WSOP MAIN EVENT: DAY 1A - Interactive

[JacArama]

After the 2nd break I had 23,500. After just 2 hands, blinds were 200 - 400 & I raised to 1200 with  and the lunatic on the table called.

The flop was  .

Before I could do anything, he moved all in out of turn for 9000.

I called & he turned over pocket 4's UGH!!

His hand stood up and he didn't stop talking for the next hour.

I then called an 800 raise on my big blind with .

The Flop was   

He bet 1000, I flat called.

The Turn was 

He bet 1500 - I called

The River was 

He bet 1500 & I raised to 4000 - He called & turned over    .

Then Claude Cohen raised my 400 big blind to 1200.

Again I had  . I called

Flop was   

Claude bet 1500 & I called

Turn was 

Claude bet 2000 - I called

River was 

Claude bet 2500 & I raised to 6000.

He called & mucked when I showed my house.

Since then the lunatic got knocked out and I have built steadily.

At the dinner break, I have 40,500.

[snoopy1239]

After a welcome lunchbreak, the players retook their seats ready for this evening's feast of poker action, but whilst the players got settled and I gradually rambled around what is a huge room, it quickly became evident that a few big names had dropped, Johnny Chan, John D'Agostino and Amarillo Slim all nowhere to be seen. Similarly, Antonio 'The Magician' Esfandiari has done a disappearing act, but in slightly different circumstances, his chips being blinded away throughout the day after failing to turn up. Apparently this isn't that unusual for the pro's, Gutshot's David Lloyd informing me that Ted Forrest once failed to appear at the Bellagio WPT, but still made it through to Day where he doubled up first hand!

The stars might not be bothering, but us Brits are plugging away like our lives depended on it, Iwan Jones, Michael Greco, Willie Tann, Peter Gould, Mickey Wernick, Nik Persaud, just to name a few. Actually, one of those, Willie 'The Dice' Tann was very close to enjoying an early bath with his rubber duck, down to 4.5k and seemingly on his way out. However, a recent fleeting glance and the man's back up to 24k. Reluctant to reveal his secrets, I asked Table companion Peter Gould how Wille made the jump, to which he replied, "He made a move, fortunately not again me." "Made a move, goes without saying," I added.

Meanwhile, a few more Brits are still fighting, Richard Wild (11.5k), Dave Mobbs (50k), Andy Black (90k), Simon Stocken (29.5k) flying the flag like nobody's business. I couldn't see our footy players turned poker nuts though, Teddy Sheringham and Tony Cascarino either out or hiding in the toilets.

I did notice Ian McDonald running well, he's on 50k and looking very steady indeed. He put his cracking start down to a pair of Jacks holding up on a raggy Flop against a flush draw, so he's had his moment of heart-in-mouthness. He also informed me that he got it all-in preflop with the American Airlines on Level 1 with Mickey Wernick, Ian expecting Mickey to be facing a Kings v Aces cooler. Unfortunately for Ian, it was the only other possibility, Mickey splitting the pot with the Gala man with the other two Bullets.

Not English, but Welsh, so just about scrapes in, is Iwan Jones. He's got some good news for his fans as he retells his "I'm now on 43k" tale: "I called an early position raise from the small blind with Jacks and flat-called a 2.6k bet on a Ten high Flop. We both checked the Queen Turn, only for the River to bring an 8. I bet 8k with my straight and, although after a dwell, was called by 7-5 of clubs."

Meanwhile, the blinds are 200 and 400 and, in honour of floppy's Monte Python gag, the running antes are kicking in. Oh yes, and we're once again blessed with the presence of stars, both Tobey Maguire (who induced an "Oh my God, it's Spiderman" from some middle-aged woman on the rail) and fellow industry worker and world famous director, George Lucas.



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Stumbling around the convention centre, I greet people with the line, "Gah, it's like a Convention Centre in here!"

I run into Peter Gould who is now on 35k, just as Willie Tann (who got us into the cafe quickly using his platinum card and also told us of the exit of Jani Sointula who apparently pushed with 9-3 on the button before the break and got called by A-9) was having his 4k bet on the turn of a board raised from 4k to 11k. Wille ending up mucking after a minutes' thought.
 
Wandering further down the room, I spot the Carlos Mortensen influenced stack building skills of Mark Vos (pictured) who has close to 85k if I use the Goulding-Hall scale of calculation. DTD's Michael Greco meanwhile is on 34k, but while I was asking him, my Bravestar's "Ears of the Wolf" went as I heard an announced, "All-in and a call," from the table behind me.

With about 25k in the pot it was vs

Flop:



"Oooooooh!" go the table.

Turn:



"OOOOOOOhhhhhhh."

River:



"OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." And the cameras and another reporters flock around, and the two players chop up the pot and shake hands, unaware they are the stars of a "Mateyboy Squared" moment.

On my way back to the pressroom I spot Julian Gardner, who has amassed a large amount of chips, raising to 1600 utg, the guy two to his left, let's call him er....ZZTopeyboy makes it 7k with only 11.5k back. Passed back to Julian who sets ZZTopeyboy in, and 'ZZ', or 'Z' as I call him, agonises for ages, asking, "Do you have a pair?" thus giving away he has Ace King before eventually passing having put in 40ish% of his stack.

[jambo22]

How scarey is this, I am playing 07/07/07 table 117 seat 7

)

[snoopy1239]

How scarey is this, I am playing 07/07/07 table 117 seat 7

)

I'd only be impressed if it was table 777.

[snoopy1239]

We’ve reached that time of the Day where faces are becoming weary, spectators have lost interest and the room has developed an overriding scent of B.O.

However, like the Trojans they are, the Brits are swiping away the fatigue and fumes and battling the hundreds of poker player in their bid to become 2007 World Champion. Still in the frame for this title are a number of homegrown talents, one of whom is Teddy Sheringham, earlier presumed out, but now refound with a 15k stack after evading blogger city by moving tables.

Two players causing mayhem amongst the Antes-Up/blondepoker blogging cliques are Andy Black (90k) and John Magill (73k), both Northern Irish and both being claimed by my good self as a UK citizen. “Bring it home for the UK, John” I intentionally exclaimed in front of Mike ‘Lucky Blind’ Lacey. “Oy, they’re Irish,” he demanded. “Look, I’m desperate, I’m claiming them. Coincidentally, at this exact moment, an American at the tables asked John where he was from, which expectedly elicited a “Don’t answer” look from Mike to me. Of course, it’s all good humoured, and blonde we’ll be supporting both players, whether they consider themselves Irish or British. We’re all fish in the poker aquarium.

Someone who is definitely a Brit is Hendon Mobber Joe Beevers, once again enjoying a solid start to a tournament with 51k. As I watched momentarily on his table, I witnessed a player all-in with Sevens vs. A-Q. After the raggy Flop, the player hesitantly punched the air in delight, clearly overjoyed at surviving the all-in but simultaneously knowing that it wouldn’t be good etiquette to do what he truly wanted – which was to jump up on the table, swing his trousers around his head and shout “Woooohooooo, I am a golden god”. However, I could see how tense he was, and this is on full display when anyone is all-in – nobody wants to go out, this is the biggie and it’s broken heart time if they do.

One man to be the recipient of a broken heart is Iwan Jones. After exceeding the 40k mark, he got it in with 8-7s (he called a pre-flop raise) on a 7-5-2-8 board but was chagrined to see his fortunate opponent make a set of Nines on the River. Details courtesy of Huck Seed, a man, who, incidentally, was rumoured to have been furious at the late star. Seems like a Jekyll and Hyde character that chap.

Other Brits still in include Katherine Hartree (looking bored and dismayed with her paltry 14k stack), Jac Arama (chatting away as usual up in the corner of the room) and Dusk Till Dawner, Michael Greco, being patient with his 31k column of chips. One American that has been hit after a promising start is bracelet winner and Kill Phil author, Blair Rodman – once on 40k+, his stack has been more than halved, which is disappointing to me as I was hoping to use a puntastic “Blair Rich Project” headline that was carelessly missed earlier on.

A few final rumours fom the hopefully reliable Beagle vine: Doyle Brunson, who evaded my line of sight by selfishly hogging the feature table, is now out, so is Thomas Whalroos who has vanished. I also hear that Devilfish is seated next to Annand Ramdin, with EPT Baden winner, Thang Nguyen, just a couple of seats down. Sounds like a tough table.

To finish, check out the bacteria conscious chap pictured in the first attached photo. Does he remind you of this guy with them gloves?...



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Julian Gardner is on 95k now, his stacks all in a line like the colourful towers of New York New York. Micky Wernick is also moving on up, 45k at the last count. A nasty hand occured whilst I was counting his chips though. On the turn of a board, a young Pokerstars player had his 3k or 4k bet re-raised all-in which would be for most of his stack. He eventually made the call with only to find himself up against and the board failed to pair leaving him nursing a 3k stack.

Peter Jepsen (pictured) is quietly getting on, though his lovely girlfriend Freeda is certainly turning a few heads as she follows him around holding a Victoria's Secret bag.

Rudders is really having to grind on his 19k. He keeps getting stuck with difficult decisions and no place to make moves.

Finally, tonight's looky-likey. Benjo and Antonio Estfandiari.

[snoopy1239]

Rumour has it that the information provided to me by early chip leader who said Dave Colclough was OUT, is in fact incorrect. I shall confirm this on my next post in an hours time.

[trustno1]

Does anyone know when these people start?

Joe Hachem
Ram Vaswani (looking for 2 bracelets)
the Boatmans
Phil Hellmuth (looking for no. 12)
Vicky Coren

[Indestructable]

Is he in or is he out, tune in for the next instalment to find out. Really needed the eastenders ending music for that cliff hanger of a finish.  

[Indestructable]

Does anyone know when these people start?

Joe Hachem
Ram Vaswani (looking for 2 bracelets)
the Boatmans
Phil Hellmuth (looking for no. 12)
Vicky Coren

Ram is allready out. 

[snoopy1239]

Happy Birthday, Jen.

[sofa----king]

snoop were you saying iwan is out??
i cant see him sticking in all in with 89 40k.,.,is this right m8?typo??
no way would he stick 40k in with that imho.,.,i hope not,.,.,

[NoflopsHomer]

Happy Birthday, Jen.

Wot 'e said.

[sofa----king]

Happy Birthday, Jen.

                  Happy Birthday, Jen.
that just sounds like an im in love with you plea,.,.,.,.,plain and straight to the point,.,.,jen he loves you.,.,go on tell her.,.,d want mind your on holiday.,.,.

[snoopy1239]

snoop were you saying iwan is out??
i cant see him sticking in all in with 89 40k.,.,is this right m8?typo??
no way would he stick 40k in with that imho.,.,i hope not,.,.,

Sry, should have read 8-7 for two pair. Got done on River according to Huck Seed. Definitely out though.

[snoopy1239]

Happy Birthday, Jen.

                   Happy Birthday, Jen.
that just sounds like an im in love with you plea,.,.,.,.,plain and straight to the point,.,.,jen he loves you.,.,go on tell her.,.,d want mind your on holiday.,.,.

Not sure Dana (Jen's best friend, our housemate and my girlfriend) would approve.