Quest of a Closet Poker Player

CC roommate Dan Michalski sits at Table 78 7s in today’s $1.5k NLH event, ready to take down his first bracelet like his buddy Tom Schneider. I’ll update this post regularly throughout the day.

He started the event tied for the chip lead, one of over 2,000 players ready to take a bracelet Monday night. Dan’s staying at the Rio for a few nights, hopefully until the Final Table is played.

They are playing out in the temporary tent today as well, and it has been an utter failure to this point. It turns into an oven as the day goes on, and I’m not sure what they are doing about it. It changes the conditions for a portion of the field, which impacts the game.

Chris Moneymaker. I’m going to try and get an interview with him through the Stars PR firm. I think his life journey since he won his WSOP ME title has been a challenge. He came into his victory without the poker pedigree of Greg Raymer obviously, and he’s struggled to get results. I’m sure financially he’s done well with Stars endorsements, but that is all beside the point. He seems to just want to be who he is, and he doesn’t try to be anyone else.

I’m faced not with a predicament per se as no one has a gun to my head, but I would like to lift up a question to everyone fervently following the WSOP: what about the celebrities in the field?

In my mind, Jennifer Tilly is a poker player to follow. After taking down the Ladies Event in 2005, she’s had three other WSOP cashes as well as taking down a $1k event at the Bellagio and a 15th place at the WPT Borgata. All the made-for-tv stuff I would put aside. This doesn’t mean she is the best player ever, and of course her Poker After Dark escapade doesn’t show her in a great light, but she’s a player who is showing improvement.

Then there is Shannon Elizabeth. She had three cashes last year, two in the $1.5k NLH events run during the Main Event. She also had her big score in the NBC HU Challenge with her 4th place finish. So do you cover her or not?

I also have a quandary about players I don’t like for a variety of reasons. One in particular I’ve never met, but she’s always seems to be nasty. There are so many players, and she loses nothing in the process, but should is it fine to self censor players for no good reason? Should I actually reach out to try and figure out who she is? I don’t know.

There is a whale of a Final Table today in the $3k Stud H/L, with Eli Elezra, Scotty Nguyen, Dutch Boyd, Thor Hansen, and David Sklansky all around the table.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday, and check back later tonight.

UPDATE 2:20PM

Dan’s table broke, and I quickly stumbled upon him at Table 217 in the 9s. I snapped a photo, but he was in a hand as the Amazon Room became a stampede for their twenty-minute break. I did a double take, and indeed Barry Greenstein was in the 8s. He had slightly less chips than he started with, and Dan’s stack also was fairly light.

UPDATE 3:00PM

Dan’s still fairly short, but the action at the table has been fierce. Greenstein came over the top of a short stack, and he had pocket aces to the K[s]-2[s] of the 4s. An ace came on the flop along with a queen and one spade, and the river made a boat for Bear and a flush for the shortie. The next hand, Greenstein raised again to 800 (blinds are 100/200) and the 3s called. Flop came A-Q-2, and Greenstein bet 1300 and was called. 2 came on the turn, he again bet 1800, and the 3s moved all-in for another few thousand. Greenstein called with A-J, but the 3s had A-Q. The pot dropped him back down pretty significantly.

UPDATE 3:25PM

Dan’s busted out as his seat is occupied.  He fought a short stack most of the tournament, which isn’t unusual in these lower buy-in events.  I got banned from 2+2 as I posted a link to the Cash Games section of articles.  Whatever.  They’re constantly asking about cash games, we’re writing about them, so there you go.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 16th, 2007 at 3:55 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.