While they were camped out at the Bellagio in Las Vegas for the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic, players were also keeping their eyes on the sporting world. One of the big events that drew their attention in recent days was LeBron James’ return to Cleveland as a member of the Miami Heat.
Peter Jetten probably had the best plan for watching the Heat/Cavaliers game when he Tweeted on Thursday, “Going to have a fun relaxing day today. Massage this afternoon then going to watch the Heat/Cavs and TNF, The 10k Bellagio is tomorrow.” When he actually journeyed to the Bellagio sports book to check out the game, Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul amusingly observed, “Lol @ Bellagio sportsbook… they have audio for Eagles game over Cavs/Heat.”
Firmly on the side of James and the Heat were Floridians Robert Mizrachi and Eric Mizrachi. As the Heat were demolishing the Cavaliers, the former Tweeted, “That’s what all you LeBron haters get for all the ‘booing.’ Miami just opened a can of ‘ass whooping’ on Cleveland, lol. Go @KingJames.” Robert chirped a simple, “Let’s go LeBron.”
On the other side were Alex Outhred and 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) final tablist Doug Kim. Kim gave James some props when he chirped, “OK, LeBron is damn ridiculous.” Outhred, though, still held some animosity: “Miami crushing Cleveland doesn’t mean #LeBron is no longer an asshole.” In the end, the Heat destroyed the Cavaliers 118-90.
As poker players dropped from the Five Diamond, NFL football took center stage. On opposite sides of the chase for the NFC North championship race were DoylesRoom Brunson 10 member Amit “amak316” Makhija and Saul. The latter showed his true colors when he Tweeted, “And that’s another victory formation! #bears.” Makhija showed his allegiance to Green Bay: “The Packers won and I’m up to 130k the only way the first level Coulda been sweeter is with a Bears loss, still a great start!”
In another big game on Sunday featuring the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys, tournament director Matt Savage was unflinchingly honest in his assessment of the performance of Colts’ quarterback Peyton Manning: “Favre is out of the game so we need a new Interception King. Introducing Peyton Manning as the next Hall of Famer falling apart!” Jetten wryly noted across the Twitterverse, “This game would be so much more exciting if my big Cowboys must win Super Bowl bet was still live.”
Absolute Poker pro Trishelle Cannatella was in New York for the games on Sunday, but couldn’t hold back her rooting interest in the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints after the team’s come-from-behind victory against the Cincinnati Bengals: “Payton is such a badass!!!! Love it. Watching the game in NYC. Geaux @Official_Saints.”
There were some top players paying attention on the cards in the Bellagio over the weekend. As action came to a close on Sunday, Allen Kessler (“Made day 4 of #wpt #Poker 10k Bellagio event. 54 left now of 438 starters. I have 90500. Avg probably 300k.”) and Vanessa Rousso (“Done for the day. I have 694k after a late surge. 54 left. Day four at noon tomorrow.”) were ready to come back on Monday.
Players out with a min-cash for their efforts included Full Tilt pros John Juanda (“Min cash WPT Bellagio. Last hand I had AKs, ran into both QQ & KK. Turned a flush draw, but missed.”) and Jon “PearlJammer” Turner (“Out 60thish, reshoved 18bbs w T9s from c/o over h/j’s raise, btn woke up w JJ, I hit 2 pair, but he hit J”).
For the top Tweets of the weekend, we’ll start with UB.com pro “Hollywood” Dave Stann, who became a movie critic: “Oscar noms for best actress Natalie Portman, director Darren Aronofsky & film Black Swan. Twisted look into the self-torture of true artists.” Scott Ian offered his critique of the latest effort from the Black Eyed Peas, Tweeting, “The Black Eyed Peas cover of Time Of My Life = the lamest piece of music I have ever had the unfortunate experience of accidentally hearing.”
Having a problem with coyotes at her home, Erica Schoenberg found a unique cure: “I just spent 100 bucks on wolf urine to sprinkle in the backyard to repel the coyotes. Guess I need to get into the predator pee market.” On the work front, Joe Reitman explained the audition process in Hollywood: “At commercial auditions, they now ask for your barcode. If I didn’t feel like cattle, I sure as hell do now.”
Finally, Joe Sebok offered a gem from PokerRoad’s Court Harrington when he Tweeted, “Me ‘Sometimes I forget to breathe when I’m typing.’ @courtharrington ‘Don’t become a novelist.’ As usual, solid Southern logic from the hick.”
