Monsterpotten

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

Comments (0)

Fly the Colors

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

Comments (0)