Photos from Reno and More!!

Here is a blurry picture of me and poker pro John Juanda. I had the honor of playing at the same table with the Asian Sensation. During break, we bumped into pro Hasan Habib and got him to take our picture. He took 3 tries and it ended up being all blurry! Would have gotten more pics but every1 had the gold rush to the bathroom!!




I met this lovely lady outside the Silver State of the Reno Hilton 3 hrs before they allowed people to wait in line to watch the WPT Final Table Taping. She said her name was "Nancy" but I noticed she looked like Poker Pro Clonie Gowen. Even sounded like her to. Then every1 else saw the resemblence. Was like Clonie's clone and lost twin. No one believed her... until the real Clonie showed up. Wish I got a pic of both of them together...






Here is a pic I got w/TJ Cloutier. Looks like TJ wasn't ready for the picture. TJ is a giant and if I thought I couldn't feel any smaller, this did it.




Me and the best voice of poker on TV Mike Sexton!! He (and Vince) truely makes the WPT that much more entertaining. Wish I got Vince's pic as well. Throughout the broadcast, I could count at least 5 times where Vince yawned. Someone in the crowd from Greg "BFT" Mueller's side pointed it out and told him to stop yawning. Hehe. Later, Linda Johnson made a similar remark. If Vince ever wants to reconsider or leave his job (though I don't recommend Vince leaving), I wouldn't mind being his replacement!




This is me and Barry Greenstein's son Joe Sebok. I got the opportunity to play at the same table with young Joe. Joe is quite an accomplished player. He unfortunately busted out (he had A-A and it got cracked by 10-10) before I could get a pic with him in the tourny. This is me and him goofin around before the final table taping going to support his father Barry in at the final table.




Here is a picture I got with Courtney Friel. Waiting in line at about 1:20 or so, Courtney happened to walk by but didn't say hi to anybody. I was turned to the other side talking to Nancy and it wasn't until somebody said, "Hi Courtney" before she was noticed. She then said hi and proceeded to the doors. I tell you, if Courtney ever wants to gain the popularity that Shana had, she better interact with the fans. I remember a CP poll that asked who is the better WPT host, and Shana had 90% of the votes. People I chatted with at the taping also had the same opinions. I don't know what was the case was with her after the taping cuz we left b/c the donk Michael Simon won (didn't want to get a pic with him) and it was 11PM and we hadn't eat since noon (no dinner break during the taping)!!




Here is a pic of the final 2 between Jason Stern (bald guy on the left) and Michael Simon (on right). Now, this headups play lasted probably over 2 hours itself. As you know, the total show that airs on the Travel Channel is 2 hrs long. Well, this match should have been over way before the 2 hour mark HU. Jason probably won 70%+ of all the pots being the aggressor stealing many pots. Jason's only debacle was that (IMO), he had so much momentum and pushed all-in w/7-2o and got a reluctant call from Simon's K-2 and doubled up and the 2 are about even again. Ok, that was god-awful but nothing could compare to what would happen next.



Jason con't to steal blinds and basically got a huge lead (one time 4-1) when this dandy occurred. If I remember right, Mike goes all in w/a K-6 and Jason calls him with the A-Ks. It should be over and we should be getting some grub after this. Well, flop comes 4-5-7 all spades I believe but no1 had a spade but now Simon has the OESD. I look at Jason, and I see pain in his face like he knows whats coming. Turn is a blank of a 10, but the river is a 6 pairing Simon and we are back to even-Steven again. Micheal goes over to his peeps and cameras and says something of the likes, "That's what I do best!! Sucking out!!


If things couldn't get worse from earlier for Jason, think again. Blinds are now enourmous so a fold is pretty rare. Micheal is on the button with J-10o and raises over a million. Stern goes all in w/Q-Js and Simon calls. I jokingly say to the guys next to me that Michael has got him where he wants to be referring to his ability to pull Tuan-Le suckouts. Well, the flop, brought a 10 for Jason and there was no help for Jason after this. God, I feel awful and am about to hurl. Again, donkalicious Michael goes over and makes his suckout remark again. Some heckler in the crowd says, "No skill involved" and the guy next to me yells to Michael, "Michael, you gotta fold the best hand next time." Of course you never hear these remarks on TV from the audience. Linda Johnson pointed out earlier not to make negative remarks and to only make positive/cheer for the players. Of course, it can always be edited which will probably be the case.

So now Michael has the 4-1 adv. Jason won some hands after this and got to about 1.2mil. Then this hand occurred, Michael goes all in w/K-4o (same shit that knocked me out) and Jason takes a long time and says something like "he'll be embarrassed if he flipped over these cards." We in the crowd are thinking 2-7 again?! I'm thinking fold if he has that hand. Well, he finally makes the call and flips over J-8s which isn't that bad. No help on the flop but a holy JACK comes on the turn and Michael is drawing to a gutshot staright or a King and low and behold, the King hits on the river and I think Jason is on suicide watch!!

Other tidbits: The crowd was pretty psyched throughout the taping but lost alot of it probably after the first half hour as Barry Greenstein was the 1st to exit after a cooler flop. Barry had raised PF on the button w/K-8 and was called by Michael Simon, who had A-8. Flop came 8-8-10 and there was no way Barry was getting away from this. I yelled from a "King" to come so if you here that on TV, that's me. Many other people were yelling for a 5th 8 to come for a crooked deck blaming the dealer I guess for that flop. Barry went from about over a million in chips on that hand to about 60K and there was no coming back from that.

Hope you enjoyed; I probably can answer any other questions about the show if you have them.