The Twitterverse has been blowing up with poker players chirping about their activities around Las Vegas. With the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in full swing and the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Bellagio Cup beginning, many in the poker community are looking for their last bit of action before taking a few weeks off.
At the WSOP, the biggest story has been the drive of the Mizrachi clan towards the money. After playing in Day 3 on Monday, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi took the time to Tweet to his followers, “Have 91,700 Eric around 100k. Donny 128k. And the big brother Robbie 340k. Alex (Prendes) 171k… Good luck to all my brothers tomorrow and one of my closest friends Alex Prendes!! Let’s do this guys… Let’s get in the cash tom… day by day.” Adding his congratulations in was 2009 WSOP Europe champion Barry Shulman: “Congrats on an unprecedented family performance so far from team Shulman. Hope to see you at the final.”
Other players at the WSOP had tumultuous days on their way through the Day 3 demolition. Defending CardPlayer Magazine Player of the Year Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin seemed to have the best day of those poker players on Twitter when he Tweeted, “499k to end day 3 at my peak. Fun and toys.” Fellow UB.com pro Adam “Roothlus” Levy also was finding cards on Day 3 at the WSOP: “Finished the day with 323,700. I’m prob double avg right now. Crossing my fingers for another great table draw tomorrow.”
Court Harrington experienced the highs and lows of poker within a 24-hour span. After Tweeting “174,600 to end day 3. Guy went nuts with AT, my QQ held up to bust him & win a big pot for my table at least,” Harrington then learned about his Day 4 table to his dismay: “Really? Steve Billirakis, Eric Baldwin, and Paul Lieu (comeonfish) all at my day 4 table?”
Others at the WSOP Main Event are looking to make the money on Day 4. “I have never played this well before,” Juha Helppi Tweeted following the conclusion of Day 3. “Making correct decisions all the time. Should have gone bust many times, but instead going to day4 in WSOP main event with 231,200 in chips! avg about 180k.” PokerStars pro Jason Mercier called his Day 3 “one of the wildest days of poker I have ever witnessed,” but was able to inform his followers, “Finished w 160,300.” On the other side of the equation, both Allie Prescott (“Finished day3 right around 100k. Lost some chips but think I made mostly good decisions today. Hoping for a little bit more luck tomorrow.”) and Kathy Liebert (“Ended day with 43k. Need good Luck tomorrow.”) are looking for intervention from the poker gods.
For those that have been eliminated from the WSOP Main Event, the Bellagio Cup was just the cure for their blues. Kimberly Lansing jumped right back into her duties at the WPT as if she had never left, interviewing players in action at the Bellagio. “The camera battery died halfway thru our interview w Annette Obrestad!,” Lansing lamented through Twitter. “SUX. It was a gr8 invu but hopefully we’ll get her again.”
Justin “Boosted J” Smith had an interesting day of play during the Bellagio Cup. In an extensive series of Tweets, Smith recounted an occurrence at his table: “Just called three streets after calling a UTG raise with AJ high. He bet the river for all of my chips all in. I called, he had king high.” Then, the fun started, as he Tweeted, “The table erupted it was a 97252 board. The guy went on complete deranged animal tilt and started yelling and screaming saying my play was bad, then some young internet player I don’t know told the guy he should stop complaining and it was a nice call and he will cross book him against me for the next 5 years and then they started talking about going outside to fight… lol… all I could do was smile the entire time.”
Some players have been doing very well at the Bellagio Cup, but also know that the final numbers on the event aren’t in yet. “Ended the day at WPT Bellagio Cup with 80,500,” Maria Ho Tweeted to her fans. “Average stack is 109,735. 113 players left from 310 but registration is still open tomorrow!” Coming off a less than impressive WSOP, Full Tilt’s Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad was up the leaderboard, Tweeting, “was down to 65 then Ks vs Qs. Board Qxx x K lol. Then flopped a set and got paid. 167.7k.” On the other side of the equation, Liv Boeree was less than happy with the Bellagio Cup: “Frustrating day at the wpt. Huge allin with top two against chipleader’s straight draw and they got there. Sad game.”
With registration open until later this afternoon, many players are waiting to the last minute to get in. Phil Hellmuth looks to be up to something when he Tweeted, “I am coming into the WPT event at the Bellagio Tues at 1:30 in a costume dressed as a surprise, flanked by the ‘Royal Flush’ girls!” He also reported, “C Ferguson + Ivey coming in 1:30 Tues to Bellagio WPT event.”
Although there is action in Vegas, some are calling it a year and heading away from Sin City’s bright lights. “Disappointing end to the summer but at least I will be home soon to my awesome wife and sweet baby boy,” Lee Childs Tweeted on Tuesday. “Such a fantastic end to my Vegas trip,” PartyPoker’s Kara Scott chirped. “Dinner old school style, pointless (winning) gambling at the Wynn with lovely Brits.” Bryan Devonshire Tweeted, “I’m getting out of Dodge. Prepping: new laptop, new droid…(I’m) laying out gear to spend the next five weeks in Colorado.”
Joe Reitman had the best Tweet of the weekend while in action at the WSOP: “Worst beat of the day. I moved all in & my table wanted to wait for the ESPN cameras to come over. ESPN saw it was me & said, ‘not interested.’ Finally, Erik Seidel capped off what has been an interesting time in Las Vegas by Tweeting, “Thanks everyone in Twitterland for msgs the last 6 weeks. Made the WSOP much more entertaining. Good luck all!”
