Main Event Update

Well, yesterday sure was an interesting day. No, not for me. My life has already returned to the slow pace of gardening and getting more healthy. I was able to pollinate two cantaloupes and crossed my fingers that I wasn't too late. The cantaloupe and desert watermelon plants are growing like mad, so I'm happy that I put them way in the back of the garden, almost to the tumbleweed filled horse pasture (fenced in quarter acre in the corner of our property that we haven't cleared yet). Hopefully this fall we will have fresh melons and I can get stronger!

Some of my friends are still in the main event hunt. Some were knocked out yesterday in the money. One guy, still in the hunt, is an interesting story himself. Well, if you consider a poker cheat interesting, that is. More on that later.

Poor Ted hasn't gotten much press. For some reason, he is being overlooked as someone who actually has a chance to win this thing. Yeah, I shouldn't say poor Ted, he has had his share of wins and press during the past couple of years (finally), since he got back into tournament play.

Believe it or not, day 1d, when Glenn was playing, was the first time I got to visit with Ted during the series this year. I was talking to Dan after stepping away from my baby PLO game and I saw Ted looking at me, trying to get my attention in the background. I hadn't found him before this, and anyone who has seen the chaos of the main event this year knows why. But he was actually just one table off of the rail, right in the path between the cash games and where they were running sats.

After I parted from Dan, I headed to his table. He was involved in a pot right before the break, and took it down, putting his chip count just above the 30k mark. We chatted and then he told me that he wanted me to meet his daughter. We went into the hallway where he introduced us, and was obviously very proud to have family sweating him for once.

As of day four, Ted is still in, albeit a little short, but that is no problem for Ted. Go Ted!

Matt Maroon busted out with queens vs. aces. Well played, Matt! Your friends always knew you could do this.

Chad Layne is still in the hunt. Nicest.guy.ever. Another guy often overlooked, since he isn't a full-time player.

Cyndy is still in, working that short stack and surviving.

Gary Jones is a great Brit player who always impressed me with his "never go all-in" concept in big stack tourneys. I believe he went pretty deep a few years ago, as well.

Cecilia, Carlos' wife, is still in the running. Very nice woman.

And then we come to the cheater...

I hate to even mention these guys, but if I don't, no one will. It seems that the only people willing to address problems in poker are the gossip sites and me. While the gossip sites do it to get hits, I do it to warn players and try to get the scumbags banned and/or shunned at big festivals.

Back in 2004 there were two guys who got tossed from the Four Queens Classic. This was the most weird display of cheating I've ever seen, to date. Usually if someone is good at cheating, you will never know you are being cheated. Only if someone truly sucks so badly that it's completely obvious, will you catch it.

In this case, however, the two parties not only were bad at cheating, but they talked about it at the tables!!! They told the dealer they were cheating, told the floorman, the assistant TD, and everyone at the table! Now that is a spin on cheating that I had never seen before, lol.

So guess who reared his head again and is now sitting on the 32nd stack of chips? Yep, you got it, Greg Giannokostas. Yes, the same Greg who refused to play against his friend. The same Greg who got dumped to by his friend when they got to the final table, virtually insuring that he took down the Razz event (he claimed his friend was much weaker in Razz). Yes, the same guy who tried to first deny knowing his friend altogether, but got busted when he admitted they were working together, and that they had been cheating all over town.

I know it's hard to believe that two guys would just stand up and admit they were ripping everyone off, but they did. They claimed they had been playing the same way at Bellagio and Binions (during the series of 2004). They bragged that they'd cleaned up the town by collusion, soft play and chip dumping.

Maybe because they were so young, early twenties I would guess, they thought they were untouchable.

And what do I know? Obviously nothing. Obviously they were untouchable, because look who is on the leaderboard at the series! Sure, they were banned from the Four Queens, but have they been banned from other venues? Have they been shunned by the community? I'd guess no. So for all of my troubles, cheating rears it's ugly head again.

Will it stop me from writing about it? Exposing poker cheats? Nope. Although I may get nothing but trouble for all of my honesty, at least I have that same honesty to fall back on and can sleep well at night knowing I did the right thing.

Integrity is a good shield.

Felicia