1
Day 2, Level 1 With John Juanda
ESPN is clearly desperate for a story. One of their producers told me yesterday that 85 percent of the “characters” that they had been following – Matusow, Hellmuth, Lindgren, et al – had busted. Today, as I stood by table 181 watching John Juanda, a tape crew captured John’s every move. And he did move occasionally, stretching his back and neck with some light calisthenics. It’s hard to believe that footage will make for interesting viewing.
But this was about all the interesting clips you could have taken from John Juanda’s first level of Day 2. John started the day with about 18k in chips, which put him well below average. And with blinds of 250 and 500, with a 50 ante, John didn’t have a lot of room to dance around. Even if he were deeper, John might not have chosen to play. There were three deep stacks at his table and his opponents seemed unafraid to play big pots frequently.
In the nearly two hours that I watched John play, he was involved in exactly three pots. In the first, he open raised from the small blind. The big blind folded and John showed the table his Ace of diamonds.
In the second, he raised from the button, taking the blinds. In the third he raised from middle position, again taking the blinds and antes.
Juanda was adapting to his situation. With a short stack and active opponents, he needs to wait for a hand.
For Level 2, I’ll follow Allen Cunningham, who has 80k in chips.
I’m hopeful that the ESPN crew captured the railbird who wore a “Hawiian Girls Grow Nice Coconuts” t-shirt.
