O-Poker

Full Tilt Poker had a party with the FTP pros (not sure if most people would call it a party) for the online qualifiers each night before the players were to play their Day 1. When my wife and I got to the "party" there were only a small number of the pros there - Matusow, Seidel, and a couple other pros most people wouldn't know. It was good getting to meet some people that I had played with online.

The typical conversation for most of the night went something like this:
"Do you play a lot on FTP? How did you qualify? What games do you play?"
"What is your FTP screen name?"

My wife and I were talking to a group of about 4-5 guys. (I think the light for the case that contained all of the FTP WSOP bracelets was shining on where I was standing.) I was asking everyone what limits they played, how they qualified, etc. I told one of the guys that I had also qualified for the added hotel through the 100 seat guarantee. He and another guy from the group started asking me a ton of questions about how that worked. As the conversation started to die down, my wife and I headed towards the bar to get another beer.

Right as I left the group that I was talking to, a Swedish guy with a poker shaped mouse pad came up to me and asked for my autograph. I was dumb-founded. He obviously thought I was someone else. "Who do you think I am?" is the first thing that came out of my mouth. It really caught me off guard and I didn't know what to say. I followed it up with, "I'm nobody right now, but I will give you my autograph on August 10th." (That didn't really work out.)

It turned out the autograph seeker was there from Sweden with a friend that had qualified through FTP. He thought that I was "somebody" because of the group of people talking to me.

Next time someone asks for an autograph, I'll just smile and sign it with whatever name happens to pop into my head.