1. I have no idea whether mum is really a word or if I spelled it right

2. Looking at Jennifer Tilly’s breasts is always a better idea

3. The two people most likely to actually read my blog believe that the WSOP is a television show not a news event

So is it a television show or is it a news event? It’s kind of both.

The WSOP is definitely not a war. If it were a war then I’d definitely advise you to follow its daily events and not wait for five years for it to be summarized on the History channel or even worse in a Hollywood movie where all the details were fudged to make you feel happy and want to see it again and again and hopefully with your children.

It’s not like a basketball game that’s being played on a night where you have a canasta game and are recording it and doing your best not to hear the final score. If you tape a basketball game, you pretty much have the option of watching the entire thing or fast forwarding through it or whatever it is that you people that can do this do. Frankly, every time I try this I fail. Usually if I care enough about the game, then I care enough to just want to know now.

Here’s the downside to ignoring the WSOP as it happened and just watching it on ESPN tomorrow night. It went on for about ten times as long as what ESPN will show you. Admittedly, a lot of stuff that they will leave out was completely boring and irrelevant, but then again a lot of stuff that they will leave out was fascinating if you truly want to understand what actually happened.

An edited poker telecast can make someone who played brilliantly look like a moron just based on the big hands that they wandered into that made good television.

So am I saying that true poker fans should have marathoned it through the live Bluff broadcast like I did and ignore the ESPN broadcast? Oddly, no.

Poker isn’t basketball. It’s not a game of perfect information. Not only will Tuesday’s broadcast have jokes by Norman Chad that weren’t available during live play, it will also reveal things about what went on in key hands that even the players themselves still don’t know. To truly understand what went on - you actually need to do both.

Hands that seemed well played the other night might be revealed to be two morons in heat making incredibly foolish decisions or vice versa. Phil Ivey sure seemed like a genius when he made the final table, but it wasn’t until three months later that we were gasping at the winning $2,000,000 hand that he was apparently too tired to show down at the actual event. Once you see the whole cards, you find out the truth about how well at least that hand was or was not played.

Amazingly enough, ESPN’s 2 hour butchering of the WSOP final table is both a trivializing of the event itself and essential viewing for those who want to truly understand what actually happened - including the players themselves. Weird, huh?

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that is all

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Email programs have warning buttons that come up when you are about to do something relatively insignificant like send an email out without a subject.

What they really should have is warnings like these

1. Warning: You are angry now and will regret sending this email

2. Warning: Sending this email will eventually get you fired

3. Warning: You are forwarding this email right back to the person that sent it to you and you really, really don’t want to do that

I recently did number three with a somewhat famous writer with almost no sense of humor under normal circumstances. It was ugly.

What essentially happened was that he mentioned some Clarence Clemons interviews that had recently been on the air on Facebook and I facetiously commented “I haven’t heard those, but I did hear him on Stern and that was genius. Probably had some different topics though.”

I originally meant it as a tease (I tried to assure him that I was using the term “genius” facetiously, but he told me that I was unable to legally do this), but I found myself defending Stern against claims of misogyny and racism. Although, I was constantly apologizing for having upset him (it was an abusive relationship), he eventually called me a white supremicist and told me that our email relationship was over.

I was a little shocked by the venom and wanted to forward these emails to a friend to see whether he felt that I had been out of line, but I accidentally forwarded them right back to the guy who was already angry with me. Followed by an apology by me that he didn’t accept. Essentially, he called me a scumbag and said that forwarding emails without the permission of the author was a scurrilous practice.

I would agree had it been some love talk or personal issues in the emails, but essentially we were discussing how offensive it was for Howard Stern to ask whether Patty Scialfa was a cunt and about the size of Clarence’s penis.

The only thing embarrassing in the emails was essentially how rude and nasty I was treated for what I still have little idea. Essentially, I hit a sore spot and didn’t survive the nuclear explosion that followed.

Actually, I did have this happen in a work environment and it hurt me and I was really angry about it, but in the long run I have to admit that you reap what you sow. Especially, if you are using the company’s email.

If you ask me to keep something secret I will, but if you are a jerk to me - chances are that it’s going to be forwarded to one of my friends - email me at your own risk.

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I can’t wait to see the video for this. If it isn’t like the most decadent thing of all time - forget that - how could it not be the most decadent video of all time?

I picture like 50 naked men on ecstasy all slithering their tongues up each other’s necks in the middle of a strobed dance floor, while scantily dressed teen girls pant heavily on the sidelines.

If that is actually what it turns out to be, I won’t sue because after all it’s such an obvious concept.

Then again maybe it will just look like this

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Other than that - all bets are off

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Joe Cada loves himself some small pairs.

I’m still up for some reason.

Cada was once down to only 2 million chips, but he’s now again the chipleader

Cada 91 mill

Moon  63 mill

Saout 40 mill

Cada survived an all in race with Ivey with 44

He survived an all in with 33 crushed by Jeff Shulman’s Jacks

He has now just won a huge hand against Antoine Saout with 22 against the Frenchman’s QQ

This should make for some really entertaining television, but it’s not a great example of skill over luck.

Eric Buchman played great but was seemingly the only one to lose with AQ against AK and finished 4th.

Moon has played horribly, but he’s still a threat to luck box his way to the 8 million.

Cada is fearless. Moon is tired and clueless. Saout has played very solidly.

If Moon makes the heads up - Monday’s battle could be very odd.

Wait a second - Saout just shipped it in with eights and Cada called with AK

Someone said this is for the tournament since apparently no one thinks that Moon can win.

This could be the end of the night if Cada can win this 96 million dollar pot.

Here’s a coin flip for history.

Flop is 5 5 4

Turn: 10

River:  King!!!!!!!

Phil Hellmuth: Cada is the luckiest player in the history of the World Series!

Cada vs. Moon - this could be the biggest epic battle since Ben Affleck choked away that Celebrity Poker Showdown against the guy who played Carrie Bradshaw’s gay friend on Sex and the City.

Monday night: 21 year old luck box with a track record and a big chip lead versus the crazy luck box logger.

My Monday prediction:

My prediction for monday

First hand Moon is all in with A2 off

Cada calls with 33

flop is 3 K Q

turn 4

river 5

Whoever wins they will probably be crushed when all the money goes in!

Since Moon is so obviously outclassed, he should be either folding or shoving every hand - which seemed like his strategy late today anyway.

Cada should wait him out, but he seems unable to fold any pair so it should be a wild and hilarious final two.

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If Darvin Moon is asleep so am I. I’m shutting it down with 4 left. It’s now 3:44 PST. If you are dying to hold out until Tuesday’s broadcast avoid my site. If you want to read my half hearted coverage, you can start here:

http://bradlaidman.com/uncategorized/its-world-series-of-poker-final-table-time/

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Nothing has happened in forever. Fairly even stacks with Jeff Shulman barely “hanging around (tm Teddy KGB)”

I’ll probably miss heads up while I’m sleeping.

The predicted “Ivey is gone” fireworks aren’t happening. Everyone is apparently playing tight until Darvin Moon decides to blow up again.

Jeff Shulman just lost a coin flip to go out in fifth. The remaining four are pretty even relatively - this could take a while.

I think I’m shutting it down now. What a lightweight I’ve become.

Saout and Buchman seem to be the best players. Cada is a threat and has gotten pretty lucky. Moon is a disaster, but maybe God truly does love the blissfully ignorant.

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How is Phil Ivey dealing with 12 hours of frustration and a disappointing 7th place finish in the 2009 WSOP?

HE’S PLAYING ONLINE ON FULL TILT - 2000/4000 MIXED AGAINST GUS HANSON AND DAVID BENYAMIN

Dude is just sick!

Supposed comment from Ivey “Back to work”

In other degenerate gambler news: Apparently the reason Darvin Moon is so tired is that he was playing table games at 7AM! What a way to get ready for the biggest day of your life.

Here’s a still confident Ivey talking to Nolan Dalla right after being eliminated.

Is there any satisfaction you can take from this, after making it to the final table of the WSOP Main Event final table for the first time? Or was it simply about winning and nothing else?

It is definitely just about winning. So, it’s disappointing I did not win. But I am happy with the way I played. I think I made pretty good decisions with the amount of chips that I had. And, I think I gave myself as much possibility of winning it as I could. There were a couple of things I would do different. There was a hand that came up earlier where Jeff Shulman opened for $1.2 million, and I moved all-in. I had two kings that hand. Joe Cada had two tens. If Jeff Shulman would not have opened (with the raise), then I probably would have raised and been able to double up right away. So, there were a couple of things that could have gone differently. But they didn’t. That’s poker. I think I will be back within a couple of years, so I am not too worried about it.

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Darvin Moon was apparently convinced that he couldn’t lose, but this time he had to fade Aces.

From Poker News

“Darvin Moon has the button. He opens the pot to 2.0 million, causing small blind Eric Buchman to pitch his cards into the muck. Joe Cada is the big blind. He re-raises to 5.6 million; Moon turbo four-bets all in and Cada snap-calls. What is going on here!

Well, it’s obvious what Cada has. He turns over a very unsurprising Ad Ah.

Moon? He shows down Ks 9c”

Moon hit a 9 on the flop, but he couldn’t suck out again. Had he the term suck out would have been definitely changed to Mooned.

Cada - 45.225 million
Moon - 39.45 million

Cada was once down to about 4 big blinds. This would be one of the most amazing come backs of all time.

Jeff Shulman just doubled through Saout with A5 vs KQ

The Bluff cast just reported that Darvin Moon has been falling asleep between hands!

That would actually explain a lot. It’s been almost 14 hours since play started.

The whole world keeps waiting for Moon to realize that he’s out of his element and tighten up, but it just hasn’t happened so far.

Jeff Shulman just doubled to over 13 million with A5 vs KQ

The Bluff cast just reported that Darvin Moon has been falling asleep between hands!

That would actually explain a lot. It’s been almost 14 hours since play started.

Chip count according to Bluff

Cada 58,000,00

Saout 52,000,000

Buchman 47,000,000

Moon 33,000,000

Shulman 9,000,000

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