Thursday, February 4, 2010

Last Day at WSOP 2009


My last day of dealing was eventful only because I decided to try to make a little extra by hanging around and seeing if a dealer was needed anywhere. After my shift ended I begged for a little overtime and was offered a spot in the "Nightly No Limit" tournament. This is a $200 buy-in tournament that usually draws its players from the ones who bust out earlier in the day. This was no exception, although, this late in the proceedings the field was considerably smaller than usual, only 40 players. One of those players was the famous Chris Moneymaker.

In 2003, Chris had won a seat in the Main Event by winning a $40 tournament on line at Poker Stars. Chris parlayed that effort into winning over $5 million by winning the Main Event that year and kicking off a huge craze in Internet Poker. Yes, he had busted out of this year's Main Event and was looking for a little more action. He decided to play the Nightly No Limit. Aside from a few cash tables, this was the only other action around.

It worked out that we had exactly 4 dealers for the four tables, so rather than moving or "Pushing" through the tables, we stayed at the same table for two hours and Chris was at my table the entire time. He is a dream at the table. He is courteous and has fun bantering with the other players, always willing to stop and sign an autograph and acknowledge people who drop by to say, "Hello."

His most interesting hand was when he raised before the flop and got one caller. He made a rather large bet on the flop and his opponent made a large raise. It was large enough that Chris needed to go all in in order to call. After thinking for a minute he said, "Well, if I have to, this is the hand I'll go home with." With that he pushed in the last of his chips and turned over his pocket Aces. They were good enough to win the hand and double him up. After that, Chris just kept collecting chips and was the chip leader going into the first break.

The night shift showed up to relieve the dealers and Chris was happy to pose with me for a photo. That was my last official act of the 2009 WSOP. It was great fun. I made a little more money than in 2008 and I am glad they called to ask me back. I hope to return in 2010.