One, and Done
Monday, June 1, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
A nightly rite here at the World Series of Poker is the bagging of the chips. After a long day battling on the green felt, seeing the floor staff bringing armfulls of heavy plastic sleeves to the tables is a welcome sight. Those bags mean that the day has come to an end…and you still have chips. When a tournament plays down to a final table those bags are usually full to bursting with brightly-colored checks, you’ll see the floorpersons using two hands to hoist them onto sturdy metal trolleys. It must be extremely satisfying to bag your chips and then have to lift the groaning sack with your legs so you don’t throw your back out. I wouldn’t know.
Dealing with an overstuffed chip bag is a problem Phil Hellmuth has dealt with more than any player in WSOP history. He has the most cashes, the most final tables, the most bracelets. The final table of today’s Champions Invitational won’t count toward Phil’s total, and chances are the chip bag Phil brought to the table was his lightest ever:
That’s three chips, a 1,000, a 100, and a 25. I’ll leave you to do the math. So Phil wasn’t exactly in a good spot as the ten remaining World Champions made their way to the ESPN Feature Table stage, especially as he’d be in the big blind on the first hand. The players started unbagging their chips…and Phil wasn’t there yet. While the camera crews got zeroed in I snuck up to the podium where the Binion Cup, the trophy that will be awarded to the Invitational winner, was displayed:
Just then Phil tore around the corner and squeezed past the ropes and entered the feature table area. Turns out his tardiness wasn’t his fault–ESPN was interviewing him and they ran long. So the producers grabbed him (almost literally) and got him miked up for the final table:
The remaining players were introduced according to the year the won the Main Event, with Peter Eastgate going first, Robert Varkonyi next, and before too long it was time for the 1989 World Champion to make his entrance:
World Series of Poker Commissioner said to the crowd that this was the greatest final table assembled in WSOP history, and with every player a world champion and scores of bracelets among them it’s hard to argue against it (perhaps the only table that could compare would be the 2006 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. final, won by the late Chip Reese). The ten men gathered at today’s final table were a tableau of poker’s past, present, and future:
And then came the somewhat anticlimactic act of…playing poker. Phil tore open his bag, dumped his trio of chips on the felt, and said “One…two…three…deal me in!” With Phil having to pony the big blind on the first hand he was pretty much committed before the cards were even dealt. Chip leader Carlos Mortensen raised and Phil looked across the felt at “The Matador”, knowing that he would have to best the 2001 World Champion to stay alive.
It turned out Phi was in better shape than he might’ve hoped–Mortensen held two red deuces to Phil’s 10s-5s. Two overcards vs. a pocket pair, the ‘ol coin flip situation. The 4h-Qd-Jc flop didn’t help much at all, but the Ad on the turn gave Phil a draw to Broadway. But the river brought the 8d and, just like that, Phil Hellmuth’s afternoon came to an end.
Just before the cards went into the air Phil went around the table and shook everyone’s hand, as he always does at a new table. Now he stood and again shook everyone’s hand, this time to say goodbye. He got to Doyle Brunson and said, ‘I’ve never done that before–I shook everyone’s hand, played one hand, and then shook everyone’s hand again.” And there was no tirade, no rant–just lots of handshakes and smiles all around:
Sadly this means that Phil won’t be driving off in the 1970 Corvette Stingray that goes to the Champions Invitational’s winner, and that means I won’t have an excuse to camp out next to it shooting pics. Not that I should need an excuse to take pictures of such a beautiful machine. I’ll post more pics of the ‘Vette (and of the Invitational’s final table) later in the evening.
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