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#808 – 2009 WSOP #66 – Vegas on $2,000 a Day #12 – Everything But the Money, Part II
Here are some more anecdotes from my ten otherwise unsuccessful tournaments.
NORMAN CHAD: MAKING LEMONS INTO (NOT MUCH) LEMONADE
During the Economic Stimulus event, ESPN filmed a segment in which Norman Chad and Annie Duke competed to sell lemonade outside the Amazon Room for charity. Annie had asked me to come by to contribute and I planned to do so. (Remember, my total profit from her charity tournament was exactly one dollar [http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/poker-blog/2009/06/771_2009_wsop_29_vegas_on_2000_a_day_4_sucking_out_on_the_rivers.php.) But I was running late at the start of the tournament and had forgotten. Luckily, I left the room for an early restroom break near the end of the first level and saw that the lemonade challenge was still going on. I quickly went over to Annie’s station, bought a glass of lemonade for a dollar, and received a kiss from Annie as well.
During the $2,500 OEOB/SEOB event, I was moved to a table where I was seated to the dealer’s right, in Seat 1. I didn’t notice at first, but seated on the other side of the dealer was Norman Chad. I think Chad does a great job on ESPN’s poker broadcasts and he’s a fan of SUICIDE KING, so we always say hello when we see each other at the Series. He has a reputation as a good Stud player and enters a few events each year, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise to see him.
Everyone knows that Norman Chad has a pretty sharp sense of humor. This, however, was the first time it was directed at me.
I made the mistake of asking him how the lemonade challenge went against Annie Duke. (I honestly didn’t know.) I was surprised when Norm replied, “You bought lemonade from Annie that day, right? You were there that day, weren’t you?”
I started stammering, “I don’t remember … it was a while ago … I don’t recall.”
“You don’t remember? Well, if it wasn’t for your dollar, Annie would have won by a score of only 164-17.”
164-17? Lions v. Christians was decided by a closer margin.
164-17? Here I was ashamed that I sold him out for a kiss from Annie Duke and the final result was a mercy killing?
“I guess then there’s no shame in admitting that I helped your adversary,” I said, “because it seems like everybody in this room probably helped Annie. In fact, for you to lose that bad, the only people you could have sold to were tourists who wondered into the wrong end of the Rio and mistook you for a slot machine.”
TRAPPED BETWEEN ANNIE DUKE AND MIKE MATUSOW
I have been lucky enough to play in tournaments this year with many of my friends, including both Annie Duke and Mike Matasow. Thank goodness, though, that I never played with both of them at the same time. If either is in a talking mood, they can take over the table chat. If they’re at the same table and they’re BOTH in a talking mood, I don’t know how I could handle it. I don’t know how anyone could handle it.
Some poor sucker got to find out at the beginning of the $2,500 OEOB/SEOB. Just a few tables away from me, I noticed they were in Seats 2 & 4. Just minutes after they were both seated, each was involved in a separate, non-stop, animated conversation. From my vantage point, I could see only the back of the head of the player in Seat 3. I wondered what was going through his mind.
I tried to focus on my own table, though the cacophony of chatter periodically reminded me that two of my good friends were holding court (and a table of helpless poker players hostage) just a few feet away. After about twenty minutes, I looked over to see how Seat 3 was faring.
He was gone.
This was an early level of a limit tournament, so I know he didn’t bust. I just imagined the guy gave up his $2,500 buy-in and check himself into an asylum, and tried not to think about it anymore that night.
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