Marco debuts his entirely new head, beardless and bespectacled, and we proceed to observe the South Point Poker action and meet every one its lucky, and not-so-lucky, participants.
Today’s cast of characters was remarkably fun and colorful, leading Marco to laugh out loud a number of times. The most attention-grabbing individual right from the start was “Dennis,” a freewheeling drunkard who rolled in the place without any identification and was almost denied a seat. He continued to make a spectacle of himself for much of his run, but could not go very far before donking off his entire stack with junk against an opponent’s aces. Two tables went at it today — one of them was just three-handed! The two men who ended up heads-up at that one turned out to be a good-natured and friendly pair. The winner, Randy, split Marco’s sides when he explained why he had selected Phil Ivey as his favorite pro. As for the “featured” table, we had a good chat with a former Pennsylvania state trooper, badass at the table and meek away from it. The two heads-up contenders were also an interesting bunch. Runner-up Chris is a professional gambler and card player, and heavy consumer of poker media. He graciously conceded the victory to “Flash,” a hard-working musician and musical manager. Good luck and best wishes to all the good people we met today.