Wednesday, January 23, 2008

World Poker Open


We get back to business as poker returns to its birthplace of the Mississippi River. The Gold Strike Casino Resort in Tunica, the 21st century’s equivalent of a paddleboat steamer, is currently attracting the sharpers with a 4-day $10,000 event. Appropriately, the author of the book: World Poker Tour – Making the Final Table, Erick Lindgren, is leading the World Poker Open with a stack of 498,000.

Day 2 saw the bubble burst on WeiKai Chang as his 9-6 was mauled by K-9 and the remaining twenty-seven top dogs are now assured of a $12,060 treat. Those still trying to win a lot include the ferocious John ‘The Razor’ Phan, who unleashed a very unpredictable game, seemingly reliant on knocking back the beers.

As he boasted ‘I can get drunk at my job. I really should fire myself. Of course, I think I play better with alcohol’. He proceeded to play almost every hand. His stack fluctuated wildly and he ended the day with a below average count of 169,000 (but with a substantially higher than average blood alcohol content) so we still don’t know what comes first – the beer or the chips.

Day 3 promises more play at 1pm CT and at least one hangover.

Current top ten at the World Poker Open:
1. Erick Lindgren – 498,000

2. Dutch Boyd – 440,000

3. Gabe Costner – 402,000

4. Freddy Deeb – 324,000

5. Men Nguyen – 323,000

6. Barry Greenstein – 280,000

7. William McMahon – 265,000

8. Michael Baas – 247,000

9. John Spadavecchia – 223,000

10. Jimmy Tran – 204,000

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