Wednesday, July 06, 2005

So little time...

I think it's safe to say the WSOP has begun in anger now.

Never being one to be afraid to stick my oar in, here's a few random thoughts of some quite extraordinary happenings at the Rio during the last couple of days.

Firstly, congratulations to Paul McKinney for his win in the seniors event. The guy is 80 years old. Truly amazing that someone of that age can win a bracelet. He's a really nice bloke and I'm chuffed for him.

Secondly, Vinny Vinh has confirmed my opinion that he is perhaps the biggest tosser in the world of poker. I was playing on his table last year at the Bellagio when he raised my big blind for the 4th consecutive round. I moved in with KQ and he called instantly with A8. I outdrew him. He looked at me with hatred in his eyes and called me "a fucking motherfucker". Charming. But, he isn't just offensive. He proved when headsup in the $10k PLO final he is also a slimy weasel.

This is how Cardplayer reported an outrageous incident:

"Date / Time: 2005-07-05 02:04:00
Title: Rafi Amit Doubles Through Vinny Vinh; F-Bomb Penalizes Him 10 Minutes
Log: After a flop of 9c-8d-8h, Rafi Amit bets, Vinny Vinh reraises $344,000 more, Amit pushes all in, and Vinh calls. Vinh shows Ad-10d-8s-5d (trip eights), but Amit has Jh-9d-9s-4h (full house, nines full of eights). Vinh is drawing very thin, needing to catch the fourth eight or running aces to win the hand. The turn card is the 5h, the river card is the 2c, and Rafi Amit wins the hand.


The chips in their stacks are counted down, and Vinny Vinh has about $95,000 left.


But wait, there's more ...


Apparently, Vinny Vinh heard Rafi Amit say the "F-Bomb" during a hand a few minutes earlier, which is a mandatory 10-minute penalty. There is a sustained argument between Rafi Amit and Assistant Tournament Director Jack Effel, and multiple sides to the story, but the end result is that Amit is being blinded off for ten minutes at $8,000-$16,000."


Amit did not abuse anyone. All he said was something along the lines of "Fuck it, let's gamble". Vinh lost the pot and then squealed about Amit swearing. If he had won the title after such an underhanded move he should be ashamed for life. Thankfully, justice was done despite Amit losing $200k during the penalty. He recovered his composure and beat the obnoxious little git.

Thirdly, this Amit/Vinh case just showed what a ridiculous thing the "F bomb" rule actually is. Fine, if you abuse, insult or threaten another player or dealer you richly deserve a 10 minute penalty (probably 10 minutes is far too little in many cases). But for using the word "fuck" in whatever context receiving a penalty is juvenile in the extreme. We are all adults for christsakes. If we were playing in a church, fair enough. But we are not and whoever thought up this rule should just fuck right off. Boom boom!

Fourthly, the Trumper/Greenstein incident has been discussed ad infinitem. Simon does have a tendency to showboat and "play for the cameras" on occasion and I wish he didn't. It sounds like he was doing this here. If Simon's delay in raising was only 90 odd seconds that is fine, but showing his cards one by one was bad ettiquette. Let's just play poker and forget all the bullshit. The reaction to the incident has been overblown in the extreme. Greensteins has taken back some of his ridiculous allegations and I think it's all over now. Simon is a good bloke and a good player and I hope he doesn't let this furore affect his performance in the main event.

I am pleased to report that there finally is a real buzz at the Rio now as the main event is about to begin. I am feeling quite nervous already but looking forward to giving it my best shot. For anyone who isn't here and fancies a little wager here are my 3 to follow.

1. Garry Bush. I feel very strongly Bushy is going to go very deep this year. I don't think I've ever seen him so animated and focused. He hasn't played dice once on this trip (therefore isn't on tilt) and is cock a hoop at what has happened at the Rio thus far. Everything points to an excellent run.

2. Rob Hollink. I've always rated Rob's game but in the last 6 months he has been absolutely awesome. Winning Monte Carlo and finalising at the WPT championship. He has enough gamble to get chips early and enough wile to keep them.

3. Erik Seidel. Quite simply Mr Consistent. He seems to be always there at every last 3 tables and is an intimidating presence when he has a mountain of chips. Clearly at the top of his game right now (he won his 7th bracelet earlier this WSOP) he can go all the way.

Today for me it's a piss up watching the Hooters girls take on the Hendon Mob in a series of heads up matches then a quiet day tomorrow before playing on day 2.

It's really funny how whenever you ask someone which day they are playing on whatever the answer it's the day they were hoping for. I haven't heard anyone say "I'm playing on day 1 and I'm really pissed off about it."

Let battle commence.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

All the best Keef...

u deserve a result..


Regards

Lawz

2:00 PM  
Blogger Big Dave D said...

Keith,

I was really pleased for Refael as he has been no1 at PLO for the year now, online at least. I think you are being generous with Simon T. I remember either you or Spillane telling me of a time when a guy moved all in with aces on a rag flop and Simon went into the office. For more than a few minutes. Then called with top trips...and later claiming he was creating drama :(

Reversion to type. Although the wild threats that seem to have been bandied around seem a little extreme.

gl

Dave

2:30 PM  
Blogger Andy_Ward said...

You've never seen Bushy so animated ? He must be overtaking those scooters in the corridors. Via the ceiling :-)

Give it your best shot mate,

Andy.

2:55 PM  
Blogger Milkybarkid said...

I was so glad that justice was done in the PL Omaha. I wander if they would have done the same thing if it had been one of the A listers playing heads up.

Good luck in the big one.

7:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

f-bomb should be used at the discretion of the dealer if not there then at the torniment co-ordinator it was used two days before you came out at the last chance in the later stages which meant the player almost went out and all he said was fuck me how can you call me with a pair of 5s with Q J 9 rainbow on the flop there was no arguing between the players and there were no females at the table and nobody was affended by it.

Anyway good luck too you i tried too speak with you but you were at the table one min and gone the next the possey from southampton came back two days later

once again good luck keep posting the pages

Fezzzz
(Chris)

2:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Heard you went out you fat cunt, i reckon you got about 6 years left the way you stuff the grub down blubber boy.

jimmy mac

6:33 AM  

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