Monday had to be one of the most exciting days of the 2005 series so far. Actress Jennifer Tilly winning a bracelet, a star-studded final four tables in the pot-limit Omaha event, the addition of more tournaments to satisfy the crowded masses.
I started the day playing some small satellites to get my feet wet, after bombing in a $225 affair earlier in the trip. Tournament organizers have decided to play a $500 NLHE tournament every day at 5 p.m., which began Monday, and are running $65 satellites now constantly for it. I played two of those, as well as two of the $50 ones in which the top two get $225 vouchers for entry into a super satellite or nightly second chance tournament. Of course, I bombed out of all four. Not my week for tournament play.
I headed over to the TV table to check out the ladies only final. The event was not originally scheduled for air on ESPN, but after Tilly made the final four, the network decided to bring the women back Monday to finish it in front of the cameras. Cecilia Mortensen, Carlos’ wife, was among that final four.
Mere yards away, the final five tables of the pot-limit Omaha event was being played. When the tables were combined to four, Phil Ivey was moved to a table with Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and John Phan.
“No, not here,” Brunson said, laughing, as Ivey was moved to his table.
Meanwhile, the $5,000 limit tournament was taking place on the other side of the stage, and Phil Laak, always a bundle of energy, kept running back and forth to play his hands and check up on his girlfriend’s play.
I walked back toward the satellite area and ran into one of the players from my table, who told me he busted out second to the rather obnoxious Lenny Kravitz lookalike sitting between us.
We struck up a conversation about poker and he graciously agreed to be interviewed for my book. His name is Joe Fleming, from Fairfax, Va., and like many at the WSOP, he likes to travel around the country to participate in the major tournaments. Fleming regularly travels to Tunica, Atlantic City, Foxwoods, California, even Costa Rica. He’s one of those players no one outside of poker would have ever heard of. Fleming plays only smaller tournaments and the occasional big one, like last year’s WSOP main event, in which he made it about halfway through the field. He owns a real estate business back home, so money is not an issue.
“The only way to get out of work is to get out of town,” Fleming said. “This is what I like to do on my vacations.”
“I like the camaraderie of people, meeting you and meeting others. I probably know 200 people here,” he said.
As if to prove that point, Fleming called over Minh Nguyen, a two-time WSOP bracelet winner. Nguyen and I shook hands, but he had to run back to the limit tournament, which was returning from break, so we promised to chat later.
Fleming said poker is only fun if not taken too seriously by the recreational player. He knows some who have lost a lot, noting that a friend won $150,000 in a May tournament and was busted two months later.
“The downside is you see people destitute trying to hit fame and fortune,” Fleming said.
Will Fleming enter the main event this year? Not unless he wins a satellite. He said he can’t see plunking down $10,000 for one tournament.
“If I felt good enough to compete with these guys I would,” he said.
“Not yet anyway,” he said with a grin.
As we completed the interview, the ladies event got down to heads up, so Fleming and I headed to the back of the room to watch.
Tilly, who held a commanding chip leader through the final table, finally vanquished her opponent (sorry I do not currently know who it was) and stood up and spun around for the adoring audience. Laak hurried to the table to place the bracelet around her wrist. Tilly took it off and proclaimed in her Betty Boop voice, “This is excellent.”
She was handed the announcer’s microphone for her victory speech.
“This was really rough. All we talked about were clothing and shoes. There was a little bit of RRRRUUUUHHH,” Tilly said, holding her fingers out as a cat’s claws.
“This is actually better than an Oscar,” said the “Bride of Chucky” star, who in truth probably had better odds to win a bracelet than an Academy Award, given her cinematic track record.
So closed, for me at least, a mighty interesting day at the WSOP. I headed for the exit.
As complete novices played low limits and satellites in the front, as the big name pros played for the final table in the Omaha event and as Hollywood celebrated its first bracelet winner under the glare of the television cameras, I couldn’t help but think to myself what a hell of a game poker is.
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