The Muck
Card Guards
Bernard Lee
George Lind III
Maverick Movie
Off the Felt
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JUL 09
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 43 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!
Main Event Madness: Morning Shenanigans
It's another mad house at the Rio for the final day of starting flights for the 2012 Main Event. Seen among the crowds this morning were Tom Marchese, William Reynolds, Matt Marafioti, Jeff Madsen, Noah Schwartz, and many more. Also spotted this morning was the Jack Links Sasquatch:
The PokerNews team was in a sticky situation this morning as we tried to capture a picture of Sasquatch, but he spotted us at the last minute. It was either stay and focus the picture, or run for survival. We chose the later option.
Sasquatch was angrily scouting the halls of the Rio just before the Main Event was about to kick off, and we think he was after the guy in the giant banana suit:
Run banana run!Either way it looks like it's going to be another eventful day at the Rio as the last of the starting flights should bring in the biggest crowd.
To check out hands, chip counts, and more updates from day 1c of the Main Event, make sure you check out the live reporting blog for all the updates.
Murderers Row: Main Event Day 1C
Today in Murderers' Row are three more champs, and even more big names and faces. In case you didn't know, Murderers' Row is the name we've given to the space in the Amazon Room under the Main Event Champion's Banners where three different Main Event champions have been seated every day so far of the Main Event.
At the table closest to the door in the corner of the Amazon room is 2010 Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel. Next to Duhamel is Scott Baumstein.
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JUL 08
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 42 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!
Shuffle Up And Deal
Today's Event #61: No-Limit Hold'em Main Event Day 1c was introduced with a rousing speech by MMA fighter Georges St. Pierre. St. Pierre is playing today, so the opening words contained at least 4 puns about him 'putting a bad beat' on someone, and the aim of the tournament being to 'not tap out too early'. It's all in good fun and it kicked the day off in an exciting fashion. We'll keep an eye out for St. Pierre and see how his stack is coming along as the day progresses.
GSP wasn't the only familiar face around the Rio early this morning. Also up and ready to rumble were Dennis Philips, Collin Moshman, Dan Harrington, Mickey Petersen and Ashton 'Ashman' Griffin. All will be hoping for a strong start to their Main Event campaign, which will stretch over the next week here at the Rio. Tune into PokerNews for all the latest updates.
Back In Fashion
Daniel Day Lewis mustaches are making a big comeback in the Rio today and, despite the sweltering weather today in Las Vegas, so are big red bobble hats! Also featured is one of the original members of Village People in his leather biker hat!
Mustache Man / Daniel Day Lewis
40 degrees Celsius...
Big Red Bobble Hat
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JUL 07
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 41 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!
May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor
It's here! After five weeks and 60 events the Main Event starts today. The halls in the Rio are buzzing with players, media, and fans. We've already spotted actor Kevin Pollak signing autographs and its not even noon yet here in Vegas, so keep checking back with the Muck as we'll be updating throughout the day.
In the meantime, Event 60: $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball (No-Limit) resumes today and only 10 players remain. Here are the odds courtesy of the Rio sportsbook:
Benjamin Parker: 19/5
Bob Bright: 10/1
Ali Eslami: 7/1
George Danzer: 4/1
John Juanda: 3/1
Andy Bloch: 25/1
Nick Schulman: 2/1
Ashton Griffin: 3/2
Mike Wattel: 9/2
Larry Wright: 19/2PokerNews Podcast: Eugene Katchalov
Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katchalov is our guest on the PokerNews podcast today. Make sure you keep an eye out for it. Katchalov talks about the One-Drop, Mikhail Smirnov's folding of quads, and the Main Event.
From left to right Eugene Katchalov, Donnie Peters, and Rich RyanSights In The Amazon
Day 1a of the Main Event is underway in the Amazon room. Here are some of the more interesting sights seen so far:
We spotted Ray Romano.
He's been a fixture at the Main Event for several years now. We'll keep our eyes peeled for Romano's friend and former co-star Brad Garrett.
Check out the rail for Romano:
We walked by Kevin Pollak's table just as he was jokingly berating an opponent, in a pitch perfect Robert De Niro voice, for raising his big blind.
This player must’ve thought he was playing in the Amazon Rainforest.
PokerNews' own, Kristy Arnett, is playing in her first ever WSOP Main Event. She's no fish though. Arnett plays plenty of poker and will be a force to be reckoned with. Check out Lynn Gilmartin's interview with her from earlier today.
Here are a few shots of the ever growing crowd in the Amazon room:
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JUL 06
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 40 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 Calm Before The Storm
Today the Rio hosts The WSOP $10,000 National Championship. This prestigious tournament is one of the invite only events, open to the years most successful circuit grinders and the top 100 WSOP ranked superstars alike. It will take place in a small corner of the Brasilia room today, and a lot of big names are likely to feature. At 11:45 this morning we saw David 'Doc' Sands and Joseph Cheong already in their seats, ready to begin play. We'll let you know who else shows up as the day goes on.
Really though, this is just the calm before the storm. Tomorrow the much anticipated Main Event will begin, and it's likely most pros will be taking today off to get their heads right for the big one.
What? Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me?
One player in the invitational hasn't kept a very close eye on the the world of the poker this last year. Seen here wearing a particularly infamous jersey, he's either the bravest or most uninformed man in the Rio today!
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JUL 05
First Five with First-Time World Series of Poker Bracelet Winner Will Jaffe
Despite Luis Campelo’s boisterous Brazilian rail, so loud that the match had to be moved from the Amazon Room to the Pavilion as to not disturb neighboring tables, Will Jaffe’s rail was not to be outdone. With chants of “USA! USA! USA!” showering down on the Long Island native, Jaffe finished off Campelo heads-up. For winning, Jaffe will take home $500,075 and his first WSOP bracelet. We caught up with Jaffe moments after his win in Event #54: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em.
What was your first thought after winning the match?
This is not real!
Who’s the first person you’re going to call?
I called my mom already.
What was the first significant turning point for you at the final table?
When we were three handed, me and another player Joe [Joseph Kuether] and [Luis Campelo], I stacked Joe, which was a huge momentum swing for me since he was the player I was most worried about.
What’s the first thing you’re going to do to celebrate?
We’re gonna party!
Who was the first person to congratulate you after wining?
My girlfriend and then my whole rail joined in.
Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
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JUL 05
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 39 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!
May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor
The fields are stacked today for the conclusion of Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed and Event #58: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better. For Event #57, there are plenty of good bets, with great odds since the field still has 27 players remaining. Going at 9/1 is Andrew Lichtenberger, a good bet for a good player in a great tournament format for him. Also still alive is Eugene Katchalov who doesn't have many chips, but if he can get lucky he will be a great bet going at 27/1. Here's a look at some of the notables still in the field.
Andrew Lichtenberger: 9/1
Nick Maimone: 5/1
Keith Lehr: 25/1
Tony Hachem: 17/1
Roberto Romanello: 12/1
Jason Mercier: 12/1
Layne Flack: 20/1
Jason Senti: 12/1
Josh Brikis: 30/1
Carter Phillips: 13/2
Shannon Shorr: 25/1
Edward Sabat: 11/1There are several good bets available for Event #58 as well. Former November Niner Antoine Saout is still alive and going at 15/1. And the most insane bet that we've seen all year: John Guth going at 90/1. Guth has an extremely short stack, but it's Omaha so anything could happen. Scotty Nguyen is also still alive in the field and is going off at odds of 25/1. Here are some of the notables still alive in the field:
Randy Ohel: 19/1
Antoine Saout: 15/1
Bryan Devonshire: 15/1
Stephen Su: 19/2
Roch Sousineau: 11/1
David Baker: 3/1
Anthony Lellouche: 27/1
Scotty Nguyen: 25/1
Yuval Brohnstein: 4/1Bleed American
This gentleman in Event #59: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Day 1b was suffering from what we will refer to as an all American hangover. Check it out:
All American, All The TimePoor guy, that stuff probably wont ever wash out. At least we know he loves his country. Looks like a bit of dye even got down into his beard.
Found on a Rio Urinal
Earlier in the series, PokerNews' Live Reporting Global Manager Donnie Peters found an apple on a Rio Toilet:
How Much Would Someone Have To Pay You To Eat This Apple? #PropbetsToday, we found something a little different on the Rio urinals:
Free Poker Training! From Jonathan Little!30 seconds on the clock, lets see how many funny things we can come up with: Couldn't you have found a better spot for product placement Jonathan Little? Haven't you ever heard the phrase, don't pee where you teach? We wonder how many people will 1. grab the card, 2. sign up for the training lessons after having found it on a urinal. $4million in tournament winnings and you couldn't find a better place to advertise for training lessons?
We might catch up with Little a little later and ask him about the decision to leave his calling card on the Rio urinals.
Follow Up, With Jonathan Little
We tweeted at Jonathan Little about the cards found on the urinal advertising for his training lessons, and he got back to us via twitter. Here's what he said:
@MrCleverFox affiliates can do whatever they want. Anything I do will be at @BlueSharkOptics or @3BetClothing booths.
July 05 2012FollowWhich he followed up by saying:
Poor Little. Not only is his name plastered all over the Rio urinals, it's spelled wrong too. We guess that's what happens when you win $4 million in tournaments.
The Card Protector Chronicles: Day 39
It's been a while since we've done an issue of the Card Protector Chronicles, and with one of the largest fields of the series in Event #59: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em - Day 1b, now was a better time than any to hop back on the bandwagon.
Unfortunately, there weren't a slew of awesome card protectors that donkeys use today in the field, but we did manage to find a couple.
The first one that we saw was this awesome, scaly lizard/dinosaur like creature:
If I were a dealer, I'd be sure not to muck anyones cards with that sitting on them. Not only was that one of the more noticeable card protectors, it was also one of the larger ones we've seen as well. We wonder if the owner has to feed him chips for all his duties.
The second one we saw was this very unique spider/Pepsi can UFO.
We're not sure how good of a job this thing does protecting cards, or it it's dangerous to move between hands, but it certainly caught our eye. It appears as if the thing is made completely out of a cut up pepsi can. We're not sure if it's intended purpose was to protect cards either, or if it was just meant to sit on top of a chip stack. Either way, we think it's still good for the game.
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JUL 04
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 38 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!
May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor
No rest for the weary in the aftermath of the Big One for One-Drop. There’s still plenty of poker to be played. Be prepared for fireworks in Event 56: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em. Only 21 players remain in the quest for the $661,022 first prize. Here are the odds for some of the notables courtesy of the Rio sports book:
Peter Eastgate: 3/1
Will Failla: 70/1
Sam Holden: 50/1
Donald Vogel: 4/1
Mick Graydon: 19/2
Gianluca Mattia: 2/1
David Borg: 6/1
Bastian Fischer: 15/1Independence Day
Poker is as American as apple pie. In honor of our Founding Fathers, which do you think would make the best poker player?
Red White And Blue
We came across several players decked out in patriotic gear today.
PokerNews Live Reporter Paul Orsteen
We'll be sure to post more throughout the day.
Look Who’s Back!
Peter Eastgate took a much-publicized break from poker shortly after his 2008 WSOP Main Event win, but he’s resurfaced recently. He’s currently third in chips in Event 56: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em. We’ll do our best to catch up with Eastgate to see what he's been up to and also ask him how it feels to be playing poker again.
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JUL 03
Poker Pros React to Antonio Esfandiari's $18 Million Win and the Big One for One Drop
On Tuesday, Antonio Esfandiari was awarded the largest prize in poker history. He defeated Sam Trickett in the $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop, to pocket $18,346,673. Shortly after his win, we caught up with poker pros who were at the Rio to get their reactions on Esfandiari's win and the event in general.
First we caught up with Jennifer Tilly who was standing in the hallway on break from Event #58: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better.
“It was fantastic,” Tilly said about the final table. “I was playing in the same room and just listening and watching I got the chills. The hair stood up on my arms. I never doubted that he could do it though. He took a positive mentality lecture a while back and he's been really focused ever since. He sent an email to Phil the other day saying 'This is my time.'”
“It was a fantastic final table though and I think it will be really exciting for the viewers," she continued. “Guy was there, and of course Phil Hellmuth Jr. and he's always a crowd favorite. Then our really good friend Brian Rast was there. I feel like it's going to be awesome for television, but the only thing is that the Main Event is going to feel a little anti-climatic after this.”
We noticed that Phil Laak wasn't in the crowd for Esfandiari's win, so we asked Tilly about it.
“He was there for a little bit and he was on the rail, but there was too many people there for him. He doesn't like big crowds. Too much energy. He was watching the closed circuit though and he texted me after he won.”
“I cried a lot,” Laak said in the text to Tilly. “When he gave the bracelet to his dad, I cried again. Super baller.”
“All the boys are out partying now,” she told us.
Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier told us, “I think it's pretty good. It would've been nice to see Guy [Laliberte] win since it was his event and he does so much for charity, but Antonio is a good player and he played great. It's still really great.”
Erik Seidel gave us a bit of insight into the outcome of the Big One for One Drop as well.
“I think it's great for poker. For me, it was an odd situation because I wanted the business men to win who were gonna give the money to charity, but it was also cool to see two elite players battle it out heads-up for the money. I think Sam is arguably the best no-limit tournament player in the world at the moment, and obviously Antonio's a great player who's been around a long time so it was a monster heads-up match. I hope I'll still be playing in years to come, I want to. I can't see it being an annual thing though. Bi-annual would be my guess.”
Jonathan Duhamel and Haralabos Voulgaris were standing in the hallway on break from Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Six Handed so we asked them for some reactions as well.
“I think it's really cool, and congrats to him for win,” Duhamel said. “He's a really good guy and he speaks well so I think he will be a very good ambassador for the poker players. I would've liked to see Guy win though since he does so much for everyone.”
We asked the two if this victory will change the landscape of poker, and both of them agreed that not much will change because of this.
“Most of the pros who were playing the event didn't actually have that much of themselves, so it won't change too much. But having a pro win, and a pro come second will be good for the poker economy because that way the money will flow back in, and it won't just vanish,” Voulgaris said.
Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
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JUL 03
All Mucked Up: 2012 World Series of Poker Day 37 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!
Check out the odds for today's Event #54: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em, taking place in the Pavilion room today.
Luis Campelo 18/1
Carl Le 9/2
Ken Fishman 5/2
Nghi Van Tran 17/2
Jeffery Fielder 22/1
Clayton Fletcher 22/1
Brett Schwertley 14/1
Ian Chan 21/1
Jason Thompkins 9/2
Benjamin Volpe 19/2
Muhamet Perati 17/2
Will Jaffe 8/5
Benjamin Grise 13/2
David 'Bakes' Baker 8/1
Joe Kuether 11/1We know you all want to hear about the odds for Event #55: $1,000,000 The Big One for One Drop - No-Limit Hold'em, but for some reason the Rio Sportsbook isn't offering them. We'll try to find out more as the day goes on. Either way, you can tune into the One Drop here. Enjoy the day.
Stacked Field In 10k 6Max
There's not one table in today's Event #57: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed that doesn't have a big name pro on it. On the stroke of noon, we took a turn through the brasilia room to see who we recognised, and we saw Brian 'Stinger' Hastings, Lex Veldhuis, Andrew 'luckychewy' Lichtenberger, Terrence Chan and Chris Moorman among many others.
Aaron 'aeones' Jones (front) and Eugene Katchalov
Mike 'timex' McDonald and Isaac 'Ike' Haxton (front)Finally we came across one of the hardest working men in poker, desperate for his first bracelet of the year after busting the One Drop yesterday, Mr. Phil Ivey. Ivey was on time today and in his chair by noon, a sign of how determined he is at this point of the series. Already at 12:15pm he has a mini-rail forming behind him. He's pretty oblivious to the crowd as usual.
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JUL 02
Off the Felt With Shaun the Dealer: Fame, Fortune, and Twitter
You may recognize Shaun Harris from televised poker, but not as a poker player. Shaun Harris, or "Shaun the Dealer," has dealt numerous high-profile events, and has developed quite the reputation because of it. In his career he has dealt the Main Event final table for four years, he has also dealt the $50,000 Poker Players Championship as well as the Tournament of Champions. Sunday, his task was to deal at the Big One for One Drop. PokerNews caught up with Harris to ask him a few quick questions about his job, the fan base he has gathered, and his relationships with some of the poker pros.
Does it ever get nerve wracking doing your job; being in so many high pressure situations?
It does. And I'm not going to deny it, either. I've been dealing since '05. I've done the Main Event final table since '07. I did the Tournament of Champions in '09.
What sets you apart from the other dealers that gets you to deal at higher-profile events like this?
I think it's very obvious that I enjoy what I do. I learn and practice dealing all the games and I seldom make mistakes. It just shows that all the work I do is really paying off.
Do you have a relationship with any of the pros? If so, how have those come about for you?
It was very surprising to me really that they remembered me. I remember two years ago at the Poker Players Championship final table, I was dealing to Michael Mizrachi, and I ended up dealing him a pretty bad beat, but after the tournament he came up to me and talked to me and we ended up becoming very good friends. Even Phil Ivey will come up to me sometimes and say hi to me before I say hi to him. It's flattering and it's very good for me, too, because that might be that extra step I need to set myself apart. It also helps me because eventually I want to start coming from the other side of the table and playing a little bit.
Are you a very big player then?
I do play a lot, but I only play $2/$5 and $1/$3. I don't play a lot of tournaments because I don't have the patience to sit there. I like to just get the money in and win. I like to grind it out.
One of the other things we meant to ask you about was the big following that you're starting to develop on Twitter.
Oh, that's a funny story. Back in October, I only had very few followers on Twitter, maybe only 10 or 20. I remember I was dealing at the PCA in the Bahamas and Jonathan Duhamel came up to me and he recognized me as the dealer who dealt his winning hand from the 2010 final table, and he ended up shouting out a tweet to me. On that day I ended up getting to like 100 followers, and from there I was all the way up to 500. Today, Daniel Negreanu recognized me and he shot out a tweet to me too. I went from 787 followers to over a thousand today, maybe almost 1,200 in just one hour.
Would you say you're the most famous dealer?
I wouldn't say I'm the most famous. I am one of the more noticeable dealers. Twitter helps a lot. I'm not going to say that I do my job better than these guys (pointing to his coworkers); I'm not much different than any of my coworkers. They do the same job as me and work just as hard.
“He's definitely the most famous dealer,” one of his coworkers chimed in.
You can follow "Shaun the Dealer" on Twitter: @Shaunthedealer. He is currently back to work dealing at Event 55: $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop and you can follow the PokerNews coverage of the event here.
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