Friday, 29th March 2024 11:47
Home / Uncategorized / WSOP 2013: As Luske plays on, the room rises according to Doyle

Vladimir Geshkenbein was out of his seat. He was trying to get a drink of some sort, asking the man with a tray or waters and Red Bull for something else. If history is anything to go by the Snowfest champion wanted something stronger. Dom Perignon perhaps.

Whatever it is he’s not getting it from the man with the tray. Another lady with a tray arrived but the chances that she’d meet with his demands were also slim. You may not think that, while playing the biggest poker tournament of your life, with fewer than 320 players remaining, you could buy roses, LED toy swords, fairy wings or fluffy rabbit ears, but you can, and she’ll throw in a pack of Marlboro Reds or Junior Mints for two dollars.

The lady with the tray weaves in between the tables, as do members of the media keeping tabs on particular players. Among them is a man familiar with the business end of an event of this scale, Marcel Luske.

Luske, the Flying Dutchman, is hoping to go better than his 102nd place performance here last year, a point that he’ll hopefully pass this weekend. As of now his stack is a little above average, with close to 700,000, more than enough one might say for the Team PokerStars Pro to show the youngsters a thing or two.

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Marcel Luske


Talking of youngsters, one departure stopped play for a moment before the dinner break – Doyle Brunson’s elimination from the main event.

At first the applause came from the television stage, where Brunson had been playing for much of the week. Then it spread through the television crew, staff and beyond to the outer tables. Brunson uses a mobility scooter to get about these days, and a crutch when his wheels won’t get him to the table. It took him a while to make the short trip off stage, but the ovation was long enough and loud enough to see him on his way.

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Brunson bows out

In this game it’s rare to see sympathy felt between fellow players, and Brunson himself certainly wouldn’t stoop to much crass sentimentality. But the room gladly showed its appreciation, sparing a little appreciation for someone other than themselves, one of few worthy of such tribute.

Stephen Bartley is a PokerStars Blog reporter. Pictures courtesy of Poker Photo Archive.

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