Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
With only 20 minutes to go in Level 9, Paul Pierce made his exit from the WSOP main event. The NBA All-Star had been the attention of all at the secondary feature table, even players like Dennis Phillips who asked him for an autograph during play. Pierce played a patient game, but seemed to get active after dinner and would ultimately find himself in a rough spot with 2-2 all-in preflop against the J-J of Allan Vrooman. The board ran clean for Vroonman (K-8-5-4-K) and Pierce stood up from his chair, grabbed his backpack and walked out the door with spectators and players giving him a round of applause as they announced his departure.
Pierce spent a total of 17 hours and 40 minutes in action and outlasted more than half of the field of 2,031 that began on Day 2A.
ESPN Poker blog: Pierce eliminated from main event
Not bad for an initial run in this event. To outlast more than half the room is pretty good. I'll have to see the situation Pierce was in to go all-in with a pair of deuces. A short stack and some desperation setting in (like a big blind chewing away at your already dwindling chips) could have forced his had. I'm sure Pierce didn't get to day two recklessly going all in.
All in all, I'm sure it was a fun experience. It's too bad he didn't last longer because I know seeing an NBA player in a high-profile gambling situation would make David Stern squirm.
One quick interesting set of numbers, via Bluff Magazine:
137,362,539 Lifetime earnings in dollars for Boston Celtic Paul Pierce, who recently busted out of the Main Event. That is roughly $54 million more than the money won by all 42 Main Event Champions in history. It is also roughly 2.1 times the size of the entire 2011 WSOP Main Event prize pool, which is $64,531,000.
If I was Paul Pierce, this is how I'd be driving around all day
The rest of the links:
ESPN Boston: Good in Green? Anthony Parker | Herald: KFC offers Dwyane Wade a chance to make buckets | WEEI: Pierce bounced from WSOP
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
