Lost Episode 25: Event #55, $10K NL HE, Day 1D

On the fourth and final first day of the main event, I drew an assignment up in the front of the satellite area very near my starting table on Day 1A.  The pre-tournament activities were now pretty much routine for me.  As I set up my chips, I recall thinking that today I would likely be in a few of the sweeping boom camera shots, and in fact, if you look very closely you can actually see me on a couple of the ESPN broadcasts.  Senator Robert Wexler gave a lengthy address prior to the beginning of play about the inadequacies of the UEIGA legislation that outlaws the funding of online poker accounts.  His captive audience was of course very supportive of the vitriolic remarks and his pledge to repeal the laws.  I thought it was a bit odd having him banter and pander to so many people that would never vote in his Florida district, but if anyone was actually working to correct this awful situation, I suppose that is positive.

After play started the tournament director announced individually to the audience the presence of former champions Doyle Brunson and Carlos Mortensen.  Well over an hour later, he then announced the arrival of Phil Helmuth, who came to the event all decked out in a NASCAR jumpsuit with sponsorship logos all over it.  I would later learn that he blew his stunt before the event started, driving a race car into a concrete pillar out in the Rio parking lot.

During my early downs, I had the pleasure of dealing to Anna Wroblewski, David Benyamine and Padraig Parkinson.  Just before the first player break, I pushed into a table that had Daniel Negreanu at it, and he was receiving a massage just as this picture shows.  During the 20 or so minutes that I dealt to him, he was engaging the entire table in all sorts of conversations despite the attention he was getting from the masseuse.  I think we was developing decent reads on their play for later use, carefully observing how their conversations changed as they got involved in any action at the table.  Unfortunately, they went on break and I spent about half of that down just watching his chips.  After my last break, I moved into a table that featured a very aggressive Lane Flack.  Apparently he had pretty much taken control of his first table, because he was moving chips around like crazy.  He damaged a couple of stacks when he got called by what I thought were pretty weak holdings, a sign that he had probably shown a few bluffs or been overactive before I arrived.  Who really knows?  That is the thing about dealing tournament poker, you really only get a small slice of the action, about 30 minutes out of what might be hours with the same basic mix of players.

Sometimes you push into a table where you can just feel the tension and know that a lot of aggression and counter-aggression had been taking place.  Sometimes they seem to all be getting along just fine and enjoying themselves.  Sometimes you follow a real experienced, professional dealer that handled all the situations with great ease or kept things in control.  Sometimes you follow a rather inexperienced dealer who may have been inconsistent or let some things go and the players all have tender nerves or are attempting to captain the table.  Sometimes you push into a table where there has been lots of kibitzing and maybe even verbal attacks or the floor has gotten involved a few times.  Each and every table is different.

I managed to accumulate 12 more main event downs on this day and tomorrow those players who survived days 1A and 1B will gather for their second day.