Jun-07-09
 | | Benzol: Surely not the British Actor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis... |
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| Jun-07-09 | | whiskeyrebel: No, he's quite a poker player though. He's in a PS2 poker video game I own. He was born in Southern Oregon like me. I remember his chess days from way back when I was still an almost promising junior. |
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Jun-08-09
| | Benzol: <whiskeyrebel> Thanks for the info. Been meaning to ask, have you run into or seen Puchen Wang ? He's been studying Engineering in Texas University on a scholarship but has played some tournament chess as well so you may have seen him somewhere along your travels. |
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Jun-08-09
 | | perfidious: <whiskeyrebel> I played poker with Dennis in Tunica, Mississippi in 2003; he plays well indeed, but had bad luck that day. |
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| Jun-13-09 | | whiskeyrebel: perfidious, may I ask, did he seem to ooze any sort of special aura at the table or use his spiritualism in any special way? |
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May-09-10
| | perfidious: <whiskeyrebel> Not so far as I could tell; his two kings couldn't overcome two aces held by the player immediately to my left. |
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| Dec-15-10 | | BobCrisp: <John Donaldson (Berkeley, CA, USA) and Charles Sullivan (Davis, CA, USA) inform us that the player with Peter Falk who was left unidentified by Chess Life & Review is Dennis Waterman.> http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... |
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Jan-07-11
| | perfidious: <BobCrisp> When we met, thirty years on, I will tell you this: there was no hair left, either facial or atop his head! It's a bit surprising to me that Dennis went unidentified, as he was already a strong master at the time of the photo. |
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| Jul-04-11 | | wordfunph: from Chessbase..
<..the player with Peter Falk who was left unidentified by Chess Life & Review is Dennis Waterman, now a well-known poker player.> http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail... |
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| Jun-13-14 | | cro777: Dennis "Swami" Waterman (born 1948 in Myrtle Point, Oregon) became a chess master by the age of 16, but opted to pursue a career in professional poker. Waterman gave actor Peter Falk (tv series Colombo) chess lessons in the early 1970s and played in the Lone Pine tournaments of that era. His current USCF rating is 2251. Currently, he is playing at the National Open Championship in Las Vegas (June 13-15, 2014). His opponent in Round 1 is Wesley So. Waterman has authored books and articles covering science fiction, chess, spiritual teachings, meditation and poker. As a result of his spirituality books he has been nicknamed "Swami" by the people in poker. http://tartajubow.blogspot.com/2013... |
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| Jun-13-14 | | cro777: Regrettably, Wesley So withdrew. Waterman won due to forfait. "I withdrew from the National Open to focus on finalizing the federation transfer process." (Wesley So) |
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Jun-13-14
| | perfidious: Interesting to see Dennis' USCF rating lower than his FIDE of 2290, though I do not believe he has played since 1980 or so. When we met over the poker table at Tunica in 2003, he noted that he had visited the previous year's US championship, getting to renew acquaintances with Larry Christiansen, amongst others. Our conversations, over two days we were both in Tunica, hardly touched upon poker--more about chess and other matters unrelated to our being in the Delta. Tough player and a decent guy. |
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Oct-02-15
| | perfidious: An amusing tale involving one of Dennis' OTB encounters with Walter Browne: <After playing 33.Re1 Browne’s face showed complete confidence and he was waiting for Black to resign when the 6’4” Waterman leapt on his chair, screamed “Woo hoo! Woo hoo!” as he lifted the queen way up into the sky, and then descended with it as the “woo hoo” continued to fill the room.> Browne--not precisely known as the model of decorum--must have about shyte himself. http://www.chess.com/article/view/c... |
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| Oct-02-15 | | Retireborn: <perfidious> Wonderful story! Can't imagine any Brit player standing on his chair and going woo hoo :) |
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Oct-02-15
| | perfidious: <Retireborn> The person whom I met long after that went was far different in behaviour, so much so that it is hard to imagine him acting as he did in Silman's story. |
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| Oct-02-15 | | Dr. Overlord: This guy was good at pulling new tricks at the chessboard. |
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| Oct-03-15 | | Caissanist: Absolutely terrific story, maybe the funniest backstory I've ever read for a chess game (<perfidious> only included part of it, the whole thing at the link he gave is well worth reading). I assembled and submitted the PGN for that game so that its glory can be preserved here. |
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Oct-15-22
 | | Stonehenge: Dennis Waterman (1948-2022):
( not https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denni... ) https://www.milibrary.org/sites/def.... |
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Oct-15-22
| | perfidious: RIP to one of the good guys I have known in my years on the poker circuit. |
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Aug-02-24
| | perfidious: Early image of Waterman in following article:
http://www.chessdryad.com/articles/... |
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Mar-04-25
| | perfidious: A better picture of Dennis here, though he somehow got by without being identified, even while already one of the stronger players in the country: https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/C... |
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Kibitzing
