Le Monde du Poker.

All Mucked Up is a live blog of all the stuff you want to know at the 2012 World Series of Poker, besides hand histories and bad beats. Well, we might add a few in here, everyone loves a good bad beat story — unless it happened to you. Check back often for polls, soundbites, celebrity sightings, and who knows what else!

Another day, another dollar we alway say. So we took our morning stroll down to the Rio sports book to grab the odds for today's one and only tournament that's finishing out, Event #44: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em. Leading the pack is Thomas Conway, who is going off at 3/1 odds. On the bottom rung is Paul Sokoloff who is going for 15/1. Also in the mix is the last woman standing Anke Berner who is going for 6/1.

Thomas Conway: 3/1
Nelson Robinson: 4/1
Darren Rabinowitz: 5/1
Patrick Karschamroon: 6/1
Francisco Azares: 6/1
Anke Berner: 6/1
Keven Stammen: 6/1
Niel Mittelman: 7/1
Jaspal Brar: 15/2
Kevin Elia: 17/2
David Forster: 13/2
Jason Everett: 10/1
Rocco Palumbo: 10/1
Travell Thomas: 12/1
Mario Delis: 18/1
Paul Sokoloff: 15/1

Also playing today is Event #45: $50,000 Poker Players Championship, which will come to it's exciting conclusion tomorrow, and we'll bring you all the odds from that. Event #46: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em will also have odds posted tomorrow, as it is scheduled to finish. Starting today is Event #47: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better and Event #48: $3,000 Limit Hold'em. Stay tuned to All Mucked Up and the live reporting blog for all the exciting action.

We promised yesterday to bring you a little insight from the hand we posted from Tom Dwan's twitter yesterday, so here is what Durrrr had to say about the hand in a response to a tweet he got:

TomDwan Tom Dwan "@whimsicalcookie: is he ever bet/3-betting a worse K for value there? Or is your K9 basically a bluff catcher?" Only bluffs or fh. Calls jx June 25 2012

Looks like Dwan might have made a mistake in the hand, but how often does that happen? Hopefully Dwan shows up soon at the World Series of Poker because there is only a limited number of events left. Surely, we'll be seeing him in the Big One for One Drop $1,000,000 buy-in. We'll keep you posted and let you know when he shows up.

Yesterday we promised to bring you answers from the players on what their worst game in the eight-game mix was, and today we will weave them in throughout the day. For our first two players we have Dan Shak and Matt Glantz.

Matt Glantz told us that he doesn't have a worst game in the mix, he just plays all the games about the same.

Dan Shak on the other hand explained that his worst game is probably No-Limit Hold'em, something that surprised us a bit considering his continued success at the game.

Readers were spot on with Matt Glantz, but were a little off with Shak, as a majority of the readers believed his worst game was 2 - 7 Lowball. Next up, we'll bring you the responses from Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier and John D'Agostino, so stay tuned.

Also, last night in All Mucked Up we mentioned that a very controversial hand was going on in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship. After nearly an hour, the situation got worked out, and the floor made a ruling. The hand is sure to be one of the most controversial and talked about hands for weeks to come. We weren't able to bring you the entire hand in All Mucked Up, but to get a concrete summary of what happened, check out the piece the PokerNews Staff wrote up.

We saw this gentleman in Event #47: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better wearing a very questionable hat with a very questionable logo.

Sorry sir, but where have you been for the last year?

We don't know if he was wearing the hat as a sarcastic gesture or if it was the only hat he had, but we do know that he was getting a bunch of very awkward looks from his tablemates. If we were him, we'd take the hat off, burn it, and then burn it again.

We might even have to award this hat the "Fashion Faux Pas of the Series Award." We foresee some epic slowrolls in his future.

We continued our stroll around the Brasilia room where we also found this gentleman also in Event #47: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better. The man was wearing a black and red hoodie complete with gold printed designs as well as golden tassel pull strings.

While many have criticized Dwyte Pilgrim for having too much bling on at the table, this gentleman may have just outdone him with this hoodie. There may not be any such as too much bling, but this gentleman is definitely toeing the line with this hoodie.

We got a chance to talk to Max Pescatori who was on break in Event #47: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better. We asked him for some tips for any amateurs playing in the event.

"First of all play the event so that I have a better chance to win," Pescatori said. "But really, be careful about putting money in the pot without a chance to win the high. Many people don't understand that Omaha Hi-Low Limit hands don't translate to Pot-Limit."

We asked Pescatori what some of the biggest mistakes that people make are in the tournament."People chase too much with ," he explained. "They are chasing for the low when they don't have any value to win the high hand. Just hoping for half the pot. You can't scoop a pot with no value to win high hand. That is unless you are in a hand with three people and you know they are both chasing a high."

We also asked Pescatori what his first few levels were like and how his table draw was. "I'm actually just going to start right now," he said. "Usually I start later because it's difficult to play from noon to one AM every day.

"Generally I start at 4 PM," he continued. So we asked him why he decided to show up at 2 PM today. "Today is a triple chance. You have a good chance to get more chips and you can afford to get cooler and still be ok."

Pescatori gave some great tips for anyone planning to play this event, or an event like it, so we'll try and get some more tips and tricks from pros who are playing the event on the next tournament break.

In today's edition of Hallway Naps we found Jennifer Tilly taking a nap in the hallway during the break of Event #47: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better.

Jennifer Tilly napping in the Rio hallways

Tilly must be tired from having to hang out with Phil Laak all the time.

Napping during tournament breaks is becoming more and more of a regular occurrence as for the past few days we've caught Gus Hansen napping, and even on occasion, doing some weird type of yoga like stretches. We'll let you know who else we see napping in the hallways, as well as who snores and who doesn't.

We promised to bring you answers from the pros on what their worst game in the eight-game mix was, and we're back with two more answers from two more pros.

John D'Agostino told us that his worst game is No-Limit Hold'em. Readers were way off on this one, and over 50 percent of pollies thought his worst game was Razz.

When we asked Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier what his worst game was he told us, "F***** Razz," in his thick French accent. Readers were a little closer on this one, as Limit Hold'em and Razz we're both close on the polls.

When we come back with The Worst Eight Games, we'll bring you the final two answers from Shaun Deeb and Joe Cassidy.

In the midst of all the foreboding tweets warning men not to enter Event #51: $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold'em Championship, Justin 'stealthmunk' Schwartz tweeted his 'intention' to play, and quoted his generous markup. Safe to say Daniel Negreanu won't be buying a piece this summer, nor will Doc Sands...

Brandon Adams held a crowd sourcing contest on twitter the other day for his followers to help him find the most thought out World Series of Poker hands. Requirements were that the follower linked the videos and sent them to his email address. Extra points were awarded for hands with 100+ big blinds and extra thought going into turn and river decisions. Here is a few of the tweets about the contest:

The #1 hand was a hand from the 2009 Main Event Final Table where Phil Ivey bluffs the pants of Steve Begleiter.

Worth mentioning is also this hand from the $40,000 buy-in event where Isaac Haxton runs into Vitaly Lunkin's slow played aces. In the hand you can hear Scott Seiver call out for Haxton's one time, and you can even see Seiver high stepping across the feature table stage with excitement at the end of the hand.

To see the complete list, make sure you check out Brandon Adam's twitter page.

Viktor 'Isildur1' Blom is going deep in Event #45: $50,000 The Poker Players Championship. So what, he's a pro right? Actually, last week was the first time Isildur had played most of these games. Check out these tweets by Negreanu about his learning curve...

Seem's like everywhere we look this summer it's Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth in fierce competition for one event or another. Today they're both going deep in Event #45: $50,000 The Poker Players Championship. With their early evening break drawing to close, we see Hellmuth in deep meditation at his seat, while Ivey is talking to Michael 'The Grinder' Mizrachi and one of the Rio tournament directors over some ruling.

We'll keep hanging around the Amazon room and keeping you informed as this event reaches its climax in the next few days.

There is an interesting story brewing in Event #46: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em.

Huey Hulin on left. Larry Duplantis on right

The gentleman pictured about is Larry Duplantis, and his helper. From what we've been able to make out, Duplantis cannot function certain parts of his body, making it difficult to play poker. But this hasn't hindered his game much, or even slowed down the action any as fas as we can tell. His helper has been helping him by showing him his cards, as well as moving his chips, but remains mostly silent during action.

Duplantis announces the size of his bets, as well as folds, calls, and raises. Truly, this inspiring tale from the World Series of Poker has more behind it, but we wont be able to find out more until Duplantis is on break and we can speak to him ourselves. Currently, Duplantis has a ton of chips in Event #46 and is poised to make a deep run, so expect more updates as the story unfolds. We'll post an update as soon as we find out more about him.

Check out this messy chipstack from the $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Day 2. Some players like to stack their chips in tens, some in twentys, some in little castles and some just stack them by color. This gentlemen isn't too worried about the standard stacking rudiments, and has simply put them in the order that he won them.

According to Tom Dwan’s latest tweet he’s just landed in Vegas. He’s been in Macau playing nosebleed cash games. We’ll be sure to talk to Dwan once we find him.

We spotted three players in Event 48: $3,000 Limit-Hold'em that have already won a WSOP bracelet this year.

Here’s Ylon Schwartz who won Event 27: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.

Here’s Ronnie Bardah who won Event#40 $2,500 Limit Hold’em.

Here’s Brian Meinders Event#25: $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout.

Check out this funny Prop Bet Matt Waxman just posted on twitter.

On a side note, we’ve been trying to catch up with Jared Bleznick for weeks, but he seems to be everywhere we aren’t.vNow thinking we should make a substantial bet on not seeing him for the rest of the Series..

Brandon Cantu just issued this challenge on twitter, seeing if anyone wants to play him HU tonight at any stake. We'll try track down Cantu and see if anyone takes him up on this tonight.

Last years Team PokerStars Pro Pius Heinz is running pretty good and building up a big stack in Event #46: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em. Heinz, the reigning World Series Of Poker Main Event Champion, is a good friend of PokerNews, featured on Last Weekend's Podcast.

Huey Hulin on left. Larry Duplantis on right

We blogged earlier in the day about Larry Duplantis, who despite his physical disability is making a run in Event: 46 $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em. Duplantis and his friend, Huey Hulin, hail from Saint Martinsville, Louisiana.

We caught up with them at break for a chat.

Is this your first WSOP event?

Yes, this is also my first time ever in Vegas. I won my seat in my hometown pub league. Last year we played for a seat it the Main Event ($10,000 buy-in) but this year we decided to give away four seats to four $2,500 events. The other four guys are friends from the same league. I didn’t wanna come out here alone.

How long have you’ve been playing poker?

Since I was 18 so it’s been over 20 years.

Are there concerns of other players seeing your hole cards when Hulin shows them to you?

We got it down. Fortunately I’ve had a lot of corner seats and that helps. Hulin chimed in; it’s also easier when he has a lot of chips, to help cover. If I’m in seat five or something then there are people on both sides so we have to be more careful.

We'll be sure to keep tabs on Duplantis as the tournament progresses.

We caught up with Ben Yu at break of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship for a quick chat. Only 28 players remain in this star-studded field.

We’ve noticed you like to dress in a shirt and tie at the tables.

Well, honestly it was to get coverage. Which seems to be working since you guys are talking to me right now (laughs). When I dress good I feel good and that helps me play good. Although when I play good I usually run bad, funny how that works.

Who are some players that you don’t want to have on your left in this tournament?

That’s a major flaw going into these games. I respect them, but you cant’ do that (worry about who’s on your left). You’ll be at a psychological disadvantage. I’ve spent the weeks leading up to this playing $5Ks and $10Ks with a lot of these same players. I had Ivey (Phil) to my left and I said to myself ‘I need to play tighter’ but then I realized how stupid that is. I’m gonna keep sticking it in and play my game regardless.

What’s your least favorite game in the Eight Game Mix?

All of them, but honestly I’d have to say Triple Draw. It takes forever to complete a hand and there’s too much gamble in it.

The rail at the $50,000 Players Poker Championship continues to grow. Only 26 players remain. We'll do our best to catch up with some of the notables at break.

We're not talking about Johnny Cash. We spotted these two in the Amazon room.

While moseying through the Rio Poker Kitchen we came across—of all things—impromptu chess matches. Several players were huddled around observing and talking strategy. No wagering was involved but the group all seemed to be having a great time. We were privy to the intricacies of castling and Bobby Fischer references. No sign of Fischer yet, but we’re still searching.

We came upon this scene in Event 46: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em. Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Selbst had her sights set squarely on the two gentlemen on her right. Did we just stumble upon a potentially big three-way pot? There was a raise followed by a three-bet and action was on Selbst. Was she contemplating a cold four bet? You could sense the tension in the air. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Moments passed. It took us awhile, but it dawned on us, Selbst wasn’t event in the hand. She was just observing to get information for future hands. The attention to detail is just one of the many attributes that makes her so great.

We encourage everyone to get involved with "The Muck." See something you think is Muck worthy? Send it to the muck@pokernews.com. We accept all media including photos and videos.

Follow PokerNews Staff on

No comments yet. Be the first to post one!

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

You want to know everything that's happening at the 2012 World Series of Poker and we're going to do our best to keep you in the know. Here we'll answer the hard-hitting questions like, "Are there any celebrities in the field?" Check back often, you never know what you'll find.

Spotted: Executive Director of the WSOP Ty Stewart, UFC Octagon Announcer Bruce Buffer, and Team PokerStars Pro Liv Boeree chatting in the hallway outside the Amazon room. Stewart was showing Boeree a picture of Buffer on ABC News. We're pretty sure it was this one. We didn't get an actual picture of Boeree's reaction, but it looked a little something like this:

Liv Boeree's reaction to looking at Bruce Buffer on ABC.com

Red Alert: The fire alarm went off in the conference center at around 2:05 p.m. (It scared the crap out of us.) Instead of risking our lives, we sauntered over to our office door to see what was going on in the hallway, expecting mass hysteria. As it turns out, poker players are kind of like the honey badger when fire alarms are going off.

Celebrity Look-Alikes: We took our morning stroll though the Amazon Room to check out Event 3: $3,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha and were shocked when we passed by Purple Table 431. We did a double take and thought Penn Badgley (Dan Humphrey for all you Gossip Girl fans) was partaking in a little WSOP action. Turns out it wasn't him. It was Justin Smith, who could easily pass as the love child of Badgley and John Mayer.

Where in the world is Tom Dwan?

We're already at Event #5 of the World Series of Poker and Tom Dwan is mysteriously, or not so mysteriously, missing. We talked to several pros to see where they thought Dwan was, and where they thought Phil Laak thought Tom Dwan was.

“He's probably somewhere more important to him than the World Series,” Antonio Esfandiari said. We also asked Antonio where here thought Phil Laak would say Dwan is. “Phil Laak would probably say that Tom Dwan is at the bank. Cashing in all his money, because he's got too much of it.”

Oddly enough, Phill Laak has been absent for the first few events of this series as well, so we asked Antonio where Laak has been. “Phil Laak isn't here because he's got too much money,” Antonio said. “He's mucking hands for 85k, he has way too much money to be here.”

“I'm sure he's in east Asia somewhere,” said Scott Seiver, who was in the hallway on break from the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold 'em event. And for fun we asked Seiver where he thought Laak thinks Dwan was. “Phil Laak would say that Tom Dwan is on a meditation retreat somewhere in Peru, finding his inner Chi.”

Chad Brown was making his way back to his table in the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold 'em event as well when he asked him where he thought Tom Dwan was. “If he's not here, he's probably at some huge cash game in Macau. Ivey is here, and a lot of the other pros are here, so he probably thinks he has such a big edge, it's worth more for him to be there.” We also asked Chad where he thought Laak would say Dwan was. “Phil's a pretty smart guy. I'm sure he'd say Macau.”

In our last attempt, we caught David Williams, who had just won his match in the $3,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha, and he had the answer we were looking for.

“Oh, I talked to Tom last night,” Williams said. “He's in Macau.” We asked Williams why Dwan would be in Macau instead playing every event at the series again, as he did last year. “PokerNews has had some reports, you know how Tom has won huge pots in Macau. Something like $4,000,000. Obviously, the amount of money he's winning over there must dwarf the money he would win from a bracelet bet.”

Finally, we asked Williams where he thought Laak thought Dwan was. “Phil's a smart guy. He's a little weird, but he knows. He'd say Tom's in Macau.”

Who Wore it Best: While roaming the halls of the Rio between the tournament rooms we came across these two gems wearing white on white, or as we like to call them Whioutfits. Maybe they took some fashion advice from Bubba Watson.

Overheard on the Rail: "Doyle almost ran me over in his wheel chair last year."

Be careful on that thing Doyle!

Last night we talked to Liv Boeree about what it's been like living in the same house with three other female pros. Today we caught up with Maria Ho who gave us some some insight on what it's been like in the ladies' house.

“It's been a crazy couple of days,” Ho said. “There's still been workers at the house because Rousso just finished up.” Vanessa Selbst is also at the final table of Event #2: $1,500 No Limit Hold 'em, so we asked Maria if she thought the house had some “run good” associated with it. “I feel like it does,” Ho said. “But we don't want to use it all just yet. We want to spread it around so everyone gets a piece of it.”

We also asked Ho who she thought was the messiest in the house. “Liv will admit to you that she is the messiest,” Ho said. “So far she's kept the mess to just her room, but I can see it becoming a problem in a couple of weeks.”

Finally we asked Ho who she thought the best cook was. “Vanessa Selbst,” Ho said. “The morning of the $1,500, Vanessa made omelets for the whole house. She makes a mean breakfast. I guess they were lucky omelets.”

Who Ya Got?

L.A. Kings vs. New Jersey Devils

Tonight is the Game #1 of the Stanley Cup, with the L.A. Kings and New Jersey Devils. We talked to some pros to see if they had bets on the game, and who they thought would take home the Stanley Cup.

First, we talked to Gavin Smith and asked if he would be watching the game tonight. “I hope to be playing here tonight,” Smith said. So we asked who he thought would win the series, to which he responded, “The Kings.” Smith also said he had no bets on the series.

We talked to Chad Brown as well, who admitted that he's not a huge hockey fan. “The Kings are the Cinderella story of this series aren't they?” Brown said. “But it's just like anything, you don't have to be great the whole season. You just need to have a team with a lot of chemistry. The San Antonio Spurs are great evidence of that. In the end it's about chemistry. That's what it takes to be successful.”

David Williams said that he would not be watching the game, since the NBA finals are also on tonight, but that he would be rooting for the Kings. We also talked to Jonathan Duhamel last night for the Muck's live blog. Duhamel said that he was a Montreal fan, but that he thought the Kings would win the series.

We'll be sure to keep you updated on what the pros think about any other upcoming sporting events.

Heat vs. Celtics

PokerNews also talked to several pros regarding the Heat and Celtics series going on this week and any bets they had on the series. Here's what they're saying:

Jason Mercier: “I've got money on the series and the Heat to win the championship.”

Brent Hanks: “I didn't touch it,” Hanks said. “But I would bet the Heat to win by at least ten.”

Antonio Esfandiari: “I don't know anything about sports,” Esfandiari said. “A bunch of guys throwing a ball in a hoop? I just don't get it.”

Andy Frankenberger Said he doesn't bet sports much, but did say he would've picked the Heat to win. “The Heat should be a massive favorite,” Frankenberger said. “And I'm from Boston.”

Looks like the overwhelming choice from the pros is to bet on the Heat.

Joseph Cheong's Unlucky Seat Draws

If you don't follow Joseph Cheong on Twitter, you definitely should. For the past few days he's been tweeting descriptively about some of his unlucky seat draws. Trust us, it's not because he's scared of his opponents. Check out these tweets:

subiime Joseph Cheong Someone at my table literally smells like an asshole right now. Tilting May 30 2012

subiime Joseph Cheong Asshole is harsh. Maybe a urinal May 30 2012

Bracelet Celebrations

As you may know, the winner of a WSOP event gets to have their native country's national anthem played during the bracelet ceremony. Lets say, in addition to the anthem, you also have the song of your choice played as well, like a hitter in baseball has a walk up song before coming up to the plate. What song would you pick?

We spoke to Brent Hanks, shortly after his Event #2: $1,500, No-Limit Hold'em win. We asked him what song he would want played at his bracelet ceremony. "Everything in its right place, by Radiohead," said Hanks. Congrats Brent. Enjoy!

Stay tuned, as we'll be posting the selections of many of the pros we encounter here at the Rio.

Drawing Thin

It can be challenging staying fit and eating healthy during the WSOP. The hours are long and the grind can take its toll. We’ll be asking the pros what fitness and health regiments they follow to stay fit.

Yevgeniy, "Jovial Gent," Timoshenko, has his own way of staying in shape.

“This summer I’ll be playing a lot of basketball,” Timoshenko said. We asked him if any others pros join him on the court. He said, “Vannesa Selbst, Olivier Busquet, and Galen Hall play as well."

Antonio Esfandiari likes the convenience of All American Dave. Their meals “are cooked and portioned with health and fitness in mind," and they deliver.

“I order food from All American Dave and they deliver it to me here at the Rio," said Antonio.

Follow PokerNews Staff on

No comments yet. Be the first to post one!

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.