Since last we spoke Pt. 9 WSOP 2018: The Lex Luthor Interlude 2.5/5

Before we get into the Final 9 of the 2018 WSOP PLO 10k it's fun to discuss the history I have with fellow table-mate Loren Klein up to and beyond said year. Loren might be my forever Danzer - George Danzer being the featured, uhhhh shit I'll say it, frenemy, throughout my 2014 run at WSOP Player of the Year; a race I wound up losing to the mohawk while overseas during WSOP APAC in Melbourne. We battled hard, chatted throughout, and had dinner together to celebrate his victory once the dust had settled.

Find somebody who looks at you the way blah blah blah blah blah

The first time Loren and I ever sat at the same table as one another was leading up to the Final Table of the $1,000 PLO Event in 2014, that I wound up winning. He was the overwhelming chip-leader going into the day, and quite frankly, at the time, I thought he punted his stack off and was a bit bewildered by him. He would finish 8th.

Two years from then we reunite in the $1,500 NL/PLO Mixed Event, and he didn't waste any time leaving a resoundingly different second impression on me. This is a scary, driven, creative player. I would finish 20th in that one, and he would go on to win his 1st bracelet.

Have another Danzer pic. Loren's powers are too strong. Yes, I wear the same goddamn thing every day

Exactly 3 days later in 2016 Loren and I are heads up in the 10k PLO Championship to see who would take the bracelet lead. The Poker Gods allocate me the variance jackpot, and I jump ahead 2-1. Something of note to this point is that we have only been seated with one another exactly 3 times EVER, and so far one of us has always won a bracelet.

Loren scoops up his second bracelet the next year in 2017, in a $1,500 PLO Event, although I'm nowhere to be found.

Here we are in 2018, sitting next to one another again with 14 left, and the writing is on the wall. Let me also add that we wind up briefly sitting at a table with one another in the 2019 $2,500 Big Bet Mix. I do not cash, and he grinds a nub of a stack to yet another win. This accounts now for 4 bracelets the only 4 times we've ever been seated next to one another.

With 15 left and 2mm effective (me) playing 25k/50k blinds, I open, Loren 3bets, and I 4bet an Aces combo to 1.35mm with 700k back, he calls.

The flop is a slightly dicey KK3 rainbow, I commit the remainder of my stack, and am not greeted with a Hellmuthian snap-call. Praise Ra!

I don't remember exactly who took this photo, I want to say it was Antonio Abrego doing his thing on the side, but I'm definitely happy it happened. After committing the remainder of my chips on the flop, Klein thinks a while and says "I've got a big draw," while letting out a chuckle. I tell him that I expected nothing less, and put my head down to decompress as he decides if he's got the odds to call off and go for his backdoor stuff.

"You don't have to hide; there's no read," he reassures me

"Oh, I'm just taking a nap. You've got that 3 to King straight draw," I peek up to respond before putting my head back down.

Eventually he folds, asks me if his suits were clean, and we move on with 3mm chips apiece. Both of us still around to see if we can fulfill the prophecy of being sat at the same table as one another exactly 5 times and finish with 5 bracelets between us.