Gene Bromberg
Friday, November 20, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
During the WSOP Main Event we learned that eventual-runner-up Darvin Moon had never played online poker. Did not, in fact, even have an email address. And many people treated this news with the same amount of incredulity as they would if Darvin said he lived, well, on the Moon. We live in a wired world, where WiFi and 3G and smartphones and laptops keep us continually connected with the virtual reality of the internet. Many people spend more time with their Facebook friends than their “real” friends (the word “real” now requiring quotation marks) and of course you’ve already encountered folks at some spectacular event who, instead of enjoying said spectacular event, are instead hunched over their phones texting or Tweeting about it. Maybe, once or twice, you’ve done this yourself.
We’re broadcasting the minutiae of our lives to the world, baring our souls for anyone who cares to tune in. And this at a time when many governments around the world have decided that granting ANY privacy rights to their citizenry is simply too dangerous in these scary times. And so you have the odd spectacle of Big Brother watching over your shoulder…while you’re happily showing BB the Halloween party pics you posted to your blog.
But there are those who would rather keep the world at a remove, and others still who want to keep their “real” and virtual lives separate. And you can do that online, of course–create a new name, a whole new persona, and live a double (or triple, or quadruple, depending your bandwidth) life. Remaining anonymous can be a challenge, especially when thousands of cyber-sleuths around the world can quickly pool resources and brainpower to suss out who you really are. People love a good mystery, and right now a very compelling one is playing out in the poker world. About three weeks ago a player named Isildur1 appeared as if from nowhere and sat down at some of the high-stakes Hold-Em and PLO games.
There aren’t THAT many folks who play at those stakes and so an unknown interloper was quickly noticed. Especially as he posted positive results against some well-known cash-game monsters at the $100/200 PLO and $200/400 NLHE tables. But the story aquired new life when Isildur1 moved up to the super-nosebleeds and took on some of the biggest cash-game players in the world. He played against Cole South, Brian Townsend, David Benyamine and Illari “Ziigmund” Sahamies, posting some wins (and some losses) and leaving Ziigmund so spooked by the new player that he quickly quit the field.
But the Isildur1 locked horns with Tom “durrrr” Dwan. And as those two battled with millions of dollars on the table the poker forums blew up with people speculating on who the heck this mystery man was. Was this the same player who, a few months ago, had appeared out of nowhere under the name “martonas” and taken on the best in the world? It seemed that Isildur1 was from Sweden–could it be Viktor “Blom90″ Blom, another cash-game wunderkind with a name like a Bond villain? As Isildur1 posted a THREE MILLION DOLLAR win in just a handful of sessions against durrrr people started speculating that this implacable poker machine must be just that–a machine, a bot, a computer playing extremely well and running insanely hot. Was this possible? Was the best humankind had to offer being obliterated by lines of code?
It was under these ominous conditions that Patrik Antonius climbed down from his Olympian perch and sat down with Isildur1. Antonius won a few pots to take the early lead…and then won the biggest pot in online poker history. Playing PLO the two each put a fortune in the center of the table after the turn with each hold top two pair. But Antonius had the nut flush draw and a gutshot to boot and it was the gutterball that struck as the river brought the 8d and won the…wait for it…the $878,958.50 pot for Antonius.
From there Antonius went on to post nearly a three-million dollar win. And while sharks do not typically hunt in packs when there’s blood in the water they swim up from miles around. With Dwan having returned to the online felt after traveling to London for an event, Isildur1 last night took on durrrr, Antonius…and Phil Ivey. AT THE SAME TIME. Playing seven different tables against, arguably, the three best online cash-game players in the world was an epic act of either courage or lunacy. Antonius again got the best of him, Ivey less so, but the fact that Isildur1 is still a net winner after taking on the titans of online poker is remarkable in and of itself.
And the question remains–who is Isildur1. Can we get a hint from his screen name, which comes from The Lord of the Rings. Isildur was the warrior who, after cutting the Ring from Sauron’s finger, refused to throw it into the fires of Mount Doom. Bad call, that. How that figures into Isildur1’s identity is unsure, though one wag at Two Plus Two described him as the “Lord of Ring Games”. Nice.
One other poster came up with a fictional comparison that I thought of as well–Keyser Soze, the mysterious, all-powerful crime lord from the film The Usual Suspects. Asked about Keyser Soze, one of his betrayed pawns (played by Kevin Spacey) says, “He was supposed to be Turkish…some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real.” And, later, when asked if he thinks Soze will ever reappear, Spacey says, “You think a guy like that comes this close to getting caught and sticks his head out? If he comes up for anything, it will be to get rid of me. After that… my guess is you’ll never hear from him again.” Chances are Isildur1 will reappear, maybe even tonight, to battle at the highest stakes in the world. But will we find out Isildur1’s identity before, like Keyser Soze, we’re left saying “And like that…he’s gone”.
Tags: durrrr, isildur1, martonas, patrick antonius, tom dwan
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Sunday, November 15, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
It seems with poker that every time we get good news it’s countered with some bad news as well. And that happened this week as well–just a few days we all tuned in to ESPN to watch Joe Cada win the Main Event WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack announced that he was stepping down. Pollack helmed the World Series of Poker the past four years and in that time the WSOP enjoyed record-breaking attendance every year, even in the face of the UIGEA and a global economic meltdown. More than just about anything poker players love to complain, but the last two years people were often hard-pressed to come up with something to bitch about. Pollack always seemed to keep an open mind and was receptive to new ideas, proof of which can be found in the positive changes that took place under his watch.
First and foremost of those changes was the decision to delay the Main Event final table until November. That wasn’t exactly a popular move when it was announced (I wasn’t a fan at the start) but there’s no denying that the November Nine brought far more attention to the final table than it enjoyed in years past, the TV ratings jumped dramatically, all the players who made the final table got to enjoy a flurry of media attention (and the chance to score some endorsements) that were often enjoyed by just the final few at the end. There are still those who don’t like the delay but Pollack and his team took a chance, tried something different, and from the scene at the Penn & Teller theater you can’t deny that it generated a lot of excitement.
Pollack often stressed the word “WORLD” when discussion the World Series of Poker and he helped take the brand international with the World Series of Poker-Europe. Moving the WSOP across the Pond was another controversial move that has paid big dividends, with stellar fields and huge prize pools that attracted many European pros who don’t come to Vegas for the Series. Not that fields at the Rio lacked an international flavor–during last year’s Series players from 115 different countries took to the felt. Those countries, and their triumphant native sons and daughters, were honored thanks to another change that occurred under Pollack’s watch, the daily bracelet ceremony where the previous days winners were brought up on a dais in the middle of the Amazon Roo, introduced to the crowd, and then everyone stood for their national anthem. It was a cheesy-sounding idea that ended up being, to my mind, a huge success. It gave the fans a chance to take pics and gawk at the latest poker champion and when the anthems were played just about EVERYONE stood. Don’t discount how remarkable it is to see 2,000 poker players doing the same thing willingly, especially an act of respect.
But for those who aren’t as enthused about such touchy-feely moments Pollack oversaw some changes that had some real meat to them. A few years ago some players complained that the WSOP was turning into the “World Series of Hold-Em” many non-Hold-Em game were added to the slate, including the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event. There were a number of mixed-game events, some of them with low buy-ins to attract more players to these games. If I recall correctly the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event (where my friend Lana bubbled the final table) had close to 800 players. 800 players for a H.O.R.S.E. tournament, that’s remarkable.
From a personal standpoint Pollack was always a friend to the poker media. Many poker scribes have a slightly, ah, irreverent take on the poker world, yet Pollack not only let us do our thing, he actually seemed to enjoy the freewheeling aspect of much of the coverage. And he wasn’t one to duck the media when things weren’t going good–on what Pollack described as the most difficult day of his career, the day when Harrah’s had to turn away hundreds of players on Day 1D of the Main Event, Pollack walked over to Media Row after the contentious meeting with the shut-out players to chat with us about what all went on. He talked about the decision to not allow alternates, or an impromptu “Day 1E” at night, or to squeeze the players into any open space they could find. And he was very resolute when he said, “This will not happen again next year. We will find a way to fix this”.
And so it’s too bad that Pollack won’t be around next year to see that those changes are made. In their initial statement Harrah’s said that there were no plans to replace Pollack, which to my mind in ominous. As I’ve already said Pollack was always open to new ideas and was responsible for some of the major positive changes to the WSOP over the last four years. If there’s no plans to replace him, that could mean that Harrah’s either thinks that the WSOP is good enough as it is and is content to coast, or that they think innovation isn’t something the WSOP no longer needs. Jeffrey Pollack brought more than an almost Continental-chic to the role of WSOP Commissioner, he brought a creative and entrepreneurial attitude to a game that is often quite hidebound. In an interview he did with Wicked Chops Poker Pollack said he wasn’t sure if he would stay in the poker industry, and it sounds as if he won’t have to wait long before taking on whatever challenge catches his fancy. Hopefully the World Series of Poker won’t find itself missing Jeffrey Pollack more than he misses it.
Tags: 2009 wsop, jeffrey pollack, jeffrey pollack steps down, world series of poker, world series of poker commissioner, WSOP, wsop commissioner
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Seven players left and we’re an hour into the coverage. Expect fireworks!
Peter Eastgate sitting with Doyle Brunson, after Eastgate blew off a photo session during the WSOP that had Doyle steaming. Hopefully the young buck made amends to the Big Poppa.
Phil Ivey folds pocket Jacks to a re-raise from Antoine Saout holding pocket sevens and it’s like the world’s turned upside down. Did I just SEE that?? Apparently Ivey doesn’t speak French, even when it comes to non-verbal communication.
Jeff Shulman doubles through Joe Cada and leaves the youngster with just 1% of the chips in play. 2 million. 5 big blinds. Oh well, gg, right?
Interesting approach by Jeff Shulman, setting up a nine-handed table and having players simulate how his final-table opponents will play. I’m not sure how folding pocket nines to a raise from Phil Ivey fits in there but it’s kinda hard to simulate Phil Ivey.
Can’t be a good feeling to be all-in for your tournament life and it’s Phil Ivey holding the door open for you. But it must be an awesome feeling to see that final card fall on the river and know you’ve doubled up and have new life. Which is just what happened to Joe Cada as his pocket fours held against Ivey’s A-8.
Antoine Saout was kinda the forgotten man of the November Nine, in large part because he’s French. But there were three Frenchmen who went deep in the Main Event and for a time it seemed like half of Media Row was from la belle France. Seriously, during the WSOP I’d say that more than half of the media in attendance was from across the Pond. It’s an international game, believe it.
I like apples, they’re tasty and nutritious, but Phil Ivey might be the first person since Adam to make eating an apple look cool. Unfortunately, as with Adam, eating an apple was unlucky for the best player in the world. All-in with Ace-King and dominating Darvin Moon’s Ace-Queen, the flop had a Queen in the door. After an obligatory Mike Matusow expletive Ivey continued munching away on his apple and waited to see his fate. And then that was that and hearing the keening from the audience you’d think someone had died. And then the ovation as Ivey walked off the stage and the complexion of the final table took a sudden turn. Up to then you had the impression that everyone, including the other players at the table, were focused on Ivey. With him gone everyone realized that someone else was gonna win the title.
Gotta say this for Darvin Moon–the guy wasn’t afraid to get his chips in the middle. He didn’t turtle and try to fold his way up the money ladder, he was blasting away with both barrels. And he sure didn’t fear playing Ace-Queen, cards that are considered a diabolical trap-hand by many players. Then again if you flop a Queen to beat Ace-King, as Moon did to Ivey, or river an Ace to beat pocket Queens, as Moon did to Steve Begleiter, it gives you a bit more confidence with those two cards. Good Lord, Darvin Moon runs good.
Hey, there’s Tony, the head of security at the WSOP carrying the briefcases of cash! When the Stanley Cup came to the Amazon Room for the NHL Charity Event (shortly after my beloved Penguins won it) I thought about running over to hug it, but the thought of Tony tasering me and then tossing my body in a dumpster held me in place. Probably would’ve lost my press pass, too.
Wow, Joe Cada won with pocket threes to Jeff Shulman’s pocket Jacks. I guess we all have one big double-up like that in our poker careers…
Nice to see ESPN showing Joe rocking the UB logo before the November Nine was set. Do we hold a grudge against Joe for signing with PokerStars the enemy another online site? Not all all, we’re all bigger than that.
And then Cada quickly doubles when Moon decides to bully and finds out you can’t bully a guy holding pocket Aces, as Cada was. Moon’s K-9 is the equivalent of bringing a knife to a gunfight and Lon McEachren uses that word, “Destiny”, for the first time to describe Cada.
Jeff Shulman doubled through Cada but couldn’t win that next big hand to catapult him into contention. He lost a race with pocket sevens to Saout’s A-9 and sometimes that’s how the end comes, with a whimper not a bang. After playing so many hours in July, then dealing with the hype and the waiting, to have it end on the losing end of a race has gotta feel both crushing and anti-climatic.
I should say here that the COVERAGE tonight hasn’t been anti-climatic. It’s been great, especially when you consider they turned this around in just a few days. Standing O to the ESPN team, great work all around.
Once again Ace-Queen takes center stage, as Eric Buchman tried to shove Saout around but ran into the Frenchman’s Big Slick. I believe that was the biggest pot up to that point, Saout was the first player close to 90 million. And somewhere my French journo friend Benjo was going nuts.
Man, Moon like putting his chips in there. Calling about 25 million with KING-JACK?? CALLING with it. Holy crap on a stick, what hand can you be ahead of there? Buchman had just lost a big hand, sure, but he still had enough chips to put a hurt on Moon. But he made the call, flopped a straight draw, turned a King. Cada and Saout had to be praying “Oh God (Mon Dieu), let me get Aces just one more time against Darvin. Just once…”
Here’s something you should know about the final table you’re watching–it was the longest in WSOP history. They played for nearly FIFTEEN HOURS. So it’s not like they were throwing haymakers all day. But it’s amazing how quickly these massive confrontations develop. Like the one between Cada and Saout, as Cada shipped in his entire stack holding pocket deuces and then looked sick when Saout said “Call”. You’re hoping you’re in a race, instead you find you’re crushed by pocket Queens. And then you flop ANOTHER SET to wriggle off the hook. Extraordinary…there’s luck, and then there’s Luck, and then there’s LUCK. At some point it almost has to become embarassing.
But not before Cada spiked a King on the river to knock Saout out of the tournament. Look, I’m a patriotic American and all, but I kinda wanted Saout to win. The poor guy played great, suffered the slings and arrows with an esprit I admired, but in the end he could not overcome Cada’s golden run. Sometimes it just isn’t meant to be, and for a poker player that has to be very, very difficult to accept.
Funny that Moon consoled Saout by saying “it should’ve been me and you” and Cada told his friends “this is the tournament” during the Ace-King vs. pocket Eights race. Neither seemed to think much of the other’s play, or it might’ve been be nervous bravado. Who’s to say.
Heads-up play begins to a full house. My friends covering the event said the line stretched from the Penn & Teller theater all the way back through the atrium and down the long hallway past the business center. For those of you who’ve been to the Rio you know that’s a freakin’ long line. Like three football fields, maybe?
I really thought the heads-up match would be over quickly and Moon’s rush to start things off did nothing to change my mind. He won a huge pot with QQ to Cada’s pocket nines (Cada probably felt fortunate not to double Darvin up) and then after Cada flopped top pair Moon check-raised with air yet made a pair of Queens on the river to take the pot and the chip lead. That had to stagger Cada, to be dealt a pocket pair and flop top pair yet lose the both pots.
Cada righted the ship in a hand where he won the pot with a huge 35 million bet on the river that had Moon thinking. We now know Moon had fourth-pair to Cada’s top two…hey, Moon might’ve called! And then, once again, we see Ace-Queen come into play, with Moon raising with Ace-Jack and Cada re-raising with AQ. Moon then stood and shoved 25 million into the pot and what do you do? It’s Ace-Queen. You’re dominated by lots of hands, you’re racing a pair…Cada mucked. “I had a monster,” Moon said, not exactly true, and Cada said he had a huge hand too. But the confrontation was averted.
Cada no doubt thought he was the better player and the longer the match went the better his chance at victory. Yet it’s hard to be patient and play small-ball when your unpredictable opponent keeps pushing chips forward. Cada had to bring all his skill and experience to the fore, and that’s what we saw in the hand where Cada regained the chip lead. With the board reading 10c-5d-9h-10d Moon made an all-in raise and Cada, after thinking a bit, made a monster call with Jh-9d. Moon was semi-bluffing outs with 7s-8s but, God, what a call! Sure, Moon probably doesn’t have a ten…but with Moon you can’t be sure. And he could have an overpair, he could have pocket fives, he could have K-9! Some of the play tonight has been questionable but not that hand. That, ladies and gentlemen, was poker.
Cada started the heads-up match with pocket nines, and one wonders what he was thinking when he looked down at them again. And decided to move in after Moon raised. And then heard Moon say, “I call”. But Moon didn’t have Queens this time, he had Queen-Jack, and perhaps Moon felt that he needed to win a decisive hand one way or another and with Cada’s chips in the middle now was the time to strike. Regardless, Moon called and the two were racing for the most prestigious title in poker. In-credible. And when the board failed to hit Moon and the final pot of the 2009 Main Event was pushed Joe Cada’s way, we had a new World Champion, and once again the winner is the youngest-ever champion. It was a remarkable weekend of poker and tonight was a fantastic showcase for the game. It’s sad to think that we have to wait over six months for the 2010 World Series of Poker to start. Let’s hope the time flies.
Tags: 2009 november nine, 2009 wsop, darvin moon, joe cada, november nine, phil ivey, world series of poker
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Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
I thought I’d watch ESPN Main Event coverage and blog along as we all watch the action together. I know, live-blogging a televised poker tournament is SO 2005, but this is perhaps the 2nd-biggest night in poker (TV ratings carry a lotta weight) so this is worth some insightful commentary.
Man, that’s some harsh lighting they use for the intro and the player introductions. Dramatic, yes, but I wonder how those faces look in HD (yes, I don’t have a high-def set, like I said I’m living in 2005). Nice job Phil Hellmuth getting on camera not once but TWICE beofre play began. Wait, did I say twice? I mean thrice.
OK, Darvin Moon’s got some moves there, limp re-raising with A-3 to scare Kevin Schaffel’s pocket nines out of the pot. Or maybe Moon just can’t help playing any Ace like they’re Aces. We shall see as the night goes on. Well, we already have seen, but…you know what I mean. A brief aside–in 2007 you may remember that certain final tables were sequestered in a walled-off area as Bluff live-streamed the final table w/hole cards and commentary. I had to cover a few of those final tables while sitting (quietly) in the Bluff control room, and the tricky part was that I couldn’t actually post the hands as the happened. I had to write up what happened and then wait an hour for the tape-delayed broadcast to air. So I would be writing up hands in the present tense and posting them an hour later while trying to follow the current action. Keeping it all straight was a colossal pain in the backside. Headaches, I had ‘em.
There’s Phil Hellmuth again! Will he get more facetime than James Akenhead?
Nice to hear the table-talk, which you can’t pick up most of the time even if you’re sitting in the front row. Personally I’d be so nervous, my mouth so dry, that I wouldn’t be able to do more than croak. I mean, not only are you playing for the World Championship and millions of dollars but you’re in front of thousands of people and dozens of TV cameras. That’s all.
A three-outer on the river to save James Akenhead. Live poker is SO fixed. But of course that’s the last bad beat we’ll see tonight. Right?
They just showed the large gentlemen carrying the suitcases of cash through the back hallways of the Rio. I’ve walked through those halls dozens of times during my WSOP sojourns and I wonder what sort of security sweep they did, as there are all sorts of nooks and crannies and sneaky places to hide. Hate to be walking to lunch through those corridors, turn the corner, and find a shotgun in your face.
I remember that Moneymaker-Chan hand like it was yesterday, and the fact that it was six years ago makes me feel OLD.
The dealer right now, her name’s Sara, she’s worked in Aruba the last few years and dealt the final table there in 2008. I wrote a funny post about her when I was covering the Main Event in 2008 for PokerNews, I needed a quick picture of her so I ran under the ropes, got her to smile, snapped the pic, and ran back before anyone could ask if I belonged there. A lesson to be learned there–it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. OK, it’s not necessarily a GOOD lesson, but still.
When I read the hand between Moon and Akenhead I had trouble wrapping my mind around Moon’s play. And now, having seen Moon bend over backwards to double Akenhead up I’m still scratching my head. It’s possible that Moon hasn’t really played against many short-stacked players before and doesn’t quite understand what being pot-committed means. I think we may see more evidence of this…
But you gotta love that Moon went away to Wyoming with his buddies, hung out in the cabin after hunting and played cards for fun all night. The way that millions of people enjoy the game every day. Not in cabins in Wyoming, I mean, but for fun with friends. Not THAT many cabins in Wyoming.
I made myself a nice little dinner tonight (round steak simmered with onions and red wine, tasty) but I really should’ve run out and bought some jerky. Both because jerky reminds me of my weeks covering the WSOP and enjoying the free Jack Link’s and because, hey, I loves me some jerky.
James Akenhead runs Kings into Kevin Schaffel’s Aces and looks appropriately sick. Akenhead more than doubled-up by hitting a three-outer then gets coolered. Makes you wanna look to the heavens and ask the Poker Gods why they wish to trifle with you. Schaffel then puts Akenhead to the sword and the Brit walks away with nothing extra in his pocket. That’s rough, going through four months of waiting and wondering and worrying and leaving the Rio without increasing the bankroll. Kelly Kim came in last year as the shortstack but improved to eighth, James Akenhead could not improve from ninth in chips this year.
Of course, those the Poker Gods most favor they often crap upon later. Kevin Schaffel gets Aces again, finds himself up against Kings AGAIN, but this time Eric Buchman (until this broadcast I’d never heard Buchman’s voice) flops a King and then TURNS a King that doesn’t even allow for a sweat on the river. All-in preflop with Aces and you’re drawing dead on the turn. Schaffel said he had a good time but “didn’t want to go out that way”. Yeah, I can understand that.
Oh my God…they’re showing The Hand. The Moon-Begleiter hand where Moon re-raised Begleiter 15 million and then FOLDED when the former Bear Sterns exec moved in for just 6 million more. I think UB’s Joe Sebok, doing the commentary for Bluff, said that the pot odds were such that Moon had to call even if all he had was a “tarot card and a Snickers wrapper”. And yet Moon folded! And now that we’ve seen the hole cards…yipe. It actually was a good fold, as Begleiter had him in about as bad a shape as possible without Moon drawing dead.
Speaking of holy crap, that deep, resonant roar when the crowd cheers a big hand is something else. For POKER, boys and girls, they’re cheering a POKER TOURNAMENT. Whatta world.
OK, we’re an hour in. I’ll publish this and begin afresh.
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Sunday, November 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
I followed along with the November Nine coverage most of the day and most of the night, but when it hit 2AM and there were still 7 players left I gave up and hit the hay. Yesterday’s final table was the longest in WSOP history, and we’re not done yet. Darvin Moon and Joe Cada will battle heads-up for the title Monday night and if they play like they did yesterday it should be a most, um, interesting match.
Because the play yesterday was a bit…unorthodox. Yes, let’s call it that. I don’t think anyone could argue that both Moon and Cada ran good yesterday. Very good, in fact. Twice Cada was all-in holding an underpair to his opponent’s pocket pair…and flopped sets. Twice Moon put a ton of chips at risk holding Ace-Queen and found himself dominated–once by Phil Ivey’s Ace-King, once to Steven Begleiter’s pocket Queens–and won both hands, sending Ivey and Begleiter to the rail. Moon made some seriously odd moves as well, once re-raising to 15 million and then, when Begleiter moved in for 21 million and with Moon needing to put just 6 million more in for the call, Moon folded. My friend Pauly called it “The Worst Fold in Tournament Poker History” though perhaps Moon’s 15 million bet was The Worst Raise Ever.
But Moon still has a chance to win the bracelet, though he’ll have to overcome a 2-1 chip deficit to Cada, who at one point was seriously short-stacked before doubling up then winning those two huge hands where he was a 4-1 dog going into the flop. If you’re gonna run good, really really good, the final table of the WSOP Main Event isn’t a bad place for it to happen. And goodness knows it should make for some exciting TV come Tuesday. I saw pics taken from the Penn and Teller theater and the stage looked awesome, and the huge crowds that filled the space (at least for the first eight hours or so) lent it a real major-sporting-event feel. From what I read Cada’s supporters were an especially obnoxious lot, with lots of alcohol consumed and some inappropriate shouts coming from that part of the room. Irritating perhaps if you’re rooting for someone else, but it should again make for great television
I don’t envy the ESPN producers who had to endure an 18-hour final table and then are working frantically to turn that footage into a finished show in 48 hours. Nor did I envy my poker-blogging brethren who dug their trenches and fought the good fight all day and all night (and part of the next day). Those of you who have attended a final table understand why poker, for all it’s charms, will never be a major spectator sport. It takes a long time to play a final table, especially a fairly deep-stacked one. And not every hand is a riveting clash of titans marshaling their stack for the Final Confrontation. It took 276 hands to eliminate seven players, and that’s a long day’s work.
I may live-blog the broadcast on Tuesday, give my impressions of what went on (which of course is MUCH easier than covering the event live!) and experience the final table the way most people do, on TV in a (mercifully) edited format. Should be an interesting show, especially as we don’t know yet how it all ends.
Tags: 2009 november nine, 2009 world series of poker, darvin moon, joe cada, world series of poker, WSOP
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Saturday, November 7, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Unless you’ve been living in a fortified bunker you know that today’s the day the World Series of Poker Main Event resumes and we find out which of the November Nine will be our next champion. Well, actually we’ll find that on Monday, because today they play down to heads-up and then resume the match at 10pm Monday night. So, actually, we’ll probably find out who the next World Champion is on Tuesday. And then Tuesday night ESPN shows their Final Table broadcast. Complicated stuff, I know.
And if you don’t want to know what happens or who wins before that broadcast, I advise you return to that fortified bunker and pull that heavy metal door shut. Because in this age of blogs and Twitter and Facebook and texts and the myriad other ways we communicate with one another (talking, even) it’s well-nigh impossible to remove yourself from the grid without deliberate action on your part. So if it’s a nice day in your part of the word, a camping trip might be advisable. Take the car out for a long, long, long drive? Get yourself arrested on a minor (and here I stress MINOR) charge and be a guest of the state for the weekend. These are all ideas for those who want to be on tenterhooks for ESPN’s broadcast.
For those who will be keeping an ear to the ground there are a few options for news. UltimateBet is sponsoring the live coverage over at Bluff Magazine, and Annie Duke and Hollywood Dave will be tableside providing commentary. You can visit the re-launched WSOP.com for a live-viewer and video updates and all sorts of info from the final table. PokerNews will of course be providing hand-for-hand updates and chip counts throughout the day. ESPN’s Andrew Feldman will have a live-blog of the final-table, as will my friend the infamous Dr. Pauly. And then whatever particular poker publication you prefer as well.
So we’re almost ready to go, play begins at noon Vegas time (3pm on the East Coast) and unless you have an elephantine memory you may need a refresher of where we stand. Here’s some info about the situation as play resumes:
Current Level: 33 with 7 minutes and 16 seconds remaining
Blinds: 120K/240K with a 30K ante
Next Level: 150K/300K with a 40K ante
Chip Count:
Darvin Moon – 58,930,000
Eric Buchman – 34,800,000
Steven Begleiter – 29,885,000
Jeff Shulman – 19,580,000
Joseph Cada – 13,215,000
Kevin Schaffel – 12,390,000
Phil Ivey – 9,765,000
Antoine Saout – 9,500,000
James Akenhead – 6,800,000
Seating Assignments:
Seat 1: Darvin Moon (Oakland, MD) – 58,930,000
Seat 2: James Akenhead (London, UK) – 6,800,000
Seat 3: Phil Ivey (Las Vegas, NV) – 9,765,000
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel (Coral Springs, FL) – 12,390,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter (Chappaqua, NY) – 29,885,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman (Valley Stream, NY) – 34,800,000
Seat 7: Joseph Cada (Shelby Township, MI)- 13,215,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout (St. Martin des Champs, France) – 9,500,000
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman (Las Vegas, NV) – 19,580,000
November Nine Payouts:
1st $8,547,042
2nd $5,182,928
3rd $3,479,670
4th $2,502,890
5th $1,953,452
6th $1,587,160
7th $1,404,014
8th $1,300,231
9th $1,263,602
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Sunday, November 1, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
On the one hand I think that that the four-month hiatus for the WSOP Main Event is too doggone long. You build to this crescendo, you have your final nine players in the biggest event in poker…and then you leave it hanging for a quarter of the year. That’s long enough for the media to write tens of thousands of words about the players and the event, but its also enough time for fans to forget who the heck these guys are. When I was in Aruba some of us reporter types were trying to list the members of the November Nine as quickly as possible. It was harder than you’d think, even for folks working in the industry (Antoine Saout was the name that slipped the most minds).
But as the poker world again turns it’s gaze toward the Rio it almost feels like the Main Event wrapped just yesterday. Watching ESPN’s coverage has reminded me of those happy days ensconced on Media Row, wolfing down Jack’s Links Jerky and wondering which of my strung-out colleagues would be the next to snap. And thinking about that moved me to look at some of the photos I took during the Main Event, which seemed to both go on forever and end before we knew it:
After waiting nearly four months we’re just a few days from discovering who is the latest World Champion. Play will start at noon on Saturday, and when they’re down to heads-up they’ll pause again and resume playing at 10pm on Monday, with ESPN’s final-table broadcast airing on Tuesday. The wait is almost, almost over.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
I must confess that I don’t watch much reality TV. See, I live in reality and I get quite enough of it, thank you very much. Then again reality TV bears little resemblance to the reality that you and I enjoy on a day-to-day basis. There’s no jackass in a black T-shirt telling us our heartfelt performance stinks (unless you work at some Trendy Company From Hell), we aren’t whisked off to some tropical hellhole to scrabble in the dirt as we devise devious schemes to betray our friends (though that’s a bit like how Wall Street works).
My friend Ted is a huge fan of The Amazing Race, which he considers by far the best reality show around. And the folks who award the Emmy’s seem to have the same opinion, as that show has won the Emmy for best reality show all seven years it’s been around. As you probably know this season UltimateBet’s Tiffany Michelle is teamed up with her fellow poker player and friend Maria Ho on the show and they’ve been racing across southeast Asia and Dubai the last few weeks. She and Maria are still in the running, but don’t ask me (or her) if they go on to win the thing. I’m pretty sure revealing the winner of a reality show ahead of time is an automatic death-penalty offense. Heck, Death Penalty!! might end up being the next big reality show, especially if Jay Leno’s new primetime show continues to tank.
Tiffany actually missed the Main Event to participate in The Amazing Race but she didn’t miss last night’s UltimateBet Amazing Race freeroll. A grand total of 1,949 racers solved the series of clues that took them all over the World-Wide-Web and led them to the freeroll’s password. There was a cool $1,000 prizepool, with the final pair left standing at the end winning seats in our $200,000 Sunday Guaranteed Tournament.
Alas, though Tiffany is still going strong on The Amazing Race she did not reach the final finish line in this freeroll held in her honor. With her stack short she moved in for her last 1,500 or so when, holding K-Q, she turned a Queen. Unfortunately that not-so-lucky-lady on fourth street gave LONELYLONER (jeez that name depresses me) a straight and sent Tiffany out in 333rd place. On the show Tiffany and Maria spent some time in Vietnam and when I was in Vietnam a year or so ago one of the popular beers there is called “333″. OK, calling that a coincidence is a stretch but sue me, I’m thirsty.
Tiffany didn’t make the money, nor did LONELYLONER (and that makes me even sadder). Neither did 8LUFFMEOKI, who went out in 48th place to become our unfortunate Bubble Person. Normally players fall quickly after we make the money then things tighten before we reach the final table, and that’s what happened last night. In fact some of the players seemed to be stalling as we got down to the nitty-gritty, which was a bit silly as we were playing hand-for-hand and the other table was just sitting there waiting for play to wrap on the other table so they could start the next hand. I was sitting there too, watching it all, screaming “YOU KNOW YOU’RE GONNA FOLD!! SO FOLD!!!” as the clock struck 1AM on the East Coast. In the end it was the desperate SUNNYSTORM who got his money in holding the mighty 2-6, though he’d improved to a pair and a gutshot by the time the money went in on the turn. But ALEX_D22 had flopped a ten holding K-10 and wasn’t going anywhere, and when the river brought a blank SUNNYSTORM was going to the rail and ALEX_D22 was going to the final table, along with these eight players:
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again–when you make the final table of a tournament, and you’re short-stacked, and you decide to shove UTG with a hand like Kd-Jd. DO NOT do so when a player in the small blind is holding pocket Aces. Which is the exact unlucky scenario that sent TARGETSD out in 9th at the hands of MONEYNIKEME. Not that pocket Aces are infallible–no doubt ELNACHO was feeling good when he moved in with the bullets and was called by JED2006 holding Kh-10h. The flop brought no danger…well, there was a heart on the flop but how threatening is one lousy heart, really? Then came another heart on the turn…and another on the river, and that runner-runner flush sent ELNACHO and his Aces to the rail in 8th place, with $26.22 to comfort him.
It’s one thing to crack Aces with K-10 suited–can you WIN with Aces against K-10 suited? That exactly what JED2006 did a few hands later, picking up pocket Aces and using them to send APA_ATSAA and his Ks-10s out in 7th (good for $32.21). We actually had a decisive hand that didn’t include Aces, as QUINTDRIP’s pocket Queens held up against SWEETENXV’s pocket Tens. SWEET managed to double up like three times but when you start with just 357 chips that isn’t enough, and he soon succombed to finish sixth and pocket $39.62.
Then comes one of those hands that sticks with you for a long time, like when you walk in on your grandmother disposing of a corpse. QUINTDRIP was dealt pocket Kings, ALEX_D22 pocket Queens, and the two cagey players held off getting the money in until after the flop. Which came 3c…Kh…Qs. I’m sure ALEX felt quite confident putting in the last of his chips with middle set, only to see that QUINT turn over his cowboys. “Unreal” ALEX_D22 said as the turn and river failed to bring the case Queen and from a safe distance MONEYNIKEME said “OMG”. ALEX_D22, who had been near the top of the leaderboard for several hours, collected $51.30 for finishing 5th.
A more routine hand spelled the end of THE RAW ONE, as his pocket fours failed to win a not-so-Amazing Race with JED2006’s K-8. The money went in before the flop, which brought a King, and that spelled the end of THE RAW ONE and the increase of his bankroll by $68.69.
We were down to three-handed, with the player finishing third pocketing a hefty $119.42 and the two two getting tickets to the $200K Sunday Tournament. JED2006 open shoved and MONEYNIKEME called from the big blind with Ac-6c. JED2006 turned over a mighty 8s-3s. That hand proved mighty enough as an eight hit on the flop and MONEYNIKEME ended in third place and with a tidy boost to the bankroll.
One that JED2006 had been eyeing. “i wanted third dammit” JED2006 posted in chat, not necessarily an illogical wish. Finish third and your balance definitely goes up, finish first or second and you now have to navigate yet another huge field to get your hands on the cash. JED2006 and QUINTDRIP played a few desultory hands (there was really no difference between finishing first or second) before they got the money in preflop and JED2006 won the final race of the day:
However, I’d like to remind JED2006 of a little story. When Chris Moneymaker won his seat into the 2003 Main Event he played a satellite that paid out Main Event seats for the top few finishers and cash to the rest. In his autobiography Moneymaker said he wanted the cash–he had some credit cards he wanted to pay off and the money would’ve helped. He was going to just tank it and lock up the money when a friend called and offered to give Chris the money in exchange for a piece of what Moneymaker might win if he played and cashed in the Main Event. The rest, as they say, is History. So who knows–maybe JED2006 is our player of destiny, maybe he’s going to WIN the Sunday Guaranteed Tournament, maybe this Amazing Race Freeroll will the jumping-off point to a truly amazing ride to ultimate poker superstardom. Maybe two years from now JED2006 will be sitting down with a poker journalist (someone far more famous and respected than me) and saying, “Yes, it all started with a freeroll and,” here he’ll pause for a self-depreciating chuckle, “I wanted third, dammit”. Time, it will tell.
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Sunday, October 25, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
The final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event is just two weeks away, and as always there’s been quite a bit of discussion about who would be the “best” champion for poker. Which player among the November Nine would do the most to boost poker’s popularity, push the game further into the mainstream, maybe even help trigger a second poker boom. I think that expecting so much from the new World Champion is more than a bit unrealistic–when Jerry Yang won the title in 2007 he gave a poignant and heartfelt speech about his escape fro Laos and his faith that gave me goosebumps. “This is going to play so well with people who don’t follow poker,” I thought at the time. I thought that Yang had the chance to be a transformational figure, a deeply religious family man who loved poker and was going to donate a big chunk of his winnings to charity. You can’t make up a story like that.
The problem was ESPN only showed about five seconds of so of Yang’s speech. His story really didn’t get out into the mainstream, and Yang didn’t play all that many events and so faded from the scene, though he was always a gracious champion and a friendly and accommodating person. Expecting Yang, or Peter Eastgate, or really any person that Lady Luck picks at random and anoints as the Main Event champion to take up poker’s cause and lead us all to the promised land is, as I said, unrealistic.
This year, however, might be a bit different.
Because there is a player among the November Nine with the stature to put poker on his shoulders and carry it with him into the limelight. That player, of course, is Phil Ivey. Already considered by most the best poker player in the world and already having won two bracelets this year, Ivey marched through the Main Event field and made the final table, to the delight of just about everyone involved with poker. My colleagues in the poker media thought that having a famous pro like Ivey at the final table would boost the TV ratings through the roof (and so far ESPN’s numbers for their Main Event coverage have been very good) and would attract the attention of the big media outlets. That also has happened, as this week Ivey appeared on the cover of ESPN the Magazine and was the subject of a long feature story by Chad Millman.
Whether any media companies outside the ESPN umbrella will join in hyping the November Nine and Phil Ivey remains to be seen. Ivey has typically shunned the spotlight, rarely giving interviews and not opening up much to those he does speak to. But that’s changed in the last few months, as he’s done a number of lengthy interviews with various sites and let Millman follow him around during a whirlwind gambling trip. In a chat he did with ESPN readers Millman was asked about Ivey coming out of his shell with the media this is how he replied:
(Ivey’s) answer was that he feels like he’s getting older and has a sense of history for the game and realizes the relevance of him making the final table. So if this is a chance to spread the word about poker, he’s going to take it.
You couldn’t ask for a better attitude from a future World Champion, and hardly a better story that Ivey’s. He started playing in Atlantic City before he could legally enter a casino, using a fake ID that gave his name as “Jerome”. He played so much, was at the tables for so many marathon sessions, that the dealers nicknamed him “No Home Jerome”. Ivey has talked about playing 18 hours a day, going broke, raising a stake to get back into the game, and learning. Now he’s considered the best in the world and lives a life more akin to a rock star than a poker player. It’s a story that you’d think would appeal to a mass audience.
And of course to the poker audience Ivey is a god, already a member of the pantheon with a chance in November to capture the only prize that has so far eluded him–the title of World Champion. Should he win the Main Event Ivey’s resume would truly be staggering. It would be his eighth WSOP bracelet–and his first in Hold-Em. He would become the all-time tournament money leader (which he’ll still become should he finish sixth or better). He’s made 8 WPT final tables and won one WPT title. And all this from a player who’s best known as a cash player. Ivey’s exploits in Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio are the stuff of legend (both urban and real) and, oh yeah, he’s also one of the biggest winners in the super-nosebleed online cash games. And then there’s the exploit that cements his status as an immortal, his heads-up battle with billionaire Andy Beal. Beal played a group of high-stakes pros in the biggest cash game of all time (the subject of Michael Craig’s outstanding book The Professor, the Banker and the Suicide King) and when he returned to Vegas for a second shot he won $10 million off the pros who formed a consortium called The Corporation. Ten million is a huge sum, even for those deep-pocketed pros, and they brought in Ivey to try to turn the tide. Playing heads-up limit Hold-Em, Ivey won a mind-boggling $16 million from Beal and moved the billionaire to give up the game once again.
I honestly don’t know if Phil Ivey winning the Main Event will do much to push poker into the mainstream, I don’t know if Nike will come calling and make him their next signature personality. Ivey is sometimes called “The Tiger Woods of Poker”, though in the past the comparison was a lazy one raised more because they’re both African-American. But if Ivey wins the Main Event he could, like Tiger, become bigger than the game itself. And this is where I think Ivey winning the Main Event could indeed have a lasting effect on the game. Poker players often posssess sizable egos and they aren’t shy about telling people (including themselves) how great they are. There’s a huge crop of young hotshots out there and more come onto the scene every year. For those whose ambition matches their talent and ego, for those who truly want to become the greatest player in the world, they’ll have to try to eclipse Phil Ivey. And that, needless to say, is a daunting task.
In poker there are lots of players who look down on tournaments (or donkaments, as they call them), but it’s harder to do so when the biggest tournament money-winner is Ivey. He’s won bracelets in a variety of games, so mixed-game expertise is a must. And you have to be an absolute monster in both live and online cash games. There aren’t many players who would consciously set themselves up for that sort of challenge, but those who do aspire to that sort of greatness could be the personalities who drive the game forward for decades. Ivey himself is only 33 years old–the scary thing is that he’s likely to get better over time. Phil Hellmuth still has decades left in his career and he often talks about how he’s trying to make history with every tournament he plays. Of course it’s intimidating for a 21-year-old to contemplate winning eleven bracelets with the huge fields we see today, but poker is a game for the long haul, and a player with the proper perspective and the desire to be one of the greats has a path to follow.
I don’t know that I’ll be rooting for Phil Ivey come November. For one thing Ivey represents another online poker site that I’m professionally obligated to do battle with. For another, hasn’t Ivey won enough? There are other players who could use the money more, who might never otherwise enjoy the supernova of attention that will be lavished on the Main Event champion. But if Ivey does win I’ll be very interested to see how it all plays out, how the world at large looks upon this enigmatic superstar. I’d also be interested to know if Ivey wonders about these questions. If he does, maybe he’s human after all.
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Sunday, October 18, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
When you play in a tournament like the Aruba Poker Classic there’s a chance you could win life-changing money. First prize this year was around $750,000; last year it was a cool million. That’s a nice chunk of change no matter what your current bank balance is. Even if you “only” make the final table you’re walking away with more money than the average American family takes in during the year.
But poker doesn’t always have about high-stakes action, and it doesn’t take a huge sum of money to make a difference in someone’s life. Most people play poker for fun, believe it or not, even big-time pros who are used to risking huge sums on the turn of a card. And sometimes it can be fun to lose money at poker, especially when the money you’re kissing goodbye will be used to help people in need. This year in Aruba UltimateBet hosted a charity event to benefit the Children’s Home Imeldahof, which provides a temporary home and support for children who can’t remain in their homes due to mental, physical or sexual abuse. There was a big turnout for the $100 with rebuys charity event and the players were not at all shy about pulling out their bankrolls and giving till it hurts. It was a chance to have some fun, play with our Team UB pros, and raise some money for some kids in need:
In total $18,220 was raised from the tournament, as $11,700 was raised from the entries and rebuys, $5,000 was donated by UltimateBet, and the winners of the tournament contributed $1,520. At the Awards Banquet a check was presented to the director of the Children’s Home Imeldahof and she thanked those who contributed to the donation and told the crowd about the home’s mission:
Poker players often complain about their bad luck but it’s important to remember that many people have it much, much worse. Charity tournaments like the fundraiser for the Children’s Home Imeldahof serve as a reminder of how fortunate many of us are and how rewarding it can be to help those who need that help the most.
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