Guest Blogger

…And it wasn’t “late-December back in ’63.” It was actually last Saturday night at the WPT celebrity invitational. My best day at work ever! With that said, I really don’t get into the whole celebrity thing. If you were to fill a room up with the top athletes of this era I’d react a little differently, but outside of Pete Sampras, Andy Roddick, and Alex Smith, I was out of luck. The thing that really made this night special was the jovial atmosphere it created for everyone from the players, to the celebrities, to the media, to the WPT crew. It didn’t hurt that there was a pre-tournament cocktail party that featured, shrimp, crab, sushi, free drinks, a mountain of fruit that I fondly named “Mount Dole,” and chocolate-covered strawberries! One of my good friends from college, Stephanie; and my roommate from Vegas last summer, John, had also joined in for the night so I was having a blast.

First off, the poker players were by far and away having the most fun. A $100,000 free roll with the rich and famous, who for the most part aren’t the greatest card players in the world, had these hardened-gamblers drooling. But most of them were too busy having a great time to concentrate too hard on poker. A perfect case in point was the entertainment that took place at a table that showcased John “The Razor” Phan, Bill Edler, Vanessa Rousso, and Jon Favreau. I was attracted to the table when it looked like Edler was starting up “Cheers” due to the fact he had four dozen Coronas and Heinekens stock-piled behind him.

(A quick side note: Bill personally introduced himself on the fist day of the LA Poker Classic, and he has done nothing but impress me since that first meeting. I think many would agree that he is one of the nicest guys on the tour.)

I walked up to Bill and asked him, “How’s it going?” He turned and began to count his chips. I then quickly interrupted, “Oh no, I meant with all these beers. Looks like you have a lot of work to do.” He chuckled lightly and responded, “Those are for whoever is thirsty. Are you thirsty?” I grabbed a Corona, thanked him, and proceeded to watch the events unfold at his table. Rousso and Phan have a history of playfully jawing at one another during the course of a tournament, but on this night they were in fine form.

Here is a hand from that table: Seat four moves all-in and Rousso moves all-in over the top of him. Seat one then goes into the tank. The Razor stands up and says, "He looks like a little girl if he doesn't call." Seat one says, "I know," and shares a laugh with Phan. He folds and Rousso flips over pocket eights. Seat four flips over the Ah4h. The board comes Kc10s5d3h3c and seat one says, "I should have moved all-in." After the hand, while eating a mini-strawberry cupcake, Phan turns to Rousso and says, "Cupcake, move all-in on this next hand."

While all this is going on, Jon Favraeu (of “Swingers” and “Elf” fame) is intently staring down Phan. I was waiting for him to jump over the table and jump kick Phan at any moment. I think it is safe to say he wasn’t enjoying himself. Apparently it just wasn’t a good night to be a "Swinger" because the only person in the room more angry then Favreau had to be Vince Vaughn. Vaughn was rude to every single member of the media that asked him a question, or requested a video interview. I understand he is a big star that probably gets requests 20 times a day, but that is just not how you treat people who are trying to do their job. It’s not like we were hassling the guy or chasing him around like the paparazzi.

For the most part though, I was impressed with the polite and helpful nature of the celebrities. Don Cheadle (who just upset Phil Ivey in the NBC Head’s-Up Championship in case you’ve been living under a rock) answered many questions for Gary. While he was at the table! Marlon Wayans looked like someone ran over his dog when I informed him that he couldn’t re-buy into a freeroll tournament. Even one Paris Hilton was polite and happy to be there. I can’t say much to defend her poker skills though. All of us in the media and WPT crew were rooting for Miss Hilton to make the final table because of the intense media coverage it would garner for poker.

No one was a larger vocal-supporter of this then Mike Sexton, who almost busted Paris on this hand: Paris Hilton raises to T6,000 pre-flop by placing her chips into the pot one at a time. Seat seven calls, which puts him all-in. Mike Sexton calls as well and flips over pocket nines. "Well, at least I'll go out with a pair," says Sexton after seat seven flips over pocket queens. Hilton simply smiles, and flips over pocket aces. The entire table explodes in laughter and cheers as the board comes K 9 5 10 7 .Sexton doubles up on the hand and Hilton is down to T5,000. After all the cards came down she looks around and asks, "Who won?"

After the hand was over I’m pretty sure I saw Sexton give her back some chips as I was making my final notes, but I won’t tell anybody. It was a great night for poker and the WPT.

Ryan "Force" Lucchesi
force@wisehandpoker.com