Laughing Away with Keating... Or At Him
Alex Keating has been chatting it up all day long, right from the get go. He's made most every player he's been seated with laugh and have a good time. Upon starting the tournament, Keating told his table, "Listen, we're all going to cash. Everyone here is going to cash." Although only a couple of them actually made the money, Keating was able to be one of those lucky few.
He's still alive now and moved over to another table including Daniel Steinberg, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and Greg Mueller. The table is situated somewhat in the back corner of the room and there's been plenty of laughter to be had.
When on the bubble, Timoshenko tried to bet Keating that he wouldn't go all in with anything but aces after Keating claimed that he would only stick his money in with one player to go holding the rockets, nothing else. The bet never came to form, but the antics haven't stopped there. Everyone's been clowning with Keating for playing super snug and he's embracing it in full, laughing along with them.
Just recently, Dan Fleyshman limped in from the hijack seat and Keating was up next. He raised to 18,500. He was in the cutoff seat and the instant he stuck in the raise, the entire table burst out in laughter. For some reason, they just find anything Keating does funny, even if he is raising up the action preflop while in the money of the WSOP Europe Main Event. Mueller was on the button and reraised to 43,500 while everyone was laughing, even he couldn't keep a straight face. Action folded around and Mueller won the pot, to which brought some more laughter.
Keating also asked the table that if he makes TV, would they watch. The entire table said they'd surely be watching simply because he would be on TV. While the other three tables all have their snug poker faces on, Keating's table is full of enjoyment and laughter, all having a good time.