Jennifer Newell

Another WPT champion - a Legend no less - has been crowned, and it is Dan Harrington. Fitting, wouldn't you say?

I attended the taping of the final table as a spectator instead of a reporter, and I was so glad that I did. The members of the media were sitting around before play began wondering where they were allowed to go, what their access was going to be, and how they were going to provide sufficient coverage. Honestly, I don't know how it turned out because I went into spectator-mode.

I met up with Tom Schneider's wife, Julie, and a group of their friends and family members. We had an absolutely great time watching the final table. Tom has a fabulous group of supporters in his corner, and I felt lucky to be in their company last night.

A few hours into play, we discovered (okay, he was hard to ignore) a drunk spectator behind us who kept yelling instructions to Dan Harrington. "Raise, Dan..... Harrington!" Obviously, he didn't know Dan, and we were highly amused by the antics. A little while later, said drunk guy was actually being taken from the casino in a wheelchair with vomit on his shirt and in a nearly catatonic state. Lovely.

Tom ended up finishing fourth though he came in as the chip leader. He just couldn't get that usual momentum going, and he was definitely disappointed. My take on it, however, was that this was an incredible showing. After winning two bracelets out of three final tables at the WSOP, capturing the WSOP Player of the Year honors, he makes the WPT final table in the first event he plays since the WSOP. And this was his second WPT final table in less than two years. Ummm, if the entire poker world doesn't take notice of this guy, I don't know what game they're paying attention to.

We left the final table after Tom's elimination and went across the street for dinner. It was a good time - fun conversation and even a short tutorial on Chinese poker. Robert Goldfarb (15th place finisher in the Legends main event) taught me the basics, and though our food came and disrupted the game, I'm anxious to play more in the future. I finally see the attraction to the game, and with a little practice, I'll be ready to lose money to any and all challengers.

When I returned home late last night, I saw that Dan Harrington won the event. The heads-up match between David Pham and Dan lasted quite a few hours; both of them truly wanted to win that title. I know that David has made numerous WPT final tables and wanted to win one more than most people I've talked to in poker, but it wasn't meant to be last night. At the same time, it's difficult not to be happy for Dan - so respected in the poker community and so deserving of a WPT title.

I don't think I'll be returning to the Bike for the WPT Ladies Night event tonight, as I have a ton of work on my plate, and traffic to get over there is just a complete bitch. I don't think I have the energy for it, and my car is begging me not to do it. So, no more craziness from the Bike for the time being...

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!

I want to take this opportunity to pimp a new website that I launched yesterday. It's called "Scoop!" and it presents fake poker news in satirical form. For example, the second post there is an interview with God about poker and Jerry Yang's WSOP win.

The site is www.PokerScoopOnline.com.

I hope readers find it entertaining. Thoughts on the site are welcome, and links to it are very much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your support!

Side note: I'll be heading to the Bike for the Legends of Poker final table later today. Tom Schneider is coming in with the chip lead, but other big names like David Pham and Dan Harrington are certainly going to make a strong showing. I will blog about it later tonight.

Tidbits for your reading pleasure from Day 2 of the Legends main event at the Bike...

I can't talk about the WPT event at the Bike without giving the latest update on the new media rules that resulted from the WPT/Card Player alliance. Again, the rules were being strictly enforced, but the new problem was that the enforcement wasn't consistent. Various media outlets discussed this issue amongst themselves and requested a meeting with WPT officials. From what I gathered, the rules about what these reporters were allowed to post was unclear - ummm, remember the WSOP? - and they were wondering if future coverage of WPT events would even be worth the time or effort. Reporters were frustrated, and I don't blame them one bit.

As for me - only there to get interviews - I was doing my usual leaning against the door of the tournament room, watching the action from afar and waiting for breaks when I could talk to players. At one point, a PR rep suggested I take a walk through the room, and I declined at the time, as I really didn't have the need. A little later, I was trying to see how many chips one player had left, and I walked less than 20 feet into the room to take a quick look, and I was asked to step out because there was another non-Card Player reporter in there at the same time. She was nice about it, but that was the last time I cared to walk in that room. Too much of a hassle for me.

I'm curious to see how it all plays out. If the WPT and Card Player don't let up a little, no one will be covering the WPT tournaments anymore, period. Is that really good for poker? And is that what the WPT really wants?

Anyhoooo, on to other things...

The field was just stacked today with big names all over the place. There were 191 players who returned for Day 2, and the field was diminishing at a decent pace as the day progressed.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Anna Wroblewski for quite awhile and conduct an interview for a magazine article, and she was just the sweetest person to talk to. Her early years as an orphan in Vietnam are very interesting and say a lot about who she is and why she leads her life the way she does.

My fav music producer, Irv Gotti, was hanging on today and doing well when I left. He was nearing the 100k mark this evening after being down to about 17k early on. I think he was actually starting to dislike the attention of the media, though, and when I finally asked if he'd be interested in speaking to me for an article, he declined. He was polite about it, but he seemed to be distancing himself from the media. Obviously, I was bummed, but he did tell me a little about the new Ja Rule single that should be on the radio soon. (Not many people care, but I'm excited about it. Let me have my moment, will ya?)

The most interesting part of my day was my personal Vinnie Vinh saga. I knew that he busted from Day 1B last night after I left, so I left him a voice mail message to get in touch with me or see me at the Bike today. No sign of him before the tourney started, so I asked David Pham if he knew where Vinnie was. He made a call and returned to tell me Vinnie was back in Vegas. Doh! Several hours later, however, I look up from the sushi bar to see Vinnie walking through the cash game area. Hey! I finished my spicy tuna rolls, then went out to the smoking area where I saw him headed. He thought I didn't see him and darted around to the side entrance of the casino. I wasn't about to chase him, but I got the message. He was definitely avoiding me, so I let it be.

Well, I can only guess that Vinnie is in a strange place these days because of what happened later. I waited for traffic to die down, then went to the valet to get my car around 7:45pm. As I was standing there, Vinnie walked out of the casino doors, locked eyes with me, and came over to give me a hug. "I sorry!" he said as he walked over. He repeated the apology several times, and I told him it was okay. "If you don't want to do the interview, it's okay," I said. "Just tell me the truth." He proceeded to let me know that this was just a really bad time right now, but he insisted that we will meet for dinner very soon, and he will talk openly. "I call you!" he kept saying as I drove away.

Maybe, maybe not. But I'm not giving up. I will have a conversation with Vinnie, and I will chase him until I get it. I won't stalk him or make him uncomfortable, but I want to talk to him. Seriously.

One other thing about my day... Though I was only in jeans and a t-shirt - nothing special - I received compliments today from the valet, the guy working the cafe, and the security guards. I'm sure they don't see many women 'round those parts, but it was nice to be complimented anyway. And it makes the sting of not getting some key interviews a little less upsetting. It's all good in the 'hood for me.

I don't think I'll be making the unpleasant drive to the Bike for Day 3 or 4, but I'm fairly sure I'll be there for the final table. I will post another blog if anything happens with my "Chasing Vinnie" saga or when I return to the Bike.

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.