The WSOP Daily Sweat!

[Willing2die]

I once built a pyramid out of 500 $1 Venetian chips....Matt can attest.

[MattWaldron]

O-friggin-kay. We are back. Last two nights were really late nights at the day job and finishing up my magazine articles. A great timeline/idiots guide to the UIGEA and a fun interview with the Grinder for Issue 14 of WPT magazine...due out sometime near the end of the WSOP. (Mmmmm...print journalism.)

Wrapped!!

We absolutely HAVE to start with the best thing for high stakes cash games in the last three years: Event #25 -- The spirit of gambling himself, Sammy Farha, taking down a huge chunk of change in 'The 10k most boring game to cover ever invented by the retarded cousin of Lucifer' Omaha High Low Split. Almost half a million is now headed to Bobby's Room (maybe Ivey's Room) where one of the key games has been 400-800 to 500-1000 PLO. He beat out James 'Flushy' Dempsy ($301,790) and Eugene Katchalov in 7th ($74,670.) Possible fantasy horse making mo-nay/points in this event were also: Abe Mosseri ($57,552), Mike Sexton ($34,814), Eric Baldwin ($34,814), David Baker ($27,401), Steve Zolotow ($21,582), Jean Robert Bellande...oh who and I kidding, no one took him...($21,582), John D'Agostino ($21,582), Chino Rheem ($17,138), 'Miami' John Cernuto ($17,138), Jeff Lisandro ($17,138), Huck Seed ($17,138), Pat Pezzin ($17,138), Dan Heimiller ($17,138.) The biggest think to have here is one about how all of you biggest horses at the start of this series pull FREAKING min cashes. Jebus.

Even #26: $2,500 NLH 6max -- here is where I look 'out of touch' as a poker media member. As EXCITED as players get about short handed NLH, and as much as *I* enjoy it, no one I've ever heard of made the final table. I'm sure they are all internet superstars and will be the future of poker...but I'm damn sure they weren't on ANY fantasy teams so...on to the cashy-horsey list. Justin Smith bubbles the short table ($55,236), Eric Cajelais couldn't put up another rep and went out in 15th ($23,537), Kid Poker disappointed 88% of the fantasy poker world by multi-tabling his way to a 16th place finish ($23,537.)
Also dragging cheddar to keep hope alive: TCU alumn/baseball coach and part time card warrior David Benefield ($18,612), if you are a team RakeBack, er, PokerStars Online fan, Dustin Schmidt ($18,612), Sorel Mizzi ($15,062), Marco Traniello ($10,537), Darryll Fish ($10,537), Max Lykov (commie, all money withheld), Taylor Caby ($9,105), Andrew Robl ($9,105), Steve Billirakis ($8,046), Chris Moorman ($8,046), Jerry Yang ($7,273), Amnon Filippi ($7,273), Matt Ghrahm ($6,156), Matt Vengrin ($6,156), Klinghammer Thibaut (you wish he was on your team!), Maria Mayrinck ($5,669), Jon Friedberg ($5,669)...everyone else for almost min cash: Jeff Shulman, Mark Flowers, Vladim Trincher, Christina Lindley, David Fox, Alan Sass, Al Barbieri (quietly having ALMOST a nice series), Tom 'POB' Franklin, Matt Affleck, Leo Margets, David Kitai, Annette Obrestad. Annette_15 managed to piss off fantasy fanatics (but really, calm the F down) by splitting a three-person mincash three ways for $3188. (Girls aren’t aggressive? 4 bet shoved with KQ on the bubble, opp could not lay down AK. I would have.) Two days of intense poker to make $600. I did better in two hours at the $1-3 table waiting on an interview to show up so I can only imagine how tilting that is.
Event #27: $1.5k Grumpy Old Farts...I mean 7 card Stud 8/b -- If you had David Warga you got $208,682! Sadly, you don't unless you are related to him or carnally involved with him. If you were brave enough to take Karina Jett you get $60,588 for your faith and if you were looking for ex-paratrooper Israeli special forces players on your team, David Levi got you a 3rd for $87,400. Self proclaimed 'best mixed player ever' Allen Bari made 8th ($17,274.) Willing2Die got REALLY excited for the 9th place finisher announcement, but it was TOPIAS Wahlbeck. Too bad fella. Also making money are Blair Rodman, Brandon Cantu, Dutch 'Where's my PokerSpot Money' Boyd, Scott Clements, Mike Baxter, Phil Ivey! (all of $3,182 -- everything went to the massuse) and John D'Agostino.

Playing for the gold now:

Event #28 -- $2.5k Pot Luck Omaha finishes...finally! -- for gawd sake it took forever and again...nobody you were tracking made that final table despite your crafty Euro-Scani-PLO-based picks. No, really? You had Miguel Proulx the chip leader? Lies and horrible untruths. Die in a fire.
Making the cash are a cavalcade of surprisingly non-Euro-Scandi names we are tracking: Joe Serock socks away $19,588, Adam Junglen $15,517, Andy Seth ($12,296), Chau Giang ($9,842), Sandra Naujoks, Christian Harder, Josh Tieman for $8,842; Scott Clements and Tony Cousineau (T-Cous plays PLO?!) for $7,950. TJ Cloutier dashed my hopes of a rebirth by finishing 38th after leading early for $6,470 towards his marker, Richard Ashby (Euro!!), David Ashby (same name, finished 41-42...wtf?) for $6,470. Michael Binger locks down a 4th cash with the min-win of $5,304.
Event #29 -- The 10k Limit Hold Em -- I love this event! Its end is also the deadline date for the Open Fantasy Competion on PRR so we are all sweating it for more than one reason. Still in this bizzach and making the day-of-cash-and-final-table (all in the final 10) are: LA/LV O-A-H David Chiu 10th, Michael Mizrachi 8th with 335,000, Brock Parker 520,000 and my favorite Bay Area rounder Matt 'Steven Segal' Keikoan in third ($640,000.) Grinder has a sick record closing once he makes a final table, so he may really lock down the POY here with a win or top 3. Brock Parker, the magical beard in tow is also a favorite. Matt K has been grinding the LHE-desert that is NorCal (up until lately) so few have played more live than him. Good luck to chip leaders Daniel Idema and Kyle Ray.

Almost there!:

Event #30 -- Here we go again! In more impressive news, a couple of pro's were able to make it through the first day of a low buy in $1500 NLHE tournament. With an IMPRESSIVE 245 players left out of 2394 runners, we are again....ALMOST in the money. Much to the embarrassment of someone that goes out in the first 15 minutes before the bubble! Carlos Mortensen (108,500), Neil Channing (107,700), Steven Gross (103,800), Matt Stout (74,800), Darryll Fish (59,500) and Dan Kelly (54,500) managed to finish with above average stacks all the way up to 3rd, 4th and 5th for the top three here.
Still hanging on! (you look up the chip counts) Adam Katz, Tim Fu (I just wanted to write that name), Adam Levy, Andras Koroknai, Pieter Dekorver and Joseph Elpayaa.

Event #31 - $1500 the 'I really wanted to play this' HORSE - had 828 people show up. To me this PROVES that mixed games and non-NLH are getting hotter and hotter to the 'general public' and many known NLH anglers showed up for this beauty mid-week. Put this on a weekend next year damn it. On top of the chip counts and still 100 from the money are (in order): Lex (NeenerNeernerIGotEvee) Veldhuis, Allen Kessler (no foolin, Chainsaw top 5), James Van Alstyne, Maria Ho (8th) for the Top 10. Still hustlin': Jon Turner, Pat Pezzin (we really missed out on this one, huh? I had a chance to steal it.), Sirous Jamshidi, Cyndi Violette, Andy Bloch, Linda Johnson, John Cernuto (I swear I almost put him on my list), Jason Mercier, Chip Jett, Jon Friedberg, Cliff Josephy, Al Barbieri, Yuval Bronshtein, David Singer, Phil Ivey (yep, multi tabling), George 'only guy I know on PS Team online' Lind, Robert Mizrachi, Robert Williamson III, Michael Binger, Mark Gregorich (snicker)...wait, that's all. Yep, that is every known pro that made day two out of 828. Backing up my point that the PEOPLE want mixed games...even if they are Vegas locals...and this event needs weekend priority to grow more games. You play HORSE, you get good across the board, you play more events. Natural progression. Over $1k on a Saturday or Sunday next year. Put it next to the Seniors event. Done.

Too early to give a crap:
Event #32 $5k 6max -- like its little brother above, ‘Big 6’ is full of anticipation and has, no kidding, every major NLH player in town for it. I don't think I know of a single other event that is not a TV or 'publicity' feature that pros are this excited about. 568 entries are listed early in the day starting with 15k in chips...though late reg isn't over at post-time. You early leaders:
David Benyamine, Shannon Shorr, Alan Sass, Andrew ‘3 betting his table loopy’ Lichtenberger, Daniel Alaei, Eric Baldwin, Chad Batista (unofficial top 10.) Sitting on 25k or better stacks out of the gate: Christian Harder, Bryn Kenney, Dave Ulliot, Shaun Deeb (odds he'll make day 2?), Aaron Jones, Shawn Buchanan, Antonio Esfandiari, Steve O'Dwyer, Mike Leah (who will probably win this because I B-teamed him), Freddy Deeb, Tommy Vedes, Paul Wasicka and William Reynolds.
For those that busted out of the 5k early (or those who knew they were -EV by a long shot in it so they jumped on this 'orphan') - Event #33 $2.5k PLH/PLO. I think this should be a feature. I pray to a little shrine of the Bustout Buddah that the ESPN3 coverage makes it beautiful. I'm almost willing to bet it will have as good, if not better, of a final table as the $5k 6 max. (Based on known names, action and points-earning potential.) Any takers? Only 453 in this event last year and if it wasn't for the $5k 6max NLH the same day, I'd bet the over. However, I think it may be incentive for the sickos to play-fast-or-go-late-register for another fun, action event. Maybe it is in the right place then. Pure speculation is a favorite of mine so have at it.
To steal Willing2Die's Joke -- If you:
If you just drafted people with the name (in some form) of David Baker, you might make the money. If you drafted Team England (no Scots, Irish or Welsh) you would be in the money.
If you drafted 'Team Tribe' -- lets be fair that's too big for any roster, but obv +EV.
If you drafted 'Team Douchbag' you have two bracelet winners and the lead right now!

Finally: Anyone else find it interesting that PokerNews -- heavy on the tit of PokerStars -- does not list screen names so we MIGHT recognize some names we see on the Sunday Tournament reports? Even if it’s just the PS name. Before I'm accused of spewing hate, I LOVE the media working for PokerNews and I know that Parvis is dealing with a lot of crap that caused the glitches...but really? It’s hard to transcend if people don't know your real and alter ego. Kind of like 'Captain America' fighting crime as 'Steve.' Not sure it will catch on. I can understand the payer and outlet's hesitance if the screen name was chosen at 15 and it's "Pika-bong-420-pnxxor", but that's their own damn fault.

[MattWaldron]

Originally Posted by Willing2die

I once built a pyramid out of 500 $1 Venetian chips....Matt can attest.

It was neither as big or as pretty. I'll find the vid soon.

[The 6th Wilbury]

(Girls aren’t aggressive? 4 bet shoved with KQ on the bubble, opp could not lay down AK. I would have.)

Maybe not against Annette.

[MattWaldron]

This is true.

Also! The same post you may or not have just read on Life's A Bluff, with a funny animal picture and some bad jokes built into the links!!

C'mon ya'll...don't make me beg for traffic!!

Life’s a Bluff – The Poker Comic – Created by Frank Frisina & Ryan Estrada Archive 2010 WSOP: The Daily Sweat – 15-17 JuneLife's a Bluff - The Poker Comic - Created by Frank Frisina & Ryan Estrada

[MattWaldron]

Quick and Dirty Summary for Event 28 --

Who cares.

As to chip stacking: Here is a list of how to and a bunch of items.

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...hip+Tower&aq=f

Can't find my vid.

[MattWaldron]

Questions: It's FRIDAY! Where da' weed at? (a la Chris Tucker)
Answer: Not (in the open) at the Rio as they continue to crack down with 'pot patrols' no one is getting a 'puff-puff-pass' today, even the Seniors' Event Entrants with Glaucoma.

It's a bit of a separation from a topic devoted to players-on-fantasy-team's-performance, or is it? As more people start to debate the use of drugs and performance enhancing 'prescriptions' amongst poker players, I think you have to ask if this is affecting certain players' performances. Just to start the discussion out of the box, let’s look at those known chronic-boubonic-ballers that have been in town for the whole series: Matt 'AllInAt420' Stout, Steve 'Mr.Smokey' Billirakis and Bryan 'Banana Break' Devonshire.
(No trying to sneak 'Bakes' into the argument here, its built on his last name, not his typical state-of-mind.)
Stout has 4 cashes -- all of them fairly minimal, with his biggest coming before the 'crackdown' early in the series. Total just under $20k. Several 'straight arrow' pros would trade with him though.
Billirakis -- Jumped out to a 6 figure score in the $10k 7 stud and deep run in $2.5k NLH 6max for $160k this series.
Devo has 'uno cash-o' at the series so far. But based on last year's results, it’s an improvement. (Don't hate me Devo, I’m stat-mining here. Yes, I have worse results.) The other half of the B-team, straight laced Jimmy Fricke is on a repeat track as well.
I think my point is, for pot, (in this admittedly small sample) it did not matter for crap. I know the group is much broader but I’m only using folks here that publicly make no bones about using pot while playing poker. Maybe MJ cuts tilt (unless you are Eugene Toddbro) maybe it puts you in a 'zone' state to block out the other crapola racing around in your mind, but I see little reason to think that if I fired up a bong or hit a spliff, I'd morph into a poker player with an advantage. As to the effect of the Rio crackdown/ban? Those that had to smoke reverted to their 'staying with grandma' tricks and those that used other substances -- aren't talking about it.
Dr. Pauly and I discussed Adderall and long-stretch press writing, but both of us could produce a 'script if asked. My bottle had a dosage that made press/pros laugh. Can't say anyone took it seriously, but everyone agreed that Addi was 'the nuts' for focus in long sessions. I recently saw a ESPN commentary that said that the sudden dominance of pitchers was due to an MLB crackdown on amphetamines. To paraphrase them: without the 'edge' of speed-like drugs, they are not able to get the jump on pitchers. Steroids are about driving the ball deeper, Amps are about 'connection' speed and therefore contact. As any base hitter will tell you, contact is the hardest part in pro-baseball, maybe as much as 90% of the game with power and direction being the seperation between classifications (in the last 10%.) So, to close the comparison, someone on ADD/ADHD meds gains the enhanced ability to focus for long hours and go deep. At a pro poker level much like MLB, skills balance out for the most part. You are at least 'good enough' to be at that level. Going deep is 90% of success in poker tournaments, the last 10% is luck and closing skills. Are the two annalgos? If so, these kind of meds ARE an edge and should be scrutinized. But will we ever see it in the 'hands off' organization free world of 'pro' poker? Nope.
Without a doubt coke and meth will eventually burn players out. Stu Unger, Mike Matusow and several other players will tell you this. Yes, they did huge sessions and ran deep, but the after-effects, not associated with moderate Adderall usage, were far more drastic and life altering. In other words, they are their own deterrent.
For further debate, here is a look at an old article by PokerKing on the subject. Does Smoking Marijuana Make You a Better Poker Player?
Poker News Daily article on LA Times article on performance enhancing drugs and poker: Poker Players Take Performance-Enhancing Substances

OK, rant over, now on to the regularly schedule ‘Daily Sweat’ for all of you:
Event #29, $10k Championship of Limit Hold Em, aka The Deadline. A personal favourite player of mine took this down. A very laid back grinder and family man from Nor Cal, Matt Keikoan took down his ‘validation’ bracelet and $425,969 after wading through an top tier field. Keikoan won his last bracelet in 2008 in the $2k NLHE event, so he wasn’t a dog at the final table, but Brock Parker (5th $105k), David Chiu (9th $39,760) and Michael Mizrachi (8th $49,733) had equally or more impressive resumes. Keikoan started the heads-up match down 3-1 to Daiel Idema and at one point had only 2 big blinds in front of him but mounted what is probably the greatest comeback of all time to take the win. (Yes, even more thank the Strauss $5k chip & a chair.) We went over the other fantasy cashes yesterday to flip back for those, but this was certainly an exciting final table…even if it ended at 5 AM and tormented the souls of several poor reporters.

Event #30 the $1.5k NLH mid-week scramble got down to 21 and we left off before we had the deep cash numbers of many of the runners so we’ll get to that here. Still in the running for the final table, bracelet and $581,851 (spooky number) first prize are not many people most would be tracking. Clinging to the 10 spot is one Mr. Neil Channing who eliminated my pre-series pick for POY, Carlos Mortensen, at the end of the night last night in 25th and he’s below average in chips. Its going to be fast on restart and Jean ‘Prince’ Gaspard and David Sands will also be trying to sprint/luckbox to the final table. Sands is already ‘multi-tabling’ from another event, meaning he ran deep in two concurrent as he is not a Senior. Cashing out last night are: Carlos Mortensen $16,644, Dan Kelly and Per Lind $13,541, Adam Katz $11,150, Darryll Fish, Matt Stout and Steve Gross picked up min-or-near-min cashes of under $4k.

The amazingly popular Event #31$1.5 HORSE – or the fate of the Chainsaw – restarts today as well. Topping the charts is another come-back story, Robert Mizrachi, who started the day with 3,000 in chips but finished in 3rd position with 238,000. Nice run Grinder’s Brother! “The Chainsaw” disproved his own theorem and went big as the blinds/antes jumped at non-Kessler approved rates to finish up in 4th position. Cliff ‘backing 32.1% of the action in the WSOP’ Josephy bagged up in 7th with 165,500, just above chip average. Still in this are: Chip Jett, James Van Alstyne, David B….rooker and Jon Turner with 3.2 bbs. 80 out of the 827 cashed. From bottom to top they are: Mincasher Tom Dwan ($2,872), almost min-cashers Robert Williamson III and George Lind ($3,778). Jason Mercier and Maria Ho ($4,281), Pat ‘Negreanu’s Horse’ Pezzin and Jeff Schulman ($4,929) and bubbling the night Michael Craig and Lex Veldhuis ($5,779.) Returning players make $6,885 until 17th place (We’re looking at you Jon Turner.) 8 handed final table makes $21,551 up to the $257,134 first prize. This will NOT be Chainsaw’s biggest cash with a win. It will put him in POY contention. Dear gawd, if you love chaos as much as I think you do…please let Allen Kessler in the race for POY!!

We are starting to get into the ‘big boys’ in terms of payouts and full player participation when we get to Event #32 the $5k NLH 6 max. Christian Harder finished day 1 with the lead with Tony Dunst and David Elliot in 2nd and 3rd but no where near him in the scheme of things. Also knocking on ‘heaven’s door’ is fan favourite Phil Ivey in 8th. This win would not only win him additional respect by locking up what is considered the toughest NLH field of the WSOP (outside of the $25k 6 max gimmick, but I argue ‘affordable’ is more challenging.) 116 return for Day 2 with 54 making the money. Min cash is $10,171 (double + juice refund) all the way up to an impressive (but not Ivey prop bet equivalent) $667,433 dollars. Outside of the top 10, but still above average we have Isaac Haxton, Craig Marguis, Jennifer Harman, McLean Karr (you should love this guy…you really should), Chris Klodnicki, Bryn Kenney, Chad Brown, Men Nguyen, Todd Terry, Eric Baldwin, Scott Montgomer, Andrew Robl, Aaron Gones, Steve Bilirakis, Shannon shorr, Thomas Marchese, Mike Watson, Erick Lindgren, David Fox, Eugene Todd, Lisa Hamilton and Toto Leonidas. As you can see from the difference in names listed here vs. the $1500 HORSE, this is the pro’s event, the miniature HORSE is the ‘everyman’ event. More of these I say! Which – both actually. I wanna play the mini mix and watch the shorthanded action-junkie events. Yes there are several notables sub-average, but you can go look those up yourself.

HA. Ha ha ha ha. No wait. Event #33 $2.5k Pot Limit HA. This one is full of early 5k bustouts and PLO specialists looking for an edge and I think you’ll have a great final table…but I’m less sure now. Justin Smith came into the day with the chip lead and somewhat knowns David Paredes, Josh Tieman and David Kitai made the top 10…but that is not really earth shattering. Only 48 get paid and the day kicked off with 126, so it may take a bit to grind down to those that are going to not only get paid but threaten for the title. A few I hope make my earlier prediction come true are David Chiu, Andy ‘mad as bull snot’ Black, Burt Boutin, Jeff Lisandro, Ashton Griffin, Ross Boatman, Phil Ivey (professional high stakes multitabler) and Rob Hollink with chips. I’m going to squeeze in Liv Boeree and Shaun Deeb as they would certainly create talk at a final table but they both have about 25k in chips…Deeb T100 behind Boeree.

Event #34 the $1k Seniors Event or the Metamucil 500, kicked off today and a staggering 2500 had registered by 9:30 am. Take that you late reg whipper snappers! An AMAZING total of 3,148 players signed up in total. I can only imagine what the line was like for the early bird special at Perkins, but that made it in anyway. Bathroom breaks will be sponsored by Flomax and the dinner break will be catered by the Country Kitchen Buffett. Defibrillators, oxygen, Ben Gay and support socks are perks made available on demand with a complementary dosage of Viagra and a limo to the ‘Rhino for all those busting out in day one. Yes, yes, I know I’m making ageist jokes, but since this event was protected unlike the ladies event I think that makes it free game for jokes. Only ones making any noise at the time of press (outside of complaining about the thermostat being too low…but who isn’t) are Dennis Phillips, Thor Hansen and Sirious Jamshidi who tripled their starting stacks off the jump. Card them quick!!

(Think you can make better jokes? Do it here.)

[MattWaldron]

Obvious omission here would be the 10k Heads Up...but that ain't kicked off yet. Only drama there is the TD standing at the cage at a quarter till start time for a last chance to un-register.

Once again, the typo checked, link humor inserted, funny pictures added version of this rough draft is up on Life’s a Bluff – The Poker Comic – Created by Frank Frisina & Ryan Estrada Life's a Bluff - The Poker Comic - Created by Frank Frisina & Ryan Estrada. Won't lie, it needs the traffic and I'd like to show some interest in this 'theme' so that I might freelance it out next year or as the year goes by.

Cheers! -- Waldo the Forum League Donk.

[The 6th Wilbury]

Originally Posted by MattWaldron

This is true.

Also! The same post you may or not have just read on Life's A Bluff, with a funny animal picture and some bad jokes built into the links!!

C'mon ya'll...don't make me beg for traffic!!

Hey hey hey, that's Gauss' territory.

[Enzown]

So I don't have the indepth knowledge of who owns who that Matt holds but the final 32 in the 10k heads up have been found.
among the names that jump out at me as surely being owned by somebody in some competition are: Gavin Smith, Faraz Jaka, Phil Gordon, Antonio Esfandiari, Sorel Mizzi, Bertrand Grospellier, David Williams, Alexander Kravchenko and Vanessa Rousso.
I'm bound to have missed some next round kicks off in about an hour but everyone's gauranteed 17k and some POY points.
Even more exciting (for me) is Erick Lindgren at the final table of the 5k six max. First place is worth about 600k which would be nicely welcomed by myself, JonV and Spursrchamps. Men the Master is at final table too keeping the hopes for year of the douchebag alive.