tilted behaviour

Returning to the blogging desk, I found myself in the unusual position of having the luxury of covering the same tournament from start to end with Event 49: $1,500 No Limit Holdem.

The one thing that was special about this event wasn’t that it was the last donkament of the series, but the fact that it was used to celebrate the life of Amir Vahedi.

Vahedi passed away early this year in a shock to the poker community. He was one of those lovable characters that always had a smile on his face, and of course, one of his famous cigars hanging out the side of his mouth. The reason the WSOP had waited so long to celebrate Vahedi’s life was that in this very same event back in 2003 Vahedi collected his first bracelet and $270,000 in first prize money before final tabling the Main Event just a few weeks later. The Iranian professional poker player amassed over $3,000,000 in lifetime earnings and has nine WSOP cashes to his name, and after a moment of silence, Jack Effel announced to the players, “Amir. We will miss you.”

2,543 players took to the felt, but it would be PokerNews’ own Rich Ryan who was carrying the weight of the time on his shoulders as no one who had played a WSOP event since 2008 had placed in the money.

“I run like baby Jesus.”

That was one of Rich’s tweets during day one as he carried our hopes and dreams of a deep sweat to a bracelet as he finished the day around average, before in a flurry of hands early on day two, he would sneak into the money and add something to is poker CV that many of us have been trying to do for some time now.

Unfortunately his ship with A♦ 6♥ would find a call from a dominated Ace and Rich would be out the door in 111th place for a $3,845 payday.

Twenty-three players returned for the final day with Barry Greenstein’s nephew Michael Linn holding onto the chip lead in a field that feature young twenty-year olds looking at scoring their first bracelet and some much needed pocket money!

We reached the final table in relatively quick time (before four hours with three tables returning is always good) as we broke for dinner. Upon resumption of play, Linn was still in contention, but placed deep in the middle of the pack as the dubbed silent-assassin Taylor Larkin had stepped and amassed the chip lead over the final nine.

At four-handed play, Larkin had amassed over half the chips in play, but the luck soon swung in the opposite direction as it would be Linn who would capture the lead heading into their heads up battle. Linn upped his already aggressive approach to the final table and completely steam-rolled Larkin to the felt, eventually finishing him off with the mighty A♦ 2♣ to see him add another bracelet to the (extended) Greenstein family along with the $609,493 first prize!

Since we finished late again last night, Eric and I decided to swap events so that he could start at midday and I in the afternoon covering day two of Event 42: $1,500 No Limit Holdem with Elaine.

The major story of the event was when 2008 November Niner bubble boy Dean Hamrick was left crippled with just seven antes, or, just a little over a small blind when his A♥ J♦ was flushed by an opponent’s A♦ K♣. Everyone always loves a Jack Strauss-esque comeback and I had this sneaky feeling that Hamrick may experience one after more than tripling just a hand later.

About ten minutes later Hamrick was soon up to over 170,000 before soaring up the leaderboard to finish third in chips of the remaining twenty-five players as we ended play for the night.

Returning for the final day of play, we saw ten double ups in the first level, but only four eliminations as another six double ups occurred before we reached the final eighteen just before the first break.

It would take nearly an additional three levels before we reached the final table with Hamrick holding the slight chip lead over the final nine.

With a deep run in the 2008 Main Event along with a donkament final table last year, Hamrick used he experience and patience to slowly accumulate nearly half of the chips in play four-handed, even being able to navigate rivered bad beats and the like.

“Yeah! Fuck yeah!”

Was what Hamrick screamed after rivering Broadway to send Niccolo Caramatti to the rail as Hamrick’s railbirds – that included reigning Champion Joe Cada – celebrated wildly as Hamrick eventually soared over the 7 million chip mark only to be rivered for the majority of chips in play with Jacks against Ace-Queen . . . oh sigh to the Ace on the river!

Once Ian Wiley exited in third place, Hamrick retained the slight edge only to see it soar out to a near two-to-one advantage before switching positions when he ran into Thomas O’Neal’s set. Hamrick slid further behind only to double with a flush and then take further pots down before edging out a three-to-one advantage until his dominated Ace would take care of O’Neal after a marathon three-hour heads up battle while friend Joe Cada napped on the rail.

Hamrick’s victory was not only amazing due to the fact he was crippled to just a small blind deep into day two, but for the reason that this is his justification as a poker player after coming so close before.

Ivan Demidov, Dennis Phillips, Ylon Schwartz, Scott Montgomery and Chino Rheem have all managed to further their reputation as a poker player since the 2008 WSOP Main Event, and now Dean Hamrick can now be classed in that group as well after capturing his first – and the series’ forty-second – bracelet and the $604,222 first prize.

Well deserved and well played Dean!

After a long few days, I was still battling away moving from the straight-forward events over to day two of Event 40: $2,500 Seven Card Razz.

Fellow PokerNews team member Mickey Doft was still alive, but unfortunately he hit the rail along with plenty of others as the 136 players were whittled down to just fifteen by the end of play with Stuart Rutter, Jennifer Harman, Chris Bjorin, Vladimir Shchemelev and recent bracelet winner Frank Kassela still in contention.

Returning for the final day of play.

Once we made the final table, we lost a few players quickly before a funny situation came up where six of our remaining players had to force a break in the event to go late register for the $10,000 HORSE event that was going on across the other side of the room.

Then at around 2:38am the Amazon Room went completely pitch black!

All the power and the lights switched off, only to have the back-up generator (I assume) kick in around thirty seconds later. The players at our final table covered their chips, the players in the HORSE did the same as the dealers also protected their floats before order was restored. Apparently parts of the Strip had their power out as well, including the space-beaming light that soars high from the Luxor.

Eventually full power and lights were restored within around ten minutes as play continued in all of the remaining tournaments and cash games as we continued the battle from three down to just one from the main feature table.

Once heads up was reached it was Event 15 Champion Frank Kassela battling Event 27 Runner-Up Maxwell Troy.

The chip lead changed multiple times before Kassela began to edge ahead of his younger opponent as the railbirds slowly vacated. As the clock ticked close to 5am, Kassela would claim his second coveted gold WSOP bracelet of the series after being the shortest stack coming into day two and walk home with the $214,085 first prize and secondary piece of wrist bling!

After a regretful day off, I was back behind the computer covering day two of Event 35: $10,000 Heads Up No Limit Holdem Championship with Eric.

Returning with 64 players and the aim of playing down to eight, we both thought that it would be a very long day. Fortunately however it was completely the opposite as players punted their stacks off to see matches end extremely early over the three rounds of play. Eric even had time to go home for a few hours! Since each round had a designated starting time, DK and I spent the hour-plus downtime between each round walking aimlessly round the Rio before having to return back to our event each time.

The final eight were a tough group of players including the online stars of Jason Somerville, Faraz Jaka and Ernst Schmejkal, Europeans Alexander Kostritsyn and Ludovic Lacay, along with the tournament veterans of Kido Pham, Ayaz Mahmood and Vanessa Rousso.

Returning for the final day, the first three matches were over fairly quickly, but it would be the Rousso / Schmejkal match that would take over four hours until the German got the better of the French-American.

Taking a short break for dinner, we returned with a final four only to have that cut down to three once Kostritsyn exited when his Aces were run down by Schmejkal’s trip Kings as the final match between Somerville and Mahmood took an additional two hours before Mahmood proved victorious.

Both Mahmood and Schmejkal were given thirty minutes before they would sit down to battle in a best-of-three format for the coveted gold bracelet and $625,682 in first place prizemoney!

Unfortunately for both Martin and I the run-good that had been experienced during the whole event had been all used up as the first match between the two went for over six hours before Mahmood finally claimed the win around 6am before play was paused for the night so the players – and us – could get some much needed rest.

Although it was my day off, I of course was obligated to return to the Rio to cover the extended final day at 7pm.

With Elaine joining me at the desk, our fingers were crossed that the day would be quick, but unfortunately it would be another long one as the second match made the five-hour mark. Fortunately however Mahmood would be victorious meaning that a third match wouldn’t be needed after the most see-sawing heads up battle that I have ever witnessed!

My friend and fellow PokerNews blogger Rich made an interesting tweet today.

Just peed next to durrrr. Over/under 1,000 2+2′ers would have looked?

A few hours later while on my way to dinner I headed to the bathroom, and as I walked towards an empty urinal, I noticed a unique group of individuals surrounding the one I was about to use.

From left to right there was Alexander Kostritsyn, Kiril Gerasimov, Alexander Kravchenko, ME, Greg Raymer and then Michael Binger!

That line of people that were answering nature’s call hold an amassed US$21,380,278 in tournament earnings that also include 85 WSOP cashes, 24 final tables and 2 bracelets.

And before you ask . . . of course I included my statistics!

Another day at the WSOP saw me covering Event 26: $2,500 No Limit Holdem Six Handed with Rich behind the computer and DK and Greg on the floor.

Jerry Yang soared up the leaderboard early on before the field started to catch up on him, but he is still around for day two and I – along with many others – are rooting for him to buck the trend and ship a second bracelet.

One of the other positives of the day was the fact that I managed to snap a few photos for the first time at any World Series that I’ve covered. I managed to grab a headshot of Jerry Yang for one of our break posts, but my favourite one is this one.

Easily the biggest highlight of the day was the encounters that I had with Daniel Negreanu that mainly occurred after the following hand.

courtesy of PokerNews
Oh Brother!
With around 14,500 in the pot and the flop reading 8♠ K♦ J♦ Daniel Negreanu was faced with a bet from his opponent in the small blind totalling 12,000.

Negreanu shuffled some chips, adjusted a few of his chip stacks before checking his cards once more only to announce he was all in and slide his 79,000-chip stack into the middle.

“Allright I call” stated Negreanu’s opponent for his 41,400 total.

Negreanu: 6♦ 5♦

Opponent: A♦ K♣

“I’m testing a theory . . . I haven’t made a flush all tournament!” added Negreanu as the dealer dealt the 7♥ on the turn to give Negreanu additional outs to make a straight.

The river landed the K♥ and immediately Negreanu stood up and began a Phil Hellmuth-esque tirade.

“No straights, no flushes, no nothing!”

“This is like the thirtieth in a row this World Series!”

With Negreanu’s table based on the rail and at least twenty people watching on, they all remained dead silent as he continued.

“Oh brother!”

“Never going to happen for me!”

“This is just unbelievable!”

Negreanu however is still alive with around 38,000 in chips.

Now I of course left out some of the stuff that he was saying due to the fact that I couldn’t write that fast, my memory was full and it may have been a little offensive, but I think you’ll still get the feel for the hand.

Both he and I had a discussion during a previous event about the quality of our (PokerNews) coverage of the series, and when we had finished, things seemed to be at a good point.

Returning from one of the breaks Daniel walked past our desk and we said hello before I asked him to get me a chip count for table three, seat three (about ten metres or so away) as a joke.

“1,700″ he stated after taking a few steps closer

“That’s all good, but now you gotta find out their names!” I laughed off as he ran to his chair.

Then after the above hand occurred I was walking past his table and he quickly jumped up and asked me if I saw what happened.

“Yeah I think I did you justice in the blog” I responded.

“Oh so it’s on PokerNews . . . I’ll have to check it out” he added before discussing more about his WSOP run bad.

Then a little later on in the evening we had this discussion.

“Did you not shave properly or something this morning?” he asked.

“Yeah pretty much, but also I get a Mr. Miyagi-type moustache”

I returned to write some hands and prepare for the end of the night before returning to the floor. As I walked towards him he quickly propped up out of his chair.

“You’re a fighter aren’t you? I can see it!”

“Nup. You look like a fighter and I’m sticking to it!”

It was a very odd day, but an extremely funny one thanks to Daniel.

Oh . . . and for the record . . . Chip Counting Challenge 1: Distance . . . Negreanu 0 / Duckworth 1!

After jumping on day two of the Event 10: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship with F-Train, I finally would work my first full event with the Event 14: $1,500 2-7 Draw Lowball.

The corresponding event last year was a $2,500 buy-in and attracted a 147-player field with Phil Ivey beginning his magical run of six WSOP cashes, three final tables and two bracelets with victory for $96,367. Unfortunately Ivey, along with five-time lowball Bracelet holder Billy Baxter, and many others all hit the rail as only 67 managed to bag their chips with Nick Binger sitting on top coming into day two.

Probably the highlight of the day was having Mike Matusow and Daniel Negreanu approach me at the blogging desk to apologise for their tirades on Twitter at PokerNews as they didn’t really understand the whole issue of Harrah’s forcing us to import all players into our chip counts page meaning that it was impossible to keep all 3,000 NLH donkament players updated. They knew it wasn’t my – or any other blogger or field reporters – fault, but it was a Harrah’s issue . . . so consequently we hope things go a lot smoother now with some of the high-profile players.

Sigi Stockinger (25th), Jose-Luis Velador (24th), Tommy Hang (21st), Chris Viox (18th), JC Tran (15th), Erik Seidel (14th), Chris Bjorin (13th), Scott Seiver (12th), Bryan Micon (11th) and David ‘Chino’ Rheem (9th) were some of the incredibly talented players that had a crack at making the final table, but inevitably fell just shy as a final seven would be formed following the elimination of Daniel Nicewander on the bubble.

One of the enjoyable plays of the day I saw was when Sigi Stockinger opened to 1,800 from the cutoff only to have Dario Minieri three-bet from the small blind to 5,850. Stockinger made the call and both stood pat before Stockinger folded to Minieri’s roughly 9,000 all-in bet. Minieri tabled his A♠ A♥ A♦ 10♣ 4♠ to get a good laugh out of the table and me.

The final table was expected to be a long lasting affair with some high-class players looking to capture their first (well second for Mike Wattel) WSOP bracelet. However it was completely opposite as the action kicked up into full pace as we witnessed double ups, outdraws and eliminations until play was heads-up. Both Wattel and Yan Chen slowed things down until play was paused for dinner, only to return into three-bet city until Chen proved victorious!

The one thing I did enjoy about the event was that it furthered my desire to play single draw instead of triple draw 2-7 Lowball. I think that single draw is better for beginner players as it teaches you a little more about strategy then in triple draw where you basically just keep calling and calling and calling.

Sorry that this blog entry has been so boring, but there hasn’t been much going on since I’ve been so busy working.

However I would like to share a picture with you that one of the Dutch PokerNews guys named Remko shared with me the other day which made me el oh el . . . literally . . . because I burst out laughing on the media stage while everyone was dead quiet typing away on their computers.

The ‘Real’ Australia

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!