UltimateBet Blog

The Final Table, Part Two

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.

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Changing my license plate to 12poker12 in 2010?!?

Saturday, July 25, 2009 - Phil Hellmuth

Many years ago my license plate in California was 7poker7 and Phil Ivey had just won his third World Series of Poker (WSOP) poker tourney. My hats off to Phil, he always plays great poker and takes advantage of some really good luck. He is after all at the final table of the 2009 WSOP. Layne “Back to back” Flack was having a great tourney as well, he has won the first two no limit hold’em events that year (back to back!). Johnny Chan took the all-time money lead at the WSOP from me and TJ, and Johnny were having a great years as well. TJ was having a great year, and if his As-Ks would have beat Layne’s 9-9 (they were all-in before the flop for about $350,000 apiece), then he would have the all-time money list lead instead of Johnny (Johnny finished second to Layne, and TJ third in the last no limit event).

In 1993, I won the first two no limit hold’em events, and three WSOP titles that year. Then I went on and took the all-time money lead at the WSOP. Ah, the past…unfortunately the past isn’t all that it is cracked up to be in today’s “what have you done for me lately” society. The WSOP is a tough tournament to digest when you’re a little bit off of your game or the cards refuse to let you win (personally, I’ve been a little bit off of my game for the most part, and a little bad luck at the wrong time has cost me some final tables as well). Five weeks of WSOP futility is enough to drive you stark raving mad! Wait a minute though, I thought to myself, I still have a full week left at the WSOP, and the “Big One” to play in before my year is blown (not to mention the Bellagio’s $10,000 buy-in event). Believe me, I’m ready to turn things around soon I thought.

How do I make seven top fifteens back then in 24 events, and then only one top fifteen in the first twenty two events the next year? How does Chris Ferguson do roughly the same thing (six one year followed by 2 the next year)? How does Men “the Master” Nguyen fan (without even cashing once!) 80 tournaments in a row, and then explode at the Taj Mahal and finish first, second and first in three consecutive days (and make seven final tables)? I believe that there is some bio-rhythm like element in poker that is often over looked by us poker players. Some days I can sit down in a tourney after not playing poker for a month, and just play so well that I am shocked. When this happens, then I know that I will play great poker for the next 40 days or so (experience has shown me that this is the case for me). Other times, I can’t seem to execute my game plan very well. In both cases – stellar play and sub-par play – I keep roughly the same routine as far as exercise, sleep, diet etc…

If my theory is right (and I’m pretty sure it is based on the “streaks” that most great tournament players fall into), then I can only hope that this period of sub-par play is about to end I thought. I had been playing sub-par from April 9th till May 12th that year, isn’t one month enough to suffer from “bad bio-rhythms’?” All I wanted to read was “Phil Hellmuth is the 2002 WSOP match play Champion” and “Phil Hellmuth is the 2002 World Champion of Poker”. My California license plate 7poker7 (the “7” represents seven WSOP wins) at the time but I was hoping to change it to 9poker9 or 8poker8 real soon. I just hoped that my bio-rhythms changed soon enough for me to get the California license plate 9poker9 in 2002! Well now that the WSOP is over for another year, I’m hoping that in 2010 my license will read 12poker12!

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Time for Some Drama

Thursday, July 16, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Not that the action wasn’t exciting before the dinner break, but upon our return things got really interesting. Actually we had an interesting encounter on the way back from dinner–a gentleman in a blue shirt with ITALIA printed across the front was being handcuffed just down from the Sao Paulo restaurant. Apparently he’d staggered into the Amazon Room, drunk as the proverbial skunk, and refused to leave. Apparently the arrival off officers from the LVPD motivated him to action and he got halfway to the casino before he was apprehended. There’s something about the sound of handcuffs going click-click-click

And then once we took our seats and play resumed it was Jamie Robbins who showed the crowd what it takes to get out of jail. All in with pocket tens to Joe Cada’s pocket Aces, Robbins needed to hit a two-outer on the river to stay alive. The dealer duly slapped the 10h on the felt and the crowd went “OOOOOHHHH!” en masse as Robbins’ sucked out at the best possible time. Seriously, how many two-outers does on hit on the river in one’s lifetime? And one time that you do it’s when there are 14 players left in the Main Event. Wow.

And that two-outer ended up being worth $263,708 (at least) to Robbins, because shortly after that hand both Ben Lamb and James Calderaro were eliminated and the surviving players hit another pay jump. Robbins may be shortstacked, but he’s now guaranteed at least $896,700.

Eric Buchman is the chip leader with 33.8 million, followed closely by Steven Begleiter with 30.3 million. Billy Kopp, who was the chipleader at the start of play, sits with almost 19 million after slipping badly during the day. And Phil Ivey, perhaps the most feared poker player in the world, bides his time with 6.1 million. Waiting. Waiting.

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Bad Neighbors

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

So let’s say you’re Billy Kopp, and you’re the chip leader in the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event. You have about 4 million more than the player in second place. This is a good situation, yes? You’re already guaranteed a nice payday, but you’re in prime position to make a run at the $8,546,435 first prize and the ultimate poker glory. Now, what would be the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen? Well, how about this:

That is Phil Ivey sitting directly to Billy’s left. Phil Ivey, winner of two bracelets this year, seven overall, and considered by most to be the best poker player on the planet. Phil Ivey. With chips. In position. Watching every move you make, every breath you take.

The good news for Billy is that Ivey took a hit a bit ago, doubling up Blair Rodman and reducing his stack to just south of 9 million. The bad news is…Ivey’s still there. And he’s probably gonna be there for a good long while. This is a perfect example of how there’s more to luck in poker than how the cards play out–your table draw and seat assignments can hugely affect play. If Kopp had position on Ivey he could be far more comfortable opening pots, knowing that Ivey and his huge stack were out of the hand.

But that’s not the reality on the ground, and so far Kopp hasn’t shown an adversion to mixing it up with Ivey and putting chips in the pot. And let’s remember that while Ivey is Ivey, Billy Kopp is the chip leader. There are 43 players left, we’ll play until we’re down to 27. And then let’s see how the Kopp and Ivey show played out.

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One Way to Draw a Crowd

Sunday, June 14, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Every day at 2:20 pm World Series of Poker Commissioner takes to the small stage set up by the Feature Table Arena and presents the previous day’s winners with their gold WSOP bracelets. The ceremony always attracts a fair number of reporters, photographers and camerapeople who aim their instruments of recordation at the dais and the latest poker champion. Today the crowd was just a bit larger than usual, because one of the players who received a bracelet is a bit larger than life–Phil Ivey, who last night won his second bracelet this year (and his seventh overall).

As the appointed hour grew close and the media thronged around the stage a rumor circulated that Ivey wasn’t coming to the ceremony. I wanted to get a picture of the media gaggle surrounding the stage and if Ivey wasn’t gonna show, chances are much of the press would as well. But at 2:20 there was Ivey, standing next to Pete Vilandos, who won a bracelet in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold-Em event last night. Vilandos was the first to take the stage and accept his bracelet, and the players in the room stood to listen to the Greek national anthem:

And then it was Ivey’s turn to shake Jeffrey Pollack’s hand and take possession of his seventh bracelet. And time for a platoon of shutterbugs to press close (or loom overhead) to get shots of Ivey standing at attention for the Star-Spangled Banner:

I’d like to see what the media crush would be like, if, say, Phil Hellmuth won his twelfth bracelet. We still have five weeks to find out.

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Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Sunday, June 14, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

Yesterday the WSOP Media Office released a list of facts and tidbits that might be of interest. These are current through Event #20:

  • A total of 21,047 players have participated so far in the 2009 World Series of Poker, generating prize pools that totaled…wait for it…$42,094,034. That beggars belief–over 42 million dollars in prize money. And we’re less than halfway through the Series.
  • Much of that prize money will be staying in the Vegas-LA poker corridor–the leading location for money won in the Series so far is California, with $7,517,558, followed closely by Nevada with $7,188,309. In a distant third is the entire nation of Russia, with $2,214,325.
  • The Russian total comes mostly from Vitaly Lunkin’s victory in the $40,000 No-Limit event, and in total Lunkin has won $1,907,667, the most so far at the 2009 WSOP.
  • Andy Black has played the most events so far this year, 14. He also has the lowest cashing percentage among players who have played more than ten events, 7% (he’s cashed once so far). Ouch. UPDATE–Scratch that. Black not only cashed in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better, he made the final table last night and just went out in 6th place.
  • So far India, South Korea and the Cayman Islands have a perfect score at the WSOP–every player from those nations that’s entered an event has cashed. True, that’s only four players in total, but still. The worst cashing rate by location? The District of Columbia, with one cash in 28 entries. Maybe that’s explains why so many politicians are dead-set against fully legalizing online poker.

So that’s a little neato info about the WSOP so far. So many big stories already, one of them happened last night, as Phil Ivey won his second bracelet of the Series (and 7th overall). Ivey won three bracelets in 2002, could we see a repeat of that this year? Brock Parker has also won two bracelets this year, Ville Wahlbeck won one and made two final tables…and we still have 30 events to go. There’re still a lot of stories and statistics and history to come.

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Week 2 @ the WSOP

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 - Miss C

Hey All,

Here comes the close of another week in Vegas. In my last post I mentioned that people were flooding into town and on a personal side, one of my good friends from London flew in and boy did he fly in, in a major way. I am going to call him “Fred” so we don’t incriminate anyone! Just a little bit of background for you…we met a couple of years ago at the Aussie Millions and we have been in touch since then and hence I have not seen him in a year and a half. This time round he brings a mate and we will call him “Adam”, so we all catch up for a beverage. Well that beverage turned into a table at The Bank including a magnum of Dom Perignon Rose, a bottle of Stoli and a few shots. Did I tell you there was only 5 of us out that night? All I know is I saw the sun come up and I thank god that I don’t get hangovers! It is unbelievable how the happenings of Vegas almost seem normal here? On the downside I did lose my camera:(

You know that saying “When in Rome”, well “When in Vegas” a good friend of mine, Robert Williamson III has introduced me to something new…..a meal in a bottle – Corona with lime and hot sauce in it and guess what….I like it! He has been doing this for as long as I have known him and I am sure I have tried a sip here and there throughout the years, but now here at this moment, it has become my (meal) drink of choice. I know a lot of you have just wrinkled your nose, but all I can say is don’t knock it till you try it.

On the poker front the numbers have been good, Phil Ivey won his 6th bracelet and the Venetian Deep Stack Series is very appealing. So appealing that I may take my 1st day off in just over a fortnight and play. All this poker and I am eager to get in there. The ladies event at the Series this year saw 1060 females take their seats looking for the one and only female bracelet, not bad at a K a pop. The numbers didn’t surprise me, but what did was the rail during this event…it was packed. I actually saw more people railing than in most of the other tournaments. Go the girls!

Not sure why, but I cannot sleep well in Vegas. I can’t seem to get to bed before 4am. My aim for Week 3 @ the WSOP is to get to bed at a normal hour and have a good 8 hours.

Good Luck to All!

Cheers,

Miss C

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Don’t Know What You’re Missing

Monday, June 8, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

I did something today I’ve never done before. I showed up to a poker tournament after Phil Hellmuth.

After ten days of arriving at the Amazon Room just after eleven I decided to catch up on some sleep, have a proper lunch, and get to the Rio in the afternoon. That way I could (hopefully) hang around into the wee hours if (hopefully) one or more UB players made it deep into Day 2 of the $10,000 Omaha/8 World Championship. Unfortunately I arrived after Michael Binger and Brandon Cantu were eliminated, but both Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth are still in the hunt. There are 82 players remaning (a bit less than half the original starting field) and we’ll play until we reach the final nine or when we hit 3am, whichever comes first (more likely the latter).

Annie cashed in the $1,500 Omaha/8 event held last week and though she was down to just a few thousand chips earlier in the day she battled back and now sits with 54,000. That’s the good news. The bad is that sitting directly to Annie’s left is Phil Ivey, making Annie’s seat one of the least-desirable in the poker universe. In fact, that’s Ivey’s fingers riffling chips in the corner of this photo:

Phil Hellmuth seems to be in a jaunty mood today, and why not? He has well over 100,000 in chips, his 71st WSOP cash is in his sights, and beyond that are other records ripe for the smashing. Perhaps the only thing missing from the equation is a venti mocha latte…

There are now 80 players left, with the top 18 cashing. A long way to go.

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Phil to Phil

Friday, June 5, 2009 - Gene Bromberg

It’s all about the bracelets, baby, and yesterday Phil Ivey won his sixth. He also won $96,361, which is nice. Really, that’s a nice little bit ‘o cash. But the buzz around the Amazon Room was that Ivey, just as he did last year, had some big bracelet prop bets outstanding. And as he battled John Monnette for three-and-a-half hours the talk was that Ivey stood to make a stupefying amount of money should he win. And when I say stupefying, I’m talking about eight figures here. Not counting any on the right side of the decimal point. These are just rumors, mind you, but that fact that no one batted an eye at the figures thrown around or thought them unrealisitc makes them seem plausible. And if those sums are accurate, then, wow. GG, Mr. Ivey.

Satchel Paige famously cautioned, “Don’t look back–something might be gaining on you” but that doesn’t seem to be Phil Hellmuth’s attitude toward Ivey’s sixth bracelet. He offered his congratulations via Twitter and then today got back to work on Day 2 of the $2,000 No-Limit Hold-Em event. There’s still a long of tournaments where Phil could take down his 12th bracelet and double-up Ivey, though as Phil took his seat today he was faced with an imposing stack just to his left.

Phil currently has around 55,000, the chip leader has around 175K…hopefully Phil will have a long day at the office.

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He’s Here

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.

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