Breaking Through The Wall
As if busting out of the Mixed Event wasn’t painful enough, the next day I had to get myself out of bed to cover the Seniors Event. All the Internet kids were just buzzing about getting some blue-rinse action I’m sure. It wasn’t exactly an inspiring event to cover. The action would normally go something like min-raise, min-raise, min-raise until someone spiked the nuts, when they would just push all in. Yes, this event does count as a an official WSOP bracelet. Of course the night before my brain was replaying hands with Jan Von Halle, and I arrived to work on about an hour and a half of sleep. It was a tough 14 hour day.
Then the next day we are asked to attend a PokerNews meeting at 10am. Why 10am? Well apparently that was a time when everyone was free. “Why not 4am?” a bright young reporter asked. Good question. So a 10am start to a day that ended at around 4:15am when the old codgers had finally got down to a final table. Just a lazy 18 hour day.
It was by that stage that I hit the wall for the first time at this year’s WSOP. I’d felt pretty good about everything until then, but after playing all day on my last day off, a lack of sleep, follwed by back-to-back gruelling days on a pathetically uninspiring event, I was pretty fed up with it all. Fortunately the final table went for all of fours hours the next day, so James, Tom and I went back to the apartment and shared some pizza and beers on the balcony and just relaxed. It was just what I needed. A good night’s sleep and I was feeling fresh again. I’d hit the wall…and broken through to the other side.
Speaking of walls, I’ve been getting hundreds of emails a day for an update on the Double Gulp Wall. I think Tom broke his camera, so I don’t have any pics for the moment, but I can report that the second tier is complete and work has commenced on a third tier. Reports are that it can be seen from outer-space. Hopefully more pics to follow!
Finally, I won a prop bet! I made $20 off Tim after Vanessa Rousso finished a mighty 57th in the $2,000 Pot Limit Holdem event for about $3.7. Tim didn’t think Vanessa had a cash result in here, but my faith was rewarded. Poker Stars are reported to be ecstatic with the return.