Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Killing Time

$300 + 50 NLH

Puzzling Situation for Donato, Jr.

A player once said, "poker is hours of boredom, followed by thirty seconds of shear terror." To help pass the time players listen to music, read books or in Anthony Donato, Jr's case, it's crossword puzzles.

"This is the second one this tournament," he says two and-a-half hours into Event 14. Donato (Cedarville, NJ) is hoping to double his paltry 2k stack before he finishes the last few clues of this puzzle, the kind of race you don't want to be in.

Donato gets a playable A Q♣ and says, "here we go," and after a reluctant call from Q J, he doubles up.

Donato's not just battling the 191 players in the field, but he's also going against his father, Anthony Sr., who's not playing today, but finished third in the Seniors Event last week.

"I heard about it all weekend," says junior Donato. "You (the blog) wrote, 'with 35th, 15th, 5th and 3rd place finishes, Donato becomes the clear cut favorite to win it next year.' Now everyone's telling me I have to finish better than him."

Anothony, Jr says his father played some low stakes house poker games, but really got hooked on tournaments after he introduced his dad to hold'em. "He's a much better player than I am," junior says with a smile, "but then again, he's retired and plays a lot more."

After getting his much needed double-up Donato's now looking for a 8-letter word that will keep the family off his back. C-h-a-m-p-i-o-n.

Level 4 (100/200) is winding down.

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