As I told you in the previous post, Matt Hawrilenko finished the preliminary events with a bang, winning the $5,000 NLHE 6-handed and more than a million dollars. Annie Duke and Don Cheadle ran their third WSOP Ante Up for Africa tournament, raising $362,000 for relief and education for the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
Today starts the Main Event. I’ll be playing today.
Congratulations to Matt Hawrilenko for his fourth cash of the 2009 WSOP, his third final table, and most important, his first gold bracelet. Matt won the last event before the Championship, the $5,000 NLHE 6-handed. I’ve never actually met Matt, but I swear that every time I reveal that to someone - and it’s come up a lot this World Series - they say, “Really? Matt’s a really nice guy.”
And because Matt’s a nice guy, apologies on the generic picture. Because of the late finish, neither the WSOP nor Full Tilt has their pictures of Matt winning the event available as of the time of this post. Just imagine this picture with a much bigger smile and way more chips.
Howard & Suzie Lederer and Steve Zolotow hosted the seventh edition of their World Series of BBQ and Karaoke last night. I attended with my wife Jo Anne and my daughters Ellie and Valerie. The highlights were (a) phenomenal fireworks; (b) Valerie spending four hours in the swimming pool and/or hot tub; (c) Ellie flirting with several men and inexplicably - at least to/by me - leaving her underpants behind; and (d) me successfully navigating Jo Anne through all the women I have fruitlessly flirted with during the previous six Lederer/Z BBQs.
A good time was had by all and the Lederers’ tournament for the benefit of Boys & Girls Clubs was a huge success (though not to me, as I had to quit after being stuck $730 in buy-ins and rebuys after an hour).
As of 9 AM Wednesday, John Hanson and David Bach were still fighting heads-up for the $50,000 HORSE World Championship. Full Tilt’s last hope, Vitaly Lunkin, busted in third, though it’s still been a pretty decent Series for the Russian.
Today kicks off a round of parties as the remaining events conclude - hopefully, including the HORSE - and we get ready for the Main Event.
Full Tilt has four pros at the final table of the $50k HORSE, including Vitaly Lunkin, Huck Seed, Chau Giang, and Erik Seidel.
So much of my experience at these tournaments depends on who is at my table. Granted, you don’t have to be a big name to say or do something entertaining. Like the local seated next to me who asked where I was from and, when I told him “Scottsdale,” he asked, “Where’s that?” Or the guy seated next to Erick Lindgren who was clearly a fan and peppered Erick with questions like, “What’s your favorite NBA team?” (“Whichever one I bet on.”) and “Do you have a favorite college basketball team?” (“Whichever one I bet on.”) Even then, however, the humorousness of this dialogue depended on Erick Lindgren being at the table.
Here are some more anecdotes from my ten otherwise unsuccessful tournaments.
I’ve played eleven events at the 2009 World Series of Poker. In one of them, I made over $116,000. In the other ten, I received nothing in exchange for my buy-in but heartache and a sentence to a poker table for 10-12 hours a day. When friends and family try to be nice after hearing things aren’t going well, I tell them, “Tournament poker is about failure. If I can’t deal with that reality, I deserve whatever happens.”
So except from the Razz, all I have are hundreds of pages of notes I take at the table. Fortunately, some of them document interesting stories, humorous situations, and unique characters. And I do, after all, get paid for writing about such things.
Greg Mueller won his second bracelet of the World Series yesterday. It’s starting to get very interesting in the HORSE. And as much of a grind as it’s been, I’m sorry to see the Series (other than the interminable Main Event) coming to an end. I have many, many more posts based on interviews, observations, and experiences during the Series and will post those as I’m able, along with the latest news and, of course, Main Event updates once that circus gets under way. With a surplus of good material, there is a good chance I’ll be writing about the Series well after its completion.
Greg Mueller, who seems like a happy-go-lucky, amiable guy until you collide with him at the poker table, won his second bracelet of the 2009 World Series of Poker, taking down a very difficult final table to win the $1,500 Limit Hold ‘Em Shootout.
