The first negative hit to the bankroll occurred. I guess i was bound to happen as my 3+ week winning streak has ended with a -$13 day. Back to $190 but still ahead of schedule. I got killed playing heads up 7-Stud Hi/Lo by a guy who just couldn’t miss on 7th street. In addition, I made it through Round 1 of the Gutshot.com qualifier for the Borgata Poker Open. All I had to do was outlast 91 other players to make the top 9 of a 100 player tournament. Now, I’m set to play on Sunday and will have to outlast at least 100 players to make the top 10 again. If I can do that, then I get a shot at one of 9 trips to the Borgata with the top spot being a $10,000 seat in the Borgata Poker Open. The other 8 spots are $1,000 satellite seats.
It’s scary what is considered news these days. Even scarier that I read most of it. Apparently, Lindsay Lohan is out of rehab again. She was spotted her first night out at PURE in Vegas with an alcohol monitor on. At the end of the night, she was seen headed back to her suite at Caesar’s with Criss Angel. I was going to put some crude joke in here about Criss Angel making something disappear but I thought the better of it. So, why is it that every time I see Lindsay Lohan’s name I have to read the story? I know it is going to be a complete waste of time but I’m still fascinated for some reason.
Star Jones is going to reveal how she lost all that weight. I would tell you more but once the headline said Star Jones I clicked to the next story. the only reason I know the rest is because I read really fast and I accidentally saw the rest of the headline.
In other former "The View" panel member news. Rosie O’Donnell received an offer from Donald Trump to appear on the next edition of "The Apprentice". I am a big reality TV watcher… American Idol, Survivor, So You Think You Can Dance?, Hell’s Kitchen, Celebrity Fit Club just to name a few. Heck, I even watched Pirate Master this summer. However, "The Apprentice" has never really caught my attention. Despite declining ratings every season since its’ inception, "The Apprentice" is coming back with a group of celebrity contestants and The Donald has asked Rosie’s people if she’d do it. She’s declined already and no one has been named to the cast but I might be enticed to watch if there’s a chance I get to see Donald Trump fire some C-List celebrities. I’m still waiting for Survivor’s celebrity season. Guess it hasn’t quite jumped the shark yet to make that happen.
Finally, onto Final Table news. The Final Table is set and there are 9 players remaining that will begin play in the next few hours. If you want to see if live, you could plunk down $20 and watch the "action" unfold on PPV. The "action" will be extremely slow paced as all live events are at this point and the only thing that could save such a telecast is great commentary and guests throughout. Plus, a ton of the pros who come around and watch get completely sloshed and then say whatever on a live feed. It might be worth the $20.
Here’s how the final table sets up (Where’s Phil Gordon to do the chip counts?… Oh wait, he’ll be doing the PPV broadcast tonight):
Seat 1 - John Kalmar ($20.32 million in chips - 3rd)
Kalmar, from Chorly, Lancashire (UK) is a 34-year-old professional poker player who rarely makes it to the States. He actually tried to leave early due to a bad run at the WSOP, failing to cash throughout the lower buy-in events. When he attempted to change his flight and found out it would cost $600, he instead entered a $500 Satellite for a seat at the Main Event, the last satellite run at the Rio. The rest as they say is history.
Seat 2 - Lee Childs (13.24 million in chips - 5th)
Childs is 35 and from Reston, Virginia, a suburb of Washington DC. He is an aspiring poker pro who recently quit his job at a high tech firm affiliated with National Geographic. Every bio I read says he loves his incredible wife. So, he must love his wife.
Seat 3 - Philip Hilm (22.07 million in chips - CHIP LEADER)
The 31-year-old from Cambridge (UK) is currently on top of the poker world’s biggest tournament. He’s a native of Denmark and spent 2 years living in Poland getting to know his mother’s side of the family. I’m sure his bio will bulk up the deeper he takes this chip stack into the Main Event.
Seat 4 - Jerry Yang ($8.45 million in chips - 8th)
Yang is a 39-year-old psychologist and social worker from Temecula, California. He has 6 children and was born in Laos. He’s only been playing poker for two years and he won his seat playing a $250 satellite at the Pechanga casino in California. He’s pledged to donate 10% of his winnings to three charities - The Make-A-Wish Foundation, Feed the Children and The Ronald McDonald House. If he wins it all, that would be an $800,000+ donation. Exiting first would only be around $50k.
Seat 5 -Raymond Rahme ($16.32 million in chips - 4th)
Rahme is the oldest player remaining in the field at 62. He’s also the first player to ever make the final table from the continent of Africa as he calls Johannesburg, South Africa. He took fourth place in the "All Africa Poker Championship", the largest poker tournament ever held in Africa. This entry was part of his prize. His supporters have a habit of yellling "Ship It To Africa!" when he wins a pot. I guess it isn’t any worse than "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oy! Oy! Oy!"
Seat 6 -Tuan Lam ($21.31 million in chips - 2nd)
Lam was born in Vietnam on New Year’s Day in 1966 during the Vietnam War. He immigrated to Canada at age 19 and calls Mississauga, Ontario home. This is his third year at the Main Event and he’s cashed in other tournaments in previous years. This will be his biggest cash yet.
Seat 7 - Alex Kravchenko ($6.57 million in chips - 9th)
Kravchenko is the short stack and I find it incredibly odd that I’m calling over $6 million in chips the short stack. The 36-year-old businessman originally from Archangel, Russia now resides in Moscow. His 8 year poker career took off this year as he became the first ever Russian citizen to win a WSOP bracelet, taking down the largest field in an Omaha Hi/Lo event in the history of the WSOP. He has won other tournaments in Europe including the Austrian Masters Pot-Limit Championship in 2001 and Russian Pot-Limit Championship the same year. He won a limit title in the Helsinki Freezeout in 2002 and has cashed over 30 times in his poker career. Kravchenko will be cashing for the fifth time this year at the WSOP. What’s more amazing is that he has been short stacked throughout the round of 36 and comes in as the shortest stack at the table. From what I remember, Joe Hachem was in a similar situation two years ago when he won. He may not have been the shortest stack but it took a few double ups for him to get back into contention and win.
Seat 8 - Lee Watkinson ($9.92 million in chips - 7th)
Watkinson is an accomplished poker pro and can occassionally be seen playing online at Full Tilt Poker. He’s 40 and from Cheney, Washington. He owns a WSOP bracelet and got his by winning the Pot-Limit Omaha Championship in 2006. He’s cashed numerous times at the WSOP and has been seen on the WPT also. He qualified by playing at Full Tilt and would receive an additional $10 million if he were to win the event from Full Tilt. He and his fiance Tammi Derosa are committed to rescuing and retiring captive chimpanzees that are used in everything from research labs to movies. Watkinson is a heavy supporter of these types of charities and expect a decent donation going that way when Watkinson exits. He’s probably the favorite to win due to his experience.
Seat 9 - Hevad "Rain" Khan ($9.02 million in chips - 8th)
The youngest player in the field, Khan is 22. Originally from Poughkeepsie, NY, Khan has moved around the country since attending State University of New York-Albany including San Francisco and Vegas. He is infamous in the online poker world as screen name "RainKhan". Khan was once booted from Poker Stars as they identified him as a bot (a computer program set up to play poker). Khan was spotted on Poker Stars sitting at over 40 Sit & Go’s at one time. It wasn’t until he sent Poker Stars a video of himself playing in 26 Sit & Go’s that they believed he was not a bot and reinstated him. Khan has been one of the more interesting characters to remain.
As for my fearless prediction, it’s really a crap shoot as no one has dominated the tournament to this point. I’m going to go out on a limb and take the longshot on the board, Alex Kravchenko as he has just seemed to play the most consistent poker throughout although it has never shown in his chip stack. Following the results the last few days, it never seemed like Kravchenko was in serious danger despite being the small stack. If not Kravchenko, I’ll take Watkinson.
The final table is truly a World Series Of Poker final table as the table has many players from foreign soil. Two are from England (but one of those was born in Denmark). One is from Canada (but born in Vietnam). One from South Africa and Russia. Of the four players from the US, one was born in Laos and two are from the East Coast and two from the West Coast. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I think whomever wins this year may get a little more respect than the last few winners as there are some accomplished players at this year’s final table.
