As PartyPoker’s 48 hour cash-game got underway, the first eight players to take their seats at Les Ambassadeurs club in Mayfair were Jennifer Tilly, Dusty Schmidt, Isaac Haxton, Paul Marrow, David Viffer, Luke Schwartz, Neil Channing and Laurence Grondin.
The show is designed to turn an ever increasing mainstream audience onto TV poker and the format of PartyPoker’s Big Game lends itself nicely to doing just that by providing extra thrills, such as cheering audiences and 6 hourly evictions from the table.
Despite being busier at the table than some, top online pro Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt found himself not only down £11,000 by the time the first vote had been taken but also being in the unenviable position of the first player to be voted off the game by his fellow opponents.
Tactically speaking, the most dangerous or tightest player was the most likely to be ousted from the game after a vote. In Dusty Schmidt’s case, however, it would appear that the top online pro was not only perceived as playing too solid and tight a game, but wasn’t chatty enough to provide sufficient entertainment for the other players.
To add insult to injury, out of the four votes cast against Schmidt, two of them simply said “seat 2″ as the players didn’t recall his name.
Before joining the line-up, Schmid said that this would be his first poker event away from online arena, and explained: “When I’m playing 15 tables, I resort to default play, so I think I might be a little underestimated because I tend to play more straightforward. To have the chance to play one table will be fun and I’ll be able to take my time. I’m excited to have that opportunity.”
Dusty “Leatherass” Schmidt’s opportunity may have lasted only 6 hours this time, but well done to him on being a good sport, and after all someone had to be first.
