Any table Kenna James is sitting at is a fun table to watch. During the second level this afternoon he got caught up in a pissing contest with Amnon Filippi during the course of a hand. The two couldn’t be any more different, James being all tear-in-my-beer cowboy, Filippi all fuggedaboutit New Yorker. On the hand that sparked the spat Filippi kept firing at a pot with nothing more than pocket 3s. James called him down and won the hand by pairing the board with a 4. “Make a move like that again and I’ll bust you, tough guy,” Filippi said to James, who shrugged and smiled.
Two hands later, Filippi raised from early position and everyone folded to him. He showed pocket aces and a lot of frustration that no one had come after him on what appeared to be a steam raise. He wasn’t happy but, trying to find the bright side, he started talking about how it could have been worse. “Nothing worse than being short-stacked and having everyone fold to your aces.” James knew of any even worse situation, one that actually happened to Mike Panzerella earlier in the day. “How about flopping top set with aces and losing to 8s.” The buzz created when Takaski Takii caught running 8s to make quads was still present in the room. The rift between James and Filippi, never all that serious, seemed to be fully healed.
Two hours later, Filippi had retreated to the sanctuary provided by his massive headphones, which prevented him from hearing James belting out “You Were Always on My Mind.” One table over, Katja Thater, the German professional who won her first bracelet this year in the $1,500 Razz event, was running over her table. On a typical hand during her run she raised to 4k after a player bet 1k with 9
7
6 showing on the flop. He called and the 9 fell on the turn. He checked, she bet 6k, and he folded. After raking in the pot, she removed herself from her perch—she had spent the entire hand with her knees on her chair and her bare toes wriggling behind her—and walked six tables down the line to have a chat.
Soon after her departure, James started singing Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” Thater returned in time to open raise to 1.2k. “I just wanted you to know I’m multi,” said James. Thater took the blinds. “I had so much paint in my hand,” James said, explaining to the little blind why he raised from the big blind. James initiated a debate over the origins of “Brutus,” the snippet of a song. “Don’t let me down,” someone at the table sang. [Note: these can’t possibly be the right lyrics, but you know the song they’re talking about, don’t you?] Someone from Thater’s table shouted to James, “Turn it up.” Thater raised before the flop once again. James tried to convince his table to all lean the same way if the ESPN cameras came by to film them. Thater took down the blinds and pulled a fancy European cigarette out of her purse. A fat hippie wearing a tie-dye and chomping an unlit cigar admired her cigarette. James started talking about how cool it would be if they could all hook up to the same iPod. Filippi, who hadn’t said a word in half an hour, said gruffly, “No, that’s a terrible idea.” A masseuse came over to give him a massage. James spotted Norman Chad and said, “Look, ladies and gentleman, he’s not hiding up there in the booth. He’s down here in the trenches.” James gave Chad some M&Ms. James got a beer and started drinking it. “You can’t teach talent,” he told Chad, who started walking away. “You either got it or you don’t.”
9:56 Amnon hasn’t won a hand in a while, and is currently mixing it up with Bruno Fettucinni. Bruno and Deeb have been carving up the table lately, while Amnon and Mmm-bop sit back and pick their spots. Damn, I just made an mmm-bop reference. If I said I’m slipping that would imply I had been somewhere to slip from. Which I haven’t. Although if this guy with his dangling shoe were to slip from his lofty perch…never mind. Anyway, Hanson has been picking his spots.
10:19 I'll leave you with the immortal words of my Chuck Norris widget, "Behind every succesful man is a woman. Behind every dead man is Chuck Norris."
9:07 My how the times have changed. And yes, LA Mike, I did enjoy my fancy dinner of cheese pizza. While you sit in your room and enjoy room service, I return to the action of the tournament floor. Where everything has completely changed. The two hours I missed before the dinner break saw part time PokerWire reporter Amnon Filippi slide down to 1.6m. This came after losing a brutal hand to Bruno Futoussimandioudi when Amnon started with 
9:23 My buddy Jeremy just stopped by. His claim to fame is taking $600 off of Antonio Tarver earlier today in a $5-$10NL cash game. Then Tarver knocked the piss out of him. 
As our loyal readers know, when Amnon Filippi isn't crushing the biggest event in poker, he fills his time as a PokerWire Reporter (
