DANIEL NEGREANU 25K WSOP FANTASY DRAFT
It was an honour to cover Daniel Negreanu's 25K WSOP Fantasy Draft for QuadJacks this past Saturday.
Pokernews' Remko Rimkema and I dissected all the picks, one by one, as Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Eugene Katchalov (joined by ElkY), Sorel Mizzi, Josh Arieh and others bid on the who's who in poker, hoping to collect the 178K top prize once the WSOP Main Event reaches it's final nine.
Remko and I really liked the way Negreanu stuck to his strategy and we like the poker pros he has collected for his team. Team Bryn Kenney and Team Brian Hastings - who wasn't supposed to play signed up only a few minutes prior to draft time - are two other teams who seem to be "ones to watch" as the WSOP begins.
Negreanu provided most of the entertainment throughout the day including the "Alex Kuzmin controversy :)" where many of the participants were asking for a timeout because they didn't know who Kuzmin was, the Sorel Mizzi razzing - taking a few jabs at Mizzi's "internet poker" past when Mizzi's name was on the auction block and the now infamous Katchalov/ElkY math error - where Negreanu ended up with both Owais Ahmend and Alex Kostritsyn > Negreanu also ended up selecting young stars (and fellow PokerStars family members) Vanessa Selbst, Isildur1 and 2010 World Champion Jonathan Duhamel.
QuadJacks broadcasted the event live, to view a rebroadcast of the event, head on over to QUADJACKS.TV ... and keep it tuned to QuadJacks.tv for the remainder of the WSOP for daily video coverage.
CASINO EMPLOYEES EVENT KICKS OFF 2012 WSOP
I spent most of my Sunday (before having to fly back home) at the Rio, home of the 2012 World Series of Poker.
I witnessed the kickoff to the 2012 WSOP where casino employees made their way to the Amazon Room in hopes to pickup a bracelet and over 70K for first place.
Now I know that for most, the "official" start to the WSOP was on Monday - for the start of the 1.5K buy-in NLH Event #2 - but for most of the people present at the RIO on Sunday, this was their Main Event, the be-all and end-all.
The Rio is certainly ready to host the world, the Feature Table set looks absolutely amazing and, in case you were wondering, yes, pictures of previous Champions Russ Hamilton and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson do hang from the rafters, although, it's sort of curious how they are placed in the corners of the ESPN stage, hiding a bit from the general public.
Congratulations to Chiab Saechao who won the Casino Employees Event - Event #1 at the WSOP - and the 70K+ top prize! WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart was 19th in the event while notable poker player Annie LePage was 68th in the event.
Eric Danis
@PTPRpoker
