Update on the tech gurus at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. We were tracking four players: Facebook exec Chamath Palihapitiya, Mahalo CEO Jason Calcanis, Geni/Yammer CEO David Sacks and former Yahoo exec David Goldberg. At least two are now out of the game.
Jason Calacanis and Chamath Palihapitiya busted out on day 2 (apparently Calacanis’ ridiculous gangster costumer only took him so far). David Sacks is going strong into the third day with $116,000 in chips. We have no information at all on Goldberg (please let us know).
Sacks, who won $25k in prize money last year, will need to stay in the game another day or two to match that previous performance. The total pot being split by the top 10% or so of players is likely around $50 million.
Sacks let us know today that he would not be speaking at our sold out Real-Time Stream CrunchUp on Friday because, well, he’ll be playing poker. He requested that co-founder Adam Pisoni take his place on stage.
We’re going to let our readers decide whether Yammer gets to send in a substitute in the poll below.
This is definitely a different audience. I wish I could relate to being up 116k in a tournament like this.
Sad that Sacks is not going to be at the Crunchup. I still look forward to the event. It’s going to be a long night today so I can fly tomorrow. Any recommendations for a good dinner restaurant in the Palo Alto area for tomorrow?
http://www.yelp.com
Evvia
Routing for David here! Nice stack so far. Keep it up
had to recreate the poll, something broke at polldaddy.
way to go arrington!
Did the title say Balls just a second ago? You had Sacks and Balls in the same title on a blog post. I was very confused.
Isn’t it kind of obvious by your wording that you think it’s rude for Sacks to bail? It’s in the title, the article, AND the poll. Why be facetious about the whole thing?
you sure you know what facetious means?
Hi everyone-
I really wanted to attend the Crunch Up — it’s going to be a great event.
So this isn’t a slight. It’s just that you don’t get many opportunities to get this far in the World Series of Poker. Could be a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Anyway, don’t take it out on Adam Pisoni. He’s a good guy. Vote for him to be able to speak at the Crunch Up.
David
Congrats on your progress David! (I played the WSOP main event in 2006 and only made it halfway through day three.)
If you win will you take out a cigar and say, “Thank you for smoking?”
Thin skinned much? Give Sacks a break. Adam will make for a great Crunch Up replacement!
i’m pretty sure yammer is out of the event based on this comment alone.
yammer was out of it when they decided to be a twitter clone.
But… but… “Yammer might decrease individual productivity but create communications synergy that increases companywide productivity.i’m hopin!”
Calacanis really needs to focus more on Mahalo cuz things do not seem to be going as expected over there. Traffic seems very very flat over the past few months
Actually, since the launch of Mahalo Answers and Mahalo 2.0 we’ve been on a tear…. we hit 6m uniques last month and this month should be event better.
Now in the top 300 sites on Quantcast (verified with a real tracking pixel–not some incorrect estimate from Comscore!)
http://www.quan....com/mahalo.com
I hope Mahalo fails because it will knock you down a peg and that will be good for you. You are far too smug right now.
Mahalo cannot fail. It’s part of a blueprint to building a utopia.
what a sad life you must lead to be so jealous of others.
Ya even I can say cheers to that traffic growth, I really thought you flat lined the ol’ girl for awhile there.
Ahh, the anonymous troll. If you want to call it arrogance, fine, but it’s some of the most deserved arrogance in the entire valley.
I know Adam personally and he’s incredibly intelligent, witty and great in front of people. He’ll do great at CrunchUp if given the opportunity.
Looks like Yammer’s gonna stay so far.
This thread is very interesting in a ‘ I secretly like vintage Beverly Hills 90210 episodes’ kind of way.
Go geeks!!!
Show them Hillbilly NAZCAR guys howz it’s done in the valley (not sain what valley!)
WSOP = World Series Of Poker
3 more definitions here: http://www.abbr...ations.com/WSOP
Hell yeah, he should play! $8.4M first place prize! Or so you Silicon Valley guys can relate, he can take home his own personal Series B…with no board seats attached!
Good Luck in the World Series of Poker, great opportunity, I’ll see you there next year.
Why personalize if someone isn’t coming to an event but sending someone else in their place? Personalizing on any level hurts only yourself.
Surround yourself with positive people, no matter who you are or what you do.
What the hell is mahalo? I have yet to meet anyone who even knows what it is, much less have a need for it.