While every player is keeping an eye on the tournament clock (which shows how many players are left), Bill Baxter thought he saw a chance to make some money. He gave a guy 2-1 odds that the field wouldn’t get pared down to 350 before the fifth level ended, going contrary to popular opinion. “The longer you play the fewer shorter stacks there’s going to be,” he said. “I can’t imagine there are 73 short stacks left in this room.” At that point the field was down to 423. It seemed to hold steady at that total for nearly five minutes, far longer than the usual pace, which had been roughly one bust-out every minute. It’s now down to 405.

At this point in the tournament the measure of a player’s success is how many orange 5k chips they have sitting in front of them. My dark horse Lasse Aspen Melby only has two, but he still has several stacks of yellow chips, so I’m not giving up on him yet. Ethan Steinberg, a friend I used to play with in a home game in Jackson Hole, started the day with 12k, which he has since pumped up to nearly 100k. These are a couple of the lesser known stories that interest me just as much as those of the well known pros. The World Series of Poker is about chasing a dream, and for many of the players whose goal is to simply cash they have gotten oh-so close.

He cashed at both Bellagio WPT events last fall, just missing the final table of the Five Diamond in 11th place.  In March, he was (in my opinion) the best player remaining in the last few tables at Foxwoods.  After making the TV final table, he was busted in 4th place when his pocket jacks were all in preflop but lost against a ragged ace.

7th place – Doug Kim
Before winning his seat in the main event through an online satellite, Doug was a recreational $1-$2 NL player.  However, one of the players in that college game was Jason Strasser, considered to be one of the best online players in the world.  Strasser also had a very small percentage of Doug, so he was there helping him through the late stages of play. 

Interestingly enough, neither Doug nor Jason are professional poker players anymore.  Doug has been working for an insurance company and Jason moved on to investing.  This year’s main event is the first tournament Doug has played since 2006.

4th place – Allen Cunningham
It’s tough to mention anything that hasn’t already been said about Allen Cunningham’s game.  He’s possibly the best “closer” in the business—if he gets down to the last four or five tables of an event, you might as well just pencil his name in as “champion.”  He proved this true by winning his third bracelet in the last three years.

Just after I came on with PokerWire, Allen & Melissa Hayden were giving JDN a free bed for his new apartment.  Naturally the bossman made the new guy help him move stuff (not sure where that was at in the contract).  While we are at their home, I helped them put together their new dining room chairs.  Allen wasn’t a big fan, but my work wasn’t in vain as they were put to good use on Thanksgiving.

3rd place – Michael Binger
Michael jumped out to a quick start at the 2007 WSOP, cashing in five of his first nine events.  He went on to tie the record for most cashes (8) in one series.  He can still break the record with a strong finish in the main event.  Before the series, he had been experiencing the inevitable dry run all players endure.  Things had become so bad (22 tournaments in a row without a cash) that he was actually considering going back into academics.

Mike definitely has something to fall back on—most pros don’t finish college much less hold a PhD in particle physics.   Mike also has the good fortune of traveling the tournament circuit with his younger brother, Nick, who has had his share of success (read article).  We had the chance to interview Michael on a recent episode of PokerWire Radio.

2nd place – Paul Wasicka
If the second place finisher usually feels like they have something to prove, Paul has exceeded everyone’s expectations in the last 12 months.  Despite being an alternate at the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Championship (he filled in for Phil Hellmuth), Paul went on to win the title in impressive fashion.  He kept an impressive streak of heads-up victories alive by making it to the Sweet 16 in the WSOP event.

Paul is one of the nicest guys you’ll meet on the tour.  Approachable and instantly likeable, the PokerWire team unfortunately tortured Paul with one of the worst dinner breaks in poker history during the Aussie Millions. Despite our run-in, Paul was one race away from that final table.  After that he placed 4th at the LAPC, won the NBC tournament, and placed 24th at the WPT championship (where he took 15th in 2006).  Not a bad year for someone who only plays about every-other $10k event.  You can listen to a recent interview with Paul on PokerWire Radio.

1	Tinten Olivier	270500
2	Dag Martin Mikkelsen	253000
3	Tom Bernard	220000
4	John Dutchak	218000
5	Carl Olson	205000
6	Steve Austin	200000
7	Phillip Hilm	195000
8	Daniel Alaei	190000
9	Gene Strickland	180000
10	Sven-Anders Johnsson	176000
11	Chuck Kelley	170000
12	Adam Weiss	165000
13	Chris Viox	163000
14	Frank Schram	161500
15	James Sigerson	160000
16	Adam Richardson	156000
17	Cyrus Farzad	152000
18	Darrell Dicken	150000
19	Rep Porter	150000
20	Bob Poole	148000
21	Kit Manoel	146500
22	Julian Gardner	143700
23	Daniel Makowsky	143000
24	Andrea Buzzigoli	140000
25	Todd Phillips	138000

1. LA Mike sets the over/under at 17
That’s the number of times PokerWire boss JDN will mention the word “poop” while he blogs about his play tomorrow during Day 1D.  JDN parlayed his incredible roulette skills into a seat in the main event.  NH, sir.

2. LA Mike sets another over/under about JDN
In every event he’s played during the series, JDN tells us about the players at his table.  This usually includes at least two complete misidentifications of well known professionals (Peter Costa as Arnold Spee?  Marc Karam as random euro with white leather shoes?).  LA Mike sets the over/under on mistakes by JDN at 19.

3. LA Mike sets the over/under at 3
That’s the magic number of levels for JDN.  The guy just doesn’t know how to make it out of the third level of anything.  Except satellites.  And Super Mario 3.

2. Thomas Fuller's mentee has a few chips
I might have just made up a word, but Tom was the guy who introduced Paul Wasicka to poker.  Paul (along with Michael Binger) has proven that his performance in last year's main event was no fluke.  Actually, it's possible that he was a total luckbox who learned how to play since then.  But I doubt it.

3. It's a good day to be a friend of Paul Wasicka's
Actually, I'm not sure if they're housemates or leaches, but odds are since both Chris Viox and Doug Kim have a WSOP final table under their belt they are doing OK for themselves.  Doug finished 7th in last year's main event, and Viox took 3rd in a Pot-Limit tournament. 

They are both friend's of Paul's who are crashing at his place.  Even though he won...well a crapload of money, Doug has never played higher than 5-10 No-Limit.  And this is his very first tournament since last year's main event.    Doug has 72k and Viox has close to 130k.  Mandy Baker, a hometown friend of Tom and Paul (they're all from Colorado), is seated just a few tables away with over 50k. 

After wishing Vinny good luck in the event, I made my way inside the Amazon Room where, with three minutes to go before the cards were in the air, I did not recognize a soul.  While the room was full of players, I counted exactly zero familiar faces.  It has been fascinating watching the professionals show up later and later to each event.  Finally, with two minutes to spare, I saw John Juanda taking his seat.  Maybe there's something to learn from a late arrival; John was one of the days first casualties.

I soon learned why the pros waited to make their appearance.  Media Director Nolan Dalla (who has an amazing work ethic and an even better personality) introduced Tournament Director Jack Effel who wished everyone a "Happy Main Event!" Weird.  This was followed by a commercial for Corum watches, the official bracelet provider of the WSOP.  This commercial was followed by an unusually concise Penn Jilliette who announced, "Uhhhhhh.....Shuffle up and deal!" (which was, in actually, another commercial for an act that just happens to take place at the Rio).

Two of the people I always look for are BJ Nemeth and Dr. Pauly.  While there's a lot of people who think they're good at reporting, these guys actually are.  BJ's type-A personality mixed with extreme OCD seems to be the perfect formula for the world's best final table reporter.  BJ never lets his opinion get in the way of reporting what's actually happening.  If I ever need to know a fact or a detail, he's the man to ask.  On the flip side, Pauly never lets reporting the facts get in the way of his opinion.  Paul writes one of the best poker blogs on the 'net, and anytime I need to know the latest dirt, he's the man to ask.

After bugging Pauly for a bit, it was apparent that dead money can be broken down into a few categories

1. Dead Dead Money
These players just don't have a freaking clue and might as  well get out some poker chips, spray kerosene on a brick of $10,000, light a match and call it a day.

2. Dead Money That Learned How to Play by Watching Hoyt Corkins on TV
These players have a lot of variety in their game:

• "All in."
• "I'm all in."
• "I'll put you all in."

3. Dead Money That Learned How to Play by Watching Daniel Negreanu on TV
I watched a player reraise to 1.8k when the blinds were 50-100 and bet 6k on a K84 flop, then proudly turn over 64 offsuit to show that he knows how to play any two cards, just like "Kid Poker."  Except Daniel plays these in position.  And he relies on his years of experience and uncanny reading ability to outplay people postflop.  Which I guess is kind of like making ridiculous raises preflop and silly ginormous big bets on painted flops.  But not really.

1) Play as good as Phil Ivey

 

2) Run as good as Jamie Gold

 

3) Look as good as Roland de Wolfe

 

 

Normally I would take the time to flesh each of these ideas out, but I think Roland's poker brilliance speaks for itself.

The dream was alive for all of 8 minutes for Matt Jansen.  He was eliminated with AA on an all flop when his opponent held KQ. 

Many players don't realize just how much of a grind the main event is.  The dreams slowly start turning to reality for most players around the dinner break.  Once you stare at 52 for a few orbits in a row, seeing any pair makes some players go a little crazy.  At least that's my excuse for how 33 can get it all in for 20k when the blinds are only 50-100. Naturally his opponent had AA.  You know how the story ends...

If there's one word I've heard the pros repeat over and over when describing the field, it's dead money.¹  Actually, that's two words.  Whatever.

Here's three tips on how to turn the dead money into your money:

1. Don't bluff.
Seriously.  There's no reason too.  The majority of these players have no idea where they are at in a hand, and will look  you up on principle.  I saw a guy call three big bets with 22 on a 996Q10 board because, as he stated when he proudly flipped over his cards, "I've got two pair."

2. Let the action come to you.
Let your opponents make mistakes, then capitalize on them.  Shawn Buchanon busted a player when he check-raised Shawn's 3k bet all-in for over 20k on a Q43 board.  His hand? KJ for no pair and no draw.  Shawn had a set.  Awesome.

3. Play loose preflop and tight after the flop.
Because of #1 and #2, a succesful recipie for many pros has been playing a wide range of connectors (both suited and otherwise) because when they do hit a flop, they will invariably stack off an opponent who doesn't know how to fold top pair.  Or any pair.  If you miss the flop, don't feel obligated to continuation bet against dead money because you will get called.  See flops in position with low risk because the rewards are huge when you hit.

 

^{1 The Grinder is definitely not dead money.} 

If you guessed, Jeff "Maddog" Madsen, you guessed right!

In case you can't tell by this picture, Jeff is thrilled to be playing Court Jester to Mr. Sebok this summer.

In addition to sporting these fine outfits, Jeff and Gav will also be carrying Sebok in on a throne tomorrow. Stay tuned for details.

Make sure to bug Stapes to get those gift certificates.  It usually takes four of five emails/phone calls before he responds so don't give up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

^{1Gift Certificate good for 1/2 off a windshield washer topoff.*3}

^{2 If you actually clicked the "read more" button to see the picture, you are automatically disqualified from the contest.}

^{3 Not to exceed 2 fl. oz.}

• Matt Damon
• Ben Affleck
• Ray Ramano
• Shannon Elizabeth
• Adam Sandler
• Kevin James
• Miami John Cernuto
• Charles Barkley
• Cheryl Hines
• Brad Garrett
• Montel Williams

I'm sure there's probably a few I missed in this list, but you HAVE TO check out Heather's photo gallery from the event for some of the action. 

Naturally, Phil Hellmuth took some time out to introduce the throng to all of his friends.  He took a break from the action to grab a microphone and make his way around the room.  The first kind-of-elimination was Daniel Negreanu, but Annie Duke stood up and started cheering for Daniel to, "Rebuy! Come on, it's for charity!"  I'm not sure it was intended to be a rebuy event, but Daniel was more than willing to oblige.

Next on the almost-but-not quite out list was the man responsible for the poker boom, Mike McDermott.  Mike got it all in with AK on an A high flop but his opponent made a flush.

The railbirds are still piled ten deep just for a peek at the celebrities with only three tables remaining.