Reflecting

LAS VEGAS -- When Larry busted out last night, I was sad, relieved, stunned, exhausted. I was just too tired to process the whole thing. Now that we've had 10 hours of sleep (and we NEVER sleep for 10 hours), I think I can put some of this in perspective:

From this morning's write-up on the WSOP website, they call the rest of the tournament "the long journey toward finding this year's final table." And a long journey it is. For the players still in (about 1,700 left now), they will start at noon and play until about 1 a.m. Then do the same tomorrow. And Saturday. And Sunday. And Monday. No breaks. Nothing but poker until the crowd is whittled down to the final 9. 

I can't believe Larry made it as far as he did. A lot of the pros busted out before him:  Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson (who at one point had 180,000 chips), Gus Hansen. And celebs Jennifer Tilly, Matt Affleck and Jason Alexander, all gone.

I don't know how much the heat affected us. I'm pretty sure we shouldn't have been outside for as long as we were on Tuesday, buying a jacket that he ultimately didn't need.

I watched Antonio Esfandiari (who last week won $18 million in the $1 million buy-in tournament) for a while, standing just a few feet from the table he was at. He's total concentration. I never saw him waiver or give anything away.

Ran into Norman Chad yesterday. A couple of guys asked for a photo with him, and I just watched. I don't know, I guess I don't need a picture with him now that I know he really exists. I'll listen to him during the coverage on ESPN.

I have work to do (editing a book on the history of engineering at CMU), and I can finally think again.

We changed our flights from tomorow to today, and Southwest has done a masterful job in messing them up. Larry's been on hold for half an hour, but we'll get home tonight. (Just got the thumbs up that we're good to go.)

THANKS AGAIN to everybody supporting Larry and following along with us. I'll keep writing, although it won't be all about poker anymore. Philosophy alert!  Life is like poker; you never know what the next card will be.

He's Out

OUR HOTEL ROOM IN LAS VEGAS -- So he's out. It happened just before the 7:00 dinner break. I'll have to get the details from him (I think it was kings over queens because pocket queens was the best hand he'd had in hours), but honestly, we're exhausted (and I didn't even play!). So I think he did amazingly well. Lots of pros busted out before him.

Thanks to everyone who sent good thoughts and wishes. No regrets. It was a blast.

Day 2, After Second Break, Still In

LV -- After the second break, Larry has about 82,000 chips. Slowly creeping up in the chip count, but again, anything could happen.

Larry's Still In, Day 2 After First Break

AMAZON ROOM, RIO CONFERENCE CENTER -- Larry's still in. After the first break at 2:00, he's going back in with 71,000 chips, up from where he started. He's playing conservatively but not scared. One guy from his table busted out. They haven't started filling in the tables in that area. Don't know when they'll be moving people in to fill out tables of 9. 

Some pix. Larry isn't in any of them. The stage setup is like a space ship landing.
 

Day 2. Shuffle Up and Deal.

POKER KITCHEN, RIO CONVENTION CENTER -- Day 2 has started. The bags of chips were on the tables, and each player had to show ID and then open the bag and stack chips. (They weren't just ziplock bags -- they were specially designed for holding chips.) The dealer allowed me to do that for Larry. That's as close as I'll ever get to playing here.

Hope I don't get a text while I'm sitting here writing. Unless he's doubled up. Or everybody else busted out at his table.

According to the WSOP website, by 24 minutes in, at least 6 people have already busted out in the Pavilion Room. There's also the Brasilia Room and the Amazon Room (where L is).

That's all the action (or lack of it) for now.

Norman Chad on the right. Preparing for ESPN coverage. Don't know what they'll cover or when.

Larry's in the black hat, to the right of the guy in the green jacket. Just before play started.

2,283 to Play Today

LAS VEGAS -- Larry's in 603rd place in terms of number of chips held by today's players. Anything can happen. Yesterday, the overall chip leader at the start of the day ended up busting out. Don't have time to search for yesterday's complete results, but I will later.

There will come a time, maybe even early on today, that L will push all in. I hope that I'm nearby at the time, but if I'm not, I might get a text that says, "I'm out" or "doubled up." Hoping for the latter.


Yesterday was the hottest day of a normally hot July here. It was 114 degrees. I don't care if it's dry, that's just stinking hot. Like being under a broiler. Ironically enough, we had to go shopping for a jacket. It was so cold on Monday that the jacket Larry brought isn't the right one. We ended up at an Under Armour outlet store and found a good jacket. He picked black, but for a minute we both considered the chartreuse-colored one. But not really.


We will get over there a little early so L can get a berry smoothie with a protein boost and maybe banana before play starts at noon. Breakfast was an egg-white sandwich on sprouted grain bread, a white nectarine and green tea, all stuff we got at Whole Foods yesterday. All Whole Foods have a flower section. This one, the Las Vegas one, has pre-made wedding bouquets. Just in case.





 

Stats

LAS VEGAS -- A total of 6,598 players were signed up. At the end of Day One (that happened over 3 days), 4,298 remain. The average age is 37.74 years (according to ESPN).