WSOP

[stitchface]

off to Vegas! Join us if you would like!

[smacca17]

That's Awesome.

 

Daddy's gonna get the Rain Man suite.

[delroy lindo]

A friend of mine living near Henderson said he went on Thursday to Binions. Bring a washcloth :)

[delroy lindo]

[expletive].

 

Well, Mike is out, he's the first to go after reaching the final table. He played like a champ and will leave with $470,000!

 

But another bad beat.

 

Mike pushed in $150 K after getting pocket Aces. Raymer, the chip leader raised to $500 K on the button. Mike went all-in and was the astounding pre-flop favorite after Raymer flipped over his pocket 10's. But the damn flop came 7c 10d Jd, and Raymer had his trio.

[stitchface]

tough break, but that is the problem with being so far down in chips - you are forced all-in if you have a good blind and raymer can afford to risk it. very interesting weekend - I will provide some more commentary when I am less tired.

[stitchface]

Unfortunately, we arrived too late to see any of the action, Raymer cashed out about 30 minutes before we arrived. We did go to Binions though and hung out with Mike. Binions is a classic old-school casino - dark, low ceilings, no pageantry. You can just picture mafioso hanging out in the hallways and backrooms. The tournament at its height apparently took up the whole casino including the sports book. The feature and final table were in a smaller room upstairs.

 

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the whole tournament is the betting - not on your cards but on the players. It seems that almost no one actually walks away with their prize money. This begins with the entrance fee. Raymer apparently raised $8000 of his $10,000 entrance fee online. Therefore, he only collected 20 percent of his $5 million - ONLY $1 million. Mike won his entrance but nevertheless he sold about 30 percent of himself to friends (who paid him prior to the tournament). So, Mike ended up with $350,000 of his $474,000 prize. A $1000 piece of Mike earned you $35000. The really crazy thing is that this doesn't end with the entry fee. Players will sell equity during the tournament. In other words, based on the amount of chips you have and the number of players left, you can sell portions of your profits. Mike estimated he was worth about $700,000 at one point if he could have found buyers.

 

A note on getting to the final table. According to Mike, and he knows what he is talking about, the best poker player in the world has about a 70 percent chance of making the final table once every five years. So, don't expect to see familiar faces there too often! He talked a little bit about the bitching and moaning that too much luck was involved. His opinion was that virtually everyone in the final 30 was a very good player and deserved to be there. Luck plays a big role but very few made it through on luck alone. So shut up and post the entrance fee! A fair amount of camaderie seemed to have developed amongst the final players as well.

 

ESPN will cover the event I think starting in August. Expect to see Mike prominently featured. As last year's "Agony of Defeat" player, his success this year was a great tv story. He hammed it up for the cameras too apparently.

[stitchface]

One other note on the prizes. This being Vegas, the prizes are cash. Mike got a check for $350,000 - handwritten! The rest of his prize money to be shared was doled out as stacks of bills - with no bag or anything. You gotta love old Vegas!

 

It seems that a lot of the guys know each other from the card rooms - Texas Hold 'em is legal in California if you didn't know. Its a game of skill.

[stitchface]

If you are following this, the Main Event broadcasts started last week and continue tonight - should get to see the infamous draw on the River tonight. FYI, Mike is in the "casting" commercial they have been running. He is not the guy in the green shirt in front of the screen though. He is the last player they show right after they show the chip stacks.

[stitchface]

http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2004/09/10/news/112new2.txt

[stitchface]

http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2004/09/10/news/112new2.txt

[delroy lindo]

Thanks for the link

[stitchface]

Baby comes early so contrary to prior reports, Mike is back in Vegas. Not sure where and when he is actually playing and he may be out for all I know.

[shnsajax]

He made the trip, thats awesome. 5,661 people last I saw this year. I guess the first week is all about survival. Where the hell are they sitting everyone?

[stitchface]

They moved from Binions to another hotel for the first rounds and divided the crowd into three flights - so only a third are playing each day until they get down to 2000 or so. Today is the third and last flight. A lot of big names are out already.

[stitchface]

not as exciting this year as mike goes out on day one.

[stitchface]

Bumped for tomorrow's main event kickoff. I know five people playing - no word if Kent or Vick is there.

[stitchface]

not sure anyone cares, but Mike is through day two with about 120k in chips 99th out of part one of day two - probably close to average.

[shnsajax]

thats not bad from what I have read on the current chip counts. Its hard to really fathom though based on the size of the event. Probably still just really trying to play in position for a while. He is just a couple of hands away from being in real good shape :)

[stitchface]

yea, he'll have to get agressive at some point to try and win. I think once he is in the money he may get more aggressive. first couple days are all about positioning. I think he is off until Friday though.

[stitchface]

now 78th of 481 with 307k (well above average)

[stitchface]

now 24th with 700k

[stitchface]

well, Mike finished 171st after being eliminated by Gold (Jamie flopped a boat twice in three hands) - he was 24th when he was eliminated. I am interested to see what he thought of Gold - he almost seemed like much less of an ass than some of the better known players who seem to constantly try to get attention.

 

I love how the names people have heard of are obviously the best players. :roll:

[shnsajax]

Thats still a very good showing, hell just cashing at all is good now.