Tuesday night I wanted to post after looking into the H.O.R.S.E. ‘s mouth final table but I didn’t because I didn’t.  This was the first ESPN coverage of the WSOP where I felt like I was Phil Ivey watching the Lakers.  Here’s a recap of my jaw dropping reactions of Lyle Berman, Michael DeMichele, Eric “Sweet E Puppy” Lindgren (photo below) and Scotty “Potty Mouth” Nguyen (with Jeffrey Pollack bottom Photo).

Reaction One: Surprised by Nguyen’s behavior simply because he often walks around the room smiling and shaking hands.  There must be an inside joke.  Man, good lay down by Berman.

Reaction Two: Why is Nguyen steaming over DeMichele’s Ace little when he called with Ace little?  He is “hotter than a Las Vegas hood ornament in August.”  Hey, that was a funny line.  Did Norman Chad or Lon McEachem make that statement?

Reaction Three:  Wow, he’s really pissed off and throwing around some chips.  You know, Phil Hellmuth would never do that.  Oh right, because Hellmuth would have been penalized for saying the naughty word.  Oh wait, E-Dog just had a beeped word.  Maybe they had a vote on the f-bomb.

Reaction Four:    If E-dog isn’t on Myspace… is he on Facebook?  Wait! Did E-dog just call Nguyen “son?”

Reaction Five: HOLY SHEETS!  Did Nguyen just say he was colluding?  WTF?  WHAT DID HE SAY?  Oh man, this reminds me of the pro rumored to pay buy-ins for people to dump chips back to him…

Reaction Six: DeMichele lied.  Nguyen is way under his skin and now cute little E-Puppy too. Ah, poor little puppy.  Hmmm, I wonder is Gavin Smith will bust out singing Sweet Caroline like he did at the Budding Ivey party.  And where the heck was I during that final table?  I went out late but I can’t remember where I went.  I remember Pauly’s twitter… Oh man, E-dog is out.  Well, that’s OK… he won enough money to party like a rockstar at Jett.

Reaction Seven:  Scotty clearly has a case of “I just drank a twelve pack and I can’t remember the last three chapters in Hellmuth’s book “How to act like Phil Hellmuth, the Greatest Hold’em Player in the World, at the Final Table.”  Now he has enough money to consult Hellmuth on poker manners.  I wonder what John Bonetti would say…

Reaction Eight: Wow, Nguyen is making Hellmuth look like a little kitten.  I mean, I know it’s about 4am… but doesn’t Nguyen know the cocktail waitress and staff are tired too and possibly afraid of being ridiculed on national television?  Boy, this is looking like a Jerry Springer tournament.

It’s worth mentioning…

At the start of WSOP final tables players are asked to refrain from
making a production when winning a pot.  It can slow down the game and
it’s basically a form of humiliation.  Unfortunately, we tend to pick
our favorites on this issue.  If we saw Phil Ivey do this against an
asshole we would be OK with the behavior; However, we frown when the
asshole stands up and acts like an… asshole.  Of course, it’s
unlikely to see Ivey act this way because he shows good sportsmanship
and respect for his opponent.

And sorry folks, but shit talking should be allowed just like it is
in the NFL or MLB (only you don’t get to hear those conversations).  In
poker, anyone can learn the math but developing necessary psychological
skills only comes with experience and/or pure talent.  If poker is a
game where psychology can be vital to success… restricting players to
act in a robot fashion rather than allowing them to show their true
colors only hinders the art form of poker.  While rules don’t exactly
prohibit this behavior (yet) the influence of media and fans can
determine who is marketable or not for a deal.   

The truth is… Nguyen only enhanced DeMichele’s career and game.
DeMichele is now smack dab in the middle of a controversy, a WSOP
historical moment and now has a stressful televised poker experience
under his belt.