Two days off felt great, but it’s also enjoyable to be back behind the computer for PokerNews after starting the WSOP on the floor as a reporter.
Unfortunately it also means that I will be enduring a seven-day stretch of work that includes four different events, two final tables and three different games!
Tuesday saw me work with Rich covering the Event 6: $5,000 No Limit Holdem Shootout. The 358-player field formed easily one of the toughest collection of starting tables that the World Series will witness this year, and consequently it was no surprise that the thirty six players that made it through to round two were of the highest calibre in the shootout format.
Just try and pick a winner out of James Akenhead, Dario Minieri, John Duthie, Chad Brown, Tom Dwan, Joseph Elpayaa, Christian Harder, Blair Hinkle, Eugene Katchalov, Faraz Jaka, Justin ‘Boosted J’ Smith, Chino Rheem, Max Pescatori and Chris Ferguson!
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Another day and another event saw me tackle all the day one action of Event 8: $1,500 No Limit Holdem with one of our new bloggers Chad.
It was just the standard [i]donkament[/i] with over 2,000 players being eliminated from the starting 2,341, and if you read the coverage – which you should – you will realise that it has a very Jean-Robert Bellande and Phil Hellmuth feel to it.
How could it not really as these two guys are some of the most entertaining poker players to ever walk the hallways of the Rio. Hellmuth obviously sits in a class of his own with eleven bracelets and the ability to run his mouth in a way that attracts droves of people to sweat his every action three rows deep on the rail. Bellande – via his twitter account BrokeLivingJRB – details his crazy swings in poker and in life as he attempts to live the dream running up a million-dollar bankroll from nothing.
Late in the day Hellmuth got moved to Bellande’s table and that’s when fireworks between the two sparked continuously. They did both manage to survive the day to be placed in the top twenty, with this hand being one of the highlights.
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courtesy of PokerNews
Bellande Playing Perfect, JRB Training School Soon To Open!
Jean-Robert Bellande opened to 3,000 from middle position and Phil Hellmuth made the call.
On a flop of
9♦
Q♥
9♣ Bellande fired out 5,000 and Hellmuth quickly made the call to see the
7♣ land on the turn and a check follow from Bellande.
“How much you have left?” asked Hellmuth.
Bellande sat there looking blankly at the board before parting his hands so that Hellmuth could view in full sight his chip stack.
“What’s the total?” Hellmuth asked the dealer as the dealer cut down Bellande’s stack to total 25,400.
“Small bets mean nothing” stated Hellmuth as he tossed in a 3,800-chip bet which Bellande called before both players checked the
2♦ on the river.
Bellande tabled his
8♠
8♣ and Hellmuth asked, “what he have?”
Hellmuth nodded his head and flashed his
4♥
4♠ before folding to slip to 54,000 as Bellande began to rake in the pot to climb back to 48,000.
“Your small bets mean nothing Phil” Bellande added.
“All those guys that watch poker VT are wasting their time. If they want to play perfect poker they should just put a camera behind me. I couldn’t of played that hand any better,” Bellande finished off much to the amusement of the rail and fellow table combatants.
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My first final table of the series saw me return to Event 6: $5,000 No Limit Holdem Shootout with Rich.
The six remaining players – Joshua Tieman, Stuart Rutter, Brent Hanks, Neil Channing and Joseph Elpayaa – were all starting seventy-five big blinds deep with 1,500,000 in chips, but the final table amazingly lasted only four hours as Tieman crushed souls to be crowned the Event 6 Champion and $441,692 richer.
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Since me and Rich were out early – for probably the only time this series – we wondered aimlessly round the room checking out some of the other events before heading to dinner with the PokerNews head honcho Matt.
We headed to McFadden’s and enjoyed a burger before I made my way back to the Hard Rock. I showered and watched some TV before deciding that it would be a good idea to go gamble and play some Craps.
Bad idea.
I quickly was up $200 or so on my roll as I kept rolling sixes and eights while hitting the occasional point. I eventually did crap out, and that started a bad roll from the whole table as that $200 profit was wiped and then the $300 I had in my wallet was wiped too.
The final result for the night . . . I have just five bucks in my wallet and an assortment of nickels, dimes and quarters on my bedside table . . . I love Vegas!
Arguably the best dressed man in poker; Tony ‘Bond18′ Dunst was unable to gather any momentum on his appearance at the final table. At one point he found himself all in holding Queens against Hasan Habib’s Ace-King. A King spiked on the flop, but a Queen on the river saw Dunst double through in a hand that will surely make the ESPN broadcast.