Diary

Saturday, July 11
Day four of the World Series of Poker main event is over. It has been a busy week. For the first real time, PartyPoker.com has started sponsoring players, taking a grassroots approach by creating a team through its VIP system. Initial members are the UK’s Ian Frazer, France’s Remy Biechel, Brazil’s Felipe Ramos, and Germany’s Bodo Sbrzesny. Frazer is well known as a sixhanded specialist, Ramos cashed at one event at this year’s WSOP, while Remy is a respected French player with big side event results in major tournaments. Bodo won a rake race last year to take part in the Poker Den cash game, creating an impression by bluffing Roland De Wolfe and Barny Boatman with 7-2 and showing them — something Jesse May got very excited about in the commentary box. Already, you can see the team atmosphere building, and there is no better person to join them than Mike Sexton.

Mike cashed in the main event but was also named in the final 10 for consideration for the Poker Hall of Fame this year. In my mind and in the mind of many top figures in the game he is the outstanding candidate, and I hope we see his induction in November.

Throughout the early stages there was a Mike Sexton suite at the Rio which hosted the online qualifiers. This didn’t stop the world and his wife trying to get in and get their hands on the food and drink. Some of the techniques people used were mind-blowing. Everybody claimed to be a friend of Mike or even, in one case, a business partner. The conference facilities at the Rio charged just under $7 for one bottle of water, so we wanted to save everything for the players that were entitled to be there. There was a Wii, and massage facilities — generally great things if you were a player and wanted to chill on a break.

Also in attendance was an Italian poker team. Only a couple spoke English which proved to be slightly tricky but one of them was due to run pretty deep at the time of writing. Talk about an entourage. They were constantly on the rail cheering him on. “Mama! Mama!” You certainly knew when these guys were around.

Now to more social matters. I went to Padraig Parkinson’s wedding reception at Bellagio this week. He looked dapper in a sharp suit and it was a fantastic evening and very relaxed. His wife Veronique looked stunning. Surprisingly for me, I managed to stay out of trouble with all the Irish boys around. I was pretty impressed with myself. That said I did spend a lot of time over in a corner of the bar, hiding away a bit. Last year I was around when Marty Smyth won a bracelet and the celebrations weren’t that great for curing jet lag that’s for sure. I got caught in a seat next to Fintan Gavin on the way out to Vegas which meant I broke my rule of drinking on planes, but to date they haven’t got me yet.

PartyPoker.com had a party at Wet Republic which was a fun affair and I also managed to go to a few others. Hats off to PKR for their one in the Hugh Heffner Sky Villa at the Palms. I didn’t see too many people fall in the pool either, quite a surprise that! ♠