FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The day before the event, Bones and I went to register and check out the Fontana Room at Bellagio. We ran into Steve Danneman, who finished second to Joe Hachem in the World Series Main Event. Bones talked to him for awhile and finally introduced me. We had a cursory chat and I found him to be a pleasant fellow.

During level one of the Five Diamond, TJ Cloutier stood up and started announcing to the world that he should be broke but got off the hand for $100 and now might go on to win the tournament. It turns out TJ called the big blind with 55 but was raised off the hand preflop. He would have flopped an 885 full house, and ultimately would have finished with quads, but would have gone broke against quad eights. He was so proud of himself, you'd never have thought this guy is the greatest tournament player in the history of poker.

Daniel Negreanu was playing at the table next to mine. I kept checking out his stack and his general demeanor. He wasn't talking much, and I could tell he was studying the other players even when he was not involved in the hand. At one point, he jumped up and started yelling for TJ, not knowing wherre Cloutier was seated. When they finally made eye contact, Daniel said something about two eights hitting the flop at his table, but it fell completely flat and TJ couldn't care less, and Daniel sat back down. I never did talk to Daniel, since he is so famous now that I didn't care to be one of the many forcing a hello. He sure seems like a great guy though, and I would love to someday play at his table.

I did say hello to Clonie Gowen moments before the cards were in the air. I told her that she busted my buddy Bones in one of the preliminary events when her 99 sucked out on his KK. She was more interested in scouting her table, and when she saw Daniel sit down, she got by me like I was nothing more than an obstacle in her path. I used to think that she was a poker babe, but after seeing her close up, I have changed my tune. She is so skinny it looks unhealthy. Her upper arms are about as thick as my wrists. First impressions being what they are, the way she blew me off, I come away with negative feelings for Clonie Gowen.

The only other player who left a negative impression with me is Marco Traniello. I was seated with him for the start of day two, and I tried to make pleasant conversation, but he wasn't up for it. He has a thick Italian accent, and I was willing to believe that his English was not up to par, but not long after, he began giving the dealer the business and mumbling about getting his name and reporting him. I'm sure he's a nice guy, as most are once you get to know them, but my lingering impression of Marco is that he is a horse's ass. Nice hair, though.

Two other surprises for me were the heights of Scott Fischman and John D'Agostino. These guys are puny. One guy who recognized me from the televised EPT event told me that he thought I was about 6'6". I don't know where he got that impression, but the same phenomenon befell me when I saw JDags standing about 5'4".

Doyle, conversely, impressed me in the other direction. This guy has such a commanding presence that my eyes kept finding him, no matter where he was located in the room. He has a very large girth and takes up more than his share of the table, but there is some kind of intangible that accompanies him. At least four times during my day and a half, I scanned the room and wound up landing on Doyle, who was always right there to meet my gaze. He always seemed to have a much shorter stack than I, even though I was feeling pressure to get chips, while he was simply biding his time by scanning the room. I was absolutely amazed that he made the final table. He motored around in a wheelchair between levels, and when he didn't need to visit the men's room, he would simply use his crutches to find an out of the way perch to settle into and scan the room. Several times, I passed him and simply nodded when I really wanted to start a conversation, but I've got a personal policy to never approach famous people unless I have something specific to say. He's here to ply his craft, not entertain an endless stream of poker fans who want to shake his hand. When I busted out, I perched behind Bones for a bit and scanned the room. I locked eyes with Doyle, which led me to glance down at his stack. I counted about $12,500. Now, I had just busted out when I felt short-stacked with twice that. I don't know how he did it, but he must have just waited for spots and got all his money in with the best of it. By the end of day two, he was amongst the chip leaders. Amazing. I'm hoping I don't regret not shaking his hand. This guy is a living legend.