PUNTE is in Las Vegas covering the WSOP Main Event. For more daily updates from the Main Event, follow his dedicated page at facebook.com/JoshAtWSOP.

The book on multi-day tournament poker is to make aggressive plays late in each day, the logic being that one will either (a) win those bigger pots and advance to the next day with more equity, or (b) bust out late in the day and save oneself the agony of making the car ride back, only to bleed to death the following morning. I was surprised to see how few people actually followed that strategy, as many players found themselves coming into Day 2A with 15k in chips, less than half of their starting stack, or even less.

The seriousness of the matter was evident upon walking into the Amazon room at the Rio Convention Center. The idle chatter, fanfare, and naive exuberance of the tournament’s first day(s) were gone. The players, all 2,412 of them, realized that today would be pivotal in their respective quests for poker’s world championship.

Poker Quote Of The Day:

Your best chance to get a Royal Flush in a casino is in the bathroom.

–V.P. Pappy, via. Read the rest of this entry »

PUNTE is in Las Vegas covering the WSOP Main Event. For more daily updates from the Main Event, follow his dedicated page at facebook.com/JoshAtWSOP.

Peter Eastgate won the Main Event just two years ago, pocketing over $9 million. Today, he announced that he’s had enough of chasing straights and sucking out and announced his retirement from poker.

“When I started playing poker for a living, it was never my goal to spend the rest of my life as a professional poker player. My goal was to become financially independent. I achieved that by winning the WSOP Main Event in 2008.[..]

I have decided that now is the time to find out what I want to do with the rest of my life. What this will be, I do not yet know. I have decided to take a break from live tournament poker, and try to focus on Peter Eastgate, the person. –via Wicked Chops Poker.

Yeah, so he just retired. From a table game. At age 24. Sometimes I really hate life.

Today’s Action: Day 1D, the last first day. With over 2,000 players for Day 1C, the rush will be on for remaining players to avoid getting shut out of the tournament. Even more big-name pros will be in the Rio convention center today competing for a spot in Day 2.

If Day 1 seems totally worthless, that’s because it is. The blog Pokerati did the math, and they determined that if you didn’t play a single hand on Day 1, you would advance to Day 2 with more than half of your 30,000 starting chips. And yet over 1,000 players will be eliminated before Day 2A begins Friday.

Notables playing today: TV’s Jason Alexander and Hank Azaria; Doyle Brunson and his two kids, Pamela and Todd Brunson; Jennifer Harman, 2005 ME champ Joe Hachem, former Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith, and poker pro Justin Smith.

Yesterday’s Action: Tom Dwan, Howard Lederer, and Phil Hellmuth were notables among those eliminated from Day 1C. Mike Sexton, Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen and Johnny Chan all advanced. Read the rest of this entry »

PUNTE is in Las Vegas covering the WSOP Main Event. For more daily updates from the Main Event, follow his dedicated page at facebook.com/JoshAtWSOP.

Today’s Action: Day 1C. This is the day that noted “Poker Brat” Phil Hellmuth makes his “grand entrace.” Hellmuth was always renown for showing up late to tournaments, and will do so today–dressed as a mixed martial artist. Hellmuth’s 11 WSOP bracelets lead all comers. Other notables playing today include 2009 Main Event winner Joe Cada, and “Voice of Poker” Mike Sexton.

Poker Quote Of The Day:

“Don’t walk too much.”

ESPN’s Lon Lon McEachern, to me. His quip really summarized the pace of play that day, where players were waiting for big hands instead of trying to make plays. With 300 big blinds to start, it also creates difficulty for players that have fallen behind to make up any ground. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday’s Action: Day 1A. “Beechmont Avenue!”

Greg Raymer, the 2004 Main Event winner with those fun sunglasses, kicked off the event with that famed announcement of “Shuffle up and deal!” Hopefully, the dealers had already shuffled their decks at that point, because that would save all kinds of time.

I’d equate trying to follow the Main Event with trying to track the flight of a single bee in a swarm of bees. Maybe it’s just because I’m new and overwhelmed, but there is too much going on for one person to follow. It’s like watching the cast of “Huge” hit a buffet. Raymer would bust out just a few hours later. “The Amazing Race” alumna Maria Ho got her chips in with aces against kings. She doubled up. I found these things out on the internet after they had happened just mere feet from where I was standing.

After a nice dinner of shoddy Chinese food and a Category 5 visit to the men’s room, I was zapped of what little endurance I had. I wondered how over a thousand people could try to play poker for eight hours when I got tired just from watching them. It’s a good thing that this tournament has four first days. I’ll have another chance at it tomorrow.

Today’s Action: Day 1B. Second verse, same as the first.

Poker Quote Of The Day.

“Thanks, Uncle Joe. Can I call you Uncle Joe?”

–Professional player Tiffany Michelle, who finished 17th in the 2008 Main Event, to the dealer after he awarded her a nice pot. The dealer’s name, according to his nametag? BRUCE. Read the rest of this entry »

Many poker players will tell you that their game is not about luck, but rather is a game of skill laced with “variance.” But in a tournament of over 6,000 people, it’s hard to argue that luck isn’t part of the equation. Last year’s winner (Joe Cada, above) was just barely old enough to play in the event at age 21. He took home the $8.5 million first prize last year. Guessing who will win it this year is tougher than finding a dry blonde at an orgy.

The Main Event is technically known as “Event #57: The $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship,” but is regarded as poker’s world championship. The event is long and arduous, just like my penis. The all-Texas Hold’em tournament stretches through the better part of July, until the field is whittled down to a nine-player final table. Established poker pros, online poker junkies and amateur players alike will flock to the Rio Las Vegas like zombies to that guy that decided to “make a run for it” in search of brains the WSOP’s ultimate prize.

Today’s Action. Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event is actually four days long. To accommodate the large field, the tournament field is broken up into Days 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D. Players had their chance to register for the day of their choice, space permitting, but other players will take a chance on a “day of” signup beforehand. More than 500 people were turned away in 2009; apparently $10,000 isn’t enough to guarantee you a spot in the field. All action starts at noon, Pacific Time.

Poker Quote Of The Day.

“Every ten minutes, I see the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

–Poker dealer at the Hard Rock hotel, after watching a handful of ladies walking to Rehab, the hotel’s daily spring-break-style pool party. Yes, there was a big pool party and I was inside playing 1-2 No Limit. Don’t judge me. Read the rest of this entry »

Whether you recognize poker as a “sport” or not, the World Series Of Poker is one of great annual traditions of Las Vegas and, in my opinion, of all of sport. Poker is a universal game, one that relies on the stamina of a player’s mind while navigating through almost 50 days’ worth of poker tournaments. This year’s WSOP features 57 events, starting from tomorrow’s $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship event to the Main Event‘s induction of the November Nine.

I’m especially excited because I’ll be covering the Main Event live and in person throughout the month of July. I’ll be migrating from my accommodations at the Hard Rock Hotel to the tournament floor at the Rio and delivering daily updates with awesome stories and ridiculous anecdotes that will make you wonder why you weren’t following poker from the onset.

I get it, some of you are sick of watching it on TV. But this isn’t TV. This is the Land of the Badass and gaming goodness will show its papers at the gate. This coverage will kick you in the balls and run off with your wallet. So be ready. It’s going to be badass.