Sweat Update: Becker Battles Back

We just ran into our Sweat of the Day, Tracy Becker, during the last break as she was chatting with her friend Joan and running into her poker buddy Michael(?) "Bart" Simspon, who's also playing the main event today. Becker mentioned she was able to see her son during the dinner break, and apparently he knows exactly what mom was up to when he said, "Mom is working playing poker."

Becker's starting level 5 with 9,250 after a bit of a rollercoaster during the last level. She started with 15,400 but took some serious hits after, as she puts it, misplaying A-K and A-J. Those misteps brought her stack down to 4,500 but she bullied back at her table with the shortstack, pushing all-in preflop with A-Q, K-Q suited and pocket threes to get her up to 9,250. The 5th level is now underway and blinds are now at 150-300, with antes at 25.

As we're typing this we just got word that Becker is up over 18k so it looks like she's doubled up again.

While Becker is still making a run during Day 1D, a lot of top pros have bailed out early including Alan Boston, Max Pescatori, Amnon Filippi, Erik Seidel, Raymond Bitar, Erik Lindgren and Chip Reese.

Lennox Lewis, who could kick our asses so we won't say anything rude about him, is also out, as is Dean Cain, who once played Superman and will forever be known only as the guy who once played Superman even though strangely nobody ever watched Dean Cain as Superman when he was Superman.

Crap he was Superman so long ago that Teri Hatcher was actually hot when Dean Cain was Superman.

Anyway, Dean Cain is really actually a nice guy, had a birthday today and has been eliminated.

Quién Es Más Publicity Whore? Senorita Spaulding o Senorita Benson?

Scratch the Last Becker Update, She's Back Up Over 15k

We relied on a scrub sweat-er for our last Becker update (we were busy in bed with a bevy of Bodog babes, as seen in pic), and it wasn't exactly accurate.

Our apologies.

The real deal is that Becker was down to 4k after her pocket aces got cracked by a set of fives. Becker then was all-in with pocket twos (one a club) and got called by pocket sevens. The board flopped 6-3-4 with two clubs giving Becker a gutshot straight and backdoor flush draw. The turn came an Ace of clubs, and a Queen of clubs on the river gave Becker the flush to save her day. The runner-runner stacked Becker back up to 8,350, and it was the pocket tens vs. A-K scenario we mentioned in the last update that doubled her up again.

She's now at 15,400 moments before the dinner break.

On a side note, when we walked over to Becker's table she pointed out an interesting hand taking place over at the table next to her. One player was all-in with pocket aces and another showed suited pocket kings. Yes, suited. See a pic and read about it over at PokerBlog.com and check out a similar scenario that happened on Day 1B.

Apocalypse Warning: Robert Varkonyi Among Chip Leaders

Since winning the 2002 WSOP Main Event, Robert Varkonyi hasn't so much been "on a tear" as he's been on something the complete opposite of a tear.

Let's face it, he's not exactly a good poker player.

He sucks, folks.

So get ready to hop in your bomb shelters, put the gas masks on, and build a fucking ark. The world is coming to an end. Robert Varkonyi is one of the chip leaders of early Day 1D play.

Today's Card Player "LIKE YOU WERE THERE" Moment

Wicked Chops Poker does not like to dumb things down for our readers.

We have more respect for you than that.

Apparently, though, Card Player has no respect for you. They told us as much in a conversation last week at the WSOP.* In fact, Card Player does not even remotely like you.

Because how else can one explain all of these LYWTMs^TM?

Take today's LYWTM. Where Wicked Chops Poker would never pander to you, Card Player told us personally that they love pandering.** If anything, we here at Wicked Chops Poker let you fill in the blanks by making your own sentences and headlines. It's like a freaking "Choose Your Own Adventure" book over here.

But not with Card Player. They state the obvious. They don't respect you. They HATE you.***

The third flight of day one participants featured the usual field of big name poker pros, online qualifiers and satellite winners. 

* This conversation didn't actually happen. | ** Not "exactly" true either. | *** True.

HOT!

Is Kathy Liebert getting massaged by a grey-hair, flat topped butch with an Air Jordan headband this year's version of the Russ Salzer happy ending? We can only pray.

Quick Becker Update

Tracy Becker took a hit to her stack during the third level, going down to the 4k range. She then was all-in preflop with pocket tens and got called by a player with A-K. A ten spiked and her set held, doubling her up to a little more than 8k.

Introducing Charlie Sewell

Walking through the tournament room late last night (read: taking photos of the French-looking, poker playing girl), we came across a guy who, for all intents and purposes, came across as a bit of a donkey, albeit a donkey with about 105k stacked in front of him. A little loud and a bit Weaz-like on Day 1, this guy shouted out to Phil Hellmuth Jr. as the FORMER World Champion walked by, "Hey Phil come over here and take over for me. I don't know what to do with all these chips."

Phil replied, "I don't think I'd be much help to you. I already lost all my chips."

Turns out this guy is Charlie Sewell from Oklahoma City and has already cashed around $125,000 in this year's WSOP, placing second to David Pham in the $2,000 No-Limit Shootout. Nolan Dalla reported earlier over at Poker Player Newspaper that Sewell had a run of bad luck before this year's WSOP. First he was in a serious car wreck, and not long after he was run over by a taxi, which is like a serious car wreck but with one less car. With his second place cash though and running a big stack into Day 2 of the Main Event, Sewell will be looking to [finish sentence with some horribly predictable trope about changing his luck or not crashing and burning or wrecking his chances or proving it's no accident that he's doing well].

Becker Is Better than Berman

Our Sweat of the Day, Tracy Becker, is showing some wicked poker chops at the table today, stacked now at 14,225 after being up over 15k before the last break. She's already outlasted several big name pros such as Lyle Berman, Shawn Sheikhan and Erik Seidel. Tracy has been showing some great tight aggressive play by not getting involved in too many pots and getting nice value for her good hands. We're now about 20 minutes from the end of the second level.

When asked how she's been preparing for today's event, Tracy told us she's been mixing up between live play at Foxwoods and Atlantic City and online tournaments at PokerStars.com, and she's had two nice cashes online recently. "That's helped get my mojo going," she said.

Tracy got into Vegas yesterday afternoon and is joined by her husband, 2 1/2 year old son and niece. She hasn't been able to chat with her old Foxwoods friend Greg Raymer yet, but she did have the chance to say hello to his wife the other day at the Rio Starbucks.

A Google Image Search Report of Celebs Playing Today

Sweat Update: Becker At Ease Early On

Our Sweat of the Day, Tracy Becker, is easing into her WSOP debut and looks at ease. She's in the five seat, smiling and chatting with the other players at her table, but she's focused on doing well and early on scooped a 2,000 pot. Tracy said poker pro John Henningan was supposed to be in the 4 seat next to her, but he swapped out last minute. "I consider that my first win of the day," she said about not having to square off early on with the experienced pro.

Tracy has a notepad in front of her to keep track of her play during the day, and her card protector is a special edition Fossilman chip with FARGO printed on it. FARGO is the Foxwoods Annual Rec.Gambling Outing (and not a reference to that cold as a boat full of bitches in the Baltic city they made a movie about). Tracy, who is friend of Greg "Fossilman" Raymer and hails from Wallingford, CT (which is just an hour and a half from Foxwoods and 1614.6 miles from Fargo, ND), cashed in the 2005 FARGO MET Event and was just short of the money in this year's ATLARGE NLHE event. Tracy also played in the Foxwoods Poker Classic Ladies Event this spring and cashed in 18th place out of 307 entries.

After checking in on the action across the Day 1D room, we stopped back at Tracy's table to see she had about 11k in front of her. Snake reminded her it will be a long day and to have some patience early on, to which Tracy responded, "I have a two year old so I know a lot about patience."

The first level is almost over and blinds will go from 25-50 to 50-100.

Today's Sweat: Tracy Becker

When push comes to shove, whatever that means, Wicked Chops Poker, believe it or not, are big saps.

Sure, on the surface we may be acid-tongued, smart-assed, insanely attractive rich wealthy cavorting virile men. But there's a soft-spot deep down inside of us. It's true.

And the more we learn about our final Sweat, Tracy Becker, the more we are looking forward to rooting her on.

We'll spare the details for now, but let's just say if Tracy advances even semi-far, ESPN crews will be all over her. She's got one helluva story, and has dealt with a lot to get here.

A stay-at-home mom with a 2 year-old, Tracy started playing online poker as a way to kill time. She now plays online daily, and was one of six winners of a freeroll tournament held by Milwaukee's Best Light, the sponsor of this year's WSOP.

We'll keep you posted on how she's doing throughout the day. And hopefully in two weeks, we'll be posting her suggested "winning" headline: Stay at Home Mom Cleans Up at the WSOP

Recapping Day 1C: Negreanu, Raymer, Shorr Among Leaders

It was a day filled with fast action, bad beats, suck outs and lucky draws.

Yep, still funny.

Day 1B wrapped with 867 players making it through. Where Card Player chip counts for Day 1B didn't have anyone breaking the 100k barrier (although WSOP counts just released have Hossein Tagh Avi, who may or may not be Muslim, at 240k, as well as a few others over 100k), *unofficial* chip counts for Day 1C have five busting through 100k. Adam Jones, someone who we know absolutely nothing about, supposedly leads them all with 123k. If you by happenstance know anything about Adam Jones, please, for the love of God, let us know...so we can share.

Shannon Shorr--the guy with the girl's name who has done something no man has ever done before--is among the leaders, stacked at 95k. Other notable big stacks include Daniel Negreanu (78,500), Greg Raymer (48,900), Josh Arieh (35,000), Tom McEvoy (32,000), Lynette Chan (7,000), and FOWCP Lacey Jones (sameish).

Big name busts include Mike "the Mouth" Matusow, Phil Gordon, Mark Seif, Sam Farha, Jennifer Harmon, "Minneapolis" Jim Meehan, Antonio Esfandiari, Steve Dannenmann, and T.J. Cloutier.

Fortunately for the good citizens of Nevada, Bob Stupak was also eliminated, meaning he has more time to develop an actual platform other than "Hey, I'm Bob Stupak" for his [doomed] run at Lt. Governor.

Finally, FOWCP Vaughn Sandman made it through six table switches--including a featured table showing with Mike the Mouth--to finish with 34,225.

Cutest Penelope Cruz-Looking, Poker Playing Girl We've Seen Today

Stump, Dannenmann Out

Wicked Chops Poker Sweat of the Day, Stump, has busted out of the 2006 WSOP. At the beginning of this last level, Stump told us that he had quit listening to music, took off the sunglasses and was all business as he needed to double up before the night came to an end. The double up did come when his pocket tens held against pocket nines, bringing him to around 6,500. Not long after though he looked down at pocket Jacks and raised 3x the big blind to 900, with a flat call from the big stack. The flop came 3-4-5 and the big stack bet out 1200, which Stump raised all-in. The big stack called with A-K, and spiked a 2 on the turn to complete the wheel and send Stump packing. Stump seemed pretty upbeat about the whole WSOP experience, his very first live tournament, and he said he's anxious to come back for next year's main event. You can expect Stump to blog about it all over at The Chronicles of Stump.

Also out is FOWCP Steve Dannenmann, last year's main event runner up. Steve played almost every hand with the ESPN crew sticking a boom mic in his face and cameras looking on. No doubt it was annoying and no doubt he probably found it easier last year to make his way through the field as a virtual unknown. After he busted, Steve said it's still all about having fun, but as we said yesterday, getting eliminated sucks, hurts and blows and so Steve, the hookers and midgets are on us.

Quien Es Mas Guapo? Senor Reitman or Mullet Man

FOWCP Day 1C Update: 2 Levels Left

Quick update of our FOWCPs after the last break and with two levels left.

Vaughn Sandman's table got moved from the ESPN set and back down dere wit' dem regular folks. Poker pro Chris "Armenian Express" Grigorian and online ace Elky were at his table for awhile but Vaughn has since been moved, where he says his new table is much more inexperienced. Vaughn was up to 33k earlier after the dinner break and is now down to about 27k. He seems much more relaxed and focused though then last year when he was up over 40k only to flame out on Day 2.

Wicked Chops Poker Sweat of the Day, Stump, was planning on being more aggressive at his super tight table but it apparently hasn't worked out to his advantage. His stack is now down to 4,800. With blinds at 150-300 and the day winding down, Stump said he's ready to make a move and put his WSOP on the line before the next level.

Lacey Jones is hanging in there at the same table she's had all day, with about 2k more than she started with this morning. Lacey's partner in crime (if looking hot while playing poker is a felony ... yeh that sounds skeezy), Lynette Chan, is looking pretty at 20k.

Mark Seif, who's been down most of the day, is up to 13k after doubling up on a flop set of twos, and Steve Dannenmann is likewise stacked at 13k.

Wicked Chops WSOP Gossip

Nine guys at the 2006 World Series of Poker got a hell of a lot more out of their $10,000 buy-in than everyone else did. They got to sit down at the same table as Joanna Krupa, the former Wicked Chops Poker Girl of 2006 and a past Friday Night Parting Shot Girl. We also hear she's been in Playboy or some magazine like that. When asked by someone (who will remain nameless) what's it like to play at the same table as Joanna Krupa, a guy seated at Joanna's table (who will remain nameless) said, "It's hard playing poker with a hard on."

But that's not the gossip here, as I was just reminded by glancing at the title for this post that this post was suppose to be about gossip and not hard ons. Word has it that Joanna's Milwaukee's Best Light seat cushion was stolen during the dinner break and has already been found on eBay. You know, that site that wants you arrested for playing online poker.

Cutest French-Looking, Poker Playing Girl We've Seen Today

More of the cute, french-looking, poker playing girl after the jump.

Joe Reitman is Handsome

More photos of Handsome Joe Reitman after the jump, if you dare.

FOWCP Update: Vaughn at Feature Table, Dannenmann Says Hello, Lynette and Lacey Roll On and Stump Sitting Tight

Vaughn Sandman of Project Dirtbag is now at the ESPN feature table courtesy of Mike "The Mouth" Matusow joining his table, although Matusow went bust two hands into cameras rolling. Vaughn has sinced scooped a nice size pot and is stacked around 25k. Word is that Vaughn is "hot, hungry and a bit nervous" under the ESPN bright lights and is walking around between hands. No doubt he is ready for the dinner break just minutes away.

Lynette Chan was momentarily at the feature table but got bumped by "The Mike the Mouth Show." We suppose obnoxious antics trump natural beauty for the ESPN suits. Perhaps Jeffrey Pollack was behind the move, if you know what we're saying (not that there's anything wrong with that). Chan, who is repping Full Tilt Poker as of this year's WSOP, has around 13k. She has played several of the earlier events in this year's WSOP but has taken the past 5 days off to rest for the main event.

While everyone else is moving from table to table, FOWCPs Steve Dannenmann, Lacey Jones and Stump are still in the same seats.

Dannenmann took some time to chat in between hands and says he's ready to make things happen after playing 12 events so far in this WSOP without a cash. "I've been saving it up for the main event," Dannenmann told Snake. He's stacked at 22k before the dinner break.

Lacey's got about 12k and her table hasn't lost one player yet. "No one's making a move," she explained.

Stump was stacked in the 7k range for awhile and now has about a grand more before the dinner break.

Jen Harman, who in a "funny twist of fate" was seated to the immediate left of her slowrolling, straight flush nemesis from the 2005 WSOP, Cory Zeidman, went on tilt early because she fucking hates Cory Zeidman and has since been eliminated. Jennifer Tilly, John Phan, and Hasan Habib are also among those already eliminated on Day 1C.

UPDATE: Players are back from dinner break and Stump's stack is at 6,900. He's had the same 9 guys at his table all day long and no one has yet to take control of the table. Stump has picked up pocket aces and queens in early position, but was unable to get much out of them. Other than that he's been relatively card dead, and he's thinking he may have to step up the aggression now with the hope he'll find a hand that will pay it off.

UPDATE: Stumpy back up over 8k.

Sweat Update: Move Along There is Nothing to See Here

We just stopped by our Sweat of the Day's table and not much happening other than some Metallica and Godsmack jamming on his i-Pod. After the first break, Stump was sitting around 9,550, and in the middle of the second level, he was down to about 7,300. The action at the table is pretty tight, Stump told us when we last stopped by, and hopefully he can take advantage of this. This is his first live tournament so it may take a little while for him to get into a rhythm and with blinds still only 25-50 there's plenty of time to do so.

Photo of Godsmack's lead singer Sully playing the other day at the WSOP after the jump.

Joanna Krupa is Here (Day 1C is Underway)

Play is just underway for Day 1C of the WSOP and former 2006 Wicked Chops Poker Girl of the Year, Joanna Krupa is playing.

So we don't care who else is.

But since some people do, other notables playing include Mark Seif, Steve Dannenmann, TJ Cloutier, Phil Gordon, Jean Robert Bellande, Antonio Esfandiari, Liz Lieu, Tuan Le, Nam Le, Mike Matusow, Carl Olson, Rob Mizrachi, Daniel Negreanu, Mats Rahm, Jen Harman and Mr. Jen Harman.

Obviously Krupa's appearance on Day 1C has nothing to do with winning a bracelet but instead has everything to do with winning back our hearts from Keeley Hazell or whatever organ that is that seems to get excited every time we see Joanna Krupa.

Speaking of which, FOWCP and recent Parting Shot Girl Lacey Jones is also in on the action today as well as future Parting Shot Girl Lynette Chan, who has some seriously wicked poker chops and thinks we're pervs.

4th Streeter and FOWCP Vaughn Sandman is back at the main event, and just as we did last year, we'll keep tabs of his play today.

10 guys with the last name Nguyen are also starting today, as well comedian Louie Anderson and along the same weight, Joe Reitman.

In the sweat department, today we follow Chris "Stump" Abramski of The Chronicles of Stump. Stump won his seat via PartyPoker WSOP Steps. There's not much action at Stump's table during the first level, and it seems it's mostly online players he's up against. He's up to 12k right now.

Yesterday's notables include Allen Cunningham (81,000), David Chiu (45,000), Jeff "Mad Dog" Madsen (31,450) who of course ended with just a bit more than arch-nemisis E-Fro (30,200), Annie Duke (26,000), newly elected Poker HOF'er Billy Baxter (23,000), Mike Caro (23,000), our very own Sweat Jeff Sealey (18,500), Phil Ivey (16,000), and John Juanda (11,500).

Photos of Lacey, Lynette, Vaughn and Stump after the jump.

Saturday Night Parting Shot

One more after the jump.

Wicked Chops WSOP Gossip

This sent from a reader who was sitting at a table next to Anna Benson of Gold Digger Poker during during Day 1A play:

"I was one table away from [Anna] yesterday, and she was so [f-bombing] obnoxious, telling everyone what a huge star she was, and trying so hard to provoke the dealers, the floors, and the players. I think everyone within six tables wished we were online and we could have muted her."

Also, she looked like "Florida trailer trash."

Wait wait wait. Trailer Trash? A former stripper who says she'd bang all of her husband's teammates if he ever philandered on her? Surely, we can't be talking about the same (publicity) whore Anna Benson, can we?

Can we?

Doyle Is Out and Everyone Is Happy

After about nine hours of play into Day 1B, Doyle Brunson has been eliminated.

And everyone applauded . . . and cheered . . . and jumped up and down as Doyle got up and walked away from his table. Because he has been eliminated.

While we understand that people are merely giving the man the props he is most certainly due, we think getting eliminated is nothing to applaud, cheer and jump up and down about. We think being eliminated sucks, hurts and blows.

So if, and when, the entities that comprise Wicked Chops Enterprise LLC become legends like Doyle, please don't applaud, cheer and jump up and down for us when we get eliminated on Day 1 of the World Series of Poker. Cry perhaps. Give us hugs. Tell us it will be alright and that there's always next year. Console us with hookers and midgets. But please don't applaud, cheer and jump up and down for us.

More photos of people applauding, cheering and jumping up and down because Doyle Brunson has been eliminated after the jump.

David Williams is Toying With His Table

David Williams is taking more than his opponents' chips at the table.

Winning pot after pot and building his stack to nearly 50k, Williams decides to start making things really interesting. With a board showing T-9-A-8-T and 8,000 in the pot, Williams bets out 4k. An old Asian fella with white hair in seat 10 ponders for a minute. Williams keeps saying: "You're going to muck. You know you're going to muck."

After a few minutes, Williams says to his table: "I'll give 3-to-1 odds that he mucks."

Seat 9 says he'll take those odds and lays $100 on the table. Williams whips his $300 out.

The old Asian guy mucks, and Williams rakes the massive pot, as well as the $100.

In other news...

Brad Garrett Has to Go to Time-Out

Team Bodog celeb player Brad Garrett has been non-stop with the inappropriate...yet...dare we say...hilarious(?) jokes during Day 1B play.

After dropping an "f-bomb," which is the G-rated version of saying "Fuck," similiar to how saying the "n-word" is the G-rated version of saying [deleted], Garrett got a 10-minute time-out.

Then, the fun began.

Garrett stood up and started entertaining the crowd, slinging arrows like his name was Justin Huish.

Some gems, after he accused his table for being anti-semetic for requesting the f-bomb rule to be enforced:

"I can't believe it. I'm a 46 year-old man and I'm in time-out."

"That's it I'm leaving. Somebody get Phil Ivey. Tell him to bring my car up."

"Where's Greg Raymer? He's gotta have some snacks on him."

"Hey Doyle, tell Todd to go get me a rope."

And then, upon talking to Annie Duke at Jeff Sealey's brutally tough table, Garrett turns to our very own Snake, shakes his hand, and says, "I loved you in Bon Jovi."

More photos of Garrett unleashing his rant after the jump.

Sealey's Table Just Got Brutally Tougher

Just before dinner break and Sealey's already brutally tough table just got even brutally tougher. Chris Ferguson just sat down on Sealey's right, and Jason Lester is now sitting in the five seat.

Brutal.

When asked to comment on this first day WSOP nightmare scenario, Sealey said, "I didn't think I'd be the worst player at my table on the first day."

Perhaps Sealey's final table experience at the Aussie Millions will serve him well here. But who are we kidding. This is ridiculous.

And Veltheer was getting involved in a huge pot with Antonius right before the break. Waiting on word now of how it played out.

UPDATE: Here's how the Veltheer hand went down. Final hand before dinner break, blinds at 100-200, Antonius raises from MP to 900. Veltheer reraises from MP to 3,200. Antonius goes into the tank for about two minutes, then calls. Flop comes out Kc-4c-3d. Antonius checks. Veltheer bets out 3,200. Antonius goes into the tank again, eventually mucking, showing 8-8. Veltheer shows J-J. At the break, Veltheer is up to 15,120 now. Sealey is at 22k.

Sweats Stepping Up

Our two Sweats today are running strong.

After a brutal run of early cards, John "Fuel 55" Veltheer saw K-K and Q-Q on consecutive hands, building his stack from around 3k back up to 5k. Shortly thereafter, he smooth calls a short-stacked early position raiser (EPR). Flop comes up Qh-3c-Qs. Check, check. Turn is a Jh. EPR bets out 750, John raises to 2,500, and EPR calls. River is a 7h. EPR checks and John moves all-in. EPR reluctantly calls, flipping over K-Qo. John shows Ac-Qc and effectively doubles up, putting him right back around 10k. He'll need the chips, as Patrik Antonius was just moved to his table.

And despite a brutally tough first day table consisting of Annie Duke, Brent Carter, and a Euro pro, Jeff Sealey has built his stack to around 22k. Along with some strong position plays, he also trapped an opponent when when his pocket Aces flopped a set, check-raising the opponent to take down a 2.5k pot.

In unrelated news, the "Early Alert System" at the Rio is going off. Brad Garrett said, "That means someone needs to change Doyle's IV." More on Garrett shortly.

But hopefully we won't to vacate the Rio. Fucking Hezbollah.

UPDATE: The alarm was accidental. Fucking Hezbollah.

FLOOR!

Two diamond fours show up in a deck at Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and David Colclough's table.

Tiffany Williamson Will Not Suck You Out This Year

We here at Wicked Chops Poker are sad.

Before we even got the chance to take some snaps of Tiffany Williamson, whom we'd never ever seriously call a bitch, she busted out.

Crazy Bitch.

Here's how it happened, courtesy of (i.e. stolen from) Card Player. And note, apparently she's still into going into the tank for extended periods of time, much to the delight of her table we're sure.

Mark Shoichet raises preflop to $600 and Tiffany Williamson makes the call.  The flop comes 9-4-3 and Shoichet bets $600.  Williamson raises to $3,000 and Shoichet goes all-in.  Williamson then asks Shoichet, "Do you have trips?"  After 5 minutes, Shoichet calls the clock on Williamson.  She calls and turns over 10-10.  Shoichet has K-K and the board bricks out for Williamson, who is eliminated early on in the championship event. Fucking Crazy Bitch*.

Others now busted include 10-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, Shannon Elizabeth, Gavin Smith, Todd Brunson, and Dax Shepard, who although he flopped a straight flush (and dropped an f-bomb when he did, incurring a 10 minute penalty), couldn't manage to win another pot.

* Last line of Card Player report fabricated.

Wicked Chops WSOP Gossip

If you're into hot girls who play poker who you have absolutely no chance with, then word on the street is that Clonie Gowen is now single.

That's all we got.

Carry on.

And one more line to fill in the white space...

Done.

Day 1B is Much More Fun than Day 1A

Wicked Chops Poker is not going to lie to you. We would never do that. We respect you too much. We love you. So here's the honest-to-God truth: Day 1A kind of sucked.

Not much interesting happened. Many of the biggest names and celebs didn't play. It was mostly just solid play, no convo, nothing to see here.

Today, much better.

:: Two more of our Sweats, Jeff Sealey and John Veltheer of Fuel 55 are in action. Jeff is sitting next to Annie Duke, and also shares the table with Brent Carter. Tough first day draw. And Veltheer is at a table with a thug in a wheelchair. The wheelchair thug has been catching some big hands early on. After a pre-flop reraise of a Veltheer hand, our hero mucked, and wheelchair thug shows pocket Queens. Veltheer says, "That's it. I'm done. Not playing any more hands with you!" Veltheer, who takes notes in between hands, took a hit soonthereafter and is down to around 7k. Sealey is around 10k.

:: Brad Garrett and Dax Shepard share a table. Garrett has been on a roll again. One of his friends was talking to Men the Master at a nearby table. Brad leaned over to his friend and said of Men, "I should open a cleaners with him." Earlier in the Bodog Lounge, Brad and Roger Cross kept exchanging friendly, funny jabs. After asking Victoria Pratt if she was a stripper for about the 10th time, Brad turned to Roger and said, "Now, can I get a picture of you? My wife likes the brothers." Roger replied: "Oh. Your wife must be a blonde."

:: Phil Hellmuth, slotted for the featured table, still hasn't arrived.

PHOTOS of SEALEY and VELTHEER after the jump.

Some Questions from Day 1A

Who would you rather: Erica Schoenberg, Anna Benson or Laura Prepon?

Who is more stoned out of their minds: Matt "Shaggy" Lillard or Brett "Gank" Jungblut?

More questions after the jump.

Day 1A WSOP Round-Up

:: Over 8,500 people have registered for the 2006 WSOP ME so far. That pushes the first place prize to nearly $12M.

:: Over 2,138 started the day. 800 surivived.

:: The Day 1A chip leader is Paul McCaffrey with 118,000. Other big stacks include: Mark Vos - 93,000, Cuong Do - 86,000, Jeffrey Lisandro - 79,000, Hoyt Corkins - 50,000, and Layne Flack - 45,000.

:: Tobey Maguire was still being weird about the cameras. He was eliminated.

:: Day 1B notables include Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, Shannon Elizabeth, E-Fro, Brad Garrett, Dax Shepard, Rafe Furst, Carmel Petresco, Mike Caro (already doubled up), Bernard Lee, Howard Lederer, Allen Cunningham, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Phil Hellmuth, Joe Sebok (in a bear suit), John Juanda, Crazy Bitch Tiffany Williamson, Patrik Antonius, David Williams, among many, many others.

Today's Card Player "LIKE YOU WERE THERE" Moment

LYWTMs^TM come in all shapes and sizes. Some help you understand the atmosphere at the Rio while providing invaluable poker advice. Some find truly unique ways to describe poker action. Some just make us laugh.. While others boil the essentials of what a day was like down to one perfect sentence.

What all of these LYWTMs have in common though is that Card Player provides us all with invaluable information that you just can't find anywhere else. Seriously, where else in the world could you ever, EVER find crucial Day 1A WSOP information like the below example? You're still thinking, aren't you? That's because you can't think of anywhere. That's why you're still thinking. And when you finally come to the conclusion that we have, then you've concluded that you won't find late Day WSOP information like this anywhere else in the world. It would be impossible.

Sat Jul 29 01:35:00 PDT 2006

Questioning Himself

Seat 3 raises to $1,200 in middle position and is re-raised by seat 4 to $3,000.  Seat 3 calls and the flop comes 8c-4s-2s.  Seat 3 checks and seat 4 bets $4,500.  Seat 3 mucks his hand and says "I dont even know why I raised in the first place, let alone called the re-raise."  The table is re-drawing for new seats as their table has just been broken up.

Wicked Chops WSOP Gossip

If you read Wicked Chops Poker regularly, then you are well aware of our belief: "facts" are just things that get in the way of a good story.

Because gossip is a lot like greed: it's good.

So as the WSOP grinds on, we'll try to bring you interesting bits of innuendo from around the poker world.

And with that set-up out of the way, we bring you today's Wicked Chops WSOP Gossip:

Not naming any names here, but in Chops' $1,000 mega-satellite on Thursday, a man at his table who claims to be a long-time Microsoft employee (since '91) and inventor of the X-Box said that the world's richest man has a regular call girl he sees while in France.

David Wong Long Gone on Day One

Only one of our Sweats played in Flight 1A of the 2006 WSOP ME: Donkey Hunter David Wong.

Wong is a serious player, one of only 143 to play in the inaugural $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.

So we were fairly confident, so long as he wasn't totally cold-decked, that Wong would rep well. Talking to him, he's a very cerebral player. Totally level-headed, realistic, and knowledgable.

Wong didn't benefit though from a table that just wasn't giving much action early on, telling us, "It would've been nice if people had busted out earlier at our table. There would've been more chips to play with."

It wasn't all bad though, as he told us, "I hadn't been getting called on my continuation bets. I don't think I've showed down a hand."

However, he just didn't get the chance to play many big pots during the first few levels.

"I haven't had many big hands. And I'm not hitting flops. I don't want to be like, "I'm not hitting any flops" but [laughs] I'm not making any big hands."

Wong still managed to stay in the 8k-10k range though until he lost "a few big hands," dropping him to around 4,500.

Unfortunately, Wong was never able to double up and get back in the mix. He was eliminated during Level 4.

There is one kid Wong noted to watch out for from his table. "He plays pretty big. He just turned 21 in April. Plays $25-50 no limit." The kid (at left), is running strong as of this writing, stacked around 40k.

While it's a shame Wong didn't last longer, we have no doubt he'll make a deep run in one of these major events soon.

Friday Night Parting Shot: Milwaukee's Best Light Girls

More of the Milwaukee's Best Light Girls after the jump.

Gank and The Nun: The Movie

Some aspiring filmmaker out there should look at the photo here and the ones after the jump of reefer tokin' Brett "Gank" Jungblut sitting next to a trash talkin', card tossin' nun and see the premise for an Oscar worthy movie, and when we say Oscar worthy we're talking Sister Act meets Cheech and Chong kind of stuff here.

Today's Wicked Chops Poker "Like You Were Walking By Table 34 on Day 1A with a Camera" Moment

Fri Jul 28 11:24:00 PDT 2006

Snake was walking by table 34 during Day 1A and saw David Williams, who is not playing today, having a laugh with Andy Black as the Grinder checked his cell phone. The three, who have won a combined total of more than 12 million dollars in tournaments, were having a laugh.

Sister Barbara, No, No, Wait...Sister Silver Among WSOP Chip Leaders

A woman dressed up as a nun sitting next to Brett "Gank" Jungblut has her table on tilt, winning pot after pot, and saying "blessing after blessing" as she rakes in chips.

Upon asking her her name she told us, "Sister Barbara." Then, as we walked away, she said, "No no wait! It's Sister Silver!"

Shortly thereafter, a new player joined the table, sat down, looked at her, and said, "Shit. I'm an atheist."

This is easily the most entertaining table at the 2006 WSOP so far.

Sister Silver appears to be among the chip leaders right now. With our very imprecise chip counting abilities, we'd say she's close to 30k at the time of publishing.

And on a final note, while we are not accusing nor suggesting or implying anything, Gank does appear to be stoned off his ass, or at least he did when the day started. So the LAST thing he probably wanted to see was a woman dressed up as a nun winning pot after pot. "Duuuuuuuude. So trippy. A nun. Duuuuude."

"Duuuuuuude."

Not the Friday Night Parting Shot: Cindy Margolis

Poker player Cindy Margolis, of CindyMargolisPoker.com and best known to us as the MILTUWSTMDWOTIBBBHUBDADSSICOC", is not this week's Friday Night Parting Shot, nor will she ever be any week's Friday Night Parting Shot, 'cause we ain't into her quite like we are into Keeley Hazell, Joanna Krupa, Olga Kurylenko, Arielle Kebbel and Steve Dannenmann. But since we're sell outs and she apparently is the most downloaded women on the so-called Internet, well, here and after the jump are photos of her at the 2006 WSOP Celebrity/Media Tournament, which the entities that comprise Wicked Chops Enterprises LLC played in and didn't win.

Download away.

The 2006 WSOP is a Big Deal

Like an electrical current powering a lamp and TV in your bedroom, the convention center at the Rio today was electric, as hordes of people gathered about, buzzing like a swarm of bees, although not angry bees, but more like happy bees that are anxious to pollinate some pretty sunflowers, with anticipation of what has turned into the world's biggest sporting event: The World Series of Poker.

Even the so-called "mass media," which is similar to the so-called "Internet," the so-called "mafia," and the so-called "AIDS virus," yet different in ways we simply don't have time to cover in this post or on this so-called "blog," is abuzz with poker. For example, USA Today has a full WSOP feature in its Sports section. Included is a "10 Personalities to Watch", a feature on Mike "the Mouth" Matasow, and some thoughts on why poker is so hot.

But we're not here to give you broad generalities and vague descriptions of distant poker action. That's what Card Player is for. So keep refreshing your browser like freaking crazy, as we are about to update the living shit out of this here "blog." Plus by refreshing, you'll seriously help our ad rates. Thanks.

A Google Image Search Recap of the Celebrity/Media Tournament

Rather than write about the "Celebrity"/Media Tournament last night, which the entities that comprise Wicked Chops Enterprises LLC played in and didn't win, we thought we'd simply present a photo recap of a few of the "celebrities" who played the event, courtesy of our friends over at Google. If you can name all nine of the "celebrities" below, we'll send you a cookie.

Mr. James Garner to Officially Kick Off 2006 WSOP

We're an hour away from the start of Day 1A at the 2006 World Series of Poker, and we just heard in the media center that Mr. James Garner, who's most famously known for being Mr. James Garner, as well as the actor who played Brett Maverick on television 40 years ago, will have the honor of making the official "Shuffle Up and Deal" announcement to officially kick off the 2006 World Series of Poker.

In other Mr. James Garner news, or better yet, in a Wicked Chops Poker "Like You Were at Snake's Table in the Media/Celebrity Poker Tournament Yesterday Moment," Mr. James Garner walked up to Snake's table and humbly introduced himself to Penn Jillette, saying "Hello, I'm Jim Garner."

Buy Double A's Pressure Poker

If you're reading this, then you likely did not qualify for the 2006 WSOP Main Event, which is just hours away from kicking off. Or you're going to play in one of the other "Day 1's." Or you just googled "ninja midget sex" and happened upon our site, had a few laughs, and decided to stick around for awhile.

Regardless, one of the most well-respected and regarded poker bloggers--Scott "Double A's" Gallant--has just dropped a book--Pressure Poker--that is a must addition to your poker library.  The book is loaded with thought-provoking advice and strategy that could very well help you get to the WSOP ME next year--or deeper in it this year. Probably can't help you with the ninja midgets though. You're on your own for that.

Wicked Chops Poker caught up with Scott to learn more about what's inside of Pressure Poker.

Pressure PokerWCP: What's the premise behind Pressure Poker?

SG: The book started out as a general guide to poker and was going to be published by O'Reilly as 100 hacks in their hacks series. Bookstores stopped ordering poker books by the truck loads since there were so many on the market already so O'Reilly cancelled the book and I had to decide whether to move forward without them. I finally decided to finish the book and self-publish it to get the material out there. I added some more advanced strategy to it and some fun chapters like chip tricks, how to build a table, a new game to work on betting techniques and origin of the hammer nickname by the man himself ("Grubby").

It actually worked out well because the book will help poker players from beginner to experienced. Even in the sections that seem straight-forward, there are some gems that I'm very proud of. I'm looking forward to getting reactions from the poker community.

It also tells the online player how to use tools to help them improve their game and get to know more information about their opponents and even customize their user interface.

WCP: How long did it take you to write the book?

SG: It took about a year including a three month gap between the time O'Reilly cancelled the deal and the time I started it back up to self-publish it.

WCP: Do you review hand histories from all of your sessions? What was the first big "ah ha" moment you had from these reviews as far as fixing your game?

Bodog Tao Party Report: Part I

Those familiar with the entities that comprise Wicked Chops Enterprises LLC know that when we arrive in any town, bedlam ensues.

So on Tuesday night, when we attended the Bodog party at Tao in the Venetian, the folks at Tao might as well have just hanged a sign on the door that read: "Bedlam - Enter at Your Own Risk."

But before the party kicked off, some pre-partying activities ensued. The Addict and Snake went to Tao to set things up. Seriously, how can bedlam ensue if the atmosphere isn’t just right? The lighting must be impeccable. And don’t get us started on the drapery.

Please.

Chops, Lady Chops, and others pre-partied at RA, a place where you can eat uncooked fish. There, drinks were consumed, including Irish car bombs, Sake bombs, Palestinian suicide bombs, Howard Dean is a ticking time bombs, a Juiced Landis, and other racially and bike-doping-themed drinks.

When all of the entities that comprise Wicked Chops Enterprises LLC finally met up together at Tao, it was like a record was playing...and suddenly the needle zipped right off the record making that zipping noise...and the party suddenly got quiet because everyone there knew that bedlam would soon ensue. Or maybe there was just a very brief problem with the audio. With all of this newfangled technology, it’s hard to say these days.

Today's Wicked Chops Poker "Like You Were Walking By the Starbucks in the Hallway of the Ipanema Tower at the Rio" Moment

Thurs Jul 27 15:31:00 PDT 2006
Champions, Coffee and Conversation

2002 WSOP champion Robert Varkonyi was talking with 2005 WSOP champion Joe Hachem at the Starbucks in the hallway on the way to the Ipanema Tower in the Rio. Varkonyi, standing, was telling Joe Hachem, seated, about being a dad.