After wishing Vinny good luck in the event, I made my way inside the Amazon Room where, with three minutes to go before the cards were in the air, I did not recognize a soul.  While the room was full of players, I counted exactly zero familiar faces.  It has been fascinating watching the professionals show up later and later to each event.  Finally, with two minutes to spare, I saw John Juanda taking his seat.  Maybe there's something to learn from a late arrival; John was one of the days first casualties.

I soon learned why the pros waited to make their appearance.  Media Director Nolan Dalla (who has an amazing work ethic and an even better personality) introduced Tournament Director Jack Effel who wished everyone a "Happy Main Event!" Weird.  This was followed by a commercial for Corum watches, the official bracelet provider of the WSOP.  This commercial was followed by an unusually concise Penn Jilliette who announced, "Uhhhhhh.....Shuffle up and deal!" (which was, in actually, another commercial for an act that just happens to take place at the Rio).

Two of the people I always look for are BJ Nemeth and Dr. Pauly.  While there's a lot of people who think they're good at reporting, these guys actually are.  BJ's type-A personality mixed with extreme OCD seems to be the perfect formula for the world's best final table reporter.  BJ never lets his opinion get in the way of reporting what's actually happening.  If I ever need to know a fact or a detail, he's the man to ask.  On the flip side, Pauly never lets reporting the facts get in the way of his opinion.  Paul writes one of the best poker blogs on the 'net, and anytime I need to know the latest dirt, he's the man to ask.

After bugging Pauly for a bit, it was apparent that dead money can be broken down into a few categories

1. Dead Dead Money
These players just don't have a freaking clue and might as  well get out some poker chips, spray kerosene on a brick of $10,000, light a match and call it a day.

2. Dead Money That Learned How to Play by Watching Hoyt Corkins on TV
These players have a lot of variety in their game:

• "All in."
• "I'm all in."
• "I'll put you all in."

3. Dead Money That Learned How to Play by Watching Daniel Negreanu on TV
I watched a player reraise to 1.8k when the blinds were 50-100 and bet 6k on a K84 flop, then proudly turn over 64 offsuit to show that he knows how to play any two cards, just like "Kid Poker."  Except Daniel plays these in position.  And he relies on his years of experience and uncanny reading ability to outplay people postflop.  Which I guess is kind of like making ridiculous raises preflop and silly ginormous big bets on painted flops.  But not really.

The dream was alive for all of 8 minutes for Matt Jansen.  He was eliminated with AA on an all flop when his opponent held KQ. 

Many players don't realize just how much of a grind the main event is.  The dreams slowly start turning to reality for most players around the dinner break.  Once you stare at 52 for a few orbits in a row, seeing any pair makes some players go a little crazy.  At least that's my excuse for how 33 can get it all in for 20k when the blinds are only 50-100. Naturally his opponent had AA.  You know how the story ends...

If there's one word I've heard the pros repeat over and over when describing the field, it's dead money.¹  Actually, that's two words.  Whatever.

Here's three tips on how to turn the dead money into your money:

1. Don't bluff.
Seriously.  There's no reason too.  The majority of these players have no idea where they are at in a hand, and will look  you up on principle.  I saw a guy call three big bets with 22 on a 996Q10 board because, as he stated when he proudly flipped over his cards, "I've got two pair."

2. Let the action come to you.
Let your opponents make mistakes, then capitalize on them.  Shawn Buchanon busted a player when he check-raised Shawn's 3k bet all-in for over 20k on a Q43 board.  His hand? KJ for no pair and no draw.  Shawn had a set.  Awesome.

3. Play loose preflop and tight after the flop.
Because of #1 and #2, a succesful recipie for many pros has been playing a wide range of connectors (both suited and otherwise) because when they do hit a flop, they will invariably stack off an opponent who doesn't know how to fold top pair.  Or any pair.  If you miss the flop, don't feel obligated to continuation bet against dead money because you will get called.  See flops in position with low risk because the rewards are huge when you hit.

^{1 The Grinder is definitely not dead money.}