FTOPS Event #18, WSOP Champs, and Peter Eastgate Trying to Kill Me

I got my starting stack of 4,000 chips up to 8,000 at one point in Event #18 ($322 Razz), but that was as far as it went.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this tournament was I got to play against 1996 WSOP main event Champ Huck Seed until he went broke. Huck has two WSOP bracelets in Razz so it was interesting to watch one of the worlds best razz players play for a few hours.

This makes 5 world champions that I've played against. Specifically, Tom McEvoy (1983), Phil Helmuth (1989), Huck Seed (1996), Chris Ferguson (2000) and Chris Moneymaker (2003).

Also of note I've played against three WSOP main event runners up: Dewey Tomko (1982, 2001), Erik Seidel (1988), and Julian Gardner (2002). And of course like everyone who has ever been to Vegas I played craps with 1985/2000 runner up T.J. Cloutier.

This leads me to briefly mention the 2008 WSOP main event champion Peter Eastgate who was recently crowned the champ. Have you seen this guy? Did you see his reaction when he won over $9,000,000 and the world championship? He looked like he was watching episodes of Full House that he'd seen five times before. He looked like he was waiting for his bags at the airport. He looked like he was playing 50 cent blackjack and they told him it was time to shuffle the deck. Did no one tell him about the $9,000,000? Was he on some massive depressants or something?

Of the 9 people at the final table he was the worst one for the promotion of poker. He has all the charisma of a bowl of plain, lite oatmeal. He makes Greg Raymer look like Brad Pitt's character in Fight Club. He makes Robert Varkoni look like James Bond. He makes Jaime Gold seem like an F-ing mix of Mick Jagger, Tiger Woods and Han Solo! When is someone with a little personality going to win the world championship? You're killing me Peter Eastgate! You're Killing me! If someone with the vitality of the keyboard player of any marginal 80's rock band could win, online poker would get a major boost. Instead we have Peter "plain rice cake, fat free vanilla pudding, room temperature water" Eastgate. ACK! If (cough, when, cough) I ever win that shit I'm going to need 6 agents to negotiate all of the sponsorship deals!

Whew! Sorry Peter. I laid it on a little thick there. I'm sure you're a great guy and I'm sorry I spent the last few paragraphs slamming you. I'm sure you don't deserve it.

In all seriousness, Eastgate played great and he deserved to win. I was rooting for Chino Rheem (who I played against at the final table of the $1,000 HORSE second chance tournament in the WCOOP), but Eastgate did his thing and maybe in the coming months and years he'll turn out to be an admirable champ.

But for now, YOU'RE KILLING ME PETER EASTGATE, YOU'RE KILLING ME! YOU'RE SO BORING! AHHHHHHHHHHH!