Okay, so it's not like I busted Jesus or something...
But ESPN found it in their collective hearts to include me in tonight's WSOP coverage nonetheless. As many of you know, I closely followed Dmitri Nobles during my time with Team PokerStars Blog (picture from PokerStars Blog). Well, with him on the TV table, I got a little TV time myself.
The first time, Dmitri had just dumped more than 2/3rds of his massive stack on some tough beats and some admittedly bad plays. He took a break to call a friend and steam. I tried to help calm him down and he told me, "I'm tightening up... Next hand I play will be Aces, Kings or Queens."
Well, he lied to me, but he's a poker player, so I forgive him. His next hand was A8, and he ended up massively sucking out on KK after an 8-high flop. And it was after that hand that Dmitri called out, "CJ!!!" and came over to give me a hug. I wasn't sure ESPN would include it, but they did. And it brought a smile to my face.
That's the Dmitri I remember. The fun-loving guy. The guy who wanted the rest of the table to have fun even if he was taking their chips. I feel like ESPN decided to set him up as a bit of a jackass donkey. That wasn't Dmitri. He certainly didn't play like he read Harrington on Hold 'Em, but he played really good big stack poker and he was a really nice guy. I won't forget that no matter what ESPN decided to edit.