From Twenty-Seven to Nine

After watching the WSOP Main Event re-broadcast on ESPN last night I have come to the conclusion that a sterling silver horseshoe logged up one’s (bleached?) posterior region is far more valuable then say getting your money in with a 90% chance to win.

I was quietly taking in the show while Little Drizz was bouncing around the room with the same energy as Bernard Lee while carrying his Thomas the Tank Engine books (excellent background story on Benard found on Otis’ PokerStars Blog). That’s one intense dude and he didn’t need to lose like that.

But “AK” decided to run over the tables with a crafty mix of “dude I could catch a flush!” or “trips are coming, no worries” like your basic $5 SnG maniac. Lemme guess, “AK” typed into his chat box “I thought you had AK dude and would fold, sorry about that” to Raymer. Well… IF he had AK, AK, you were a little behind and why put your tournament life at stake for a 6 outer? I’m sure somewhere on the in-tard-web there’s a explanation to the train of thoughtlessness. At least his shades were pretty cool and he had a subdued celebration after the several suckouts that were shown.

I know these shows are heavily, heavily edited but some of the all-ins reminded me of why I can’t handle playing tournaments. I know you’re only a percentage to win when you put your money in with the best of it, kind of like holding a 19 or 20 vs. a dealer’s 14, 15, or 16 in blackjack. The brutalness of the dealer hitting that perfect card to get 21 leaves a sting and make you wonder if you’ve wronged the card gods by watching midget porn last night.

Then there’s Sheiky.

Wow, I haven’t seen that sort of ego since Ali gave pre-fight press conferences. Again, it may be heavily edited, but the continuous chest-beating “I can beat all of you”? And trying to jaw with Matusow deep into a poker tournament? That’s like skating up to a fully suited up Todd Bertuzzi wearing only your street clothes and starting a fight.

The angle shooting hand that got Mike and himself a penalty… class act sir. First off, Mike was playing the hand, you were not when the flop came out and you announced to the world that you would have gotten a piece of the flop by rapping the table hard. I think telling Sheiky to shut the fuck up was entirely appropriate and didn't deserve the elementary school styled time out. Not only did he compromise the hand by telling the other guy (can’t remember the name) that some of the cards in relation to the flop were dead, he was SHOUTING WHILE THE HAND WAS GOING ON. Karma is a bitch when Matusow finally caught a hand with Sheiky all-in and promptly showed the new 2005 Josh Arieh-punching bag the outer door to Benny Bullpen.

I glad I took the time to watch these entertaining episodes; the real fire of competition came out of the final 27 players. Granted we don’t get to watch the blind steals, the re-raises and moves that didn’t get called, and other things that evolve during a long tournament. But the snippets of the big hands were enough to provide the junior bacon cheeseburger of satisfaction of what went down at Binions. If you want the filet mignon and dessert of brownie alamode story, check out Pauly or PokerProf’s picture recap in their WSOP archives.

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Tonight I will finish up my self-tournament challenge with another 180 person SnG at Stars, and hopefully a mixed game MTT at Full Tilt. I feel making into the money tonight is certain. Big cash? Maybe not, but I’m not concerned about that. What’s the phrase the fish use when delivering a brutal suckout… “I was due”?

Yeah, I’m due and now I’m hungry for some steak damnit.

Thanks for dropping by, now go congratulate Otis and Mt. Dew Virus on yet another big cash in the MTTs at PartyPoker. Congrats guys!