Mar
30
by Chad Holloway
In my last blog I talked about the first half of my trip to Los Angeles for The Big Event at the Bicycle Casino, which you can find somewhere on here. This time I’m going to continue with Part II and the Bounty Shootout (BSO) that took place at the same venue, the Bicycle Casino. It started with nine tables of nine players each, for a total field of 81 players. Each table played down to a winner, which comprised the final table that was filmed for broadcast on ESPN. Some of the players who played, but failed to make the final table, were Chris Moneymaker, Orel Hershiser, Richard Lyndaker, Daniel Negreanu, Vanessa Rousso, Allen Kessler, Shaun Deeb, and many more. The final table ended up being pretty stacked, including an appearance by Victor Ramdin, who was the winner of The Big Event Main Event just two days prior. Talk about a heater.
Aside from Ramdin, the final table also included John Smith, Shane Schleger, Matt Woodward, Alex Keating, Pat Walsh, Ali Eslami, Joe Tehan, and Jonathan Duhamel, the reigning World Series of Poker Main Event Champion. Unfortunately, Ramdin was the first player eliminated after he ran middle set into Smith’s top set just twenty minutes into play. Any BSO tends to be long, boring, and tedious, at least until the blinds pick up. This one was no different. It took 16 hours before the final table wrapped at 6:30 in the morning. Here is how the final table of that event ended up:
|
Place
|
Player
|
Bounties
|
Prize
|
|
1st
|
Pat Walsh
|
5
|
$241,700
|
|
2nd
|
Ali Eslami
|
4
|
$56,000
|
|
3rd
|
Alex Keating
|
3
|
$62,000
|
|
4th
|
Joe Tehan
|
4
|
$56,000
|
|
5th
|
John Smith
|
5
|
$58,000
|
|
6th
|
Jonathan Duhamel
|
5
|
$58,000
|
|
7th
|
Matt Woodward
|
1
|
$42,000
|
|
8th
|
Shane Schleger
|
3
|
$46,000
|
|
9th
|
Victor Ramdin
|
4
|
$48,000
|
So while I was in L.A., the NBC National Heads-Up Championship was being held in Vegas. One of my favorite things to do is fill out a bracket with predictions prior to the event, much like filling out a March Madness bracket for the NCAA. Many others do the same and it has turned into a friendly competition in the poker community. As the reigning ESPN Fantasy Poker League Champion, and an expert in fantasy poker, I was looking forward to putting my knowledge to use and constructing some successful predictions. Unfortunately things didn’t quite turn out as I planned. Here is how my bracket looked:
If you compared this with the actual results, you’ll see I went a pathetic 18-45! Not the magnificent run I was hoping for; in fact, I didn’t have either Chris Moneymaker or Erik Seidel, the eventual finalists, making it out of the first round. It didn’t help that I picked Eric Baldwin to win and he was eliminated in the first round; likewise, Laak, who I also had in the finals, exited in the second round. At least I did a little better in my March Madness bracket.
My next stop is going to be the World Series of Poker Circuit in St. Louis between April 6th-13th. Not only will I be covering the Main Event for PokerNews, but I’m going down early to play a few rings events. Who knows, maybe I’ll capture one and have to hit the circuit trying to qualify for this $1 million National Championship Freeroll. That would sure be nice, but it’ll be fun either way. In the meantime, be sure to follow me on Twitter @ChadAHolloway and check out my daily articles on PokerNews.com.
Mar
14
by Chad Holloway
My latest adventure for PokerNews.com was a jaunt back out to Los Angeles for The Big Event at the Bicycle Casino. I wasn’t particularly excited considering I was just in L.A. back in November for the NAPT stop, but the trip ended up being one of my favorites thus far. I stayed at the Millennium Biltmore, the same place as last time, and was joined by members of Team PokerNews Donnie Peters, Eric Ramsey, Kristy Arnett, and Will Thomas, as well as Garry Gates of the NAPT. They’re some great people and it is hard not to have a good time when they’re around.
The Big Event was held at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens and they treated us great. Their tournament structure was the best I’ve covered as far as getting the media out at a decent hour. I managed to have some free time which is a rarity on these trips. In addition, Kelley O’Hara, the Director of Marketing, treated us like VIPs, comping our food (which is fantastic by the way . . . try the chicken kabob) and often arranging for transportation back to our hotel.
The Big Event Main Event was a trip in and of itself. It drew 417-players including some pretty big names. Jennifer Tilly was there, although she busted on Day 1, but unfortunately Phil “The Unabomber” Laak couldn’t attend due to prior commitments in Chicago. Others in attendance included Tom McEvoy, Kathy Liebert, Matt Affleck, Nacho Barbero, Barry Greenstein, Jerry Yang, just to name a few. What was really special was that two poker superstars managed to make it all the way to the final table in former World Poker Tour winner Victor Ramdin and 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Joe Hachem.
The final table was broadcast live on the Bicycle Casino’s popular Live at the Bike webcast. The program allowed viewers to see the player’s hole cards, which is quite revolutionary for a live broadcast. In actuality, it aired with a slight delay in order to ensure the security of the game. Nonetheless, the program, which was the brainchild of O’Hara and her crew, was a big success and highly entertaining. Live at the Bike also airs live cash games throughout the week, which you can watch at LiveattheBike.com.
The final table was one of the best I’ve seen and ended with Ramdin defeating Hachem in heads-up play. Here are the results of that final table:
|
Finish
|
Player
|
Winnings
|
|
1st
|
Victor Ramdin
|
$500,000
|
|
2nd
|
Joe Hachem
|
$300,000
|
|
3rd
|
Jeremy Ausmas
|
$190,000
|
|
4th
|
Taylor von Kriegenbergh
|
$140,000
|
|
5th
|
Bryan Leskowitz
|
$100,000
|
|
6th
|
Govert Metaal
|
$75,000
|
|
7th
|
Jose De Noronha
|
$55,000
|
|
8th
|
Santiago Nadal
|
$35,327
|
It is also worth noting that during the final table we were all informed of the earthquake that struck Japan as well as the subsequent tsunami. It is rare to see a poker room to grow quiet and come to a halt, but that is exactly what happened. Disbelief, empathy, and shock are words that can be used to describe the atmosphere as all eyes were glued to the television. Ramdin and Hachem even stopped their heads-up match during this time and even discussed breaking until the following day. I thought that even contemplating such a move was an amazingly generous gesture.
On a lighter note, I actually had the opportunity to do some tourist stuff on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 when our tournament ended in the early evening. I really wanted to go down to Hollywood Boulevard and was fortunate enough to have Will volunteer to go with me. He lives in L.A. and it was nice to have a sort of guide show me around. I took my first subway ride ever, saw the Grauman’s Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, and all kinds of movie-related things. From there we went to Little Tokyo were I enjoyed my first Mochi balls, which were awesome. If you don’t know what they are, look them up and try them the first chance you get. I was really glad I got the chance to see some of L.A., however limited it turned out to be, and it ended up being one of my favorite days of the trip.
In my next blog, I will talk about the Bounty Shootout event as well as some other fun things that happened in Los Angeles, so be sure to check back in the near future. In the meantime, be sure to follow me on Twitter @ChadAHolloway.