WSOP Main Event: The Hot Glare

by C.J. Hoyt

You don't have to be at the featured table to find yourself on the other end of an ESPN camera. They're roaming the floor looking for the unusual and the celebrity. And many PokerStars Qualifiers have found themselves right in the middle of it.

Table 119

Adrien "alh3" Herr had been finding small pots all day and working his stack mostly upward. Then he found himself in a huge pot. He thought is Aces full of Queens had to be good, and they were against his opponents Kings full of Aces. Suddenly, he's up to 24,000. You'd think that'd be enough excitement for one day, until a certain blonde pro sat down in the 1 Seat. Now's his chance to knock out Clonie Gowen.

Table 18

"I'd have about 30,000 if it weren't for the good sister," Patrick "pwr14224" Reichmuth told me. And we he says "good sister" he's talking about a nun. Well, maybe not a real nun, but she's playing the part well, and some higher power is helping her to a huge stack. Patrick, however, is still going strong at 21,000.

You'd think having a member of the so-called "Crew" at your table would bring enough attention, but the cameras couldn't resist seeing Gank and the nun next to each other. Thankfully, Patrick doesn't seem to mind the cameras.

Table 16

"I do yoga," PokerStars qualifier "amichaikk" said.

"Why are you so fat?" Matthew Lillard, of Scream and Scooby-Doo "fame," responded. (For the record, "amichaikk" isn't fat, but Matthew's a "comedian.")

"Hey, I'm still a good-lookin' man!" And he also has a stack much bigger than the actor, sitting at about 26,000. "I don't like the cameras," he told me, "but you gotta do what you gotta do."

In fact, it's a popular PokerStars table. Sitting next to "amichaikk" in Seat 8 is Greg "Kodie" Severson. He qualified through PokerStars for the second year in a row. In fact, Greg qualified in the very first hours that PokerStars opened it's WSOP qualifying. He's doing pretty well at 15,000.

The most recent addition to the table is the lovely Team PokerStars member, Katja Thater. "Miss Slick" has a solid 21,000 stack and is looking to do some damage. If the cameras show up to this table, I'm sure she'll get more face time than Matthew Lillard!

Table 138

The cameras haven't arrived at this table, but the three PokerStars qualifiers here don't seem to mind.

Assani "jwvdcw" Fisher hasn't gotten involved in too many hands, but finds himself with 11,000. Ray "kgbs nutz" Uy is doing even better, sitting at about 15,000. And Tammy "bighearted" Rocco is ruling the table at about 21,000.

Her stack was even bigger until her pocket Q's ran into a set of 8's. You know what they say about those Hiltons...