British Underpants
Up here on the balcony of the Empire Casino, there are a few players who I recognise and suspect of wearing British underpants. On quick glance, Vik Kanwar, Roland DeWolfe, Bruce Atkinson and John Soreman are all flying the flag, as is the amicable face of Rumit Somaiya.
A popular player off the UK circuit, Rumit is actually known in some circles as 'one hand' Rumit, not because he is physically impaired, but because he has an unfortunate habit of busting on the very first hand, especially if someone has swapped a last-minute percentage.
If anyone is the master of negotiating a percentage, then it's Rumit, because at the time of writing, his biggest victory came in the form of a percentage, Irish Open 2006 Champion Vincent Melinn generously offering Rumit half of the bet he had on himself after dealing out a bad beat to eliminate him from the comp. That bad beat netted Rumit ��19,000.
But poker aside, what I'll always remember about Rumit is when I spotted him at the table in a sling, his arm damaged after... falling over a speed hump. Yep, HE TRIPPED ON A SPEED HUMP!
Well, I guess those things do work after all.