The Muck
Card Guards
Bernard Lee
George Lind III
Maverick Movie
Off the Felt
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JUN 11
Poker Players in Las Vegas for 2012 WSOP Partake in Electric Daisy Carnival Festivities
Over the weekend, the Rio Convention Center was scattered with girls in furry boots and tutus, and guys in brightly colored shirts and shorts. One would think that's out of the ordinary, but just 40 minutes down the road, the biggest electronic music dance festival was happening. The Electric Daisy Carnival attracted an estimated 340,000 party-goers this year and the poker community definitely got in on the action.
Vanessa Selbst, Liv Boeree, Brian Hastings, Jason Koon, and Scott Seiver were just a few of the pros who made the journey to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the festival. Below are some tweets from the weekend. Be warned, some of the outfits featured are not for public consumption.
And here's the psychedelic outfit Selbst wore.
Liv Boeree and her crew somehow lucked out on Saturday after EDC was shut down due to high winds.
Brian Hastings was part of the group that got sent home early, but flew back in a helicopter. It almost doesn't make sense to us.
Here are some other gems from the weekend.
How did Boeree party with a broken ankle?
Did you go? Let us know how is was below, and as always, follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
*Lead photo courtesy of LasVegasSun.com
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JUN 11
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 15 Live Blog
All Mucked Up is a live blog of all the stuff you want to know at the 2012 World Series of Poker, besides hand histories and bad beats. Well, we might add a few in here, everyone loves a good bad beat story — unless it happened to you. Check back often for polls, soundbites, celebrity sightings, and who knows what else!
How'd They Do?
We know the pros can count odds and are pretty good with tells, but how did they do when we put them on the spot with some trivia? Find out below.
Tweet If You Like 6 Max
Lots of players have taken to twitter expressing their excitement for today’s Event 23: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em-Six-Handed tournament. UFC announcer Bruce Buffer kick started the event with a thundering rendition of the “Shuffle up and deal” intro. Buffer is also playing in the tournament.
RT @leechilds $3k 6-handed today. #wsop23 9k starting. One hour levels. Let's go! <<<<< sending u #GoodJuJu & #SPARunGood
June 11 2012FollowWho's More Fashionable?
3BET Clothing
If you walk the thought the halls of the Rio you’ll notice rows of vendors; among them is 3BET poker clothing. A new line aimed at poker players. Scott Clements, John Phan, Brian Rast, and Andrew Little are some of the poker pros associated with the line. We spoke to co-founder Dan Spring about the company.
How did it all get started?
My partner and I are avid poker players based in Los Angeles. My partner has been in the clothing industry for 35 years. He’s one of the top people in the industry. We felt there was a void in comfort and fashion in poker. We wanted fans to connect to the game we all love.
When did you officially open?
We opened our virtual doors in January of this year.
How did the pros get involved?
I sat next to Andrew Little at a WPT event. I connected with him and he eventually brought in Brian Rast and Scott Clements.
Where can people find you online?
They can go to www.3BET.us and we’re also offering free shipping during the WSOP.
Jamie Gold In The Building
We spotted 2006 WSOP Main Event Champion Jamie Gold today in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em-Six- Handed tournament. He was seated next to Erick Lindgren. Gold is known for his table talk, we’ll be sure to keep tabs on him and report back any interesting banter.
I'm Just A Girl
We came across a tweet from female poker pro Jamie Kersetter about dumb questions she gets at the felt from male players.
Finally came up with a response to the same dumb question men have asked me 100x: Did your bf teach you how to play poker? No, did yours?
June 11 2012FollowWe’ll be asking the female poker pros what questions they get asked that tilts them. Here’s one from Lauren Kling: "A guy yesterday at my table asked me, 'Do you use your charm to get all the chips?' No, I use my skills. And then I just walked away."
All In!
Customized license plates seem to be all the rage here in Vegas. We caught this one today parked in the rio parking lot:
This guy is All in!We also caught this one:
NaturalThe last one was a Pontiac Fiero with the license plate reading "F1ERO," but we couldn't catch a picture as it was driving away. We don't know who they belonged to, but it's always fun to guess.
Excuse Me Sir, What Are You Staring At?
You may recognize this next gentleman from yesterday's issue of All Mucked Up. Well he's at it again. This time with binoculars fully equipped to watch the final table of Event #20: $5,000 Limit Hold'em.
The man and his binocularsI Want It To Look Pretty
We just saw this tweet from David Bach who is playing in Event #24: $5,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better
This is funny: @RealKidPoker just asked the dealer in Omaha/8 to leave bets in front. She Said "its too complicated, I want it look pretty"
June 11 2012FollowSometimes looks are more important!
A Woman And Her Dog
Apparently, earlier in the day, Liv Boeree was accommodating her canine companion at the table. Here's her tweet:
Does this count as two players to a hand? Dogging around in today's six max: http://t.co/UEVvauPj
June 11 2012FollowAnd here's the picture of her and her adorable little friend:
Liv and her little dogWe swung by her table to see if her pet was still around, but had no luck, as it had already been taken away.
Whatcha' Reading?
It's no surprise that there is a lot of downtime between hands at the World Series of Poker. That's why it's no shocker to see players reading books or playing iPad games in between hands. We caught this gentleman reading Mike Matusow's "Check Raising the Devil," in between hands.
This gentleman was reading Mike Matusow's book in Event #24: $5,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Split 8-or-BetterOddly enough, Mike Matusow himself was seated just a few tables away from the man reading his book. We expect a great dialogue to ensue if the two men are seated next to each other. We'll also be sure to see what else players are reading in between hands here at the World Series of Poker.
Father Son Final Tables
Sunday we had both Phils heads-up in different tournaments here at the Rio. Monday we found the Shulman father son duo at it again. Both Jeff Shulman and Barry Shulman made final tables in Event #20: $5,000 Limit Hold'em and Event #19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em.
Unfortunately, Barry was eliminated earlier in sixth place from Event #19, so there will be no excitement and drama as both Shulman's are heads-up.
This is the second instance of the Shulman's making deep runs together. When Jeff made the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2009, Barry also made the final table of the Main Event in the World Series of Poker Europe.
Maridu Mayrinck and Daiblo III, Part 2
Last week, we told you about Maria Maridu Mayrinck and her problems with Diablo III.
It's only been getting worse for Mayrinck as she has been tweeting about the game again today, this time including fellow pro Xuan Liu:
I love my nerd @xxl23. She busted from 3k 6max & arrived home saying "I need to kill some shit", logged into Diablo & is killing some shit.
June 11 2012FollowHopefully that cheers you up a bit Liu.
The Jester Hat Makes a Final Table Appearance
Last week we showed you Kennii Nguyen's lucky jester hat. Today, Nguyen made a final table in Event #19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em. Of course making another appearance was his lucky hat:
Kennii Nguyen and his lucky jester hatNguyen ended up finishing in second place for $347,036. Looks like his hat was lucky after all.
More Deep Runs For The Ladies
Three more women are making some noise in the poker community tonight as they make their way towards a bracelet. The first is Maria Ho, who is sitting with 270,000 chips in Event #21: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Ho was one of the few women to make a final table last year when she went heads-up in Event #4: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em and fell just short of winning a bracelet.
Maria Ho in Event #21The second two are both deep in Event #22: $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball with only 16 players remaining. The first is Julie Schneider who is sitting with 82,000 chips.
Julie Schneider in Event #22The second is Von Altizer who has 130,000 chips.
Von Altizer in Event #22Last year through 20 events, only four women had made final tables. Maria Ho in Event #4, Odette Tremblay in Event #8, Kim Nguyen in Event #19, and Diana Allen in Event #20. Through the same amount of events this year, we have already seen six women make final table, and seven if you could Vanessa Selbst's 9th place finish in Event #12: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em. Women have also made two heads-up appearances this year, Patricia Baker, who went heads-up in Event #1, and Amanda Musumeci who went heads-up in Event #9.
We'll be keeping our eye out on women players as this could be the first year since 2008 that a woman wins an open event.
Groutfit of the Day
Here in the PokerNews media room, we have an unhealthy obsession with Groutfits, or all grey outfits. That's why it was to the surprise of everyone that the man himself, Phil Ivey was wearing a Groutfit today. We managed to get a picture of it:
Phil Ivey's GroutfitWe'll be sure to bring you any more notable groutfits from throughout the World Series of Poker.
Overheard in the Dealer Break Room
Conversations in the dealer break room are hardly every dry, and range a wide variety of topics. Today, things got borderline philosophical in there:
"Shirley*," one dealer said to another. "Can I run something by you, and you can tell me what you think it means?"
"Sure," Shirley replied.
"Ok, so 'A man's attitude determines his fate.' What do you think that means?"
"Oh yeah... I can see that," She replied. "I think it just means that how you act determines how your life is going to play out."
"Pretty much, yeah," the first dealer replied.The conversation then moved towards money.
"I don't think money can buy you happiness," one dealer said. "But it sure makes it easier. I see tons of poker player who come in every day and they don't look so happy."
"Yeah, but the grass is always greener on the other side," another dealer said. "If I had the money of a poker player, I'd be happy as hell, but mainly because i've been broke for so long."The dealers finally talked about working in the snake pit, or the high limit area of the casino.
"You have a way better chance to make tips in there if you put on a smile and start conversations," one dealer said.
"It really doesn't matter," another dealer said. "It's all going to average out to about $18/$19 an hour in the end no matter where you are. Sometimes you'll pick up $9, sometimes you'll get $50, but at the end of the day it's always going to be about $18/$19 an hour"
"The other day I worked Chinese Poker," one dealer said. "I didn't make a single dollar!"The dealer break room conversations are always the best, so we'll be sure to add some of the more interesting ones here.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the dealers.
"Why Do You Guys Always Use The Worst Pictures?!"
We were standing near Event #22: $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball when Allen 'The Chainsaw' Kessler approached. "Why do you guys always use the worst pictures?" Kessler asked. "There are 10 other perfectly good ones, and you had to use that one!" He was talking about the photo of him used on PokerNews.com.
"Do you know when my 2 to 7 video is going to be up?" He continued? "Shouldn't it be up now during the tournament, when it will actually be relevant? Don't you guys know about relevance?"
Kessler is always a character and we'll be sure to continue to keep an eye on him during the World Series of Poker.
Are You On Drugs?
Erik Seidel just posted a rather interesting tweet regarding his table in Event #24: $5,000 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better:
Pretty sure a couple of the players at my table came straight from Electric Daisy, based on a few of these plays
June 11 2012FollowDon't worry Seidel, EDC is over, things should calm down soon.
The Man, The Book, The Legend
Earlier in the day we told you about the man who was reading "Check Raising the Devil," with Mike Matusow just sitting a few tables over. Well, fortunately for the reader, he can now have a taste of "The Mouth" in person as he has moved to his table, and is seated right next to him:
The man reading "Check Raising the Devil," and Mike Matusow seated togetherUnfortunately, the table is mostly quiet as almost everyone has a pair of headphones on. All the players seemed focused on making it to day 2, but we'll check in to see if there is any good table talk.
We encourage everyone to get involved with "The Muck." See something you think is Muck worthy? Send it to themuck@pokernews.com. We accept all media including photos and videos.
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JUN 10
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 14 Live Blog
All Mucked Up is a live blog of all the stuff you want to know at the 2012 World Series of Poker, besides hand histories and bad beats. Well, we might add a few in here, everyone loves a good bad beat story — unless it happened to you. Check back often for polls, soundbites, celebrity sightings, and who knows what else!
The Morning Grind
The Rio is alive for the $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em Event. We're seeing all the usual faces around the Rio this morning, a lot of young kids who dream of winning a bracelet. One such kid is Mickey "MementMori" Petersen, who has been grinding hard this summer, in early every day, in search of his first bracelet.
We asked Petersen whom he didn’t want to see at his table today and he told us he didn’t want to see his friend Jeff Rasmussen.
Young Hopefuls
Obviously the smaller buy-in events such as today’s Event #21: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em attract a lot of players who don’t usually play in big tournaments, but wanted to play one. The field out there seems soft with a lot of pros telling stories about strange plays and unsteady tourists.
We spoke to John "Nikolak" Kim, who seemed focused and excited for the day told us, “My table seems pretty good, it’s going to be fun.”
We also saw this tweet from Mike "Timex" McDonald, who points out some of the out of the ordinary plays he’s seen so far in Event #21.
First 3 hands of my 1k table involved a 12x open, a 13x open and a 120bb jam over a 3x open. #Poker
June 10 2012FollowAs the event unfolds, we’re guaranteed to hear some fairy tale rags-to-riches stories emerge; this is life changing money for the majority of the field today.
Outfit Of The Day
Our favorite outfit of the day so far belongs to this elderly gentleman, for his utilization of a pretty gangster pink neckerchief.
All Eyes On Ivey
While more than 1,500 players duke it out in Event #21 $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em, all spectator eyes are on the final two tables of Event #17 $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em where Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari and other big name pros fight for a bracelet.
The rail is long and thick and people try to catch a glimpse of Ivey in action.
Ivey himself seems excited, sending out a very rare tweet alerting his fans to his prominent position in the event, and thanking them for their support. The last time Ivey tweeted was in April when Amarillo Slim died.
The Guessing Game
Speaking Of Notable Twitter Absentees, Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan has been tweeting a bit lately about his life in Macau, talking about haircuts and poker.
Yesterday he tweeted a hand and followed it by saying he paid a player $2,500 dollars to see his hand, and that we might be able to guess the monster stakes that he’s playing from that amount.
I then pay 2500$ (us- feel free to guess at stakes from this) to see his hand, and lose my mind as he flips kqhh. Fmllll
June 09 2012FollowMotto To Live By
This man in Event #21 $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em has forgone bright colored, flamboyant hats for a witty slogan. Brian ‘Stinger’ Hastings just tweeted this picture, and the motto on the baseball cap which reads :
"Every Old Man Is a Young Man Wondering What the F*** Happened"
Ivey Won't Like This
Phil Ivey famously doesn't like when media or fans stare at him and bother him when he's playing, I wonder what he thinks of this gentleman peering down his binoculars at him during hands. I wonder if the intimidation factor of the Ivey stare gets multiplied by the lenses too?
Squeak Strikes Again
Squeak never seems to disappoint. Yesterday he was a dinosaur, and today he's wearing a tiger outfit. I'm sure he's hoping he'll do "Greeeeat" today. We'll try to catch him on break and find out where the inspiration for his wardrobe comes from.
Jared Bleznick In The Building!
Jared ‘Harrington25’ Bleznick was just sighted in the high limit cash game section of the Pavilion room here in the Rio. Talk of the ‘Jared Bleznick challenge’ has been rampant the last few weeks, where Jared offered to play any bracelet winner heads-up in the game that they win the bracelet in, and give 10% of their losses back.
The arrival for Bleznick is likely to be a catalyst for some big action, as the confident young man has no qualms about taking on all comers, at any stake. If we see Phil Ivey enter the fray this could get ugly, the two have played a lot online with each other in the past and both will feel they have unfinished business.
We’ll try to catch up with Jared later on today, and find out just how serious he is about the ‘Jared Bleznick challenge’.
First WSOP Cash for DoubleDave22
Dave D'AlesandroWe caught up with Dave “doubledave22” D’Alesandro, as he was making his way back to his seat in Event 19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em. The money bubble just broke and there is 164 players left.
We asked Dave how his day was going.
“I’ve got 170k right now (currently 3rd in chips).”
How does it feel getting your first ever WSOP cash?
”Feels good,” D’Alessandro said.
DoubleDave22 made his bones online, accumulating close to $2,000,000 in lifetime cashes. He’s also coached scores of online players and is an instructor at PokerXfactor.
We asked him how the transition has been since Black Friday.
“I’ve been a bit rusty, but I’ve taken advice from friends; fold less to the young guys and fold more to the old guys.”
We’ll be sure to keep tabs on D’Alesandro's progress throughout the day.
Race For The Record
With Phil Ivey chip leader in Event #17 Pot-Limit Hold’em Final Table and closing in on his 9th bracelet tonight, he will have one eye on Phil Hellmuth’s record 11.
Undoubtedly aware of this challenge, Hellmuth’s looking to put some more space between himself and the rest of the competition, going for an incredible 12th bracelet himself. Hellmuth is chip leader at the final table of Event #18 $1,500 Seven Card Razz.
With the two tables likely to go on late into the night tonight, it’s thought that two of the biggest names in poker will draw record railbird crowds to the Rio. It should make for an exciting night, check in here for the latest updates.
Read more about this long standing battle here.
Scooter Race Warm Up
Is PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree preparing for her much anticipated scooter race versus Doyle Brunson? We spotted Galen Hall and Boeree racing at break in the halls of the Rio. PokerStars pro Vanessa Selbst greeted Hall in the winner’s circle. Selbst, also gave us a quick recap of EDC.
In A Gambling Mood?
Something in the water at the Rio today has players trying to book action left, right and centre. Check out these tweets posted in the last while.
For some reason I think I'm going to do really well in this 1k, have 9000 exactly, who wants to give me 2-1 that I will cash?
June 10 2012FollowBill Chen just offered me a $1,000 last longer in deuce triple draw. Anyone want my action?
June 10 2012FollowMade some must win bets and took some horses vs @4viffer @boostedj in the 2-7 tourny for a little added sweat!
June 10 2012FollowWho Wore It Better?
We had to do a double take when we came upon this table in Event 19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em. They’re dressed exactly the same and coincidentally seated next to each other. Which begs the question, who wore it better?
Hat of The Day
Looks like this gentlemen wants to "Send out the Clowns" with this hat; Frank Sinatra would be proud.
PokerNews App
Make sure you download the new PokerNews App. Here's Brett Jungblut checking out the latest PokerNews info on his iPad.
Phil Hellmuth Refuses To Move
Brandon Cantu, who is seated in the six seat, just asked Phil Hellmuth, who is in Seat 5, if he could scoot down a bit given the players in Seats 3 and 4 have been eliminated.
"No," said Hellmuth. "This is my lucky seat." Cantu seemed taken aback that such a simple request was denied and asked the floor if he'd request Hellmuth to move down a bit. "Even six inches," Cantu said.
The floor politely asked Hellmuth if he'd be willing to move down and again the "Poker Brat" refused. Cantu asked for a little help and the floor said he could check with his superiors, which prompted Hellmuth to say, "You better call Jack [Effel]."
Despite his unwillingness to budge, Hellmuth did say with sincerity, "I love Brandon Cantu." Hellmuth's stubbornness may just be a result of superstition, though it appears he has scooted down a bit.
To see more of Hellmuth's and Cantu's antics at the Event #18: $2,500 Seven Card Razz final table, make sure you're following the live reporting blog.
This Rail Is Huge
We've been following the action on Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey all day. There is not an open seat in the house for either tournament and people are elbow to elbow on the rail. Here's what the rails look like for Event #17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em:
The Rail for Event #17Here's the rail for Event #18: $2,500 Seven Card Razz:
Rail for Event #18We were also able to grab some pictures just after Shaun Deeb was eliminated in 6th place for $84,668 from Event #17:
Shaun Deeb was just eliminated in 6th place.And one of Hellmuth playing in Event #18 as well:
Hellmuth in Event #18We'll try to catch up with some railbirds from each of the events to see what people are saying.
Olivier Busquet Exposes Hand
Olivier Busquet posted a blog entry yesterday that’s getting a lot of positive feedback from the poker community. A renaissance man of sorts, whose interests and passions include everything from politics, history, philosophy, art, and science, Busquet’s latest blog entry is a personal one that aims to, in his own words, “expose myself a little more.”
Doc's Analysis Of Final Table
We caught up with Doc Sands just as he was taking his turn in the commentator booth for the final table of Event 17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em. They’re currently four handed and Phil Ivey has the chip lead.
Doc Sands in commentator boothSands did some commentary earlier in the day as well and we asked him how it went.
“Good, it was fun. Jason Koon did some commentary earlier too.”
We also asked what commentators he enjoys watching.
“Olivier Busquet was really good in last year’s WSOP. He breaks things down for the laymen and is able to commentate on a high level as well. I like Antonio (Antonio Esfandiari) too.”
A Tender Moment With Phil Hellmuth
We caught Phil Hellmuth while we was on break with his family. As the chip leader in Event #18, Hellmuth was taking his dinner break and was spending it eating with his oldest son, Phillip, and wife, Katherine.
Hellmuth, his son Phillip, and his wife KatherineIn between eating on the rail, Hellmuth was pacing back and forth among the bracelet cases on the secondary feature table stage. He seems a bit nervous, but determined to stay focused on his conquest for his twelfth bracelet.
Fashion Faux Pas
Andy Frankenberger's Salmon Pink Pants and Bright Red Shoes.At the final table of Event #17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em, Andy Frankenberger decided to wear a pair of salmon pink pants along with a pair of bright red shoes. What we wanted to know is if you think the pants should stay, or go. Let us know in the poll below.
Marchese’s Take On Ivey's FT
Doc Sands on left, Tom Marchese on rightOnly three players left in Event 17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em. Phil Ivey is the chip leader at break. Tom Marchese, Doc Sands, and Bart Hanson are doing the commentary for the final table live stream. We spoke to Marchese and asked him for his impressions of the final table thus far.
Marchese said there’s a lot of “timid play” and it seems they're “in hopes of people busting out and "there’s a lot of limping." If someone "played more agro they’d be picking up a lot of chips.”
We also asked him his impressions of Phil Ivey’s play.
“Ivey’s playing well. Looks like he’s trying not to make a big mistake. He’s taking advantage of his opponents post flop.”
Hellmuth and Ivey both Heads-Up
Both Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey are now heads-up at their respective tables:
Hellmuth Heads-Up against Don ZewinThe rail has just about tripled in size over in the Pavilion room.
Rail of event Event #18We're heading over to the Amazon room to catch some action from Phil Ivey's final table now.
Tales From The Rail
Among the packed house in the Amazon watching the final table of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em was Dwyte Pilgrim. We asked Pilgrim whom he’s rooting for.
“I’d like to see Andy (Andy Frankenberger) win. Fellow New Yorker, you know. He’s one of the best deepstack players in the world.”
Among the loudest in the arena was Phil Ivey super-fan, Lester Gonzales. After one significant pot Gonzales yelled, “You’re gonna catch Hellmuth this year!” (Referring to Hellmuth’s number of WSOP bracelets)
Lester Gonzales“I’ve been a fan of Ivey for 10 years,” said Gonzales. 'I sold my ticket to a show just to be here tonight. My girlfriend is at the club right now."
We encourage everyone to get involved with "The Muck." See something you think is Muck worthy? Send it to themuck@pokernews.com. We accept all media including photos and videos.
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JUN 09
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 13 Live Blog
All Mucked Up is a live blog of all the stuff you want to know at the 2012 World Series of Poker, besides hand histories and bad beats. Well, we might add a few in here, everyone loves a good bad beat story — unless it happened to you. Check back often for polls, soundbites, celebrity sightings, and who knows what else!
It's Morning
Wandering the halls of the Rio this morning we can see that this is going to be one of the busiest days of the World Series of Poker yet. The corridor is jammed with people making their way to their seats and the line for late registration has never been longer. As noon approaches we spy some big name pros among all the hopeful amateurs, such as former main event winner Joe Cada, the always prepared Randy "Nanonoko" Lew and Dan "djk123" Kelly.
Not everyone will be playing in Event #19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em though. With an interesting final table, starting at 1 p.m., and some big name sightings such an Viktor "Isildur1" Blom and Phil Ivey in the last few days, many will be here just to rail the big games.
The Day Of Rest
So far today the field for Event #19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em looks fairly inexperienced, with not a lot of big names gracing the felt in the Brasilia room. It may be that the grind — 12 days so far — has been overwhelming and some players are using their time this Saturday morning to relax elsewhere. That’s certainly the case with Daniel Negreanu, as can be seen on his twitter this morning.
Skipping the $1500 NLH event today to focus on the 5pm 5k limit Holdem. My last two bracelets were LH plus I could use a day of rest.
June 09 2012FollowOf course, it may just be the usual lazy antics of the stereotypical, poker player, ambling in hours after the event was down to begin! We'll keep you informed either way.
What's With The Hats?
This isn't the first time we've seen Bryan Devonshire in an interesting hat, nor do I suspect it will be the last. With this consistent but diverse choice of eye-catching head gear not being the norm for most humans, we'll have to catch up with Bryan later on and find out if there's a story behind it. For now, you can enjoy what will surely win the coveted PokerNews "Hat Of The Day" award for Day 13.
Bryan Devonshire In Yet Another Sweet HatThinly Veiled Brag
$10K Heads-Up bracelet winner Brian 'Stinger' Hastings has been conspicuously absent from the Rio the last few days, but has been active on Twitter announcing his participation in the Big One for One Drop and that he was selling pieces at no mark-up.
Today we saw these gems from Hastings. According to the times of the Tweets, he had the bracelet stuck on for about forty minutes!
Can't get my WSOP bracelet off my wrist, anyone know how? #firstworldproblems #nonhumblebrag #butseriouslytho
June 09 2012FollowWho Wore It Better?
Stop the presses! It looks like awarding Bryan Devonshire hat of the day may have been a bit premature. These two gentlemen were spotted in today's Event #19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em. Both are wearing similar rainbow clown hats. Our question: who wore it better?
Player 1 and Player 2Drawing Thin Day 13
We met Joe Cada on his break from Event #19: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em and spoke to him about his life style during the World Series Of Poker.
“I try to eat right, of course,” the 2009 Main Event champ told us. “To be honest though I’ve been slacking on going to the gym and that stuff. I usually just try to do some press ups and some sits up in the morning if I can’t do anything else”.
“I think more important even is just getting your mind off poker in your spare time. We love to play X-Box in our down time, anything that’s not poker related.”
“This is only my second event but I plan on planning a lot more and grinding it out this summer, so I’ll have to work hard on this stuff in the next few weeks,” Cada concluded, before racing back to his event.
Greg Raymer Busted
Joe Tehan just busted Greg "fossilman" Raymer in Event #18 $2,500 Seven Card Razz and Raymer gave him this consolation prize.
That’s better than a bracelet any day!
Separated At Birth?
Heard on the rail of Event #16 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed this afternoon was a comparison between Gordon Vayo and Fuller from Home Alone. The comment was well received on the rail, and we thought you would like to see for yourselves.
Gordon Vayo and 'Fuller'Brian Hastings On The Rail
Photo Courtesy Of ESPNIn amongst the rail for Event #17 $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em was Brian ‘Stinger’ Hastings, sweating some of his fantasy drafts for the 25k fantasy draw that everyone’s talking about. We caught up with him and found out what he’s been up to the last few days.
“I’m just coming in today to see how my friends are doing, give some money to some of my horses and catch up with that’s going on. I'm sweating Timex and he's doing great” Hastings tells us. “I’ve been out of the loop you know, I’ve just been partying. I’m going to Electric Daisy Carnival tonight”.
We also asked Stinger about finishing school and what the future holds for him.
“Well, I’m getting really involved in DraftDay. I’m going to get more involved in the coming months. I finished up school in late 2010 majoring in Economics in Cornell. I don’t know if I’ll go back into that field, but I’m sure I can apply some of that stuff to DraftDay”.
“If I didn’t play poker, this is the kind of stuff I would be interested in, start-ups and entrepreneurship. I’ll also keep playing poker too, I’m going to try to grind lots of tournaments in the next year”.
Always Be Prepared
This man is taking the scout's motto to an extreme. He came fully dressed for work, with jeans and dungarees... and even what appears to be a leather tool kit in his back pocket! Ready for any eventuality...
The Big Fight
Jason Mercier is advertising on twitter trying to book action for the big boxing match tonight at the MGM Grand. If anyone’s interested feel free to direct message him, although knowing Mercier it’s likely to be a several thousand-dollar minimum.
Still that doesn’t seem to have scared away Bertrand ‘Elky’ Grospellier from booking some action.
Fashion Faux-Pas Of The Day
Twitter has been alive with pros tweeting and re-tweeting this pic. The man who needs no introduction...
'The Underwear Guy'Electric Daisy Carnival
The huge electronic music festival is in full swing this weekend in Vegas. We’ll be keeping tabs on who’s going. It looks like PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst is ready to go. No word yet if our "Fashion Faux-Pas Of The Day" winner will be making the trip.
Will Reynolds made the trip yesterday.
Back-To-Back-To-Back
We spoke to Matt Matros after he won his third bracelet in Event 16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em- Six- Handed. This is Matt’s third bracelet in as many years. Matros will take home $454,835 for the win.
Who was the first person you called?
Well, actually my dad called me. He had a 3% sweat.
Any plans for tonight?
Oh God, I’m so tired. I’m probably just gonna grab some dinner with my friend Rob Wang. He’s been here for all of my bracelet wins.
What was the first thought that went through your head after winning?
I was a little embarrassed. I don’t like bad beating someone, but I was happy with my overall play.
What song would you wanted to be played at your bracelet ceremony?
Oh wow, I love music, that’s hard. Since my friend Rob is from New Jersey I’ll go with “Born to Run.”
She Got Game
When you think of trash talkers at the poker table, a few names come to mind. For example, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow, and Sam Grizzle. However, Maria ‘Maridu’ Mayrinck is representing the females in the talking trash department quite well.
We couldn’t help but eavesdrop on her table in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em tournament. Here’s a few snippets jokingly directed at her tablemates.
“I hope you all get roids, “Mayrinck said.
The table replied in bewilderment.
“Roids?!”
Mayrinck fired back.
“Yeah, hemorrhoids!”
She didn’t stop there.
“And if any of you try to bust me then you’re gay.”
The table erupted in laughter as the banter was as all in good fun.
Hey Man, You Know That Song Is About Aliens!?
Do you remember the 1993 film Dazed and Confused? If so, then you'll probably remember the scene stealing stoner hippie, Ron Slater. We found a player in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em tournament that looked a bit like him. What do you think?
The Color Purple
We spotted Kathy Liebert, dressed in her trademark purple outfit, and chatted about NBA, WSOP, and Annie Duke.
How are your NBA picks doing?
I was rooting for Boston, but had money on the Heat, but I got a last longer between OKC (Oklahoma City Thunder) and Miami, so thats still going.
How's your WSOP going so far?
Well, I have two cashes so far, but I played the $10K (Event #17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em) last night so I'm slightly down. I'll be playing the $1K (Event 21: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em) tomorrow.
What are your thoughts on Annie Duke playing in this year's WSOP?
Well, she really didn't do anything wrong. She has a right to play, but I'm not a fan.
EDC Updated
PokerStars pros Vanessa Rousso and Liv Boeree just tweeted a photo from the Electronic Daisy Carnival.
Hitting up EDC tonight full costume style w @liv_boeree @vanessaselbst and friends!! http://t.co/d2GbQdWU
June 09 2012FollowManny Pacquiao Bad Beated?!
There's been outrage over the, Manny Pacquiao, Timothy Bradley, fight tonight. Bradley won via a split decision. Many poker notables took to twitter to voice their displeasure.
It makes me sad to know that boxing is a dying sport. Instances like tonight just give no one a reason to be excited anymore :/
June 09 2012Followdidnt se the fight but all over the news everyone says fight wasnt even close and there was def fixed or cheating involved#wow
June 09 2012FollowThis fight marks the end of Pacquiao's seven year unbeaten run.
Ivey Double Dipping
We just discovered that Phil Ivey is double dipping in Event# 20: $5,000 Limit-Hold'em and Event# 17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em
Here's his empty seat in Event# 20.
Outfit Of The Day
This isn't the first time that Squeak has been featured in the Muck for his wardrobe choices. We think it's a dinosaur. Hopefully, for his sake, he won't go extinct in the $5,000 Limit Hold'em event.
Blue Moon Bubble
So what do you do after bubbling a tournament? Xian Liu bubbled the Event 18: $2,500 7 Card-Razz, but the pro took her misfortune in stride and enjoyed a Blue Moon afterwards.
"It takes the sting away a little," said Liu.
Liu pictured on left.Gutted to be the bubble girl, 73A6k5T< @BigRiskky's wheel on 7th in 3way pot w/ @Philhelmuth. #edc is punishing me #wsop18
June 09 2012FollowWe encourage everyone to get involved with "The Muck." See something you think is Muck worthy? Send it to themuck@pokernews.com. We accept all media including photos and videos.
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JUN 08
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 12 Live Blog
All Mucked Up is a live blog of all the stuff you want to know at the 2012 World Series of Poker, besides hand histories and bad beats. Well, we might add a few in here, everyone loves a good bad beat story — unless it happened to you. Check back often for polls, soundbites, celebrity sightings, and who knows what else!
Drawing Thin
Mickey PetersenWe caught up with Mickey Petersen this morning in the halls of the Rio to ask if he’s doing anything different this year to stay in shape for the WSOP.
“I’m going to the gym everyday now,” said Petersen. “Eating healthier now, trying to eat meals outside of the Rio. But it may get harder as the series goes on.”
Watch for Petersen in today’s $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event. This will be Petersen’s fifth event of the series.
Big Names In the Brasilia
Event 17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em is under way and there's no shortage of big names in the field.
We spotted Team PokerStars Pro Viktor"Isildur1" Blom getting a late start.
Here is Blom at a table with Shaun Deeb
Here is Team PokerStars Pro Humberto Brenes. Players need to watch out because the "Shaaarrrkkk is coming."
On The Rail With Bond18
WPT commentator Tony Dunst was spotted after he busted Day 2 of Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em- Six handed.
We chatted with Dunst to see what were his plans for the day.
“Well, I came into Day 2 of the $1,500 6max short and busted, so gonna go relax the rest of the day. Gonna play some tennis, maybe watch a movie later.”
Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey start day three today of Event 15: $5,000 No-Limit Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better. We asked Dunst his pick for a last longer and eventual winner in the event.
“If you’re talking last longer than I’d go with Hellmuth cause he’s the biggest nit ever," said Dunst. "But if you’re asking my pick to win it, then it’s gonna be Ivey.”
Rast Intends to Play One Drop
Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Brian Rast took to Twitter to announce his entry into Event 55: $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop.
The Tale of Two Phils
There’s 15 left in the $5,000 Stud Split 8-or-Better and Phil Hellmuth just moved to Phil Ivey’s table. The railbirds are swarming as the remaining players fight for the $269, 037 first place prize.
We talked to railbird, Piper Kassela, to find out who is she rooting for.
"I’m for Todd Brunson and Phil Hellmuth; they’re both on my fantasy team," Kassela said. “But I want Brunson to win it all.”
Catching Up With Cantu
Roaming thought the Pavilion we came upon the feature table of Event #14: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout. Among the spectators was Brandon Cantu. We chatted with him at break to see what he was up to.
“Sweating Jeff [Jeff Madsen] and Layne [Layne Flack] today,” Cantu said. “I’m playing the Razz (Event #18 $2,500 Seven Card Razz) game later.”
Cantu feels good about his chances in Event #18.
“My razz game is good, I play all the games pretty good.”
We had some fun with Cantu and asked him if he had to play someone in a heads up match for eternity, who would it be?
“JRB [Jean-Robert Bellande], I’ve never lose to him.”
What's In Your Ears?
We spoke to Aaron "AeJones" Jones in the hallway of the Rio this afternoon to find out what he likes to listen to when he's playing poker.
"This year, I'm not listening to anything. I'm trying that out," Jones told us. "I'm trying to be more involved with the whole table this year".
"It depends on the event really. I'll listen to music in a $1,500 event, but if it's a mix max $5,000 event or something where I'm a big favorite to know a lot of the players at the table, then I'll just chat away and pay attention to the table talk."
"If I am listening to music, I'll just listen to whatever I like at the time. I always go back to some older stuff though, like Bob Dylan, Bob Seger and Billy Joel, stuff like that."
Bromances of the World Series of Poker
We met up with a crowd of players on break from Event #17: $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em to find out who they consider themselves closest to in the poker world.
“Can you define a bromance,” asked Aaron Jones, eyeing the author suspiciously. “Just the poker player I’m closest to? Well, I’ve known LuckyChewy forever so I’ve got to say him. I’m close to him. We did that podcast together a while back and we always talk poker. He’s my best poker friend.”
We got Andrew "LuckyChewy" Lichtenberger’s answer to his poker bromance.
“Aaron picked me? Yeah I mean we’re brahs,” said Lichtenberger, watching his friends laugh from the corner of his eye. “He’s been my friend forever”
“I’d like a definition of bromance before I was comfortable saying yes for sure though,” he laughed. “If we go for dinner nobody pays, we usually just credit card roulette the bill”
We also caught up with Tom Marchese to see who he considered his bromance in poker to be.
“It’s definitely William Reynolds, he’s my best friend. We met at Turning Stone casino in upstate New York when I was 19 and he was 18. It used to be like the only 18+ casino around.”
Where Have All The Kids Gone?
With much talk of the strong infusion of young players in todays games, Bill Chen's latest tweets indicates that this trend has yet to spread to the Razz games. For reference, Bill is in his early forties.
Razz 2500 starting. Really? Youngest player at the table? You gotta be kidding me.
June 08 2012FollowIn keeping with this trend, Bertrand 'Elky' Grospellier expresses his delight at being too busy tonight with other tournaments to play the Razz.
Doing pretty good at tough table in 10k PLH. Super happy about it esp cuz 5pm is razz :/
June 08 2012FollowPost-River Play
After seeing this tweet from Daniel Negreanu:
Spent my last night out during the WSOP on stage at Surrender watching @djafrojack New found respect for djing #harderthanitlooks
June 08 2012FollowAbout his night out in Surrender, we decided to ask around and see what players favorite hang out spot in Las Vegas is.
Aaron Jones and Mickey Petersen both agreed that they love to hang out in ‘Stoneys’ on Las Vegas boulevard south. This seems to be a popular spot for players, with Randy Lew tweeting that he was going there last night.
Tom Marchese told us his favorite hang out spot is Red Rock Canyon.
“You can go up there, go hiking or climbing or camping, it’s all fun”. Tom told us
Has Any One Ever Told You That You Look Like...
We saw this gentleman in the field today and he just broke our Achy Breaky Heart. Is it just us, or does he have an uncanny resemblance to Billy Ray Cyrus?
Billy Ray Cyrus? You be the judge.You be the judge.
Tired Much?
We caught this player sleeping in the hallways today. It wasn't even a tournament break. We were going to go and ask for his name, but he was a heavy sleeper.
Heavy sleeper in the Rio hallwaysThe best part was that he had his shoes off and everything. Looks like everyone is making the Rio their home this summer.
Chainsaw the Spider with Joe Tehan
We caught up with Joe Tehan in the hallway as he was walking over to join Event #18: $2,500 Seven Card Razz. We asked him what song in the hallways tilts him the most, and while he said he also doesn't listen to much of the hallways music, he did say that his favorite song is currently "Chainsaw the Spider."
"I love that song," Tehan said. "It's just talking about Allen Kessler. You know how they call him the chainsaw."
We also asked Tehan who his favorite World Series of Poker Bromance was.
"Allen and Jason is a good one," Tehan said talking about Allen Bari and Jason Mercier. "Me and John Kim are always together too. We just opened up a training website together. He goes by Nicolak online."
We'll keep checking in with players as we see them to hear who they think they best World Series of Poker bromance is as well as what hallway song tilts them most.
E-Dog Sighting!
Today, we saw Erick Lindgren for the first time at World Series of Poker 2012, playing in Event #17 $10,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em. Much has been made of E-Dog’s finances in the last year, with speculation and accusations of him not being able to pay sports betting debts.
We tried to catch up with Erick to find out what he’s up to these days, and how many events he plans on planning, but he politely refused an interview this afternoon on his way to Event #17.
We’ll try catch up with him in the next few days as wherever E-Dog is, the action is never far behind.
Trading Cards Flying Amuck
Over the last few days we've seen several players with large stacks of trading cards with themselves on them. So far we've seen Jason Mercier, Phil Hellmuth, and Mike Matusow each holding a stack of cards with their own face on it.
One of our live tournament reporters was able to get his hands on two of these cards:
Phil Hellmuth and Jason Mercier trading cardsFrom what he told us, there is a man walking around giving huge stacks of cards to players with their faces on them. We're hoping we can catch up with this man and find out who he is, and why he's doing this.
Until then, we were able to find the site where these cards are sold. Apparently, the cards are manufactured by Leaf Trading Cards who make a variety of other sports trading cards. We'll see if we can get our hands on a couple as well.
"This Game Sucks!"
There's been a slew of tweets coming in with complaints about razz in lieu of Event #18: $2,500 Seven Card Razz. Here is just a few of them:
Really fun losing every stud 8 pot to a bunch of ass clowns in the early afternoon and then coming back to lose every razz pot to idiots
June 08 2012FollowWe're sure there will be more, but until then, we'll try to catch some players in the halls and see what they think the worst part about playing razz is.
Ivey Is The King Of Cards
We saw this funny tweet from Tom ‘KingOfCards’ Marchese this evening. Swapping action is a way poker players try to reduce variance – hardly surprising Phil Ivey’s not interested given his total disregard for money!
Asked phil Ivey if he wanted to swap for one drop and he didn't know what swapping was. Guess when your the best you don't swap to often.
June 08 2012FollowOn the Rail of Event #18: $2,500 Seven Card Razz
We happened to be perusing the Amazon room, looking for anything Muck worthy when Phil Hellmuth called us over. "Do you boys know who's still in the Stud 8-or-Better?" he asked us. Of course we obliged and told him that John Monnette, Todd Brunson, Adam Friedman, and Nikolai Yakovenko were still in.
"What about Ivey?" he asked. "Is he still in?"
Sorry Mr. Hellmuth, Phil Ivey busted in 7th. "What about that Hellmuth guy," he asked jokingly. "Is he still in?"
"We heard he busted in 16th, but that he's going to make a final table in this razz event," we joked back.
Either way, Hellmuth is still alive in Event #18, and could easily go the distance once again.
What If You Could Only Play One Tournament?
Elio Cohen has locked himself at least a five-figure payday with how deep he has gone so far in Event #16: No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed. Cohen is an Israeli citizen that is currently working as a body guard for an important Mexican businessman.
Cohen could only play one WSOP event and saved his money all year to play this event.
Matt Glantz asked him, "Why did you pick this one?"
Cohen replied, "Since I only had one event to play I might as well see some hands. It was worth it."
We hope to see Cohen change his mind now that he can afford couple more buy ins.
Electric Daisy Carnival Anyone?
We snapped this picture of Brandon Schaefer's shorts while he was playing heads-up in Event #14: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout.
Brandon Schaefer and his lucky shortsHe told us after he won the event that he was going to Electric Daisy Carnival, otherwise known as EDC, as soon as he was done and that was his outfit. "Those are your lucky shorts," someone on his rail shouted. Not only do those shorts function as Schaefer's dancing shorts, they were also his run good shorts tonight.
More Razz Torture Tweets
We saw some quality razz torture tweets from Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu and Jason Mercier that we had to share:
@dnchips tortured in Razz. Won zero pots past 5th street. Officially on a bad run of late. May skip 1500 tomorrow and play 5k LH at 5pm
June 08 2012FollowIn razz. Started with 235 all hearts. Caught 6h on 4th and 4h on 5th. Wish i took a picture, never seen that b4, Straight flush in 5.. #face
June 08 2012FollowIt doesn't get much better than that folks.
Mercier Runs Bad
Speaking of running bad, Jason Mercier was in the PokerNews office earlier to partake in our PokerNews Podcast.
While on the show he made a bet with Global Live Reporting Manager Donnie Peters about the spelling of poker player Mike Gorodinsky's name.
We think you can tell who the winner was.The podcast has not been posted yet, but you will be able to check it soon, along with the other PokerNews Podcast on the PokerNews Podcast page.
The Dealer With Three Bracelets
During the dinner break we couldn't help but notice an interesting tweet by George Lind:
My last dealer has more wsop bracelets than the rest of the table combined minus ted forrest. 10K @ dinner #wsop18
June 08 2012FollowLind is referencing Nani Dollison, who has three gold bracelets for victories in the 2000 $1,000 Ladies Limit Hold’em & 7 Card Stud ($53,200); 2001 $2,000 Limit Hold’em ($441,440); and 2001 $1,000 Ladies Limit Hold’em & 7 Card Stud ($41,130). In the open-event win, Dollison actually defeated a final table that included Eli Elezra (6th-$41,760), Hung La (4th-$71,585) and Chau Giang (3rd-$113,345).
All told Dollison has eight WSOP cashes totaling $600,515.We'll see if we can catch up with Dollison on her break to find out why she's still dealing, and what it's like to deal to players with less bracelets than her.
Mike "The Mouth" Going Deep, Still Chirping
We were perusing the Amazon room and we were lucky enough to catch a few poker lessons from Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, who has reached the final 12 players of Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed.
"You know these young kids keep winning?" Matusow said to Gordon Vayo who was sitting on his right. "They've all got a chip on their shoulder. They want to prove to everyone else that they can win, and they do it. If you want to win, you have to want it bad."
"You think having a chip on your shoulder helps you?" Vayo asked Matusow.
"Of course it does," Matusow replied. "Why do you think Phil Hellmuth runs so deep all the time. He wants to win more than anyone else wants to win. He puts his heart and soul into every tournament he plays. The man would sell his soul to the devil for his twelfth bracelet."
Later, we caught Matusow talking to and needling Matt Glantz, who had just recently moved to his table.
"Didn't you know?!" Mike joked. "Matt Glantz is one top 20 all around poker players in the world! That's what it says on his website, www.MattGlantz.com. Hahahaha. Just kidding with you Matt."
The Mouth always manages to add an interesting dynamic to any table he's at, so we'll be keeping an eye on him as he moves towards the final table.
Who's At EDC?
So far we've only seen one tweet about it because anyone who matters is here at the Rio playing poker, but we know that cab lines are incredibly long and William Reynolds is joining the party. Check out his tweet:
2hr limo ride for 20miles of driving @joannafravel .. Sandstorm (1st electronic track I remember) is on radio #PartY http://t.co/ElXfueLu
June 09 2012FollowWith this picture attached:
Smashing outfit Mr. Reynolds. We'll let you know who else is going to EDC, and what players who go are saying about it.
Doyle on the Rail & Double Vodkas Chilled
Now that Todd Brunson is heads up in Event 15: $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better, we've noticed that Doyle Brunson has joined in on the festivities, that is of course after he participated in some commentary with David Tuchman in the booth for the WSOP.com live stream. Also on the rail is Todd's sister, Pamela Brunson, Allen Kessler, and Marco Traniello.
Todd's rail for Event #15In between hands, Todd and Adam Friedman found time to order double shots of vodka, chilled. We managed to get a quick picture of that.
Todd Brunson and Adam Friedman taking shots between hands.Seems like it's all fun an games right now on the rail of event #15.
Jason Mercier, it's #justbadluck
Seems like Jason Mercier just got carded while trying to go bowling at the 18 and up Gold Coast Hotel. Naturally, he's on life tilt.
Busted razz event. Went to gold coast to meet up w some friends and go bowling... Forgot my ID, u have 2 be 18... So I denied #RAGINGTILT
June 09 2012FollowI come back with my ID in hand ready to tell the rent a cop how he wasted 20 mins of my time... And he's not even there anymore #RAGINGTILT
June 09 2012FollowNo one guarding the escalator anymore ... O no. Now people that are under 18 still won't get in this s***hole cuz they don't want to.. #face
June 09 2012FollowDon't worry Jason, it's #justbadluck. #whenwillitend
We encourage everyone to get involved with "The Muck." See something you think is Muck worthy? Send it to themuck@pokernews.com. We accept all media including photos and videos.
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JUN 08
Snap Calls with Amanda Musumeci
We chatted with Amanda Musumeci as she was railing a friend in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six-handed tournament. On Wednesday, Musumeci finished second in Event #9: $1,500 Hold’em Re-entry for $481,643.
Were you disappointed with second place?
Yeah, but a $480,000 cash isn’t so bad, right? It takes the sting out of it.
What was the first thing you did after the big cash?
I went to Walmart to buy shampoo [laughs]. I also bought a $300 Acer laptop from there too. It was a spite Jew move by me [laughs].
Name some of the toughest players you’ve had on your left thus far?
Brian Rast, Scott Sevier, and Doc Sands.
If you had to play someone heads up for eternity, who would it be?
My boyfriend Ryan [Poker Pro Ryan Eriquezzo]. That’s a face I could look at forever. It’s so cute.
What’s the next event you’re playing?
The $1,500 tomorrow (Event 19# $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em).
Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
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JUN 08
@AsianSpa Blogs: WSOP Drama, Brad Booth, and More
Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of PokerNews.
Another week in at the WSOP and after two events, I have one cash. I cashed in the $1,500 no-limit hold'em event for $3,216.00 which makes me plus-$216 so far in the WSOP. I can’t complain it’s been enjoyable and it’s great to see and hang out with fellow players and see one that took a desk job and put on some weight (Hobbit — Dave Stann). I have to give a shout-out to #TeamSpaLoyalist Lee Childs for realizing the power of Spa! He cashed for $22,885 after requesting some #SpaRunGood™ and #GoodJuJu™ in the same $1,500.
As it is every year at the WSOP there are plenty of issues and drama. This year is no exception, first the mens-womens bathroom issue, next the Aguiar issue of verbalizing at the final table, then All American Dave for bringing in food for players (which I have to admit is excellent food), to the botched re-entry event, and the heads-up draw/first round bye. I have to say I think the WSOP staff is more willing to discuss and are doing a great job handling these issues as they arise. It’s such a huge event and I have to say for the most part they are doing a great job.
I have played cash at the Rio and Aria and played one $400 tournament at the Venetian. Cash games have been real good and the tournament was like two-and-a-half hours of being card dead and out! I plan to play the $1,500 Saturday and if I bust early I am going to fire $5k for the 5 pm limit holdem event.
The stream has been OK this year. David Tuchman is awesome in the booth and his roaming group of guest commentators are doing a great job. I have had issues with the stream being down, etc., and figured they would have had it figured out by now. I bought a new Android tablet for the ability to watch the stream, and after having a drink with PokerNews-COO Matthew Parvis he informed me of the new PokerNews Android app. They knocked it out of the park with this poker tool. Great app and free drink! What more could a #TruthSpeaker™ need?
I can’t blog this week without commenting on the Brad Booth situation. I first read about it on TwoPlusTwo and immediately fired a Twitter DM to him saying “Say it isn’t so.”
Well Wednesday Brad posted a heartfelt apology and confirmed it was in fact true. I can say I feel for him going through this and I can’t say I have ever been in this situation or even broke before. I can say it takes a big man to post that video and admit his faults. I have reached out to Brad as a life coach & a TruthSpeaker™. I offered him someone who he can talk to and not be judged. I wish him the best at the WSOP and want to see him get his life righted in the right direction.
It's ironic, if Howard Lederer would have posted a video about a year ago about Full Tilt’s issues I think poker players would have a much different opinion of him. But I have to think the WSOP will never see Ferguson or Lederer. Annie Duke on the other hand showed up after the Epic Poker failure earlier this year and played like life was good. All I wanted to ask was when is the million dollar freeroll scheduled? Seems like with everyone in town for the WSOP it would be perfect timing!
Till then I send you #SpaRunGood™ & #GoodJuJu™
Spa
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JUN 08
First Five With Bracelet Winner David Arsht
We caught up with David Arsht right after his win in Event #13: $1,500 Limit Hold'em to get some of his first thoughts after winning his bracelet. Before today, Arsht had two World Series of Poker cashes; one in a $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event in 2011 for $14,521 and one in a $1,500 Limit Hold'em event in 2007 for $7,826.
What is the first thing you're going to do as a bracelet winner?
The first thing I'm going to do is get our lives back in order. My wife came out here to visit yesterday. She came to meet me yesterday, and my son lives in southern Utah. I got in this event, and I said, if I make it to the third day we may have to change our schedule around. We were booked in a resort in St. George, Utah. We had to call the hotel and change our reservation. So the first thing I'm going to do after the bracelet ceremony is be where I was going to go. We were going up there for four or five days of vacation to visit my kid, and then I was coming back here for another week.
What is the first thing you thought when you won?
I cannot believe that this happened to me.
Who is the first person you're going to call and tell?
Well everybody's been watching on PokerNews and wherever the live feeds are. So I'd have to say that everybody in my family, and all my friends, and all my poker friends already know that I won it.
What is the first thing you're going to buy?
The first thing I'm gonna buy? Well, I think I had in the back of my mind a plan to do a trip to South Africa in the fall with my wife. There is no question that we're going on a very fancy trip to South Africa.
Who was the first person you hugged or high fived?
I think my son ran over and hugged me and I haven't even got a chance to go over and talk to my wife yet.
Can we expect to see you in anymore tournaments this summer?
Yeah. I'm gonna be in the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout and if I get knocked out of that I'll be playing the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. the next day.
Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
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JUN 07
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 11 Live Blog
All Mucked Up is a live blog of all the stuff you want to know at the 2012 World Series of Poker, besides hand histories and bad beats. Well, we might add a few in here, everyone loves a good bad beat story — unless it happened to you. Check back often for polls, soundbites, celebrity sightings, and who knows what else!
The Straddle
Kristy Arnett is introducing a new video series this summer called, The Straddle. Like all of our videos, it's going to be a must-watch, but this series is going to be bringing the funny instead of your standard player interviews. Check out the video below for an introduction to the series, a sample of what's to come, and an appearance from two of your favorite Muckers.
Morning Grind
Sightings early this morning in the Rio included Phil Collins, Jerry Yang, Andreas Hoivold and Randy "Nanonoko" Lew. Seems to be the same faces every morning who arrive early and well prepared for each tournament. A lot of the more notable players tend to arrive late for the big field tournaments, but today, in Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed, late attendees will be blinded out faster than the usual full ring structure!
One person who can't be late is Brian Hastings, who is in the final four of Event #12: $10,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em this afternoon. Fortunately, that doesn't kick off until 1 PM, so Hastings has an extra hour in bed.
A real early riser, Chance Kornuth was seen at Starbucks at 11:20 AM this morning in a long line for coffee. Kornuth has played in all the biggest side games so far in the series, but looks to be turning out for Event #16 today — either that or he's gearing up for another 12 hour $500/$1,000 PLO session.
Isildur1 : Second Chance At A Bracelet
We saw Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom arrive at the Rio today at 12:40PM. Himself and his friend proceeded into the Poker Kitchen here at the Rio and played Rock/Paper/Scissors to decide who paid for the others smoothie. Looks like Blom lost as he was left at the smoothie stand to foot the bill.
Blom is media shy, but we approached him and managed to get it out of him that he was playing Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed, that he was excited to play and that he was going to "try his best" to win a bracelet at the second time of asking.
The below photo is the authors attempt to not annoy Blom too much. Perhaps if we stay in his good books, the next interview will be longer...
Isildur Buying A Smoothie This MorningTo The Left
We met players as the arrived late in to the Rio for Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed and asked them who they definitely don’t want to see to their left today. It turned out to be a very one dimensional interview…
First person we caught was Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald.
“I don’t want to see Phil Ivey. I know that’s an obvious answer. He hasn’t played the World Series Of Poker in a year, but I played with him a bit in Monte Carlo and he’s tough”.
Another person wandering in late was Aaron ‘AeJones’ Jones. He seemed stuck for an answer, so we told him Timex said he didn’t want to see Ivey.
“Timex! That’s definitely a guy I want to see to my right”, Laughed Aaron. “And you can print that. As for players I don’t want to see to my left, Ivey is the person who stands out”.
Finally, we met up with Scott ‘iRockhoes’ Augustine outside the brazilia room and asked him the same question.
“Ivey would suck a lot. I would like to see anyone who looks like they’re under 17, is that answer?”
We know Scott is living with Brian ‘Stinger’ Hastings this summer, so we asked him about Brian’s chances in Event #12: $10,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em today.
“I think he’s got a great chance. He played great yesterday and me and him took some time and went over a bunch of hands last night. If I’m not playing tonight I’m gonna go and rail him for sure”.
Finally, we saw former main event champ Joe Cada looking for the Amazon room. He was in high spirits as he told us he was playing day two of Event #14 $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout.
“I have a really tough table actually. Doc Sands is a good player, I hope he’s not seated to my left for sure” Joe told us.
Who Wore It Best : Fisherman Edition
We spotted two players at Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed today sporting fisherman hats! They look somewhat out of place in land-locked Las Vegas, but full marks for effort.
My vote is for the camo hat.
Player A and Player BGuess Whose Car?
We saw this Jaguar in the parking lot. We had a pretty good idea of who's car it was, and the Valets confirmed that it belongs to Scotty Nguyen.
Who Ya Got?
This morning we spoke to the usual suspects, Ashton 'Ashman' Griffin and Aaron 'AeJones' Jones, about how they were enjoying the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat basketball series.
"I kind of want Heat to win tonight" Ashman told us. "I hate the Heat, but I really want OKC to beat them in the final more than anything. That would be sweet".
"I think the Celtics will win it. I hate the heat too, and I think the Celtics have been good so I'm betting Celtics. A lot of my friends are from Boston so it's fun sweating them".
Both Ashman and AeJones are sweating Brian 'Stinger' Hastings at the featured table in Event #12: $10,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em.
Hat of the Day
It's stiff competition, but this player in the Deep Stack tournament had an outfit that was surely muck worthy, blending a mustard track jacket and mustard track bottoms with a brown bowler hat. The bowler hat an elegant feather on one side and a playing card on the other - definitely a custom made WSOP hat.
Like Father Like Son
Jason Mercier is stuck between Todd Brunsen and father Doyle Brunsen in Event #15 $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better. Todd and Doyle know each others games very well, must make for some interesting table dynamics for Jason!
Unpopular Annie Duke
Annie Duke is around the Rio again today, and making a lot of headlines.
Late last night, when she was knocked out of her tournament, Todd Brunsen tweeted this:
Daniel Negreanu and Annie's rivalry has been well publicized in the last few months, what are the chances of them landing right next to each other in Event #15 $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better.
Here is a tweet about Annie's post- tournament complaints about someone cursing at her table:
Annie Duke in the hall complaining to TD because someone cursed her out at the table. She's asking about a penalty, but it's been ~90 mins.
June 07 2012FollowAnnie is not getting much sympathy around the Rio these last few days. Here is PokerStars pro Mickey Petersen's reply to the above tweet.
lol at @AnnieDuke complaining bc someone cursed at her, you are delusional. You are a disgrace to the poker community, please just stay away
June 07 2012FollowOn The Final Table Rail
We swung by the Amazon room to check out the final table rail for Event 12: $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em where Brian 'Stinger' Hastings and Jason Mo battle it out for their share of the 1.4 million prize pool. Among the on lookers, on the side of Brian, is Vanessa Selbst.
Jason Mo seems to feel quite at home, sporting sandals and yellow and blue pajamas. Presumably he will change his attire before the bracelet ceremony?
Stinger has the bigger and more active rail and people flock to watch the dregs of this exciting final table.
Spot the Difference
We've already seen Richard Iler (AJ from Sopranos) on the felt this summer. Today we spotted this colorful character in Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed, decked out in the new york gangster style green tracksuit
Gangster A, Gangster B, Gangster CDrawing Thin Day 11
For today’s Drawing Thin, we spoke to Yevgeniy Timoshenko on the dinner break of Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed . We asked him first about how he says fit during the World Series of Poker and second how he eats.
“To stay fit, I play basketball with my room-mates Galen Hall, Greg Gokey and Calvin Anderson. That’s good for the cardio”
“As far as eating goes, I do make an effort to stay healthy. I mix it up a bit, but for breakfast I might have something like Egg’s Benedict”.
We ask Yev where he’s going for dinner on his 90 minute break.
“Right now for dinner I’m not sure where I’m going to eat, somewhere on the strip maybe. I want to watch Celtics/Heat, so if there’s somewhere showing that I’d be interested in eating there”.
“I’m up for Miami. I don’t sports bet ever so I don’t have money on it, but they’re my team”.
How'd They Do?
We wandered around the Rio halls asking poker players trivia questions. Take a look at the video below to see how they did.
A Fantasy Update
We're about 1/4 of the way through the series so far, so we thought it might be time for a fantasy poker update. The draft in question we're looking at is Daniel Negreanu's $25,000 Fantasy Poker Auction Draft, where players bid on the fantasy players that they wanted.
Currently in the lead is Daniel Negreanu's team with 136 points who is thriving on the performances of Vanessa Selbst, with 70 points thanks to her 4th place finish in the $1,500 No-Limit event and her 9th place finish in the $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit event. Also doing well on that team is Negreanu himself who has a 5th place finish in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em Event.
Second in points is Jason Mercier's with 115 points. Mercier seems to have lucked out by taking John Monnette who recently won the $5,000 Seven Card Stud tournament. Monnette is currently holding up the team with 88 points. Another player on Mercier's team who is bringing in just a few points is Allen Bari with 14.
Some of the players who are standing out so far in fantasy poker are Scott Seiver, with 39 points, Bryn Kenney with 32 points, Barry Greenstein with 48 points, and Michael Mizrachi with 36 points. Points are calculated as follows, 50 points going to a first place finish, 45 points for second, 40 points for third, 35 points for fourth, and so on and so forth with 1 point going for a cash. There are also multipliers for a $10k and $5k buy-ins and a field size bonus.
We'll be sure to keep updating these standings at the half-way point as well as the 3/4 point so you can see how your favorite players are doing as fantasy picks. Click here to check out Negreanu's draft board, point standings, and payouts.
Happy Birthday To You! Happy Birthday Times Two!
After turning to twitter for some brief investigative work, we found out that not just one, but two pros in the building had birthdays today.
The first was Jeff Madsen:
Madsen won his table today in Event #14: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout, so we hope he doesn't party too hard as he'll have to return for the final 12 tomorrow. We'll try to catch up with him tomorrow to see how he's feeling and if he'll give us a birthday rap verse.
The second birthday boy today was Shannon Shorr:
For his birthday, Shorr busted earlier in the day in Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed when his
could not outrun his opponents 
Oddly enough, both Shorr and Madsen turned 27 today. It's tough not to wonder if they are partying together.
Bromances of the World Series of Poker
Today in Event #15: $5,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better friends Allen Bari and Jason Mercier were seated right next to each other. Live Reporting Global Manager Donnie Peters was able to snap a picture of them before they were split apart.
Friends Allen Bari and Jason MercierWe'll try to catch up with Mercier and Bari later to see how strong their friendship is and how it feels to be seated next to each other in a tournament.
Maria Maridu Mayrinck and Diablo III
Maria "Maridu" Mayrinck stopped by the PokerNews office tonight to chat with PokerNews Hostess Lynn Gilmartin. Topics ranged anywhere from citizenship in their respective countries, Brazil and Australia, to food, exercise, dieting, and even boyfriends.
But the topic that perked our interest was Diablo III. Mayrinck explained that for the past week since players have been in town for the World Series of Poker, Joseph Cheong, Michael 'Benvo' Benvenuti, and Mayrinck's boyfriend David Baker have done nothing but play Diablo III after their tournaments.
"They don't do anything!" Mayrinck frustratedly explained. "They just play Diablo. They don't eat. They don't sleep. They don't poop. They don't pee. I have to spoon feed David just to get him to eat. Sometimes I think they are busting tournaments just to come home and play Diablo. They are even playing Diablo during the dinner breaks. ElKy is in on it too. It's crazy."
We'll try to catch up with some of these players when we see them to see if Mayrinck is exaggerating or not. On Saturday, PokerNews Hostess Sarah Grant is slated to do an "In Bed" interview with Mayrinck, so we're sure to hear more from her soon.
That's Not What I Asked For, Durrrr
Tom 'durrrr' Dwan has been missing from action at the World Series of Poker as of late, but his latest couple tweets help to explain his disappearance. He's been getting haircuts in Macau!
Just had a weird haircut experience in macau, guy tried to give me a goofy peak in the front (I never request stuff in haircuts except
June 07 2012Follow"shorter" and "sides even"), then tried to tell me he couldn't fix it without pinning my hair up. He was nice so it eventually worked out
June 07 2012FollowMaybe Dwan is just too embarrassed about his new haircut to show up. Don't worry durrrr, it's just hair. It'll grow back.
This Should Be Interesting
We recently saw that 2007 Main Event Champion Jerry Yang had moved to the same table as young poker phenom Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom in Event #16: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Six-Handed. The two present quite a contrast to each other in appearance, but both are still very aggressive players who could tangle with each other at any time.
Viktor Blom and Jerry YangNeither player is too talkative, but it's hard not to wonder what the two would talk about. We know Viktor is not to keen on interviews, but if we can we'll catch up with Yang later to see his opinions on playing with Blom.
You Want A Piece Of Me?
We recently saw Brett Richey come over to Event #15: $5,000 Seven Card Stud Split Hi-Low 8-or-Better and hand Tom Koral a fat stack of cash. We were curious, so we asked if Richey had lost some kind of prop bet to Koral.
"No," Richey said. "We all had a piece of someone in the limit hold'em event and he just finished 6th. We had 20 percent and that's Tom's share. I'd never lose a prop bet to Tom."
The 6th place finisher in Event #13 was Ben Landowski who made $34,620. Twenty percent of that would've been $6,924, quite a large sum to have sitting on the table. We caught a picture of Koral and his stack of money, who happened to be sitting right next to ESPN commentator Norman Chad.
Norman Chad and Tom KoralKoral is still alive in Event #15 with 65,000 chips. "I just got handed a bunch of money, and I'm sitting next to Norman Chad," Koral said at the table. "I must be running good." Must be nice to be Tom Koral right about now.
On Break in the Stud 8
We caught up with Allen Bari during the break in Event #15: $5,000 Seven Card Stud Split Hi-Low 8-or-Better who was describing a beat that Eli Elezra had put on him right before break started.
"He says to me, 'I know you had three sevens.'" Bari explained. "Ok so you knew, but then why are you calling me with two 9s drawing to the case 9? I don't know what he's doing. I know he has some kind of last longer bet with someone for a lot of money. I think it's John Monnette. $50k."
If that's true, Elezra could be in a world of hurt because as it stands now, Monnette has over 100,000 in chips and Eli just has 45,000. But as we all know, in the game of poker anything can happen.
Also on break, we caught Bryan Devonshire, Joe Tehan, Ben Yu, and Christopher George in a heated Achtung battle as well. We're not sure, but we think Devonshire won.
The 22 Bracelet Table
We feel bad for poor seat 1Recently, our live reporting team did the math and in Event #15: $5,000 Seven Card Stud Split Hi-Low 8-or-Better, we have 22 bracelets sitting at one table. They are split between Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, John Monnette and Todd Brunson. We wanted to see what it was like to be at a 22 bracelet table so we went and watched for a bit. Things seem to be all quiet at the table with both Ivey and Hellmuth wearing headphones. Also at the table is Bryn Kenney and Michael Binger, who has 23 World Series cashes.
John Monnette and Todd BrunsonTruly, this is one of the most stacked tables the World Series of Poker has ever seen, and might even be the most stacked one we see all year.
Phil Hellmuth and Phil IveyWe encourage everyone to get involved with "The Muck." See something you think is Muck worthy? Send it to themuck@pokernews.com. We accept all media including photos and videos.
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JUN 07
The Micros: The Good News and the Bad News
The Micros web comic is good and keeps our cravings for a look at the lives of Balls, Chase, and Tommy in check. This week's comic give us a glimmer of hope for at least one animated episode, but then smashes our dreams — kind of like that one time when we won a WSOP bracelet, only to wake up and realize we were dreaming.
Visit The Micros' Facebook fan page for more photos, including some teaser posters for the web comic.
Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
PokerNews Podcast
This week's Strategy with Kristy podcast features the audio of three PokerStars.tv interviews with PokerStars Team Online members Randy Lew and Mickey Peterson, as well as... more
2006 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Jamie Gold becomes latest player to auction off championship bracelet.
- 2 Strategy With Kristy: Hand Analysis with Daniel Negreanu, Randy Lew and Mickey Peterson
- 3 WSOP Announces 2013-14 Circuit Schedule: 10th Season, 22 Events, Three Added Stops
- 4 WSOP Releases the 2013 Carnivale of Poker Schedule
- 5 Benny Spindler, Sami Kelopuro and Ana Marquez All Capture SCOOP Titles
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