Kevin Johnson Poker Tournament Updates

Hour Three

Jul 08, '07

Featured Moneymaker

Chris Moneymaker, a member of team www.pokerstars.com, was seated at the featured table and he was relatively quiet during the early stages of day 1C. One individual who had not decided to be quiet in the featured table area was the Planter’s Mr. Peanut. He may not be too big of a poker fan considering he walked right on the stage in the middle of a hand. He was lucky that none of the players involved took his cane from him and chased him away for the distraction.

On a hand soon thereafter, Moneymaker raised $900 and Kevin Johnson made the call. Grove Rasmussen also made the call and the flop was dealt Q 9 5. Both Johnson and Rasmussen checked, and Moneymaker made it $1,225 to play. Johnson called, and then Rasmussen price gouged the cost of admission to $11,400. Moneymaker hit the evac-button and Johnson went into the tank. He then did something very peculiar for a player facing a tough poker decision. He took off his sunglasses and put on his reading glasses. Maybe he couldn’t see the board. He made the call though, and flipped over A Q. He was out in front of Rasmussen, who showed J 10. The turn and river hit the table K 7 and Rasmussen hit a king-high straight on the river.

Lost and Found

A few players were hiding in plain view among the field of amateurs during the first hour, but their presence came to light during the afternoon. Two of these players, were surprisingly Clonie Gowan and Shannon Elizabeth. Elizabeth was wearing some new logos on her hat and blouse in the form of PokerStars.com attire, which gave her a chameleon-like quality in the new threads. Also lost in the fray of the first couple of hours, but found again were Andy Bloch and Kevin O’Donnell. These four are still all alive and well in the tournament field today.

Rescue missions sent out to find Phil Laak, Nelly, and Jose Canseco were unsuccessful. All three were lost for good in the early hours of day 1C.

Seven and Seven

Toto Leonidas scored a nice pot when he showed down A K on a board of K 10 3 Q 4 against his opponents’ pocket sevens. Leonidas added $7,000 to his stack on the hand.

Ho-Hum, Hi-Ho, It's Off to the Grind We Go

Seven of the 10 players at Table 225 had their head resting on their hands and they all appeared to be on the waking end of a cat nap. Imagine Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but all the dwarfs are Sleepy.

The Melting Pot

Table 202 was a demonstration of the power poker has to attract a diverse field of participants in one place, at one time, with the same goal. Young and old, male and female, American and international, this table had it all. No two players at the table would be in the same universe as each other if not for a poker table. One guy looked like a mechanic from West Coast Choppers, and he was sandwiched between seat eight, who could have passed for your country club golf-pro, and seat ten, who must take his fashion tips exclusively from Scarface. Another player had to be a South American international pop star of some reasonable amount of fame, while another looked like a Scandinavian Ron Burgundy. The power of poker has the power to unite us all, and it was no more apparent on day 1C than at table 202.

Notable Chip Counts

Player Tags: Toto Leonidas,   Phil Laak,   Chris Moneymaker,   Shannon Elizabeth,   Kevin Johnson