Whether you are into it or not, there is no denying that Twitter has revolutionized communication and information gathering in the 21st century. And as it turns out, it is perfect for getting updates on poker tournaments. That is, provided players decide to Tweet up a storm.
One player who wasn’t shy about hopping on his phone at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) yesterday to provide up to the minute updates on was UB.com’s Brandon Cantu. Cantu, who already owns two WSOP gold bracelets, is gunning for a third in Event #27, $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Low 8-or-Better. He began Tuesday’s Day 2 with 21,500 chips and started giving updates via Twitter at around 5:00pm ET yesterday, letting followers know he was up to 46,000 with 139 players left. While he had made no progress building his stack five hours later, he was probably relieved to Tweet “45k in the money first cash of the wsop.”
At about 11:00pm, Cantu seemed a bit dismayed by the tournament rules, as he posted, “I have a husband and wife tandem at my table and they say the family rule is no longer in effect… Change that back!”
To clarify what he is referring to, WSOP rules state that if family members are seated together at the beginning of a tournament, they can request to be reseated. Of course, as the tournament goes on and players are eliminated, relatives may inevitably find themselves at the same table. Barry Greenstein and his son Joe Sebok ended up together last week and most notably, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and his older brother Robert both made the final table of the $50,000 Player’s Championship. Michael knocked out Robert on his way to the title.
As the night went on, Cantu happily reported that he was on a heater, making it up to 147,000 in chips. After bemoaning his luck a bit later, he Tweeted, “Back to 163k 3 way all in monster and knocked out dutch,” referring to Dutch Boyd, who just won his second WSOP bracelet.
The day ended on a sour note, though, as Cantu posted, “50k done most unlucky day ever 23 left.” Of those 23 players, Cantu is sitting in 20th place. He is already guaranteed $5,607, but undoubtedly has his eyes on the $208,682 first prize.
Cantu was by far the most active Team UB member on Twitter Tuesday, but Phil Hellmuth, never one to keep to himself, posted an “inspirational” of sorts for those players who are struggling just to keep chips on the table. “Once told my parents (2 hrs into Day One), ‘I have nothing left in the tank,’ “ he Tweeted. “Then I proceeded to play three 12 hr days + win bracelet #10!”
But the Tweet of the Day came from UB pro Liv Boeree, who elected to keep poker in perspective, saying, “bubbled $1k and just ate a family pack of gummi bears. The world is in balance.”
Well said.