Ultimatebet Aruba Classic 3

THE END

2004-10-02T22:27:00.000-05:00

ADIOS AMIGOS

2004-10-02T22:19:00.000-05:00

Well, campers, that's a full lid.

If you had half as much fun reading these posts as I had writing them, then I had twice as much fun as you.

Thanks to all the UB crew, especially Melissa Gaddis, whose steady hand at the helm made the whole airship fly.

If you have comments about this blog (be nice) or anything, direct them to customer service at ultimatebet, and they'll find their way to me.

If you're not doing anything next Friday, October 8 at 2:40 pm PDT, check out CNN. I'll be talking about (naturally) poker, my new book Poker Night, and who knows, maybe even Aruba.

I'll be back, of course, on the Jungle Radio. I can't say where, and I can't say when, but I can say this: There will definitely be...

More later, -jv

WISH YOU WERE HERE...

2004-10-02T19:24:00.000-05:00

Don'tcha?

Aruba 2005 is only a year away.

SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL!

BAD BEAT FIESTA -- NAH, SCREW IT

2004-10-02T13:56:00.000-05:00

I'm done talking about bad beats. In fact, I'm done talking about poker. In fact, I'm done talking about everything for now. I'm gonna go hit the pool and soak up some rays before the serious craziness of the awards banquet starts at six. I'll be back some time with a wrap-up of that. Might be tonight. Might be tomorrow. We'll see.

More later, -jv

GOLD BRACELET WINNER -- POT LIMIT OMAHA

2004-10-02T13:54:00.000-05:00

Kudos and encomia to Brad Lussier, screen name BDLUSS, who just picked off the pot limit Omaha crown here at the Gold Bracelet games.

Brad hails from Madison, Wisconsin. I was there once in the summer and I asked someone how it was in the winter. "Oh, it's miserable," she said. "Cold, snowy, nasty... but it keeps out the riffraff." No riffraff Brad, and now he has some hardware to take home.

More later, -jv

GOLD BRACELET WINNER -- POT LIMIT OMAHA/8

2004-10-02T13:47:00.000-05:00

Rick Sherrill, screen name rickshot, just captured the title in pot limit Omha 8/b.

Rick makes frequent tournament forays from his twin homes in Arkansas and Mississippi, and we congratulate him on his gold bracelet win here in Aruba.

More later, -jv

GOLD BRACELET WINNER -- SEVEN CARD STUD

2004-10-02T13:43:00.000-05:00

Senovio Ramirez III, screen name the Chirio, won the Gold Bracelet Games title in seven card stud.

You see him here with Cindy Flores, screen name the honeynut. They live in Mercedes, Texas, where Senovio owns an undustrial suppply house. Felicitaciones, Senovio y Cindy.

More later, -jv

GOLD BRACELET WINNER -- SEVEN STUD/8

2004-10-02T13:40:00.000-05:00

Marco Urbanic, screen name lookin4aces, won the seven-stud high low event here at the Gold Bracelet Games.

Seen here doing his best Henry Kissinger impression, Marco is a computer consultant from Cleveland, OH, and, like yours most humbly truly, a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University. Go Tartans!

More later, -jv

GOLD BRACELET WINNER -- LIMIT HOLD'EM

2004-10-02T13:34:00.000-05:00

John "Pops11" Sirois is the winner of our limit hold'em crown here at the Gold Bracelet Games.

Pops hails from Concord, NC, where he's a doctor in emergency medicine. Wonder how many s&gs he's been called out of.

More later, -jv

GOLD BRACELET WINNER -- LIMIT OMAHA/8

2004-10-02T13:29:00.000-05:00

Gabi Habash -- screen name gabih -- is our winner in the limit Omaha/8 competition.

Originally from Jordan, now hails from Kentucky, and he said of his triumph, "Finally won something, dad gummit," so, clearly, he's mastered the local lingo.

More later, -jv

GOLD BRACELET WINNER -- NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM

2004-10-02T13:26:00.000-05:00

Here's Nick Fair, screen name Mingusthedog, winner of the no-limit hold'em title at the Gold Bracelet games.

Nick's from Toronto, but he's currently based in Dalian, China, where he teaches English. It took him 36 hours to get here, and he'll make the long trip back tomorrow -- but he'll have some lovely bling-bling to keep him company en route.

More later, -jv

YOU THINK THESE THINGS HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT?

2004-10-02T13:16:00.000-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I have traveled all around the world, and I've been to about a million conferences of one kind or another. I usually rate them on a sliding scale, from tolerably effed up to waking nightmare. When one runs well, well, you have to shout props out to the people who made it possible. In a word, these things don't happen by accident.

And so here are maximum props to the Wizards of Conferon, who made this event run smooth as... smooth as... damn, my metaphorator just broke. Well, anyway, smooth. Very... sweetly... smooth.

Left to right: Sue Hertlein, Karen Allen, Meredith Hopkins, Kara Underwood.

Thanks, ladies. You can organize events I'm at any time. And in fact, if one of you would drop by my house and organize my CDs, I'd be forever in your debt.

More later, -jv

BAD BEAT FIESTA -- KOPITE01

2004-10-02T13:07:00.000-05:00

Steve Croft -- Kopite01 -- claims to have taken three bad beats en route to his elimination from the no-limit hold'em Gold Bracelet Game. The worst of these took most of his stack when the blinds were 400 and 800, and he raised to 3000 with A-K suited. He got reraised all-in and called, to find himself face to face with pocket queens.

Now, let's pause to note that pocket queens is actually a favorite here, by about 55-45%, but an ace on the flop put Steve well ahead in the hand. It was gonna take runner-runner something to keep Steve from winning the pot. Did I mention that there was a ten on the flop as well? Can you guess what came next? If you said a king and a jack for a straight, you go to the head of the bad-beat class.

As for Steve, he goes to a dismal chip position, and suffers the final ignominy when his pocket sixes lose to pocket fives.
Gee, a lower pocket pair beating a higher pocket pair? I haven't seen that since, well, yesterday.

More later, -jv

GOLD BRACELET WINNER -- POT LIMIT HOLD'EM

2004-10-02T11:55:00.000-05:00

Here's Art Kane -- ColbySophie -- winner of the pot-limit hold'em Gold Bracelet Game.

He came to the table as chip leader, and held seed throughout. Now he gets to go home to his two Rhodesian ridgebacks, Colby and Sophie, rescue dogs whom he describes as "having issues." Don't they all, Art, don't they all?

More later, -jv

PLAYING CATCH-UP ON THE 540s

2004-10-02T11:33:00.000-05:00

Here are the results of the $540 buy-in from night before last, September 30. 180 ran, $87,300 paid to:

Jack Rosenfeldt Hobro, Denmark $34,920

Gary Barwick Chester, England 17,460

Dan Hart Chicago, IL 8,730

Thomas Bellizzi Long Island, NY 5,238

Andrew Palmer Winston-Salem, NC 3,929

Melissa Hayden Marina del Rey, CA 3,056

Ronnie Ebanks New Orleans, LA 2,183

Danny Noam Cave Creek, AZ 1,746

Tracy Scala Del Rey Beach, FL 1,397

Rene Mouritsen Copenhagen, Denmark 1,048

Bill Wade Brownstown, MI 1,048

James DeVidts Detroit, MI 1,048

Mark Leveritt Milwaukee, WI 960

Christian Kruel Rio de Janiero, Brazil 960

John Schuler Tallahassee, FL 960

Elliott Zaydman Glen Rock, NJ 873

Rafe Furst Los Angeles, CA 873

John Kenny Coconut Creek, FL 873

More later, -jv

BAD BEAT FIESTA -- P0KER H0

2004-10-02T11:04:00.000-05:00

I've heard more bad beats than you. It's a given. In my role as Captain Blogger, I've probably heard more bad beats than God. ("I swear to God, God, the light was green! If that fricka-fracking slackjaw hadn't been such a bad driver, I'd still be alive!")

I've filtered out most of the beats from these posts, because, really, who wants to hear the same sad tune played over and over and over again? It's like the seventh circle of hell, where Gilbert O'Sullivan's Alone Again, Naturally is the only song on the jukebox. But a fey feeling fills the air this morning at the Gold Bracelet Games. Perhaps it's that the money's not serious -- $600 for first place, pocket change for last -- but for whatever reason, giddiness abounds. In that spirit, I've decided to share the bad beats with you, as fast and as fulminant as they come to me.

To kick things off, Mark "P0ker H0" Kroon's swan-song hand.

The game is pot-limit hold'em. Mark starts the day short-stacked with just 6645 in chips (compared to the leader's 62,555). He's looking for a place to make his move, and finds it when someone in front of him makes it 1000 to go. Holding A-J, he re-raises to 3000, and gets calls from the original raiser and a player in between. Flop comes J-9-8. Mark pushes all-in. The original raiser folds, but the other player sticks around with pocket sixes -- and catches a six on the river to send Mark to the rail.

That's a two-outer, folks, but his foe had two chances to hit it, and that'll happen about one time in 12. So I rate it a C+. We've seen it before, and we'll no doubt see it again.

More later, -jv

THE GOLD BRACELET GAMES

2004-10-02T10:22:00.000-05:00

Just to make the madness a little madder, the keen minds at UltimateBet decided to slide another tournament in on top of the big tournament that ended yesterday. These worthies obviously don't want me to have a moment's tranquility by the pool or a refreshing dip in the sea, but I'm not complaining. You know me: I define myself through service.

Anyway, this tournament is actually eight different tournaments, eight different final tables featuring eight different types of poker. Much as it taxes my brain, I shall try my best to explain.

See, once you qualified for Aruba by winning one of the satellites, you also automatically qualified for the gold bracelet games. At this point, you got to make your choice from the following list, and decide in which style of poker you'd like to compete:

NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM
POT-LIMIT HOLD'EM
LIMIT HOLD'EM
LIMIT OMAHA 8/B (eight or better high-low split)
POT-LIMIT OMAHA HIGH ONLY
POT-LIMIT OMAHA 8/B
SEVEN CARD STUD HIGH ONLY
SEVEN CARD STUD 8/B

Then, of a weekend in September, you sat down at your computer and shot it out with your co-combatants. Play in each of these tournaments worked its way down to a final table, 10-handed in the case of the flop games, and 8-handed in the case of stud.

At that point... play stopped. Your chip count was recorded and you betook your actual live body down here to Aruba. This morning you came into the tournament area, found your appropriate seat at the appropriate game, encountered a chip stack corresponding to the number you brought to the virtual final table, and began a one-table shootout for all the marbles -- said marbles to include the gold bracelet pictured below, one for each table winner.

So now we're here, doing something new and different: playing poker.

Your chip leaders at the start of play, by game:

NO-LIMIT HOLD'EM -- STEVE CROFT -- Kopite01
POT-LIMIT HOLD'EM -- ARTHUR KANE -- ColbySophie
LIMIT HOLD'EM -- TODD CROWELL -- toddcrowell
LIMIT OMAHA 8/B (eight or better high-low split) -- AL SABANOVSKI -- Jett1
POT-LIMIT OMAHA HIGH ONLY -- NOAM FREEDMAN -- noam
POT-LIMIT OMAHA 8/B -- RICK SHERRILL -- rickshot
SEVEN CARD STUD HIGH ONLY -- STEVE SUH -- Tipsy Joker
SEVEN CARD STUD 8/B -- WILLIAM WADE -- ImSoBad

And here are the prize payouts:

For the flop games,

1st -- $600 plus the bracelet
2nd -- $400
3rd -- $280
4th -- $200
5th -- $140
6th -- $110
7th -- $90
8th -- $70
9th -- $60
10th -- $50

For the stud games,

1st -- $600 plus the bracelet
2nd -- $460
3rd -- $340
4th -- $220
5th -- $140
6th -- $100
7th -- $80
8th -- $60

I'll be back to report the outcomes as they come out, but in the meantime -- glutton for punishment that I am -- I've decided to embrace the madness with...

BAD BEAT FIESTA!

Stay tuned, -jv

THE FRCKA-FRACKING SLACKJAWS

2004-10-02T09:50:00.000-05:00

I've been listening to bad beats and war stories all week, and now I've got one of my own. Yes, after watching so much poker for so many hours and feeling as, well, eager as a bridgroom on his wedding night, I finally found the time and lack of common sense to play in one of the $540 buy-in evening events. Having reported on other people's play all week, I think it only fair that I report on my own.

Those fricka-fracking slackjaws! If they hadn't played so badly, I woulda won!

Nah, it wasn't like that. Not at all. In fact, it was just another garden-variety trip through a garden-variety tournament, resulting in a garden-variety suck out and a garden-variety trip to the rail.

It had its moments, though; it did.

Despite knowing that I was eager as a bridegroom on his wedding night, and despite vowing that I'd take it slow, I actually found myself getting all my money in the middle on the third hand -- third hand! -- of the tournament. How did that happen? Well, we all started with 2000 in chips, and on the third hand I found myself holding pocket queens. I made it 300 to go. With blinds at 25-50, this may have been too much, but it's the raise that the players in the two prior hands had made and I figured, hey, they'd established the going rate. Well, I got two callers -- one, and possibly two more than I want -- so now there's almost a thousand in the pot already, and I've only got 1700 left.

The flop comes Q-T-9, rainbow. I've flopped top set, but feel very vulnerable to a straight. I don't want to give a free card in this situation, obviously, but a bet less than everything will price an open-ended draw right into the pot. Yikes! Of course, there's the possibility that one of my foes is holding K-J and got there already, but if that's the case, all the money's going in the middle anyhow, and I'm relying on redraws to a full house. I do the math... swallow hard... and push my money in. It seemed like the right thing to do, third hand or thirtieth or 1300th.

Well, they both fold, so I'm off and running!

Uhm... for a little while.

Taking my cue from all the hyperagressive play I've watched all week, I try swinging my big stack around. Doesn't work. My several raises with several middle pairs hit several scary big-card flops, and my stack began to shrink, while meanwhile, the blinds began to rise. Next thing I know, I'm starting to feel imperiled and looking for a place to make my move.

I push half my stack in with A-T suited, encounter a raise and a reraise all-in -- not the outcome I'd hoped for -- and have to muck my hand.

Finally... finally!... with still about 800 in chips, I picked up Ac-Kc and reraised the original raiser all-in. He called with Ah-Jh, and much as I would like to excoriate his play, given the size of my stack and his, and the direish straits I was in, his call was a no-brainer.

We tabled our hands. Can you guess the rest? The board comes brick-rag-swill-crap... jack.

And yours most humbly truly is heading for the rail.

Well, at least I got a little play. And the fact is, the fricka-fracking slackjaws played all right, too.

So now, back to blogging. I'm settling in to watch the Gold Bracelet Shootout, and I'll be back with details on that forthwith.

More later, -jv

THE PARTY'S OVER? HELL, NO!

2004-10-01T17:05:00.000-05:00

You think I'm done blogging? Brothers and sisters, they do not pay me to slack! I'll be back tomorrow with live coverage of the Gold Bracelet Tournament, a shootout of online champions. And then there's the awards banquet. Plus who knows what random revelry. It ain't over till it's over, folks, and it sure ain't over yet.

(But it's over for today. I'm gonna go play poker.)

More later, -jv

HE'S A HAPPY CAMPER!

2004-10-01T17:04:00.000-05:00

A happy, happy camper.

Eric Brenes, winner of $1,000,000, including a $25,000 buy-in to the WPT Tournament of Champions, shown here with WPT host Mike Sexton.

And, "as is traditional on the World Poker Tour," a toast to the winners.

And as the sun dips down into the placid Caribbean Sea, we bid farewell to the 2004 Ultimatebet.com Aruba Poker Classic. If you didn't have fun, you didn't half try.

More later, -jv

YOUR SECOND-PLACE FINISHER

2004-10-01T16:40:00.000-05:00

Layne Flack, a $500,000 winner.

LUCKY DUCKIES -- IT'S ALL OVER!

2004-10-01T16:39:00.000-05:00

Layne Flack was a 4-1 favorite going into the flop when he managed to get his money in the middle with pocket nines against Eric Brenes' 2-2. The turn of A-6-4 put Eric's back to the wall, but he's been lucky before, and he got lucky again, this time catching a deuce on the turn. The river was an irrelevant king, and trip ducks won the pot.

Eric had Layne just barely out-chipped -- 3,605,ooo to 3,560,000 -- and, well, that was that.

Eric, by the way, got into this tournament via a $100 satellite on UB, so he turned a C-note into a cool million. That's quite a parlay!

Pictures to follow. Stay tuned.

Back in a flash, -jv

THE MONEY, HONEY

2004-10-01T16:25:00.000-05:00

...and the trophy: temptation on the table.

Who will win? We shall see. Eric has been slamming Layne with raises, drawing even -- and now ahead -- with his aggressive play.

4.3M for Eric.
3.3M for Layne.

Stay tuned, campers. It won't be long now.

Back in a flash, -jv

WHERE DO THE NUMBERS COME FROM?

2004-10-01T16:11:00.000-05:00

Ever wondered where the chip counts and flop recounts come from? All props and shouts to this lady, Jan Fisher.

She tracks every hand, every bet, the turn of every card, and generously shares her data with the slow kids in the back of the class. Thanks, Jan. You da bomb.

We're on a brief break here, campers, so stretch your legs, grab a cold beverage, and settle in for the rousing finale.

Back in a flash, -jv

LIVE BY THE RIVER, DIE BY THE RIVER

2004-10-01T16:00:00.000-05:00

Mike Matusow came close to eliminating Eric Brenes just now, but a miracle river kept Eric alive and sowed the seeds of Mike's demise.

Holding an 8-6, Eric raised all-in into a flop of Q-8- 5, only to get a call from Mike, holding Q-9. The turn, a 3, put Eric on the brink of elimination, but a six on the river saved him. Thus was Mike, himself saved by a miracle king a while back, eviscerated by the river.

Well, you know what they say: The river giveth and the river taketh away.

Mike couldn't believe his eyes.

And by the time the river got done takething away Mike's chips, he was down to "scrapmetal and donuts." It all went in on the next hand...

Here's the live play by play:

And now Mike is all-in for 75K. Eric has called him, as has Layne

A-Q-7 on the flop.

Eric and Layne check.

Q on the turn.

Check, check.

River: 9

7-4 for Eric wins with a pair of sevens, and Mike Matusow is eliminated in third place.

$250,000 is not a bad payday, but there's no one more disappointed not to have won than Mike Matusow. He has an urgent need to "make his bones" in the poker world, but that need must remain unmet till next time.

For now, let's pause... take a deep breath... and watch the final showdown between Layne Flack, with 4.895 million in chips, and Eric Brenes, with 2.74 million.

Back in a flash, -jv

HECTOR OROZCO, CAUGHT IN PASSING

2004-10-01T15:48:00.000-05:00

If you've ever wondered what your virtual cardroom manager looked like, here he is..

...Hector Orozco, of San Jose, Costa Rica.

Thanks for all your hard work this week, Hector. Without you -- and all the other UB staffers -- this blog would've been a bog.

And now, back to the action.

Layne just bet Mike off a big pot on the turn, causing a million-dollar chip shift. Things happen fast at this limit.

Back in a flash. -jv

PAUL WOLFE, CAPTURED ON WEBCAM

2004-10-01T15:38:00.000-05:00

Can you see Paul Wolfe? That's him, watching the tournament from just to the left of the palm tree.

Says Paul, admiring his picture, "I've never looked better."

Back in a flash, -jv

YOU MAKE YOUR OWN MOMENTUM

2004-10-01T15:25:00.000-05:00

Just five minutes ago, Layne Flack was on his back, but now he's back on the attack, picking up 300K here, 400K there, getting right back in the hunt. Showing no hint of surrender, he's turned up his smile and his chat, suddenly determined, it seems, not to let Matusow win the war of words uncontested.

Does it make a difference? I think it does. When you feel a player's energy, when you think the man's on fire, your more circumspect about your moves. Everyone knows that the best way to have a rush is to build one, and Mike Caro told us 30 years ago that there's nothing wrong with people thinking you're lucky.

Eric -- 2M
Layne -- 2.8M
Mike -- 2.8M

As you can see from these numbers, Layne is all the way back. He has pumped up the volume, and it's working well for him; now the only danger is believing his own PR. Feel like you're invincibly lucky and you can get out in front of a hand at the wrong time, to the wrong end. At times like these, it's good to remember that, "Deception is what you do to others, delusion is what you do to yourself."

Back in a flash, -jv

LEVEL WHATEVER -- BLINDS UP

2004-10-01T15:12:00.000-05:00

Blinds are up now, to 60 and 120K, with antes of 15K. That's 225K going into the middle before the cards are even dealt. Chip counts as follows:

Layne -- 1.4M
Eric -- 1.25M
Mike -- 4.8M

The only one, then, not terribly imperiled by the blinds and antes is the redoubtable Mr. Matusow. He's been getting hit by the deck in the last half hour -- or either that or no one wants to mess with him. Layne seems to be suffering. He's resorted to sunglasses to conceal his eyes from Matusow's penetrating gaze. Eric is cool, though; he remains unwilted in the heat, as tranquil and calm as he's been throughout the tournament.

I may be projecting, but it seems like Matusow has the most to lose. The title -- the status -- seems to matter a great deal to him, much more than Layne, who's been there before, or Eric, who's just ice-cube cool no matter what. It'll be interesting to see what happens if Mike comes back to the pack. With his big chip lead, he should be able to coast home, but if there's a chink in his armor, it's need. If need breeds impatience or recklessness at the wrong time, he could make a decision he regrets.

Back in a flash, -jv

POSTGAME INTERVIEW

2004-10-01T14:50:00.000-05:00

Here's a peek at Patrick getting his postgame moment with Shana Hiatt.

Thanks to Maxx Duffy for this shot, and manyof these shots.

Chip count as we speak:

MIKE -- 3.1M
LAYNE -- 2.7M
ERIC -- 1.7M

B ack in a flash, -jv

OUR FOURTH PLACE FINISHER...

2004-10-01T14:41:00.000-05:00

... is Pat McMillan.

And Mike Matusow gets his chips.

Mike opened the betting for 200K. Patrick raised all-in, committing his entire stack of 920K. Mike called. A-8 for Pat, pocket jacks for Mike. The board came Q-4-2-9-5, and though the crowd wished hard for an ace, wishing won't make it so, and Patrick McMillan was out in fourth place. A real fighter -- remember, he came back from 31st out of 33 at the start of yesterday's play -- he deserves every cent of the $170,000 he earned.

And Mike Matusow is now up over 3 million in chips.

And Eric Brenes just doubled through Layne Flack when his pocket dueces held up against Layne's A-3.

Now he has about two million in chips.

Ladies and gentlemen, we've got ourselves a shootout!

Back in a flash, -jv

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES -- PLEASE STAND BY

2004-10-01T14:20:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what the technical difficulty is -- it's a difficulty, and it's technical in nature -- but there's a break in the action here at the final table, and if you're wondering why I haven't posted an update in the last 30 seconds, that's the reason why.

The pause gives me a chance to upload some pix of ultimate gear. Here are your official tropical-issue UB hats...

...and here's the official tournament tee...

...designed by this man, UB photographer and graphic genius Jason Karl, shown here with his wife, Anthea.

Well, they're promising to resume play shortly, so I'll be back blogging shortly, too. In the meantime, have you checked out the live webcam from Playa Linda? Here's the URL again, in case you missed it before.

http://www.playalinda.com/camera/?

And I'm gonna go outside right now and wave, so click on over.

Back in a flash, -jv

A MILLION PLUS...

2004-10-01T14:07:00.000-05:00

The winner of this little shinding will pick up a cool million dollars, plus this striking, island-themed trophy.

Just to recap the remaining payouts, we have $500,000 for second place, $250,000 for third, and $170 for our next eliminee in fourth.

Back in a flash, -jv

STAYIN' ALIVE, STAYIN' ALIVE!

2004-10-01T14:01:00.000-05:00

Much to the delight of the crowd here at Playa Linda, Patrick McMillan just survived an all-in scare against -- surprise -- someone other than Layne Flack.

He got his money in the middle (625K) with A-J, and found a willing caller in Eric Brenes, holding pocket tens. An ace on the flop gave Patrick the lead in the hand, and when the boad bricked out, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. No chance of hearing that sigh over the shouts from the crowd, where there seems to be much sentimental enthusiasm for the young pro from Knoxville and St. Louis.

He's back up over a million now, and right back in the hunt.

Much to the delight of the crowd.

Back in a flash, -jv

FACES TO NAMES: ERIC BRENES

2004-10-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

I probably shouldn't post this picture because it seems to be the kiss of death -- the last two I posted were both eliminated shortly thereafter -- but anyway, here's Eric Brenes.

The Costa Rican comes by his poker skills naturally: His brothers Alex and Humberto are both top pros. Here's your picture, Eric; hope I haven't jinxed you.

Back in a flash, -jv

VINDICATION?

2004-10-01T13:59:00.001-05:00

"Vindication!" cried Mike Matusow, as the board came a king. Vindication for what, I'm not entirely sure. All the bad beats Mike imagines he's suffered during this tournament? It looked like a garden-variety suckout to me.

Layne opened the betting for 160K and Mike called. The flop came K-3-2. Layne bet 300K, Mike raised all-in for 765K and Layne called. A-A for Layne, K-J for Mike. The turn was a rag, but the river was Miracle Mike's miracle king. A loud cheer went up from... Mike Matusow, as he'd dodged the bullet of elimination.

So it goes here at Playa Linda. We almost got down to three, but we're still stuck on four.

Back in a flash, -jv

JUNGLE RADIO GOES TALK RADIO

2004-10-01T13:58:00.000-05:00

I quote-and-paste an email correction I've just received:

Hey John... Dr Fey is from Clinton Ok... not McClinton... and tell him I want something autographed when he gets back...

Larry McDaniel, RN

President

Dr Fey fanclub

Thanks for the correction, Larry, and thanks for checking in.

Back in a flash, -jv

IT'S MY PARTY -- AND NOBODY ELSE CAN PLAY

2004-10-01T13:48:00.000-05:00

Here's an amazing fact: After almost an hour and a half of play, virtually every hand producing a flop has involved Layne Flack. In fact, I'm not sure if any two other two players have mixed it up even once. Talk about being the straw that stirs the drink!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, in no-limit hold'em, you want to be the one who knows, not the one who guesses. In the largest sense, only Layne knows what Layne is doing; everyone else is guessing, and he's such a dominant force at the moment that they all have to play his game. It's worth going to school on, you who would be tournament winners. Take charge; there's no back seat on this bus.

Back in a flash, -jv

THE START OF ROUND WHATEVER

2004-10-01T13:46:00.000-05:00

Sorry, campers, but I've lost track of the round number. I think it's 623, or maybe a million. Things get fuzzy in the heat. This much I know: Blinds are 40 and 80K, antes are 10K. That's a chunk of change, Chuck, especially if you're Pat McMillan, trailing the field with 875K and looking for some room to move.

Other chip counts at the start of this round:

Layne -- 3.44M
Mike -- 2.175M
Eric -- 1.175M

Back in a flash, -jv

JUANDA ON THE WANDER

2004-10-01T13:40:00.000-05:00

John Juanda is our fifth place finisher. He took an A-8 up against Layne (who else?) Flack's A-K, and they got their money in before the flop. It was all over when a king hit the board.

Layne's got 'em guessing now; he got John to call for all his chips with much the worst hand. And now his chip count is thrice that of his nearest competitor, viz:

LAYNE -- 3.6M
MIKE -- 1.2M
PAT -- 1.55M
ERIC -- 1.5M

Truly... the heart of a baboon.

John Juanda, out in fifth for $130,000.

Back in a flash, -jv

FIVE ARE ALIVE

2004-10-01T13:33:00.000-05:00

... and their chip counts are these:

LAYNE -- 2.25M
JOHN -- 1.25M
MIKE -- 935K
PAT -- 1.53M
ERIC -- 1.505

Antes at this level are 10K and blinds are 40K and 80K, which means that each lap will cost the somnolent player 120K. Literally... you snooze, you lose.

Back in a flash,-jv

OH, DOCTOR -- THE DOC IS DOWN!

2004-10-01T13:16:00.000-05:00

Vic "Doc" Fey, screen name themd, just finished his day in 6th place, victim to yet another Layne Flack rope-a-dope attack. The hand went down like this:

Vic made it 100K to go before the flop, and Layne just called. The flop came J-9-5 offsuit. Doc bet 120K, and again Layne just called. Now came the brutal blow: an ace on the turn, just the card Doc needed for his A-K holding. Trouble was, Layne held A-5, and happily called Doc's all-in bet of 725K. A five on the river merely gilded the lily, giving Layne a full house, and Doc was done for the day.

Layne seems to have established himself as the master of the flat-call today, picking up pots by smooth-calling before or after the flop and making big moves on the turn. In this case, though, Doc did all the work for him and Layne's passive-aggressive strategy paid off again.

Said Layne after the fact, "I've got the heart of a baboon." I don't know what that means, but it makes good copy.

Farewell, Vic "Doc" Fey, our sixth-place finisher and winner of $105,000.

Back in a flash, -jv

FACES WITH NAMES: JOHN JUANDA

2004-10-01T13:13:00.000-05:00

... verifying his chip count before the start of play.

CHIPS CHANGE HANDS

2004-10-01T13:04:00.000-05:00

Well, they both had real hands.

Layne raised to 120K from the button. Mike moved all in for 357K more. Layne called. A-K for Mike, A-Q for Layne. A five-brick board brought no help to either player, and Layne had to ship his chips. This was not the first confrontation between these two: So far, we've seen exactly three hands through to the river, and they've all been Layne/Mike showdowns.

Back in a flash, -jv

FACES WITH NAMES: DOC

2004-10-01T13:01:00.000-05:00

Here's a look at one of your finalists, Vic "Doc" Fey, from McClinton, Oklahoma.

CHIP COUNT ON THE FLY

2004-10-01T11:41:00.000-05:00

Here's a chip count on the fly, courtesy of Linda Johnson, who just took over annoucning duties from Jack McClelland.

Vic "Doc" Fey -- 1.1M
Layne -- 1.2M
John -- 1.2M
Mike -- 870K
Pat -- 1.8M
Eric -- 1.5M

So far in this tournament, the most notable action has been a lack of action. We haven't seen a river -- haven't even seen a turn card -- and I'm pretty sure we've only seen two flops. This is typical of the early stages of final tables, where the players are feeling each other out, searching for weaknesses, over-agressiveness, or other targest of opportunity.

For example, John Juanda just won an uncontested pot with a pre-flop raise. He showed his hand -- pocket tens -- as if to say, "See, boys, I'm not in there with nothing." His credibility for big tickets thus established, he can set himself up for steal-raises later in the action.

In the meantime... more of same: fold, fold, raise, fold, fold, fold. Blinds and antes; first bettor gets the blinds and antes. I'm reminded of a saying I heard somewhere, "The second liar never has a chance." That's true in poker, at least at this table now.

Back in a flash, -jv

SELF INDULGENCE IS ITS OWN REWARD

2004-10-01T11:36:00.000-05:00

You can't know this, but right now I'm sitting about fifteen feet from the tournament table, blogging just as fast as I can. Sitting to my left is Suanne Day, general manager of UltimateBet, tracking the action as fast as I can post it. So, in an act of pure self-indulgence I say, "Hello, Suanne! Here's that picture I took about fifteen seconds ago."

INDICATIVE?

2004-10-01T11:30:00.000-05:00

Folks, it's an insane proposition for me to try to relate all the hands, or even all the meaningful hands, in this tournament. But I'll try to pick off the key ones for you -- the elimination hands and the "indicators," hands or plays that seem to dictate trends... such as Mike Matusow starting one of his patented blitzes or... or this one.

About half a dozen hands into play, Layne and Pat have just gotten involved in a pot. Looking at a flop of A-7-4, pat checked, and Layne bet 80K. Pat raised 120K and Layne folded. It seemed to me that Layne was testing Pat, trying to determine whether Pat's aggressive counter-moves yesterday were strategic or hand-based. Pat, for his part, seemed to be sending the message that, "I'll do the check-raising around here."

Or maybe I'm reading too much into just another hand of poker. Time, as they say, will tell.

Back in a flash, -jv

FAMILY BUSINESS

2004-10-01T11:27:00.000-05:00

Here's Jack McClelland with his able tournament staff, wife Elizabeth, left, and daughter Eva, right.

Uhm... the family that runs tournaments together stays together?

BONITA LINDA AT PLAYA LINDA

2004-10-01T11:22:00.000-05:00

Here's Linda Johnson, WPT announcer and "The First Lady of Poker," calling the shots in Aruba.

STARTING STATS

2004-10-01T11:09:00.000-05:00

Just to refresh your memory (easier than refreshing your web page), here are the final table chip counts and and seat positions. Play starts today with 5K antes and 15K-30K blinds.

SEAT 1 -- VIC FEY -- 1,262,000
SEAT 2 -- LAYNE FLACK -- 1,548,000
SEAT 3 -- JOHN JUANDA -- 1,365,000
SEAT 4 -- MIKE MATUSOW -- 713,000
SEAT 5 -- PATRICK McMILLAN -- 1,328,000
SEAT 6 -- ERIC BRENES -- 1,417,000

So what do you say? Anyone wanna play poker?

Back in a flash, -jv

JUNGLE RADIO IS ON THE AIR

2004-10-01T10:45:00.000-05:00

It's 11:53 in Aruba. Start of final table play is moments away. I'll be back with stats and faqs in a flash, but first things first; check out this webcam:

http://www.playalinda.com/camera/?

It's a live shot from the Playa Linda Resort here in Aruba, where the final table's being played. Bookmark that bad boy and check back frequently. If you see a shiny bald head reflecting the sun, that'll be me.

Next, here are Mike and Vince, just like they appear on TV.

And Shana Hiatt, right, just like she appears on TV. The woman with her is Robyn Moder, producer extraordinaire for the World Poker Tour.

Here's Mike Matusow with his posse-of-one, cousin Greg Haptor, screen name heromusic, in from LA for the big event...

...and Layne Flack giving an interview.

Okay, that's some visuals to get you started.

Back in a flash. -jv

WE GO TO TOMORROW!

2004-09-30T22:25:00.000-05:00

At 11:22 pm here on the happy island, the final table for tomorrow was finally set when Martin Feijo went all-in with a hand slightly better than his previous 2-7, but couldn't make it hold up.

Round 26. The antes were 15K and blinds were 60K and 120K. With only 7 million in chips in play, and each round costing almost 300,000, you knew the end would not be long in coming.

Well, it wasn't.

Two hands into the new round, Martin pushed in under the gun with A-3 offsuit and his remaining 300K in chips. He found a willing caller in the big blind, Eric Brenes, who held pocket nines. A nine on the flop ended the drama and... at long last... we go to tomorrow.

Interesting thing about the blind structure. Though it was big enough to force all-in bets, it hardly encouraged calls. Why? No upside. Suppose you hold a million in chips. Faced with the choice of doubling up or going broke, in most cases you figure that doubling up is a significant good. But here the blinds were so high that even doubling up wouldn't move you far out of precarious territory. On the other hand, if you lost the hand, you lost both the chance for tomorrow's TV exposure (not an insignificant consideration to many) and the chance to get a little more play from your chips when the blinds roll back.

So... weirdly... the upside and the downside were upside down, and thus was the final table setting deferred until the blinds grew so high as to be insurmountable.

Congratulations to Martin Feijo -- screen name IwillbustU -- our seventh place finisher and $80,000 winner.

Here are your chip counts and contestants for tomorrow, when play will start at the considerably less draconian level of 5K antes and 15K-30K blinds:

LAYNE FLACK -- 1,548,000
ERIC BRENES -- 1,417,000
JOHN JUANDA -- 1,365,000
PATRICK McMILLAN -- 1,328,000
VIC FEY -- 1,262,000
MIKE MATUSOW -- 713,000

Game time is 12:00 noon, EST. Look for a first post around 11. Till then, campers... does anyone mind if I go to bed?

More later, -jv

DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES

2004-09-30T21:52:00.000-05:00

Martin Feijo just pushed in his last 268K from the small blind and got a call from Vic Fey in the big blind. Vic had half a hand -- Ad-9h -- but Martin surprised everyone by turning over the worst hand in hold'em, 7-2... okay suited, but still...

Can you guess the rest? The flop came 3c-Kd-Td, but the turn was a deuce and the river, for good measure, a seven.

Think about that next time you make a big move with a bad hand and get caught. "Hey," you can say, "that's how the pros do it."

Of course, the blinds are monstrously high now -- so high that everyone's looking for a hand to make a stand.

But 7-2?

Now I've seen everything.

More later, -jv

ROY OVERBOARD

2004-09-30T21:34:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm going to lose my bet on 10:30, but not by much. At 10:30 exactly, we lost our 8th place finisher, Roy Obriecht, screen name royo1, who collected $55,000 after a mighty fight.

His end came on a coin flip when Layne Flack (who else?) raised pre-flop to 300K and Roy moved in with his half a million or so in chips. Layne called. Pocket nines for Roy and Qc-Tc for Layne. The flop came 3d-Td-Jc. Roy picked a straight draw with an 8 on the turn, but the river was also an 8 and Roy was done.

You didn't hear much about royo1 during this tournament. He was involved in few big confrontations and the only words he uttered were call, raise and fold. But he played cool throughout, won his share of respect (and therefore uncontested pots), and acquitted himself with class. His quiet, steady presence will be missed at the table tomorrow. He wouldn't have been flamboyant for the cameras, but he'd have represented poker well to the folks who eventually watch this thing at home.

More later, -jv

MIKE ON THE MOVE

2004-09-30T21:06:00.000-05:00

We've reached a break after the 24th level, and the story of the last ten minutes -- yes, the story can change that fast -- is the re-emergence of Mike Matusow. After lying fallow seemingly for hours, and watching his chip stack fall and fall, Mike was forced to make a stand with his last couple hundred thousand chips and a not-very-impressive As-7d. He got a call, though, from John Juanda's even less robust Kc-9h, and when the board connected with neither player, Mike had doubled up.

He seemed to take this as a sign to go on a tear, because he picked up a quick blizzard of pots with uncontested pre-flop raises, and before you know it, was back up over a million in chips.

And before you know it, back talking smack again.

It's a funny thing about Mike. When he's silent, everybody's silent. The other players. The floor personnel. The fans. As soon as he starts talking, everyone else starts talking, too. A few outbursts -- "Yeah, baby!" "I never wilted!" -- later, and the whole room was buzzing.

Said John Juanda, "Did Mike Matusow just show up?" I guess you could say he did. You'd have to be deaf not to notice.

Here are the numbers at the break.

VIC FEY -- 1M
LAYNE FLACK -- 800K
JOHN JUANDA -- 1.1K
MIKE MATUSOW -- 1.2K
ROY OBRIECHT -- 350K
PAT McMILLAN -- 1.8M
ERIC BRENES -- 625K
MARTIN FIEJO -- 700K

We start play now with antes at 10K and blinds at 40K and 80K. Hmm... Before play started today, Tournament Director (extraoridaire) Jack McClelland predicted that it would take till 10:30 to get down to six players. We're at 10:13 right now.

Anyone want to bet against Jack?

I don't.

More later, -jv

"UNDER ATTACK" FLACK

2004-09-30T20:48:00.000-05:00

Layne Flack just took another big hit to his stack.

With the blinds still at 30 and 60K, Vic "Doc" Fey made it 120K to go under the gun. Layne called and everyone else retreated to the sideline.

The flop came 9c-Ks-8c and Doc went all-in for his last 367K. Layne must've smelled weakness or drawness, because he called fairly quickly -- with nothing better than a draw of his own.

Kc-Jc for Doc, Ts-Jd -- an open-ended straight draw -- for Layne. The turn brought a club, and the loss brought Layne's stack down below a million.

Now we'll really see a test of his mettle.

Stay tuned, campers. This is almost getting interesting.

More later, -jv

WE HAVE A NEW CHIP LEADER

2004-09-30T20:22:00.000-05:00

Wow, check out this hand:

It's round 24. Antes are 5k, blinds are 30K and 60K, which means each lap costs you a tasty 130K.

Layne Flack is in the big blind, a place he's been comfortable calling raises all night long. Pat McMillan brings it in for 120K and Layne comfortably calls. They see a flop of 2c-6h-3d, not the sort of flop that either of them is likely to have hit... except with Layne you never know.

Well, now a little raising war breaks out. Layne fires the first salvo with... a check (I count this as an aggressive move on Layne's part because, let's face it, the check-raise has not been missing from his repetoire today). Pat makes it 300K to go. Layne... true to form... calls the 300 and raises another 350. Now, this is where his opponents have frequently turned tail today, but not this time. Pat reraises all-in, a sizeable chunk of chips measuring exactly 429K.

Now Layne goes into the tank. He knows that Pat knows he's capable of making a play at that flop... but equally capable of having called with low cheese and hit it hard. If anyone's likely to be at the other end of the deck, it's Pat, who has played much more straightforward tight-aggressive poker today. But is he at the other end with A-K... or A-A? In any case, Layne decides to let it go, thus shifting exactly 935K of his chips to the other end of the table.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet your new chip leader, Pat McMillan.

Who, by the way, started the day in 31st place, with a paltry 85,000 in chips.

And came back from the dinner break dead last at 400K.

Can you say "outhouse to penthouse?" Oh, I think you can.

Now two questions arise. One, will Pat be able to handle prosperity as well as he's handled adversity, and two, will Layne be able to handle adversity as well as he's handled prosperity?

Time will tell.

It's probably telling even as we speak.

More later, -jv

AND THEN THERE WERE EIGHT

2004-09-30T19:44:00.000-05:00

In one of those "tragic that someone has to lose" confrontations, Jim "Gutshot Jimmy" Roy just busted out in ninth place.

Under the gun and (relatively) short-stacked with 800K, Jimmy made the standard opening raise of 100K. It was folded around to a call from Layne Flack in the big blind.

When the flop came Jh-8d-Qs, Jimmy must've thought he was sitting mighty pretty with top two pair, especially when Layne checked. Jimmy made it 400K to go (effectively pot-commiting himself) and Layne came over the top. Jimmy called quickly, only to find himself staring at Laynes T-9 offsuit: Layne had flopped a straight.

Jimmy still had four outs to a full house, plus runner-runner eights as a longshot possibility and runner-runner 9-T for a split pot. Alas it was not to be. The board bricked out, and Gutshot Jimmy was heading home to St. Albert's, Alberta, Canada, $35,000 to the good.

Two hands later, we had a "man overboard" scare when Pat McMillan went all-in against Layne Flack. But his pocket kings held up -- one of the few hands that hasn't gone Layne's way today -- and Pat had doubled up.

Informal chip counts for the Great Eight:

VIC FEY -- 300K
LAYNE FLACK -- 2M
JOHN JUANDA -- 1M
MIKE MATUSOW -- 1.1M
ROY OBRIECHT -- 550K
PAT McMILLAN -- 1.1M
ERIC BRENES -- 1M
MARTIN FIEJO -- 500K

More later, -jv

THREE FOUND OBJECTS

2004-09-30T19:27:00.000-05:00

The pre-prandial torpor has segued nicely into a post-prandial torpor as no one, it seems, wants to claim the 9th spot on the pay table. While the lull extends, I have a moment to catch up on my picture-posting, with three found objects from today's camera work.

First we have another t-shirt for our graphics collection, displayed on the back of sartorially splendid Chad Hicks.

"If it flies, it dies," reads the bottom legend. Not exactly politically correct, but better, Chad imagines, than last year's Hunting With Hangovers shirt, which read, "PETA: People for Elimination of The Animals." The only good news I can think of is that if they really are hunting with hangovers, the only thing they're likely to shoot is the sky.

--

UB staff stalwart Jeremy Day went souvenir shopping today, and came back with this stunningly mis-printed Aruba visor.

Jeremy said that all the other visors had the "Aruba" printed right side up, so naturally he felt compelled to buy this one. A lad after my own heart.

--

Mark Robey, screen name The Bowler, approached me this morning and asked me to autograph his new copy of my new book, The Killer Poker Hold'em Handbook.

I thought I might be flattered until he pulled it out of its camouflage covering, a Dunkin Donuts bag. What does he think it is, a bottle of Thunderbird? Anyway, thanks for supporting the cause, Mark, especially at the island-inflated prices they charge.

More (and more found objects) later, -jv

CHILLIN' LIKE A VILLAIN

2004-09-30T19:12:00.000-05:00

I don't know how the rest of the final table spent its dinner break, But Pat McMillain and his wife, Jill, cruised through the hour enjoying the soft Aruba night -- and enduring, no doubt, the carnivorous Aruba skeeters.

For someone going back into action with just 400K in chips -- far and away the shortest stack, Pat does seem pretty chill. I guess having a $35,000 payday locked up will do that for you. Good luck, Patrick; good luck all.

Play resumes at the 23rd level, with antes of 5K and blinds of 20K and 40K, which means that one lap of inactivity will munch 105K from your stack, and that's as hungry as an Aruba skeeter.

More later, -jv

I LOSE THE BET

2004-09-30T17:31:00.000-05:00

Three quarters of an hour have passed since I postulated a ten minute over/under on the next bustout. No one's budged. I was wrong. I lose.

A tropical torpor, almost, seems to have descended on the final nine. Small raises get called; big raises don't. This sets up a predictable rich-get-richer pattern, which Layne Flack has been using to pad his stack. With solid frequency, he's limping into pots, making small bets into ragged flops, then larger bets (in the neighborhood of 200K) to capture the pot on the turn. That, folks, is how you build a chip stack, and Layne's is now in the neighborhood of 1.5 million.

But this plan of attack takes heart, and a demonstrated willingness to stand up in the face of a reraise, both of which Layne has shown. If I had to put my money down on the outcome, I'd put it down on Layne, and not just because he's the current chip leader. Much as Matusow would have it otherwise, Layne is the straw stirring the drink at this particular table, the one the others defer to and either engage or avoid, according to prediliction.

In any event, dinner is at hand: Chip counts (estimated by the eagle eye of Jack McClelland) as we cruise into the prandial (look it up) break:

VIC FEY -- 700K
LAYNE FLACK -- 1.5M
JOHN JUANDA -- 600K
JIM ROY -- 950K
MIKE MATUSOW -- 1.1M
ROY OBRIECHT -- 700K
PAT McMILLAN -- 400K
ERIC BRENES -- 1.1M
MARTIN FIEJO -- 700K

More later, -jv

RESULTS OF LAST NIGHT'S 540

2004-09-30T17:03:00.000-05:00

While the lull lasts, let's catch up on the results from last night's $540 buy-in no-limit evening shootout. 192 players took a shot at a $93,000 prize pool, with the winners' share paid out as follows:

Bo Sehlstedt Stockholm, Sweden $37,248
Robert Thomas Cumming, GA 18,624
Joanne Benvenisti Las Vegas, NV 9,312
Allyn Shulman Laguna Niguel, CA 5,587
Mike Halioua Toronto, ON 4,190
Victor Barrantes San Jose, Costa Rica 3,259
Richard Tatalovich Scottsdale, AZ 2,328
Philippe Rouas San Francisco, CA 1,862
Chris Compton Dacula, GA 1,490
Dave Rodgers Darien, CT 1,117
Rene Mouritsen Copenhagen, Denmark 1,117
Bob Turco Hightstown, NJ 1,117
Abel Castellano Woodward, OK 1,024
Melissa Hayden Marina Del Rey, CA 1,024
Sam Lev New York, NY 1,024
Jack Jordan Albuquerque, NM 931
David White Midland, TX 931
Juha Helppi Helsinki, Finland 450
Jamin Stokes Grand Rapids, MI 450

More later, -jv

NOT EVEN BUGS CAN BUG HER

2004-09-30T16:54:00.000-05:00

Would you smile like this...

...if your ankle looked like this?

Apparently the mosquitos of this fair island have found Annie Duke-flesh to be very much to their taste. And for reasons beyond comprehension, Annie seems quite proud of her bites. War wounds? Whatever... we cover it all in this blog: the good, the bad, and the passingly strange.

And if you're wondering why I have time for this off-topic post, it's just that pace of play at the final table has slowed to a crawl, literally for the first time since the tournament began. With just three more spots to go before a seat at the TV table, the players -- even voluble chip movers like Layne and Mike -- have become suddenly circumspect in their play. However, a number of these players are known to suffer from Raisitis, and I suspect that it won't be long before patience wanes and the chips start flying again.

It's six o'clock exactly in Aruba. I set the over/under on the next bustout at 10 minutes. Any takers?

More later, -jv

HO NO MO

2004-09-30T16:38:00.000-05:00

Crowd favorite Mark "Poker Ho" Kroon just busted out in 11th place, when his pocket fives ran into Jim Roy's pocket jacks with all the money in the middle. Crowd bias notwithstanding, consensus finds no fault with Mark's all-in move -- it's probably one he's made a dozen times in the course of his climb toward the top. He settles for 11th place, $17,000, and the adoring support of the multitudes.

And then, before you can say, "Re-draw seats for the final table," Tom Robinson fell out in 10th place, collecting a prize of $25,000.

Events have overtaken chip counts, so I'll just give you table positions now, and get back with fresh numbers at the next break.

THE FINAL TABLE:

SEAT 1 -- VIC FEY
SEAT 2 -- LAYNE FLACK
SEAT 4 -- JOHN JUANDA
SEAT 5 -- JIM ROY
SEAT 6 -- MIKE MATUSOW
SEAT 7 -- ROY OBRIECHT
SEAT 8 -- PATRICK McMILLAN
SEAT 9 -- ERIC BRENES
SEAT 10 -- MARTIN FIEJO

More later (God and the internet welling) -jv

CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?

2004-09-30T16:31:00.000-05:00

This is the post I was about to send when the system went down. Fortunately the system bounced back fast. Apparently "soon" means soon after all....

We've reached our first break featuring chip counts of more than a million, and here's everybody's chip count, within shouting distance of a good guess:

TABLE 1

SEAT 1 -- TOM ROBINSON -- 34OK
SEAT 2 -- MIKE MATUSOW -- 1.4M(illion)
SEAT 3 -- JIM ROY -- 440K
SEAT 4 -- ERIC BRENES -- 750K
SEAT 5 -- MARK KROON -- 650K
SEAT 10 -- ROY OBREICHT -- 440K

TABLE 2

SEAT 4 -- LAYNE FLACK -- 1.35M
SEAT 5 -- JOHN JUANDA -- 380K
SEAT 7 -- MARTIN FIEJO -- 600K
SEAT 8 -- PAT McMILLAN -- 280K
SEAT 10 -- VIC FEY --650K

When action resumes at level 21, we'll have 3K antes, and blinds of 12 and 24K.

Just one question: Are we having fun yet?

More later, -jv

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, PLEASE STAND BY

2004-09-30T16:12:00.000-05:00

Jason here at Ultimatebet.com. John Vorhaus just checked in from Aruba, where the entire island has apparently just lost internet access. JV knows you're hanging on for up-to-the-minute posts and he'll get you the news as soon as he can. But there is no telling how quickly service will be restored in a place which runs on island time where "now" means soon, "soon" means later and "later" means never.

Technical difficulties, please stand by.

UNLUCKY 14... 13... 12

2004-09-30T14:56:00.000-05:00

Mike Matusow just mowed down another contender. This time Jason Antonelli, screen name Darbear, ran into Monster Mike, who flat-called in early position with K-K. Jason, short-stacked at 150K, felt compelled to move with A-J, and went all-in. He got a call behind him -- potentially good news -- but then Matusow came over the top, driving out the caller and leaving himself heads up against Jason. A jack on the flop gave Jason a ray of hope, but the turn and river brought no help, and Jason was out in 14th place. He'll take $17,000 back to his Redmond, Wasington, home.

And prospects for an early finish to today's festivities continue to improve as Paul "APLUS" Lui and Shawn "West Texas Man" Rice are both retired in short order, in 13th and 12th place respectively.

Shawn's passing was fully courtesy of Layne Flack, and a particularly savage one-two punch.

In the first confrontation, Shawn had about 1.2M(illion) in chips, and found A-Q of clubs on the button. Flack, sitting to Shawn's right, opened for a raise. Shawn reraised enough to get Flack pot-committed if he called, but Layne was having none of that; he went all-in. At that point, Shawn was getting 3-1 odds, and so had an easy call. Flack had pocket jacks. The flop came J-5-x with two clubs, giving Shawn hope of a flush. But a five on the turn sealed the deal.

After paying Flack off, Shawn was down to 165K. With blinds of 10K and 20K, he didn't wait long to make a move, pushing all in with 5-6 of diamonds. Layne called with K-J. The best hand held up, and that was that with that.

We're cruising toward the second break, and another blind increase, but the way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if another player -- or two or five! -- goes MO before that.

More later, -jv

HOW SWEDE IT AIN'T

2004-09-30T14:23:00.000-05:00

The last Swede in the field, Johan Storakers, screen name Nytorget, just fell out in 15th place, collecting $17,000, when his K-9 ran into Mike Matusow's powerhouse, pocket aces, with all the money in the middle.

Here's a shot of Johan in happier times.

More later, -jv

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR TWO

2004-09-30T14:00:00.000-05:00

Martin Cedercrantz, he of the "too cool for school" t-shirt, got sent home in 17th place just now, earning $13,000 to tide him over through the Swedish fall and winter that await him.

School's out also for Steve Esterson, eliminated in 16th place, and the last of our $13,000 earners.

Their final hands were eerie mirror images. Martin took A-K all in against John Juanda's pocket queens, and fell to a queen on the river. Then Esterson took pocket queens against Layne Flack's A-J, and this time an ace on the board stood up. That, folks, is the heartbreak of big-time tournament poker, but a $13,000 payout will definitely ease the pain.

More later, -jv

A MONEY(MAKER) RECAP

2004-09-30T13:45:00.000-05:00

Chris Moneymaker was just eliminated in 18th place. John Juanda took his last few chips, but the real blow to his chances had come two hands earlier when his K-J ran into Vic Fey's A-A and a can't-get-your-money-in-fast-enough flop of A-J-J. Well, Chris collects $13,000 for his days' work, and now can concentrate on refining his girlfriend's and sister's no-limit hold'em skills.

Congratulations to Chris Moneymaker, a dangerous and savvy combatant.

A quick recap on the prize payouts from this point forward:

16th and 17th place -- $13,000
11th - 15th -- $17,000
10th -- $25,000
9th -- $35,000
8th -- $ 55,000
7th -- $80,000
6th -- $105,000
5th -- $130,000
4th -- $170,000
3rd -- $250,000
2nd -- $500,000
1st -- $1,000,000

More later, -jv

DAY THREE - BREAK ONE

2004-09-30T13:40:00.000-05:00

Here's a shot of the Radisson felt:

And here are your chip leaders at the first break on day three:

SHAWN RICE --820K
LAYNE FLACK -- 610K
ERIC BRENES -- 610K
JIM ROY -- 520K
MIKE MATUSOW -- 500K

Not for nothing, but we lost two more players on the last hand before the break, Brian Bevis, screen name Acesfull23, out in 2oth place, and Tom Kopit, screen name TKTile, out in 19th place. Both collected $13,000 for their trouble.

Speaking of trouble, Mike Matusow almost slow-played himself into trouble on the hand that eliminated Kopit. Holding 8-9 of spades, Tom led at the pot for 30K. Matusow flat-called with a big hand, A-K of diamonds. The flop came down As-6h-7d, giving Matusow top pair and Kopit an open-ended straight draw. Kopit checked, and Matusow checked also, evidently happy to give Kopit a chance to catch up a little. Well, the turn card was the 2s, giving Kopit a whole new set of outs to a spade flush. Kopit pushed all in, and Matusow called, covering him easily.

At this point, math fans, Kopit had 15 outs -- nine spades, three offsuit tens and three offsuit fives -- and was about a 2-1 underdog to hit his hand. I like Kopit's bet, in that the pot was offering more or less correct odds, plus there was a chance that Matusow had nothing (maybe he flat-called with a little pair that he now didn't trust) and would fold.

In any case, the river was a brick and Matusow's hand held up, giving "the Mouth" a chance to thank -- rather exhuberantly -- a God who would not, in Mike's confident estimation, allow him to lose the hand.

And so we swing into post-break play at level 19, with antes of 2K and blinds of 8K and 16K. Eighteen players remain, and the price of poker just went up.

More later, -jv

FAMILY HOUR

2004-09-30T13:37:00.000-05:00

We have another couple of casualties: Tom "Razeit" Giorgi, Man Overboard in 22nd place and, pictured here, left, Chad "RCracer" Hicks, MO in 23rd.

The man on the right in this picture is Chad's dad, Allen "Oldman-2" Hicks, who also played in this tournament, and also moneyed, collecting $7000 for a 191st place finish. Their combined father-son payout of $17,000 just goes to show that the family that plays together gets paid together.

Speaking of playing together, here's Layne Flack with his daughter Halie. It's Halie's first poker tournament, but if the genes run true, it sure won't be her last.

And here's another budding pro-in-training, Neilee Koslosky, shown here with father John, screen name Z2Irish.

Congratulations to Tom and Chad for their money finishes, and congrats also to Tom Coen who followed them shortly, finishing in 21st place and collecting the same ten grand.

We're down to two tables, and will soon be at the first break for the day. I'll be back with updated counts on your chip leaders momentarily.

More later, -jv

ANOTHER FLURRY OF FLIGHT

2004-09-30T13:10:00.000-05:00

In the space of mere minutes, we lost four more players just now.

Brock Parker was out in 27th place.
Jason Freetag, out in 26th.
Darsham Shah, out in25th.
Tony Hulbert, out in 24th.

All four players are now an even ten grand richer than they were.

Here's Darsham Shah, along with his wife Panna.

Dersham -- Casinoking -- got his money in with 7-7 against Ac-8x. When the board came club-club-club-club, the Casinoking was clubbed to death, andout in 25th place.

Here's a standout hand from this recent flurry of activity:

With blinds at 5 and 10K, Shawn Rice opened under the gun for 30K. Chris Moneymaker, in mid-late position, raised to 100K. Jason Freetag flat-called with A-J, but with less than 50K remaining in his stack, he was effectively pot-committed at this point (and may, say the pundits, have been better off going all-in). Layne Flack counted out his chips, thought for a while, and eventually reraised to 300K. Rice folded what was later determined to be A-K, and after a long, long think, Moneymaker released pocket jacks. The pot-committed Freetag called.

The board came 8-A-6, temporarily putting Jason in the lead. But a nine on the turn turned the hand around, and Jason was done.

After the fact, Layne described his thinking. Not figuring Rice for much of a hand, his big reraise was really directed at Moneymaker, whom, he figured, could be made to lay down a good-but-not-great hand and leave Layne heads up against Jason whose stack he had well dominated. Once again we see the fortitious confluence of good thinking and good luck. Layne thoroughly thought through the situation, made his best assessment, and then backed up his analysis with bold action. After that... well, the cards either fall your way or they don't. This time Layne got the break, but in a sense, you could say, he made it for himself.

More later, -jv

30 AND COUNTING... 29 AND COUNTING

2004-09-30T11:34:00.000-05:00

Here's an update of the -- extremely rapidly growing -- list of contenders already elminated from play today:

33rd place -- Jim Rumptz -- $9000
32nd place -- Barnet Shenkin -- $9000
31st place -- Bill Gazes -- $9000
30th place -- Chris Ferguson -- $10,000
29th place -- Daryn Firicano -- $10,000
28th place -- David Wells -- $10,000

Here are Bill and Kristy Gazes, shortly after Bill's elimination. Congratulations to both Gazes for money finishes. They're a class combination, and I dream of the day when husband and wife square off for first prize at a top tournament. That'll be a fun one to cover.

Mere moments after Bill's elimination, another class act, Chris Ferguson, was taken out of play in 30th place by Chris Moneymaker, whose favorite pocket nines held up against Jesus' pocket eights.

Even suffering the sting of elimination, Chris had a smile for the camera. Thanks, Chris.

As you can tell from these flying numbers, folks, the pace of play is scorching hot here in Aruba. With half a dozen knockouts in the first half-hour of play, who knows? We could all be on the beach by sunset.

More later, -jv

BRIDGE PLAYER OVER TROUBLED WATER

2004-09-30T11:16:00.000-05:00

Scotsman Barnet Shenkin became the highest ranking international bridge expert to quit the field of the 2004 Ultimatebet.com Poker Classic when he finished just now in 32nd place. He's pictured here with his wife, Maggie.

Barnet started the day dead last, with just 65,000 in chips. Blinds and antes quickly took him down to 45K when he found himself with K-9 suited on the button. Hoping the blinds might relinquish their 5K and 10K blinds, respectively, he pushed all in -- only to bump up against Layne Flack's found art: pocket jacks in the blind. The board brought no joy, and the noble Scot was done for the day. Well played, B., and congratulations on your $9,000 payday.

More later, -jv

ME AND MY FRIENDS

2004-09-30T10:29:00.000-05:00

Here's a shot of me hangin' in Aruba with my close personal friends, World Poker Tour hosts Mike Sexton, Shana Hiatt and Vince Van Patten. As you can see, they're all smiles. We're tight, I tell you... tight.

Well, it's Thursday in Aruba. WPT is in da house, keeping their unblinking camera eye on the action today as 33 players sort themselves down to six, the lucky and skillful six who will come back tomorrow and do battle under the TV lights with a million-dollar first prize -- and television's temporary immortality -- at stake.

(Temporary immortality. Lovely oxymoron, that. Right up there with television reality and voluntarily compelled.)

In case you missed the numbers last night, here's a recap of the top few finishers:

MIKE MATUSOW -- 837K
SHAWN RICE -- 661K
LAYNE FLACK -- 494K
MARTIN CEDERCRANTZ -- 466K
MARK KROON -- 428K

Other players to watch include the two Chrises, Ferguson and Moneymaker, in 12th and 24th place respectively. They both have experience in this pressure cooker, and have both shown that they know how to close the deal.

Of course, no one left in the field can be considered a slouch by any stretch. You don't make it through more than 600 competitors without having a certain set of tools at your disposal. Sure, it takes some luck -- no one wins any major tournament without a little luck along the way -- but to say that any of these competitors don't belong here... no, that's just wrong. (And not just conceptually but gramatically, too.)

So we count down the minutes till the start of today's feral festivities. Cards will be in the air in about half an hour, and in the meantime, I'm gonna go chase down my pals Mike and Shana and Vince. They gave me their cell phone number, but they must've written it down wrong, 'cause I keep getting some pizza place in Oranjestad.

More later, -jv

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST...

2004-09-29T22:10:00.000-05:00

...and I can't imagine hearing it anywhere much faster: the chip counts, rankings, and seat assignments for tomorrow's sprint to the coveted six spots at the WPT TV table.

Place	First Name	LastName	Chip Count	Table No.	Seat No.
1	Mike	Matusow	837000	1	1
2	Shawn	Rice	661000	1	4
3	Layne	Flack	494000	3	2
4	Martin	Cedercrantz	466000	4	7
5	Mark	Kroon	428000	4	6
6	Tom	Kopietz	350000	4	4
7	Vic	Fey	350000	2	6
8	Jim	Roy	332000	2	8
9	Tom	Coan	287000	2	3
10	Paul	Lui	258000	4	2
11	Tom	Robinson	227000	1	2
12	Chris	Ferguson	226000	1	8
13	Johan	Storakers	201000	3	6
14	Martin	Feijo	186000	3	5
15	Jason	Antonelli	166000	3	4
16	David	Wells	165000	3	3
17	Eric	Brenes	164000	1	3
18	Steve	Esterson	152000	4	3
19	Roy	Obriecht	148000	4	5
20	Daryn	Firicano	147000	3	1
21	Bryan	Bevis	146000	1	7
22	Thomas	Giorgi	135000	2	2
23	Jason	Freetag	126000	4	8
24	Chris	Moneymaker	120000	2	5
25	Jim	Rumptz	117000	1	5
26	Brock	Parker	107000	2	4
27	Chad	Hicks	98000	3	7
28	John	Juanda	92000	2	1
29	Bill	Gazes	91000	4	1
30	Tony	Hulbert	90000	1	6
31	Patrick	McMillan	85000	1	9
32	Darsham	Shah	82000	2	7
33	Barnett	Shenkin	65000	3	8

Well, campers, that's a wrap on today. Sleep tight, dream chippy dreams, and tune in tomorrow for more horrendous beats, shocking suckouts, comedy, tragedy and good, good times.

More later, -jv

WHOLE LOTTA WINNERS

2004-09-29T21:53:00.000-05:00

Here are your money winners for today, September 29, 2004, at the 2004 Ultimatebet.com Aruba Poker Blah-blah-blah.

Going home happy are...

Place	First Name	Last Name	Money Won
34	Antonio	Esfandiari	$9,000
35	Patrick	Powers	$9,000
36	Guy	Cicconi	$9,000
37	Prahlad	Friedman	$9,000
38	Brian	Mason	$9,000
39	John	Deba	$9,000
40	Joseph	Sylvester, Jr.	$9,000
41	Mark	Bartlog	$9,000
42	Theo	Jorgensen	$9,000
43	Jeff	Shulman	$9,000
44	Todd	Keikoan	$9,000
45	Dee	Luong	$9,000
46	Art	Kane	$9,000
47	Alex	Kuznecov	$9,000
48	Mitch	Beram	$9,000
49	Anthony	Fagan	$9,000
50	David	Devoe	$8,500
50 (tie)	Robert	Rector	$8,500
52	Edward	Katzka	$8,000
53	Erik	Seidel	$8,000
54	Mark	Antis	$8,000
55	Kent	Zimmerman	$8,000
56	Irving	Overman	$8,000
57	Richard	DiGiorgio	$8,000
58	Kristy	Gazes	$8,000
59	Aaron	Loew	$8,000
60	Dustin	Woolf	$8,000
61	Benjamin	Roberts	$8,000
62	John	Kenny	$8,000
63	Josh	Supsak	$8,000
64	Alan	Taylor	$8,000
65	Dewey	Weum	$8,000
66	Richard	Freire	$8,000
67	Bo	Sehlstedt	$8,000
68	Rick	Baldaromos	$8,000
69	Shawn	Keller	$8,000
70	Daniel	Shak	$8,000
71	John	Tollefsen	$8,000
72	Gary	Barwick	$8,000
73	Adam	Doiron	$8,000
74	Peter	Giordano	$8,000
75	Amborn	Haga	$8,000
76	Dani	Pourat	$8,000
77	Jay	Hatoff	$8,000
78	Jari	Salonen	$8,000
79	Robert	Williamson III	$8,000
80	Rich	Kain	$8,000
81	Steven	Cardwell	$8,000
82	Alex	Marsh	$8,000
83	Brandon	Pinsky	$8,000
84	Edward	Rose	$8,000
85	Susan	Moncek	$8,000
86	Jay	Greenspan	$8,000
87	Tom	Doyle	$8,000
88	Steve	Morgan	$8,000
89	Peter	Moore	$8,000
90	Brian	Gabrielle	$8,000
91	Thomas	Keller	$8,000
92	Aaron	Kanter	$8,000
93	Howard	Lederer	$8,000
94	Art	Walters	$8,000
95	Chris	Bigler	$8,000
96	Nick	Adamakis	$8,000
97	William	Cole	$8,000
98	Debbie	Burkhead	$8,000
99	Robert	Cochran	$8,000
100	Tristan	Ikuta	$8,000
101	Randy	Bot	$7,000
102	Daniel	Larrson	$7,000
103	Steven	Suh	$7,000
104	Bubba	Lamb	$7,000
105	Arshad	Hussain	$7,000
106	Annie	Duke	$7,000
107	David	Ulliott	$7,000
108	Larry	Smith	$7,000
109	Dan	Sachnowitz	$7,000
110	Robert	Deardorff	$7,000
111	Farzad	Bonyadi	$7,000
112	Melissa	Hayden	$7,000
113	Dee	Stasnopolis	$7,000
114	Alexander	Kravchenko	$7,000
115	Ville	Wahlback	$7,000
116	Robert	Chasen	$7,000
117	Steve	Decker	$7,000
118	Bob	Lawrence	$7,000
119	Barry	Shulman	$7,000
120	Robert	Taylor	$7,000
121			$7,000
122	Ramon	Acosta	$7,000
123	George	Heym	$7,000
124	Rick	Sherrill	$7,000
125	Mark	Young	$7,000
126	Chris	Savage	$7,000
127	Senovio	Ramirez III	$7,000
128	Jeff	Freedman	$7,000
129	Agnet	Lev	$7,000
130			$7,000
131	Clifford	Johnson	$7,000
132	Robert	Weiss	$7,000
133	Jose	Durand	$7,000
134	Stephen	Landrum	$7,000
135	David	Bach	$7,000
136	Jeff	Pursell	$7,000
137	Tom	McEvoy	$7,000
138	Robert	Harrison	$7,000
139	Kenneth	Bell	$7,000
140	Taylor	Caby	$7,000
141	Jose	Stawksi	$7,000
142	Keith	Wagner	$7,000
143	Joseph	Ward	$7,000
144	Marco	Urbanic	$7,000
145	Remo	Discanno	$7,000
146	Ernest	Rice	$7,000
147	Steven	Furhman	$7,000
148	David	Oppenheim	$7,000
149	Jay	Kastner	$7,000
150	Bruno	Fitoussi	$7,000
151	Tobias	Persson	$7,000
152	Jeff	Borg	$7,000
153	Rafael	Santoni	$7,000
154	Kevin	Jessee	$7,000
155	Feite	Lichtendahl	$7,000
156	John	DeSimone	$7,000
157	Lynn	Fair	$7,000
158	Priscilla	Ford	$7,000
159	Todd	Jordan	$7,000
160	Ed	Moore	$7,000
161	Larry	Walsingham	$7,000
162	Joanne	Lui	$7,000
163	Karlo	Lopez	$7,000
164	Martin	McClure	$7,000
165	David	Cole	$7,000
166	Roxanne	Rhodes	$7,000
167	Thom	Roholt	$7,000
168	Tung Yi	Chung	$7,000
169	Brian	Duffy	$7,000
170	Michael	Politz	$7,000
171	David	Schomer	$7,000
172	Matthew	Sherman	$7,000
173	Marc	Kenville	$7,000
174	Katherine	Kolberg	$7,000
175	Toby	Kimmett	$7,000
176	Derek	VanDamme	$7,000
177	Brad	Vise	$7,000
178	Michel	Riou	$7,000
179	Frederick	Berger Sr.	$7,000
180	Scotty	Nguyen	$7,000
181	Paul	Biss	$7,000
182	Jim	Gibson	$7,000
183	Jacob	Zibenberg	$7,000
184	Edward	Pellegrini	$7,000
185	Frank	Scala	$7,000
186	Steven	Black	$7,000
187	Patrick	Christoff	$7,000
188	Michael	Brinkenhoff	$7,000
189	Abraham	Gray	$7,000
190	David	Weisberger	$7,000
191	Casey	Kastle	$7,000
192	Allen	Hicks	$7,000
193	Richard	Kirsch	$7,000
194	John	Dwyer	$7,000
195	William	Strohm Jr.	$7,000
196	Joe	Pelton	$7,000
197	Kevin	Kaikko	$7,000
198	Donald	Lehman	$7,000
199	Patrik	Selin	$7,000
200	Jean-Marc	Henry	$7,000

And that's a whole lotta winners, folks -- any one of whom, of course, would gladly change places with the remaining 33 whose names you don't yet see on the money list. They'll be back tomorrow for more, and I'll be back with their chip counts soon.

More later, -jv

MISE EN SCENE

2004-09-29T21:20:00.000-05:00

Mise en scene means "sense of place. Here's a sense of the place you've been watching from afar...

...where, contrary to all expectation, Antonio Esfandiari has just busted out in 33rd place. He started the day with a commanding chip lead of 150K, earning the admiring comment of a fan, who said, "It's gonna be hard for Antonio to lose those chips." Well, stranger things have happened; I talked to Shawn Rice, screen name West Texas Man, and he says it went down like this:

Antonio made his standard opening raise, and Shawn, holding K-T of clubs, raised to 25K. Antonio reraised half his stack, and Shawn knew he was probably pot-commited at that point. Now Shawn had had position on Antonio all day, a circumstance he found to his liking. But with the end of play approaching, and a redraw for seats looming, he thought it was worth taking a shot at eliminating a dangerous opponent, especially since he A) had a massive stack to work with and B) figured he was at worst a 60-40 underdog to most of the pocket pairs Antonio might be holding.

So Shawn reraised all-in and Antonio called. When Shawn ended up making a straight, Antonio's pocket fives, a modest pre-flop favorite, went down for the count, taking the Magician with them. Kudos to Shawn, not just for analyzing the play in the moment, but also for thinking ahead to the redraw, and the unpleasant possibility of having Antonio on his left tomorrow. That's strategic thinking folks, and that (along with a big stack and a little luck) is how you win tournaments.

I'll be back with the payouts for today's money finishers real soon, and then, shortly after, with the chip counts and new seat assignments of Those Who Live to See Tomorrow.

More later, -jv

NO EXPLANATION NECESSARY

2004-09-29T21:13:00.000-05:00

...nor, indeed, possible.

I don't know who. I don't remember when. I certainly can't imagine why. But anyway, here's some nameless poker player in advanced stages of giddiness. I'd blame it on the water, but no one's drinking water down here.

More later, -jv

SCREW DOCTOR'S ORDERS

2004-09-29T20:58:00.000-05:00

What we have here is John Deba -- screen name Middle John -- wheelchair, ice bag, and all.

He blew out his quadriceps muscle -- detached it from the bone if you can bear that -- just four days before the start of the UB Classic. The doctor told him that under no uncertain terms was he to go to Aruba. He simply wasn't fit to travel. Well, you can see what kind of weight John gave his doctor's orders. Not only did he come, but he played great, solid poker for two solid days (in, no doubt, a considerable amount of pain) and finished just now in 39th place, earning a respectable nine grand for his time and trouble.

Right on, John. You show us what poker would be like as a contact sport.

--

Emergency Jungle Radio Shout Out to the friends and loved ones of Joe Sylvester, Jr., the redoubtable Joe S Gambler. Sad news, Sox fans, Joe just ended his day in 40th place, with a nine grand payday. I asked Joe if he had any embellishments or explanations to pass on, and he just said, "Double brain cramp special." He said you'd know what that means.

More later, -jv

THIS ISLAND AIN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE BOTH OF US

2004-09-29T20:20:00.000-05:00

Chris Ferguson casts a wary eye at a tough foe...

...Sarah Coyne-Croft, daughter of Steve Croft, screen name Kopite01. I understand there was a subsequent ro-sham-bo for bragging rights, and the results were not pretty for our hero. You'd think that a Ph.D. in computer science could throw a little game theory at a little girl...

--

Jungle Radio Shout Out: From Anthony Murray, screen name Anthmurr, to UB players stillwater, lefthash, and ChicagoKid nine.

--

Department of sartorial splendor: You see some bold t-shirt graphics at poker tournaments, perhaps because the t-shirt is the highest style some poker players can aspire to. Myself, I've gotten some wry comments today on my "Vote John Kerry" shirt, everything from, "Right on!" to, "For what?" That's what you like: an informed electorate.

Here's a shirt I dig, brought over from Sweden by Martin Cedercrantz...

...and another one from Steve Suh, his signature look...

...and Bob "Gameslut" Lawrence's signature look...

...and the looks go on and on, and the play goes on and on. With less than half an hour to go before the end of level 16 and the end of play for the day, Mike Matusow has a commanding lead with 786 in chips.

I'll be back soon with today's full numbers, plus, no doubt, a little something-something in between.

More later, -jv

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES -- PLEASE STAND BY

2004-09-29T18:56:00.000-05:00

As of this writing, the Radisson Hotel's internet server is down. I'm writing this blog during the dinner break between levels 14 and 15, and will post it just as soon as internet service resumes, which could be within the next fifteen minutes, or tomorrow, or never. If you're reading these words, you'll know that service was restored, and if you're not reading these words, then you must be doing something else instead.

It's frustrating. Frustrating! I have this cute picture of Chris Ferguson having a staredown with a nine-year-old girl that I'm dying to post. I have some hand histories to recount, and just a ton of chip counts. I even have the money finishes from 200^th place down to 56^th, but I can't share any of it with you. Sigh. Well, I don't recall seeing the words "life is fair" printed on the contract.

But then again, I'm not the only one -- not by a longshot -- who's experienced the truth of that adage today. I've seen pocket kings beat pocket aces three separate times today. I've seen aces full lose to quads. I've seen flopped sets fall victim to runner-runner flushes. And if I haven't seen it, that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. You can't swing a dead cat on this happy island this week without hitting a bad beat.

In my role as blogger-recorder, as you might imagine, I've heard my share (and your share, and several other people's share) of bust-out stories over the last several days. Most of them have been garden-variety bad beat tales. Some -- too many for my taste -- have been the previously described, "I would've won if he'd played better," type. All too few have been admissions of error or honest admiration for another player's play. It would be a refreshing change of pace once in a while just to hear, "What can I say? I got outplayed." But I don't expect it. I know enough about ego and defense of sense of self not to expect that level of humble honesty.

But I would aspire to it, and recommend it, too. Look, folks, crap happens; this we know. We get sucked out on, we experience bad beats (and internet meltdowns), and yes, every now and then we do get outplayed. If we insist on filtering all of our experiences, tournament or otherwise, through the prism of "life isn't fair," all we can do is make ourselves unhappy and degrade the quality of our experience.

Life isn't fair. It says so right on the contract. If you can't get over that -- if you can't take your bad beats and your internet failures (and your personal failures) in stride -- then you're only hurting yourself.

It's food for thought, during this dinner break which may last through lunchtime next month.

Screed over; numbers now:

MIKE MATUSOW -- 390K

STEVE ESTERSON -- 170K

ANTONIO ESFANDIARI -- 200K

JOHN JUANDA -- 88K

JOHAN STORAKERS -- 58K

SHAWN RICE -- WEST TEXAS MAN -- 350K

ERIK SEIDEL -- 52K

POKER HO -- 200K

CHRIS FERGUSON -- 196K

JEFF SHULMAN -- 32K

BILL GAZES -- 60K

JIM ROY -- GUTSHOT JIMMY -- 390K

TOM COAN -- 281K

JOSEPHY S. SYLVESTER -- JOE S GAMBLER -- 153K

ED KATSAK -- TALLNYWRTR -- 41K

DARYN FIRICANO -- 217K

ART KANE -- COLBYSOPHIE -- 50K

DARSHAN SHAH -- CASINOKING -- 134k

Hey, son of a gun, the internet is back! Hey, maybe life is fair after all.

More later, -jv

LIFE IN THE FAST LAYNE

2004-09-29T15:35:00.000-05:00

At the end of tournament level 12, your chip leader is Layne Flack (shown here with Ruth Graham) with a monumental 241K in chips.

Other chipstyles of the rich and famous:

ROBERT WILLIAMSON III -- 33K
ERIK SEIDEL -- 65K
BILL GAZES -- 115K
POKER HO -- 42K
ANTONIO ESFANDIARI -- 215
MIKE MATUSOW -- 180
JEFF SHULMAN -- 61K
KRISTY GAZES -- 56K
CHRIS FERGUSON -- 54K
CHRIS MONEYMAKER -- 93K
BRIAN BEVIS -- ACESFULL23 -- 170K
JOHAN STORAKERS -- 129K
JOHN TOLLEFSEN -- TEXAS TROLL -- 160K
ED KATZKA -- TALLNYWRTR -- 82K
KENT ZIMMERMAN -- KENNY EARL -- 79K
DARSHAM SHAD -- CASINO KING --95K
BARNET SHANKIN -- LUCKYBILL -- 21K
DAVID DEVOE -- DBD -- 122K
(With a message for son Joey: "Get off the internet and go do your homework!")
ANTHONY FAGEN -- ANTHONY1234 -- 24K
(The last player from last year's final table still in the hunt for this year's title.)
JOSEPH SYLVESTER JR -- JOE S GAMBLER -- 103K

Among the recent MOs:

MELISSA HAYDEN
BARRY SHULMAN
TOM McEVOY
JOSH ARIEH
HOWARD LEDERER
GUMMYBEAR
CHRIS BIGLER
DEVILFISH
and DEBBIE BURKHEAD, who said, somehwhat philosophically, "I guess now I can enjoy Aruba."

All of these players will enjoy payouts of either $7,000, if they finished about 100th place, or $8000 if they finished above 50th. As we get closer to the final fifty, I'll give you an updated pay schedule and ante/blind structure, but for now, let's examine the hand that put Annie Duke on the rail in 106th place.

Holding As-9c, Annie opened for 7k and got flat-called by Chris Ferguson. She felt good enough about the flop of 9d-7d-5d to move in the rest of her chips. Chris called and turned over the 7h-5h. The turn and river brought Annie no joy and she was done for the day.

Guys like me, standing on the sideline, have trouble comprehending how someone can call a sizeable bet with an unsizeable hand like 7h-5h, but I think the answer is this: While you don't want to get all crazy promiscuous with your calls, you probably can't thrive in no-limit hold'em by playing just big cards. If you only play good cards, you can't play that many hands, and you're fairly easy to read when you do. Come in from time to time with low cards and you gain deception -- the kind of deception that allows you to flop two pair and put your opponent on the rail.

Of course it helps if, like Chris, you have your foe well dominated in chips. I've said it before and I'll say it again: A big stack forgives a multitude of sins.

Play continues now at level 13, with antes of 400 and blinds of 1500 and 3000. I'll be back at the dinner hour with such chip counts and body counts as I am able to glean.

More later, -jv

THE WISDOM OF BOB

2004-09-29T14:26:00.000-05:00

Uncle Bob has been my number one numbers runner these days, and to him goes credit this great line about Antonio Esfandiari's large-and-growing-larger mound of chips...

"I don't know if Antonio is chip leader, but you can see his stack from space."

--

LUCK OF THE BUDDHIST: Here's Jason Fretag -- screen name JFree -- with his lucky Buddha.

So far so good, Jason, but remember that old Buddhist wisdom: "Don't babysit married women, and don't give away your chips."

--

Lynnie Ristine had been huggin' me up all week before she finally got around to saying, "What does a girl have to do to get her picture in your blog?" Goodness, girl, just ask. (Oh, and don't stop huggin'.)

Here's Lynnie with her husband Mark (right) and Paul "Beanie" Nobles.

--

A TALE OF TWO DAVIDS: How would you like to be sitting to the right of this pair..

David "Devilfish" Ulliot and David Benyamine. You'd never get a chip in edgewise!

Round four is drawing to a close. I'll be back with chip counts presently.

More later, -jv

1:50 PM -- THEY'RE IN THE MONEY!

2004-09-29T13:54:00.000-05:00

Glee broke out like a tropical fever at 1:50 PM today. That's when the 201st player busted out of the Ultimatebet.com Aruba Poker Classic, leaving the 200 remaining runners feeling paid, fat and happy. With just minutes to go before the first break, Jack McClelland announced the good news and a tremendous cheer went up from the crowd. From this point forward, even if you bust out, you've got a paid vacation, a money finish, and an excellent story to tell.

Sadly, some must die that others may live, but even those who bubbled out close to the money had stalwart words to say:

Herb Jenkens, screen name Frank Drevin: "There's always next year."

Lidia Mendoza, screen name Mechita: "I'll be back!"

Curtis Griswold, screen name Thenuts27, "I had a lot more fun than poker in Aruba."

Your chip leaders:

ANTONIO ESFANDIARI -- 185K
STEVE ESTERSON -- 140K
DANI POURAT -- 120K
DARYN FIRICANO -- 116K
JOHAN STORAKERS -- 115K

Other notables and quotables:

LAYNE FLACK -- 64K
ROBERT WILLIAMSON -- 35K
MELISSA HAYDEN -- 44K
DEBBIE BURKHEAD -- 30K
SCOTTY NGUYEN -- 14K
BILL GAZES -- 100K
CHRIS FERGUSON -- 61K
TOM McEVOY -- 12K
ERIK SEIDEL -- 80K
DEVILFISH -- 95K
ANNIE DUKE -- 21K
MARK KROON -- POKERHO -- 60K
THOMAS KELLER -- GUMMYBEAR -- 40K
CHRIS BIGLER -- 60K

The Jungle Radio sends a shout out to Ed Katzka's mom: Your little tallnywrtr is in the money and feeling frisky at the break with 33K in chips.

In a similar vein, Jeff Borg -- borgdogs -- wants all his fans in Jacksonville to know that he's pulling down a payday in Aruba.

Bob Taylor -- Vegasbob -- is also sitting pretty with 49K.

Message from Jim Gibson, screen name Diamond Gem: "Dear Mom and Dad, summer camp is fun." He also wants his investors to know that they're gonna at least break even.

Other players having good, good days:

David Devoe -- DBD -- 11K
Susan Moncek -- SusieQue -- 55K
Randy Bot -- 50K
Joseph Sylvester Jr. -- JoeSGambler -- 16.5K
Kent Zimmerman -- KennyEarl -- 21K
Chris Savage -- brsavage --52k
Bob Lawrence -- gameslut -- 31K
Cliff Johnson -- TheChauffeur 5.7K

A final note: Now that the field is in the money, a certain seriousness has left the house, as evidenced by this picture of Steven Furhman, screen name Mr. Mondo, who gives new meaning to the phrase "game face."

More later, -jv

PHOTO OPS

2004-09-29T13:12:00.000-05:00

Here's a rogue's gallery -- or galleryette -- from the first stages of play on day two.

From left, Chris Bigler, Fred "Showgirl" Berger and Mike Matusow are all smiles as play gets underway. Chris says that earplugs are indicated for anyone sitting this close to Matusow.

Annie Duke gets her game face on.

This is Larry Walsingham -- Fishlinear -- with his lucky mouse, the pointing device he drove to victory in perhaps the strongest parlay of the field: a $3 plus rebuys satellite into a $104 super into the main event. Go Larry. Go mouse.

Super siblings: Robert and Karen Williamson.

Extreme close up: Dan Sachnowitz -- Sachdaddy -- veers a little too close to the camera.

Round one is wrapping up now, and I need to go, quick like bunny, and gather chip counts.

More later, -jv

EACH OF US IS THE CENTER OF OUR OWN UNIVERSE

2004-09-29T11:13:00.000-05:00

And while I'm sure that they'd rather be in the universe next door -- with a seat at the main event -- nevertheless, these folks are probably reasonably happy with the universe they're in: money winners in last night's $540 buy-in no-limit evening shootout.

133 players carved up $64,505. And the winners were...

Mark Leveritt Milwaukee, WI $25,802

J. P. Cody Boston, MA 12,900

Eric Katz Brooklyn, NY 6,450

Brad Slama Monterey, CA 3,870

Raul Oliviera Rio de Janiero, Brazil 2,903

Ken Flaton Henderson, NV 2,258

Stacy Matuson Hollywood, FL 1,613

David Truong Vancouver, BC 1,290

Jose Guzman San Juan, Puerto Rico 1,032

Sharlotte Vise Keller, TX 774

Dee Archer Lake Charles, LA 774

Jeffrey Nathan Brighton, England 774

Marcello Delgrosso Toronto, ON 710

Ilan Lewinger Miami, FL 710

Marcos Reis Brownsville, TX 710

James Mordue Beverly Hills, CA 645

Karl Callahan Grants Pass, OR 645

Robert Thomas Cumming, GA 645

More later, -jv

DAY TWO: PRE-ROAD DOWNS

2004-09-29T10:36:00.000-05:00

There's an old song by Crosby, Stills and Nash:

I have kissed you
so I'll miss you.
In the morning I'll be wanting you

Seems to me that's where we are this morning: with 289 competitors who have kissed success in the first round of tournament play and are hoping not to be missing it before too much time has passed.

647 players started out. The final tally of the starting field was late in arriving because of Hurricane Blah-blah-blah, and that's the last time you'll hear that mentioned by me. Over three days we played down to under three hundred, and that's where the action starts today. It won't stop until some 241 bodies have fallen and we're down to the final 48. It could be a long day. Then again...

With the prize money kicking in at 200th place and not changing significantly till 50th place, there's really no incentive to sit on a short stack once you've made the money. At that point, I suspect, you'll see a flurry of shootouts and bustouts that will leave -- let's not be coy about it -- carnage in its wake. Anyway, that's my hunch. We'll see.

--

Jungle Radio:

- It seems like everyone's reading the jungle radio, even hotel security: Tournament area guard Douglas Lazaro just asked me to wish him a happy birthday over jungle radio. Here you go, Doug. Feliz cumpleanos, hermano.

- Dealer Jody Evener says all this talk about chip counts is starting to get to him. Doesn't anyone care about dealer stats? He himself has dealt 39 downs, and counting. Go Jody, go!

- Glenn Fetner, screen name Sulpherbluff, figures today has got to be his lucky day because his son was born this morning at 3:30 AM. I asked what's the lad's name and he said, "We don't know. He came too soon." Well, here's hoping dad gets a good jump on young Player to be Named Later's scholarship fund this week.

More later, -jv

THREE FLIGHTS -- THE FULL LID

2004-09-28T22:52:00.001-05:00

In a moment, the integrated results from all three flights of day one competiton here at the good 'ol Ultimatebet.com Aruba Poker Classic.

But first, an attempt at levity.

"How many busted tournament players does it take to change a lightbulb?"

"Where's the #*&%#%!!!#%# cash game?!"

Funny, huh? Not, I imagine, if you're one of the MOs (MO, remember, standing for Man Overboard) unless you've mastered the art of equanimity so vital to a tournament poker player's mental well-being, if not bottom line.

Seriously, if I may vent for a moment, I can't tell you how many variations on this theme I've heard in the last few days: "I would have won if only my opponent hadn't played so poorly. He had to put me on an ace (or pair, or straight, or flush, or quads). How could he make that call?" Well, one way or another, he did make that call, and it seems to me that failure to adjust to the play of others, good or bad, is not good play and, further to that, the blaming of others can do nothing for your good ol' equanimity and peace of mind.

Look, I know it's easy for me to say, "Suck it up and deal," sitting, as I am, comfortably on the sideline. Nevertheless, attributing your misfortune to others -- even if they're to blame! -- can not do your mindset any good. Instead I recommend this line of thought. I played correctly, to the best of my ability, so I can take some satisfaction from that. As for the rest of it, well, that happens. This won't, of course, get you back into a tournament you've bounded out of, but it may help you sleep well at night.

No trouble sleeping well tonight for these first day finishers -- not just from flight three but from all three flights, combined in one list for your number crunching and odds setting pleasure. No trouble sleeping well, that is, apart from whatever butterfly dreams may perturb their sleep as they contemplate day two play tomorrow.

Place	First Name	Last Name	Chip Count
1	Antonio	Esfandiari	149700
2	Dustin	Woolf	117000
3	Steve	Esterson	113100
4	Peter H	Giordano	102100
5	Tom	Kopietz	93000
6	dani o	pourat	88200
7	Erik	Seidel	86900
8	Martin	Cedercrantz	81500
9	Anthony D	Hulbert	71100
10	Chris	Moneymaker	69400
11	Bryan J	Bevis	68100
12	Farzad	BONYADI	67000
13	Tom	Robinson	66100
14	Johan M	Storakers	64500
15	Brandon J	Pinsky	63100
16	Chad	Hicks	62900
17	Roxanne	Rhodes	57900
18	Aaron	Kanter	57800
19	Robert	Williamson III	57100
20	Kristy	Gazes	56600
21	REMO	DISCANNO	56100
22	Karlo	Lopez	55600
23	Prahlad	Friedman	53700
24	Shawn G	Keller	53600
25	Robert	Chasen	53400
26	martin p	feijo	53300
27	todd d	zahner	53000
28	Robert D	Rector	51000
29	david	benyamine	50800
30	Adam D	Doiron	50700
31	Vic	Fey	50700
32	David B	Wells	49200
33	Robert m	Taylor	49000
34	Irving D	Overman	48600
35	Jay A	Greenspan	48400
36	Rick A	Sherrill	48300
37	Steven	Suh	47800
38	Barry	Shulman	46700
39	Randy s	Bot	46100
40	Joseph L	Ward	46100
41	Mark	Bartlog	44300
42	Steven W	Black	43900
43	Jeff	Freedman	43300
44	Alex	Kuznecov	43100
45	Allen B	Cunningham	42700
46	Patrik	Selin	42400
47	Dee H	Stasnopolis	41900
48	Arthur	Kane	41400
49	Jari	Salonen	41100
50	Steven	Morgon	41100
51	Rick M	Baldaramos	40700
52	Jay	Kartner	40500
53	Brian	Mason	40000
54	Jeff B	Shulman	39800
55	Alex	Balandin	39400
56	Thomas A	Giorgi	39300
57	Donald M	Lehman	39300
58	David	Rasmussen	38800
59	Thomas G	Keller	38600
60	Mitch	Beram	38400
61	Bill	Gazes	38200
62	Robert B	Harrison, Jr	38200
63	Steven	Cardwell	37600
64	Mike	Matusow	37500
65	Richard	DiGioogio	37400
66	Todd D	Keikoan	37200
67	George A	Heym	36800
68	Ernest B	Rice	36700
69	Patrick	McMillan	36500
70	Taylor	Caby	35800
71	Alexander	Kravchenko	35700
72	Frank E	Scala	35600
73	david c	schomer	35300
74	Daniel	Larsson	34700
75	Melissa	Hayden	34700
76	Chris	Bigler	34600
77	Tobias	Porsson	34500
78	Jay S	Hatoff	33400
79	Alan	Taylor	33400
80	Larry J	Smith	32900
81	Shawn	Rice	32800
82	Layne	Flack	32300
83	Roy T	Obriecht	32300
84	Nick	Adamakis	31100
85	Susan A	Moncek	30600
86	Ville	Wahlbeck	30600
87	agneta	Lev	30300
88	Josh M	Supsak	30200
89	Guy	Vitale	30200
90	Alex P	Marsh	29900
91	Eric M	Murray	29700
92	Steve	Decker	29700
93	Theo	Jorgensen	29400
94	James	Rumptz	29300
95	Michael J	Politz	28900
96	Karl J	Callahan	28800
97	Priscilla	Ford	28000
98	Kevin D	Jessee	27700
99	Larry e	Walsingham	27700
100	Jean-Marc	Henry	27700
101	Arshad	Hussain	27500
102	Tristan	Ikuta	27300
103	Ambjorn	Haga	27100
104	aaron t	loew	27000
105	Gioseppe	Caruso	26900
106	Tom E	Doyle	26900
107	John	Desimone	26800
108	Bo E	Sehlstedt	26800
109	Thom P	Roholt	26700
110	Larry W	Sahr	26700
111	Richard	Freire	26600
112	John P	Tollefsen	26600
113	Senovio	Ramirez III	26500
114	Alexander M	Wendell	26500
115	George F	Moncek	26300
116	David	Ulliott	26200
117	William H	Saul	26200
118	Dewey	Weum	26100
119	Joe	Pelton	26100
120	Tom	Coan	25500
121	John	Rowland	25000
122	Robert B	Weiss	25000
123	Robert J	Cochran	24900
124	David F	Grey	24800
125	Herb B	Jenkins	24800
126	Eric	Brenes	24700
127	Christopher A	Lamb	24700
128	David W	Cole	24700
129	Richard C	Kain	24400
130	Darshan N	Shah	24400
131	David	Oppenheim	24300
132	John G	Sirois	24300
133	Peter	Smurfit	24300
134	Fredrick	Berger	24100
135	Jim d	gibson	24100
136	Andrew	Palmer	23900
137	Richard M	Kirsch	23700
138	John B	Parker	23500
139	Chris	Ferguson	23100
140	Marc A	Kenville	23000
141	Brian J	Duffy	22900
142	Kevin D	Kaikko	22300
143	Bruno	Fitoussi	22000
144	David B	Devoe	21900
145	Feite	Lichtendahl	21800
146	William M	Strohm Jr.	21800
147	Edward l	rose	21700
148	Keith R	Wagner	21300
149	Daniel L	Shak	21100
150	Mark w	Kroon	20900
151	Howard H	Lederer	20900
152	chris e	savage	20800
153	Brian J	Gabrielle	20700
154	Daryn C	Firicano	20600
155	Adam L	Small	20500
156	Anthony J	Fagan	20400
157	Barnet	Shenkin	20300
158	Paul C	Lui	20300
159	Raj	Agarwal	20100
160	Mark W	Antis	20000
161	Allen	Hicks	20000
162	John	McCann	20000
163	John	Kenny	19800
164	Jacob	Zibenberg	19800
165	Jeff	Pursell	19700
166	Annie	Duke	19100
167	art r	walters jr	19100
168	John	Juanda	18900
169	Daniel	Sandnes	18900
170	Marco A	Urbanic	18700
171	JJ	Liu	18600
172	James E	Hammond	18500
173	Glenn B	Fair	18400
174	Richard K	Weeks	17900
175	Tim	Sutera	17700
176	Jose E	Duran	17400
177	Matthew D	Sherman	17300
178	Clifford A	Johnson	17000
179	Todd	Cohen	16900
180	Frank	Sinopoli	16900
181	Guy	Cicconi	16800
182	John M	Leveritt	16800
183	Woody	Moore	16800
184	Patrick	Christoff	16600
185	Jeremy J	Dougherty	16500
186	Katherine G	Kolberg	16500
187	Alex A	Brenes	16500
188	David J	Bach	16200
189	Stephen H	Landrum	16200
190	William	Cole	16100
191	Kent A	Zimmerman	16000
192	Michael	Catalani	16000
193	Jason A	Antonelli	15800
194	Abraham	Gray	15800
195	Randy	Blumer	15600
196	Ruth M	Graham	15400
197	Sid	Bonner	15400
198	Jose	Stawski	15100
199	Lucio	Procopio	14900
200	Stephen H	Docter	14800
201	Jason K	Swanson	14800
202	Derek	ARAJE	14700
203	Rafael	Santoni	14400
204	Lance	Tarvin	14300
205	Michael R	Connell	14300
206	John E	Dwyer	14200
207	Michael C	Brinkenhoff	14100
208	Benjamin	Roberts	14100
209	Robert	Joiner	13800
210	Tung Yi	Chung	13600
211	Glenn	Fetner	13500
212	Jeff T	Borg	13400
213	Jason c	Fretag	13300
214	josh	arieh	13300
215	Steve g	Trizis	13200
216	Robert L	Deardorff	12800
217	Darrell	Dejesus	12800
218	Gary R	Barwick	12700
219	Edward D	Katzka	12600
220	Than	Nguyen	12600
221	Dee N	Luong	12300
222	Michel	RIOU	12300
223	David M	Weisberger	12300
224	Casey	Kastle	12200
225	Peter	Moore	12200
226	Edward	Pellegrini	12200
227	Rene	Moritsen	12000
228	Marc I	Durand	11900
229	Bob G	Lawrence	11900
230	Lidia M	Mendoza	11800
231	Ramon	Acosta	11800
232	Todd A	Crowell	11800
233	Todd	Holcomb	11800
234	Blair	Rodman	11700
235	Jose	Guzman	11600
236	Martin L	McClure	11500
237	Mark e	Young	11500
238	Toby A	Kimmett	11400
239	Ernesto M	Cruz	11200
240	Ed	Moore	11200
241	brian r	hetzel	11200
242	Anders	Rosander	11100
243	Joseph M	Said	11100
244	Gary M	Styczynski	11100
245	Patrick K	Powers	11000
246	Kenneth	Bell	10700
247	Brad K	Slama	10500
248	Ernest J	Romano	10200
249	Derek J	VanDamme	10200
250	Brad R	Vise	10000
251	Todd D	Jordan	10000
252	paul m	biss	9300
253	John	Esposito	8300
254	Mark A	Owens	8300
255	Daniel I	Tarnopol	7900
256	Michael	Postle	7500
257	Dylan J	Lucas	7400
258	Tom	McEvoy	7200
259	Mike K	Snook	7200
260	Daniel J	Gordon	7200
261	John K	Dickerson	7100
262	Debbie	Burkhead	6800
263	Derek J	Tomko	6700
264	Jack	Jordan	6600
265	Alan	Young	6400
266	Hans	Nelsen	6000
267	darin a	wilson	5900
268	Dan T	Bleakley	5800
269	Mark J	Meeder	5800
270	David	Gyarmati	5500
271	frode	willumsen	5300
272	Dan A	Sachnowitz	5100
273	Aaron	Neilson	5100
274	R	Taylor	5100
275	James P	Roy	4100
276	Suzan	Cohen	3700
277	Ryan P	McCauley	2900
278	John S	Deba	2700
279	einav d	limor	2200

Is it only day two? My goodness, it feels like forever.

More later, -jv

PS Huge props to Marco Urbanic, screen name looking4aces, for techincal support in the construction of this blog.

THAT WHINY POKER HO AND OTHER STORIES

2004-09-28T21:12:00.000-05:00

Some of you will recall that last night I posted a picture of Mark Kroon -- P0ker H0 -- which could flatteringly be called unflattering, and man, did he whine about that. "Why couldn't you show my good side?" Well, crap, Mark, if I could find it, I would.

And then I had a brainstorm. Suppose I applied the law of averages... found someone at the top of the curve that Mark could drag down to the middle. With help from Kristi Catalani -- screen name AlabamaSlamma -- I think I reached my goal. Judge for yourself.

Or either that or cover your eyes.

--

Rochelle Taylor -- Austin Powers -- describes herself as the master of the short stack. She arrived at the final table of her Aruba satellite with just 7,000 in chips but managed to -- in the immmortal words of Teddy KGB -- "keep hanging around and hanging around" long enough to win the thing. Now she's here... never with a mound of chips... but still hanging around and hanging on long enough to survive day one, albeit with only 5,000 in chips. Tomorrow she'll have a chance to test her mastery of the short stack one more time.

Here's a picture of Rochelle, giving us her best "International Man of Mystery" look:

Stay tuned, by the way, for everybody's results and not just Rochelle's, to be posted mere moments from now.

--

Here's Fasteddie 13, Ed Rose, and his buddy Andrew Zimmon, madkid, celebrating their day one survival.

Not pictured: the two nice local girls who have offered to show them the nightlight of Oranjestad. Oh, did I say that out loud?

--

Unlike that last lie I told, this one is true: Karen Williamson, sister of Robert Williamson III, led a party of revelers out into the warm Aruba night tonight.

Pictured from left: David Wells, Antonio Esfandiari, Kimber Friedman, Perry Friedman, Chris Ferguson, Maxx Duffy, Karen Williamson, Noam Freedman, Andra Keller, and Thomas Keller, and to tell the truth, I'm a little worried, because Maxx Duffy is my wife, and the last time Karen led a party out into the warm Aruba night, they all ended up passed out on the beach at dawn.

--

Finally,

This space intentionally left blank.

More later, -jv

GREETINGS FROM SUNNY...

2004-09-28T18:16:00.000-05:00

Offered without comment. -jv

SUNSET SUPPER CRUISE

2004-09-28T17:37:00.000-05:00

As we sall off into the sunset of suppertime, David Benyamine retains the chip lead with a highly picturesque 66.5K.

Other pretenders and contenders include:

JEFF SHULMAN -- 26K
ALEX BRENES -- 13K
SCOTTY NGUYEN -- 19K
BLAIR RODMAN -- 11K
FREDDY DEEB -- 7K
JAY GREENSPAN -- 22K
DEBBIE BURKHEAD -- 11K
JOSH ARIEH -- 29K
RUSS HAMILTON -- 32K
BARRY SHULMAN -- 26.2K
BARRY GREENSTEIN -- 17K
MIKE MATUSOW -- 25K
ALLEN CUNNINGHAM -- 24K
MARCEL LUSKE -- 49K

MO: Allyn Shulman, Young Phan, Mimi Tran, Yosh Nakano, Stan Goldstein and a full supporting cast.

JUNGLE RADIO:

GARY DEBERNARDI -- DEBO34 -- 25K
MARTIN FEIJO -- IWILLBUSTU -- 45K
ANDREW ZIMMON -- MADKID -- 6.6K
ED ROSE -- FASTEDDIE13 -- 20.8
ROCHELLE TAYLOR -- AUSTIN POWERS -- 5K
JOHAN NYTORGET -- STORAKERS -- 58K
DANI POURAT -- DANICCI1141 -- 45K

Finally, just so you know that there's more going on on this island than just poker, some photographic evidence of romance...

More later, -jv

SHULMAN SAYS

2004-09-28T15:34:00.000-05:00

Every time I see Barry Shulman, I can't help thinking of that razor blade guy who said, "I liked this razor so much that I bought the company."

A poker player with mad skills, Barry liked the game well enough to take the helm of Card Player Magazine and become a powerful driving force in poker's recent popularity surge. Bon chance, Barry; win this thing, and who knows? You might even make the cover of your own mag.

Back in the here and now, or more precisely the there and then, these are the results from last night's $540 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament.

125 players carved up a prize pool of $60,625. And the winners were...

Jlari Sahamies -- Vantaa, Finland -- $24,250

Mike Kobzeff -- Huntington Beach, CA -- 12,125

Chad Hicks -- Dalhart, TX -- 6,063

Daniel Hart -- Chicago, IL -- 3,638

John Carey -- San Francisco, CA -- 2,728

Christian Kruel -- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -- 2,122

Zac Dalton -- Phoenix, AZ -- 1,516

Stacy Matuson -- Hollywood, FL -- 1,213

John McCann -- Philadelphia, PA -- 970

Bernardo Herszkopf -- San Jose, Costa Rica -- 728

Eugene Leader -- Boston, MA -- 728

Daniel Shak -- Bryn Mawr, PA -- 728

Paul Weaver -- Richmond, VA -- 667

Peter Smurfit -- Miami, FL -- 667

Bill White -- Belfast, Northern Ireland -- 667

Jason Antonelli -- Redmond, WA -- 605

Josh Supsak -- New York, NY -- 605

Jay Dean -- Berkeley, CA -- 605

Felicidades a todo, especially those players who busted out of the main event and found some solace, and some cash, in the evening's joust.

More later, -jv.

ALL SMILES

2004-09-28T15:23:00.000-05:00

You'd smile too if you were this guy, David Benyamine...

...and you'd completed the fourth round of play as the chip leader with 43,000 in chips. David told me he doesn't care about being chip leader this early in the action -- and he's right not to care -- but the beaming grin on his face tells a different story. Or maybe he's just happy in his work.

Others still toiling in the fields of felt at this, the halfway point for the first day of flight three:

ALLEN CUNNINGHAM -- 16.5K
CARLOS MORTENSON -- 6K
MARCEL LUSKE -- 29K
ALLYN SHULMAN -- 14K
MIMI TRAN -- 18K
BARRY SHULMAN -- 17.5K
MIKE MATUSOW -- 13K
JEFF SHULMAN -- 25.5K
ALEX BRENES -- 11K
STAN GOLDSTEIN -- 3.5K
SCOTTY NGUYEN -- 19K
BLAIR RODMAN -- 16K
FREDDY DEEB -- 4K
YOSH NAKANO -- 11K
JAY GREENSPAN -- 21K
DEBBIE BURKHEAD -- 10

Among those unlucky souls destined for an afternoon of sunbathing or cash games, count James Worth, Young Phan, Scott Fischman, and Erick Lindgren.

And now, Jungle Radio:

ROCHELLE TAYLOR -- AUSTIN POWERS -- 10K
DAVID OTTOSEN -- QUILKSILVER --10.7K
JOSEPH WARD -- LATESTLINES2 -- 30K
PAT McLEOD -- ABOMBS -- 14K
KEN MASICOTTE -- KENNYJ37 -- 17K
ROBERT TRONZO -- TRIZZZ -- 8K
ALEX VUONG -- ALEXMILAN -- 7K
LARRY SAHR -- LWCZAR -- 28K
BONNIE DAMIAN -- AUGUST17 -- 30K
JEFF PURSELL -- COOLERKING -- 20K
JOSEPH SYLVESTER JR -- JOESGAMBLER -- 17.2K

You know, a lot of these players have told me that a lot of you out there in blogland are standing by, indeed hanging on, for word of how your boys and girls are faring. To this I have two responses.

First, please accept my apologies for the fragmentary and incomplete nature of the Jungle Radio. With a field this large I can really only report numbers from players who report them to me. The squeaky wheel, as they say, gets the press.

Second... geez... GET A LIFE! Don't you have anything better to do with your time than hang around for the next blog?

Uhm... gee... me neither.

Okay, then, we'll reconvene for the dinnertime chip counts at, well, dinnertime.

Between now and then I'll have results from last night's $540 event and, just possibly, time for a dip in the pool.

More later, -jv

MARCEL LUSKE (AND MANY OTHERS) IN DA HOUSE

2004-09-28T13:40:00.000-05:00

"Self-indulgence," to quote the sage, "is its own reward." In that spirit, I present this picture of, well, me, with my new idol Marcel "The Flying Dutchman"Luske, who had a great 2004 WSOP and finished on the final-table bubble for the main event.

In the realm of meaningless numbers, as we've already discussed, any chip count that's not zero is pretty strikingly irrelevant this early in the tournament day; nevertheless, here are some numbers for Marcel and other names of note after two hours of flight three play:

MARCEL LUSKE -- 22.5K
ALLEN CUNNINGHAM -- 17.5K
CARLOS MORTENSON -- 9.8K
SCOTT FISCHMAN -- 10.5K
DAVID BENYAMINE -- 11K
ALLYN SHULMAN -- 14.9K
MIMI TRAN - - 20.6K
BARRY SHULMAN -- 9.1K
BARRY GREENSTEIN -- 21K
ERICK LINDGREN -- 8K
MIKE MATUSOW -- 8.7K
YOUNG PHAN -- 12.7K*
JOSH ARIEH -- 9K
DAVID LEVI -- 3.7K
RUSS HAMILTON -- 12K
LEE WATKINSON -- 4K
JEFF SHULMAN -- 8.7K
ALEX BRENES -- 15K
STAN GOLDSTEIN -- 12K
SCOTTY NGUYEN -- 14K
BLAIR RODMAN --14K
FREDDY DEEB -- 9.3K
YOSH NAKANO -- 11K
FREDDY BONYADI -- 19K
JAMES "KRAZYKANUCK" WORTH -- 7.9K
JAY GREENSPAN -- 7.9K
DEBBIE BURKHEAD -- 6K

*Young Phan was erroniously reported as MO yesterday; in fact, like many players he was waylayed by the hurricane and arrived too late to make his day two start, so he was moved to flight three. As the saying goes, "My bad."

John Bonetti was MO before the first break, and Paul Darden and Phil Ivey were MO -- in a sense -- before the tournament started. For various reasons, these two worthies were unable to make it down to Aruba, and their luminous presence will be missed.

Okay, here's news from the Jungle Radio:

David Ottosen, screen name quilksilver, rates his chances as good-to-excellent today because it's a special day: the first anniversay of the day he proposed to his wife. Idiot that I am, I asked if she said yes. Well, yes, and they were married on December 7 of last year. Cheers to David and Andrea, and here's hoping that David's first-break chip count of5.4K will grow and sustain him throughout his lucky day.

Other runners wanting to shout out their numbers to the folks back home:

ROCHELLE TAYLOR -- AUSTIN POWERS -- 11K
JEFF PURSELL -- COOLER KING -- 17K
JASON ROOT -- FAQUE -- 11.5K

Finally, here's Jim Gibson, screen name Diamond Gem, winner of the coolest hat award for today:

More later, -jv

THE FUN NEVER STOPS IN ARUBA...

2004-09-28T13:35:00.000-05:00

...even if you're a dealer!

Team UB member Russ Hamilton looks (or more appropriately gawks) on as a dealer gets a rubdown in the middle of his down. One can only suppose that keeping his muscles loose and supple improves his card pitching technique. And if you're a dealer, or you know a dealer, spread the word about Aruba 2005 becuase one thing's for sure: UB knows how to treat its tournament dealers right!

I'll be back shortly with a first look at today's names of note and their first-break chip counts.

More almost immediately, -jv

ANOTHER CRUDDY DAY IN PARADISE

2004-09-28T10:06:00.000-05:00

Good morning, campers! Here's a shot of Richard Kirsh, screen name Phikappa25, enjoying an early dip in the pool.

Air temperature 87 degrees, water temperature 87 degrees. I hope he's not too cold.

Flight three of the Ultimatebet.com Aruba Poker Classic is taxiing down the runway even as we speak, and I'll be back shortly after it starts with some names and faces of note for your "distance sweating" pleasure. Meantime, because I know you want to know, here's a look at the minimum (though possibly not maximum) payouts for this event.

1st place - $1,000,000 (including $25,000 WPT Championship Event buy-in)
2nd place -- $500,000
3rd - $250,000
4th - $170,000
5th - $130,000
6th - $105,000
7th - $80,000
8th - $55,000
9th - $35, 000
10th - $25,000
11th - 15th - $17,000
16th - 20th - $13,000
21st - 30th - $10,000
31st - 50th - $9,000
51st - 100th - $8,000
101st - 200th - $7,000

And while I think we can all agree that the big money is (as usual) in the top spots, the generously deep pay table (nearly one-third of the field stands to cash) reflects the new math of satellite- and especially internet satellite-driven big poker tournaments.

The math is simple: If you paid $6,200 in cash, to enter this tournament, then a, say, 123rd place finish is a disappointment, barely better than break-even. But if you satellited in (and yes, mother, to satellite is now a verb) for, let's say, an aggregate of $500, then seven grand is a healthy chunk of change. We all know about subjective reality -- what you see depends on where you stand -- but now we see the collective subjective reality of all those satellite winners impacting the prize payout structure. Personally, I think it's great, and most of the players I've talked to seem to agree. Even a modest money finish here represents a tremendous return-on-investment, a paid and unforgettable vacation in paradise, and bragging rights for the folks back home. Like the man said, "It's all good."

I just have one gripe, and that's that I'm too busy working this tournament to play in it. Why, with almost a third of the field guaranteed a money finish, even a momzer like me might get paid!

More later, -jv