Don't mess with grandma

If there’s one thing I’ve learned today, it’s this – don’t mess with 74-year-old Mamie Parker.

I was sitting in a 4-8 game at the Grand and she joined the game. The fellow to my right said she reminded him of her mother.

“I wished I had a picture to show you,” he said.

“Must be a beautiful woman,” Mamie quipped without missing a beat.

A few hands following the comment, the same player bet on the turn on an A-K-6-J board and was promptly check raised by Mamie, who had made Broadway on fourth street.

“You know the old adage about check raising your grandmother,” I told him. “Well, sometimes your grandmother check raises you.”

I ran into Andy Bloch over there and said hello. He was playing in the $2,000 NLHE and is one of at least a few name players (Chris Ferguson and Paul Phillips are a couple of other ones) who are boycotting World Poker Tour events because of concerns over the use of their likeness. I don’t know all the details and concerns, but I’m sure you’ll find some info if you are curious at andybloch.com.

Ted and I both continue to struggle. He tried both of the super satellites for the World Poker Open and blanked. Ted has played many big tournaments against a good number of top pros. He recalled the following story as we rode over to the Grand today.

In a 2004 WSOP event, Ted kept re-raising this aggressive young player from Los Angeles that he called the “L.A. Kid” and finally busted him.

After the “L.A. Kid” left, Ted asked a fellow player, “That kid sure played crazy didn’t he. Who is he?”

“That’s John Juanda,” the man replied.

“Who is that?” Ted asked.

So Ted wasn’t quite up to date on his poker pro knowledge back then, but Men “The Master” Nguyen certainly remembers him as Ted bested Nguyen and the rest of his final table to win an Ultimate Poker Challenge event at the Plaza a couple of months ago.

Ted saw Nguyen eating breakfast at the buffet after the WPO had started today and asked him how he was doing. “I take bad beat with A-K vs. A-5 so I take a break,” Nguyen told him.

Ted and I both played in the second chance tournament at the Grand tonight and blanked. Brad “Otis” Willis was still humming along after we departed. Mr. Poker Stars just got into town and I’m sure I’ll join him and Tom for plenty o’beers over the weekend.

Finally…finally…ran into Hoyt Corkins this evening near the Gold Strike hotel elevators as I was leaving my room and he was going up to his. The Alabama Cowboy was as friendly as expected. Patrick Walker, a regular player in some of our Tuscaloosa games, is the son of Hoyt’s doctor. Small world I suppose.

A dealer, Curtis from Memphis, stopped me on the way to the cyber center. He saw my laptop and Full Tilt Poker shirt and thought I was with the poker media. Not really, I told him, I just write a newspaper column and am mostly hanging around incognito.

Curtis just started dealing after getting a creative writing degree from some school in Florida. I asked him about the pressure of dealing a major tournament as a rookie.

“The first ten days I was doing fine, but then I sat at a table with Todd Brunson and Barry Greenstein and I riffled the cards all over the table,” he said.

It’s funny how many people have stopped and asked me to go to cardplayer.com for chip counts while I typed this post. Paul “Eskimo” Clark just sat down at the table nearby and asked if I had seen Joe Cassidy. I told him no, but the truth is I couldn’t pick Joe Cassidy out of a police lineup. Is that the “L.A. Kid?”

I’m about to fire up a little no limit on Bodog. Maybe I should ask Eskimo for tips.