By Pauly
Las Vegas, NV
It's the Fourth of July, a day when America celebrates their independence from tyrannic rule from those monarch-loving folks across the pond who drive on the other side of the road and add an necessary 'u' to words like humour and colour.
Don't worry. They won't be playing God Saves the Queen today, although it would be pretty bold if they did. Instead, the walk in music was U2's best hits.
The doors opened promptly at 11:45pm and ESPN's camera followed Robert Varokinyi inside. The lovely Kara Scott (most known as the EPT hostess who went deep in last year's Main Event) is sitting at a table in front of the press box.
We're playing four levels today and expecting a couple of more runners than yesterday's anemic number of 1,116.
Jack Effel reminded everyone about the quad Jacks promotion. They get a lifetime supply of beef jerky. OK, that's not true. They only get $100 worth of beef jerky.
"This is the slowest structure ever for the Main Event!" proclaimed Jack Effel after he told everyone that have them 30,000 in chips this year.
Effel also reminded players that if they cause any trouble and given an infraction, their name will be added to SCMODS (State County Municipal Data System), which is Harrah's way of tracking pedophiles and WSOP troublemakers.
As many of you know, I don't do chip counts because I can't count. Click here for chippies if you're that kind of person.
Stay tuned for live updates here....
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12:20pm... Day 1B Begins; Day of Champions
Cards went in the air at 12:07pm after we heard the national anthem. Even Benjo and the Germans stood up to honor America.
96 year old Jack Ury is playing in the WSOP today. Just like last year and the year before, he was the oldest player at the Main Event. He's was born when back when Vegas was nothing more than a Mormon mission.
Also in the mix are a slew of former Main Event champions including a late arriving Jamie Gold, Greg Raymer, Carlos Mortensen, Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Chris Moneymaker, and Jim Bechtel.
Notables in Day 1B... Jeremiah Smith, Barry Greenstein, Bill Edler, Burt Boutin, David 'The Dragon' Pham, Neverwin, Erik Seidel, Hoyt Corkins, Todd Brunson, Pam Brunson, Jason Lester, Owen Crowe, Jason Young, Jerrod Ankenman, Mike Caro, Joe Sebok, Shaun Deeb, and Kara Scott
Euros in the field? Jani Sointula, Fabrice Soulier, Barny Boatman, Juha Helppi, Patrick Bruel, Kirill Rabtsov, Luca Pagano, Thor Hansen, Vicky Coren, and Rolf Slotboom.
Oh, I walked by the Brasilia Ballroom? It's empty aside from some satellite players. That's an indication that there will be less players on Day 1B, than yesterday.
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2:01pm... Pokerpalooza?
Chipleaders: Ray Davis, Jeremiah Smith, Carlos Mortensen, Kara Scott
Recent Eliminations: NONE
Short Stacks: Greg Raymer, and Joe Sebok, Barry Greenstein, Chris Moneymaker
Sorry for the lack of updates. I wandered into the Pokerpalooza to look around. Joe Hachem has a new book out called Pass the Sugar. I hung out at the Aussie Millions booth and chatted up with some old friends from the Crown Casino including Jonno and Mike. Awesome guys and we shared some old stories about my time Down Under. I covered the Aussie Millions twice and had to skip this year in order to cover the PCA in the Bahamas for PokerStars Blog.
Anyway, the Pokerpalooza is kinda lame. A friend of mine was joking around that the convention area is filled with people who have poker-related products that are going to miserably fail. Those cool poker-themed t-shirts and card protectors and pooper scoopers might have sold during the poker boom, but in these troubled times, it's tough to get broke people to buy those kitchy items.
Pre-UIGEA, the Palooza was called the Expo and online poker sites hired the skankiest chicks in town to hawk their goods. Do you remember the BoDog loft? Where they had scantily clad models engaging in chubby-inducing pillow fights? Sweet Jesus.
You know it's bad when a bunch of Jesus freaks rented out space in the Palooza and are hawking the Lord and reminding us that we're going to hell for having fun in Sin City.
Original content written and provided by Pauly from Tao of Poker at www.taopoker.com. All rights reserved. RSS feeds are for non-commercial use only.
Chris Moneymaker pulled out the only empty seat at Table 3 as he lamented his draw.
