2009 World Series of Poker – Life on the Rail

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

$The \"characters\" are arriving at the 2009 World Series of Poker$ I’ve been mentioning in my recent posts that some of the more “interesting” characters are starting to come out of the woodwork. It’s become a staple of the World Series of Poker that you will see some strange things as you wander the halls, rails, and tournament tables. I’ve seen the gentleman on the right a few times before, this is the first time I’ve actually seen him sitting at a table. Full American Indian headdress that didn’t seem to distract him or the other players. By the end of the 2009 World Series of Poker, this gentleman will probably be one of the less crazy things in the room.

Whether it’s a prop bet or someone seriously walking on the crazy side, the players are showing up with increasingly bizarre outfits. One well known player has been showing up in pajama pants, another has played every event wearing the cutest little fuzzy bunny slippers. Every form of crazy hat has been seen and there was a player wearing sun glasses with rabbit ears on top.

The rail hasn’t been immune to it’s own share of cuckoo birds. Fan-girls who believe it is perfectly reasonable to walk the Amazon Room corridors dressed in nothing but a string bikini and fans asking for autographs from the rail during a hand. It’s just a bonus if they throw in some full flash photography to annoy the entire room.

This year the secondary feature table seems to be getting much more of a crowd despite the comfortable chairs around the main stage. The ESPN honchos generally put the No Limit Hold’em final tables on the main stage leaving the smaller, minimum seating table with the other games. This year those games have been drawing some of the poker elite. The picture on the left shows the elevated rail crowded with people four deep nearly 30 minutes before this game began. John Juanda was trying for his first bracelet of the 2009 World Series of Poker.

Most of the smart railbirds have figured out where to find their favorite players. The major buyin and World Championship events begin at 5pm in the Brasilia Room instead of the Amazon Room. They no longer wander aimlessly through the big room but camp out up against the barriers in the far corner of the smaller room. Sometimes they get lucky, the other day was a good example when Mike Matusow and Andy Bloch came to Phil Ivey’s table to give him some good natured ribbing. Ivey’s back is right up against the rail, Matusow and Bloch are in completely different tournaments but that doesn’t stop them from entertaining the crowd. The picture below shows how deep it can get.

For a truly large crowd, especially this far from the Main Event, you need to be in the Amazon Room at 2:20pm on a day when they are giving away another bracelet to Phil Ivey. I took this picture from the secondary table area as everyone prepared for Jeffrey Pollack to present Ivey with his second bracelet of the year. The crowd packed into the presentation area and the players left their tables to witness history.

Only a few short weeks before the carnival starts in earnest, but those here have been putting in their best effort.