Dream Big
Monday, July 13, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Poker is all about the individual–to win you have to beat the other eight people sitting at the table with you, and all the other people in the room. The pronouns typically used are “I” and “you” and “me” and “them”–not “we”, not “us”. For you to succeed, they must fail. Their pain is your gain…and vice-versa.
But even poker players are capable of rooting for others to succeed, especially when they share a vested interest. And that’s what’s behind the tournament currently playing out in the Brasilia Room, the first Dream Team Poker event at the World Series of Poker. Teams of three players take to the felt and battle each other while cheering on their teammates, with prizes awarded for both team and individual success. The overall team score is calculated (based on when each player gets knocked out) and so even if you get bounced from the event you can cheer on your teammates and maybe make some nice money.
Which is what happened to my friends Pauly, Dan and Lana, who just won the team portion of the event. Lana got knocked out early on the first day but Dan and Pauly both made deep runs (both finishing in the teens) to lock up the team title when there were still 21 players left. Of course me and a bunch of my fellow media types skulked away from the Main Event to see the moment when Team Tao of Pokerati clinched the title:
And if you think that team poker isn’t all skill, consider that the WSOP Media tournament was also a Dream Team event, and that Lana’s team also won first place in that, and that Pauly’s team (of which I was a member) took third. See. All skill. And did I mention I (well, we) finished third???
You’ll notice that the three champs are all wearing identical jerseys–in these events you pick a team name and they supply jerseys for you to wear in the event. And I have to admit that I got a little bit too excited when I picked up my royal blue jersey with black trip before the media event. I went around Brasilia yesterday and took some shots of the more interestingly-named teams.
I think we can all relate to this:
Dunno if this person neutralizes Swiss people, or if he’s a Neutralizer from Switzerland. Nor do I know if that matters:
If you read Bloom County you’ll get this, if not…not:
Uh…I’ll just post this without comment:
And cueing Ray Parker, Jr:
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, Dream Team Poker, team poker, world series of poker, WSOP
