Here’s the latest episode — a good one with Phil Hellmuth in studio talking a little EPT-Berlin robbery, significance of the NBC Heads-up, and his recent non-collapse collapse at Bay 101.
They also talk with his “mindset coach” Sam Chauhan … and the process of keeping players focussed.
It doesn’t get weird until Andrew Feldman and Bernard Lee start to talk about Hellmuth shirtless.
The final table of the Bay 101 Shooting Stars Classic concluded early Saturday morning as McLean Karr, down to just 10 big blinds with 27 players left when day 3 started, winning $878,500, which includes a $25,000 WPT Championship seat, defeating Andy “BKiCe” Seth in heads-up play. Phil Hellmuth was the first elimination at the final table, when his QQ lost to Seth’s AJ when another ace hit the river, causing Hellmuth to curl up in the fetal position, leading Tony G to blog an open letter to Hellmuth, expressing concern for his mental health after his stunning elimination. Here’s the full results from the final table:
1 McLean Karr $878,500 including $25k WPT seat
2 Andy Seth $521,200
3 Daniel O’Brien $292,800
4 Hasan Habib $234,300
5 Matt Keikoan $175,700
6 Phil Hellmuth $117,000
Here’s an interview tournament director Matt Savage had with McLean and friend Maria Ho after his win:
After having what he admitted was his worst year in poker last year, Phil Hellmuth decided some changes were in order. In his blog from February, Hellmuth hired mindset coach Sam Chauhan and had a battery of tests among other changes to get his poker game back to the when he was considered by more than himself as the best player in the world. It appears to be paying off this week, as Hellmuth has made the final table of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars Main Event Friday afternoon. Here’s how the rest of the final table will be seated when play resumes around 4pm PT (results come from the Hendon Mob Database):
Seat 1: Hasan Habib – 455,000
Seat 2: Phil Hellmuth – 1,433,000
Seat 3: Andy “BKiCe” Seth – 2,164,000
Seat 4: Matt Keikoan – 371,000
Seat 5: Mclean Karr – 1,112,000
Seat 6: Dan O’Brien – 1,129,000
Other big names who missed the final table: Scotty Nguyen (8th), “Miami John” Cernuto (11th), Nick Schulman (13th), Chau Giang (14th), and current WPT Player of the Year leader Faraz Jaka (18th). Live updates will be available from BJ Nemeth and the other good people over at the WorldPokerTour.com site.
In other news related to Hellmuth, Ultimate Bet has decided to cancel the 2010 Aruba Classic as they decided to expand their offerings online, including having a second Ultimate Bet Online Championship series each year.
Valentine’s Day was the debut of season 6 of GSN’s most popular show, High Stakes Poker. AJ Benza is no longer on the show, replaced by Kara Scott to provide some player interviews, leaving Gabe Kaplan to provide commentary solo. This would have been up earlier if GSN decided to put the full episode on Youtube, but they decided to only put it up on their own site.
The rules for the 2010 World Series of Poker were released this afternoon, with the obligatory press release appearing on the next page. To alleviate the fears of Phil Hellmuth, there has NOT been a change to what logos a player can be sporting. There were some minor changes to reflect the latest rules published by the Poker TDA, as well as some changes for players who choose to register late (Rule #12) and clarification for those who registered but don’t show up (Rule #14). Also of note is there was a change to the rule regarding cell phones and electronic devices that “banned” the Iphone, Blackberry, Itouch, and similar devices has been removed for 2010 in light of the immense popularity of Twitter. One other new rule that someone pointed out on 2+2, part of rule 37 about player conduct (bolding is my emphasis):
B. All participants are entitled to expect civility and courtesy from one another at every Tournament table and throughout the Tournament area. Any individual who encounters behavior that is not civil or courteous — or is abusive in any way — is encouraged to immediately contact a Tournament official. This shall include, but is not limited to, any player whose personal hygiene has become disruptive to the other players seated at their table. The determination as to whether an individual’s personal hygiene is disruptive to other players shall be determined by the Tournament Staff which may, in its discretion, implement sanctions upon any such player who refuses to remedy the situation in a manner satisfactory to Rio.
This shoulda gone up about two-and-a-half months ago … but hey, we were busy with the November Nine and Tiger Woods was busy banging every chick in Vegas who ever said “call me!” … not to mention posing for photoshopped covers of Golf Digest with advice for Barack Obama. No wonder he didn’t have time to be smoking pot with Michael Phelps …
Still, before golf officially decided to go the degen route — or perhaps in preparation for it? — Golf Magazine ran a feature in their November issue about Phil Hellmuth, Layne Flack, Erick Lindgren, and Gavin Smith hitting the Las Vegas links, apparently foreshadowing the concept of risking big-big bucks on every hole:
This week, featuring Phil Hellmuth in studio for an interview, a preview of the WPT Doyle Brunson Classic at the Bellagio, Chino Rheem (the defending champion) discussing a key hand with Justin Young, and other stuff. As usual, parts 2 and 3 appear on the next page:
The Poker PROducers showing they can feed the poker die-hards:
This week, and next, Poker After Dark is forgoing its usual $20,000 short-handed sit-n-go (yawn) for a Full Tilty high-stakes cash game with a $100k min and $250k max buy-in. (No rebuys maybe? Not sure … ). The players: Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Phil Ivey, and Gus Hansen + Daniel Negreanu (representing PokerStars) and Phil Hellmuth thrown in for good measure.
I’m guessing Mori Eskandani doesn’t know who Isildur1 is either?
While PAD generally makes solid stumble-upon viewing, it’s been a while since they’ve assembled such a unique game that should play as real what everyone’s been watching on their computer screens lately. Sounds like there should be a lot of interesting (big) hands … and you gotta wonder just how much at least four of these people really want to give up about their cash-game play under the watchful eye of the hole-card cam.
I also wonder: would they ever do a similar show with the game being Omaha? The biggest hands (in history) these days seem to be playing out mostly in PLO … but conventional poker wisdom says, supposedly, that non-Texas hold’em doesn’t play well on TV.
I gotta say, @Phil_Hellmuth really is turning into one of the best poker reporters out there … I read his blog, follow his tweets and generally occasionally love his vids; you can tell he is actively working on his 21st-century media game.
Most recently, at his own TASER Foundation charity tourney in Phoenix — the biggest high-society charity poker shindig of the year in Arizona — he was there to report on Brandon Cantu’s being shot with a taser gun … Cantu was paying off a prop-bet he lost at last year’s event with Clonie Gowen.
Damn, ouch … but cool … didn’t realize you could bounce back so quickly from those things.
BTW, an extra-funny … @DonkeyBomber was there as one of the “star poker players” who help make the event extra fun for the Big Charity donors who play … but even on his home turf, our favorite business-exec-turned-author-turned-2007-WSOP-POY-turned-struggling-poker-pro is no Layne Flack or even Roy Winston:
Did I just miss this movie, or is it due out soon? Gotta say, I’m kinda intrigued, despite Phil Hellmuth’s involvement:
Here’s the official movie website — I think maybe it was a straight-to-DVD thing? It did get nominated for Best Short Drama at the Leo Awards, whatever they may or may not be.
Just like Panorama Towers (across the street from the Rio) seems to be the place to live if you are a bachelor/ette Las Vegas poker pro … N9NE Steakhouse (across the street from the Rio), seems to be a regular dining joint for the poker elite.
This in from our Palms spy earlier today/yesterday:
Greetings,
Poker legend Phil Hellmuth dined at N9NE Steakhouse inside Palms Casino Resort Thursday night (11.12.09). Accompanied by three friends, Hellmuth enjoyed a rib eye and a beer.
That’s it, he was the only notable person there on Thursday. We can only imagine how disappointing it musta been for Phil to find no pro athletes or music stars to exchange cell phone numbers with. Things were different about three weeks ago (sorry, leftover sighting) when, according to our embed, “Matchbox 20 lead singer Rob Thomas was dining downstairs at N9NE, as were former Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer and “Glee” actor Mark Salling, who ordered lobster potstickers and a kobe burger.”
That same night:
In Playboy Club English professional gambler and poker player David Ulliott (known by the nickname Devilfish), was joined by six guests including entertainer Matt Goss who arrived later in the evening with 15 other guests. The group was drinking Ketel One cocktails.
Devilfish’s mate (in the British sense) Matt Goss is, according to an LA Times blog, “the hottest Vegas act you haven’t heard of” … and the newest musician in residence at the Palms. (He sold nearly 20 million albums 20 years ago.)
In lieu of our semi-regular Friday Night Video(s), here’s Goss’ new single, which features writhing chicks in lingerie amidst plenty of poker action:
How the final hand was called early on Bluff’s Internet audio stream Sunday morning at the WSOP Main Event final table with David “The Maven” Chicotsky”, Phil Hellmuth, and Bluff’s Eric Morris:
From GSN’s press release:
More douchebaggerous debaucherous good times leaking out from the UB’s big annual Aruba event … the kinda special gathering that even Full Tilt Red Pros attend. And here we see some guy I hadn’t heard of before, Poker Rapper, show Jeff Madsen that the one-time WSOP Player of the Year will never be the Eminem of Poker. (He almost sounds like he’s crying when he tries to comeback from the schooling by kicking it into Marshall Mathers gear.)
via PokerNews
In and of herself … yeah, bring it! But sitting next to the also-at-least-partially naked Scotty Nguyen, Phil Hellmuth, and Daniel Negreanu (who’s covering his left breast with a PokerStars patch) … eww, uh, yee …
Incontrovertible living proof that poker is definitely not a sport:
From a feature in the new issue of ESPN the Magazine.
(The poker nakedness occurs for half-a-blip at about 3:15, perverts.)
via PokerNews
The Hardcore Poker Show makes news again with its interview on Wednesday with Daniel Negreanu. Among the variety of topics covered, Chris Tessaro and Rob Pizzo brought up Phil Hellmuth’s comments he made on the show two weeks ago, and adds comments about Ultimate Bet, a site he has been a critic of going back to their first WPT event back in 2002.
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The rest of their interview with Daniel can be found here.
Speaking of UB, Joe Sebok has an update on his blog regarding another delay in releasing hand histories from superusers on UB.
OK, I swear we’re going to stop making this blog PhilHellmutherati. But here’s more of the Champ, speaking to the French media about his concerns that Harrah’s forthcoming online poker site could do damage to the WSOP.
You can find the whole show here.
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http://pokerati.com/podcast/benjo-hellmuth.mp3
(English starts once Hellmuth gets on the phone.)
Beyond his repeated request for more food and cheaper rooms (previously Hellmuth was seeking “free”), he actually raises some good points, which seem to tie in with his November Nine coaching client’s WSOP beefs.
What he states is fact when acknowledging that a Harrah’s online poker site potentially puts the WSOP in competition with money that has really supported the World Series since it became a Harrah’s property.
He also reiterates his love for Jeffrey Pollack and Ty Stewart, while sending a message plea to their corporate overlords:
“Don’t take us for granted, Harrah’s!
If they do, then they’re in for a fight …
He’s not broke, he swears, but he is, like everyone, way more money-minded than before … because he has to be! You have no idea how much a prop bet against Phil Ivey can affect the price of a barrel of oil.
Phil Hellmuth sat down for an hour with PokerTube.com the other day (an hoouuurrr), and while most of it’s gag-worthy, I did find his explanation of bankroll management and his personal cash sitch interesting:
He really really really wants you to buy his stuff at PokerBrat.com.
The WSOP-E main event is well underway … they’re getting into the money today, playing down to 27. We’ll wait ’til a few more get knocked out before we see what kinda final table is really taking shape. Lots of interesting names still alive — including a couple November Niners. But one player long dead: Phil Hellmuth, aka Caesar.
Check it out, he did a repeat performance of his Caesarian entrance … but this time with actual animals parading through the streets of London. Gag away:
But here’s the funny part … so he had all his tunic-clad ladies, each representing a bracelet … but when they got to the casino door, they couldn’t get in because they didn’t have their ID’s!
More details here:
And yet this time, he doesn’t even try to get camera-time, even though he’s holding the camera. Via twitvid … @Phil_Hellmuth gives us a tour into the bowels of the Casino at the Empire in Leicester Square, where, yes, he will indeed be making another uber-grand Caesar’s entrance for WSOP-Europe.
While I personally found it interesting to see the layout of the casino and how it fits innocuously within a cityscape, his encounters with Men the Master and Mike Matusow are also quite good.
Watch (a tired) Men for tells as Hellmuth calls him “the Vietnamese Godfather of Poker” and addresses when he will or will not get into the Hall of Fame. And hear Matusow explain why he thinks the Caesar’s Cup is a “farce” … he swears it’s not just because he didn’t get picked to play.
“Mark my words,” he says.
Phil Hellmuth — fresh off the announcement of his coaching relationship with Harrah’s-hater Jeff Shulman and apparently still on tilt about having to pay for his own room at the WSOP this summer — appeared on the Hardcore Poker Show today (on the internet and Sirius 98) to reveal a Glenn-Beckish unease amongst some big-time pros about the WSOP’s intent to launch its own online poker site … and hints that Full Tilt, PokerStars, and Ultimate Bet might be talking about colluding cooperating to start their own WSOP alternative … a move he suggests could make the WSOP “worth nothing”.
Phil Hellmuth on Hardcore Sports Radio – excerpts
Sep 23 2009“There’s a huge battle brewing …”
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Find the whole interview here.
In addition to the warning, Hellmuth calls out Harrah’s for “not giving any of [money] back to the players” and takes a pop at Jeffrey Pollack for not reassuring him that everything is gonna to be alright; but it seems, without naming names, that his fear and vitriol is really directed at Mitch Garber — FTP, Stars, and UB’s old rival at PartyPoker, who’s never really played nice with any of them before.
My question: How did UB outplay Doyle’s Room for third position in the unofficial alliance of American-friendly online poker rooms?
CardPlayer.com is reporting …
“The simplest reason why I’m doing this — I want to win, and I think it will help,” said Shulman.
Shulman and Hellmuth’s relationship go way back, as the two have been friends for years, all the while maintaining a successful business relationship. Hellmuth was an obvious choice when Shulman started to seriously consider getting a coach for the final table.
“I turned on the TV and I was watching Tiger Woods or something, and I realized — every single player has a coach,” said Shulman. “No matter how good or bad my game is, it can always get better.”
While there are plenty of jokes to made about how yeah, Jeff Shulman stands to learn a lot about the business of being a professional poker a-hole … actually, what a good move!
Forget the betting and raising and reads … Hellmuth just gave ESPN a great story line, and guaranteed himself a lot of additional (sellable) airtime. (UB jersey allowed?) The 11-bracelet king of WSOP champions — who’s well-aware that people love to hate him — on the sidelines keeping the self-appointed November Nine bad guy in check? That’s gold, Jeffrey, gold I tell ya!
Whether or not Hellmuth ends up throwing a chair remains to be seen, but either way, it’s easy to see how Happy Shulman, by partnering with the Poker Brat, just gave WSOP Inc. a gift.
John Paul Kelly 2009: 2 bracelets, 2 continents.
The first event of the 2009 World Series of Poker Europe is completed and we have crowned the first champion. He ended Day 1 as the chipleader and finished the tournament in the same vein, step forward Mr JP Kelly.
The £1,000 entry-fee appealed to pros and amateurs alike, with Day 1a attracting 295 runners including the likes of Phil Hellmuth, Roland de Wolfe and Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliot with the former being eliminated very early on into proceedings.
After raising preflop, then calling a re-raise from Eddie Hearn, Hellmuth somehow managed to get all his chips in the middle holding 5h6h which gave him an open-ended straight draw. He definitely needed to hit as Hearn held pocket kings, but a 9s turn followed by a Qc river saw ‘The Poker Brat’ heading for the rail.
The action was thick and fast due to the shallow starting stacks and hour long blinds and by the end of play only 41 players still had chips remaining!
Day 1b showed no signs of slowing down either, despite it been a more pro-heavy day with Phil Ivey, Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, Annette Obrestad and 2008 WSOPE Main Event winner John Juanda taking to the tables. Out of the 313 that started, only 58 would return for Day 2.
JP Kelly was the overnight chipleader with 99,000 chips but Richard Kellet, Ian Frazer andFabian Dunlop were all hot on his heels with stacks around the 65,000 mark. Of the 89 remaining players, only 63 would make the money, meaning 26 unlucky players would be going home empty handed.
OK, maybe I’m stretching his definition a bit, but still … gotta like the message Factor viewers are getting when Bill O gives a big American thumbs-up to Eva Longoria for hosting her big charity poker tournament in San Antonio this evening:
This tournament, btw, part of the Second Annual Tony and Eva Parker Celebrity Casino Night, is now, I’m almost certain, the biggest charity event in Texas — one of a few, if not the only one, that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars at a pop.
Awesome, and good for the beneficiary, Eva’s Heroes.
The guy instrumental in making this event happen, btw: Phil Hellmuth
Tuesday night’s WSOP Main Event episode featured Norman Chad stating one sentence about the Ultimate Bet scandals as Phil Hellmuth and Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles were at the same feature table. Michalski noted in the comments, Mark originally “broke his silence” regarding the Absolute Poker scandal over at Raw Vegas back in 2007.
Watch The Toke – Absolute Poker’s Mark Seif on RawVegas.tv
In response to some of Seif’s comments, Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles offered a response on RawVegas.tv a few days later.
On the same day the APT had their inaugural international team poker event, the WTP (not to be confused with the WPT) announced their team leaders … with Phil Hellmuth taking the role of Captain America this time.
I may not be able to say it for long, but I’d like to point out that at the moment Pauly, Lana, and I have more team poker titles and prize money than Hellmuth does. Of course who doesn’t, but still … just sayin’.
The beginnings of the World Team Poker league:
Country Team Captain
1 USA - Phil Hellmuth
2 China – Johnny Chan
3 Vietnam - Men “The Master” Nguyen
4 Philippines – Toto Leonidas
5 Lebanon – Freddy Deeb and Dany Joe Georges
6 Australia – Jeff Lisandro
7 Iran – Amir Vahedi
8 Israel – Eli Elezra
9 Mexico – Mario Esquerra
10 Korea – Kevin Song
11 Egypt – Mark Seif
12 Switzerland – Chris Bigler
13 Greece – Chris Tsiprailidis
14 Russia – Ralph Perry
15 Germany – Dan Heimiller
16 Armenia – Chris Grigorian
Wow, I don’t get this, but kinda awesome … or terrible depending on how you interpret Barry Greenstein’s rubbing on his nipples to the tune of Phil Hellmuth’s demise:
I guess you could say the “art” of poker is going a little more surreal.
(via PokerNews)
CORRECTION: Greenstein technically just boasts about his nipples, but doesn’t rub. Chau Giang does the actual rubbing.
International team poker is just a fad, right? Maybe so … but this defending Dream Team Poker-WSOP champion who loves to monitor WSOP prowess by country is looking forward to the television coverage of the Caesar’s Cup — a special event at WSOP-Europe that pits the Canadians Americans vs. the Euros in an 8-player-a-side format. As the teams take shape, it’s looking to be quite the competitive experience vs. youth match-up:
Team Americas: Daniel Negreanu (captain), Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth and John Juanda
Team Europe: Annette Obrestad (captain), Peter Eastgate, Dario Minieri, Bertrand Grospellier
I still don’t quite have a grasp on the format, or how the other four slots will be selected. But I do know Euros can qualify for a seat on their team via our good mates at Betfair Poker.
Even more semi-pokery TV … Shaquille O’Neal is in town, doing some filming at Planet Hollywood for his new Shaq Vs. program, which debuts tomorrow at 9pm ET/PT on ABC.
The concept is that Shaq takes on the best in the world at their own game(s). He’s got some sort of swimming contest set up with Michael Phelps, a tennis match vs. Serena Williams, boxing vs. Oscar de la Hoya, and he’s been taunting David Beckham on twitter claiming the (once) great soccerer can’t bend one past him in goal.
While the entire show seems to be athletic-based — there’s no challenge to Elton John for some dueling pianos, e.g. — poker seems to have slipped in there. (Props to Disney sibling ESPN?) According to @Phil_Hellmuth, he, Mike Matusow, Chris Ferguson, and Erick Lindgren are on set right now filming an episode that we can only presume is Shaq trying to beat the best at Texas Hold’em.
Not sure about the format, but gotta think Lindgren’s got the edge after all his experience on Face the Ace.
Edit: Here’s the official chip counts:
In a surprising move, play ended Saturday after just three levels of play in the main event, as the field is now down to about 400 players after three levels of play, which included nearly two hours of hand-for-hand play. Chip counts are unofficial at the moment, but it appears that Frenchman Ludovic Lacay will be the chip leader with 1,608,000 chips. Tom Lutz is listed in 2nd place with 1,600,000 chips. Other notables returning tomorrow with unofficial chip counts: Jordan Morgan (1,489,000), Blair Hinkle (1,399,000), Bertrand Grospellier (1,250,000), Nichoel Peppe (880,000), Kenny Tran (850,000), Tom Schneider (790,000), Lou Diamond Phillips (755,000), Dennis Phillips (630,000), Kara Scott (580,000), Joe Hachem (570,000), Noah Boeken (515,000), Joe Sebok (412,000) and Joe Serock (400,000). The returning players resume at 12 noon tomorrow, guaranteed at least $27,469.
The bubble was reached after 13 hands during hand-for-hand play. Kia Hamadani had about 160,000 in chips when they were about 20 players for the money, unfortunately for him, he took several hits to his stack until he was all in for his 500-chip ante. His last hand was 4-3o, which was crushed by someone making a large bet on a Q-Q-6 board with 9-2o. A nine on the turn and river meant that Hamadani would finish in 649, consoled by the fact that Jack Link’s Beef Jerky gave him a free entry to the 2010 Main Event.
Notables who can sleep in tomorrow: Phil Hellmuth, Patrick Bruel, Kelly Kim, Surinder Sunar, Matt Brady, Mark Gregorich, and Jesper Hougaard.
Official chip counts will be available in the morning, so return to Pokerati to see what’s turns up next.
Day 3 of the Main Event were able to play five full levels yesterday, with 789 players surviving to return at noon Saturday as they crawl their way to the money bubble at 648 players. The only player with a 7-figure chip stack is Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier with 1,380,500. Other notables who are still hanging around: Blair Hinkle (542,000), Dennis Phillips (510,000), Phil Hellmuth (485,000), Kara Scott (456,500), Mike Sexton (414,000), David Benyamine (381,500), Lou Diamond Phillips (359,500), Kelly Kim (346,000), Joe Sebok (297,500), Joe Hachem (239,500), Tom Schneider (231,000), Bobby Baldwin (193,500) and The Big Randy (190,500). The entire list of survivors is available below:
Five more levels of play are scheduled for today, but a prolonged period of bubble play can play havoc, depending on when they start hand for hand play and how much time is added back after the money is reached. In any case, it’ll be a joyous occasion for most who make the money, while the more established players will be looking to abuse the bubble, and take chips off players looking to get out of Vegas with their $21k+ payday.
Follow all the action over at www.wsop.com here and Pokerati for other stuff going on during Saturday.
The first three levels of the Main Event have seen over 900 players already hit the rail, leaving around 1,100 players returning from dinner break. The unofficial chip leaders are Brian Hanson and James Akenhead with 625,000 in chips. Other notables with an above average stack (currently around 170,000): Owen Crowe (555,000), Bertrand Grospellier (520,000), Sorel Mizzi (445,000), David Benyamine (402,000), Phil Hellmuth (390,000), Phil Ivey (360,000), Lou Diamond Phillips (345,000), Mike Sexton (297,000), Dennis Phillips (240,000), Tom Schneider (230,000), 2009 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro (211,000) and Jason Alexander (190,000).
Notables who hit the rail:
Erik Seidel, Raymond Rahme, Jimmy Fricke, Jean-Robert Bellande, Bill Edler, Darus Suharto, Ville Wahlbeck, “Miami John” Cernuto, Bryan Micon, Roland de Wolfe and Sam Farha.
More stuff from Pokerati later this evening as the money bubble may be reached tonight, depending on how fast the eliminations go after dinner.
The remaining 1700 players are currently playing the fourth and final level of play today for day 2b, which will join the survivors from yesterday to return Friday at noon as the field will be together for the first time. Troy Weber remains the chip leader with 475,000 in chips. Other notables with chips: Brian Lemke (275,500), Phil Ivey (265,500), Kenny Tran (220,000), Hevad Khan (177,000), Antonio Esfandiari (173,000), Tony Hachem (155,000), Phil Hellmuth (139,000), Ville Wahlbeck (109,000), Kirill Gerasimov (105,000) and Tuan Le (102,000).
Notable eliminations: Bernard Lee, Robert Williamson III, Phil Tom, David Sklansky, Gavin Griffin, Howard Lederer, Scotty Nguyen, Todd “Dan Druff” Witteles (who was at the ESPN feature table with Hellmuth), Shannon Shorr and Erick Lindgren.
Check out the updates and chip counts at wsop.com here and more stuff from Pokerati during the late hours. WSOP Media tournament and media briefing tomorrow, I’ll be with Team Pokerati in spirit in the tournament. The Commish has quite a few announcements tomorrow, including the Poker Hall of Fame nominees so come back tomorrow.
I seriously love the trumpets.
Watch Phil Hellmuth Caesar Entrance at the 2009 WSOP on RawVegas.tv
Ultimate Bet clearly gets the concept of experiential marketing, too. But the plug for Dream Team Poker? Even awesomer.
It was no secret. It has been public information since mid-June, and the PPA announced it days ago that House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank made plans to visit the WSOP today. First, he took to the floor of the Amazon Room to speak to the Day 1C players and issue the “shuffle up and deal command,” after which he toured the Rio Convention Center to see poker’s bizness and held a press conference at 1pm. You’d think it might be quite an event for those with any interest in the future of the poker industry.
But while the general reception Frank received in the Amazon Room was positive, it also gave an indication of what kind of struggles his efforts face. Beyond having to deal with the self-promotional shenanigans of Phil Hellmuth and all he brings to the table in the name of poker (for better or worse), behind me on the rail were some poker players/fans/bigots who made hateful gay jokes during his entire short-but-semi-important speech.
Nearing the 1pm start of the press conference in the Full Tilt Chris Ferguson suite, there were about 5 reporters present. No kidding. By the time Frank began speaking, there were possibly twice that, excluding PPA representatives and Full Tilt Poker bigwigs. Of the 5-8 media outlets represented, ESPN got their headshot early and left, before the speech had hardly started.
Some of what the disinterested might have missed:
~It is likely that the Obama Administration was not behind the Southern District of New York’s seizure of more than $30 million in online poker site payments, though Frank is pursuing answers and will attempt to clarify the role of the Department of Justice in the actions.
~While Frank’s current proposed legislation (H.R. 2267) may not be heard in committee until September, it is a priority for Frank to push his companion legislation (H.R. 2266) that will delay the implementation of the UIGEA through 2010.
Meanwhile, everyone else was standing outside the Rio waiting for Phil Hellmuth to arrive in a chariot with scantily-clad chicks, then following him down the hall like he was someone important President Obama. After that embarrassment spectacle, I noticed that there was more media interested in interviewing a WSOP player wearing a full-length Indian headdress than were in the Frank press conference.
(Sigh.)
I just can’t help but wonder if the people who ignored Frank’s presence today will be the same ones asking why the delay in passing pro-poker legislation, or why their online poker funds are frozen, or why they have trouble finding work in the poker industry.
This kinda puts the planned Phil Hellmuth WSOP main event entrance into perspective. Read below the announcement of what’s about to happen — scary — and how they’re going to make sure any onlookers are properly refreshed by drinking tasty milk products on The Strip during the illusion of plausible death.
At 8:30 p.m., members of the public are encouraged to head to the Miracle Mile Shops’ southern Las Vegas Boulevard entrance (by Hawaiian Tropic Zone) to witness a “Death Drop” escape performed by Daredevil Magician Steve Wyrick. Bennington, assisted by members of his new side project Dead by Sunrise, will lock and shackle Wyrick into one of the band’s equipment boxes. Connected to a crane by only a few thin ropes, the box will be dangled over a bed of 500 flaming spikes 80 feet below. The ropes will then be set on fire, forcing Wyrick to make his escape before the last rope breaks and sends him plummeting to a fiery death. Wyrick will have to jump 20 feet off a burning box to a safety rope and rappel down while avoiding the spikes and tremendous heat. This type of escape has never been attempted by an illusionist anywhere in the world.
Free MollliCoolz Shakers will be available to keep the crowd of spectators refreshed and cool during the stunt. Shakers are revolutionizing the ice cream world this summer with its new, fun way to make milkshakes by adding milk to its free-flowing beads of ice cream. For more information, visit www.mollicoolz.com.
Big ups to the WSOP for much better T-shirts for sale this year. Though shockingly they didn’t bring back the Phil Hellmuth camisa that listed all his bracelet wins on the back — I kinda wish I had one for the irony now that they’re gone — they do have this one, which is pretty funny to poker people and even funnier for the non-:
Meanwhile, this shirt is not for sale in the WSOP store, but is still pretty awesome, and doesn’t technically violate Rule #36, though I’m sure it insults somebody!
Thanks, Ed, for the link!
Here’s a sneak peak at what Phil Hellmuth has in store for his Day 1. Would be really ballsy if he saved it for the final table … because hey, actually that would be pretty cool if final tableists could enter the “arena” like professional wrestlers, or at least boxers. But for Day 1 of a tournament that’s already started? Man, I really wanna poo-poo it for the ridiculousness … but he is the biggest man when it comes to WSOP Hold’em … so why not let him be the Ric Flair of Poker? This is Vegas, after all, so ridiculousness pretty much works.
Mostly SFW pics of women wearing togas and male gladiators below. The Phil Hellmuth marketing machine is still working on getting real horses into the Rio, and they’ve got a plan B ready to go if that can’t work:
In case you missed it (I did) here is some Pokernews video from the first of about a dozen big WSOP main event run-up parties, this one hosted by Ultimate Bet at Studio 54 in the MGM.
So much sayable about this, lol … and we can use the phrase “lol” because twitter comes into play. More Phil Hellmuth making a mockery of a few orbits before being pulled from the 2-7 Triple Draw … Tiffany Michelle talking about experimenting with UB and her breasts … Layne Flack being Layne Flack … Shawn Rice and Debo sitting … and just about everything else you might expect from a celebration of, by, and for “anyone who is anyone” in the UB poker world:
Starting with today’s lone tournament starting, one with a very worthy cause:
The big charity event of the WSOP is this afternoon’s Ante Up for Africa, a star-studded affair with a $5,000 buy-in, with a request that those who make the money donate 50% of their proceeds to Refugees International and The Enough Project to attempt to end the crisis in Darfur. It’s also the shortest tournament of the WSOP, with it’s 20-minute blind levels in the first hour followed by increases every 15 minutes, the tournament is projected to finish in just five hours. ESPN’s cameras will be following the action as it’s scheduled to dedicate two hours of their WSOP coverage to this event.
Finishing up the Wednesday night tournaments:
Tony Veckey makes his first career cash a WSOP bracelet in the $1,500 NL Holdem, good for $673,276 defeating Jason Wheeler heads-up. Nolan Dalla’s tournament report notes that Veckey is a software engineer with Motorola and a graduate of the DeVry Institute. He was hoping to play in Saturday’s $1,500 NL Holdem event, but it was sold out, leaving him to make this his first WSOP tournament. He’s returning back to work and has decided not to parlay this success into this year’s Main Event, choosing to wait until 2010’s Main Event.
As noted in the post below, Julie Schneider finished 3rd in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball with high stakes veteran Abe Mosseri picking up his first career WSOP bracelet, along with $165,513. Masayoshi Tanaka finished in second, denied Japan’s first WSOP bracelet, picking up $102,313.
Sixteen players remain in the final preliminary event of the WSOP $5,000 NL Holdem 6-Handed . They resume this afternoon at 1pm to play down to a winner and this is how they will be seated when play resumes:
(Table 58)
Seat 1: Peter Feldman – 1328000
Seat 2: Aurelien Guiglini – 549000
Seat 3: Josh Brikis – 294000
Seat 4: Thorsten Schaefer – 1094000
Seat 5: Matthew Waxman – 1132000
Seat 6: Alex Venovski – 684000
(Table 59)
Seat 1: James St Hilaire – 876000
Seat 2: John Conkright – 749000
Seat 4: Rory Mathews – 1358000
Seat 5: Jonas Wexler – 848000
Seat 6: Eugene Katchalov – 356000
(Table 60)
Seat 1: Robert Kay – 1213000
Seat 3: Frank Calo – 569000
Seat 4: Sean Keeton – 641000
Seat 5: Matt Hawrilenko – 1327000
Seat 6: Faraz Jaka – 778000
Phil Hellmuth finished in 24th place, if he remained it probably would have given ESPN’s production team quite the difficulty in covering his run for bracelet number twelve and the Ante Up for Africa event.
Follow the updates of today’s activity at www.wsop.com and Pokerati will surely be there covering all the high-profile celebrities in action.
Recapping the other Wednesday night action:
Rui Cao leads with ~60 players remaining in the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max, as they play down to 6 players or 3am, whichever comes first. Others in contention include Shaun Deeb, Phil Hellmuth, Blair Hinkle, Darrell Dicken, Faraz Jaka, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Bill Edler, Raymond Davis and Shannon Shorr.
Nine players remain in the $1,500 NL Holdem event, Jason Wheeler is the chip leader, followed by Christopher Bonita, Christopher De Maci, Joseph Chaplin, Tony Veckey, Andrew Malott, David Jaoui, Miha Remic and Sergey Konkin.
Short update tonight, check out www.wsop.com for updates, and good luck to Julie Schneider, who just won a key double up in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball.
Recapping the still ongoing action from Tuesday night:
It’s 9:15am PT, but the final table of the $50,000 HORSE is still going with David Bach and John Hanson playing heads-up with Bach holding a slim chip lead. Erik Sagstrom finished in 3rd, Vitaly Lunkin was eliminated in 4th, Huck Seed finished in 5th and Ville Wahlbeck finished in 6th place. Unless Wahlbeck makes a deep run in the Main Event, Jeff Lisandro appears to have locked up the WSOP Player of the Year with Wahlbeck a close second. For those of you who have followed the nearly 17-hour final table from beginning to end, God bless you.
Nine players remain in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball when play resumes at 2pm. Here’s how the remaining players will be seated:
Seat 1: Hertzel Zalewski – 111000
Seat 2: Nam Le – 95000
Seat 3: Masayoshi Tanaka – 345000
Seat 5: Brad Libson – 146000
Seat 1: Kris Lord – 87000
Seat 2: Julie Schneider – 163000
Seat 3: John Juanda – 182000
Seat 4: Blair Rodman – 358000
Seat 6: Abe Mosseri – 447000
The reason for the title of this section is that it was a comment made regarding Julie Schneider by Daniel Negreanu on his Twitter. He would later add the following upon finding out she read his Twitter: “Apparently the lady reads my twitter. Oops lol. Oh well, when I sat down I swore she was a little off or slow. My bad!”. Negreanu eventually finished in 16th.
New Orleans attorney David Halpern defeated William Kohler heads-up to take down the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better picking up his first WSOP bracelet along with $159,048.
The country of Germany gets its second WSOP bracelet winner with Jorg Piesert taking down the $3,000 Triple Chance NL Holdem title along with $506,800, defeating Jason DeWitt in heads-up play. After going 50 events without a win, Germany wins on consecutive days, following Carsten Joh’s win in the $1,500 NL event Monday night.
Sergey Konkin, who may also be Sergey Pomerantsev as Konkin’s name didn’t appear on the Day 1 chip counts, is the chip leader (1,400,000) with 28 players remaining in the $1,500 NL Holdem Spectacular when play resumes at 1pm. The most notable name of the remaining 28 is Vivek Rajkumar at just 216,000.
Day 2 of the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max event begins at 2pm with 160 players remaining, with 90 players making the money. Rory Mathews leads with 369,800 in chips. Others with chips: Faraz Jaka (294,500) , Davidi Kitai (166,300), Justin Bonomo (138,600), Raymond Davis (131,400), Shaun Deeb (114,800), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (107,100), Phil Hellmuth (101,200) and Kenna James (85,500).
More stuff from Pokerati during the day, and follow the live updates this morning for the HORSE event, as long as it’s still ongoing at www.wsop.com
UB party starting at Studio 54 at MGM! On my way, i am making my entrance on a trapeze!! also i signed up for 2-7 tourney, c em a 11 pm
about 13 hours ago from txtDrinking Dom in VIP booth with wife. Trapeze stunt from 5 stories up at 10:40 pm…Scary!
about 12 hours ago from txtI am pretty drunk!! Chris Ferguson just called me and told me they picked me up in 2-7 tourney!!
about 9 hours ago from txtSunday July 5 i show up to WSOP as ‘Caesar: with 100 models, 11 muses w body paint, a chariot w 2 horses, and a drummer dropping rose petals
about 8 hours ago from txt
15,200 extra chips are in play going into Day 2 of the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw — roughly a third of which belonged to no-show Phil Hellmuth before tournament officials removed his remaining stack (in level 5) and refunded his late buy-in.
Plenty of grumblings about this situation from the rail …
Hellmuth bought into WSOP Event #55 by proxy — presumably near the last possible minute — with his 7,500 starting stack brought to the felt shortly before the end of the break between levels 2 and 3. His seat in the Brasilia Room remained empty for hours as he attended a much-ballyhooed Ultimate Bet party at Studio 54 in the MGM.
Hellmuth’s stack had been blinded down to about 2,500 when the event TD approached Chris Ferguson, who was playing, and asked if he had Hellmuth’s phone number. Ferguson did, and the TD called but got no answer. So he then called his supervisor, who apparently instructed him to remove Hellmuth’s chips from play.
Shortly thereafter — in Level 5 still — the number of entrants on the screen was reduced from 258 to 257, and prize payouts were downgraded accordingly.
At the end of Day 1, the 73 remaining players bagged a total 1,942,700 chips, even though the appropriate number for 257 players in a $2,500 event would be 1,927,500. No word yet on where the 10,000 chips that didn’t belong to Phil Hellmuth came from.
Click here to follow the action in $2,500 2-7 Triple-Draw when play resumes at 2 pm pacific. Plenty of interesting big-name pros and 2009 bracelet winners still in the hunt — Negreanu, Ankenman, Sung, Mueller, among them — along with a few dozen lesser known mixed-games grinders … all competing for a $166k $165k bracelet.
Recapping the Friday afternoon action…
As the players return from the dinner break, Martin Vallo is the unofficial chip leader (245,000) in the $50k HORSE event with all 95 players who registered remaining. The players are now on level four, with three more levels of play scheduled before play ends for the day. Among the early leaders, Daniel Negreanu (200,000), Jeff Lisandro, (188,000), Patrik Antonius (175,000) and Todd Brunson (168,000).
Ylon Schwartz is the current chip leader (2,000,000) with three players remaining in the $2,500 Mixed Holdem event as they return from their dinner break. John McGuiness (1,200,000) and Bahador Ahmadi (750,000) round out the field. Barry Greenstein finished in 5th before heading off to join the $50k HORSE field.
With 36 players remaining in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event, Brandon Cantu (525,000) is the dominant chip leader, with Tommy Vedes (225,000) a distant second. Other notables remaining: Lee Watkinson (70,000), Noah Boeken (62,000), Phil Hellmuth (58,000), and Randy Holland (46,000).
The late afternoon tournament, $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout drew a field of nearly 600, seated at 64 tables. The round one winners play at eight eight-handed tables, and those winners will return on Sunday to determine the winner. No table winners have been determined yet, but expect some notable winners included in the morning update.
Catch up with all the updates over at www.wsop.com and more stuff from Team Pokerati during the evening.
A mid-tourney Phil Hellmuth piss break catches no one’s attention but Dan’s and Pauly’s … whereupon we explore the role of VIP bathrooms at the WSOP — and how the need for private urination is only going to increase in coming days.
presented by:
Tao of Pokerati at the 40th WSOP
Las Vegas, NVEpisode 11.23: Poker VIPees
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Recapping the end of Thursday action at the WSOP
London professional John Kabbaj took down the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship for $633,335 and his first WSOP bracelet, defeating Kirill Gerasimov in heads-up play. Gerasimov has now made nine WSOP final tables without taking down a bracelet, passing Andy Bloch to become the “leader” in that statistic. Eric Baldwin finished in 3rd, followed by Belgium’s Davidi Kitai in 4th and J.C. Alvarado in 5th for an international top 5.
Derek Raymond defeated Mark Tenner in a 12-hour long final table in the $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better event, good for $229,129 and a WSOP gold bracelet. Mark Tenner, Omaha-8 author and co-founder of the PPA picked up $141,647 for the runner-up finish.
*Statement probably not true.
The final table of the $2,500 Mixed Holdem event is down to its final table, which will be seated as follows, with the first member of 2008’s November Nine making a final table in 2009:
Seat 1: Bahador Ahmadi – 708000
Seat 2: Zachary Humphrey – 99000
Seat 3: Barry Greenstein – 193000
Seat 4: Hasan Habib – 114000
Seat 5: Karlo Lopez – 941000
Seat 6: Randy Haddox - 555000
Seat 7: John McGuiness – 406000
Seat 8: Ylon Schwartz – 286000
Seat 9: Matt Woodward – 653000
The final table will be streamed over at ESPN360 and wsop.pkr.com
Perry Friedman will be the chip leader (144,500) when action resumes in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better at 2pm Friday. He’ll be joined by Brandon Cantu (105,000), Noah Boeken (64,300), Aaron Kanter (52,000), Phil Hellmuth (41,400), and Randy Holland (38,000) among the notables.
The $50,000 HORSE event starts at 12pm today for the first of five scheduled days. The big question will be how many people will enter the event, especially with no ESPN television coverage. Last year Scotty Nguyen and his drunken antics managed to win, taking down almost $2,000,000 in a field of 148. The WSOP Staff Guide projected 151 entries for this event, a similar number to the previous three years. Some say the field will fall to around 100, as some online poker sites will not put up the money for its lesser known players to participate. That will leave it to the big names (and a few that will leave people wondering) making up the field fighting it out for the most prestigious WSOP bracelet outside of the Main Event.
At 5pm, the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout begins. Last year, Matt Graham defeated Jean-Robert Bellande heads-up for the bracelet and over $275,000 in a field of 823. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 901 for this event.
Pokerati will have more about the WSOP during the day, and follow www.wsop.com for live updates during the afternoon.
Here’s what’s happened this afternoon at the WSOP:
Mark Tenner remains the chip leader with 6 players left in the $2,500 Omaha 8 or Better event. Josh Schlein, Fabio Coppola, Derek Raymond, Scott Bohlman, and Sirous Jamshidi round out the remaining field. Mark Gregorich finished in 8th, while Team Pokerati’s own Pat Poels finished in 9th.
Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin is the current chip leader with 7 players remaining in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship, returning shortly after 8:30pm PT and streaming at www.bluffmagazine.com/live and wsop.pkr.com. Davidi Kitai, John Kabbaj, J.C. Alvarado, Kirill Gerasimov, Eugene Todd and Jason Lester are the remaining players at that final table.
Joe Kuether is the current chip leader (296,000) with 28 players remaining in the $2,500 Mixed Holdem event as they will end with either a final table of nine or when the clock strikes 3am. Randy Haddox is in second place (290,000) with Ylon Schwartz (245,000), Matt Matros (240,000), Barry Greenstein (227,000), and Gavin Griffin (145,000) in the top 10.
A field of 762 entrants started the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event Thursday afternoon. When the players return from their 90-minute dinner break, approximately 270 players remain. No chip leader has been announced, but before the break Brandon Cantu was around 35,000 with Phil Hellmuth at 27,400 followed by Noah Boeken at 25,500.
Check the live updates at www.wsop.com and Pokerati for other stuff during the night.
This really was a big one … beyond the coolness of seeing a guy dominate an entire variant of poker (a la Hellmuth/Hold’em), here’s more from Nolan on the significance of Jeff Lisandro’s three bracelets in the month of June in 7-stud Hi, 7-stud Hi-Lo, and 7-stud Lo-Lo … and how it compares to similar accomplishments in bigger and smaller years past:
More on Jeffrey Lisandro’s Win (Historical Implications) –
· Lisandro became only the fifth player in WSOP history to win three gold bracelets within a single year. The other four players to accomplish this feat were:
Puggy Pearson (1973)
Ted Forrest (1993)
Phil Hellmuth (1993)
Phil Ivey (2002)· Lisandro has a reasonable chance to become the first-ever four-time gold bracelet winner (single year) in WSOP history. The closest any player has ever come to accomplishing this feat was Phil Hellmuth in 1993 when he finished 1st, 1st, 1st, and 2nd in four events. Lisandro still has 14 more events to set a new record — with 10 gold bracelets remaining on this year’s schedule in Las Vegas, plus four more events in WSOP-Europe to be played in September.
Recapping the first half of Wednesday’s WSOP:
Jeff Lisandro becomes the first player to win three bracelets in one WSOP after Chris Moneymaker initiated the poker boom in 2003, takes down the $2,500 Razz event, good for $188,370. Lisandro has won all three of his bracelets in stud events in each of the three disciplines of stud (Stud high, Stud Hi/Lo and Razz). Lisandro held the chip lead at the beginning of the day and was never seriously threatened. Michael Craig finished in 2nd, good for $116,405. Other notable finishes: Kenna James (6th), Al “Sugar Bear” Barbieri (10th), Ville Wahlbeck (12th) and Nikolay Evdakov (13th).
Half a dozen players remain in the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship, led by Scott Buller with over 2 million in chips. Michael Morusty, Charles Simon, Dan DeLatorre, Michael Davis and Barry Bounds make up the remaining players.
The $2,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better has 70 players remaining, only 45 get paid. The unofficial chip leader is Frankie O’Dell (109,000), followed by day 1 chip leader Josh Schlien (85,000), Pat Poels (71,500), Marsha Waggoner (54,000), Mike Matusow (38,000), and Max Pescatori (28,000) among the familiar faces. Thang Luu unfortunately was eliminated before the dinner break earlier today.
The $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship is down to 35 players, only 27 get to cash with day 1 chip leader Michiel Brummelhuis remaining chip leader (570,000). Isaac Haxton (450,000), Eric Baldwin (430,000), Darryll Fish (310,000), Vanessa Rousso (280,000), Sam Simon (173,000), and Eugene Todd (165,000) are among the remaining.
The $2,500 Mixed Holdem event drew a field of 527 players, of which just 184 remain. The unofficial chip leader is David Baker (unknown if that’s the one from Michigan or Texas) at 73,000. Eli Elezra (51,000), Marc Naalden (46,000) and Jean-Robert Bellande (42,000) are some well known folks with chips.
More updates during the evening over at www.wsop.com and Pokerati for more Lisandro stuff and other commentary about all things WSOP.
From Nolan, for the WSOP:
No-Limit Hold’em Leaders –
· The player with the most WSOP gold bracelets (wins) in Hold’em events (all variations) is Phil Hellmuth, currently with 11.
· The player with the most lifetime WSOP cashes in Hold’em events (all variations) is Phil Hellmuth, currently with 44.
· The player with the most WSOP gold bracelets (wins) in No-Limit Hold’em is Phil Hellmuth, currently with 7.
· The player with the most lifetime WSOP cashes in No-Limit Hold’em events is Phil Hellmuth, currently with 28.
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@Phil_Hellmuth
