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Casino City WSOP fantasy league update

15 June 2009

Every fantasy league has six critical components -- and poker is no exception:


  1. The draft

  2. Standings (entering Monday's action): Team Narayanan (me) 208, Team Igo (Dan) 183, Team Trask (Gary) 118
  3. Complaining about the draft
  4. Complaining about your team
  5. Analyzing the action
  6. Gloating



And after 27 events, there has been a lot of chatter regarding points three and four and five. In most fantasy sports leagues, the bulk of the chatter is often supplied by the person in last place, and things are no different in this league.

"I'm a distant third," said Trask about his last-place status. "But since I ended with the third pick of a three-person draft I hope my colleagues aren't thumping their chests too hard. The 1-2 picks of the draft (Negreanu and Ivey) are carrying them and one of the two-cent hookers sitting in the Rio lobby bar could have made those two picks.

"I'm also debating whether or not I should file an official protest with the Commissioner about the manner in which the draft order was decided, but I will hold off for now. Stay tuned. As for my own draft, I'm not sure what it means about my team when my seventh pick is my leading point getter."

What Trask fails to mention is he had the first pick in the drawing to determine the draft order – so his appeal might not get very far – and nobody told him to pick Ferguson (no points so far – I doubt the hookers would have picked Jesus) with the first pick in the second round of the draft (see draft results here).

Igo took a more measured approach -- well, he gloated a little, but not too much –- to his team's success thus far.

"When I was picking second, I was torn between Ivey and Hellmuth," Igo said. "And so far it looks like I've made a good decision."

Let's make that a very good decision. Through Monday's action, Ivey had piled up 105 points for Team Igo. That's tops among players drafted in the Casino City fantasy league.

"I'm the only one who had his female player put up points, so that's a plus," Igo added (each team in the Casino City league was required to draft one woman, and Igo nabbed Vanessa Rousso).

Igo also complimented Team Trask's pluck. "Gary had himself a nice weekend, so this is shaping up to be a fight to the finish," Igo said.

And given Trask's recent history – he's hit three WSOP prop bets so far and he nailed the trifecta in the Belmont
– Igo is probably right that a big comeback is in the works. Trask just doesn't finish out of the money.

"I haven't given up," Trask added. "Especially since I am guaranteeing Hellmuth wins a bracelet this year and that may be enough to get me back into the hunt. And by the way, can someone please wake up Jesus Ferguson and tell him that the 2009 World Series of Poker is underway?"

As for me, I can't complain too much – I'm in first place. But I'm still waiting for Allen Cunningham to start scoring some points. My second pick in the draft (sixth overall) has zero points to his name for this year's Series. The sheer power of Daniel Negreanu (102 points so far) will keep me in the hunt all Series long. But I doubt I can win it all if Cunningham doesn't provide some scoring punch along the way.

Vin Narayanan

Vin Narayanan is the former managing editor at Casino City and has been involved in the gaming industry for over a decade Vin is currently based in Hong Kong, where he runs his own consultant group and works as head of gaming and public relations for Mega Digital
Entertainment Group.

Before joining Casino City, Vin covered (not all at the same time) sports, politics and elections, wars, technology, celebrities and the Census for USATODAY.com, USA WEEKEND and CNN.

Vin Narayanan
Vin Narayanan is the former managing editor at Casino City and has been involved in the gaming industry for over a decade Vin is currently based in Hong Kong, where he runs his own consultant group and works as head of gaming and public relations for Mega Digital
Entertainment Group.

Before joining Casino City, Vin covered (not all at the same time) sports, politics and elections, wars, technology, celebrities and the Census for USATODAY.com, USA WEEKEND and CNN.