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#196 – WSOP #45 – Mr. Mojo Rizen – “Just Another Lost Angel” After the Lizard King
[I'm interrupting my story of the first two days of the SHOE because Anthony Holden brought to my attention that Eric "Rizen" Lynch mentioned me in his blog on CardPlayer.com. I was so amused by the whole thing that I had to write this, even though I was working hard on documenting some fun stuff from the SHOE and a bunch of other entries I'm still writing.]
I have mucho respect for Eric “Rizen” Lynch. He’s one of the best tournament players on the Internet and he’s proven he can take his game to big buy-in live tournaments with the best players in the world. He is having a great World Series of Poker this year. And as a player trying to make the transition from online tournaments to the World Series myself, his success makes a great statement on the value of online poker as a training exercise, independent from the money that can be made at it.
But ….
I guess we were at the same table in the $1,500 NLHE event on Saturday, June 30, the one that drew 3,151. I never met Lynch and didn’t know what he looked like so I had no idea he was at the table. That’s too bad because I would have liked to have chatted with him. It was an interesting table and a surreal event, as I described it in Entry #194.
According to Eric’s blog on CardPlayer.com, he and I were engaged in a complex chess game, and he was way ahead:
“I was at a table with John Gale and Michael Craig in the $1500 no limit. Michael Craig was taking some REALLY detailed notes and I actually set up some reverse tells on him that worked (unfortunately he drew out) but it was kind of slick to set up some misinformation then watch it work. I’ll try to get more detail out later, it’s getting late here and I just wanted to get in a quick update before I went to bed.”
I’m going to be VERY interested to read that update, though not for the reasons you would expect, given his explanation about the tense think/counter-think showdown between us.
Logically, why would he think I was writing about tells and playing characteristics? Why would ANYONE take notes on that? I mean, it’s happening right there at the table in real time, so it’s not like anyone needs to catalogue their observations for further use. And if I am that good that I’m picking up tells on him – and seriously, this is an outstanding professional poker player we’re talking about – aren’t I costing myself by writing them down because I’m MISSING whatever signals he’s giving out while I’m documenting the ones I noticed before?
And he knows who I am so he knows I write books, articles, blogs, etc., right? He wouldn’t have any reasons to know what I’m writing down but wouldn’t there be a lot of other possibilities, especially at a table where everyone is calling Seat 7 “Chicken Man” because he has to balance his plate of chicken wings on his crotch and wipe his hands before picking up his cards every single hand?
But let’s stop talking about logic. This is the kind of material that was in my notes, and I will consider taking the extraordinary step of submitting them for independent verification (and most of this was contained in Entry #194):
• The guy eating chicken wings between hands.
• The guy wearing the Bodog chef’s hat.
• The guy at the other end of the room getting a massage from a masseuse who was sitting on the floor staring at his butt while working both hands up the back of his shirt.
• The announcement of the new Day 1-D, followed by my recreation of the revised calendar and musings about what day I should play.
Unless Eric was trying to mask his identity and skill – an unnecessary gesture since I didn’t know what he looked like to begin with – by putting on a chef’s hat or eating chicken wings, his efforts were useless and maybe counterproductive.
Eric Lynch thought he was playing chess and I was playing checkers. I have bad news for ya, Rizen. You were playing checkers and I was mesmerized by the shiny plastic pieces and the colorful cardboard.
