The start of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) stop at the Mohegan Sun drew some of the best players in the game. By the end of registration, 721 players had plopped down the $5,000 buy in, building a prize pool of over $3.2 million and setting up the winner for a $750,000 payday. Those playing in the tournament were keeping their fans up to date via their Twitter feeds.
Having the best day was World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner and Bodog pro David Williams. From the beginning of the event, it seemed that Williams was on his game. “Great two levels. 103k after lvl 6. We play 2 more then done for the day. Busted Montel Williams when I flopped a set of QQ and he had AA.” Williams would have a small setback after that, Tweeting, “Just lost a 25k pot the last hand of level 7… but I have 200k left :-). One level to go. Got really lucky with QQ all in vs 22 on 9632. Q!” By the end of the night, Williams would end up as the chip leader, amassing a stack of 230,900 and Tweeting, “I think I’m chip leader. Either way had a great day. Very blessed.”
Others in the tournament are looking to take Williams down during Day Two. UB.com’s Brandon Cantu is in a prime position to strike. “146500 great day,” was all the WSOP double bracelet winner could muster on Twitter. PokerStars sponsored pro Daniel Negreanu was a bit more excited by his play, chirping, “Ended with 33,600. 8 tourneys this year and 8 day 2’s. Time to run good when it matters.” Other players such as Kathy Liebert (“Ended day with 55 k”), Amit “amak316” Makhija (“Sigh, 26,500 to end the day”), and Jonathan “FieryJustice” Little (“Ended the day at 57500 which I have to be happy about because I didn’t really have much in terms of cards”) are also in the mix.
One player who had a less-than-banner day was poker veteran Barry Greenstein. “The good news: my watch says 10am and the tournament starts at noon. Looks like two more hours to sleep,” Greenstein Tweeted prior to the start of the event. Moments later, Greenstein came back with another Tweet: “The bad news: my watch is set for West Coast time, but the tournament is in Connecticut on the East Coast.”
During one of the first breaks of the tournament, Greenstein Tweeted, “Couldn’t find a urinal in the bathroom. And I was surprised that it was empty with 700 entries.” The reason for this was Greenstein had entered the ladies’ room: “I met Kathy Liebert at the sink and realized I had gone into the wrong door!” Liebert also confirmed the meeting in one of her Tweets (“Just ran into Barry Greenstein in the ladies room”). Apparently it wasn’t Greenstein’s day, as he would be eliminated from the tournament soon after that.
Also getting back into the game, albeit in Las Vegas, was Jean-Robert Bellande. Bellande has been Tweeting about taking on some of the toughest players in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio and he came back on Wednesday to try again. “How the #%*^% is that idiot @BrokeLivingJRB back in action,” Mike Matusow Tweeted after hearing about Bellande’s return to the “Big Game.”
Bellande did very well on Wednesday night, Tweeting that he was up for the night (“Quitting. Good day. 97k”). Bellande woke up on Thursday to realize his bankroll was a bit short: “br dropped from 97k to 94k overnight. Apparently, Rhino (Las Vegas adult establishment the Spearmint Rhino) heavily taxes big one-day scores. Back to work! Billy (Baxter) and I starting hu.” He was able to battle Baxter and eventually ended up playing with Ming Ly, Johnny Chan, and Eli Elezra before the night ended. In his final Tweet from Wednesday evening, Bellande reported to his Twitter followers that he had cracked the $100,000 mark, but then “dumped 28k playing Chinese. Feeling sick. 70k.”
Having a bad start to the week were poker super couple Evelyn Ng and Lex “RaSZi” Veldhuis. “Hospital yesterday: Evy slipped from the stairs and bruised her tailbone,” Veldhuis reported through Twitter. “I have 4 fractured ribs. They thought I ripped my spleen at first.” Ng also confirmed their hospital visit by Tweeting, “lex and i went to the hospital today. luckily his ribs and my tailbone are ok, but that means all we can do is wait to get better. Sucks.”
Finishing up this week in Twitter is news of a prop bet between two die-hard hockey fans, poker pro Joe Sebok and tournament director Matt Savage. With the National Hockey League playoffs beginning next week, the duo set up a bet on who would fare the best during the schedule. Sebok, taking the Chicago Blackhawks, Tweeted, “$100 per win, $300 if your team wins the Western Conference and $500 if they win the Cup…. Cumulative.” Savage accepted the bet and took the San Jose Sharks, Tweeting, “I Know I have the worst of it but cannot back down now!”
Wherever they may be and whatever they are doing, poker players are constantly on Twitter to let their fans know what is going on in their lives. Poker News Daily follows the latest from Twitter and adds to the chirping as well. Be sure to add @pokernewsdaily to receive the latest news.
