Tim McDermott, PokerStars qualifier

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WSOP Main Event: Freeroll to the big dance

Dion Jones was in for a raise and looking at a board with a couple of aces on it. When he put a bet in on the river and got a call, it looked as if he wasn't entirely satisfied with the result.

"Nines," he said with a slightly defeated tone in his voice.

What Jones may not have known at the moment is that he had just danced his way through a mini-minefield and come out with a win.

His opponent's face fell. "Nines are good."

Jones smiled and raked his chips, "I didn't want to see ace-deuce or something."

Jones probably should've known he could maneuver his way to victory. The man in the three seat at Table 22 is pretty light on his feet. Don't believe us? Check out the video we found a couple of minutes ago.

That's our man with the nines doing a little tango with one of his students. Jones owns a ballroom dance studio down in the Sunshine State.

It's becoming apparent to us that Jones' grace on the dance floor may very well translate to his poker play. A few weeks back Jones managed to place in the top two players of a 460 Frequent Player Point satellite to the 200 Seat mega satellite PokerStars ran for the World Series. The very next day, the dances instructor sat down and played for several hours and walked away with his Main Event package.

"So far, this is a freeroll," he said.

With one level to go in the night, it looks like Jones may very well dance his way to Day 2. We'll hope for his sake, it's not the last tango in Vegas.

* * * * *

TWEET OF THE HOUR

"When I was a kid I cried when Clubber Lang knocked out Rocky. Get em' Balboa!!! Beat that chump!" -- @RealKidPoker in the middle of an Independence Day "Rocky" marathon on his day off.

FIRST ALL-IN CALL FALSE ALARM OF THE HOUR

An all-in call announced by the dealer that nearly gave Alexey "Baileal" Poypov a heart attack. "False alarm, false alarm, false alarm" said the dealer in some hurried back tracking, the same move the TV crew was making, halting their advance. It was only false for a few seconds though. On the board of [jc][10c][6d][3s] Poypov did in fact get his money in and found a caller. His pocket tens doubling him up against pocket kings. The dealer called over the cameras but had cried wolf once too often. Instead Poypov got it quietly.

QUOTE OF THE HOUR

"Apparently he was from Jersey and he was quite drunk." --Anonymous media representitive reporting on the much talked about tale of a player getting up and walking out with his chips...and not returning.

JOE GIRON PHOTO HOUR

Resting on the rail

VIDEO OF THE HOUR

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WSOP Main Event: The latest from Vicky Coren

We're not strangers to online information revolutions on the PokerStars blog. In fact the blog itself was at the forefront of a new kind of reporting when he began its work in 2005. So when twitter came along well, as you can imagine we jumped on board, with "tweets" emanating from PokerStars and the blog around the clock.

It's not just us. A few players could today be seen bashing away at Blackberrys and iPhones. In the past this meant a good or bad news SMS to a friend or loved one on the virtual rail. Now it's the same message sent to hundreds, sometimes thousands of people. Players of all calibres are at it, including a few Team PokerStars Pros.

Like Vicky Coren.

Vicky is something of a legend when it comes to texting fast with just her thumbs, so she's ideally suited to the world of abbreviated 140 character messages. It's also provides a great way of keeping tabs on her progress on day 1b, because frankly it's been a rollercoaster one.

It came from humble beginnings, the kind of chipperness you should feel at the start of your main event campaign...

"The Main Event! I'm not greedy: I'd be happy with $7m for 2nd place. Or to survive Day One. That would be an improvement on last year..."

Then, after a few knocks before the dinner break the stack suffered slightly but crucially not Vicky, whose spirits remained high....

"Dinner break. Had a nasty hand with straight (& nut flush draw) v made flush, but still alive, got 19k, should be plenty...

Then that change of fortune that Coren, like all pros, is no stranger to. Put short the wheels began to fall off...

"Wow - 3 people in a row flopped sets against me. They make it look so easy! Not sure this is going to be a lucky day."

That was then. Now Coren's stack measures something less than 10,000. But still - should be plenty.

Keep tabs on Vicky Coren's progress yourself on her twitter and of course those of PokerStars and the PokerStars Blog.

*****

BIG STACK CORNER

All the chips so far today seem to have gravitated into one corner of table 38 in the blue section of the Amazon Room. Beside each other there sit the PokerStars qualifiers Craig Hopkins, from the United Kingdom, and Russia's Vadim Gruzglin. Each has about 120,000 already, which is not far from the total amassed by yesterday's end-of-day chip leader, as was noted by one of their table-mates. "One of you guys needs to double the other one up," said another player on the table. "Or they could triple up and knock another one of us out," said another.

*****

UNEXPECTED HOLDING OF THE HOUR

We picked it up on a flop of [Ad][3s][3c]. Two people checked to Greg Raymer, who checked behind. On the [8h] turn, the one-seat bet 2,600 and Raymer called. On the [2c] river, the bettor checked, Raymer bet 3,500. His opponent called.

"Ace-king," Raymer said, and nearly everybody at the table--including him--expected the FossilMan to rake in the pot. Then his opponent turned over [3d][6d]

"I did not put you that," Raymer said. "My only question was whether you tie me or you lose."

*****

DOUBLE OF THE HOUR

Peter Longmore of Melbourne, Australia (who we wrote about in this earlier post) was getting perilously close to his journey to the States being in vain. We picked it up on the river when he was all-in on a board of [6]h[Jd][6c][9s][Ks] and up against [Qh][Qd]. Longmore held the very fortunate [8s][6s] and doubled up to just short of 20,000.

*****

STAT OF THE HOUR

Today's email from the World Series media director Nolan Dalla is in the mailboxes. It tells the world that 873 players played day 1B of the 2009 World Series Main Event.

*****

QUOTE (AND RETORT) OF THE HOUR

"Hey, take your cushion!" -- Railbird to Mike Schwartz as he was eliminated from the tournament.
"No. That's an unlucky cushion. Makes my ass hurt. So long everyone!" Schwartz replies.

*****

JOE GIRON'S PHOTO HOUR

*****

STOP PRESS OF THE HOUR

Vicky Coren... "Out. QQQ no good. That is as bad a day's poker as I've had in quite some time. On plus side, was quite clearly NOT meant to be."

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Jean Robert Bellande 2009 WSOP Video Blog at
Bodog Social

In the last video blog from the Bodog Social, poker pro Jean Robert Bellande attempts to get Justin Bonomo to bowl a strike. Unfortunately, Bonomo is admittedly a terrible bowler and no one seems to be able to work the machine to get the pins to stand up straight… wonder why? Looks like the answer ...

Read The Full Article:
http://beat.bodoglife.com/poker/jean-robert-bellande-2009-wsop-video-blog-at-bodo
g-social-41428.html

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WSOP Main Event: Lights, Bryan Kerr, action...

There's a long-standing belief among cynical poker observers that any player seated at their table longer than about 15 minutes before play starts is unlikely to be the tournament winner. The kind of anxiety and anticipation that sends a player to their seat so early usually indicates a newbie to the live tournament scene, and the more seasoned pros might fancy their chances of feasting on the fresh prey.

For the PokerStars qualifier Bryan Kerr, this kind of faux pas was not even an option. When he arrived to the Amazon Room today -- comfortably in the middle of the pack, incidentally -- he thought he heard his table number being called over the loudspeaker, but figured he had misheard. So he went off in search of table Orange 78 anyway, only to find it completely empty on his arrival. Instead of nine stacks of chips, a pack of cards and a dealer, there was a sheet of A4 paper with some words printed on it: "PLEASE REPORT TO THE ESPN FEATURE TABLE" they said.

"I was kinda hoping to be on TV," Kerr said happily a few minutes later, minutes during which he had trudged from one corner of the Amazon Ballroom all the way to the far opposite one, had been introduced to the ESPN television crew, had been wired up with a radio mic, had filled out a release form and questionnaire providing biographical details for a television commentary team, and had prepared for his time under the studio lights. He has also met Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, seated two seats to his right, with whom he would do battle for the coming day.

Bryan Kerr

Kerr, from Barrington, Illinois, is playing in his first World Series, so this is truly a baptism of fire. He qualified on PokerStars last year, but the Main Event came two weeks before his 21st birthday, meaning he had to reinvest the satellite funds in honing his game throughout the intervening 11 months in preparation for his shot at the title this time around. Now, at two weeks shy of his 22nd birthday, he has been able to take his place at the biggest game in town.

The opening exchanges have been fun. "I thought I might be nervous, but I actually really like it a lot," said Kerr on his return from the dinner break. He had marshaled his starting stack of 30,000 up to about 47,000 by the interval, with no major skirmishes and no major frights. "I play mainly cash games online and playing cash is good practice for deep stack tournaments."

Kerr usually plays eight to ten tables at a time online, but hasn't missed the breakneck action. Instead he said he's been focusing on solid tournament strategy here, switching gears at the optimum moments, picking the times to stay tight and then seizing on the opportunities to steal. And as for Matusow: "He's been great," Kerr said. "I've never met him before but he seems like the nicest guy. He's signed a copy of his new book for all of us."

Perhaps Kerr is busy writing himself into the sequel.

* * * * *

HAND OF THE HOUR

On a board of [2d][ks][9s] the attention is on Eric Seidel. By attention we mean the TV boom and their accompanying cameras. There's also the rail, about three thick and three feet away. Seidel had bet 7,500 but Kenneth Hicks in seat nine had bumped it up by moving all in, 16,675 more.

Seidel sucked in some air, reconfirmed the count, smiled and said he'd call, although that process took several minutes. Hicks turned over [2s][2c] while Seidel showed [ts][js]. The [8c] turn did nothing but the [3s] on the river had everyone making that "ahhh, hiss" noise - the one you make when you bang your toe. Seidel up to 72,000.

* * * * *

JOE GIRON'S PHOTO HOUR

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2009 WSOP 10k Championship No Limit Main Event

2009 WSOP 10k Championship No Limit Main Event

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/do-or-die-poker/~3/qNnwx3Eg3EI/

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Team Bodog and Poker Legends in 2009 WSOP Main
Event Day 1B

Players are on their first break here for Day 1B of the 2009 WSOP Main Event and the field was predictably smaller than yesterday's, due to the July 4th holiday in the US. However, we did manage to track down several Team Bodog members out in the fray, including Patrice "hotmax9″ Libert, who found himself ...

Read The Full Article:
http://beat.bodoglife.com/poker/team-bodog-and-poker-legends-in-2009-wsop-main-ev
ent-day-1b-67312.html

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WSOP Main Event: Mr. Unpronounceable

He is a man of results, but has a name so barely-decipherable that an addled tournament reporter may be hesitant to cover him.

Team PokerStars Holland Pro Joep van den Bijgaart has made final tables in the Sunday Million, Sunday Warm-Up, and Sunday $500,000 on PokerStars. At just 22 years old, he came to the World Series this year and made his first big final table at the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout.

The curly-headed pro from Holland is as likable as just about anybody you'll find at the WSOP. In the first four hours of play, he has made many a friend at his starting table as he ran his stack up north of the 40,000 mark.

Just a bit ago, a lady old enough to be his mother limped in from the small blind and van den Bijgaart played nice-nice. The flop came down [Kd][Td][Tc]. The lady checked and van den Bigjaart smiled. "I gotta bet now," he said, and put out 125.

"Ah, big boy!" the woman exclaimed. It was probably the first time the Dutch pro had been addressed as such since he was a toddler.

The [8d] fell on the river. The lady checked again, and van den Bigjaart bet 450.

"You going to show?" the woman asked, and then folded.

Mr. Unpronounceable smiled again. "I only show my bluffs," he said.

"Or," suggested another opponent, "when he gets called on a bluff."

Another smile from our young man, and now he heads off for his dinner break.

As we strive for accurate, comprehensive, and entertaining reporting here, we consulted our Dutch correspondent Steven Smith for some assistance.

"It's Yoop," he said, as he wrote down the correct spelling of the name.

"Yoop?"

Smith nodded. "Yoop. Van. Den. By. Hhhhart."

"Van den by heart," we repeated,

"Hhhhhhart," he repeated. "You can't say it, can you?"

No, we can't. Fortunately, we're not on the radio.

* * * * *

QUOTE OF THE HOUR

"But I thought we were friends!" --anguished cry heard across the Amazon Room.

TWEET OF THE HOUR

"Enjoying 4th of July with Panorama peeps, then sleeping early for main event tomorrow =) Have fun and be safe people! " -- Brazilian Team Pro @Maridu enjoying her day off and celebrating American holiday.

STATISTIC OF THE HOUR

Number of Swedish players starting on Day 1B: 5

Number of Swedish journalists covering Day 1B: 8

HAND OF THE HOUR

Greg Raymer and one opponent got to a flop, costing 1,000 apiece. It came [6c][9c][2d] and Raymer's opponent bet 2,000, which Fossilman called. The turn was the [kd] and the 2,000 bet was repeated, as was the call. The river was the [4h] and this time Raymer's opponent checked, prompting a 6,000 bet from the Team PokerStars Pro. Call. Raymer showed [Ad][Kh] and his opponent angrily mucked, showing a bare king in the process. Out-kicked.

"I'm back over 30,000!" Raymer announced in delight, both arms held aloft, in the direction of his wife and father on the rail.

"Hallelujah!" said Cheryl, before keeping the celebrations in check. "Now
play nice," she added.

JOE GIRON PHOTO HOUR

APPT winner Eddie Sabat chills out under banner of 2005 WSOP champion Joe Hachem

VIDEO OF THE HOUR

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WSOP day 1 overview

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2009 WSOP Video Blog: Justin Bonomo at the Bodog
Social

Bodog Poker pro Justin Bonomo looks like he was having fun in this video taken at the Bodog Social. We'll let you watch it yourself to see just how much fun he was having.

Read The Full Article:
http://beat.bodoglife.com/poker/2009-wsop-video-blog-justin-bonomo-at-the-bodog-s
ocial-81562.html

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