Over the course of the weekend in the Twitterverse, poker players were naturally discussing the start of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). With the $50,000 Players’ Championship starting on Friday for the high rollers and the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em tournament picking up action on Saturday, the top pros on Twitter kept their fans informed of their status in the events.
Railing boyfriend David Baker was PokerStars sponsored player Maria “Maridu” Mayrinck, who was torn between his deep run in the $50K and her contractual obligation to attend a Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) event. “I keep changing my flight to Peru, now I leave at 5am. We’re going all the way in the 50K 8 game, DAVID BAKER FTW!,” Maria tweeted late last night. Once the chips were bagged at the end of play, Mayrinck gave a last report before heading to the airport, “End of day 3, David finished with 725K, 21 players left, 16itm.”
Another player who was railing people close to his heart was Eric Mizrachi, who hustled between his brothers Robert and Michael to inform his followers of their status. “Both my brothers still in @WSOP event #2 50k buy in,” Mizrachi was pleased to report Sunday night. “22 players left, @TheGrinder44 is chip leader with 1.5m and @PokerRob24 with 1m!” Other players reporting their success in the $50K included John Juanda (“End of Day 3. I’ve got $788K and we are 5 players away from the money.”), Erik Seidel (“End of day 3. 374k. 21 left”), and Andy Bloch (“Ended day with 418k, about half average. We restart the 50k tomorrow at 3pm with 21 players remaining.”).
One of the best exchanges over Twitter during the $50,000 Player’s Championship developed between Daniel Negreanu and Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis. “Earlier @texdolly tasted a piece of my Seitan,” Negreanu Tweeted after Doyle Brunson tried some of Negreanu’s Vegan meal prepared by his personal assistant. “You know it’s gotta be alright when a BBQ eatin’ Texan says he likes it.” This led Veldhuis to admonish, “@realkidpoker stop trying to convert people!” Negreanu replied, “@RaSZi ya cause Doyle is totally going Vegan now, right.”
Of particular interest in the $1000 No Limit Hold’em tournament was a battle between Gavin Griffin and Terrence Chan. “Out, my AA v @tchanpoker QQ, Q on river,” Tweeted Griffin after the particularly bad beat, which led Chan to respond, “First time in my life I’ve been genuinely unhappy to win an all-in in a big tourney.” Chan then chirped, “The seat of the departed @nhgg has been replaced by one Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture,” recognizing the arrival of one of the best MMA fighters in the world. The former UFC champion didn’t last long at the tables as, two hours later, Chan reported his demise: “Randy is out. Got it in drawing dead on the turn, J7 against AT on KJQx.”
Not surprisingly, many poker players are having sleep issues as the WSOP gets up and running. “So bummed. bad time for insomnia,” Phil Laak Tweeted early Monday morning. “I hear the birds chirping. need to sleep. had it all timed. oh no! 4 hrs now past bedtime. need to sleep!” Victory Poker’s Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little was another player battling sleep issues when he Tweeted, “Ugh. I am up way too early. Good thing I have business to attend to. Going to work out after that. Wsop day 2 of $1000 event later.” Devin “TranquilChaos” Porter was having trouble getting his WSOP clock worked out also: “Up since 6 am Vegas time… Safe to say I’m not on the right sleep schedule for WSOP yet.”
Jeff Madsen asked a particularly interesting question though the Twitterscape about the banners of previous WSOP Main Event champions that hang throughout the Rio. “So I want to get to the bottom of this, why is Bill Smith the 1985 world champion the only one without a banner around Amazon room?,” Madsen inquired about one of the most obscure World Champions the WSOP has crowned. Noted poker reporter B.J. Nemeth solved the mystery for Madsen when he Tweeted, “@JeffMadsenobv Nobody has any photos of Bill Smith to use for the banner. Binion’s won’t let Harrah’s use the pic from the Wall of Fame.”
Absent from the start of the WSOP was Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad, who apparently was taking some time to spend with family before she comes to Las Vegas. “Visiting aunt and cousin. Goin home in a bit. Just gonna watch tv tonight and go to bed early,” Obrestad stated yesterday on Twitter. Obrestad did Tweet that her arrival was forthcoming: “Shooting for the documentary all day today, then Vegas tomorrow weee!”
Another player noted by their absence was David Williams. The former Bodog sponsored pro and current World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship titleholder let his followers know that he is deep in preparation for the WSOP: “Been gone a while. Resting up for the WSOP in Puerto Rico playing Magic. Finally home tomorrow. First event Tues. 5k NL shootout.” Williams also alluded to some big news over the next couple of days when he chirped, “Will be tweeting again and have should have some HUGE news to announce in the next day or so. Life is great!”
On the humorous side of poker players on Twitter, Annie Duke asked a philosophical question: “Here’s a weird but semi serious ? If an alien culture found a VHS tape, would they be able to reverse engineer a way to play it? CDs too?” Michele Lewis was preoccupied with her workout when she Tweeted, “Clearly my medication has worn off.. I watched the Braves for ten minutes before realizing it was the Twins. On stairmaster-doesn’t count.” Finally, UB.com pro Bryan “badbeatninja” Devonshire asked a pertinent question to users of iTunes: “Why in the hell would anybody pre-order an album on iTunes? I mean Dierks Bentley is dreamy and all, but they’re not gonna run out.”