Wednesday, June 3, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
So I was watching some of the $2,500 No-Limit Deuce to Seven Draw…fascinating game. Plays fast, the players only get one draw and the pots get pushed fast. Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow were talking about the latter’s bustout hand–Matusow bluffed holding quad deuces and his opponent called with an 8-high. Now, quads are a horrible hand in a lowball game, but as Mike explained he thought his opponent couldn’t call a big bet when Mike held all the deuces in his hand. The reasoning was sound, but his opponent had a decent hand and wouldn’t be cowed. Then Phil and Mike talked about a hand from three years ago, where two players stood pat after the deal, one player moved in, and the other called. The player who shoved had quad sevens. The player who called had…quad deuces. The only way he could win the hand was if the other player also had quads…and how often are you dealt four-of-a-kind? Rarely? Rarer than that? They say there’s a fine line between genius and insanity–I’m not sure on which side of that line that call lies.
Anyway, Phil built up an impressive stack and was playing just about every hand. He and Yan Chen got into a little verbal battle, as happens from time to time with Phil. Trash was talked for a bit before the two started joking back and forth and exchanged a fist-bump, which eased the tension a bit.
But the bonhomie didn’t last for long, and helping to fan the flames was the incendiary presence of Tony G. From the PokerNews Live Updates:
Yan Chen fired a bet of 8,000 into Phil Hellmuth after the draw. Hellmuth ripped his earbud headphones from his ears and jumped from his chair. The two have been jawing back and forth all day. Hellmuth came back to his seat and asked, “Did you make anything?”
Chen sat quietly as Hellmuth tanked. Eventually, Hellmuth tossed in the call.
Chen revealed 
and Hellmuth slam-mucked his hand in the middle of the table and stormed out of his chair.
After he sat back down, Tony G yelled over from an adjacent table, “Phil, Phil, what’s happening, Phil? What are they doing to do over there?”
Hellmuth didn’t respond, but Tony G continued. “Phil, are you okay? I want you to know I’m here to protect you Phil, the fans are worried about you.”
A few moments went by and then Tony strolled over to Phil’s table. He leaned over and asked Chen, “Are you hurting him?” and pointed to Hellmuth. Hellmuth got upset and called the floor and made them escort Tony back over his own table.
“We talked about this in the meeting, he can’t be over here,” claimed Hellmuth
That Tony G, always stirring the pot. Phil currently sits with 31,000 chips (more than Tony G) with 26 players remaining.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, lowball, Mike Matusow, Phil Hellmuth, phil hellmuth world series of poker, phil hellmuth wsop, tony g, WSOP, yan chen
Comments (0)
Monday, June 1, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
One of my favorite movies of all time is The Matrix, that dystopian cyberpunk kung-fu masterpiece. There are rumors that there were two Matrix sequels but I prefer to believe those alleged horrible movies NEVER HAPPENED. Just like those alleged Star Wars “prequels” that George Lucas supposedely filmed a few years back. They NEVER HAPPENED. You got that? Jar Jar Binks is just an urban myth, not a character in the Star Wars universe. GOT THAT????
Anyway, one of the coolest scenes in The Matrix comes when Neo, the hero, finds himself pitted against one of the dreaded Agents. Neo pulls out two pistols and empties the clips at the Agent, who twists and turns and dodges every shot. Then the Agent pulls out his pistol and fires at Neo, who, starting to realize the awesome powers he possesses, dodges the bullets as well. It’s just so frickin’ cool. The whole flick is that cool, and it stars Lawrence Fishburne as well. Sick.
There’s actually a point to all this rambling, and here it is–one of Phil Hellmuth’s most famous quotes came a few years ago at the World Series, when he managed to get away from a dangerous situation when his opponent held pocket Aces. After Phil folded his opponent revealed his cards and Phil leapt to his feet. Crowing to his wife along the rail, Phil said, “I can dodge bullets, baby!!”
On that day Phil proved that he could dodge two bullets. Last night, alas, he wasn’t able to dodge FOUR of them. Phil and Jim Bechtel tangled in a big pot and with the board reading 10h-As-Qc-Ah-6d the two champions exchanged a series of raises on the river. Phil turned over pocket Queens for the flopped set and turned boat. Bechtel turned over…pocket Aces. He flopped a bigger set, turned quads (QUADS) and left Phil with just a handful of chips.
But Phil managed to stay alive and make today’s televised final table. He doubled up through Johnny Chan by once again proving that his bullet-dodging skills haven’t totally abandoned him. Chan had pocket Aces, Phil pocket fours, but Phil flopped a set and got himself off life-support. Alas, when play resumes at 3pm Phil will have by far the shortest stack, with a meager 1,125 (compared to Carlos Mortensen’s 42,375). But the fans will get a chance to see Phil at the final table, he’ll get himself a little air time, and maybe, if he can avoid running into quads, he might double up a time or two and get back into contention. It should be a fun final table, for the fans and the players.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, 2009 wsop champions invitational, Phil Hellmuth, phil hellmuth champions invitational, phil hellmuth invitational, phil hellmuth world series of poker, phil hellmuth wsop, world series of poker, WSOP
Comments (0)
Friday, May 29, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
So after a good night’s sleep and a long hot shower I loaded up my gear and headed to the Rio around 10am. I like getting to the Amazon Room early and easing into the day, plus I wanted to grab my seat on Media Row and demonstrate to the other poker scribes that this is MY SPOT. MINE. Marking my territory, if you will.
So I hop in the cab and announce the Rio as my destination. Looking at my ginormous shoulder bag the driver asked “Are you here for business or pleasure?” and I said, ‘Business, but I figure I’ll find time to have some fun, heh heh heh”. She asked what I was doing and I said covering the World Series of Poker for UB.
Turns out she’s a big fan of the ESPN coverage of the Main Event, she’s watched it over and over…but she’s never seen the final table. A purist perhaps, she didn’t like delaying the Final Table till November, though I did point out that the ratings were way up for the November Nine. She said, “I just wish they’d shown the end instead of Phil Hellmuth yelling at that guy over and over again!” I smiled and said, well, yes, Phil was a bit exercised that night, but the rules had been changed to prevent similar outbursts. We pulled up to the Rio and she said, “I just thought that he was acting like a brat, and you can tell him I said so!” I gave her a generous tip (even for me) and said, “Well, maybe I’ll do just that.”
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, phil hellmuth world series of poker, phil hellmuth wsop, world series of poker, WSOP
Comments (0)
Friday, May 29, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
The marquee table today has been the one hosting Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Scotty Nguyen, David “The Dragon” Pham and Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier. And if you need any further explaination about why that’s so, jeez, just look at that lineup. Sick.
A crowd gathered along the rail around the table and it didn’t dissipate throughout the day. But it’s thinned a bit in the last few minutes, in part because of the lateness of the hour, and in part because Phil Hellmuth was just eliminated. After building his stack up to over a quarter million Phil lost a big confrontation with Alan Sass, who made a tough call with top pair after Phil set him all in on the river. That left Phil with just shy of 40,000 and it was a long hard fight from there.
A fight that came to an end when Phil Ivey raised and Hellmuth moved in for his last 90,000 from the small blind. Ivey called and his A-K dominated Hellmuth’s A-J. As PokerNews reported, Hellmuth said, “He raises my blind five times, then when I make a move he has a hand?”
Yes, Ivey had a hand and after the Kd-8h-6d flop he had a hammerlock on the pot. Phil H. got no help on the turn and river and just that fast his tournament came to an end. “Ivey so lucky against me, but I will have my turn vs him for sure!” Phil tweeted seconds after his bustout. And that’s some small consolation for the UB pros who didn’t have very good luck today–tomorrow is another day. Still 55 more chances to win a bracelet.
Tags: Phil Hellmuth, phil hellmuth $40K, phil hellmuth world series of poker, phil hellmuth wsop
Comments (0)
Thursday, May 28, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
OK, so where’s Phil?
That was the question circling the Amazon Room as the end of Level 3 grew nigh. Like I said in my last post, Phil always shows up late, but this was pushing it even for him. It was confirmed he’d registered, there was no danger of him missing the event, we even knew that he’d be sitting at Table 70, Seat 7. He just wasn’t here. There were rumors he was planning some outrageous Main Event-style grand entrance for the swarming ESPN cameras, and I staked out Table 70 like a rancid paparazzi stalking Lindsay Lohan.
They say a watched pot never boils, but my craning neck spotted a black baseball cap with a gold UltimateBet logo knifing through the crowd. Seconds later the ropes parted and there was Phil Hellmuth in the flesh, making his 2009 World Series of Poker debut:
There was some minor commotion as Phil sidled up to his seat. “Philly’s here!” crowed Scotty Nguyen and Scott Seiver said, “The man, the myth, the legend.” The mob clustered around the rail swelled as Phil showed off copies Deal Me In, his new book featuring interviews with a number of top professionals. One of whom, Phil Ivey, took a copy and immediately started riffing through pages, perhaps looking for his chapter:
As you can see, that’s a pretty loaded table…and that doesn’t even include David “The Dragon” Pham, barely visible two seats over from Ivey. There’s enough star power at that table to draw an army of railbirds and platoons of photographers, but I’ll bob and weave my way back there and see how Phil progresses…now that he’s actually playing in the tournament.
Tags: david pham, Phil Hellmuth, phil hellmuth $40K, phil hellmuth entrance, phil hellmuth wsop, phil ivey, Scotty Nguyen, ub, ub wsop, ultimatebet, ultimatebet world series of poker, ultimatebet wsop
Comments (0)
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Gene Bromberg
It was a broiling hot Vegas afternoon and I was standing outside of the Rio. Outside, where the heat stripped the moisture from my skin and my Ray-Bans couldn’t cope with the raw sunlight. “So it’s come to this,” I thought as I marinated in my own sweat. “I’m standing here with my camera on a 145-degree day waiting for Phil Hellmuth to drive up in an Army jeep.” Not the sort of thing my high-school guidance counselor could’ve predicted when it came time to discuss possible career choices. You can never be sure where life will take you.
Anyway, Phil of course likes to make a grand entrance at the World Series of Poker and in 2008 he planned to show up in a military convoy dressed like General Patton. And from across the shimmering curtain rising from the parking lot I beheld the man, the myth, the legend, launching his invasion of the Main Event.
As I saw Phil approach (his Jeep driven by P0ker H0) the first thing that went through my mind was, “Holy s***, he’s gonna sweat to death. He is going to DIE.” Buttoned-up jacket, tie, gloves, trousers bloused into riding boots, gloves…and a helmet? You could’ve filled a pot with water and boiled pasta on the Rio tarmac, and there he was wearing a helmet. But when Phil deJeeped I saw that it was a plastic helmet, not metal, and that meant that Phil’s brain wasn’t being sauteed. And then of course was time for Phil and H0 to, uh, salute:
Not that I kept my camera pointed at Phil the whole time, not when I saw who he brought along as his military escort:
And then the entire entourage made it’s way toward the Amazon Room, and as you might expect Phil Hellmuth walking toward the Rio with eleven models in tow, the whole gang followed by a dozen or so photographers and a ESPN film crew, garnered a bit of attention:
It wasn’t until we got inside the Amazon Room proper that I remembered why we were here in the first place–Phil was playing in the Main Event. And having missed the first three hours of play you’d think he’d be raring to go, but first he had to make his way to the ESPN Feature Table, be introduced to the crowd by WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, and shake hands with his tablemates (including MMA star Chuck Liddel). It was during this rather chaotic scene that I took what was probably my favorite picture of the World Series. It was dark in there, I didn’t have time (or space) to switch to a faster lens, and Phil wouldn’t hold still. So I panned along as he walked around the table and squeezed off one semi-sharp shot of Phil in motion:
And from there Phil went on to finish 45th in the Main Event. How will he top either his entrance or his deep run? The latter is easy–just win the thing. But topping the Jeep, the ladies, the uniform? I’m thinking precision skydiving. I’m just throwing that out there. Believe me, I’ll be there with my camera to record THAT.
Tags: Phil Hellmuth, phil hellmuth entrance, phil hellmuth general patton, phil hellmuth world series of poker, phil hellmuth wsop, phil hellmuth wsop entrance
Comments (0)
