Anyone have a good experience meeting a pro at the WSOP?

[David LoPan]

not at the WSOP but I had the pleasure of meeting KATHY GAZES at the bicycle casino in LA a few months back. We just started a new NL game and we were the only two from the list that sat down so she challenged me to HU 5.10NL 4rollz but we settled on a 5/5NL 3 handed game instead...

she was chatty and very nice and seemed to be very popular in the place, however I didn't like her as much when she refused to pay me off after flopping top set regardless of showing her my bluff the previous two hands...

hychchahahahah gawdamit

[Dids]

epdaws,

There's getting an autograph from somebody who is willing and then there's being an ass. One is bad, the other is fine. Yes, sticking something in somebody's face and not talking is dumb, but that's not how everybody getting one acts.

[epdaws]

[ QUOTE ]
epdaws,

There's getting an autograph from somebody who is willing and then there's being an ass. One is bad, the other is fine. Yes, sticking something in somebody's face and not talking is dumb, but that's not how everybody getting one acts.

[/ QUOTE ]

A fair distinction. I'm just bewildered by any enjoyment one gets out of any signed memorabilia. What does it add to one's day?

[pig4bill]

[Iplayragstoo]

[ QUOTE ]
I ran into Joe Awada (sp?) and he seemed surprised that I knew who he was.

[/ QUOTE ]

Played a few hours with him at the palms after he busted out on day 1 this year...was a SUPER nice guy. Couldnt stop betting the ponies the whole time he was playing though.

[LCposter]

I met Phil Gordon, Victor Ramdin, Andrew Black, Barry Greenstein, and Andy Bloch at various points in the hallways of the Rio convention area. All were nice enough to sign autographs and/or take pictures, Phil and Victor struck me as being especially nice. I'll retell the Phil story as a case in point:

I had busted out of the $2K about a minute before the first break. I went to the bathroom during break and saw Phil at the head of the line just as I was leaving the urinal. I waited outside the bathroom, and after he came out, I went to him and asked if he wouldn't mind signing an autograph. He said "Sure", signed, and asked me if I was playing. I told him I just busted out and he said, "That's too bad, better luck next time". I asked him his chip count, he said 6000, and I was ready to let him go but he actually wanted to talk more.

He asked me to describe my bust-out hand. I told him blinds were 50/100, UTG makes it 250, I call from UTG+1 with JJ, and we have 3 callers behind to juice up the pot. Flop comes 887 two diamonds, UTG leads, I raise, all fold but UTG who calls. Turn T (non-diamond), he leads again, I shove, he insta-calls and flips 86o. No J or 9 on river and I'm done. Whole time Phil is asking stack sizes (UTG started with 4000 and I started with 3000), bet sizes, etc. Then he says, "86 off! Where are these guys learning to play!? That's a terrible hand to raise UTG!" and begins commiserating/generally lamenting the state of tournament poker today.

I start thinking "Doesn't he need to get back to the tourney?" and thank him for his time. As he's leaving he says "Nice to meet you. Don't worry about your bustout, any pro goes out the exact same way. Hopefully you don't get cold-decked next time" and leaves. A very nice guy indeed.

[Isaac Newton]

I played $2-$5 at The Venetian with Kenna James while he was waiting for the bigger game to start. He was supercool to everyone at the table. People asked a few questions and he was nice to everyone. Then he started chatting it up with the guy to his left. I was on his right so I was listening to what they were saying. They talked for a while about different things, mostly poker talk and Kenna was basically being the gracious pro rapping with a fan. About 20 min. into the conversation the guy goes, "So, what do you do for a living?". Only Kenna and I heard it and he didn't answer the guy. He just had a confused look on his face. It was pretty awkward because the dude asked again, a little put off by no response. I thought I should say something but I didn't want to make a big deal about it and make it worse. Finally, Kenna tells him that he's a poker pro and I asked the guy if he watches poker on T.V. He said, "No I live in Italy." That ended the conversation and Kenna left the table a few hands later.

[W brad]

[ QUOTE ]
Finally, Kenna tells him that he's a poker pro

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Why not just say "I don't have a real job, i just sit around and play poker all the time."

[LearnedfromTV]

I've played with a bunch of big name live pros; both Brunsons, Juanda, Raymer, Madsen like three times, Bill Edler, Dutch Boyd, Dustin Dirksen, Brandon Adams, Tom Franklin, Chip Jett, Victor Ramdin, Richard Brodie, TOny G, Devilfish. Jett was in a really sour mood, but everyone else was cool. Even Doyle, with two obnoxious talkers at the table, playing $1500 Razz while sweating a million dollar bet on whether Ivey would win a bracelet (he was at a final table that day), was gracious. One guy kept talking to me and everyone else about the Tigers and baseball in general and it got beyond friendly conversation and became annoying. But Doyle just kept being nice to the guy and throwing little anecdotes into the conversation. Doyle's hands are enormous, btw. I'm not surprised he was a bball star.

Tony G and Devilfish, with Marcel Luske at the next table, were hilarious during the PLO8 event.

I also was reading 2p2 on one of those internet machines in the Rio hallway and David Sklansky came up to the other one. We both had a brief laugh at the irony and he wished me luck. He also said something like "I wonder what they're saying about me today."

[Dan Burns]

My first ever interaction with a pro was at some promotional tournament at the Sands in Atlantic City when Scotty Nguyen said “‘Scuse me, baby” to me and my friends while returning to his table after one of his frequent cigarette breaks. I thought to myself “wow, he actually does talk like that.”

During Day 3 of the 2005 WSOP ME, I was in the bathroom just before the dinner break was about to end and I saw John Juanda washing his hands. John was (and is) one of my favorite players, but I decided not to bother him. I went to wash my hands at a sink near his and he actually struck up a conversation with me, asking me what my chip count was, etc. I told him that I emailed him a few months earlier for advice on a particular hand and he remembered the hand and the response he gave me. He was a very genuine guy.