Matt Giannetti has been eliminated in 4th place at the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event final table, earning $3m. Giannetti started the day third in the chip count, but 11 hours after final table play kicked off, a quick pair of major pots lost to Ben Lamb put the boot to Giannetti’s WSOP quest. That leaves 22-year-old German-born Pius Heinz (107.8m chips), 26-year-old Yankee Lamb (55.4m) and the Methuselah of the bunch, 35-year-old Martin Staszko (42.7m) of the Czech Republic still gunning for the Main Event bracelet and the sweet $8.74m payday. This poker tourney/journey, which began July 7 with 6,865 entrants, has now been reduced to three who will reconvene at the Rio on Tuesday at 6pm PST to settle the matter once and for all.
While we doubt Norman Chad is really that vindictive, he’s probably not entirely unhappy about Giannetti’s ouster. During an early level break, Chad delivered yet another Jeremiad against the wearing of sunglasses at the poker table, singling out Giannetti for being the only 2011 November Niner to have donned the protective eyewear. Reminding everyone that indoors at the Rio was not outdoors at the French Riviera, Chad made a public plea for players to appear ‘buck naked’ at the table. We think we speak for everyone when we say we’re all grateful that the pasty n’ puffy Chad isn’t a buck naked Niner.
In other WSOP weirdness, just before the dinner break, 2011 WSOP bracelet winner Allen Bari was reportedly tossed from the venue for using too many naughty words. Bari subsequently tweeted that [WSOP director] “Jack effel is worthless and is inevitably going to lose his job.. I got thrown out of the rio for railing my 2 friends for no reason.” Bari then clarified that “Tonight I told jack effel he was doing a terrible job at entertaining the spectators.. Result was he kicked me out of the rio.. The other day I told @AnnieDuke she was doing a few things wrong.. She listened and adjusted.. Difference in classes..” Meow…
