Talking Weight, Not Gravitas, With Hall of Fame Nominees

After having had the honor of being part of the panel of “poker media” invited to vote in the Poker Hall of Fame the last few years, I’m not part of the process this time around. The WSOP wanted to rotate some new folks into the mix, something I think is a great idea and thus don’t mind a bit stepping aside.

Since I’m not voting, I haven’t given that much thought regarding the list of 10 nominees (which I talked about briefly here a short while ago). I did notice, though, that two of them -- Ted Forrest and Mike Matusow -- have gotten back onto the gossip pages lately thanks to that weight loss bet from about four years ago won by Forrest.

Matusow had won a different weight loss prop bet between the pair previously, picking up $100,000 from Forrest after managing to go from 250 to 181 lbs. in less than a year. Then the pair made a second bet that would require Forrest, then 188 lbs., to get under 140 lbs. I’m not sure of the exact terms, but if Forrest could manage it by a specific deadline -- less than a year away, I believe (perhaps just a few months) -- Matusow would owe him $2 million.

Forrest achieved the feat, and then afterwards they agreed that Matusow -- who didn’t have the funds with which to pay his debt -- would pay Forrest $5,000 a month thereafter with the debt adjusted down to $1.8 million. That would still take over 30 years to pay off.

Cut to four years later, and Matusow has apparently only paid Forrest $70,500 thus far. Forrest took to Twitter earlier this month, and Matusow now seems to be referencing the collapse of Full Tilt Poker (version 1.0), the fact that the pair had been drinking when the bet was made, and other factors as lessening his obligation.

There are other details, but to be honest it took some extra effort for me just to get up the energy to look into it that far.

In terms of tourney results, both players have built up impressive, lengthy lists of wins and deep finishes, which is how both made it onto the PHOF ballot. Even with these accomplishments, I wouldn’t have been too enthused to vote for either, however.

I don’t say that because of these prop bet shenanigans, but just because when it comes to rating a super-select few above the rest, it’s hard (for me) to think of either as belonging to the toppermost tier of poker people.

That said, it’s hard to imagine “hall of fame nominees” of any other sport sniping at each other on Twitter in such a fashion. Seems to lack a certain gravitas, doesn’t it? I’m sure similar things have happened, but it still feels like an “only in poker” kind of story.

2009 WSOP, Day 3: Sleepers

After nearly a week in Vegas, my internal clock has finally completed the shift to the Pacific time zone and I am getting decent rest each night. So I was wide awake and ready to rumble yesterday as I returned to the Rio to help report on the World Series of Poker for PokerNews. I continue to help report on that Event No. 2, the $40,000 buy-in “Special 40th Annual No-Limit Hold’em Event,” which I will be sticking with this weekend on through to tomorrow’s final table.

The bloggers were again situated in the same spot there in the corner of the Media Box, not too far from the “Orange” section located in the front left quadrant of the Amazon ballroom. That’s where the 89 players reassembled to begin play just after two o’clock Friday afternoon.

It was a good day, reporting-wise. Although we did get some good feedback on the first day’s reporting, I think we all felt the second day went much more smoothly all around. Which is to be expected. I know I felt more relaxed with the writing side of things, kind of settling back into that groove from last summer.

Was looking back through the live blog for Day 2 of the event. A total of 66 players were eliminated from the event on Friday, leaving just 23 to come back and play down to the final table today. We actually were able to report elimination hands for almost every one of those 66 bustouts (all but six, I think), which is kind of remarkable, actually. I remember last year for most events we weren’t really able (or expected) to report every elimination hand until we got down to the last three tables or so, if then.

There’s a lot else in there, too, from yesterday. Let me share just a few other extracurricular items that didn’t necessarily make it into the blog but might be of interest:

How Am I Doing?

One phenomenon that seems to take place at every WSOP tournament -- even a relatively prestigious one like this here $40K NLHE event -- is for a player to make an especially deep run who obviously had little expectation of doing so. Yr basic “sleeper” story, if you will. Being a reporter on the sideline, I sometimes will get to interact with such a player as he or she checks in with us regarding his or her current status in the event.

This is always kind of fun and inevitably makes me want to pull for the person to succeed. Yesterday the player filling that role was Doshi Suresh, who lives in Las Vegas and who until this week only had a couple of small cashes in a WSOP Circuit event four years ago. In fact, the buy-in for this tournament rivals his total career tourney earnings (just a little over $60K).

Before play began yesterday, Suresh -- stylishly dressed in a suit and tie -- came over to ask where he stood among the 89 remaining players. He had an above average stack, which put him about 40th or so. He also wanted to know how many places paid (27) and what the payout was for 27th. He checked back with us a couple more times during breaks as the day wore on. He seemed surprised when I told him with 36 players left that he was still in good shape (about 15th), his expression communicating a kind of reserved excitement about the prospects of actually cashing in this sucker.

He made it, and in fact to start today is sitting in right in the middle of the pack in 11th place with 23 left. After play had ended on Friday and all of the players had gone, a couple of gentlemen approached my station and asked if I perhaps knew if a player named Doshi Suresh was still in the event. When I told them he’d made it to the cash, both were ecstatic. “How much... how much?” they asked. “What is the least he can win?” I told them he’d guaranteed for himself a payday of $71,858 thus far, and their smiles widened.

I’m romanticizing all this a bit, I’m sure. Couple of Suresh’s backers, no doubt, gleefully learning they actually were looking to get something back on a highly uncertain investment. Still, kind of cool to witness.

A Different Kind of Sleeper Story

We had a one-hour dinner break last night (as opposed to 90 minutes). I believe there were 44 players still in the event at that point, and 43 of them made it back for the first hand of the new level following the break. The only empty seat belonged to Ted Forrest. At first it was thought maybe he misunderstood the length of the break, but after an hour had passed -- and a good 20% of his stack had been blinded off -- people started to worry.

At one point Layne Flack was in the area -- not sure exactly why, but he was enjoying goofing around with the head-turning Lacey Jones while she was trying to do her one-minute update video for the WSOP website. Flack wandered over and started to say how he needed a cell phone... did anybody have a phone he could use? Eventually we figured out he was looking to call up to Forrest’s room to see what was up.

As we moved into the second hour of play without Forrest, we’d just started to get to the point where darker thoughts began to creep into our minds about the missing player. Something had to have happened. We’re approaching the money bubble of a poker tournament in which 27 players are looking to divide up an $7.7 million prize pool here. Had to be something serious, right?

Not really. He had been sleeping. Had settled into the comfy hotel bed for a power nap and didn’t hear the alarm. “Are we in the money?” Forrest asked, rubbing his eyes as he rapidly walked back to the table. Change100 wrote the post about Forrest’s adventure and return, giving it the inspired header “Run, Forrest, Run!”

Moneymaker Misses the Money

Not long after Forrest returned, he began getting involved in pots right away and ended up building a nice-sized stack by night’s end. He’s currently in second place with 2.58 million, just behind Justin Bonomo who has 2.67 million.

Some of those chips Forrest accumulated came from Chris Moneymaker’s stack. Moneymaker started the day with 805,000 (2nd of the 89), and while he never really increased his stack he was sticking around the 600,000-700,000 mark for most of the day until things fell apart for him after the dinner break.

A huge hit came when Tony G won an all-in race versus Moneymaker with A-K versus Moneymaker’s pocket queens. The flop was safe, but a king rolled out on the turn, prompting a Tony G fist pump as he exclaimed “Yeah baby. Feel the powah!” A much-deflated Moneymaker simply stated “you are blessed, sir,” resigned to losing yet another late-tourney race.

Not long after that hand, Moneymaker got it all in with pocket tens only to run into Forrest’s K-K. Moneymaker actually walked away from the table as soon as he saw Forrest’s hand, and was passing in front of us in press row on his way out of the Amazon Room as the community cards were being dealt. Might have been a good thing he left, as both a king and a ten flopped. Would’ve been too much to bear, probably. If the case ten had come, they’d be chasing him down the hall to return, but it didn’t, and Moneymaker was out before the cash.

I was saying yesterday how I couldn’t help but pull for Moneymaker to do well in this one, a sentiment shared by a number of others with whom I spoke. His was the biggest “sleeper” story of them all, really, and we all continue to be affected by it. Additionally, I think a lot of us still identify with him somewhat -- even having scored the big 2003 ME win, he continues to be the underdog. And most of us know what that’s like, I think.

You gotta know ESPN was hoping Moneymaker would make this televised final table. Greg Raymer is still there, and he has a lot of chips, too. Probably doesn’t matter, though, which nine emerge from these 23 -- it’s going to be a stacked FT, no doubt.

* * * * *
I’d said yesterday I wanted to pass along some links to other sites for following the WSOP. Turned out I was much too busy during our short break last night to do so.

Today I’m thinking I don’t even want to get too involved with trying to compile such a list. Most of you reading this blog know where to go for yr WSOP info, anyway. However, do allow me to point you to one site some of you may not know about -- the photo blog that B.J. Nemeth is compiling over on PokerRoad.

I’m seeing B.J. each day and watching him work as he seeks out the best shots, attempting to narrate via pictures what’s happening at the Rio. That photo above is a greatly reduced shot of one of the tables at Event No. 2 yesterday -- click on the picture to go to the PokerRoad site, then scroll down to see the full image. And go ahead and bookmark B.J.’s page now, why dontcha?

While yr at it, make a note of PokerNews’ Live Reporting page, too (where I’ll be).

2008 WSOP, Day 21: Tigers & Grizzlies

Was fairly smooth sailing yesterday back in the Brasilia room for Day 2 of Event No. 34, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha w/rebuys event. Ended up being about a ten-hour day at the office -- not bad at all. Some of the guys on ours had a prop bet going with the ones covering the Stud event (Event No. 35) regarding who would finish first, a bet our guys won by about an hour-and-a-half.

Today’s final table is scheduled for the main stage (and will be broadcast over ESPN360). Two name pros made it -- Layne Flack and Ted Forrest. Forrest is the one I’d look out for, although among the others current chip leader Kyle Kloeckner and Michael Guzzardi look tough, as does Dario Alioto who took down the PLO event at the WSOPE last fall.

Tim “Tmay420” West is also there. This is his second final table this summer, and I also covered his other one (the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em shootout). He’s the short stack going in today, but I’m hoping he gets some chips together and makes a run. West is a super friendly guy and a hell of a player to boot.

Had a few interesting, extracurricular moments yesterday while covering the event. Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad stopped by for a visit. My partner, Marc, has worked with Betfair in the past, and so Obrestad came in to say hello to him. She seemed a little bummed at not being able to play -- she is still only 19 years old, and in fact won’t be able to play until the 2010 WSOP as her birthday is in September. There was talk of her getting in on some cash games, though that can’t possibly happen either unless they are side games. Seemed like a friendly, smart person, and I can imagine how the contrast of her sweet image and terrorizing style of play can give her opponents fits.

Layne Flack was bouncing off the walls, pumped up on All In energy drinks and/or his natural hyperactive tendencies. He frequently came over to our station to chat, usually when Tiffany Michelle and Amanda Leatherman were sitting nearby. Flack once scampered over to engage them in a debate over who had the sexiest name. I joked about putting that into the blog, but refrained.

We did include some of the players’ banter in the blog, including a couple of posts about a several-hour-long debate the players were having about the relative difficulty of killing a tiger versus a grizzly bear. Here is the first one:

Pick Your Battles
Play is tightening up even more as we near the cash bubble. As players pass small stacks of chips back and forth, the table talk is increasing.

Just passed Table No. 63, where the following was overheard: “I'd rather fight a tiger with a knife than a grizzly with a gun.”

Not sure of context, but it sounds like the subject of choosing one's battles carefully is on everyone's mind with just four to go before the money.

Then, a good six hours later:

Beasts of Prey
The discussion about weapons of choice when trying to kill tigers and/or grizzly bears, begun earlier this afternoon, has lingered on into the night.

“I mean, think about this,” said Ted Forrest to Nathan Hagens, wishing to draw a distinction. “The Siegfried and Roy show... They carry a 300-lb. tiger on their back. You're not gonna carry a grizzly bear on your back....”

“No fun the first time I did it!” yelled Layne Flack from the other table.

Bill Chen was in this event, having been knocked out on Day 1. He was there sweating his co-author Jerrod Ankenman, who ended up cashing yesterday, when he came over to our table and asked if he could set up his laptop next to us. Of course, we said. Chen proceeded to log on and play a PokerStars freeroll, something he’s obligated to do from time to time as a PS-sponsored pro.

Terrence Chan was nearby and he and Chen occasionally discussed his progress in the freeroll, laughing and clearly having a good time. I’ve read a good deal of Mathematics of Poker, so it was definitely amusing to see the scholarly Chen joking around in defiance of the professorial persona one might assume from the book. One player who cashed brought a copy of the book for Chen to sign, which he did and then got Ankenman -- still alive in the tourney at the time -- to sign as well.

Should be an interesting final table today. Am hoping afterwards or perhaps tomorrow (my day off) to connect with the Beyond the Table guys, as all three -- Karridy, Dan, and Tom Schneider -- are in Vegas at the moment. Of course, Tom is busy cashing in event after event (he’s made the money five times already). Have a feeling I’ll be seeing the Donkey Bomber at the next event I cover, the Deuce-to-Seven Triple Lowball (Limit) event.

As always, head over to PokerNews to follow it all.

Counting 'em Down . . .

Took me awhile to find these, so I thought I’d share ’em here -- the consolidated chip counts heading into Day 3 of the 2006 WSOP Main Event. 1159 players remain (out of 8773). Click on the image to see the entire list as a Word document -- it prints out on 11 pages. Or click here to view or download an Excel version of the list (24 pages).

Scanning the list, there aren’t that many recognizable names. Near the top there’s Daniel Negreanu in 6th place with a whopping 331,000 chips, Allen Cunningham in 69th with 172,900, and Ted Forrest in 160th with 130,900. Four former Main Event bracelet winners remain alive: 2005 winner Joe Hachem (216th, 114,100), 2001 winner Carlos Mortensen (429th, 77,600), 1983 winner Tom McEvoy (612th, 60,500), and 2000 winner Chris “Jesus” Ferguson (671st, 55,200). Other notables left include David Pham (223rd, 112,300), Josh Arieh (359th, 85,600), Cyndy Violette (413th, 79,000), Surinder Sunar (433rd, 77,300), Hoyt Corkins (528th, 67,900), Annie Duke (540th, 67,000), Freddy Deeb (572nd, 64,500), Kathy Liebert (743rd, 48,500), Phil Ivey (1032nd, 23,400), Tex Barch (1079th, 19,800), and Layne Flack (1084th, 19,500). Unless I’m missing somebody, the rest are names most of us probably don’t immediately recognize. Of course, that’ll be changing soon for a select few of these. You can count on it.