More WSOP, props to Otis, and a little local content too!

My hat's off to all the players who've been thus far enduring the long hours of poker play at the WSOP 2008. And at this point we're only in to Event #4! In addition to the players don't forget the staff and the bloggers and reporters doing the job that allows us all to live vicariously through their words. For a blow-by-blow of the action, head on over to http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/ and pick the event which strikes your fancy and read away. For a quick down and dirty, let me help you out just a bit though. Yeah, I'll take the hit and have management track the fact that I was surfing for poker related content yet again on the company's dime. I'm kinda like the guy who finds the cop for all the other speeders. Anyway, Event #2 $1,500 NLHE is now down to 18 of the original 3,929, and thankfully for all involved is currently on break and will recommence today at 2:00pm PST.
Event #3 $1,500 PLHE as well went into the wee hours of the morning and is down to 63 of the original 713. It would appear that the action continued on until around 4:00am-ish PST, and thankfully they won't get to it again until 2:00pm today as well.
The heart of my post is focused on Event #4 $5,000 Mixed Hold'em (Limit/No Limit.) I've been following along with the progress courtesy of Shamus and shorton. It would appear, that they loosely alternated adding posts up to the Live Blog as the action unfolded. When play starts back up today at 3:00pm PST there will be 91 of the original 332 player field. But the comments which told the story I've found very informative, but more so entertaining. The post titles as the hour blurred from "it's late" to "omg, it's early" were great! Here are a few of the example title posts and snippets of the action that gave me a chuckle while drinking my morning coffee:

"11 hours 39 minutes ago Posted by Shamus, Chiu Takes Bite from Opponent's Stack"

"Devilfish Attack"

"9 hours 16 minutes ago Posted by shorton, E-Dog Always Lurking...Lindgren wins the pot. "I'm always lurking," Lindgren says. Lindgren turns to the PokerNews reporter. "Don't write that up! That's a boring hand.""

"7 hours 30 minutes ago Posted by shorton Bride of Chucked" ~Recapping of course the demise of Ms. Tilly.

"Lederer Slays the Dragon" ~sounds better than Howard vs David

"Hellmuth on a Rampage" ~which involved the brat "...kicking over his chair."

"3 hours 47 minutes ago Posted by Shamus, No Shooting Stars . . . Yet, the fun continues over at Hellmuth's table. After the verbal sparring between him and another player had gone on for a while longer, Marcel Luske had an idea. Luske got up and went over to ask the security guard if he had a gun with which he could shoot them both. Not sure what the guard responded, but it seems to have quieted down over there." ~My favorite post and best idea of the night.

Oh and how many more puns can you guys come up with along the lines of "Hungry Like de Wolfe." : )

Ultimately, the top spot in this event will pay out a cool $374,505. A quick scan of those remaining brought instant recognition of all of the following names, at least to me:

David Williams, Gavin Griffin, Maria Ho, Barry Shulman, Ted Forrest, Roland de Wolfe, Andy Bloch, Howard Lederer, Josh Arieh, Antonio Esfandiari, Patrik Antonius, Michael Craig, David Grey, Marcel Luske, Jeff Shulman, Hoyt Corkins, David Benyamine, and Erick Lindgren

Thanks all for the coverage. Shamus looks to me as if your doing just fine! The rest of your co-horts as well! Looking forward to all the rest squashing what little bit of work productivity that I generally contribute.

Among other news which caught my eye in Google Reader this morning I submit http://www.upforanything.net/poker/archives/gambling-holes.html posted up by "Otis" chronicling an adventure by he and "G-Rob" which found them in quite the "drinking establishment." I can't elaborate, you'll just have to read it yourself. But as a "suburban father with mortgage..." myself I feel like I was almost there myself. Thanks for the post Otis!

Here on the local scene, this Friday "Shuman" will be playing host to his all-too-familiar cash game already teaming with all the usual suspects, some of whom with loose play and money to burn, that have me salivating like Pavlov's dog.

I really should get some work done.

Regards,

cheer_dad