Within minutes, bad beat stories bounced off the walls, the bikini-clad women ran in from the ever-chilling wind, and the PokerStars blog sat dormant. For the first time since I reached the island, I felt uneasy. The wind was blowing too hard and the bad beats were piling up too fast.
On the rail, one single image seemed to capture my mood.
A sleeper
Watching aces hold up
And, so I again went face-hunting.
Jennicide holding her own on a stack of more than $20,000
BKLaw, Natan Wager, member of the PokerStars World Cup of Poker Team Costa Rica championship squad
#1PEN, third place finisher in the 2005 WCOOP Event #2
Chris Fargis of the popular poker blog, Twenty-One Outs Twice
2005 WSOP Champion Joe Hachem
Marco Traniello, who rocketed to more than $50,000 in chips at the beginning of the day and still sits on a formidable stack
Jim McManus, author of "Postively Fifth Street" and the New York Times poker column
The Takeover, still in the game
Spiro Mitrokostas, aka 55Lucky55. Just moments before this photograph was taken, Spiro said, "This is the only hand I'm going to show all day," and then held 5-5 up to his head like mouse ears
Finally, after watching Wil Wheaton double his shortstack with TT vs. AQ, I saw PokerStars Group Marketing Director Chris Welch waving me over to another table.
"Greg is all in and Tiffany has been thinking about calling for nearly seven minutes," he said.
Greg was Greg "Fossilman" Raymer. And Tiffany was none other than Tiffany Williamson of 2005 WSOP fame.
I looked at the flop. It was ten-high, rainbow.
Raymer (foreground in red) waits for Williamson (white sweater) to make a decision
The wait was agonizing, but a minute or so later, Williamson mumbled, "Call."
Raymer flipped over AQ. Williamson turned over QQ. "I would've thought you'd call in a shot with that," Raymer said. But he didn't move. He waited for the turn.
Four seconds later, an ace fell, Raymer doubled through, and Williamson (still with a comfortable 18K in chips) took a walk.
Now, players are on their way back from dinner break. The forecast is looking good for the rest of the trip. By the end of the night, the field will be pared down to one room of players and we will begin again.
For now, I'm headed back to the tournament room. We'll have more updates later.
