We’re well aware that Mac users think differently. That’s why we created UB Mac a few weeks back. It lets Mac users take advantage of UlimateBet’s awesome action, without having to abandon the stability, style, and performance of OS X. Mac players can also embrace their free spirit by putting our filters to the test. Our filters make it easy to find the games you’re after. Now you can see only the games you want. It’s the easiest way to create a poker room that’s all your own.
You can activate our filters from the lobby. Just click on the yellow “filter” tab to bring up a list of options. You can filter by game type. Hide or display games like Bad Beat Jackpot Tables, Ante Tables, 7 Duece Tables, Turbo and Normal Speed Tables with a quick click.
You can also filter games by the amount of players seeing the flop by percentages. Do you want to only view tables where 51% to 75% of the players at the table are seeing the flop? Now you can.
You can also filter games by the amount of players at the table. Want to only view tables where there are 4 or more players? No problem.
It is easy to filter the exact stakes you want to play instead of having to choose from more general stakes categories like high, medium or micro.
Omaha, Stud and Razz now all have their own filtering system.
You’ll also find even more filtering options for our tourneys and SnGs. You can filter by Game Type, Buy-in, Tourney type, Number of Players, Limit and several other criteria.
On Friday Michael Jordan was enshrined in the NBA Hall of Fame, and most folks seem to agree that he belongs there. Of course arguing that Jordan, who won six titles and five MVPs and various other medals and trophies, DOESN’T belong in the Hall of Fame will cause people to openly question your sanity and maybe even chase you around the room with one of those oversized butterfly nets. So that you could be transported to a mental-health facility where, truth be told, some of us need to be kept.
Michael Jordan in the Hall of Fame is a no-brainer. And so is selecting John Stockton and David Robinson, who were also enshrined Friday and had the misfortune of entering the Hall when Jordan was there to (once again) overshadow them. But for those who teeter on the border of super-stardom, for those whose careers almost, but not quite, transcend the era, Hall of Fame election-time can be a torment. Boston Red Sox slugger Jim Rice had to wait until his 15th and final year on the ballot to gain admittance to Cooperstown, and Dick LeBeau, one of the great cornerbacks in NFL history and perhaps the greatest defensive coordinator of all time, may finally get his shot at Canton next year.
In case you weren’t aware, there is a Poker Hall of Fame. Benny Binion created it back in 1979 and it was a tourist attraction at the Horseshoe Casino. Harrah’s acquired the Poker Hall of Fame when it purchased the World Series of Poker and there’s no longer an actual physical location for it, but it’s the WSOP that still elects new members. Last year Dewey Tomko and Henry Orenstein were inducted; the year before Phil Hellmuth and Barbara Enright were enshrined. There are five requirements a player must possess before being considered for the Hall of Fame, and they are:
A gambler must have played poker against acknowledged top competition
Played for high stakes
Played consistently well, gained the respect of peers
And stood the test of time
Or, for non-players, contributed to the overall growth and success of the game of poker, with indelible positive and lasting results
This year Harrah’s did something a bit different, allowing poker fans to nominate candidates for consideration. The votes were tallied and here are the nine players who find themselves on the ballot:
Barry Greenstein
Dan Harrington
Phil Ivey
Tom McEvoy
Men Nguyen
Scotty Nguyen
Daniel Negreanu
Erik Seidel
Mike Sexton
An august group, to say the least. There’s actually one player who was initially on the ballot who no longer is–Tom “durrrr” Dwan, crusher of online cash games and the star of the most recent High Stakes Poker season. It’s not a huge surprise that Dwan was politely ushered off the stage because one of the criteria for HOF admission is that the player “stand the test of time”, and as Dwan is only 22 he’s got some time to stand. To put things in perspective, Phil Hellmuth won the Main Event three years after Dwan was born, and Chip Reese was the youngest Hall of Fame inductee at 40. Methinks we’ll see the electors return their attention to durrrr in a decade or so.
For the nine who remain on the list a case could be made for all of them to be first-ballot inductees. I’ve heard some people say that perhaps McEvoy’s resume doesn’t compare with the others, but not only did McEvoy win the 1983 Main Event (the first satellite-winner to become World Champion) and win three other bracelets and also write several strategy books, McEvoy was also instrumental in making poker a smoke-free activity. It may seem impossible to imagine now but as recently as 2001 people could smoke at the table at the WSOP, until McEvoy convinced Becky Binion Behnen to make the Series smoke-free. I think that qualifies as a “positive and lasting result”.
So there are nine nominees–does that mean nine players will be entering the Hall? Well, no. There are 30 people who will be voting on who gets in–the fifteen living current members of the Hall and fifteen members of the poker media. I was not asked to be a Hall of Fame elector, and I wasn’t the least bit crushed or devastated or emotionally annihilated by that fact. Each elector votes for three players, and to gain admission the nominee’s name must appear on at least 75% of the ballots. Which could lead to some, ah, complications. As my friend and colleague Martin Harris pointed out, there’s a chance that NO ONE could be elected to the Hall of Fame. Because of the 75% rule a maximum of three players could possibly be elected this year, but the overall quality of the candidates makes it possible that the vote could be split so many ways that nobody reaches that magic 75% mark. As Martin says:
Let’s say five of the nine finalists end up getting a significant number of votes here. In fact, let’s go so far as to say the voters will only be focusing on five guys. Which ain’t gonna happen (each of the other four will probably get at least a vote or two, probably more), but let’s pretend it does.
So the 90 votes would be divided among those five. If divided evenly, none of them will come close to making it, as each will only get 18 votes, or 60% — well shy of the needed 75%. And, like I say, there probably won’t be 90 votes submitted for just five players, as the others will take some of those votes away. There will have to be overwhelming support for one candidate for him to get in, and given the group that has been proposed, the votes might be divided in such a way as to make it hard for that to happen.
From what I’m hearing there’s a real groundswell of support for Mike Sexton to be elected, I wouldn’t be surprised if more than 75% of the voters put a check-mark next to his name. But from there it gets really tough. Maybe the voters will have to flip it around–instead of making a case why they’re voting for so-and-so, they’ll have to explain why they DIDN’T vote for certain players. Chances are many will cross Ivey and Negreanu off their lists because of their age–their time will come, but not this year. Maybe their at-times questionable behavior at the tables will keep 2009 from being a Nguyen-Nguyen situation. Maybe some will say that McEvoy and Harrington don’t have a big enough profile in these celebrity-crazed days. But that sort of thinking could bring us full circle to a situation where the votes are evenly distributed and no one gets elected.
Which could make for a sticky situation for the Hall of Fame, this year and beyond. You have nine excellent players on the ballot this year…what happens when other big names are nominated? When players who aren’t quite on the A-list add to their list of accomplishments? Some of the players on this year’s list might’ve been inducted years and years ago, but the Hall of Fame didn’t add new members every year and now there’s this logjam that promises to get worse before it gets better. But while that might cause some consternation for the players who want to see their names added to the roster of all-time greats, it provides tasty fodder for poker fans (and poker writers) to argue about.
Unlike many Caribbean islands Aruba has an arid climate–you see cacti as well as palm trees. Hurricanes almost always give Aruba a miss, and it doesn’t rain too often. That’s one of the reasons why its one of the world’s great vacation getaways, you know that 95% of the time the weather is going to be close to perfect. Temps in the low nineties, blue skies, cool ocean breezes.
That said, even Aruba sees the occasional sprinkle. And perhaps that’s a good thing, because even perfection can become monotonous over time. Back in 2007 I was covering the late stages of the tournament when some big BOOMS could be heard through the Radisson’s thick walls. They were really loud and came with some regularity and I remembered that there was going to be a wedding and reception on the beach that night. “Must be fireworks,” I thought as I returned to my task.
Uh, no–the booms were indeed thunder, as a massive storm passed over the island while I sat inside blissfully unawares. When the dinner break came I went outside to find everything was soaking wet, especially the air–the humidity was probably around 170%. Occasionally the sky lit up with lightning flashes but the thunder was a long time coming, as the storm had moved off. But it was still over the island, and after some deduction I figured out that the boomers were still over Oranjestad, and I raced up the stairs outside my building to find a perch to take some pics. I raced up six flights, aimed my camera, and waited. And waited. And waited. I was sweating after climbing the stairs and what with the humidity I REALLY started to sweat, soaking through my shirt as I waited to get one semi-decent shot I could throw on the blog. I waited until dehydration almost overtook me when I got this one:
Even after that system passed we still got the occasional spot of rain. I think it even sprinkled a bit during Phil’s VIP party that year…though to be honest I’m not the best person to ask about what went on that evening. After a hard day’s work I went to the party intending on having a few Balashi’s, a bite to eat, and then back to my room for a good night’s sleep before the final table. It didn’t turn out that way. It d,idn’t turn out that way because I was unfortunate enough to run into Debo, who asked if I wanted to try a new drink they’d just invented called, interestingly enough, the Debo. Watermelon liqueur, Grey Goose, and a dash of Sprite. Well, when in Aruba…
It was bright, perky, refreshing, especially in the heat. I should say that I’m normally not a vodka drinker, usually I stick with the beers and the cabernets. But damn, that Debo was one tasty drink. And it went down EASY. So I had another one…because, like, EVERYONE had one in his/her hand. And that one went down even easier. I wandered over to the bar and the gentleman manning the controls said, “Another Debo?”. Yes please!
I ended up having like NINE of them, ending up in a state like I like to call “nicely drunk”. I was in love with the world and every single one of its inhabitants…I just wasn’t able to articulate those sentiments coherently in the English language. When the party broke up in the wee hours I remember–vaguely–going to the casino to lose a quick twenty playing video poker. I bobbed and weaved my way back to my room, a smile on my lips and a song in my heart.
When I woke up the next morning, however, the tune had changed a bit. To a funeral dirge.
“Uh oh,” I said when I peeled my eyes open. I felt bad. Awful. Really awful. Epically awful. I threw off the covers and stood up. And that was Bad. Here I’ll lower the curtain for a moment to let you, dear reader, fill in the blanks about what happened next. You’ve been in that spot before. You know. You don’t need it spelled out.
I had to get it together, and fast. The alarm clock on the dresser read 11:30. The final table started at high noon. I got myself in the shower in the hopes that hot water, mixed with Advil, would carry the day. After I toweled off and dressed I felt about 2% better, which meant that at least I wasn’t openly weeping. I shouldered my gear and headed out to the final table stage.
It was hot, and humid, and I desperately tried to figure out how on Earth I would survive the day. I walked over the bridge spanning the pool and as I looked down into it’s shifting blue waters I felt a queasiness rising. I gritted my teeth and muttered, “Oh Gawd, Geno, don’t yack in the Radisson pool!!” I was so focused on keeping it together that I didn’t notice that the final table stage wasn’t quite ready for liftoff.
I found someone of authority walking around and asked what was up. “It rained last night, hard,” he said. The stage had suffered some slight damage and there would be a delay before we started.
“How long a delay?” I asked.
“We’ll be ready around three or so.”
Three hours. Three golden, magical hours to let my self-inflicted wounds heal. I thanked the bearer of this good news and re-crossed the pool bridge with a huge smile on my face. Of course, I wasn’t really in a physical state yet for smiling and my stomach left off a threatening “HHUURRRRRBBBBLLGLLLHHHH!!” before I gathered myself enough to continue on my merry way.
I needed two things–food, and rest. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries from room service and lay across the bed like a corpse. The food came, I tipped the waiter lavishly, and wolfed down as much grease as my rebellious stomach would allow. Two hours of dreamless sleep followed and when I woke I felt like a human being again. A hungover and hurting human being, but one up to performing simple tasks without causing a scene. So while some may curse the rain, I say that into every life some rain must fall. Even in Aruba. And especially when the Debos are flowing.
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It is well-known that Aruba is around the corner and for those of you who have no idea what the Aruba Poker Classic is, it’s just one of the biggest live poker events in the world. This event has become a favorite due to the amazing prize pool, parties, camaraderie and of course the location. There are several events, but the main event, which has a $5000+500 buyin is known for attracting tons of well-known poker pros and offering one of the best tourney structures for live events. At UltimateBet you can find several options to qualify or contact our customer support department to book your seat today. More details here for Aruba Qualifiers.
On August 19th the second Scott Ian Home Game took place. This event gave our players a chance to play an 18-seated tourney with guests such as: Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains, well known metal legend Kirk Hammett, Vinnie Paul from Pantera plus other celebrities including Scott Ian himself, Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke. For the second event, 1st prize was a 2009 Aruba Classic package worth $8,500. The winner of the event was SMGKAG from Lawrence, Kansas. He has already received $3,000 for travel expenses and his seat for the Ultimate Island Poker Tournament is already booked.
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You can be excused for thinking that once the November Nine was set and the WSOP went on hiatus till autumn that poker would enjoy a bit of downtime. Bu that wasn’t the case–the Poker Players Alliance declared July 19-25 “National Poker Week” and took the fight to legalize online poker to Washington, D.C. Thirty of the PPA’s state directors and seven poker players (UltimateBet’s Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Greg Raymer, Dennis Phillips, Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher) went to the seats of power in America and spoke directly to members of Congress to make the case for online poker.
And it would seem that elected officials are a bit more inclined to listen to the case for online poker. As Annie Duke said in an interview:
It’s definitely different than a year and a half ago. Then, it was a lot of education and telling people what the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is. Now, I think people are much more familiar with the legislation’s problems. They realize that it’s a piece of legislation that doesn’t work. It’s fortuitous timing with the health care reform because you get to talk about how it’s going to get paid for. When you point out that internet gambling can bring in a conservative estimate of $3 billion per year, they listen.
The events of the week generated quite a bit of interest in your traditional poker news sources, and as several of my poker-media friends were in Washington it was quite amusing to hear about them putting on power suits and trying to tie a Windsor knot for the first time in a decade before marching on the Capitol. But in addition to poker-centric outlets National Poker Week got a lot of play in the mainstream media as well. To start with, PPA Chairman Alphonse D’Amato went on the Howard Stern show and, after chatting with Stern about why he’s so passionate about poker, Howard announced on the air that he’d become a member of the PPA. After the show D’Amato had this to say about Stern signing on:
“I can’t think of a more fitting way to kick off National Poker Week than having my friend, Howard Stern, become a member of the PPA. I thank him for having me on his show this morning and for supporting the PPA’s efforts to protect the freedom of American citizens to play the great game of poker at the time and place of their choosing – a freedom Congress voted to take away… With Howard Stern as a member of the PPA, it shows Congress and the public that protecting Internet poker is about more than just poker – it’s about protecting Internet freedom and personal responsibility.”
But that wasn’t the only time that National Poker Week earned the attention of a major news outlet. On Wednesday PPA Executive Director John Pappas appeared on CNBC, and here’s how host Mark Haines introduced the segment:
“Washington is cracking down on fun! I guess that’s nothing new…”
Pappas appeared opposite Les Bernal, who fronts for an organization called “Stop Predatory Gambling”. As if someone out there is advocating predatory gambling, sheesh. Pappas did some rhetorical ju-jitsu to start with, saying that we need online gaming legalized so that children aren’t preyed upon by unscrupulous operators and adults can play on sites that are regulated and safe. Which left Bernal in a bit of a predicament because his argument is that online poker should NOT be legalized and regulated because that’s the best way to protect the children. That argument didn’t make sense before and Bernal didn’t make it any better during this interview. Bernal also seemed to think that poker players wager money against the house, not against other players, and then he made the bizarre claim that some USB study showed that the online poker business model is “unsustainable…that short-term they made money but long-term they did not”. Uh, what? I searched the Google for that study but found nothing, but to refute Mr. Bernal’s claim I would like to introduce him to…UltimateBet, which is celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary this year. And every year more and more people around the world play online poker. Bizarre. If you’d like to see the bizarreness first hand here’s the segment, with Pappas scoring a decisive TKO:
Greg Raymer did a chat on with the readers of the Washington Post (he had a great line when asked when we could expect a repeal of the UIGEA–”Predicting this stuff is always tough, as politicians are difficult animals to deal with. Animal trainers have it much easier.”). And there was a piece on Newsweek’s site as well. But while generating a lot of media buzz is a good thing, it doesn’t necessarily translate into legislative success. There’s still no guarantee that Congress is going to repeal the UIGEA and legalize online poker, but as you can see the balance of the discussion has definitely swung in our direction. Now it’s the opponents of online poker who are being grilled about why they think law-abiding Americans shouldn’t be allowed to play, it’s Washington who wants to keep Americans from having fun. Members of Congress who perhaps were content with opposing online poker to placate a small number of vocal social conservatives now have to deal with the 1.2 million-member Poker Players Alliance and fed-up constituants who have had enough with the federal government dictating how they can and cannot spend their time and money. Dan Michalski at Pokerati published some numbers from National Poker Week to show how the PPA was able to mobilize it’s membership:
Poker-related letters sent to members of Congress in July 2009: > 150,000
Poker-related letters sent to Congress in 2008: 77,000
Issues other than health care reform that have generated more letters to Congress in 2009 (including war in Iraq, recession, and gas prices): 0
Meetings scheduled between PPA representatives and Congressional offices in a two-day period: 110
At the end of National Poker Week there was a $100 charity tournament to raise money for the USO and wounded veterans. Around 180 people played, including 31 wounded veterans and seven members of Congress. It was a rebuy tournament and many of the professional poker players there rushed around the room re-buying for the soldiers who’d busted out (Annie apparently out-rebought her brother Howard by a 15-10 score). The tournament raised around $35,000 for the USO, people had a great time, and a veteran named Bret Chevalier won the tournament and a trip to Las Vegas. Many of the soldiers who played in the event won their seats in tournaments held at Walter Reed Hospital. Wounded soldiers playing poker in the hospital…a charity tournament to raise money to help them…folks sitting around a poker table having a great time…and there are people who think this is wrong? That the federal government should BAN it? It beggars belief.
But though the passage of the UIGEA was not a shining example of democracy in action, we at least have the opportunity to fight for a repeal of that bad law. Poker players can band together, lobby Congress, and get poker legalized as it should be. Unlike, say, in Russia, where Vladimir Putin the Russian government shut down casinos across the nation this week. At first it was thought that poker, which was classified as a sport in Russia, would be exempted. Ah, nyet–all the poker rooms in Russia were ordered shuttered as well. The government says that this was done because of the pervasive influence of organized crime in the thousands of casinos scattered throughout the country, though one wonders if the Russian Mafia will have any compunctions about opening (even deeper) underground casinos and cardrooms.
The Russian government decreed that gambling will only be permitted in four zones…one of which is in Siberia, while another is near the North Korean border. Those places sound…lovely. And these areas have none of the infrastructure in place to host casinos, the roads, airports, power stations, whatever you need for a major tourist attraction. It’s estimated that 400,000 people were put out of work by this decree, some of whom probably would’ve worked the first stop on this year’s European Poker Tour, which was to be begin August 18th in Moscow. But no more–yesterday it was announced that the tournament has been moved to Kiev, Ukraine.
So perhaps this is an argument that can be used here in the United States–you want to ban poker? That’s what they do in Russia. Jingoistic to be sure, but to get online poker legalized it’ll probably take every arrow in the quiver. The House bill Representative Barney Frank has introduced won’t come up for discussion again until the Congress returns from vacation in September, and then it faces a very crowded legislative docket. In case you haven’t heard there’s talk about national health insurance, the economy still teeters and totters, there are wars in Iraq and Afghanistan…legalizing online poker is still way down on the list of priorities. But National Poker Week no doubt did a lot to keep it ON that list, and in these difficult times one would hope that Congress will take a more reasonable and pragmatic look at legalizing the game we love.
There is a story in the Detroit News today about Joseph Cada, who is the youngest member of the November Nine. Here’s what it looked like on the front page:
There’s a line from the article I thought was a bit amusing. Here’s Joe’s mother, Anne Cada:
“We had 15 people all huddled around the computer getting updates,” she said Thursday. “There was a delay in what’s going on there and the updates on the computer and all the sudden I got a call from Joe and all he said was ‘I made it.’ The place just erupted with the loudest ovation.”
I found it amusing because some of my friends were writing the updates that Joe’s mom was reading, and as I watched the crowd going nuts after Darvin Moon eliminated Jordan Smith in tenth place I took this shot of Joe, who was probably talking to his mon:
We’re down to 28 players, and play will cease for the night when we hit 27. Tomorrow, we’ll play down to the November Nine, and already there’s speculation flying about how long it’ll take to reduce the field by two-thirds. A friend who covered the 22-hour WSOP-E final table and the 19-hour H.O.R.S.E. final table this year says she thinks we’ll be playing tomorrow until 7AM Thursday morning. Most of my media mates are favoring the under on that, but I don’t know, she’s an expert on super-marathon poker sessions.
Billy Kopp is still the chip leader but the field has caught up to him. Darvin Moon is just a few thousand behind, and lurking just under two million away is the fearsome figure of Phil Ivey. Stephen Begleiter has around 11.8 million, and the other player in eight figures is CardPlayer publisher Jeff Shulman, who seems to have cornered the market on the orange 5,000 chips:
After losing players every few minutes before the break and one immediatelyafter, play has slowed. We’ve had I think two all-ins but the short-stacks doubled through and now the players are hunkering down, not wanting to be the last player to see his tournament end before Day 8. And we’ll probably see the same sort of behavior tomorrow, so maybe 7AM isn’t that that outlandish a target.
But we’ll see. And here’s a bit of what I saw today. Billy Kopp, late in the day:
Jesse Haabak, stylin’
George Caragiorgas has been sitting right along the rail all day in a spot where I can’t get a good shot of him (those of us wearing red media badges aren’t allowed on the floor, limiting my angles of attack). But I did get this one:
The Amazon Room might be 3/4 empty, but the part still in use is still packed with fans straining to see the action, especially at the Feature Table:
Gotta lose one more before we shut down for the night. Could happen in five minutes…could happen just after dawn. Gotta wait and see.
UPDATE: It took closer to five minutes than five hours to get down to 27. Joe Ward was eliminated in about the worst possible way–his AK had Jamie Robbins’ AQ dominated through the flop and the turn, but the Qh spiked on the turn to give Robbins the pot and bring a crushing end to Ward’s Main Event. Here’s a shot of Ward yesterday, in better circumstances.
That’s it for tonight, play will resume at noon and not end until the we know the latest incarnation of the November Nine. Will that happen on Wednesday, or at lunchtime Thursday? Nothing to do but wait and see.
Phil Hellmuth and Scott Ian were the last members of Team UltimateBet to be eliminated from the Main Event, but there are still (at least) two players sporting the black-and-gold of UB as play resumed today. And one of those players, Scott Buller, is gonna be on TV in a couple of months. After taking 2nd in the Seniors Event this year, Scott found himself at the ESPN Feature Table and all-in with pocket Kings against Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier’s pocket Aces. It seems almost unfair that a player like ElkY should EVER be allowed Aces, but that’s the dilemma Scott found himself in. After a Qd-10d-3h flop Scott was looking for some runner-runner flush/straight possibility, or a King…and that’s what spiked on the turn, the Kc, and when ElkY couldn’t catch an Ace or a Jack on the river Scott doubled up to over 500K. Here’s a shot of Scott at the Feature Table just before that hand:
One player who didn’t have immediate worries about busting is Tom Lutz, who came into play today 3rd in chips with 1.6 million. Which is a ton of chips…until you realize that to win the Main Event you need to collect almost 195 million chips. Eh, heck, 1.6 million is still a lotta chips:
For some just playing in the World Series of Poker Main Event is the realization of a lifelong dream. For other, cashing in the Main Event is a story to be retold over and over again for decades. But for some, there’s only on reason to play in the Main Event–or any poker tournament, for that matter. And that’s to win it.
Phil Hellmuth has a legacy to think about. He’s won more WSOP bracelets than anyone else, has played at more WSOP final tables than anyone else, has more WSOP cashes than anyone else. He won the Main Event twenty years ago. But still, that’s not enough. With every deep run comes an opportunity to rewrite history, history Phil himself wrote in years past. Coming into play today Phil had a big stack, big enough to work his usual magic and position himself for another deep run in the biggest poker tournament in the world, just as he did last year.
But it wasn’t meant to be. Famous for his line “I can dodge bullets, baby!”, Phil lost a big pot to Jose Manuel Gomez Rebenaque when Rebanaque called an 80,000 bet on the river with pocket Aces, and Phil wasn’t able to rebuild and retrench after that. He had chips, just not as many as those rising to the top of the leaderboard, when he lost a huge pot to Abraham Mourshaki when Mourshaki flopped trip Jacks and Phil called a 120,000 bet on the river. The end came shortly thereafter, when Phil was dealt…pocket Aces, and when the money went in after a Jc-10d-5c flop. Phil found himself in big trouble against Kenny Hsiung’s J-10 and Kevin Jenkins’ 8h-9h, and when the 7d fell on the turn it gave Jenkins a straight that held up to take the pot.
And that’s when WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla took the microphone and announced, “Ladies and Gentleman, just eliminated from the Main Event…Phil Hellmuth”. There was a smattering of applause in the half-empty room, an ESPN film team followed Phil as he walked out the door. “Love you, Phil!” a fan called from the far rail, but Phil walked out the door and was gone.
For Scott Ian, the Main Event WAS his World Series, as he was in Europe touring with Anthrax during the rest of the Series. He returned to the States just in time to take his Main Event seat, and then after surviving to Day 2 he had to hop on a plane and fly to Tulsa, Oklahoma to play a gig at the Rocklahoma music festival. A flight at dawn back to Vegas and Scott resumed his seat on Day 3, battling all day with a shortstack to make it to Day 4. And on Day 4 he gritted it out, folding several times to big re-raises when his entire stack was in peril, and battled his way into the money. If Phil was crushed after his elimination, Scott saw the bright side. As he tweeted, “I cashed in my first main event. Outlasted 5857 players. So stoked. Post main event euphoria.”
But that’s how it is for everyone who cashes in the Main Event but doesn’t win–there’s congratulations, and condolences as well. There’s only one winner, and everyone else walks away from the table bitterly disappointed. But there’s reason to be proud of cashing in the Main Event, and both Scott Ian and Phil Hellmuth have reason to be proud of what they accomplished this week. Even if pride is an emotion that might come harder for some at this particular time.
And with that, we’re done for the night. Tournament Director Jack Effel announced a bit ago that we were ending early tonight, with 407 players still in the hunt for the World Championship. We’ll resume tomorrow at high noon, with 406 players sure to ride that roller coaster of ecstasy and despair, while one will claim the ultimate prize–the title of World Champion.
There’s a legend that when Julius Caesar was at the pinnacle of his power and popularity someone told him, “Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal”. It was a reminder to guard against hubris, because we all die in the end, no matter how exalted we are during our time on Earth. I know that’s some heavy stuff to lay on you but when you’re at the World Series of Poker you’re constantly reminded of how brief life can be, especially when you flop set under set. And I couldn’t help but think of Imperial times this afternoon as I watched Phil Hellmuth make his majestic entrance to the Main Event.
Perhaps only one poker player could actually pull off dressing as Julius Caesar and striding into the Rio escorted by 11 female gladiators and 100 Muses, and that’s Phil Hellmuth. That’s what he did today, as he eschewed his normal limosuine for human-powered transport to the Rio:
Carried along in a sedan chair Phil alighted onto the blazing-hot asphalt to the delight of his devotees:
And then it was time for Emperor Phil to make his way to the Amazon Room, escorted by 111 young women and a trumpetor to announce his arrival. Rose petals were cast at his feet as he walked, hundreds of admirers strained to catch a glimpse of his noble form. Fairly low-key stuff.
The walk down the hall to the Amazon Room reminded me of something from Roman times, a vast unruly mob shoving and jostling in tight quarters trying to follow Phil. I punched a few people in the face and kicked out someone’s crutches to get a few shots of the procession:
And then Phil reached the Amazon Room and it was time to alight from his exalted perch and take his seat with we mere mortals. Of course only after favoring the masses with a dignified wave:
Quite a few people remarked today that Caesar ended up being assassinated by his colleagues in the Senate. And in a manner of speaking (I hope not literally) that’s exactly what the eight players at Phil table will try to do today–whack Phil and send him out of the Main Event. That may be easier said that done–today isn’t the Ides of March, I didn’t see anyone at the secondary Feature Table brandishing swords, and I haven’t seen a Brutus or Cassius listed in the chip counts. Still, today will be filled with treachery and conspiracy–all that remains to be seen is if Caesar…I mean Phil Hellmuth…is able to outmaneuver his enemies.
