This year, though, I was basically too tired and hungry (thankfully I made it to the buffet just moments before they cleared the food) to fully enjoy the event. The rainy evening in Los Angeles (yes, I know it's hilariously lame to hear Angelenos complain about the weather) also had a noticeable dampening effect on the pre-game schmoozing on the second-floor deck.
The Grinder was at my starting table, and he's the perfect player for the event, clear in his stated objective to NOT make it through the night but have fun for as long as possible in the meantime. I took his first 5K chips when he pushed blind over my open-raise and I called with KJo (he had Q4o). That forced him to use the optional $200 rebuy, which went to benefit Chrysalis. After the rebuy period ended, it was announced that $95,000-ish was raised, and Commerce kicked in the rest to make it an even $100K for charity.
Richard Kind was the only recognizable celebrity at my table, and when he alluded to his short stack during the rebuy period, I said, "Well, you always got that rebuy bullet!" And he just sort of said, "Nah, I don't rebuy." I could tell it was a stratagem he held dear, but I pointed out that the rebuy benefited charity. He acknowledged this, said, "That's true...charity" and still didn't rebuy.
I am a fan of Richard Kind's acting, but he was not a very likable person at the poker table. It was almost like playing with a bitter, inverted version of the goofy-but-lovable characters he plays on screen in Curb Your Enthusiasm and A Serious Man.
Now, the event pays cash to 1st-6th places, and a hefty $100K to first. In other words, it's worth taking seriously (although apparently not seriously enough to rebuy), but Kind left the impression of taking things a bit too seriously and came off like an aggravated, unhappy Commerce regular, often flicking his cards into the dealer tray in an inexplicable display of frustration. This is the sort of behavior you sometimes see from cranky full-time live poker players, who spend 40+ hours a week in card-rooms, but I could not relate to Kind's table demeanor whatsoever.
I did wind up busting Richard Kind with kings vs. eights preflop, then I gradually became more spewy with my chips as the night went on and busted myself around 1AM.
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There were, of course, a couple of distinct highlights: Gina Gershon, whom I've had a crush on forever, was standing behind her seat, a few tables over, and she looked amazing in a leather jacket, wearing her characteristic wide smile. Matt Savage, the best showman in the Tournament Director business, was as good an MC as ever, subtly alluding to the Bound reunion in the room of Gershon and Jennifer Tilly without actually mentioning the film.
It was also great to run into Vince Lozano in the hallway. He and I first met at the 2008 tournament and have seen every year since at this event. Really nice guy, and we always wish each other good luck in the upcoming year. It was especially cool to see him show up on my DVR a couple nights later in a part on the new Chris Elliot show Eagleheart.
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Also very cool is that two French poker acquaintances, Almira Skripchenko and David Kitai, made the final table. On March 2nd, they play for the a $100K first prize (with $5K guaranteed to the six remaining players).
Good luck Almira, David, and Vince! See you next year.