Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Days 58-59

Posted by Bond18 | Filed under Bond18

With two days off and little to do, writing an entry that reads “Today I sat around the pool and ate four hamburgers, then did some writing and watched an episode of The Wire” seems pretty pointless. There’s been a number of interesting and random stories I’ve heard or lived during the WSOP that I haven’t necessarily been able to fit into the trip reports, so this entry seems like a good opportunity to utilize them. Therefore, I bring you Bond18’s random WSOP stories, gossip, and encounters.

1. During the $1,500 Mixed Limit and No-Limit Hold ‘em tournament, I was on the same table as online player Jonathan “driverseati” Tamayo, who is a 2+2’er and all around cool guy. We were chatting pretty regularly and one table over from us sat Phil Hellmuth. At one point, we overheard him berating/making fun of David Plastik for getting A-K all in pre-flop against him for 30 BBs (seriously, how bad must Hellmuth play in order for getting A-K all in pre for 30 BBs be wrong against him?) and Jon looks at me and asks “Think I should ask him about the UltimateBet scandal?”

“Oh God please do it Jon, you will make my night.”

“Okay, Hey Phil!” he yells at the other table.

Phil looks over in some confusion, “Yea?”

“Phil, what’s this I keep hearing about UB? Like someone could see hole cards or something?”

Phil suddenly became very serious looking and his voice became polite and formal.

“If you really want to talk about it we can, just not right now. Find me later and I’ll let you know what I think.”

“Okay then” returns Jon. Things were quiet for a moment until Phil yelled back “I will say this though, I think they handled it well.” Yes, I think UB’s lying to their entire customer base can be considered as handling it very, very well.

2. While walking down the hall in the Rio, I overheard Teddy “Iceman” Monroe talking to a friend of his as they exited the bathroom. The only words I heard clearly were, “Well I’m not gonna freeze you, but…”

3. I was told that Phil Ivey was Nenad Medic’s backer for the first event, the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold ‘em event. After Nenad won the tournament, he came up to Ivey and asked him if he wanted his money. “Who are you and what money?” responded Ivey. It turns out, Nenad was scouted to be backed by a friend of Ivey’s.

4. I was told the “Shipithollaballa’s” play a game with Eskimo Clark where they approach him and start a straight-forward conversation. The person who goes the longest without Eskimo asking them for a stake wins the game.

5. For those who didn’t see it in the previous entry, I heard Mark Seif is a degenerate sports bettor in serious debt who tries to pay off his debts with “worthless UB stock.”

6. I was told by poker agent Oliver Tse that the TV ratings for the WSOP and poker in general in the US are pretty awful, and how long ESPN continues its coverage is in some level of question. This would explain the motivation behind the switch to a November final table and reduced amount of filmed tournaments.

7. I haven’t added up the numbers in full, but I’m fairly sure the overall number of entrants is up this year. However, the atmosphere and mood of the WSOP seems to be less of a circus and more professional this year. I think that the WSOP and tournament poker in general has the ability to go global and maintain a certain high level of popularity, but the novelty affect that has people acting crazy or amazed by the scene is really dropping off.

8. I’ve been told by a seemingly endless amount of players that they have a weight loss prop bet going on. I guess it’s good that the poker playing community is starting to look out for their health, though I’m guessing their methods for weight loss aren’t exactly the most healthy in the long term.

9. I was told that either this year or last year (the details weren’t perfect and my memory is a little hazy here) that a player was caught smoking pot behind the poker kitchen by security and banned from the premises. His chips were removed from play and he was not returned any money.

After much consideration, I seriously think Sirwatts is underrated in the coolness department. That’s what I agreed to write after he grilled me a hamburger anyway, and given how delicious it was, it just might be true.

That’s my little list so far. At 11:20PM on Day 59 of my trip (June 27), I took a direct flight back to Milwaukee Wisconsin. We got in around 6AM and I went to sleep immediately after settling in at my ex-backer Rob’s apartment, where I used to live what now seems like so long ago.

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