Quasi-celebrity (non-grumpy content)

On occasion, I will deviate from my usual grumpy online persona to relate stories or observations for which I have no other outlet. This is one of them.

Last night was the first time I've had at a poker table a person that I instantly recognized from outside of the poker world: William Hung, who attained fame for his enthusiastic but, well, flawed rendition of "She Bangs" on "American Idol." Played with him for nearly four hours at the Flamingo. He apparently is sort of a regular there when he's in town, because at least some of the dealers had clearly seen him there before, and he had a card for tracking players' hours.

He got asked for a couple of autographs, though not by anyone at the table. He got a few Idol-career-related questions over the course of a few hours, but for the most part was treated just like any other nobody sitting down to play--which is, of course, how it should be. Once I heard a couple of guys at the next table over break out with "She Bangs! She Bangs!", then laugh themselves silly. But that was about it.

He's not a bad player, but my unofficial observation was that his chip stack stayed basically stagnant, neither growing nor shrinking significantly from start to finish. I really don't care where my chips come from, but I'm pleased to say that I won a couple of decent-sized pots from him, and lost only small ones where I didn't (couldn't) contest them seriously. In fact, shortly before the table broke up, somebody asked him whether he was up or down. He said, "Mostly winning--except against that guy," and pointed to me.

So, Simon Cowell, if you get a percentage of William Hung's poker winnings, sorry--I didn't contribute to your income this time around.