But a lot of young hot-shots must not have gotten that message, because Monday was seen as a great day to play cash at the Rio. Being Day 1 of the $1,000 Seniors event meant the tables would be filled with early bustouts (and therefore presumably weaker players) from a field filled with WSOP tourists - players who come for a single event.
And indeed, there was more silver hair at the low-stakes tables yesterday than on any other day. Some of the old men seemed like they were being abused - nursing short stacks and being pushed off pots repeatedly - while others had chips suggesting they were the ones teaching those weak-kicker-playin' youngsters a thing or two.
The action did get heated at times. At one point a sunglasses-and-backwards-ball-cap-wearing kid was protesting the previous play of one of his elderly opponents. Floor staff had calmed matters down, but the Gen-Y representative couldn't resist getting in a final word:
"He knows he's too old for me to jump across the table and put a knuckle through his head, that's why."
The rest of the table was quiet, and a few hands later, the threatened gent who had talked his younger opponent into calling off about $300 racked up his chips and moved to an empty seat at another table - meaning the kid who arguably was the better player lost the opportunity to get back the chips he had just given away. You know ... because he had to show the old man who was smarter.
In the late-late hours, after most of the day's tournament bustouts had gone to bed, there was one hand worth talking about - er, screaming about if you were the beneficiary who was running around the cash-game quadrant whooping and hollering and pumping his fists in the air. Not sure if he was drunk or just giddy.
A crowd had already gathered around to watch the wild action on one particular $10/$25 No-Limit Hold'em table, where stacks can range from $5,000 to more than $50,000.
Supposedly a maniacal player who had been raising and reraising and bluffing and generally acting a bit looney went all-in in the dark (meaning he hadn't yet looked at his cards) and got three or four callers--and woke up with Aces! The aces held up, and reports of the pot size fall between $100,000 and $200,000. No wonder there was so much screaming. We know the hand happened, but have not yet confirmed any details. We'll see what we can find out and let you know if we learn more.