Lost Episode 1: WSOP Event #1, Mixed Limit/No-Limit Holdem

Looking back at my initial WSOP posts, I realize that my blogging pursuit basically ended after the first day of the series. Are you kidding me? I want to capture as much as I can for my own prosperity, so this is the first in a series of "lost episodes" that scratch the memory cells activated when reviewing my hand made notes in my dealer down book. (By the way, a dealer down book is a necessity. With a group this large, accounting mistakes happen, and unless you have some notes with times and table numbers, you won't be able to rectify any pay problems.)

My June 2nd post is pretty straight forward with regard to my anticipation and excitement. I still can't believe that the very first table that I pushed into had Phil Ivey on my right. He wore those headphones, had a magazine, and seemed to be unconnected to the table for much of the down. I presume that some sort of isolation is necessary early on for these stars to avoid all of the distractions. In later days, I noticed several times that the awestruck table banter from the least experienced players could be quite strange, and a little annoying to the celebrity poker professionals. I know that the pros do get played at by amateurs more often than others. Everyone seems to want a story to tell where they bluffed or busted some star player. But Phil must have tamed this table before I got there. He had twice as many chips as the next biggest stack, and when he bet, others faded away. I don't recall seeing his hole cards ever and he pulled more than his share of pots. We only had two instances where we even made eye contact and/or he spoke. On one occasion, he removed the headphones to acknowledge my correcting his posted blinds, as they had just increased, and with the headphones on, he didn't hear the tournament director. On the other occasion, he asked for a chip count on a re-raise that he eventually decided not to call. That was it. Probably less than 10 words total. But, up to that point, it was clearly the most exciting moment of my dealing career. Phil hasn't been playing a lot on the tournament circuit lately, but he is one of my favorite players, and I hope that his recess is short and he comes back strong sometime this year.

We were "up and down" a lot that first day. When there are more dealers than needed, you basically deal one down for 30 minutes and then go on break for 30 minutes before moving on to the next table. This is a horrible situation for dealers. You are discouraged from hanging out and watching any of the action and time goes by very slowly when you are idle. The dealer break room is not much fun. Good reading material is necessary.

The next recognizable professional I dealt to was J.C. Tran. He had been on a tear leading up to the series, winning two WPT events and taking 2nd in another. He went on to cash in four WSOP events, but collected no bracelets this year. He has a reputation for building huge chip stacks early in tournaments, and I recall hearing or seeing his name at the top of the chip count lists several times. Even though, it was still quite early in an event that was alternating levels with limit poker, he had a dominate stack at this table, and whenever he was active, players were releasing their hands a majority of the time.

The next table that I pushed into had a very tense feel about it. In the seven seat was Liz Lieu, and she was noticeably "on game." I think there may have been a few battles at this table before I pushed in, because all bets and raises were exaggerated and quite aggressive. It was a limit holdem level, and she would make a two-motion swishing chip toss when raising that had just enough delay between the first bet drop and the raise. The first time she did it, I was startled a bit, and I made eye contact in way as to suggest she need not push things with me. On the second time, I verbally asked her to make one motion and I wondered if this would be my first floor call, and how silly such a confrontation might end up. I thought better of it, she seemed to oblige slightly, and before I know it, the down was over.

Just before 5pm, I pushed into a table that Mike Matusow was on. He was entertaining the table pretty well when the tournament director made the standard rules announcements to start the late event (dealer's event). I guess he must have missed the start of his event, because when the mention of the relaxed F-bomb rule was made, he really got animated. A nearby floor person came over and made some clarification to all of Mike's questions. It seemed to me that they took all the teeth out of the rule, and perhaps they shouldn't even have one. I enjoyed Mike's perspective and opinions as did the rest of the table, but inconsistent communication on this rule change would end up causing me some distress later in the series.

I only managed to deal a very slim 5 downs my first day (tables 39-44), but this event was loaded with recognizable faces. Besides those mentioned above, I also dealt to Kathy Liebert and former dealer Scott Fischman.