LETS VC YOU AT THE SERIES
WSOP NEWS UPDATES
Playing today…
First event off the blocks will be the 6 handed No Limit Hold’em, scheduled to begin at noon here in Las Vegas (8.00pm GMT).
”Well, you see…the nits…they want to play 11 handed but you put a good player at a six handed table he’s gonna eat ‘em up!”
Mike Laing (Bellagio WPT World Championship)
JESUS CHRIST
There are so many different types of card protectors out there. All sizes and shapes. There are apparently some restrictions on size but nobody seems to know what exactly they are. I noticed this one sitting in front of MJ Partin. As I took a few shots, he kept showing me the different orientations the card protector could be placed it. It would go up, down, side to side with different faces on either side.
After the 10th picture I commented,”Jesus Christ how many different faces does it have?”
”Actually Jesus Christ is sitting next to me,” he said.
MJ Partin sits next to Jesus Christ
GOOD LOOKIN OUT
Freddy Deeb is the man. He makes sure to say hello all the time and is always really friendly. This time he noticed I was taking some shots of a pretty girl at the table. Freddy, keeping up with tradition, made sure to keep an eye out for me.
”Honey, look, he’s taking pictures. Blow bubbles, blow some bubbles!” She smiled and obliged.
I asked her name, she said,”Well it’s kinda weird. It’s R-E apostrophe, capital V-A.”
”And what’s your last name please?”
”Alexander.”
”Okay so that’s, A-L-E-X apostrophe…” She just laughed as I ran off to check out some pictures.
Freddy cried out,”Don’t forget to say it was Freddy Deeb that got you that picture!”
Full credit to Mr. Freddy Deeb.
A FEW HOURS WITH NORWAY NATIVE THOR HANSEN
The Godfather of the Norwegian poker scene, Thor Hansen, is a chatty presence at the table, despite the tense pressure situation of the Six Man format.
He asks everyone about their various home towns and how the tournaments are where they play.
”I like a deep stack,” Thor says. ”Too many tournaments the structure moves quick and everyone is short-stacked at the final table or before.”
The other players agree as he continues about how longer tournaments allow for more play and less all-in manoeuvring pre-flop.
As the hands are dealt, I notice something different about Thor from other players: he looks at his cards right away, opting not to wait until it’s his turn to act. He also doesn’t attempt to keep a stone statue face or hide all emotion: he’ll sigh and smile and frown and make gestures to indicate a life beyond the poker life, a personality genuine and not veiled in superficial subterfuge.
For some this might be a leak, giving away potential information; for a veteran like Mr. Hansen with millions of dollars of tournament winnings it’s nothing more than a way to expedite proceedings as he bends back the corner of each card with a strong thumb.
Between hands he sips at his coffee which rests next to an orange and a bottle of water. Once the coffee is finished, he peels the orange, tossing the discard into the empty coffee mug. Biting into each wedge, the juice dribbles on his chin and he wipes it away with the back of his hand, smiling as he sees me watching his movements.
Thinking I want some, he offers a piece and I decline, thanking him for his generosity.
Perhaps the cards aren’t accommodating him, perhaps it’s the structure of the event, or perhaps it’s his strategy for this format, but in the first hour Thor only volunteers to put in money in the pot for two limps which he folds post-flop.
On one hand he’s about to call a flop bet when he’s heads-up, but he folds. I scratch out the hand from my notebook and he says, ”I am not catching any cards. At least not yet.”
”It’ll turn around,” I reply.
”I hope so,” he says. ”Thank you.”
Talk turns back to tournaments and tournament structure with Thor solidifying his points about why small blinds that escalate at a reasonable pace is beneficial and everyone continues to agree.
”I’ve actually won some big tournaments,” a young brash American player says to Thor.
”That’s terrific,” Thor replies, not saying the obvious, as Thor has won some events himself, including WSOP bracelets.
”Yeah, I won almost $38,000 in this tourney online,” the kid continues. ”Big score.”
”That is nice,” Thor says, not mentioning the millions he’s won.
Would a Phil Hellmuth do the same?
A moment later I back away from the table to see the commotion on a table behind me and almost knock over poker legend Doyle Brunson. After apologizing, he ambles away on his crutch and nods in Thor’s direction as he passes.
That’s not the only superstar of the game to acknowledge this tremendous talent: William Thorsen, one of the best young players (one of the best players, period) heads to the bathroom but makes a turn after seeing Thor.
William swings by the table, smiling, and the two shake hands. Something is said between them and both laugh.
A few hands later the player to Thor’s right mucks his hand but it flips face-up. As the dealer reaches for it, the player does at the same time, and Mr. Hansen tosses his hand. Thor’s hand hits the dealer’s hands and now four cards have been exposed.
We see: 
”You folded pocket Queens?” Thor asks the player.
”No, I had, I’m not sure, but I didn’t have pocket Queens.”
”I threw away the Five-Two,” Thor jokes. ”You must have folded pocket Queens.”
Thor finishes up his orange and moves onto the bottle of water.
While he hasn’t managed to gain any position in the first few hours of this event, he has enriched the lives of the players at his table by his wonderful personality and charming demeanour.
The poker community would benefit by more Thor Hansens.
COULD YOU SHINE YOUR LIGHT?
Michael DeMichelle, who worked in Hollywood for many years as Nathan Fillion starring in such cult classics as ”Firefly” and ”Two Guys, A Girl, And A Pizza Place,” has become one of the fiercest and most popular competitors in the World Series.
On his button, he sucks down some more grapes while asking the dealer, ”What the hell is this?” pointing to the blinds who have out $25 and $50 apiece.
The blinds just went up and no one, not even the dealer, knew it except for Michael.
Focus is a key to success and, if the saying that the sky is the limit is true, you can’t take the skies from Michael.
DEDICATION
Eskimo Clark made his reappearance yesterday, after disappearing for a little while after his collapse last week. He was deep in the Razz tournament when, all of a sudden, he had another episode. Word has it that he ‘froze up’ once again, and the help was called to give him assistance. The tournament was immediately put on break and the players cleared from the area.
I wasn’t close enough to see what they were doing but after a little while Eskimo was back up in his chair. He decided to tough it out and insisted that he not leave. In the end, it was his decision and the assistance left, but you have to imagine that they are still waiting close by.
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU
”We lost one player at my other table and they move me here!” exclaimed some random dude to Norman Chad.
The ESPN cameras were all over the table like white on rice. The reason was obvious. Staring each other down from across the table were Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem. Jason Strasser was there too and he’s no slouch. He’s won loads of money online and continuously goes deep in the live events. The guy that had just been moved was caught in the middle and was crying on Chad’s shoulder.
Chad isn’t a man of many words and just replied, ”Yeah. Uh, that’s pretty tough.”
ROLL CALL!!!
A few familiar faces in the crowd:
Chris Bjorin
George Danzer
Eric Friberg
WITH ARMS WIDE OPEN BABY
Scotty Nguyen showed up a little late for the 6 handed event today. He came in with a smile on his face and his arms in the air. He was walking toward me and I couldn’t help myself, the guy looked so happy, I had to give him an over the top,”WASSSSSHHUP BAAABY!!!” He smiled, reached out his hand, and said,”How you doin’ baby.” I shook his hand and he sat down ready for business.
HISTORY IS SO FAR AWAY
Event 28: No Limit Hold ‘em
Down to three tables in this event, Thomas Wahlroos relays a story about a big pot he played with Gus Hansen, except no one can hear the tale because, on the next table, Cloud Eleven pilot Phil Hellmuth rants and raves and raves and rants.
”I’m making history, baby,” he yells to his agent, Brian Balsbaugh, standing nearby. ”History!”
”It’s all you, Phil.”
On the next hand, Phil open-raises to three times the big blind. It’s folded around to the big blind who moves all in, having Phil covered.
Phil shakes his head, annoyed, and flips up an Ace from his hand. ”Don’t worry, buddy, it’s easy to steal from me.” He mucks despite committing about 15% of his stack to the initial move.
He stands up to broadcast better: ”In two days I haven’t moved in once on anyone. Not once. All day yesterday and today everyone is moving in on me. And I know why: they know they can’t outplay me on the flop, so they rather just move in their chips and let the chips fall, let the chips fall, let the chips fall where they may because they cannot ever outplay me.”
”You know it, Phil,” his agent replies, patting him on his back.
What I’d like to know Phil is what happened in that hand with Wahlroos and Hansen?
UPDATE
Joe Tehan is currently out in front in the short handed hold’em event. Ex world Champion, Joe Hachem has just been eliminated and his table partner Greg Raymer is down but not out. A random run through the current chip status might look like this…
Mimi in front, Barry in back…
There are a fair few casualties, so without further ado…
Johnny Chan
David Benyamine
John D’Agostino
Victor Ramdin
George Danzer
Sean Sheikhan
Tony G
Scotty Nguyen
Eric Froehlich
Phil Ivey…’Carpenters’ or ‘Bat Out of Hell’? You decide…
Alex Jacob
Daniel Alaei
David Williams
Bill Gazes
Freddy Deeb
Huck Seed
Vanessa Rousso
Chad Brown
Gavin Smith
Isabelle Mercier
Scotty Nguyen
Jennifer Harman
Scott Clements
Layne Flack
Liz Lieu
Chris Ferguson
Shannon Elizabeth
Michael Binger
Andy Black
Jennifer Tilly
Dutch Boyd
Jesse Jones
ALL Eliminated…
THE PHIL SHOW RAGES FORTH
Event 28: No Limit Hold ‘em
”There’s the rim,” Phil explains, standing up and pantomiming a basketball rim. ”And then there’s the backboard.” He pauses, making sure everyone is listening to something important this way that’s coming. ”And I’m” — he lifts his arms up in the sky — ”I’m way above.”
A few folks in the crowd cheer; rail birds love to be fed their ego-seeds.
”I’m calling in the small blind,” Phil shouts over to Thomas Wahlroos who has just folded his hand on the other table. ”And I’ve got a small pocket pair or a medium pocket pair and that’s fine because I know I’ll play those hands the best on the flop. These guys” — he indicates all the players on the table with his hands — ”these guys are moving in with Ace-rag and who knows what other garbage. Patience, Thomas, patience.”
DONKEYS DONKEYS EVERYWHERE
Event 28: No Limit Hold ‘em
”No!” Thomas Wahlroos shouts after seeing the Ten high flop.
”What is it, Thomas?” Phil Hellmuth asks, coming over to check out the scene.
”He raised, I moved in with Ace-King, and this donkey called with Ace-Ten.”
‘The Donkey’ (in the Nike cap), Norm MacDonald, and Perry Friedman
”That’s how these guys play,” Phil commiserates. ”You should see what they try with me.”
Phil heads over, takes his hand, folds it, ducks under the guardrail, and sprints out of the room.
Moments later he returns having only missed one other hand with a plate of noodles and a bagel that he demolishes in record time.
Phil Phullmouth
WSOP ENFORCER
Event 28: No Limit Hold ‘em
”You cannot do that,” Thomas Wahlroos instructs Beth Shak after she bets, draws her hand back, grabs more chips, and bets them as well. ”It’s a string bet; you should know better.”
”But–”
”You didn’t announce raise and you didn’t use one motion. It’s a string bet.”
”Okay, okay… fine. Just make it twenty then,” says Mrs. Shak.
Mrs. Shak takes down the pot
BERATED BY THE MASTER
Event 28: No Limit Hold ‘em
The button open-raises Phil Hellmuth’s big blind.
”You know I’ve been laying down King-Jack and Ace rags, right?” Phil asks him.
The button says nothing.
”So if I call this raise, you should be scared. Plus, you know who I am, right?”
Silence.
”So what the heck you have?”
Nothing comes forth, so Phil takes another moment and decides to look at his cards. He calls the raise.
The flop comes Ace-Queen-Eight. Phil checks, the button bets almost the pot, and Phil calls.
The turn of a Queen is checked through.
The river of a Ten draws a half-pot bet from Phil, which is called by the button, who shows Ace-rag.
Phil shows King-Jack for the rivered straight.
After gathering up the pot, Phil stands. ”Attention, attention, everyone. Just like I tell everyone when they play badly, I’m man enough to say when I play badly. Thomas!” he yells, getting Thomas Wahlroos’ attention.
”What?”
”Are you allowed to call the floor on yourself? Because I’m an idiot and play bad poker and the media should know and note that I played that hand badly and I sucked out on my opponent for the first time ever compared to every other time when I always have the best and the donkeys get me. I’m an idiot and the floor should give me a penalty for criticizing myself.”
”Are you a master berater?” Perry Friedman asks from the Wahlroos table.
”You, sir, are too clever for me so I’ll just sit down.”
Thank you, Mr. Friedman.
MORE WORLD CLASS LAY-DOWNS
Event 28: No Limit Hold ‘em
Phil Hellmuth open-raises from middle position and the button moves all-in, having about three times as many chips as Phil.
”Okay, kid, you want to be that way?” Phil asks. ”You know I have a hand, right?”
The button shrugs his shoulders.
”You know I have a hand. I’ve played three out of the last thirty or so hands. You know I’ve got something but you’re moving in just because you don’t want to see a flop with me because you know you can’t outplay me if that happens. So you move in. One of these days you guys will make a mistake and I’ll double up through you.”
I don’t know if Phil’s opponents know how to spell ”tilt.”
ROUND TWO
Eskimo Clark had another episode. This time it seemed more serious than the last. By the time most people realized what was going on, the Razz area had been emptied out except for one table, where a hand took a few minutes to play through. By the time the hand was over, security had gathered around Eskimo. He was conscious and the paramedics were on their way.
Nobody really knows what his health issues are but, after tending to him for nearly a half hour, Eskimo signed some paperwork (presumably waivers) and was helped back to his feet. A few minutes later he was back outside on a bench enjoying a few cigarettes. Eskimo was first or second in chips in the tournament and there was no way he was allowing himself to be pulled away from it.
After trying to take some pictures of Eskimo from the rail, one of the rail birds decided to help us out. ”Hey Men, can you get outta the way?” he asked.
”Okay,” Men said and stood up smiling.
$1,500 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
Today’s final table was another $1,500 Hold’em event, this time won by Nevada native David Stucke, beating Young Cho in the heads-up.
Stucke took $603,069 and the gold and diamond bracelet in what would be his first cash in a major tournament. Not a bad way to get off the mark.
CLOSING IN
$3,000 No Limit Hold’em
Phil Hellmuth isn’t the only player eyeing the bracelet in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em. As the event gets closer and closer to tomorrow’s final.
Shortly after the dinner break Hellmuth’s verbal sparring partner Thomas Wahlroos was eliminated by Perry Friedman who high carded the Finn to the rail in 14th. Soon it would be 12 left when Ed Moncada was eliminated by Shankar Pillai, who spiked his card on the river.
The all-ins continued.
Beth Shak was next but with better results, doubling up with Aces over Ace-King. Kevin Hong then moved, out-kicked though with his Ace; Ace-Nine for Hong, Luke Vrabel bringing the misery with Ace-Queen.
Vrabel’s chips were soon over with Dustin Holmes though, as he doubled up with Queens versus Vrabel’s Jacks.
But play reached ten players when Noah Schwartz found that luck wasn’t ladies tonight. His all-in move with Sixes was met by the Queens of Perry Friedman, sending him out in 11th place.
One more faller until we reach the final in the $3,000. But wait! Usually the final tables end with nine players. For some strange reason (ahem, Phil Hellmuth!), this table was stopped with ten players. Tomorrow’s plan is to film the final table and Philly boy is a bit low on chips so, perhaps as an insurance policy, the final table will have ten players. How long does it take to add a hole cam to a table anyway?
THE BUBBLE
$2,500 No Limit Hold’em Six-Handed
It seemed like it took forever for the bubble to burst in the short handed Hold’em tournament. I was waiting for tournament director to repeat a joke he used a couple of nights ago to signal the last stages…
”Alright everyone, remember this game is no limit hold’em… feel free to push all in at ANY time.”
He didn’t, but the bubble popped shortly thereafter.
$3,000 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM
It doesn’t take a Hellmuth marketing manager to point out that the big name in this final is the Poker Brat himself. Phil Hellmuth seeks his 12th bracelet in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em which has a ten-handed final table rather than the traditional nine. It’s a tall order as Phil trails in chips. But weirder things have happened.
Beth Shak, second in chips, will look to become the first woman player this year to win a bracelet, outside of the Ladies event. But it’s Dustin Holmes leading the field into the final day.
The final gets under way at 2pm local time, or 10pm (GMT) on Tuesday.
$2,500 NO LIMIT HOLD’EM SIX-HANDED
Play has ended on day one of the $2,500 No limit Hold’em Six-Handed event. The man with the hat, and usually a cigar, Hoyt Corkins leads the survivors into day 2…
Other notables include…
Shaun Deeb
Adam Hourani
Erick Lindgren
Jesper Petersen
Steve Billirakis
Terrence Chan
Vinny Vinh
Robert Cheung
Jon Friedberg
and Erik Seidel
Meanwhile lady luck walked out on, well, just about everyone looking at this list…
Barry Greenstein
Dan Morris
John Juanda
Captain Tom Franklin
Ian Frazer
Steve Zolotow
Aaron Kanter
Nam Le
J.C. Tran
Ram Vaswani
‘Miami’ John Cernuto
Robert Mizrachi
Allen Cunningham
Bill Chen
Joe Awada
Padraig Parkinson
Mark Seif
Thomas ‘Thunder’ Keller
Vanessa Selbst
Jason Strasser
Brad Berman
Jim McManus
Alex Jacob
Thor Hansen
Joe Hachem
Andy Bloch
Greg Raymer
Johnny Chan
John D’Agostino
John Phan
Toto Leonidas
George Danzer
Tony G
Scotty Nguyen
Justin Bonomo
Chip Jett
Eric Froehlich
David Williams
Bill Gazes
Freddy Deeb
Huck Seed
Vanessa Rousso
Scott Clements
Chad Brown
Isabelle Mercier
Gavin Smith
Jennifer Harman
Layne Flack
Liz Lieu
Shannon Elizabeth
Michael Binger
Andy Black
Jennifer Tilly
Jesse Jones
Dutch Boyd
Victor Ramdin
David Benyamine
Bill Edler
Phil Ivey
Minh Nguyen
Dan Alspach
J.J. Liu
Minh Ly
Sean Sheikhan
and Chris Ferguson
$1,500 RAZZ
After a vote swaying towards the option of coming back tomorrow rather than playing on, the Razz event has ended its second day. It’s another table with a few stories behind it.
Chipleader…
Whilst O’Neil Longson holds the chip lead going into the final Paul ‘Eskimo’ Clark is perhaps the most notable name on the list of the last nine. Coming back from a chip deficit is one thing, but coming back from near death, in the literal sense, is something else. Just days after collapsing in the Pavilion during an event last week, he’s back, still playing, and second in chips.
Katja Thater makes her second final table of the week, and along with Beth Shak in the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em, is the best chance of a woman bracelet winner this year outside of the Ladies event. She sits fourth in chips.
Mark Vos
Other names include Mark Vos, who could become one of few ginger bracelet winners should he come back from seventh in chips, and Men ‘The Master’ Nguyen, who can add to his legend if he can kick start that little bike of his tomorrow.
Play in the Razz continues at 3pm Vegas time on Tuesday, or 11pm (GMT).
A new day brings new events, and tomorrow will see a slight change of pace with the start of the World Championship Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em, with a $5,000 buy-in. A $2,000 Seven Card Stud will also begin. Just the six tournaments tomorrow then…
