(Note: For those who don't know me, know that I am a huge poker fan. I generally spend at least 2 hours a week watching it on TV. I've read about a dozen books on or about poker, and know scores of top notch poker pros on sight. If you haven't seen the movie Rounders or don't know who Johnny Chan is, I apologize for the gratuitous name dropping I am about to do)
Johnny ChanAs we made eye contact, my eyes bugged out of my head and I said to Katie 'Holy Sh*t, that's Johnny Chan'. Before I could make a scene, Johnny averted his eyes and picked up his pace. Snubbing aside, I was ecstatic! As we hung out, I was thinking about whether or not I should have said hi (I'm thinking probably not). I decided that if I happened to see anyone else, I wouldn't be shy. After all, how often to you get to meet some of your idols? The answer for me today was 'quite often'. The next half hour before the tournament saw me hanging out near and sometimes talking to a bunch of my poker heroes. I saw Erick Lindgren and Gavin Smith hanging out with Bill Edler.
Erick Lindgren / Gavin Smith Bill Edler /
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I decided I would go say hi. I walked up expecting to be denied. They were extremely polite and even agreed to a picture with me until security stopped us. Erick said 'I think there's a robbery over there' in an effort to get the security guy to let this one go, but it wasn't to be. I shook their hands and thanked them for their time. Bill Edler said some really nice things about how lucky I was to be with Katie. Besides these 3, I also managed to shake hands with and say hello to Hoyt Corkins. Minutes later I saw the only person to win both the WSOP Main Event and the WPT Championship : Carlos Mortensen and said hi to him. After shaking his hand, I introduced him to Katie and wished him luck. He wished me luck back. Just then I turned and saw the number one person on my 'List' - Jennifer Harman. I was going to say hi to her, but I saw her husband Marco Traniello and chickened out. A girl next to me called her over, and there I was: within an arms' length of a girl my wife would let me sleep with and have it be okay. Afterwards I joked with Katie that I had come closer to sleeping with anyone on my list than she has with anyone on hers. Before we left I saw Phil Ivey, Chau Giang, and a few others.
Carlos Mortensen / Hoyt Corkins
Chau Giang
Jennifer Harman / Marco Traniello
Phil Ivey
While this was going on, Katie patiently let me be starstruck. Some people get really excited over celebrities or musicians. I think I've said before how I don't get too worked up over those types. I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for top notch poker players, though. Their ability to handle swings in the game just astounds me. This trip in general and today in particular was great. I think I'll remember it forever. How many days in your life do you get to fraternize with people you look up to so much? I wish I could have taken a picture or two, but I will settle for my memories.
Here's a useless bit of information for you: I mentioned 10 names in this post. Those 10 names in total have accumulated about 50 million dollars in tournament victories throughout their careers. And most of them only play tournaments for fun!!!
7 comments:
I'm glad that you guys had fun and that you got to see some of your idols in the flesh. Though sorry you didn't get to see Jennifer Harman MORE in the flesh. :)
That's why I put all of Betsy's sisters on my list of women I can "do" if given the opportunity.
One of these days I may actually have a chance.
Troy that is way funny. I'm glad you got to schmooze a little. I know how you feel about the stumbling.... one time I was walking in downtown Salt Lake by the ZCMI center and I passed Meredith Baxter Birney and Michael Gross on the sidewalk. (are you too young to remember them from "Family Ties" fame?) I about peed my pants and instead of saying hi, I just stood there with my mouth open like an idiot. Glad you had more courage than I. Happy Anniversary today by the way.
I can totally relate, for me it was the first time I saw the Redskins in real life, when Nate and Dad and I went to see them in Arizona for the first time. I kept grabbing dad by his jacket and yelling, "look, there's Darrell Green, I could throw something and hit him", then I yelled down and said something dorky like "you're the man Darrell" and he looked up at me and nodded as though to confirm my silly yell. I was giddy, we even stayed after the game and waited for autographs as they came out of the locker room to get on the bus we were so starstruck. (Nate got a punter's autograph) but we saw Brian Mitchell and some others. Good times....
I can't relate at all, I have never had the opportunity to meet someone famous... well I got Dale Murphy to sign a $5 bill once (which my brother stoll and spent on snickers and soda) and I asked Survivor 3 runner up Neleh on a date once but she said no, and I wasn't very taken with her anyway.
Regardless, if Jennifer Alba were within arms length of me I would freeze up like a wuss and not do a thing... freaking pansy!
I'm so glad you got to see your idols! We were expecting to just see a couple of them, not a whole herd of professional poker players! It was neat :)
I killed a hobo in Vegas. He was provoking me.
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