I rode over with Pauly and C.J. in Pauly’s PT Cruiser. I went to bed too late and got up too early, but it’s all good. I had a Barq’s this morning before hopping in the car with Pauly, which was a great way to start the day.
Pauly talks about the chills he got when Doyle left last year to a standing ovation. He kicked off the Main Event today, but today it wasn’t exactly that. It seemed a little staged, especially as Jeffrey Pollack announced Team Doyle then Mike Caro led the procession into the room. No offense to Caro, but he’s not exactly your dream marketing heartthrob.
Hellmuth’s gone. He has to be so very bummed, but he got to the ESPN Feature Table late, then ran into a hand to knock him down (maybe KK vs. QQ), then his A-Q didn’t hit vs. 7-7. He was able to reprimand any and all players, but again I’m not sure what the deal was with not breaking the table then bringing in a new group of players, especially with Ivey out there as well as a solid table with Chris Ferguson, Hung La, and David Colclough.
This is what used to happen on our family vacations when I was a kid, riding in the back seat as we drove two hours up the Natchez Trace with nothing to see but pine trees and nothing to hear but either one AM country station or my parents harmonizing “You Are my Sunshine.” In fact, it’s why the minivan was invented and why bucket seats are one of the Top Five innovations in the 20th century. It’s all about space and staying on your side. Baseball cap dude in 5s (left) is chastising the dealer as he explains to the floor that toboggan dude (6s, right) is touching him with his feet and leaning over into his space. The floor has now drawn an imaginary line between the two of them, but if the 6s is like my sister, baseball cap dude will eventually get in trouble.
Men the Master, a happy man, tells the other big stack at his table: “Let’s play loose, that way we give each other chips and keep it interesting.”
Other big stack dude says, “I’ve watched you on television, man. I’m not going to play with you anymore!” Then they bantered back and forth for another fifteen minutes. Men said about 80% of whatever they said.
Vanessa Rousso, clinging on at midnight.
Joe Sebok, the guy I pull for the hardest, out. I haven’t talked to him, and he made some bold plays to try and get something going. I don’t want to say until I can check in with him.
Annie Duke, focused on her table and keeping chips in front of her tonight.
Eric Froehlich, building his stack and staying above average.
John Juanda, nothing great but nothing bad. I’m assuming those eyes watched every movement of every person of every hand.
Devilfish.
Evelyn Ng, out. I’ll check in Sunday with a quick recap of the first two days as well as getting started in Day 1C. You can look for articles as well. I’m going to give away some of the swag I’ve collected, probably giving something away through the week. Thanks for coming by and spending some time here, and especially thanks for the comments and emails. Keep up the support at csquard@gmail.com.