I Was Going To Do This ...

... but now I'm glad I didn't. I went as far as making a list of all the well-known players who I out-cashed at the WSOP but I decided that even if presented in a jocular tone this would be getting it too loudly. Besides, the variance at the WSOP is so enormous that it doesn't really mean very much anyway. The highlights were that I outcashed Negreanu by a couple of K, even though he entered practically everything, and that Vanessa Rousso cashed for a grand total of $0. At least she can fall back on being a game theory instructor.

And this is why I didn't do it in the end. It's impossible to resist the temptation to make bitchy remarks about people who had a bad series. However, Mike Paulle has stepped into the breach and done it all anyway (Parts One and Two). It's quite a departure for Mike who has always been of the "we're not worthy" school in the past, prostrating himself at the feet of the tournament poker gods. Maybe even he's had about enough of that by now. He lets his old-school heroes off lightly, but does claw at the faces of a few of the new boys. Some more justifiably than others. Now I re-read them, in Part One he "doesn't want to embarrass anyone" and doesn't editorialize, but in Part Two he's swishing his martini around and miaowing like Dorothy Parker on a bad day. "Secretly wants to be Maria Ho", ouch ! Let's hope for more of the same in Part 3.

Anyway, it's quite unusual to have the spotlight turned on the losers in tournament poker, so it's worth a look.

Update : Part Three.

Further update (8/9/07): It might be just luck, or it might be that Mike Paulle is on a roll at being interesting. A snippet from his latest, regarding the WPT final tables : "In all the times I covered WPT final tables we never came close to eight hours of play. Steve would whisper in Linda Johnson’s headset and the blinds would double long before they would have on a timed basis. ". Read that again if it doesn't strike you at first. He's implying, no he's flat out saying, that the TV producer was increasing the blinds as and when he felt like it. You know, this is boring, or, I fancy a sandwich, blinds up ! And all the while not adding a bean to the prize pool. Then they stop doing this and think it makes them St. Francis of Assisi. Cunts. Keep it up Mike. Stick it to the man.