The throng of spectators just inside the door was even thicker and tougher to navigate than usual, and I quickly discovered why: 1972 WSOP champion Amarillo Slim Preston was signing autographs for several fans; an equal number of people stood nearby and gawked.
I pushed my way around them, and snuck under the rail next to Humberto’s table just in time to see our good friend From Another Network push all his chips in from early middle position. PokerStars qualifier Joe G. called for about a quarter of his stack, and it was folded around to PokerStars supernova “Tatta” in the big blind. He peeked at his cards, and because I was right over his shoulder, I saw the ace and king of clubs.
Aside: This is exactly how I went broke in the PCA this year. I stupidly played AKc after a raise and a re-raise, and ended up against aces and kings. Oops.
A weaker player (ie: me) would probably elect to play these cards, but Tatta is a Supernova, which means he has a ton of experience. He didn’t need to think too long before he folded face up.
A guy from the rail said, “Good fold, man!”
Humberto walked over, and patted him on the back. “That’s a good fold,” he said. “Too much of a gamble right now.”
Tatta just nodded slowly, as our friend From Another Network flipped up tens, and Joe G. turned over kings. The board bricked out, and From Another Network ended his broadcast day.
While Tatta stacked his chips, I walked down toward the Quadrant of Doom to check on my friend Ryan, who is playing at the same table as Rob “boilingfish” Berryman.
When I got to Ryan and Rob’s table, I noticed that PokerStars qualifier “Mr. Wrong” — who played with me on day 1A and told me that he met his girlfriend because she read my blog, wanted to learn more about poker, and met him at PokerStars — was playing one table to my right, and he had a hell of a stack in front of him. Then I saw that Nate “Jimmytogni” Kelley was one table to my left, keeping his 36K alive and well.
Then I saw Strassa2. Holy. Dog. Crap. Mother. Of. The. Jackson. Five. He had more chips in front of him than I have in my entire house. (This fact is very impressive, especially if you know that I have an entire closet filled with chipsets, thanks to well-meaning relatives who know that I like to play cards.) In fact, as I write this, he is the chip leader. Wow. The nice kid who came into the PokerStars suite two weeks ago and wanted me to tell Otis that he was doing well is the mothergrabbing chipleader in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker.
I remembered that Lee Jones told me and Otis that we had to stay as far away from Strasser2 as possible, so I did that thing kids do when they want to make something vanish: I turned around and walked quickly away. Brilliant!
On my way out of the room, I noticed that several PokerStars Supernovas are still in action. They’re easily identifiable in two different ways:their jerseys all have their names embroidered on the back, and every single one of them had a mountain of chips.
While I was writing this, Jason “Strassa2” Strasser took a huge pot off of one of the few guys in the tournament that he can’t bust: with a flopped two pair, he scooped a pot over 100K from John Furiman to finish the day at 319,000.
Humberto Brenes took a nice pot off of From Another Network 2: Electric Boogaloo when he caught running cards to make a flush. He has over 110K as the day ends.
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