January 6, 2007 2:22 AM
2007 PCA: End of Day 1A
Robert Williamson's voice draws attention when he's talking about the time of day. When he's excited, it could detract attention from a 76-trombone parade. I was sweating curzdog three tables over when Williamson's baritone exploded with, "Woahhhhh! The nuts."
It seemed everybody at his table was standing and people were coming from other tables to be a part of the standing crowd. At a distance, I was sure Williamson was done for. In fact, he wasn't even in the hand. I elbowed my way to tableside to find the cause of the commotion. Turns out, it was aces versus big slick suited in clubs. The board showed a flop that was made up entirely of clubs. Indeed, the nuts. Mr. Aces was nonplussed, and edging up to apoplectic. In fact, when he looked back down at his chip stack, now nearly 20,000 chips lighter, he had a vision. That vision told him chip stack should be higher. Voices were raised. Then they were raised some more.
And then the room went, quite literally, dark. The lights went out and, for some reason, I thought we were about to be invaded by some special operations team. My second thought was to scream, "Protect your chips!" When the lights came back up, Mr. Aces' face was more red.
Tilt is worse in the dark, I decided.
Greg Pappas, one of the kings of the floor, arrived and declared like a royal decree, "This pot is correct."
I'm not sure why it seemed so significant. But in a land where the sun can burn your skin in one hour and people are making huge laydowns on the river, the simple statement, "This pot is correct," seemed to calm me down. Someone, even if it wasn't me, was in control.
***
Huge laydowns on the river, you ask? Well, yes.
Steve Paul-Ambrose, 2006 PCA Champion, became the talk of the room for the better part of the afternoon after making a laydown that still has people--even Steve--shaking their heads. On a flop of K73, both players checked. The turn was an eight of diamonds. Steve bet out 2.5K and the big blind raised to 9K. Steve called. The river was the three of diamonds. The big blind pushed for 60K, covering Steve. After thinking for a long time, Steve mucked 77 for sevens full of threes. It was the fold heard around the world, as poker web sites and poker forums spread the word of the fold. The entire moment, captured beautifully by photographer Eric Harkins, showed Steve facing the bet with a look on his face that said, "You're all-$%#*-ing in?"
But, we know this is a game of reads. Steve made his read and lived with it. Near the end of the day, Steve made another read. He came in for a raise to around 3000 with 66. Players folded all the way to big blind who jammed for 20,000. Steve made his read, called the big bet, and watched his opponent turn over 23o. Steve sits above 75K at the end of the day.
***
So, it's quite a world here. If Eric's Picture of the Day was Steve's dismay, the odd vision of the day was the man that had given himself a PokerStars manicure.
Richard Newell nailed his appearance on the blog. Sadly, I lost him before the end of the day
However, there were others who stuck around for the rest of the big show. Most notably, a man named Owen Crowe. I'm tempted to start prattling on about "murders of crowes" and the like, but the simple fact is, if Crowe's recorded chip count is accurate, he's finishing the day with 202,000 in chips.
Venerable Roving Reporter Ed worked his hind end off today and offered a couple of more nuggets as the night came to a close:
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The Ed Report
Team PokerStars continues to roll. Vanessa Rousso raises to 2,200 and gets 2 callers. Flop is 7h-4d-6c. Vanessa bets 5K and next player raises to 15K. The other player mucked immediately and Vanessa asked him for a count. He had 27K remaining and after a lengthy dwell, Vanessa pushes all in(forcing him all-in should he call). He made the call and Vanessa showed 5-5 and is up against a set of 6s. The turn blanks but the river is an 8 giving Vanessa her straight and rocketed her up to around 130K and amongst the chip leaders.
Online qualifier tigerti narrowly missed out on a Moneymaker Millionaire seat but is putting his PCA seat that he won instead to good use. He raised to 2,000 preflop and got one caller. The flop comes J-7-5 rainbow. Tigerti checks and his opponent bets 3,000 which he insta-called. The turn brings an 8 and Tigerti checks and finds himself facing a 13K bet. He responds with the Tai-pei which is French for all-in and gets called. Tigerti shows JJ and is up against QJ so has the hand won and the river is a meaningless 8. After a countdwn of chips the other player is eliminated and Tigerti is over the 100K mark. Allez le bleus.
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Here are some other folks who tore up the tables today.
Channeling the Lizard King seems to have worked out for Isaac Haxton. He's finishing the day with around 125K
Vanessa Rousso, 105,800
gobboboy, 122,500
***
And so, that's how Day 1A ends. Full chip counts for Day 1A can be found by visiting the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Day 1A chip counts page. Day 1B starts tomorrow at noon. The 27-player Moneymaker Millionaire Finals kick off at 11am Saturday morning. The PokerStars Blog will be making every effort to cover both comprehensively.
Until then, beware of tilting in the dark and have a good night's rest.
Missed the action so far? Check out:
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Preludes and Parties
Day 1A begins
Day 1A--Level 2
Day 1A--Level 3
Day 1A Level 4
Day 1A Level 5
PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Day 1A chip counts
