Selbst in the Lead

My first experience watching Vanessa Selbst play in person was at the 2008 World Series of Poker when I happened to help report on her bracelet win in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha event. It remains a memorable tournament for me, punctuated by a crazy finale that saw her heads-up opponent, Jamie Pickering, raising pot blind hand after hand in an effort to gamble his way to victory.

That actually marked Selbst’s fourth WSOP final table in three years, and she’d go on to add a semifinal (or third-place) finish in that year’s $10,000 World Championship Heads-Up No-Limit tournament. In other words, out of seven WSOP cashes she’d had up to that point, five of them were eighth-place finishes or higher.

As Shawnee Barton wrote about late last week in her terrific (and timely) article about Selbst for The Atlantic, Selbst usually employs a “relentlessly attacking, boom-and-bust style” that finds her often either accumulating chips early then making a deep run or falling shy of the cash altogether. Barton evokes Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi as a suitable comparison.

Such was the case in that PLO tourney back in 2008 where Selbst essentially led wire-to-wire. The first long day saw the field shrink from 759 all of the way down to 46, with posts about “Selbst Soaring” already starting to appear by late afternoon. I remember her having the chip lead for certain with about 100 left, maintaining it overnight and throughout Day 2. In fact she’d start the final table with more than 1 million chips while the nearest challenger (Pickering) had but 329,000. She’d then lead for most of the final table, too, before ultimately winning.

Since then Selbst has enjoyed numerous other victories and final-table finishes, among them a $1.8 million-plus score at the 2010 Partouche Poker Tour Main Event, back-to-back Main Event victories at NAPT Mohegan Sun in 2010 and 2011, and a second WSOP bracelet last summer in the $2,500 10-game event.

And yesterday Selbst added another huge line to her poker resume by winning the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $25K High Roller event (photo above courtesy Neil Stoddart/PokerStars). Thanks to a larger than expected field plus numerous re-entries, the prize pool ballooned up close to $5 million in that one, thereby meaning Selbst’s victory earned her an eye-popping $1,424,420 first prize.

Selbst outlasted a final table that included Micah Raskin (who also final tabled the Sands Bethlehem last month), Tobias Reinkemeier, Bryn Kenney, Shaun Deeb, online star Ole “wizowizo” Schemion, Mike “SirWatts” Watson, and finally the Russian Vladimir Troyanovskiy who also final tabled the PCA $100K Super High Roller last week where he finished seventh.

Now Selbst’s career earnings have inched over the $7 million mark, more than $6 million of which has been won since the start of 2010. A quick scan of the top earners over the same period shows only a handful of players earning more than that, and most of those finished first or second in either the WSOP Main Event, the “Big One for One Drop,” or that $2 million HKD High Roller event in Macau last August.

Excluding those guys, it looks like only Erik Seidel ($7,338,543), Michael Mizrachi ($7,130,635), and Phil Hellmuth ($6,508,181) have earned more than Selbst in tourney winnings since 2010 (unless I’ve missed someone), and of course Hellmuth got a big boost by earning more than $2.6 million for taking fourth in the “One Drop.” Meanwhile, on the overall “All-Time Money List,” Selbst is now listed in 40th place, just ahead of Scott Seiver who jumped up when he won the $100K Super High Roller at the PCA last week.

And of course, as many have been reporting, with her finish yesterday Selbst catapults past Kathy Liebert and into the top spot on Hendon Mob’s “Women’s All-Time Money List.”

I was saying yesterday how I was finding it hard to get too excited over Viktor Blom’s big online swings, but such is not the case here. While bigger payouts and more high-roller events have obviously skewed these all-time lists considerably, Selbst becoming the all-time leader in tourney winnings among female players nonetheless seems like a moment worth noting.

Liebert first grabbed the lead in that race way back in 2002, lost it to Annie Duke in 2004 after Duke won $2 million in that invite-only, single-table Tournament of Champions freeroll, then reclaimed the lead in early 2006 and had held it for nearly seven years before Selbst pushed in front. (Chart via Hendon Mob.)

Selbst now has a big lead in that race, more than $1 million ahead of Liebert (2nd, $5,855,655), with Duke (3rd, $4,270,549), Annette Obrestad ($3,780,520), and Vanessa Rousso (5th, $3,471,293) following.

In other words -- just like happened in that 2008 WSOP event -- now that she’s pushed into the lead on that list, chances are good Selbst will be remaining in front for a good while.

Do What You Love

Keeping very busy at the moment. Almost too busy to post over here.

But you know I wouldn’t let that happen.

Yesterday I reported on a couple of WCOOP events for the PokerStars blog, the final table for Event No. 30, the $530 buy-in NLHE Triple Shootout, and Event No. 33, the $320 buy-in (with one re-buy & one add-on) six-handed pot-limit Omaha event.

Also had a piece go up over on Betfair poker, “Phil Laak, Poker’s Favorite Stunt Man,” in which I compile a number of anecdotes about the new WSOPE bracelet winner. And today there’s a new “He Said/She Said” entry on Woman Poker Player, the subject this time being the Women in Poker Hall of Fame. Click here for my writing partner Jen Newell’s take on that one, and click here for mine.

Meanwhile, I wanted to recommend one other item to you from this week -- not something of mine but rather an interview with Kathy Liebert on this week’s episode (No. 140) of the always good Two Plus Two Pokercast.

The interview goes for nearly 40 minutes, with a number of topics being covered. (It starts around the 1:05 mark.) Besides being a talented tournament player, Liebert is an especially well-spoken and interesting person.

I enjoyed hearing her thoughts on a wide range of topics, including the difficulty of making a living on the tournament circuit, the state of women in poker today, the WSOP ladies’ event, the sponsorship question, live versus online play and the emergence of online training sites, and more.

I particularly liked one comment Liebert made at the very beginning of the interview when the hosts Mike Johnson and Adam Schwartz invited her to share the story of her first getting into poker. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I identified with it, in a way.

Liebert had a successful career in business before moving over into poker in the mid-1990s. Sounded like a difficult decision, in some ways, to leave the safe path and venture over into a less certain mode of existence.

“I had been working very hard, and I was doing a good job and doing well, but my mom had just read this book called Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow. And it really got me thinking... ‘I don’t love this job. I’m a capable person. There must be something else I can find that I like, and I won’t really find it until I explore.’”

As someone who not long ago made a similar move -- leaving a full-time position in which I was working hard, doing a good job, but not loving what I was doing -- I liked hearing Liebert talk about her decision to pursue a more enjoyable and rewarding life.

Speaking of... that more enjoyable and rewarding life that I have chosen (of being a freelance writer) beckons once again.

Have a good weekend all!

Travel Report, NAPT Venetian: Day 1

Cool first day at the Venetian yesterday for the start of the NAPT event. My sense at day’s end was that most everyone -- players, tourney organizers, media -- felt it more than met expectations.

As you’ve probably read elsewhere, the turnout was huge, with 872 players altogether, making the prize pool somewhere in the neighborhood of $4 million. That meant 89 tables to start out. The Venetian Poker Room is already quite large, but only holds room for about 40 tables, so there were tables set up all around the perimeter, filling every space there between the Poker Room and the Race & Sports Book, Noodle Asia, and the Casino.

I made it down early to get acclimated, and was glad to see Mad Harper (whom I last saw about 6,000 miles away in Kyiv, Ukraine) who helped get me oriented, as she helps everyone do at these things. Also glad to meet up with Garry Gates soon afterwards, with whom I’d worked the last two summers at the WSOP.

Brad, California Jen, and Joe (our photographer) had ourselves a nice spot from which to work, and once we got set up we were on our feet a lot, making the long circuit in and out of the tables. Had some more fun reunions while making that trek, including with Benjo, Gary Wise, F-Train, and Donnie Peters (who, by the way, final tabled one of the preliminary events at the Venetian).

Incidentally, those jokes the last couple of posts about my new computer were partially true -- I am now writing on a MacBook Air which so far has worked like a charm. Still getting used to the basics, but as other Mac users have said time and again, the sucker is set up in a way that it generally isn’t too hard to figure out how to do what you want to do. The fast start ups and shut downs are pretty cool, too.

There was a little bit of talk here and there before things got going about the absent Team Full Tilt folks, but not a lot of attention to that story once the cards were in the air. Fact was there were plenty of big names there -- including a lot Full Tilt pros, just none of the toppermost guys (and gal). Much more interesting to focus on who was there than who was not.

For a quick overview of Day 1, you can check out Brad’s wrap-up post which also has links to the live blog. Also check out the PokerNews’ reports for further details of the day.

The stacks were -- as the “Deep Stack Extravaganza” name suggests -- mighty deep, starting at 30,000 with 50/100 blinds and with a very gradual schedule of increases. So aside from a few bits of drama early on (e.g., Daniel Negreanu doubled up on one of the day’s first hands), it was slow going poker-wise for the first couple of hours. But things soon picked up and by day’s end the field was down 510. The plan is to be down to 24 by the end of Day 3 (Monday), though, so we’re anticipating a couple of long ones today and tomorrow.

Phil Hellmuth arrived at the start of Level 5 -- the last possible moment, I believe -- and was soon gone after somewhat stubbornly running his pocket queens into Eric Levesque’s pocket aces. Enjoyed hearing about that hand from Kathy Liebert (who was at the Poker Brat’s table), although Cali Jen had already been there to report it on the PS blog.

Speaking of Liebert, Jen and I have begun a new “He Said/She Said” column over at Woman Poker Player, and in the first one we separately discussed the issue of women and sponsorships in poker. The idea was partly suggested by some recent debates about the issue in the poker media, debates which invariably involve Liebert, the most successful no-limit hold’em player among women who doesn’t currently have a sponsorship. We've both been getting some nice feedback on those articles -- here they are, if you are interested: He Said & She Said

Like I say, a nice start, and it’s only going to get more exciting as the tourney progresses. And I’m glad once again to be working with and alongside a bunch of talented and smart folks. Follow along over on the PokerStars blog for all of the latest.

2008 WSOP, Day 3: Who Will Wear the First Bracelet?

Stopped into the Amazon Room for a quick visit this afternoon. Didn’t linger long, as I anticipate being there at least ten hours (or more) tomorrow reporting Event No. 4.

The second “Day 1” of Event No. 2 was spread out around much of the room, though there were cash games going on as well. Final tally on that one ended up being 3,929 entrants, a new record for a non-Main Event WSOP tourney. Don’t think that record will be broken anytime soon, as they’ve capped registration at 2,760 players for all of the other preliminary events. (That could change, of course, if demand warranted.)

Was too late to see Phil Hellmuth. California Jen told me he had arrived in full racecar gear at some point during Level 3 and within a half-hour of arriving had busted. The reports on PokerNews say that he’d been blinded down to 1,900 by the time he arrived -- that’s over a third of his starting stack.

I’m not 100% certain, but I believe players are allowed to register up until the end of Level 2, and those who do come in with the full complement of chips. However, if you preregister and arrive late (as Hellmuth did), you start paying blinds from the first orbit. Have no idea if perhaps Hellmuth wasn’t aware he was losing that many chips by arriving late today or not. In any event, seems like a sketchy strategy to come in when the blinds are 100/200 and you are having to start the tourney with an “M” of 6 or 7, even if it is one of your trademarks.

I walked around the perimeter and to the far side of the room, chatted with some reporters and bloggers briefly, then moved over the small, “stadium” area where final tables will be held. They were about 15 hands into that star-studded final table for Event No. 1 when I arrived. Two players had already been eliminated, Phil Laak and Mike Sowers.

One of the neat things about poker -- I’ve written about this before -- is how accessible it all is for fans who want to follow their favorite pros battle for the big money. For those who have never been in Vegas during the WSOP before, if ever you did happen to be here when it was going on, know that you can always come over and get a look at the action, and even watch from relatively close proximity an entire final table play out, if you so desired.

The staging area is surrounded by stadium-style bleachers which can accommodate around 80 or so spectators. Then there is a platform over looking the table as well. It was crowded this afternoon with several dozen onlookers. The table itself is on a raised oval which sits on a larger, rectangular surface on which four ESPN cameras were circling in some sort of specially-designed motorized wheelchairs. There was also a fellow operating a large motorized crane with another camera for high angle shots. Then there’s the camera shooting the bird’s eye-shot of the felt, and that image is projected on four monitors directly above the table. All that, plus the hole card cameras, adds up to a hell of a lot of footage for ESPN to edit down to the two-hour presentation scheduled to be aired on July 22nd. (They’ll be filming Event No. 4 as well, so I’ll be seeing all of this again from a lot closer vantage point on Wednesday.)

Between two sets of bleachers sits another small, raised platform with the cabinet full of Corum bracelets on display. Then, on the furthermost side of the little arena sat Mean Gene, Change100, and Don Peters (the live bloggers) and WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla. An announcer paced back and forth before them, narrating all of the activity into a microphone for everyone to hear. Not difficult at all to follow the action, even if one’s view of the players isn’t ideal.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention. The cash. Lordy, what a load of cash. Bricks and bricks of it on the table behind the players.

I watched a few low drama hands go by. I sensed the crowd favoring Mike Sexton, dressed in a pink, long-sleeved Party Poker shirt today (after yesterday’s lavender version). Made my way down and back through the room. I’ll have my chance to see all this again very soon.

Looked back at the reports a little while ago and saw they were now down to four -- Sexton, Liebert, Bloch, and Medic -- with Bloch holding a commanding lead with over two-thirds of the chips in play. But within a dozen hands both Medic and Sexton doubled through Bloch, so we may be in for a battle here.

More tomorrow. For now, go follow the rest of the action with me at PokerNews.

2008 WSOP, Day 3: First Final Table Delivers

ESPN must be at least somewhat pleased at how the final table of Event No. 1, the World Championship Pot-Limit Hold’em event ($10,000 buy-in), has shaped up. The event is one of only six non-Main Event tourneys for which the final table has been scheduled to be televised.

Of the nine who will be there this afternoon, no less than seven are (more or less) familiar to fans of poker TV. Patrik Antonius, Chris Bell, Andy Bloch, Phil Laak, Kathy Liebert, Nenad Medic, and Mike Sexton have all appeared on the small screen before. Only Amit Makhija and Mike Sowers will be making their TV debuts today (to my knowledge). Since they went so late last night (play didn’t conclude until 5 a.m. or so), the start of today’s FT was pushed back an hour to 3 p.m. local time.

Wouldn’t mind seeing either Sexton or Liebert take this one down. Would be especially neat if Liebert were to score the first bracelet of the Series, which would be her second if she did. Her first was in 2004, also in an open event, the $1,500 LHE Shootout. One of B.J.’s “Eight Questions for the 2008 WSOP” posted on PokerNews yesterday was whether or not a woman would win a bracelet in an open event this year. Might actually get an answer to that question sooner than later.

Meanwhile, they’ll run “Day 1b” of Event No. 2, the first $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event, and everyone will be curious to see just what the final tally of entrants turns out to be. Some want to talk about the large turnout for this first event as possessing some sort of symbolic weight with regard to the overall well-being of the poker industry, but I think Pauly makes a good point when he says it probably doesn’t mean a whole heck of lot. Still, it is good to see, and the fact that registration and the overall functioning of the tournament has run so smoothly this year (especially compared to the start of 2007) should, I would think, encourage players to keep turning out in the coming weeks.

So no new events start today, but as I was discussing with B.J. Nemeth yesterday, that will be the last time for several weeks when we can say that. I’m mostly taking it easy today, resting up for my first day of work reporting tomorrow’s Event No. 4, the Mixed No-Limit/Limit Hold’em event ($5,000 buy-in). This was the first event last year, the one won by youngest-ever bracelet winner Steve “Mr. Smokey” Billirakis. 451 players entered, although since it was Event No. 1, it might have attracted more a few entrants than it might have otherwise. I’m gonna guess around 400 for this one this time around.

It will be interesting to compare pot sizes between the limit levels vs. the no-limit ones. I recall last year talk about how, in fact, the limit hands tended to produce bigger pots, especially with the rapidly-esclating blind structure they then had in place. Haven’t as yet compared this year’s structure to that of last year, but I’ll try to do that before things get underway tomorrow.

Like I say, am mostly just resting up today, although I do think I’ll go over to check out at least some of that Event No. 1 final table. Will check back in later afterwards to report on the scene over there.

In the Money

They've reached the money at the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Of the 8773 who entered, 481 remain. The top 873 places paid. I happened to have been watching online last night as the bubble burst. With about three to go before they were down to 873, a player found himself in the big blind with less than 30,000 in chips. The table folded to the small blind, who put in a raise that would force the big blind player all in. The big blind called, and as he showed the table his pocket aces he announced that was the only hand with which he would have even considered calling. The small blind showed a pair of sixes. The flop came A65, giving both players sets. The turn brought the only card in the deck that could eliminate the big blind -- the case six. What agony.

If you click on the picture you'll get an Excel file that lists the top 50 chip stacks heading into Day 4. I've added columns that show where these players stood entering Day 3. I've also added other notables at the bottom of the list. Incidentally, these chip counts were culled from a couple of different sources, neither of which was CardPlayer (who currently lists a different player atop the leaderboard). CardPlayer, the "official content provider" of the WSOP, has been pretty erratic, frankly, when it comes to providing clear chip counts (a topic of discussion over on the Card Clubs Network Forums as of late).

It is interesting to see how much movement occurs from day to day. Of these top 50, only 16 were in the top 50 heading into Day 3. Most of this group features players who were able to make tremendous moves, the most dramatic probably being Christopher Budak who started yesterday with a meager 21,000 chips (sitting 1,062nd out of 1,159). Today he has 359,500 chips and finds himself in 48th place. Albert Padilla's Day 3 was more than a little impressive as well -- he built 99,800 chips up to 640,000, moving from 274th to 3rd.

None of the name pros are among the top fifty, but Allen Cunningham (100th, 278,000), Annie Duke (191st, 180,000), Hoyt Corkins (218th, 163,000), Joe Hachem (259th, 139,000), Tom McEvoy (278th, 130,000), and Kathy Liebert (282nd, 126,000) all certainly have enough chips to make something happen. The blinds will start today at 2,000/4,000 (with a 500 ante), so none of these players have an "M" ratio below 10 just yet. However, they will all certainly be looking to make moves. Meanwhile pros like Hans "Tuna" Lund (318th, 105,500), Daniel Negreanu (354th, 93,500), Ted Forrest (385th, 78,000), Surindar Sunar (400th, 71,500), and Cyndy Violette (457th, 42,000) have all slipped down into Harrington's orange or red zones and thus will be pushing right away when play resumes today at noon PDT. I imagine about half of the field will be gone after today, but there will still be another five days of play before they reach the end.

I wonder how they plan to fit $12 million cash on a single poker table . . . .