Main Event Day Two

I felt like I played eighteen hours of nearly perfect poker, and was rewarded with a double-up the first time I faltered. I spent a lot of time at tough tables the first two days without many cards. For a while I was sitting there grinding it in shark-infested waters looking at Ana Marquez on the rail.

The Gambler played deep with Marquez in the PCA this year, where she led the field heading into day five before expiring in 10th place. Joel noted how tight she was playing. Tight can be successful in tournament poker, as long as it's got some spice.


I think Ana was railing the prodigiously talented Bryn Kenney, who's probably capable of playing tight but rarely does. Kenney went super deep in last year's Main but lost a crucial pot to Scott Clements before exiting in 28th place.

I was talking with Scott a little bit during the breaks. He was grinding a shortish stack too, just focusing on 100% perfect decisionmaking. He would finish the day with 154k.


Eventually I got moved to a table with the venerable and still foxy Kristy Gazes.


Kristy was playing with great patience, chatting with great charisma.

Late in the night one of the hottest girls I have ever seen at a poker table sat down with a stupendous stack. To my surprise, she was playing a Somervillian smallball game rather than the stereotypical bludgeoning I'd expect from a female with a stack.


I was shocked by the quality of this girl's play, not because she was a girl, but because she was a girl I'd never seen nor heard of. Apparently her name is Cherish Andrews, and she finished the day with 200k after beating me out of a couple small pots. Based on the way she was playing and looking, I don't think it will be long before Cherish is a star in the poker world.