Monday, July 13, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
It’s odd that we’re getting to the meat of the Main Event, to the moments of high drama where incredible sums of money hang on the turn of a card, and yet it feels like someone let the air out of the room. The Amazon Room, specifically, which has been the center of the poker Universe for seven weeks but now stands half-empty. Compare this shot, taken as the Main Event began…
…with this picture, taken as play started today:
You won’t notice the change when you watch the Main Event on TV because there’s still a lot of action at the tables for the cameras and spectators to follow. But there’s definitely a different vibe now, all that empty space swallows up so many people and so much noise that you can’t help but think that the World Series is almost over.
Almost. There are still 145 players fighting for the World Championship and tens of millions in prize money. That’s all that’s still at stake, life-changing riches and poker immortality. Just that.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, amazon room, world series of poker, WSOP
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Monday, July 13, 2009 - smokin_aces
Please help us reach our Twitter goal!
Just over 48 hours left until the Twitter Up For Africa freeroll. You can read all the details here.
We set an ambitious goal of trying to get 2000 new Twitter followers during the lead up to this tournament. If we hit that goal, we’ll give $1 for each new follower to the Twitter Up For Africa pot. From there, $1000 would go to Annie Duke’s amazing charity Ante Up For Africa, and $1000 would go towards the payout structure for the freeroll.
This morning we officially got our 1000th new follower during the timeframe of this event which is absolutely amazing. There are a lot you out there who can share credit for this feat, and we all thank you.
Our challenge now is to come together in one final push towards glory. Please take a second to email blast your friends, retweet us on Twitter, text your contacts and anything else you can do to help us reach this goal and give to charity and the freeroll.
We need your help and so do the people of Darfur!
The password for the Twitter Up For Africa tournament is tufa3500. Get your friends to follow @ultimate_bet on Twitter, and come play in this amazing freeroll!
GL
Aces
Tags: Annie Duke, Ante Up For Africa, freerolls, Twitter Freerolls, Twitter Up For Africa
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Monday, July 13, 2009 - Cardroom
Here’s your weekly roundup and Congratulations go out to BZIMZIM, WAHAPENED, N0VASKY, JEFFGRESSARD, BUCANEERBOB, JEFFGRESSARD, MUCKUGOOD, BIGC5078, BINRICH, MOSELEY9 and DOVIK46 for taking down the big guarantees and to our deal makers KRS528 and STEAMRAISIN!
Tags: guarantee, roundup, tournament
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Sunday, July 12, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
That’s what some of my friends call insanely gigantic hands that dwarf humanity’s feeble powers of comprehension. You get monsterpotten in tournaments like the Main Event, where players sit behind vast chip-cathedrals hundreds of big blinds deep. And while you might think that you could never, ever, EVER lose all those glorious chips, sometimes that’s exactly what happens. In a single hand.
That’s the ghasty fate that befell Tom Lutz, who was just eliminated in the biggest pot (so far) of the 2009 Main Event. After a 9c-6c-3d flop Tom and Warren Zackey began a raising war that saw each bring out every weapon in their arsenals. When all was said and done, 4.15 million chips were heaped in the center of the table. When the hands were turned over, Tom has Ac-Qc for the nut flush draw and two overcards, while Zackey held 10c-10d. As PokerNews put it, the two were flipping for four million.
The turn was the 8d, the river the 5s, and just like that. Tom was out. Out of the Main Event, when just a few hours before he’d returned to play 3rd overall in chips. I took this picture of Tom not long after play resumed today; after losing that monsterpotten to Zackey, hopefully he’ll find the strength to smile again someday.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, tom lutz, world series of poker, WSOP
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Sunday, July 12, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
In my previous post I wrote that there were “at least” two players sporting UB colors still in the field. I used that qualifier because I knew there was a chance I missed someone as I wandered through the field. And indeed I did–sitting at the secondary Feature Table, directly to the right of Prahlad Friedman, is Carter Swidler, sporting a Barcelona jersey and a starting stack of 654,000:
I think that’s all the UltimateBet players in the field. I think. I feel confident but I’m not going to sign an affidavit or anything.
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Sunday, July 12, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
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:
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, Main Event, scott buller, tom lutz, world series of poker, WSOP, wsop main event
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Sunday, July 12, 2009 - HollywoodDave
Weeeeeellllll…..that’s it for me, peeps. 2 long months of grinding in the desert and here’s looking at some unavoidable final stats:
Played about 8 bracelet events, no cashes! Although on the positive side, i went sooooper deep in almost every event I played, bubblling several (including going out 94th when 90 paid the world’s largest 900+ person Omaha 8 or better event) so I am gonna take this as a sign that I am playing well. I never felt like I ‘accidentally’ went deep or had to suck out to make it…in fact, the story of almost every event for me was that I was practically a chip leader early, went cards dead for hours, managed to pick spots and leverage some hands to make it deep, then got horribly sucked out on in a key hand or 2 to cripple or eliminate me. So I actually get to walk away from the WSOP feeling good despite the less than stellar results!
As far as other events — made 13th in a Golden Nugget Stud 8 event…unfortunately the tourney was sooooo top heavy I only walked with $100 more than my buy in! I made up for it last week, however, going deep in a 400-person field at the Bellagio Cup to take 6th and $7k. And believe it or not I actually played a little blackjack this summer around town, picking up a few grand for my troubles along the way. Amazing — i’ve been playing so much poker, I almost forgot I still have a big edge in blackjack lol
One of the most exciting parts of my summer is my TV show ‘Grifting’ that I shot the pilot for, and as we speak am packing to go back to LA to finish shooting some pickups & do the voiceover for. The shoot went great — we put together a lot of footage of me playing a ton of different games (since the show is about me trying to beat a different game each episode). So for the pilot I ended up playing German skat at a real German community center, English draughts (basically checkers) in an authentic English pub, Magic: the Gathering at a comic book shop against some hardened little dudes (read: my brothers!), backgammon against a master of the game, & mah jongg and Go against some serious Asian grinders in a secret Koreatown club. Totally awesome!
I also got to have some fun this summer, especially last week at a few of the WSOP parties. Of course Ultimatebet threw an awesome event at the MGM’s Studio 54, complete with Hellmuth descending from a lier. I also went to Annie Duke’s private dinner at Lavo over at the Palazzo and got to spend some time with some good poker peeps. And along the way we worked in a pool party BBQ at my sis Erica Schoenberg’s place out in Henderson. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!
The other nite my hottie girlfriend MB and I went over to the Orleans to see Bill Maher perform, only to find Gus Hansen sitting right next to us. We had a good chat about backgammon before the show started…and it rocked. I’ve seen Bill perform before but he is definitely only getting better with time.
And with that, I gotta get back to the Left Coast for the weekend… rock on & good luck to my friends who are still fighting the good fight in the Main Event, I will be back to sweat you Day 6! Unfortunately SOME of us got locked out of Day 1D as they decided to shut down registration an hour before the event started for the day & then not allow any alternates. I’ve heard the arguments from Harrah’s perspective, but at the end of the day, the one rule should be this: no one should EVER be turned away from the Main Event. EVER. I understand several other bracelet events fill to capacity; that shouldn’t be an issue at the ME. I understand having so many more people on the last day creates an imbalance in the Day 2’s and creates challenges to playing down in 7 days; that still shouldn’t be an issue for the ME. If on Day 5 or 6 you realize you haven’t built in enough time, oh well. Adjust. Add a level to a day of play. Lord knows we’ve seen plenty of final tables go until the next morning after ridiculous heads-up matches this year (50k HORSE went until 10 am or so!). Let the people play. Make adjustments. NO ONE should ever be turned away from the ME. Period.
Alrighty then, rockstars, I’m out!
-hd.
Tags: Annie Duke, Bellagio, Bill Maher, Golden Nugget, Grifting, harrah's, Hollywood Dave, MGM, Phil Hellmuth, Poker Poker Poker, Studio 54, tv, ub, WSOP
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Saturday, July 11, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
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.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, Anthrax, Phil Hellmuth, Scott Ian, world series of poker, WSOP
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Saturday, July 11, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
It took 13 hands and nearly two hours of play, but the money bubble has finally burst in the 2009 Main Event. Kia Hamadani was the unfortunatle soul who finished in 649th place, when his 4-3 offsuit (he was all-in in the blinds) could not overcome Reed Hensel’s mighty 9-2 offsuit. No Kings blundering into Aces here.
But still no doubt a crushing blow for Hamadani…though one that was perhaps mitigated when Jeffrey Pollack and Jack Effel brought him up on stage and announced that, as a consolation prize, the WSOP and Jack’s Links Beef Jerky would buy him into the 2010 Main Event. And a $10,000 buy-in to the biggest poker tournament of the year, especially one you (expletive deleted) bubbled the year before, isn’t bad at all.
This, of course, means that Scott Ian and Phil Hellmuth have both cashed in the Main Event. The media wasn’t allowed on the floor during hand-for-hand so I’m not sure of their chip status, but I do know that Phil has now cashed for a record 75th time at the World Series of Poker.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, world series of poker, WSOP
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Saturday, July 11, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
We’ve been bobbling on the Bubble for nearly two hours now, we’re still stuck on 649 as that last victim refuses to give up the ghost. There have been a few close calls, none closer than when a player moved all-in with Aces, was called by King-Jack, and the flop came K-J-x. Barf. The ESPN crews pressed close, players (ignoring repeated warnings to stay at their tables) pressed closer, and the dealer laid a deuce on the turn and a…deuce on the river. A low groan rose from the mob as everyone realized the Bubble was still intact, though the player who survived did get a nice ovation when Tournament Director Jack Effel told the crowd what happened. No one should get bounced on the Bubble holding Aces. It ain’t right.
So we’re stuck in the doldrums right now, waiting for that bubble-busting hand. Jack Effel just announced that a player laid down Kings preflop…and his opponent flashed Aces. Might be awhile before we finally reach the magic 648 barrier. And as you can see, the pressure of the bubble can be difficult to deal with:
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, the bubble, world series of poker, WSOP
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