Tuesday, June 2, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
Can this really be the end of just the first week of the World Series of Poker? It feels like I’ve been in the Amazon Room for one long neverending day. That’s the way the WSOP works, the days flow into each other, you keep time not by the date but by the event number. Today sees the start of Event #7, the first $1,500 No-Limit event, which comes on the heels of the $1,000 Stimulus No-Limit tournament. That event, by the way, still has 50 players battling for the bracelet, and they’ll battle until someone wins it today. Or in the wee hours tomorrow. Because they gotta play down from FIFTY to the champion in one long session, bringing to mind the phrase “death march”. We’d been wondering if the extra chips and extra levels might mean some insanely long sessions. Well, welcome to the Amazon Asylum.
The combination of sleep deprivation, pumped-in oxygen, sketchy diet, and megawatts of nervous energy start to mess with your brain. I’ve taken thousands of pictures the last few days, and I find that the ones that look the most “real” to me are often the ones I play around with the most. Even stone-sober and with six solid hours of sleep last night, this is how I remember Phil Hellmuth leaving the stage after he was eliminated from the Champions Invitational tournament (won early this morning by Tom McEvoy:
During that final table I was standing across from 2002 World Champion Robert Varkonyi, and I could see the reflection of the table in his sunglasses. So I was seeing what he was seeing, though in reverse. No wonder my head started to hurt:
The other day in the Omaha/8 event Phil Hellmuth and Jennifer Harman were sitting at the same table and Phil gave Jennifer a copy of his new book Deal Me In. It isn’t just online players who multi-task when they play:
Maybe it’s my tee-totaling and early turn-ins that has my brain sparking and tweaking. Maybe three Bass Ales for lunch and an all-nighter is what I need to reset my cerebrum to it’s default settings. Then again, I like the pretty colors.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, deal me in, deal me in book, jennifer harman, Phil Hellmuth, phil hellmuth champions invitational, phil hellmuth deal me in, Robert Varkonyi, robert varkonyi champions invitational, world series of poker, WSOP
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Monday, June 1, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
As you might expect there’s a big crowd watching the two remaining tables of World Champions battling it out. Phil Hellmuth is still in (as of a half-hour ago he had 10k, up from the starting stack of 1,000) and they’ll play until they get down to the final nine for the final table. There are 12 players left (Brad Daugherty, Scotty Nguyen and Chris Ferguson were just eliminated) so chances are they won’t play too deep into the night. I’ve been elbowing and kidney-punching my way around the rail snapping pictures and I thought now might be a good time to share a few of them.
I have to warn you, I like grainy black-and-white pics that have that old-time feel to them, so you’ll have to indulge me if I post a lot during the Series. Truth be told, a crappy color photo can be turned into a compelling B&W pic with a little creative adjustment. I’d like to think I salvaged something from a fairly blah photo here:
That’s Robert Varkonyi, Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer, Huck Seed, Dan Harrington, Carlos Mortensen, and Chris Ferguson. A from-the-hip snapshot captures seven World Champions.
Doyle Brunson. He’s always been The Man, he’ll always be The Man.
The always-thirsty Prince of Poker, Scotty Nguyen.
And, of course, Phil Hellmuth, wearing his game face. I think I would too, if I was in serious contention for a 1970 Corvette Stingray. And the title of Champion of Champions.
I’ll be posting a lot more photos here on the blog throughout the Series, and if you want to see those that either didn’t make the cut or couldn’t be shoehorned into a post no matter how hard I tried, they’re posted at my Flickr page. Now I’m gonna grab my machete and see if I can clear a path to Dan Harrington.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, carlos mortensen, champions invitational, Chris Ferguson, chris moneymaker, dan harrington, doyle brunson, greg raymer, Huck Seed, Phil Hellmuth, Robert Varkonyi, Scotty Nguyen, world champions invitational, world series of poker, WSOP, wsop champions invitational, wsop invitational
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Saturday, May 9, 2009 - Phil Hellmuth
As we get ready for the WSOP 2009 I can’t help but think back to 2002. I knew the ramifications of what I was saying. I knew that the American public would perceive my statement as “sour grapes.” Oh well, I said it anyway. I just didn’t think that it would come to this!
While I was helping Gabe Kaplan with the ESPN Commentary during the last day of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2002, I put my foot in my mouth, way in my mouth. Robert Varkonyi had just lost $400,000 of his last $640,000 with 9-9 vs. Julian Gardeners A-A (all-in before the flop) on the first hand. So I just opened my mouth and blurted it out.
It seemed pretty safe to say, especially at that exact time, and, I wasn’t very impressed with Robert’s play anyway, so I said it, “If Robert Varkonyi wins the WSOP, I’ll shave my head.” Sensing some possible added drama, the executive producer said, “Repeat what you just said.” I still felt like backing off, but I thought, “What are the chances that this comment makes the final ESPN cut to make me look bad anyway? I mean, Robert has to win first place from $240,000 in chips.” So I repeated the statement for the ESPN Commentary.
Now the players were told what I said, and I looked at Robert right then, and he seemed to bristle a bit. I thought, “Oh no, I may have lit a fire under him!” I don’t know if that was the case or not, but I do know that Robert began to play better then anyone else in the field from that moment forward. He did manage to hold off an ace or a king when John Shipley moved all-in with A-K versus Robert’s J-J, and he pretty much dominated the final table play after that. He was only all-in one other time when he put in one million dollars before the flop with J-J vs. John Shipley’s A-J. After that pot, Robert steadily increased his chip lead until he had a stranglehold on the rest of the players.
With four players left, and the blinds at $15,000-$30,000, Robert opened for $100,000 with Q-10 (the same hand that he busted me out with versus my Ah-Kh in a memorable [for me!] pot two days earlier). When Scott Grey moved all-in for $250,000 more with A-9, Robert called saying, “This is Phil’s favorite hand (a reference to the beat he put on me), so I call.” I don’t like his call here at all. But with a flop of Q-Q-8, Q-10 really was my favorite hand! The turn card brought a 9 and the river brought an A, both of which hit Scott’s A-9, but it wasn’t enough to beat three queens.
Now they were down to three players. The first hand after a fifteen-minute TV timeout was spectacular. Julian Gardener opened the pot for $100,000 on the button. Ralph Perry raised, and made it $300,000 to go from the small blind. Then Robert moved all-in (four million dollars!) from the big blind. Julian flashed his hand to me when he folded it and he had 10-10. Ralph decided to call with his J-J, and Robert had A-A in the big blind! This was one of the most exciting (and cold blooded) hands in WSOP history. In two hands, Robert had eliminated two players and now he faced Julian–with 5 million in chips to Julian’s 1.3 million in chips.
After only 10 more minutes, the blinds were up to $20,000-$40,000 when the following hand came up. Robert made it only $80,000 to go on the button with Q-10 (that hand again!), and Julian called in the big blind with Jc-8c, and the flop came down 4c-4d-Qc. Now Julian checked, and Robert bet out a relatively small $50,000. Julian decided to move all-in for $900,000 total (an $850,000 raise), and Robert announced, “I call.”
Now the hands were flipped face up, and the fourth card was a 10. With two million dollars in the pot, tournament director Matt Savage (who did a great job throughout the whole WSOP) announced, “Julian needs a club or a 9.” Not exactly Matt, what about the one card, that actually was a club, but still didn’t win the pot for Julian? How about the 10c on the river for Robert to immortalize Q-10 with a full house (tens full of queens) which beat Julian’s jack high flush with a final board of 4c-4d-Qc-10s-10c. What a great last card–both players make a big hand! Right after they turned the 10c on the river, the crowd started chanting, “Shave Phil’s head – shave Phil’s head…”
Of course, Becky Behnan made sure that someone had some barbers equipment on hand, and, I am a man of my word. I would have loved to avoid the head shave, but I certainly deserved what I had coming, and I knew it! First Robert, followed by Becky Behnan, Andy Glazer, the Devilfish, and others, took turns shaving my head in front of a room full of spectators, press and cameras. Although the “side show” spectacle of having my head shaved by Robert (who was very gracious and tried to let me out of a shaved head) in front of over 1000 people, was, apparently, very entertaining for those watching, it was Robert’s day.
Robert played magnificent poker while he dominated the final table at the World Championships of poker. Congratulations to Robert Varkonyi, the 2002 World Champion of poker.
Tags: Devilfish, espn, gabe kaplan, Robert Varkonyi, WSOP
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