If side stories are your thing then this installment of the WSOP Notebook definitely has you covered. There were plenty of whispers, rumors, conversations, and Tweets going on Thursday at the 2012 WSOP, and here are some of the more interesting ones I picked-up on.

Loud British rail causes problems for security and other players

It seems the Brits had some pent-up celebrating to do, as they won their first WSOP bracelet of 2012 on Thursday night. But it was the loud rail that stole the show, and according to Sam Grafton’s Twitter, got him into a little hot water.

Sam Grafton ?@SquidPoker “As always treated like an absolute cunt by @WSOP security. Bunch of pricks and no support from tournament staff or fellow players.”

“Just hope I can win a bracelet and have the air space to tell Harrahs what fucking pricks they all are.”

Later Grafton took to his Twitter again, this time to chide Justin Bonomo for denouncing the loud British rail that included among others Chris Moorman and James Dempsey.

Justin Bonomo ?@JustinBonomo “The shoot out final table rail is so loud and obnoxious that it’s very unpleasant playing in the Amazon room right now.”

Sam Grafton ?@SquidPoker “@JustinBonomo Obnoxiousness is pretty much defined by your picture. With your success i’d pipe down about others cheering on their friends.”

It seems even Joe Cheong was pulled into the Brits singing, as the former November Niner was part of two songs as he stopped to take in the spectacle. The first Cheong chant ended with him giving an acknowledging wave, but the second song, which ended in boos, got no response from the tournament pro. If anyone had any idea what they were singing I’d let you know!

Collusion at the final table of the $3k Shootout?

According to a thread at PokerFraudAlert.com there was some (attempted) shenanigans during three-handed play of the $3k NLHE Shootout tournament. Forum member ShortBusPoker posted:

“Apparently the two kids playing Esfandiari tried to make a side deal for a chop between the two of them. The idea being thrown around is that it would allow one of them to bust to the other in an attempt to take on Antonio, who at the time had 75% of the chips in play. The tourn director then pulled them aside and said that they could not make a deal and on the very next hand Esfandiari got it in preflop with 9s vs 7s for a pot that held 90% of the chips only to see a 7 hit the flop and lose.”

Tom Petty playing in the One Drop tournament, SMH

What is it with first-time posters on 2+2 and off-the-wall posts? In April it was first-time poster who broke the story that PokerStars was in talks to buy Full Tilt Poker, and now another first-timer has posted that Tom Petty (yes the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Tom Petty) will be playing in the One Drop tournament!

Of course this story is completely unconfirmed, but one savvy 2+2er did point out that his current tour ends the night before the tournament begins. My guess is that this story may turn out to be false, but hey, who knows!

Tags: Air Space, Amazon, Boos, British Rail, Chris Moorman, Collusion, Fellow Players, Fucking Pricks, Grafton, James Dempsey, Justin Bonomo, Niner, Obnoxiousness, Shenanigans, Shoot Out, Tournament Forum, Tournament Staff, Tweets, Twitter, Two Songs

This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2012 at 8:25 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.