I’m giving myself overkill in saying how enjoyable the 48 hour Big Game was to watch. In no particular order, some of my favorite moments:
• Asking Justin Bonomo the right question at the wrong time.
Two hours after Justin Bonomo called a pot-sized three-bet and then three full pot bets on all the streets against Isaac Haxton with top pair top kicker, I politely asked him what range he was putting Haxton on. If looks could kill. Not one of the smarter things I’ve ever said to a man who just spewed £30,000.
• When Neil Channing got evicted from the Big Game after 30-something hours.
He was out of the game for less than 30 minutes, but during those 30 minutes he decided to do some commentary. Now the commentary box was a long table in the staff break room, facing the wall with three chairs. I was in the chair in the middle. On my right was Jen Mason, who was alternating 12 hours shifts live blogging with Snoopy. Neil came into the commentary box, sat down in the seat on my left, took up a microphone and started speaking. His gaze was fixed somewhere between my left shoulder and the sink, which left him in a sort of position where not only was he not able to see the monitor on which the game was being played, but he was making a pointed fact of not even trying to watch.
You have to understand that up until this point, Channing was nothing short of a god in the game from my perspective. He had taken everything the game had thrown up with an easy aplomb, and the game had thrown up quite a lot. He had played a frustrating brand of a mistake free poker that had everybody tied up in knots. And best of all, to my sleep deprived eyes, he looked like a guy who had just woken up. How were he and Viffer, and Laak, keeping it together, I wondered, when I was just trying to hold it together for 60 seconds at a time whilst not even playing? And then Neil started talking.
Now, I have no idea what he said. All I know is that he started talking into the microphone, and 14 minutes later he hadn’t taken one breath. It was all pouring out like the psychiatrist’s couch, and I just sat there and looked at him and thought to myself, thank God. At least Channing’s human too. Meanwhile, three hands got played out on the Big Game table. I couldn’t even begin to tell you who won them, and neither could Channing. After 14 minutes, I politely interrupted Neil and said, um, you know Neil, we’re supposed to be watching the game here. And then Eddie came in and told Neil there was a seat open and he went back out to the table and played perfectly again for the next 12 hours, as if he had just woken up. I looked at Jen Mason and we broke up laughing all over the place.
• Luke Schwartz’s eating habbits
Luke came into the game and ordered a sausage sandwich. Then he ordered sausages and mash. Then everybody was ordering sausage sandwiches and sausages and mash. And Phil Laak had a Caesar Salad. I saw a lot of food ordered over the 48 hours of the Big Game by a lot of different people. But Phil Laak was the only one that I saw order a Caesar Salad.
• The spectacle of 48 hours of the seven-deuce game in all it’s glory.
It was worth five hundred pounds a man, and it made the game completely insane. Whilst everyone else tended to play the seven-deuce strong preflop, Viffer tended to slow play it and go to war on the turn and river.
• Sam Trickett catching Viffer with seven-deuce
Sam Trickett called a Viffer raise on the river with fourth pair. He could only beat a stone bluff and made the rare defensive lead bet knowing he might have to call an induced raise for seven thousand pounds extra. Luke Schwartz did nearly the same thing against the same guy.
• Channing taking Andrew Feldman off a set with a smaller set on the river
There couldn’t have been 10 players in the world who would have played the hand like he did. Feldman three-bet with pocket kings from the big blind; Channing called from the button with the two fours; Feldman checked the 3-4-5 flop and Channing bet. When the king came on the turn they both checked. And when the six came on the river, it went check-bet-fold. It was a very cool play.
• Getting to watch Isaac Haxton play, the second time around
He’s really a demon; always knows where he is at. Looks like a mild mannered computer geek, and comes up with some of the most astonishing lines you have ever seen. Stunning, really. He was voted off pretty quickly the second time he sat down. No one wanted to mess around with a fresh Ike Haxton.
• Dusty Schmidt’s twenty-four hours straight of commentary
He’s very knowledgeable about the game and does have a genuine love for poker. He introduced me to the Mississippi bluff, where you call on the flop and turn and go all in on the river. No matter what.
• Tony G calling a three thousand pound bet on the river with only ace high
He called very quickly and mucked even faster, and as Tony G’s hand didn’t get shown and Viffer had something fairly strong, it wasn’t very obvious how good or bad Tony’s call was unless you were looking at the cards. Nobody said anything, as it wasn’t much of a pot in the scheme of things, and nobody was really paying any attention…
Except for Roland de Wolfe, who was all the way over at the other end of the table in the one seat. And somehow, Roland knew exactly what Tony had. And he wasn’t gonna let it pass. Roland cupped his hands around his mouth and wailed out, “The wheels are off! The WHEEEEEEELS are OFFFFFFF!” He said this about six times, just throwing it out in space to Tony G. Nobody else took any notice, but I just had about a heart attack laughing.
If you would like to ask Jesse a quesiton, then please feel free to do so by posting in the comments box below.
Also see:
Big Game IV - Part One: Room With a View
Big Game IV - Part Two: Straddle-Gate
Big Game IV - Part Three: A Dusty Road
Big Game IV - Part Four: "Ask Me in 20 Years"
Big Game IV - Part Five: Taking a Shot