Two weeks ago the weather in Las Vegas was a balmy 84 degrees. Yesterday the thermometer tipped 108 and rising. You could fry an egg in Las Vegas, and plenty of peoples bankrolls.
Everybody always has the happiest dreams and the best of intentions on their way into town. Las Vegas beckons like a warming embrace. The town glitters with promise and gold. The WSOP offers fame, fortune, and poker immortality.
And come they do. From every corner of the globe, from every game in every town. From every place where cards are dealt and poker is played, heads on pillows teem with piles of cash and arms outstretched, and winners’ speeches where anthems are played and bracelets awarded. The machine of the World Series of Poker 2011 rests for no one.
Show 37 (June 28) with Jake Cody and Daniel Negreanu is online now! Click the play button to listen:
[podcast]http://www.thepokershowlive.com/media/mp3/227.mp3[/podcast] Prefer to download? Right click here and Save As.
I’ve been on the ground for two weeks now, with every day filled. On Day 1 when starters were at their mark, I grabbed who I could. Fresh faces of every description, bankrolls of every size, players on every rank of the World Series ladder, all to talk about their expectations over the next eight weeks.
I listened to newbies like Jake Cody, young guns like Chris Moorman and Jimmy Fricke, old hands like John Duthie and Andy Black, whiz kids like Isaac Haxton, and the king of them all in Daniel Negreanu. I posed the same questions to everyone. Make some predictions about the next eight weeks of your life. Let’s hear what it’s going to take for you to hold your head high and smile in joy at the most important time of your year. Now, two weeks into the thick of it, let’s revisit the prognosticators and see how they’re doing.
One who you’ve probably heard about already is WPT London Champion Jake Cody. Before this year, he had only played one World Series of Poker event in his life, the 2010 main event. This year he came into town with a chance to not only win the Triple Crown, but to be the youngest player to ever do so.
I saw Jake on his first days here. He had taken a trip to Disneyland, to get over the jet lag and grab a Mickey Mouse hoody. He was smiling and relaxed, but his eyes burned desire. “I know a lot of guys come to Vegas to party,” he told me, “But I’ve always thought that the party only comes after you win.”
He was in bed early and early to rise, with an easy schedule of sleep, eat, and poker. And he came through one of the toughest fields in history to win a WSOP bracelet and complete the triple crown. It was awesome. I saw Jake the day after his win, when he was being awarded his bracelet. “I know what you said about partying,” I said, “So, last night?”
“Last night?” he smiled. “Last night, we partied.”
Show 37 (June 28) with Jake Cody and Daniel Negreanu is online now! Click the play button to listen:
[podcast]http://www.thepokershowlive.com/media/mp3/227.mp3[/podcast] Prefer to download? Right click here and Save As.
