The night before the Big Game is one I will not soon forget. Jared Tendler, Barry Carter (from Poker News acclaim) and I were sitting in the bar at the Chesterfield Mayfair and in walked someone who I had never met before, but was immediately drawn to. His name was Marty Wilson. Or “Mad” Marty, as he is known across poker circles.
Marty recognized my Poker Stars gear and correctly assumed I was part of the tournament and walked up and introduced himself. He sat down, ordered a drink and that was the beginning of a night filled with some of the most amazing stories you could ever hear. Most of us barely even spoke for the next several hours as we were glued to the next thing that came out of Marty’s mouth. He told us amazing gambling stories, random (but interesting) trivia and gave us some almost impossible to guess questions that has us scratching our heads. Marty is the first person I have ever met where I can say what I am about to say. He is a larger than life personality.
About half way through the night, Robert Williamson III walked in the bar jet lagged and exhausted, but that wasn’t enough to stop him from joining us at the table. If we had been sans Marty, I suspect he may have just headed to bed, but with Marty in the group, he probably figured it would have been a crime to not take advantage of the situation and he joined us for some drinks. It was great getting to know RWIII. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy and another person, like Marty, who has a thousand stories to tell.
Being an online pro for the most part, I have always been intrigued by the old school gambler/poker players. I have mostly stuck to my circle of online poker buddies and haven’t met too many of the Marty Wilson’s and RWIII’s of the world. But I have always been fascinated by them. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it wasn’t very long ago that I was watching these guys on TV and would have given my left nut to be in their position. Now I am a peer of them, which is pretty special. In fact I remember the first time I played poker in Las Vegas my friend Matt Amen and I decided to check out the World Series of Poker and watched a final table for PLO and it included RWIII, Phil Hellmuth and Phil Ivey. I believe Ivey took down that final table, but it was on that day that I learned about “Mr. Omaha,” RWIII. So I will have to admit it was a pretty cool moment to just sit in a bar and share a beer with him as two fellow professionals.
The Big Game didn’t go that well for me at the tables. I lost about $12k pounds and my bankroll got a little light after taking the beating and the stakes getting constantly bumped up at the tables. Once the stakes got so high that I only had enough money with me to play one big pot, I decided to take the job as commentator for the remaining 24 hours of the show. So Jesse May (who is a fantastic person btw) and I sat in the booth calling the action for over 24 hours straight! It was really cool and a job that I would actually like to do more of if the opportunity ever arises. Going over 24 hours straight was pretty brutal for me though. I had already been awake for probably 8-10 hours before I started, so doing the 24 hours was no easy task. In fact I actually fell asleep several times while I was commentating! I remember at one point Jesse asked me what I thought Phil Laak should do with his hand and I was like, “I think this is a good spot for Phil to check raise.” Jesse said, “Well, Phil has the button in this hand so that might be pretty hard to do.” I was damn near hallucinating by the end and had no idea what was coming out of my mouth. I guess when the show airs I will find out!
Well, I’m playing in a mixed game SCOOP event as I write this and am itching to start a cash game session so I am going to wrap it up here. In my March to $100,000 I am up only about $21,000 at the moment so I have my work cut out for me. I still have about 2 1/2 weeks so it is not impossible that I can get on a nice run and still make it. I will certainly give it my best. Even if I don’t make it, I am still going to be super excited to play in the WSOP this summer. I am going to bring a big bankroll and see if I can’t turn it into something huge. I have a house rented in Vegas for the entire WSOP. My family is going to come down with me so it will feel more like a home game and I don’t have to deal with missing my family for an entire month. I should feel comfortable and ready to play some poker. Between now and then I will work on getting my game to peak for the WSOP through lots of hard work on my game.