Sunday, June 28, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
As usual at 2:20PM in the Amazon Room there was a brief pause as Jeffrey Pollack presented the new WSOP champions with their bracelets. And today we again witnessed a Team UltimateBet player receiving his second career bracelet, as Brandon Cantu followed Matt Graham’s lead and won his second WSOP event last night. And that meant this afternoon the Amazon Room crowd turned toward the Corum stage to see Brandon get his reward.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, bracelet ceremony, Brandon Cantu, world series of poker, WSOP, wsop bracelet ceremony
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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.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, bracelet ceremony, jeffrey pollack, Phil Hellmuth, phil ivey, ub, ub wsop, ultimatebet, ultimatebet wsop, world series of poker, WSOP, wsop bracelet ceremony
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Thursday, June 4, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
There’s a new tradition here at the World Series of Poker. In years past the bracelets would be awarded when the final table came to an end–which oftentimes was very, very late at night. And even though winning a bracelet is one of the signature achievements in poker, the actual presentation was sometimes an anticlimax. When it’s 5:30 in the morning, there’s no one in the stands, and the Amazon Room itself is 90% empty, it’s hard to muster much energy for the bracelet ceremony.
That’s now been changed. Every day at 2pm WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and Tournament Director Jack Effel take the stage on a small dais built next to the Final Tale Arena and introduce the previous day’s bracelet winners to the crowd. Play is suspended as the newly-crowned champions are welcomed on stage, given a Harrah’s Diamond Rewards Card (an extra perq) and then, of course, are presented their gold World Series of Poker bracelets. Then the national anthem of the winner’s country is played (maybe that’s gilding the lily, a bit) and the winner given a final ovation.
It’s an outstanding idea, one that properly recognizes those who have captured poker’s greatest prize and also gives the fans a chance to see the new champions (and check out their bracelets up close). Today saw bracelets awarded to three Americans–Jason Mercier, Steve Sung, and Freddie Ellis. Ellis, a veteran of high-stakes seven-card stud games in Atlantic City, won the World Championship in that game yesterday after besting Eric Drache in a marathon heads-up match:
I’ve said a number of times before that Harrah’s seems to have this running-the-WSOP thing down, and additions such as the bracelet ceremony go a long way to making the World Series of Poker an even richer and enjoyable experience. And I’m anxious to hear the reaction in the room the first time we hear the French national anthem, the Vietnamese anthem, the Brazilian national anthem. The flags will be wavin’.
Tags: 2009 world series of poker, 2009 wsop, awarding wsop bracelets, freddie ellis, jack effel, jason mercier, jeffrey pollack, jeffrey pollack awarding bracelets, steve sung, world series of poker, world series of poker bracelet ceremony, world series of poker bracelets, WSOP, wsop bracelet ceremony, wsop bracelets
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