Ian McKenzie Blog

Is it possible that the excitement in the Amazon room here at the Rio has peaked when we haven’t even crowned a 12million dollar champion yet?!?!

If you’ve never experienced THE BUBBLE at a 10k Main Event Championship at the WSOP (with a record total of 8,773 entrants) put it on your ‘To Do’ list. The room is electric. The mood has the most extreme mix of fear, confidence, joy and turmoil. Shortstacks have been hanging on for dear life. Chip Leaders have been pacing around with boredom and anticipation as they wait for the remaining tables to complete their round by round play. They JUST announced to the remaining 873 players that they have MADE THE CASH. The announcement just sent goosebumps down my entire body. The crowd erupted with cheers before the announcement was even complete. This room went from being almost silent to sounding like an orphanage that’s just been visited by Santa Clause.

Yes, Christmas has come early to poker players inhabiting the city of Las Vegas. As excited as the remaining players are there are still SEVEN days of play, many bad beats, and several chip transfers yet to come. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll see the following players battle it out to the end.

Allen Cunningham $410k
Homberto Brenes $388k
John Gale $320k
Daniel Negreanu $240k
Ted Forrest $200k
Jeffrey Lisandro $196k
Joe Hachem $175k
Tom McEvoy $93k
David ‘The Dragon’ Pham $90k
Hoyt Corkins $90k
Cyndy Violette $75k
Nam Le $75k
Annie Duke $65k
Kathy Liebert $56k

IN MEMORIUM OF THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN BEHIND… and by that I mean “have busted” today!

Phil Ivey
Layne Flack
Josh Arieh
Carlos Mortenson
Freddy Deeb

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Fossilman has been knocked out of the main event along with Rene Angelil who had been sitting alongside Daniel Negreanu at today’s ESPN featured table. It doesn’t look like Daniel will be making his exit anytime soon. He’s sitting on a large chip stack (at around 134k) and seems to be enjoying himself, chatting and laughing with the other players at his table.

Another player who is feeling good about his chip stack is Brian Wilson “The Rookie”. Bring won a bracelet last year in one of the Omaha games and has become a good friend of the Bluff Radio show. He’s taking players out left and right at his table and has accumulated a 130k in chips. When I saw him before dinner he said, in regards to his chip stack, “Now I can enjoy myself!”

In other news… I will be playing the 1K NL event tomorrow compliments of Jeff ‘The Kid’ Madsen. He lost a bet to me last night and as a result he’s buying me into the event. I’m “his horse” as he likes to say. But he may not have gotten the raw end of the deal. I’m a pretty good player so he actually has a chance to profit from our little deal! I think I might sport a hat that says, “The Kid’s Pony.”

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Today is Day 2B of the Main Event which means on Friday we’ll have Day 3 and for the first time we’ll have the entire remaining field of this event in one room for the first time. It’s predicted that Day 3 will also be BUBBLE day… a day of disappointment AND glee becuase of course with The Bubble comes The Cash. There is much to be determined with over 10 hours of play left today but here’s what the lineup is looking like.

CONFIRMED PLAYERS FROM DAY 2A MOVING ON TO DAY 3:
Jeff Lisandro 210k
Allen Cunningham 172k
Theo Tran 113k
Homberto Brenes 110k
David Pham 95k
Carlos Mortenson 82k
Annie Duke 73k
Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson 60k

UNDER 30K (but still moving on to Day 3)
Daniel Alaie
Layne Flack
Phil Ivey

PLAYERS POTENTIALLY MOVING ON FROM TODAY’S DAY 2B (ALTHOUGH THERE ARE STILL 10HRS OF PLAY YET TO DETERMINE THEIR FATES)

Brian Wilson
Daneil Negreanu
Joe Hachem
Cyndy Violette

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With the wave of Main Event Madness I’ve been a little too busy to blog. But seeing that today is the first of two day two’s (wow, figure that one out) there is a slight calm in the storm. I know many of you have been wondering… “WHO’S OUT… WHO’S IN… WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE POKER WORLD?!” I am happy to update you… ‘happy’ to offer my services but sad to inform you of the current busts. None of the following players will not be wearing a WSOP MAIN EVENT CHAMPION bracelet home or earning the 1st place prize of over 12 MILLION DOLLARS!

Michael “Grinder” Mizrachi
Phil Gordon
Clonie Gowan
Doyle Brunson
David Williams
Antonio Esfandiari
Jennifer Harmon
Mike Matusow
Phil Hellmuth
Mike Caro
Chris Moneymaker
Isabelle Mercier
Johnny Chan
Marcel Luske
Liz Lieu
Chip Reese
Erik Seidel
Vince Van Patten
Erick Lindgren
Hasan Habib
Sam Farha
John Phan
Gus Hansen
Dutch Boyd
Jennifer ‘Jennicide’ Leigh
Dan Harrington
Andy Bloch
Gavin Smith
Joe Awada
David Matthew
Max Pescatori
Scott Fishcman
Victor Ramdin

CELEBRITY PLAYERS:
Jennifer Tilly
Shannon Elizabeth
Dean Cain
Hank Azaria
Lennox Lewis
Matthew Lillard
Roger Cross
Mekhi Phifer
Joe Awada
David Matthew
Max Pescatori
Wil Wheaton
Brad Garret
Dax Shepard
Mekhi Phifer
Wil Wheaton

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Main Event day #1 is here. The halls are crowded. The players are seated. The chips are movin’ and the cards are in the air.

The pros are here, the average joes are to and the celebs have arrived and too quickly said ‘adieu’! Hee hee, I have to keep myself entertained somehow, right?! Actually there is plenty of entertainment here at the Rio. Speaking of celebs a few faces I saw at the tables include: Tobey Maguire, James Garner, Mekhi Phifer, Norm MacDonald, Laura Prepon and Chris Masterson. Laura Prepon being the only one of the above left in the tournament.

Of course all of our favorite pro players are at the felt too. The Grinder has been playing strong today. I spotted Mike Sexton and Dan Harrington sitting at the SAME table. I witnessed Clonie Gowan bust out and I’ve shared a nod and smile with Hoyt Corkins, Scotty Nguyen and Andy Bloch who are all seatede at tables close to our radio booth. I’ve already been here a month but with all the eager faces and anticipation (and today being day one of the main event) it almost feels as if the WSOP just started today!

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The subject line says it all. With one day till the start of the main event the poker fanatics have appeared out of NOWHERE! The Gaming Life Expo also started today and I feel as if I’ve been swallowed by a sea of poker sites, merchandise, magazine and any other product one can think to associate with poker! It’s very exciting. You can FEEL the anticipation in the air.

Speaking of anticipation… I get to play in the Media/Celebrity event today which begins in about an hour. Needless to say, after spending countless hours in this room, and watching/covering the subject of poker for the last month I am SOOO looking forward to sitting down at a tourney table myself. So keep your fingers crossed and THINK HAPPY FLOPS for me =0)

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… with the game of poker! Why else would I be sitting in a freezing cold, close to empty casino at 4:00am when I’m tired, hungry, and could be in my cozy bed?!

Ok, I admit I’m not a 100% die-hard fan because I did leave the Rio for about 1.5 hours to make an appearance at the Full Tilt party at Pure. But I could feel the Rio beckoning me to return because ‘my boys’ were both in the last three players of their final tables. I arrived to find that Jeff ‘The Kid’ Madsen was eliminated in 3rd place from his Stud game. However, the word ‘eliminated’ doesn’t seem appropriate. I mean, its his 4TH final table appearance and the two bracelets he goes home to give him no grief.

Three hours after my return David Williams is still playing headsup with Daniel Alaei in the No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball. For the majority of the day he’s had a chip lead but they’ve been playing headsup for the last three hours and headups matches can be a rollercoaster ride. After doubling up Daniel in a very close hand (I won’t attempt to analyze or give a play-by-play of Lowball), David is looking very tired and the 13 hours of play seems to be wearing on him. Exhaustion is also on the faces of the 40 onlookers, including The Grinder, Miss Grinder, Carmel Petresco (Daniel’s girlfriend), David Williams’ crew and Evelyn Ng… a good friend of David’s who’s been announcing the match for the last five hours.

We’re coming upon the 5:00am hour and there is no end in sight. Did I mention that I’m playing in the Media/Celebrity event tomorrow?!?! If this isn’t love… I don’t know what is.

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Although no new events began today (besides satellites) we have THREE final tables happening simultaneously, two of which I have particular interest in.

Jeff ‘The Kid’ Madsen is still in the running for his 3rd bracelet of this series in the Seven Card Stud High-Low game. They’re down to four players and The Kid is sitting about 3rd in chip stacks. Two tables away is the final table of the No Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball. Although Layne Flack and Allen Cunningham have been eliminated there is no absence of poker royalty at this table. Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen, Greg ‘Fossilman” Raymer, Daniel Alaei and my personal favorite, David Williams are still battling it out. If David wins this event (which is very plausable as the current chip leader) he will earn his 2nd bracelet of this series.

Hmmm maybe Howard and Nick were right… maybe I do have a little something special out for the young 20-something, rising star, millionaire bracelet wearing players in this year’s series. And if David dominates his final table I may have a delima… which charming, young, double bracelet wearing player do I ask to be my date for the Bluff Magazine party on Sunday??!?!?!?

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If you haven’t heard by now about Hellmuth’s 10th bracelet… you must be deaf, illiterate or blind. Joining the ranks of Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson, Phil’s win tonight was definitely the shot heard around the world… or at least throughout the entire city of Las Vegas.

If I thought it was electric in this room the day of the Horse event… if I was excited about Jeff ‘The Kid’ Madsen becoming the youngest player to win not one but TWO bracelets… then I had noooo clue what was to come. As much as its fun to watch Phil blow up and pout about a bad beat I have to admit that it was ten times better watching him finally win his 10th bracelet. The crowd was electric, Phil was overjoyed, and I actually felt like crying. In fact a few of the audience members (specifically people apart of team UB) DID shed a few tears.

All I can say is as I was watching the excitement, the poker, the HISTORY unfold tonight I said to myself, “Gosh I love this game”… and I’m sure today is one of the rare days that Phil exits the final table saying the EXACT same thing!

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I understand we’re in Vegas so you could take the above subject line in one certain scandelous way. We’re also covering the topic of poker so there’s another assumption you could make in regards to cards. But if you read my subject line and thought either naughty or gaming thoughts… you’d be wrong. “Lucky” for Cyndy Violette came in the form of a dog! That’s right, a two month old Chihuahua named Lucky to be exact!

As I was sitting here watching the final table of the 1K NL Hold Em with Rebuys unfold (the star of the table today being PHIL HELLMUTH) I turned around to scout out the narrowing field of the Seven Card Stud game. Cyndy Violette is known for having quite the collection of card holders, chip toppers and knick knacks on the table. I did a double take of the new Chihuahua puppy that now joined her entourage of poker things… only to discover that it was a living, breathing and absolutely adorable animal!

Everyone knows you need a little luck in the game of poker… lets see if Cyndy’s new ‘charm’ lives up to his name!

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