WSOP Main Event: Zen Patience and Barry Greenstein

Don't miss C.J. Hoyt's PokerStars qualifier update below

by Dr. Pauly

I spent about twenty minutes watching Barry Greenstein from the rail. There are several things you'll quickly notice if you get to see Greenstein at the tables. A copy of his book Ace on the River always sits underneath his chair during tournaments. He gives away his book as a bounty to the player who eventually busts him. The other thing you'll notice is that Greenstein looks fatigued. Most of the time it's because he's tired after staying up late playing in the biggest cash games around town.

With the World Series of Poker running for several weeks, the pros who make their living off of cash games are frothing at the mouth as hundreds and thousands of players from all over the world fly into town with combined bankrolls worth millions of dollars. Sometimes it's hard to pass up an appetizing meal like all the dead money swirling around Las Vegas.

Greenstein sat at a table with five guys around his son Joe Sebok's age. They played in a lot of pots, while Greenstein sat back and read a copy of Poker Player Newspaper. He'd look up to peek at his hands and return to reading after he'd muck them. At last check, Barry had about 8K in chips as he patiently waited for a hand.

In other Team PokerStars news...

Katja Thather has about 23K in chips. She's at the same table as Clonie Gowen. If I were to write a Victorian novel featuring Katja's table, I'd call it a Tale of Two Blondes.

Bill Chen tripled up a few moments ago when he faced the abyss of elimination. He had As-8s and was all in on the flop of 9s-7s-4d. Two of his opponents called. One had 7-7 and the other had 9-9. He was up against two flopped sets. Chen turned a flush and his hand held up. Chen's stack increased to 25K.

John Duthie is sitting pretty with 25K. Terrance Chan has about 20K in chips after he flopped a straight with Jh-8h and doubled up. The board read Qh-10h-9s, which gave Chan a straight flush draw. He moved all in and was called by a guy with K-9. Chan didn't need any more help as his straight held up.

Norm MacDonald flopped trips with A-8 and built his stack up to 39K. He got as high as 48K which put him among the chipleaders. MacDonald's rush ended after an unfortunate hand when he his pocket Aces were brutally cracked by Mark Vos' Qc-Jc. Vos flopped two pair and doubled through MacDonald, who slipped to 15K in chips.