The 2010 WSOP and an Evening with Jose Conseco

by Chad Holloway

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Jose Conseco may or may not get into a brawl at the 2010 WSOP. 

I’m pretty excited.  It looks like I will be at this year’s World Series of Poker for its entirety.  Although I wish I was playing tournaments that entire time, I’m afraid I’ve been relegated to reporting on the tournaments only.  That’s because I’ll be working for Poker News over the summer as a field reporter and blogger.  This means I’ll be keeping track of poker’s biggest names, chips counts, and the action throughout the series.  I’m really looking forward to being a part of the WSOP and being there during the Player’s Championship, the Tournament of Champions, and of course the Main Event.

Since my schedule won’t allow me to play in any events (maybe one or two if I’m lucky), I’m planning on focusing on the cash game action.  When I was out there last year, the $2-$5 No Limit Hold’em tables were action packed and provided a great opportunity to pad the bankroll.  One night last year, I was playing after a 13 hour shift and the table decided to play the 2-7 game, meaning if any player won with a 2-7 then each player at the table would pay him or her $20.  The action was really heating up when a new player sat down immediately to my left.  I told him about our game and asked if he was in.  He gave an enthusiastic “of course,” and we had a good time.  It wasn’t until about two hours later that I realized this guy sitting next to me was Jose Conseco.  

I was surprised at how social and friendly he was.  That’s when an interesting situation came up.  After we had been playing a few hours, a beverage server brought Canseco an alcoholic drink saying it was from someone at a nearby table.  Canseco said, “Thanks but no thank, I don’t drink.”  The waitress promptly removed the drink and went on her way.  Well this must not have sat too well with the people at the other table who had order the drink.  How do I know this?  Well, Canseco’s girlfriend (who was quite good-looking) happened to be playing at the other table and informed Canseco when they start badmouthing him behind his back.  Too make a long story short, Canseco started to lose his temper and began arguing with the guys at the other table.  Pretty soon the situation escalated and swears and “Let’s take this outside” were being shouted by Conseco.  The other players tauntingly urged him on and it became a disruptive shouting match.  Keep in mind, this was approximately three in the morning, so there weren’t a lot of people in the Amazon Room.  As the scene was unfolding, I nonchalantly reached into my bag and got my camera ready.  Hell, if a brawl was going to go down at the WSOP between Jose Canseco and some drunken poker players, you’d better believe I was going to get that on camera.  Fortunately, of unfortunately, security showed up and managed to escort Conseco out of the room.  

That was just one of my many memories of the WSOP and I can’t wait to add to them this year.  If you make a trip to Vegas this summer and attend the WSOP, maybe I’ll see you at the Rio.  Just look for the Poker News guy who is sporting some UnabomberPoker.net gear.  With a little luck, I might be reporting on you.

Final Numbers for the "Big Cash Game IV" here in London

by Phil

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Well, it was a crazy session, with lots of ups and downs... The 25 50 100 pound cash game here in London wrapped.  (It was a televised thing, that will eventually air on tvs over here in Euro-Land.)  Here are the final numbers.  By the way, Jennifer played for only 9 hours and did quite a bit of damage.  How cool is that?  I on the other hand played for 39 of the 48 hrs and though I earned I had to put in a long session to get there.

It would be mega cool if this list could be accompanied by the number of hours each player played.  Because then we could give you a real interesting stat...  The hourly earn or loss!  Not just the total.

FWIW... I calculated a few of them...

Viffer         +3,046 pounds per hour
Jennifer     +3,664 pounds per hour
Me            +562    pounds per hour

I will email Jesse May and see if he can muster up the number of hours each player played.  Then I will finish calculating the hourly rates.

     24   Simon Munz      -24,900

Sorry about that formatting glich.. couldn't figure out how to fix it....

Phil

Vote for Jennifer!!!

by Phil

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Go to www.wsop.com/TOC/ and vote for my girl! (Jennifer Tilly)
You get to vote for 20 people (as long as they are bracelet holders)...

27 people in all will be playing for a shot at a million bucks in prize money.
(20 that get voted in, and 7 others)

London

by Phil

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Flew to London today...

Staying in Leicester Square.  Constant access to good food (China Town is about 100 yards away), and movies and plays galore.
Checked into the hotel.... and....  I feel very clever because I have a router device splitter like thingy that I have finally mastered....
...this means that Jennifer and I can both be internet nerds at the same time.

We r here because of a 48hr televised cash game that is happening starting Saturday.  It will eventually turn into a bunch of TV shows
over here in Euro land.  The game is considerably smaller than HSP.  (High Stakes Poker).  This one... apparently
called "The Big Game IV" is 25 50 blinds or something like that... 5k to 20k (pounds) buy in. 

Some of the people playing in it will be wizened pros that have plucked about in the higher limits a lot.  It will
probably get a bit crazy as I fully expect lots of straddles and bluffing and all around sickness.

It is a 48 hr constant film thing... and every 4 hrs the players will vote off one player to be replaced by whoever is
next up.  Immunity is granted to one player every 4 hrs... It is given to the most aggressive player.  Hmmm....

Even more reason to expect lots of hands getting played fast.

My buddy Caselli (Bluff Europe Editor or something another...)... it is his 30th b-day.  Going to see him tonight and
celebrate accordingly.

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Movies:

Hurt Locker: (77)...
Finally saw it (on the plane)... Huh?  Ok, it was an ok movie and everything but how the heck it won best picture
over Avatar clearly shows that the people in charge are fools.  But this is not hard to believe as most of the world is run by them.

I love you Phillip Morris (78)
Jim Carrey is a gay con man/hustler who ends up in jail, falls in love with his cell mate (Ewan McGregor).  And they have all sorts of
adventures from there.  It is a very dark comedy... I think Jim should stick to simple good old fun style comedy.  He just does it so good.... 
He always seems misplaced in any other sort of flick.  It was based on a true story and was semi interesting.  I would not recommend it
(but then I would never recommend the Hurt Locker either... so... well... whatever...) but if you find yourself watching it is somewhat compelling.

Clash of the Titans 3D (79)
3D?  Huh?  You can take the 3D glasses off and it seems like a regular movie.  It turns out that the 3D thing was dubbed in later.  It was a mish mash
job at best.  (Hardly a thrill for the 3D part).  But the movie delivered the way a movie like this is supposed to.  It was designed for 12 to 14 yr olds... and
as I watched it I sent myself back to when I was that old.  And sort of got into it.  There were some funny bits (not meant to be funny) and the monsters and
adventure stuff more or less delivered.

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Later for now

Phil