Jennifer Newell

Interesting notes from Day 1B of the Legends main event at the Bike...

I mentioned yesterday that the PR reps for WPT were being fairly lenient with the new media rules. So much for that! Today, the rules were being strictly enforced with non-WPT and non-Card Player reporters only being allowed into the tournament room for 15-minute increments, once per hour, escorted by a WPT rep.

An unnamed WPT reporter even said that it is a disappointment to see his friends in the media being excluded, especially when it had been the trend in previous tournaments to share information about player names, chip counts, eliminations, and significant hands. I wholeheartedly agree and know that coverage will suffer immensely across the board because of the new rules. It's already happening at Legends. The official live updates reported in their end-of-day recap yesterday that Steve Sung was the chip leader, when the true chip leader was Jerome Mangum. One oversight or a sign of the level of coverage to expect? The previous, I can only hope.

Off my soapbox and into the good stuff...

It looks like there were 266 players today, and it was simply a star-studded field. Everyone from Doyle Brunson to Phil Hellmuth to Jerry Yang to Barry Greenstein was in the room to play.

I met Jerry Yang today, and he was just as humble and kind as reports previously stated. He was decked out in a black suit and excited to play. Too bad his starting table included the likes of Mike Matusow, Erick Lindgren, Mary Jones, Gavin Smith, and Chris McCormack. A few hours into it, though, he was holding his own quite nicely.

Just as people were trying to get close to Jerry and congratulate him, Jamie Gold walked through the lobby to no fanfare and no autograph seekers. Sorry, J!

Phil Hellmuth made his standard late entrance, which is getting old, quite frankly. He took his seat at the same table with Casey Kastle, Chau Giang, Vinnie Vinh, and Freddy Bonyadi. In the first hour, Phil received penalties for checking a PDA during a hand and dropping the F-bomb (though not directed at another player).

As soon as I arrived at the Bike before the tournament, Vinnie Vinh greeted me in front of the casino with a hug. Evidently, we've become close. He still wants to talk to me but certainly not while he was playing. We're scheduling for tomorrow before the tournament. And who bought him in today? It wasn't David "Dragon" Pham, which would have been my guess. (Good thing no one was around to bet me on it.) An unnamed source told me that it was Tommy Vu. Tommy was scheduled to play today but called the tournament director before start time and told him that he would be unable to play; he wanted Vinnie to play in his place. How convenient!

Poor Eskimo Clark was hovering around the sign-up area for today's event, but he wasn't getting any love. He did not play in the main event.

Kenna James came in with his closely-shaven head, a product of his recent trip to Kentucky to host a charity event for the U.S. Army and Screaming Eagle Poker soldiers. He also had a friend with him today filming some "hello" messages from pro poker players to send to the troops overseas. Nice going, Kenna!

Mark Newhouse and Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf were in the same room with no hubbub. On the first break, I check in with Mark in the smoking lounge to ask about it. He said that he had not spoken to Neverwin since the WSOP near-brawl. I asked if he was planning some sort of sneak attack today, he laughed and said, "Maybe." Just as we were chatting, he looked over and saw Neverwin seated on a bench only feet away from us. Mark walked over and said hi as if none of the anger, stalking, and chasing had ever happened. They chatted for a few moments, no violence ensued, and all was well with the world... except for that pesky hundred thousand dollars that Mark is owed. Personally, I think this story is far from over, no matter the friendly words today.

Interesting bustouts after only three hours of play: Phil Hellmuth, Tuan Lam, and Maria Ho. And either Jerry Yang is out or moved, but the official updates are reporting conflicting information about the table at which he began. Argh.

I will be heading down to the Bike again tomorrow to conduct some scheduled interviews and check out the combined field for Day 2. By the way, my favorite music producer Irv Gotti made it to Day 2, so he'll be one of the many I'll be watching in the crowd tomorrow. I shall blog again tomorrow.