I know it’s evident from my frequent posts, but I now have internet access. Do you think I should feel guilty about charging a new computer to my hotel account, thanks to the Executive Concierge Program?
As I try to sort of these legal (and domestic) issues, I’m also getting ready to play in World Series of Poker-Europe, which begins in about 35 minutes. I’m looking forward to getting back into the game. As I return to normal after working like a maniac for four days, I feel pretty proud of all the writing I did and feel Full Tilt will be sufficiently impressed that they’ll help me with some start-up money for PayLamb. And thanks to this lux hotel’s Executive Concierge Program, I’ve lived the last couple days in relative luxury. I’m trying not to go nuts on the company tab, but I couldn’t say no when I saw, at the Filofax flagship shop, the Alligator Personal Organizer. I didn’t even ask the price (though I know it’s about $2,400 back stateside). My executive concierge is having it delivered to the hotel and put on my account.
But now I gotta cut that stuff out and play some poker. And figure out this extradition thing. Then get PayLamb started.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the trip, I’m planning on staying on in London and start a payment-processor for online poker transactions. Because the government acts like that’s against the law, I’m going to (a) get rich, and (b) become an exile. I didn’t tell Jo Anne much about this because I didn’t want her to be implicated.
They are done playing for the night and have finished the third edition of the Million Dollar Cash Game. But the game’s never over. And not to preach to the choir, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see most of these guys squaring off on Full Tilt within a day. Heck, maybe within an hour.
Mike Matusow has left the game, about $130,000 winner. Someone on the outside might have thought after he made the laydown of the king-high flush against Ivey that he was playing scared, that the decision would put him on tilt. Of course he went crazy about it, but he once again showed the difference between the legend of “the Mouth” and the seasoned professional who for a decade or more has learned how to put bad decisions, bad luck, and bad outcomes behind him and focus solely on making the next decision right.
I tell ya, this game has everything! Durrrr playing every hand. Matusow laying down a ridiculous hand. Ivey hypnotizing all the money his way. Hellmuth storming out.
And just when we thought it was almost over and we’d seen all we could see …
Just as they were coming out of the break, Phil Hellmuth had a run-in with tournament director Barry Mundee and stormed out. I mean it: stormed.
The biggest news is that Phil Ivey owns the world we live in, but that’s not really news. Next is that David Benyamine has been bleeding chips. Third is that Tom Dwan has been the vampire. Here are the counts from the break that’s just finishing:
I missed the beginning of the action but there was no mistaking the end of it. Ivey and Hellmuth were in a pot with Ivey having 8-8 and Hellmuth having A-J. The flop was J-T-9. After a seven on the turn made Ivey a straight, the rest of Hellmuth’s chips went in. (And he doubled up an hour ago.)
I don’t know if Tom “Durrrr” Dwan has bigger balls than the rest of the world, or just more of them. But he has no problem playing almost every hand and playing aggressively. Everyone at the table has made a big deal of how often he plays, but it seems he still raises every time in late position or reraises every time someone else raises in late position. And he’s not afraid to back up such obvious plays with more chips on later streets.
