To begin the day’s festivities, WSOP tournament director Jack Effel welcomed the players and introduced St. Pierre to the crowd. The room filled with cheers and applause.
“I want to play at a poker table with the best in the world,” St. Pierre said. “This is the biggest event. It’s the World Series and I’m honored and glad to be part of it.”
As he sat down in the Purple section, his table was immediately engaged by the fighter’s presence. The remaining nine players looked surprised for a moment, but once the cards were in the air, it was all business &133; well, to a certain extent. With GSP surrounded by media and requests from the rail for photos and autographs for most of the first two hours, the table seemed to enjoy having him at their table.
“They’re nice guys,” he said of his table. “But we’re not here because we’re friends, we’re here to make some money.”
GSP is also taking a different approach than every other player in the main event. Attributing this unique decision to a goal of staying emotionally detached, St. Pierre opted to walk away from the table for nearly 10 minutes during the first level to enjoy a Starbucks in the hallway and to clear his head.
“If I stay too long, I make stupid mistakes,” he said. “I try to walk away every hour, change my mind and focus on the best choice I can [make]. Be more logical than emotional.”
Update: St. Pierre has been eliminated from the World Series main event before the 5th level. Exact place isn’t known, but St. Pierre outlasted roughly 1,000 of the entries, but 2,100 or so still remain.
