Today I will be live blogging the $1500 tournament at the WSOP on twitter at www.twitter.com/beaniepoker.  I have 46,500, average is about 35k.

So first let me say that I was the guy that knocked out the bubble guy with 6c7c.  He had about 20k and I had about 40k.  He raised 5k into the BB that was openly saying that was openly saying he would fold with Aces.  Figuring that he heard that and needed to chip up I put him on a steal and hit a straight on him.  Do not ever believe the updates, they either write what they are told or reconstruct the action but common sense would tell you that I did not call with 6c7c, which is how pokernews wrote it up. 

OK, so to the Layne Flack part.  I was at the Bellagio and was cashing some chips when I see a friend (Greg Pierson) in the high limit section.  After I get my money from the cage I tell my dad "let me just stop by and say hi for a sec".  Greg is having a few drinks with Layne Flack and both seem to be having quite a good time, it looked like Layne was playing 100-200 Limit Holdem and Greg was just sweating him.  As I was leaving I acknowledge Layne by giving him a little head nod like "hey, how is it going".  Layne looks me dead in the eye and says "fuck you", I smile at him and just walk away.  I hear Greg say, do you even know who he is and Layne goes "yeah I know who the fuck he is", kind of loud like.  My dad is dumbfounded and says, "man that unabomber guy is a real dick".  I then explain to him that he is thinking of Phil Laak, and then also have to explain who Layne Flack is.

Socially I have had a few interactions with Layne, nothing that super stands out, so here is what I have nailed it down to:

[ ] Laynes mom bought a Royal Blue Peanut from me when it was 6k and now it is 2k.
[ ] After Layne won Aruba he played a lot of 25-50 on UB.  I was playing a lot at that time and did quite well.  My buddy list consisted of three people that I would always play, Layne was one of three.
[ ] Once in chat, he was sober at the time, he got upset at me about something silly and I told him he has lost his sense of humor now that he is no longer drinking.
[x] Layne was 8 o’clock drunk.

It did not really bother me but it has been a while since someone has said "fuck you" to me so it was a bit shocking.  Equally as shocking was it happening in front of my dad.

This is a summary of a typical conversation that I have often, it is not verbatim but it is close. Yesterday a friend Instant Messaged me and said “I am done with XYZ poker”.  Now I knew that this guy used to play fairly small but once they won a tournament everything changed.  All of a sudden $20 sit and go’s did not cut it.  He was up over 10k after the tournament win.  So my next question was never really asked because I knew the answer.  He did not cash out and now he was done.  He went broke.

That really showed them.

I will change some of the info and names to make it not so obvious as to who the people are but this is one of the funnier stories (I am not sure if funny is the right word really) I have heard in a while. 

Two guys had basically been playing one account on Full Tilt and agreed that they would not take any out except for living and traveling expenses.  They also decided that they would travel the circuit playing tournaments and then playing online, which brought them to the Borgata.  Both of them had run well and their account was at 200k.  I am not going to bore you with the details because everyone knows what is coming.  They thought they found a soft spot in the 300-600 game playing limit poker.  Within 24 hours their account was dead bust.

This is where the story gets interesting maybe ironic (ok, funny really is a bad choice), the way the scene is described is almost like the end of a good war scene.  Fog everywhere, people walking around muttering wondering what just happened, that type of scene.  It was pretty clear that was all these kids had to the world.  At one point the bigger kid starts getting real angry and upset, his face turned a color of red (this is what I was told) faces shouldn’t turn.  At that point there was no reason in his mind.  If you have never been to the Borgata it is all glass, in his rage he ran at the glass as hard as he could trying to jump out (OK, now I feel like a bit of an ass for thinking it was funny).  As he hit the glass his head hit first and since he was not the first destitute gambler to think of this particular way to die he bounced off of the glass knocking himself out cold. 

That is my conclusion.

At Commerce, 34/hour rake is slowly busting everyone. Feb was a disasterous month for the poker economy… Commerce Casino and Phil Ivey got all the money and, as far we know, they already had a lot.

In the real world, $103 oil and record lows on the dollar means everyone is already poorer than they think. Everyone I know spent too much in the good times and is now losing money rapidly.

I’ve been training hard for the bet with Patrik. I’m constantly fighting minor injuries (first rotator cuff, now shin issues). I can buyout of golf for 50k if I’m injured and he can buyout of tennis for 50k, but other than that there is no injury allowance. This bet has made me realize that my body fat is quite high and I’m basically slow and out of shape. I’ve improved pretty dramatically in the past two weeks, but conditioning and speed are going to be the two main factors for the match.

Illya Trincher was telling me that he was a top ten ITF junior at one point. Benyamine was as well. The two of them have a match set for the summer and Benyamine has already lost forty pounds.

BA