OLIVER HUDSON

Thomas Falkerstrom of PokerRoom clued me in to the fact that one of our team members was Oliver Hudson, son of Goldie Hawn, sister of Kate Hudson, and bitch of Sammy Farha. I think Oliver is on a TV show, but I wouldn't know him at all if it wasn't for his unfortunate first hand of the 2005 WSOP Main Event. Oliver raised with pocket tens and was called by Sammy's AT. The flop came AAT and it was all over but the crying. All the money went in, as you would expect it should, and Oliver was left with only a painful elimination. He took the beat well, which is good, since he was at the featured table, and the hand would live on in televised infamy.

Bones (Brian Bonacci) and I were playing the Paris $1/2 NL game on Sunday night after the Ghost Bar party, and somewhere around 3AM, Oliver and his buddy showed up. I never got the buddy's name, but he was an actor and a handsome fellow. The buddy got a seat at the table, while Oliver hovered. Bones and I simultaneously recognized Hudson and greeted him as a teammate. We introduced ourselves as BonesATL and dudeseeg, and he seemed to recognize the monikers. I amused myself by asking him if he thought his big game experience would give him an edge going into the Five Diamond. See, the joke here is that his big game experience is all of one hand. The refined humor wasn't lost on him and we enjoyed a good laugh.

I never did play at the same table as Oliver, but he was seated at the next table over during day one, and we compared stacks at the breaks. He got short-stacked right away and did a great job staying patient and waiting for good spots. He actually outlasted me, and just missed the payout, finishing 122 or so. He seemed to already know Tobey Maguire, who was seated next to me for most of day one. They chatted a bit during play, as Doyle Brunson looked on from seat ten. Doyle is such a commanding presence, I plan a separate entry on him, but again I amused myself, after I noticed Doyle was sitting a few seats to the left of Hudson, I asked Oliver if he recognized anyone at his table.

I am hoping to get a regular game going in 2006 at my house, now that my house is a happening spot. I wanted to ask Oliver if he would be interested in being a semi-regular, but I never got the nerve. On the one hand, I figure he is a rich Hollywood type and we run in separate circles; but on the other hand, he is qualifying via PokerRoom and playing $1/2 NL just like me. I liked his personality, and if there is one thing I learned in my single days, it never hurts to associate with extremely handsome men - no bad has ever come of it. I like meeting poker players in the LA area, so if our paths cross again on the online tables, I'm going to ask if he'll join my home game.

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