WSOP
2003 Day 5
The Fourth Coming of Jesus
Chris
'Jesus' Ferguson is one of the nicest
guys you could meet, great sense of humor,
quiet and unassuming even as he steals
away all your tournament chips. Today
in the Omaha 8 final table he got heads
up and turned into a monster, raising
almost every hand, winning about 8 scoopers
in a row, and winning his fourth gold
bracelet. Last year it was three around
his hat, this year it's four around his
waistband. He is considering a sash when
he has enough of them, but he did offer
me a handy tip that if I ever get two
they make a nice necklace.
Today
I played a pot limit satellite ($175 wins
$1600 (3 $500 lammers + $100), 600 chips
to start, 15 minute rounds), got my money
back in a save but lost heads up. Then
I went over to an easy looking $225 No
Limit ($2100, 800 in chips), except soon
after we started Jack Fox sat down in
one of the empty seats, that can't be
good. Then after about 5 minutes the dealer
told them to page Mike Laing to come to
his seat, suddenly I didn't like this
table quite as much. A couple of players
commented about Mike and someone asked
who he was. I said just don't say anything
when he gets here, if you get him mad
he'll attack you relentlessly for the
rest of the tournament. So he shows up,
and as he runs to his seat he says "I
call", so I point out to the dealer that
his hand is dead if he's not in his seat.
Oops. The wrath of Mike is upon me as
he taunts and jabs and says how he's going
to crush me, and then he says he wants
a $100 last longer with me. I of course
decline, so he says $120 to my $100, no
thank you, $140, nooooo, $160, SOLD! Mike
has about 2/3 of his original stack, I
still have a full stack, so how bad a
deal can this be? Well three hands later
he has tripled up and I'm kissing my $100
good-bye. Now he offers to let me take
back $60, so lose $40 to him, I decline.
Then he offers me $300 for $100, I think
about that but decline. A little while
later he thankfully gets involved in a
big hand and is out, I make a nice $160,
which is just as well because I go out
a few minutes later, first calling an
all-in who had KJ, against my 66 in the
big blind, then going down in flames when
I take my AJ up against QQ.
Tonight
a few of us went over to the brew pub
at Main Street Station, that was a fun
time, the food is great, and so is the
home brew beer. Then back to sweat Kathy
L. and Jeff Shulman as they got into the
money at midnight in today's $2,000 No
Limit. The numbers were way down from
what I had expected, 407, I don't know
why it's lower, maybe the naysayers were
right, or maybe it's just the economy.
But it certainly isn't the tournaments
themselves, the amount of play is tremendous,
the room is about as good as it gets,
the staff are the nuts, and if you don't
count my clock not being able to work
when they kick the plug out from the computer,
it's been a pretty flawless first 5 days
with exactly on time starts, no missing
chips, and almost no abuse (except for
that first day).
Tomorrow
is the $1,500 Pot Limit Holdem, this is
my game, I'm playing, I WILL have a bracelet
soon, I will.
Paul Westley
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