Lost Episode 10: Event #23, $1500 PL Omaha

I started the day in the $1500 Pot Limit Omaha event, but only picked up the setup down and one more, before my table became the first one broken. Both Nick Frangos and Hertzel Zalewski, a notable Houston area player, were at that first table. I was then moved to the restart area for event #22, a $5k No-Limit Holdem event that was down to six tables.

When tournaments of this size extend over several days, at the end of play each night, players bag up their chips in currency bags that have a special adhesive that changes color, if opened. Both the player and a floor person or the dealer sign off on the chip count before sealing the bag. When we were setting up for the restart, well before players started arriving, one of the floorpersons dropped a few of the chip bags, and one of them burst open and chips went everywhere. I thought at first that he was real lucky only one bag busted, but then I recalled that the accounting information on the outside of the bag would have allowed them to clean it up and get everyone right anyway. Still, it was a bit amusing. The floor personnel at the WSOP take a lot of crap, and I don't mean to impugn them in anyway, but it does seem that more than a fair share of screwups occur.

As the $5K NL Holdem event closed in on the money bubble, the density of poker professionals seemed to be quite high. Every table that I pushed into had 2 or 3 known personalities. It was alot of fun watching Jennifer Tilly squirm as she went on about coming very close and busting out on the bubble in several events. Her boyfriend, Phil 'Unabomber' Laak, was on the next table over and they were constantly checking out the action at each others tables. I pushed into Phil Laak's table just as the bubble busted, and heard Tilly let out a shrill holler and then rushed over in celebration. At this point, the players were instructed that they could no longer use headphones, an announcement that must have been totally lost on anyone that was actually zoning out to their .mp3 players. I had to get Phil Laak's attention and ask him to take them off, then call over the floor to back up that request. I guess it is a new development, as many of the players seemed surprised. So, at least for the 2007 WSOP, headphones were prohibited during play after players made the money payout levels. I also dealt to Kathy Liebert, Tex Barch, Dustin Dirksen (whose online name is 'JohnSmiley', wish I knew the story to that), Tony G, Dustin Wolfe, Darrell Dicken and Richard Broder. There was also a very young red headed kid that looked all of 16 with a ton of chips. His name was James Mackey, and he went on to win a bracelet. One of the floormen dropped a "Break" tag in my tray (not the dealer coordinator), just before I would have pushed into a table with T.J. Cloutier on it. I later got a bit of a tongue lashing from the dealer coordinator, who explained that I needed only to heed his direction, and it wasn't the floor person's responsibility to direct us.