda

I've done it for a short while but watching poker and not playing is SO hard to do. Although I have to admit when it's the final table of the WSOP as it was last year at Binion's, about 14 of us had little difficulty in watching our friend Joe Hachem play for 12 hours or more. So I guess it is down to the emotional connection you might have. I decided to photograph several "railbirds" over the last few days and establish their connection with a player. more pics inside

The delightful looking Elle Sgambelluri (on the right)and Char Manglona watching out for Elle's husband Santino.

Passing by table 34 Mike Laing is chatting; he is talking to the guy in seat 6 who has called the all-in open raise by seat 4. The bet had been 5,900 on top of Mike's BB of 800. Now it was the SBs turn she thinks for a few moments and goes all-in for 95,000 Mike mucks and calls me over to say she has Kings. The caller contemplates, asking her if she wants him to call ( he doesn't have Aces, I think ). More chat ( I dont think he has Kings ) ( probably Queens or Ace King ), his remaining stack is 29,000.

I felt she was happy for him to call - and when he folds his Queens face up she shows Aces. The all-in open bettor shows Queen Jack suited.

The flop comes 9 Ten Jack. The turn is a Jack and the river an 8. The all-in wins firstly with trips and then a straight and the Aces dodge a big hit from the two Queens.

barracuda

I'm walking past tables on Monday looking for PartyPoker players and there is Alan Ruck ( Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off ) or his son or someone who looks like him and he has a mountain of chips. pic inside

Just a quick photo.
The dealers sometimes try to amuse themselves during the dinner breaks. They actually sit with the chip stacks at each table chating across the relatively empty room to each other and they check the cards for problems. This is one of the more imaginative ways of spreading the cards.

Those that survived

Jeff Lisandro 200,000

Russell Davies 110,000

Mark Vos 81,100

Sam Korman 40K 60K 30K and finally 69,500

Sam Khouiss 3,000 up to 57,700 : amazing

Toby Atroshenko 4,100

All come back friday to do battle as we move towards the first money at the 873rd placing

barracuda

Over 11 aussies started Day 2A - Jeff Lisandro and Mark Vos heading the Oz chip counts. Some had fallen by the wayside before I got in but at the dinner break the following still endured. The figures are approximate chip counts . Photos inside

All in on table 6, seat 3 had found some opposition for his two Jacks at seat 5 holding two Kings ( different suits today - please see yesterdays post ).

Give me a Jack !! Give me a Jack !! he beseeched. Just in case there was King on the turn or river the poker fairies pretty well put it beyond doubt.

Two Jacks on the flop.

It's about 900 to 1 for running Kings to show up but the story end there an the field remains that one player more.

On Table 122 just 6 minutes berore dinner Aces got cracked, all the money in before the flop by a fairly unusual circumstance.

Bet, raise, raise, all-in, call. One their backs; two Kings vs two Aces - but wait the Kings had an advantage this time they were Sooooted. One a red backed card and one a black.

FLOOR!!!!!!!!

Money back to all involved - redeal. New setup.

New dealer had come in about 5 minutes before hand so I guess a card crossed the zone then. Everyone wanted to see the flop to see if 5 Kings could beat 4 Aces.

barracuda

Each day so far in this sea of people an aussie or aussies has done extremely well. Well, there are a few starters but not too many. Day 1 it was Mark Vos, late of WSOP bracelet fame in an earlier NLH event and literally hot on his tail Jeff Lisandro both with over 80,000 in chips. Day 2 saw little known Sydney-sider Russell Davies complete the day with just over 61,000. I met Russell a few years ago , he’s part of the “quiet achiever” group from Sydney. Yesterday it was also another non-Melbourne guy who rose out of the pack. Gareth Edwards ( who looks so much like Eric Froelich it is frightening - I’m trying for a picture )

So here’s the problem : six tournaments - one room, only a few more than 200 tables.

Right - start the 2800 player $1500 NLH main event for the day. Good, hey why are all those people standing around ? Oh! Alternates! Oooh, there’s a lot of them. Don’t worry, she’ll be right. ( come on, bust you suckers, bust ).

It really was Emad’s day today for the down under contingent. See story from yesterday. He had survived through the early money stages and gone to the second day well short in chips. If you know Emad though, all of 22 years old, he doesn’t sit back. He bluffs, he hassles, he talks a bit and he THINKS , oh and he is Lebanese, seems to work for Australian poker players .

I was sick on Sunday, not very sick but sick just the same. As a group, the Pokerblogers had partaken of alcoholic beverages and snacks at the delightfully named Tilted Kilt at The Rio.

Aussies were playing in three events today; the $1500 Razz, the $5000 PLH and day two of the $2000 NLH.
I hope you appreciate that I often include people in the aussie list who have merely visited Melbourne, whom I like.