Jul
12
by Chad Holloway
Gavin Smith wins his first WSOP bracelet.
I played in the All-In Magazine Media Freeroll earlier this week. It was a super turbo, and I mean it was extremely fast. There were 89 entrants and a few of us from PokerNews entered. There were also a number of poker professionals and notables in the field including Carlos Mortenson, Robert Williamson III, Barbara Enright, Montel Williams, Gavin Smith and Jerry Yang. I’m proud to say I was the last PokerNews member standing and went on to make the final table, which included Corey Zeidman and Marsha Waggoner. Zeidman busted in 7th place and I was right behind in 6th. Waggoner ended up chopping the win and took home some prizes. All in all it was a great event and I had an awesome time.
On the 4th of July, I attended the Bluff Magazine party at Sapphire, the World’s largest gentleman’s club. The strip club itself was alright, not overly impressive, but the party was a great time. A lot of people from the poker industry were there and it was open bar, so it all made for a great time. I met and hung out with John Blowers, the author of Life on Tilt. His book will likely be made into a movie soon and that was a fun topic of conversation. John is a fun guy and it fun getting to meet him, especially considering we both write for Poker Pro Magazine.
As for the WSOP itself, I watched Gavin Smith win his first bracelet. That was something special and among my favorite things I’ve gotten to see out here. The featured table was packed with supporters and it was a very emotionally charged atmosphere after he won, one of those rare moments you look back on and are glad you were part of it. Congrats to Gavin on his first bracelet. Other highlights recently have included Daniel Alaei winning his third bracelet. He is only 25 years old and the only person to have won that many bracelets by that age was, guess who . . . Phil Ivey. Alaei is the real deal and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him dominate for years to come. Also, apparently Peter Eastgate, the 2008 Main Event Champion, quit poker on the eve of the Main Event. He is giving up his sponsorship deal and moving on from the poker world to focus on other things. It sounds like he is for real since he didn’t play the Main Event. I guess only time will tell.
The Main Event itself has been insane. The Rio is packed and everyone in the poker world is has shown up. As I write this, it is Day 1d and NFL superstar Emmitt Smith did the famous “Shuffle Up and Deal” announcement before playing. The cameras were surrounding him and I even managed to snap a few photos myself. Also, the table right next to me was home to Chris Ferguson, Justin “BoostedJ” Smith and John “The Razor” Phan. For a Day 1, that is a stacked table. It should be interesting to see who can navigate this massive field. I’ll be sure to document anything worthwhile in my next blog.
Jun
23
by Jake
For those of you who weren’t able to stay up for 115 hours straight and catch all of Phil Laak’s progress as he broke the Guinness World Record for longest poker session, we’ve got a highlight video recap for you.
Check it out and if you haven’t done so already, you can sign up for a Unabomber Poker account and get a signed Phil Laak hoodie for earning 2,500 frequent player points before July 5.
Jun
22
by Chad Holloway
The World Series of Poker is crazy, but in a good way. A typical day reporting for PokerNews consists of about 12-14 hours, constantly running around gathering hands and chip counts, and posting them to the web. It can be difficult at times trying to keep track of all the big name pros, but it is also a lot of fun. Where else do I get the opportunity to stand next to and talk to the biggest names in poker?
Since coming to the WSOP a few weeks ago, I have had the opportunity to see some pretty incredible things. Among them were Tom “Durrrr” Dwan’s second place finish, Michael Mizrachi’s victory in the $50,000 Players Championship, Men “The Master” Nguyen’s win to capture his 7th bracelet (almost an 8th as well, finishing in second place just last night), and controversy surrounding men entering the Ladies Event. It never ceases to amaze me just what I’ll see on poker’s biggest stage.
I’m really looking forward to the upcoming Tournament of Champions. For those of you who don’t know, the WSOP is bringing back the T.O.C. that occurred from 2004-2006. You may have seen the episodes on ESPN when Annie Duke defeated Phil Hellmuth heads-up in 2004, when Mike Matusow won in 2005, or when Mike Sexton claimed victory in 2006. Anyway, this year Harrah’s announced they would be bring back the T.O.C. in a different format; that is, the fans would vote in an online poll to choose who would get the opportunity play. The only catch was that past bracelet winners would be eligible (Sorry Mr. Laak and Mr. Dwan).
The T.O.C. would feature 27 players. The past three winners would get in, as would the reining Main Event Champs from the WSOP and WSOP-Europe (Joe Cada & Barry Schulman). Harrah’s then reserved two spots for sponsor exemptions, meaning the top 20 vote getters in the poll would get in. Phil Ivey was the number one vote getter, beating out Daniel Negreanu by only 28 votes! Check out who will be playing in the T.O.C.:
Rank Name Votes
1 Phil Ivey 16,267
2 Daniel Negreanu 16,239
3 Doyle Brunson 13,796
4 Phil Hellmuth 12.673
5 Chris Ferguson 11,585
6 Allen Cunningham 10,486
7 Johnny Chan 10,434
8 Scotty Nguyen 9,834
9 Barry Greenstein 9,806
10 John Juanda 8,835
11 Erik Seidel 8,802
12 Jennifer Harman 8,206
13 Huck Seed 8,180
14 Dan Harrington 7,342
15 T.J. Cloutier 6,281
16 Sammy Farha 6,085
17 Howard Lederer 5,596
18 Greg Raymer 5,404
19 Joe Hachem 5,272
20 Antonio Esfandiari 5,129
Automatic Annie Duke 2004 TOC Winner
Automatic Mike Matuswo 2005 TOC Winner
Automatic Mike Sexton 2006 TOC Winner
Automatic Joe Cada 2009 Main Event Champion
Automatic Barry Shulman 2009 WSOP Europe Main Event Champion
Exemption Bertrand Grospellier WSOP Academy Playoff Winner
Exemption Andrew Barton WSOP.com UK Qualifier
There was mixed reaction here at the Rio concerning the decision by Harrah’s to give one of the exemptions to the winner of a single table tournament for the WSOP Academy; regardless, it was Bertrand Grospellier who took it down and got in. Aside from that, the poker community has been mixed on the line-up. It seems they all agree those voted in certainly deserved it, but believed there were a few who may have been overlooked.
The two names I’ve heard mentioned the most were Erick Lindgren and Carlos Mortenson. Lindgren’s success on the World Poker Tour and being named the WSOP Player of the Year in 2008 is hard to ignore. As is Mortenson’s Main Event win in 2001 and subsequent success on the WPT, namely being the all-time money winner. There is no doubt that these are two of the greatest players on the circuit, but when you boil it down, the T.O.C. is a popularity contest and the public voted on who they wanted to see. Now, we just have to wait a couple more weeks to see who becomes Champion of Champions.
Jun
20
by Phil
This is Gytis Bernatavicius on the right. He was the fellow from Lithuania that won the freeroll event we had on UnabomberPoker.Com. We flew him out to Vegas, hooked him up with a room, and here in this picture he is playing with me at hour 49 or so. My buddy Bill took 90% of him (I would have but I did not want a conflict of interest arising at the table) and he played well. If I recall he sat in the game, with 800 (80 was his) and played for about half an hour. (Note the play over box next to him, that was my buddy Bill's stack.)
Gytis happened to swing by at the perfect time. Bill was going to dinner, the play over box idea hit us, and the timing could not have been better. The action was frenetic at the time, lots of sickness at the table was happening. Had Gytis got anything of a hand he was sure to get action. However, the card gods gave him rubbish and nothing developed. In the end he lost 100 or so dollars. Nonetheless it was great meeting him and I was happy he got a chance to play during the record session.
Anyway Gytis.... We will see you on your next visit to vegas (or my next visit to Lithuania!)
Cheers mate!
Phil
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