Day 2 - Foxwoods WPT
I just sat down for the start of Day 2 and a few more players showed up than I thought. Some big names survived Day 1B (Josh Arieh 46K, Freddy Deeb 108K, David Benyamine 80K, Farzad Bonyadi 15K, Mike Binger 37K, Haralabos Voulgaris 20K, Alex Jacob 81K, Al Krux 112K, Nam Le 71K, Kathy Liebert 20K, Jeff Madsen 34K, Eugene Todd (Bro) 31K - and he says he just needs to win the first hand he plays and he'll be right back in it; Isabelle Mercier 28K, Chris Moneymaker 49K, Victor Ramdin 90K, Erica Schoenberg 42K, Nick Schulman 76K, David Singer 21K, - I just talked to him and he's as calm as ever; and David Williams 62K). There are more names, but I didn't want to just fill this post with a list. You can find coverage on CardPlayer if you want it.
I have to stand corrected when it comes to the number of entrants dwindling. The late signups and constantly running satellites made the total number of entrants jump to 575. That's a decent tournament, to say the least, despite still being less than last November's event here.
Do I still think the poker boom is over? Yes. But it's good to know there are a lot of big names here , and there are about 350 players left, so there's still some good poker to be played. One of the best stories for the Ante Up! Nation is Lee Childs' father, Bill. He came up here to play a little blackjack and follow his son. But Lee convinced him to play in a single-table satellite to try to win a seat. After 4 hours (now THAT is one long SNG) he won a spot for Day 1B and today he stands as one of the chipleaders at 71K. Pretty remarkable.
Looking forward to the home game tonight with the Ante Up! Nation and I'll give a report on that sometime in the next few days.
I'll try to have some updates throughout the day before I have to leave for JLBSox's house tonight.
-- Chris
Christopher Cosenza is co-host of the longest running poker podcast on the planet, Ante Up! He started playing poker seriously in 2003 and his favorite players are Phil Ivey and Kenna James, though he tends to act like Phil Hellmuth if you make a bad play against him.
Scott Long, Ante Up!'s other co-host, is the author of the monthly Bet on It column in tbt*. He began gambling way too young (don't tell the fuzz!) and in the seventh grade, named his state "Gambleland" for a school project (State Animal? Loan shark, of course).
Re: poker's popularity dwindling, all I can say is it's the loss of people who are no longer "into it." Maybe I'm being a bit of a purist snob here, but playing poker well is a skill and a craft that IMO has no room for fad-seekers. I am by no means an expert-level player, but it is important to me to pay attention, read what I can about the game, and practice as much as I am able to improve my skills. Who cares if it's not as popular as it used to be? Good for us; that means the $200 poker sets are on Amazon for $50 or less. ;)
Posted by: Michelle from Tampa | November 09, 2007 at 04:25 PM