Don't blame Matt Marafioti if he looks a little under the weather today - blame durrrr.

Late Monday night at the Main Event of the 2009 Tom Dwan got into a little bit of the old propbetaments.

durrrr bet Marafioti (he's "ADZ" online) $5,000 that Marafioti couldn't drink ten shots of Patron tequila in fifteen minutes.

Marafioti took up the challenge, and with Dwan's assurance to the tournament director of a $5k charitable donation should ADZ happen to spew in the tournament area, the shots were delivered and the game was afoot.

ADZ downed the shots in ample time and durrrr paid his debt with a $5k Bellagio marker.

But it didn't end there.

The shots made Marafioti a bit drunk and thus a bit rowdy and within a few minutes he'd incurred a penalty for swearing. It was enough to convince him to call it a night.

He left his 56k on the table in the Miranda Room and headed off into the night, his safety assured by Dwan, who'd paid the tournament director a couple bills to ensure his rival got home alright.

Rumor has it, however, that ADZ spent the night in a bathtub at Bellagio, puking up his ever-loving guts.

But he's back for Day 2b and so is durrrr. Both players have been seated near each other in the Brasilia Room for the early levels, so stay tuned for a potential rematch.

Bring on 20 shots of 151 in 20 minutes imo.

When a final-table seat guarantees $1 million and winning the whole thing nets you more than your average lottery winner, it's understandable emotions run a little high during the WSOP Main Event.

It's what makes for good TV. The stress ensures everybody is playing at the top of his or her game. It also ensures there will be some heated confrontations.

When you have so much riding on one turn of the card, and that card could be the difference between busting 20th and winning the whole damn tournament, anything can set a player off.

It can be as simple as having two loudmouths at the same table, or one player who just won't stay out of another's way. It could be an angle shoot, or just a case of someone trying to get under an opponent's skin.

Whatever it is, the resulting confrontations certainly are memorable.

Counting off the Top 5 Main Event Confrontations:

Prahlad Friedman 2006 WSOP - "I don't trust you sir."

Prahlad accuses Lisandro of not throwing his ante in. Lisandro takes great offense to being called a robber and threatens to knock Prahalad's head off.

Turns out, upon further review, Lisandro did ante up. Oops.

8/10 for threats of physical harm.

Brandon Cantu vs Nikolay Losev 2008 WSOP - "All out pump fakes."

Cantu makes a full house and somehow doesn't do anything spazzy. When he then goes to check/call a river bet, Nikolay Losev goes to put in a mountain of chips but pulls them back at the last second.

The floor rules the second bet will stand and not the first. Cantu and Michael Carroll won't let it go until finally the Russian guy explodes and says a bunch of stuff that none of us can understand.

But I've heard it's pretty bad.

7.5/10 for foreign language blow-up.

The lead up:

The foreign blow-up:

Phil Hellmuth vs Christian Dragomir 2008 WSOP - "Buddy you're an idiot."

Christian Dragomir raises with T♦ 4♦ and Hellmuth re-raises with A♠ K♥.

When the flop comes T♣ 9♣ 7♠, Hellmuth check/folds, Dragomir shows the T♦ 4♦ and Hellmuth explodes, calling Dragomir an idiot about 20 times.

Hellmuth should have been given about three hours worth of penalties but he gets off the hook because he's lolphillhellmuth.

8/10 on the Hellmuth explosion-o-meter for the steam coming out of his ears. Plus you know it's bad when even Matusow is telling Hellmuth he's out of line. Oh and more bonus points for "To you it's poker man, to me this is my life!"

Mike Matusow vs Greg Raymer 2004 WSOP - "You've got little cajones."

As Matusow details in his book, he and Raymer were dealt the softest table in history and had the two pros agreed to stay out of each other's way, they could have taken turns carving up the turkeys at their table.

Matusow believed Raymer was coming after him for no reason. So Matusow wanted to tell him to stay out of his way the only way he knew how. He three-bet bluffs Raymer on the turn and when Raymer folds he busts out one of his famous rants.

7.5/10 mostly for an angry Raymer refusing to shake Matusow's hand.

Bonus: Tiffany "whatsapokers?" Michelle vs Craig Marquis 2008 WSOP - "Clock"

In a massive pot between Scott Montgomery and Paul Snead, Snead takes his time debating whether to put all his chips on the line with a pair of jacks.

Tanking in a spot like this is perfectly acceptable, considering they're in the final three tables and it's a huge pot.

Tiffany Michelle, claiming she's "short" with like 50bb, calls for the clock when she isn't even involved in the hand.

A huge bitch move and completely uncalled for, Craig Marq calls her out on it and she can't see how she's wrong.

8/10 for complete ignorance of normal poker etiquette and at least a few extra points thrown in for how lolbad the hand is. My name is Scott Montgomery and I three-bet bluff with ace-high when leaving my opponent 10-1.

You can bet the ESPN cameras will catch more confrontations this year. As the tournament gets deeper and the stakes get higher, so do the emotions. So keep your eyes peeled to our live updates.

Meet Phil Ivey's biggest fans. This cute couple has been following Ivey around for over a decade.

They've known him since the days he was known only as Jerome and played underage in the casinos of Atlantic City.

"We met him in Atlantic City when he was playing back then and we played with him there."

Ivey must have made a positive impression on the two. Ever since then, they've been making a pilgrimage out to Vegas once a year to watch him play in the WSOP.

"We've been coming out here for 10 or 11 years. We always come out for two weeks to support him."

Ivey knows them pretty well. A week ago, we saw the two hand a note to a floor man to be passed to Ivey.

Phil read the note and smiled bashfully. We wondered what was written on the paper.

"Oh that was just a little note with our new cellphone number and some well wishes."

They're rooting with all their heart that Ivey takes it down. If he does they're ready to party.

"Oh if he wins we'll definitely have a big celebration."

Last year, ESPN stunned the poker world with a radical change to how the World Series of Poker Main Event would play out.

The big plan, as we all found out, was to play down to the final table, then halt play for the next four months.

During that four-month break, ESPN would air all the action leading up to the final table, then the players would reconvene to finish it out with the results broadcast in "almost-real" time two days later.

With the new plan, ESPN and the WSOP hoped to put some excitement back into TV poker, and I really can't blame them. The over-saturation of sub-par poker on TV had diluted the market and the public had grown tired of it.

In the past when it came time to watch the Main Event, the tournament had been over for months already. Everybody knew who won, and they would watch to find out how he won it.

Devising a way for the public to watch and see who wins the Main Event and not just how they won it was a great idea.

The idea certainly wasn't the problem. But the execution left a bit to be desired.

Everybody waited patiently as they watched the lead-up episodes over the summer. They found their horse and rooted them on the entire way.

Come November 9, the final table was ready to play out and everything was going according to plan. Nobody knew anything. Poker fans were gearing up to watch the final moments "almost live."

I say almost because they still needed the two days to edit the broadcast together (and play out the heads-up battle) before airing the show Nov. 11.

Meaning there was still plenty of time to find out who won the tournament and how.

It turned out to be a difficult task to avoid hearing the results. Especially since, as soon as the tournament was over, ESPN scrolled the winner on its sports ticker long before the broadcast aired.

Pretty stupid. People that wanted to go into the final-table broadcast blind now knew the winner whether they wanted to or not. The whole mystique was completely lost.

Oh, heads-up play wasn't two hands long?

It wasn't just that though; the final two-hour broadcast was, ultimately, not what it could be. The whole thing seemed thrown together very quickly, which of course is understandable considering the short turnaround time.

But if you're going to stop the biggest and most famous poker tournament in the world for four months, the end product should be better than before - not worse.

So how can they improve it this year?

Show some poker. Heads-up play between Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov lasted three hours in real life. It was a back-and-forth 100+ hand brawl.

ESPN showed two hands, completely misrepresenting how it went down. At the very least, make sure to show everyone's bust hand. Last year they didn't even show Kelly Kim busting.

They showed a 10-minute segment about a lucky coin yet they missed one of the eight bust outs? How can that be?

Show the bracelet presentation. When the river card of the last hand was dealt, the show was over. No bracelet presentation, no interview with the winner. Just over.

The guy just won $9 million. Take a minute and find out how he feels about that. My guess is people want to know.

If there isn't enough time, make it a three-hour broadcast rather than a two-hour one. People watch three-hour baseball and hockey games every day.

You don't think a poker fan is going to watch three hours of final-table coverage once a year? Of course they will.

Just FYI Eastgate won.

Don't spoil the winner. If ESPN is dead set on the November Nine break as the way of the future (and it seems like they are) they absolutely can't scroll the winner on the news ticker all day before the final show airs.

It ruins it for everybody that's trying to watch the final table without knowing who wins.

Give the people what they want. It'd be nice to reach some untapped market of viewers and revitalize the poker boom, but the reality is you're making diehard poker fans wait four months to find out how the most significant tournament of the year finishes.

These same fans would have been just as happy reading about it online and waiting and watching it play out the way it always had in the past.

So when you delay it four months, you'd best make sure the broadcast is going to be better than it would be the old way.

And it wasn't.

We can forgive the first-year adjustment period. But it'll be your second go this year ESPN. Make the best of it or let it go back to normal.

-- Dan

Each year, the Main Event final table rolls around and we look up and down the roster desperately searching for someone who is "good for poker." Someone who can take our game to new heights.

Ever since Moneymaker shipped it in 2003 we've been chasing that poker boom dragon. Deep down we know the 2003 boom will never be replicated in size, but we'll settle for even just a small bang.

In these tough, post-UIGEA times, we need someone who can stand on the world stage, draw attention to the game and bring new players along for the ride.

Moneymaker was the ignition of the poker boom back in '03 and, for the longest time, the poker player mantra was that some amateur would come along and parlay $40 and a sick run of cards into a Main Event bracelet, thereby re-creating the perfect storm of Moneymaker's 2003 victory and igniting a second poker boom.

But we've since had our share of amateurs and semi-pro champions in Raymer, Hachem, Gold, Yang and Eastgate, and each one failed to cause even a ripple in our game.

If an amateur riding a sick wave of cards was the perfect storm for a poker boom, then Yang would have been the perfect candidate. He was that God-fearing amateur, just-lucky-to-be-here guy.

He won, practically disappeared and nothing changed.

So what about something new? Maybe the lucky amateur isn't the match to light the fuse anymore. Though it initially drew people to the game with the whole "anyone can win" angle, even that has become tired.

Enter Phil Ivey, the undisputed best player alive.

If the lucky amateur angle is wearing thin, Ivey is the polar opposite. He's the consummate pro, he's beaten the game his entire life and now that he's making a run at the biggest tournament in the world.

Maybe, god willing, the U.S. government will see that poker is a skill game. Though amateurs will win tournaments here and there, Phil Ivey is living, undeniable proof that poker is a game of skill.

Moneymaker, the man we all owe thanks to.

The possibility for a smaller boom is very real. ESPN had amazing ratings for the 2003 Main Event and, with Ivey at the final table, 2009 guarantees ESPN the best ratings they've had in years.

They'll have four months to hype up their coverage.

With no big names the November Nine is just a waste of time, but with the biggest name in poker it's genius and guarantees one of the most watched final tables in history.

And while a whole boat load of "anyone can do it" players took to the game in 2003, in 2009 we have the possibility for a whole new breed of "I want to be the best in the world" players flooding our games.

A Phil Ivey final table alone is good for poker. But should he go on and win the question is how would he do as an ambassador for the game? You know, the let's-go-out-and-get-that-UIGEA-repealed guy. Is he the best guy to get that job done?

It depends on whether or not he wants to step up. Ivey is the guy that'll win a bracelet and slip out the back door before the press even gets the picture and Q+A session.

Ivey, not a fan of the spotlight.

He's a guy who really doesn't like to be in the spotlight, despite being the biggest name in poker.

Everyone wants to know everything about Phil Ivey, but Ivey just wants to be in the shadows doing what he always does: playing poker and winning millions of dollars.

That's not to say that if he won the Main Event he wouldn't recognize what kind of impact he could potentially have on poker legislation.

Winning the Main Event could catapult Ivey from poker celebrity to mainstream star.

Like Amarillo Slim in the past, he could find himself on the talk show circuit, bringing poker to a whole new audience and hopefully bringing exposure to the sham that is the UIGEA.

It's all entirely possible, and as a stake holder in Full Tilt Poker, Ivey should understand how potentially profitable this can be for him, his company, and poker players worldwide.

The possibility is there. Ivey just has to step up, take the ball and run with it.

He's been somewhat reluctant in the past, but for the greater good of the game, we all hope he would do it given the opportunity.

However, that's getting a little ahead of ourselves. Right now he sits six of nine and there is a ton of ground to make up.

One thing already guaranteed is that the 2009 November Nine will be the most watched WSOP Main Event in recent history.

With higher ratings comes more exposure, so, win or lose, Ivey has already helped the poker world.

So is Phil Ivey good for poker? Yes he is. We'll just have to wait and see if he can be great for poker.

-- Dan

The second batch of WSOP Main Event episodes aired on ESPN this week, covering the final two Day 1 heats.

The latest feature tables see Daniel Negreanu, sick, sniffling and playing quite bad even by Daniel Negreanu standards, and the 2008 POY Erick Lindgren.

To say Lindgren was playing small ball would be an understatement. He was playing tiny ball, seemingly unwilling to risk any chips at all.

As Mike Matusow pointed out in episode one, the Main Event is a marathon, not a sprint, so playing small ball and avoiding big pots early is certainly a sound strategy.

When the tournament takes more than a week, you can't make Day 7 if you're knocked out in a big pot on Day 1.

The second episode opens with one of Erick's small ball hands.

Game: 2009 World Series of Poker, $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event, Day 1D.

Blinds: 50/100

Players: Erick Lindgren; Brad Myers

The Setup:

With the blinds at 50/100, Lindgren raises to 200 from early position with everyone near the starting stacks of 30,000.

Brad Myers, an amateur whose girlfriend won the Main Event seat, calls. Ryan Mackinnon also calls from late position.

The flop comes 5♣ 7♥ T♥ and Lindgren checks. Myers fires 600 and Mackinnon folds. Lindgren calls and the turn comes 4♦.

Lindgren checks, Myers fires 1,200 and again Lindgren calls. The river comes the 8♠ and Lindgren check-calls a 2,500 bet from Myers.

Myers shows the 5♥ 6♥ and Lindgren mucks the A♠ A♦. Thanks to a straight on the river, Myers' 5♥ 6♥ is good for the 9,350 pot.

E-dog, keeping the pots small early on.

The Breakdown:

Lindgren plays this hand in a completely atypical manner for one reason alone: it's a tournament. And it's not just a tournament - it's the tournament.

The Main Event is more than a week of straight poker and there's no way you can make it to the final table if you bust on the first day. So Lindgren plays small ball.

He opens the pot from early position to 200, keeping the pot small right from the start.

He knows he's probably going to have to play this pot out of position, and even though aces are the best starting hand in poker, anything can happen on the flop. When you're 300bb deep, one pair is never good in a big pot.

Myers makes the call in middle position with his 5♥ 6♥. He has suited connectors and they are super-deep very early in the tournament. If he flops a big hand, he may be able to double up.

Whereas Lindgren's AA is hampered by the deep stacks, Myers' 5♥ 6♥ is helped.

Mackinnon also calls from late position with K♣ J♠. When the flop comes 5♣ 7♥ T♥, Lindgren checks.

He has an overpair, but he likely feels that this board hits one or both of the callers behind him hard. He also knows that early in tournaments players are looking to call with suited connectors to hit and double up.

There isn't a single suited connector that doesn't connect with this board in some way. Add in the small pocket pairs and there's a high likelyhood that one or both of his opponents hit this board.

He doesn't want to risk being raised and forced to make a tough decision whether to three-bet or fold, so he just checks with the intention of calling a bet.

Myers flops a pair and a flush draw and is actually slightly ahead of Lindgren. He bets $600, Mackinnon folds with nothing and Lindgren makes the call.

As it actually turns out, Lindgren is absolutely correct. One of his opponents did nail the flop and if he had bet, Myers would probably have raised with his pair plus flush draw. Lindgren dodges this potentially sticky situation and sees the turn cheap.

Hrmmm, that board ran out about as bad as it could have.

The turn is the 4♦.

Lindgren, sticking with his plan, still wants to keep the pot small and checks. The 4♦ is not a great card for him because almost all of those suited connectors improved in one way or another.

Myers improves to a pair, flush draw and open-ended straight draw, and fires again for 1,200.

Lindgren calls again because he has a huge overpair to the board and though his opponent's range is pretty strong, Myers could still be value-betting worse hands - or even barreling with just a naked flush draw.

The river is the 8♠. Lindgren once again checks and crying-calls the 2,500 bet from Myers.

Myers makes an easy value-bet with a straight and Lindgren makes the call hoping to see a busted flush draw. And though he did see some busted hearts, they also ended up making a straight, which was good enough to crack aces and take a 9,350 pot.

This snapshot is almost the exact opposite of last week's, where Lex Veldhuis was acting like the Main Event was a 4-hour race to accumulate chips. Lindgren plays it close to the vest and tries to preserve chips to get to the later days.

In this hand it works out well for him. He could have lost a big pot by betting the flop and being forced to play back against a raise.

Something tells me Myers isn't folding a pair and a draw, and once he hits more outs on the turn, it's even more unlikely.

An odd check/call, check/call strategy ends up paying dividends for E-dog in the form of saved chips.

ESPN just waxed off its Day 3 coverage of the 2009 Main Event last night and naturally we have another Main Event snapshot.

Last night's feature table had two notable Aussies: WSOP player of the year Jeffery Lisandro and 2005 Main Event winner Joe Hachem.

In this hand, it's Australia vs the world when Claus Nielsen gets not one but both to lay down better hands.

The Set Up:

With the blinds $1,000/$2,000, Claus Nielsen raises it up to $5,200 from middle position.

Hachem re-raises to $15,000 from the hi-jack and Lisandro flat-calls in the small blind after some thought.

Nielsen calls as well and they see a flop of 6♥ 4♣ A♥. Lisandro checks and Nielsen leads into Hachem for $22,000. Hachem folds after some thought and Lisandro does as well.

Nielsen mucks and takes the pot without showdown successfully getting Hachem to fold Qh Qc and Lisandro to fold Ks Kc.

The Breakdown:

The hand starts out folding around to Nielsen in middle position who makes it $5,200 to go with 8♠ 4♠.

Mixing it up with a raise from middle position with a suited gapper can be fine some of the time but you definitely don't want to make a habit of it.

For example, if the table is playing tight then often a steal from middle position is going to be given much more credit than a steal from late position.

2009 WSOP Player of the Year!

Next Hachem re-raises to $15,000 with Q♥ Q♣. A big pocket pair in late position is an easy three-bet for value because your opponent can call with a very wide range of worse hands.

Lisandro chooses to just flat-call in the big blind with K♠ K♣.

He's obviously trying to trap one or both of these players. He probably feels that with the pot already re-raised he'll have no problem winning either opponent's stack on a good flop.

The problem with that thinking is that often when you try to trap a re-raise with KK or QQ, or even AA for that matter, your opponent is often re-raising with AK.

If you just flat-call and the board comes six high, your opponent just isn't going to put another penny into the pot when they may have called a shove pre-flop. So you end up making less money and not more.

Nielsen calls as well having to call just under $10,000 to win a pot of $39,000. With good odds he decides to see a flop.

When the flop comes down 6♥ 4♣ A♥, Lisandro checks.

This is another problem with slow-playing KK before the flop. Sometimes (like now) the flop will come ace high and had you shipped pre-flop your opponent with QQ probably would have called.

But now the board is ace high and you're both gun shy so rather than winning his whole stack you may win only a small pot or even get bluffed off the best hand.

Folding QQ: No joke. This neckerchief is.

When Lisandro checks, Nielsen elects to donk-lead into the three-bettor for $22,000.

He may feel that the only ace Hachem is re-raising in this spot is AK and thus most of his re-raising range is made up of large pocket pairs - none of which like the ace.

He probably also thinks his raise and call makes it more likely for him to have an ace than his opponents.

So he leads for $22,000 which is less than half pot - a great bet size because it doesn't risk too many chips.

Should his bet be called, he knows he's dead unless he improves. But since his bet is so small, if he's called he can give up and it's not a huge deal.

Hachem thinks and folds his big pocket pair. Lisandro does the same.

All in all, a decent hand. And one that shows slow-playing big pocket pairs, though sometimes sexy, can also get you into some difficult spots.

Up next on ESPN: Day 4, and perhaps Ivey's first words!

More Main Event Snapshots:

With ESPN airing two more episodes on Tuesday night we're now in the money and finished with Day 4.

The Day 4 coverage saw two story lines: people playing ridiculously - almost embarrassingly - tight on the money bubble, and the feature table donating chips to Phil Ivey.

In this hand we have the latter, post bubble bust.

The Setup:

With the blinds $3,000/$6,000, Phil Ivey raises it up to $16,000 in the cut-off. Bernhard Perner makes the call in the small blind and David Wickham calls in the big blind.

The flop comes J♣ 7♠ A♣ and both blinds check. Ivey c-bets $35,000 into $56,000 and Perner folds. Wickham makes the call.

The turn comes 8♠ and Wickham check-calls a $70,000 bet from Ivey. The river comes 3♦. Wickham once again checks and Ivey fires $120,000.

Wickham folds this time and Ivey ships the $266,000 pot.

The Breakdown:

It's folded around to Phil Ivey who makes it $16,000 in the cut-off with the A♦ K♥. Obviously AK in late position is an easy raise.

Bernhard Perner makes the call in the small blind with 4♦ 4♣.

Perner obviously thinks that if he hits a four he can win a big pot. But his thinking is off because Ivey is going to be raising a wider than normal range when it's folded to him in the cut-off.

Of that range, very little of it is going to be able to flop a big hand that will give action to a set.

Ivey twisting oreos?!

Combine that with the fact that you're going to flop a set so infrequently and that you're going to get action on said set even more infrequently, this hand is better mucked before the flop.

But he calls and so does David Wickham with A♥ T♣ in the big blind.

Luckily for Perner he's not the only one who made a bad call preflop.

A♥ T♣ is not a hand you want to play out of position at the best of times. Factor in you're playing Phil Ivey, who is capable of reading souls, firing multiple barrels and making razor thin value bets, and this hand should be in the muck as soon as Ivey raises.

It's a reverse implied odds hand that is either going to win a very small pot or it's going to lose a monster.

When the flop comes A♣ 7♠ J♣, Ivey bets $35,000 for value. Perner folds his missed-set draw and Wickham calls with his weaker ace.

Now once you've seen the flop with AT you're obviously going to have to peel once you hit your ace.

But that's the thing about AT - you peel the flop, and in your very best-case scenario your opponent shuts down on the turn and you get to see a showdown.

If you call the flop and he fires the turn, are you ever going to be happy calling another street? No. And if you do, there's always the looming river bet you may have to contend with.

The turn comes 8♠ and Ivey bets $70,000 into $126,000. Again with top pair, top kicker another easy value-bet.

Wickham makes his second big mistake in this hand by calling. This just isn't a card that Ivey is going to bet a worse hand at.

Should Ivey have a worse ace he would certainly check behind for pot control. It's also a horrible card to bluff at. Ace-high boards are really bad to double barrel as a rule, especially when the turn doesn't change anything.

So Wickham's pair of aces, average kicker should hit the muck. But they don't; he calls and then check-folds the river, sending his live poker redline plummeting.

Which is why one of the rules for increasing your winnings without showdown is to stop playing dominated hands out of position.

You end up doing exactly what Wickham did: calling the flop and turn and folding to further action.

But poor Wickham didn't get that memo, plays a dominated hand out of position and pays for it. The end result is a ~$260,000 pot for Ivey.

As loyal PokerListings.com readers, you're already aware that Phil Hellmuth won his record 11th WSOP bracelet last night, hidden behind a shroud of black felt that enraged Mike Matusow and delighted the always-publicity-conscious Poker Brat. You're also aware that Allen Cunningham took home his fifth WSOP bracelet the day before, and that British Columbians and Canadians in general have been destroying the competition at every other WSOP final table of note. But after 12 days of poker in the palace of degeneracy, plenty of salacious side stories have emerged that maybe you're not aware of…yet.

Vinny Vinh

Okay, obvious moonlanding. But this is the biggest non-Hellmuth/non-Harrah's-is-incompetent story of the WSOP so far. The scoop: Vinny Vinh, a high-stakes tournament regular with more than $2.3 million in tournament cashes so far, looked primed for another big score as chip-leader at the end of Day 1 of the $1,000 NLHE w/Rebuys event.

 

Vinh

 

Fine, except Vinh, who reportedly looked exhausted and/or strung out and/or maniacal during Day 1, forgot to show up for Day 2 of the event. As friends and supporters (including Men "The Master" Nguyen) tried frantically to raise the absentee pro and the forums picked up on the story, Vinh's stack was blinded off and eventually the Houston native was disqualified, though not before outlasting 60 players and recording a 20th place finish.

Speculation raged as to whether Vinh was dead, in hiding due to degeneracy involving drugs or money, or simply too cracked out to come to work, with alliterative pros like Shane "Shaniac" Schleger and Shannon Shorr weighing in to lend credence to the worst-case scenarios.

 

Schleger

 

Eventually, Shaniac announced that Vinh was alive and uninjured, at least according to his backer, and that this sort of disappearance is not unusual for the WPT Season 2 LAPC runner-up. Speculation has thus shifted to debate over Vinh's substance of choice and the extent of his addiction, but the exact circumstances regarding his disappearance and possible breakdown will likely remain a mystery.

Eskimo Clark

One breakdown that will not remain a mystery is that of Paul "Eskimo" Clark, who collapsed during yesterday's $2,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo tournament and was removed from the scene by EMS personnel. Clark, who had been playing in the tent outside the Rio at the time, reportedly blanked out in the middle of making a call and was soon on the ground of the barn awaiting medical attention. According to the WSOP's Nolan Dalla, Clark was awake and responsive when he was removed from the tournament area, which is always a good sign. The cause of Clark's collapse has not been released.

 

Eskimo Clark

 

A few interesting side notes: the tournament was halted and the tent cleared of players while Clark was being attended to, although Ted Lawson reportedly used the break to grab a cheeseburger and fries and proceeded to re-enter the tent to consume his meal one table away from where Eskimo lay stricken. Lawson was quickly escorted out and play was allowed to resume without a substantial delay, with Clark's original $4,000 in chips being taken off the table, his money refunded, and the remainder of his stack blinded off as play continued.

Brandi

On a lighter note, what would a gossip rag be without mention of Brandi Hawbaker? The former protégé of Captain Tom Franklin and Mark Newhouse, Ms. Hawbaker re-entered the public eye at Mandalay Bay just before the WSOP and since then has done nothing but blow up forums and reputable media outlets alike.

 

Brandi Rose

 

ThePokerBiz that Brandi might have found a backer in everyone's favorite Main Event winner, Jamie Gold, while other reports have seen the toast-fanatic learning under famed Theorist David Sklansky, whose hands-on tutelage raised the ire of Clonie Gowen during the $2,000 NLHE event. Gowen called the floor to protest Sklansky's involvement in Hawbaker's game, although in a strange twist the FullTiltPoker pro repeatedly denied that Hawbaker's coach in question was in fact David Sklansky.

Instead of Gold and/or Sklansky, PokerListings.com prefers to speculate that Hawbaker's phantom backer is the random European-looking man with a penchant for sweat-suits, a man who we believe bought her into the $2,500 HORSE event and who no doubt loves her better than Steve Zolotow ever could (although, given the Cathouse stories, who knows).

Quiet Lion

In another strange example of Harrah's twisted logic, pro Richard "The Quiet Lion" Brodie was banned from all of the company's properties after hitting two Royal Flushes in a matter of days while playing video poker at Caesars for $480,000. According to Brodie, Harrah's 86'd him and a few other similarly high-rolling gamblers because they couldn't see a way to make a profit off the old boy. This of course meant Brodie was banned from playing in the World Series.

 

Richard Brodie

 

Thankfully, WSOP commissioner and rumored blogger Jeffrey Pollack stepped in and convinced his employers to allow Brodie to play. Thus the Quiet Lion took part in the $5,000 World Championship Limit Hold'em Event and the entirety of the poker world (less Joe Hachem and, um, Jean Gluck) was represented again.

All the Trash That's Fit To Print...

If you believe everything you read, everyone from David Benyamine to Daniel Negreanu to Bryan Micon is bankrupt. Also, Jennifer "Jennicide" Leigh and Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf are an item, as are Chantel McNulty and Zach Hyman. Oh, and Erica Schoenberg might have had a bit of an extracurricular film career before the whole poker thing really took off. But if you haven't heard about thatone, well, you've got a bit of homework to do.

Playing consistent, winning tournament Hold'em poker is no easy feat. But there is one player who does it at the World Series of Poker better than anyone else on the planet.

I'm speaking, of course, about Phil Hellmuth.

You Can't Argue With 11 Bracelets

Phil took home his 11th WSOP Gold Bracelet just two days ago. For those counting, that's more winning at the WSOP than anyone else in history. Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson have ten each, but Phil was the first to 11. Plus, all of Hellmuth's 11 wins are in Hold'em events.

Most of us have seen the Poker Brat on TV. We've watched him blow up time after time, whine about bad beats and generally act like a six-year-old who just dropped his ice-cream cone in the sandbox when he loses.

No doubt we've also seen him sickeningly wax poetic about what a great a player he is in interviews after wins. But childlike and ego maniacal behavior aside, there is something very special about the way Phil plays tournament Hold'em.

This Guy Won The Main Event

In this age of Internet poker making donkeys across the globe richer than they ever should be and rags to riches stories of Online qualifiers and 21-year old kids winning World Series Gold, an uber-aggressive style of play has become all the rage.

These days you can read volumes about aggressive play and how it is the key to winning poker. Every poker book and magazine on the shelves is asking why check, when you can bet? Why call, when you can re-raise? Why sit around and get blinded out, when you can push all your chips in the middle with A-Q? Or Ace-Rag for that matter?

Well, I'll tell you why. It's because Phil Hellmuth doesn't do it.

Nelson: Among Those Wanting Phil Dead

Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson preach the steaming, raising, bully style in their book dubbed Kill Phil. Perfect title as it's a strategy for Hold'em players designed to crack the Phil Ivey, Phil Gordon, Phil Hellmuth "play the nuts" and "grind it out" approach to tournament poker.

Rodman and Nelson advise taking the damn the torpedoes pre-flop approach to avoid being drawn out on flops by limpers and small bet calling stations. Hellmuth, however, dances to the beat of a different drummer.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying aggressive play doesn't work, because it does. It's just not as consistent as the type of play you see out of Phil's seat. Aggressive players are either getting big stacks early, or busting out just as quick. Even when they build a huge mound of checks, they often donk them off trying to bully the table. It's win or go home poker and it hasn't brought anyone even close to 11 WSOP bracelets.

Throughout his win in Event 15, a $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em tournament, Hellmuth must have laid down what very well could have been the best hand to a maniac's monster bet at least half a dozen times.

Bluffs With Seven-Duece

In fact, on Day 2, Phil claimed he laid down a big pair on a flop of K♥ J♠ J♣ when Jon Turner came in over the top of his $10,000 informational bet and showed the 7♥ 2♥ bluff following Phil's muck.

The crowd around the table liked it, cheering wildly, but all Hellmuth said was, "That's how the maniacs do it. They do it that way all the time and they never last as long as I do. They never learn."

For the record, Turner didn't make Day 3.

On any given tournament day at the WSOP, Phil can also be found prudently check-calling medium size turn and river bets with big pairs and even sets when he doesn't have the nuts. Some people call this kind of play weak. But, funny enough, Hellmuth's stacks aren't usually described in that same fashion.

The Stacks To Prove It

The bottom line is he never really puts his stack at risk in a tournament. While other WSOP, WPT, and EPT winners playing an all-out aggressive style talk about how they got lucky and took down several races throughout a tournament, Phil might have only one or two hands where all his chips are in the middle.

Played the right way, Hold'em is a game of skill, but sometimes it seems everyone else is out there gambling while Phil Hellmuth is playing poker.

The way pros like Hellmuth, and others, read players is something that's tough to teach. But we can learn a few lesson's from the most consistent tournament Hold'em player on earth and his winning style of play.

Simply The Best

Play aggressively when you have the nuts, but why risk everything you've got until you do. There's enough mistimed aggression out there on the felt for you to play winning tournament poker with simple, prudent and patient moves.

Just ask the loudmouth on TV, whining all the way to winner's circle and being sized up for number 12.

Why limp-in when you can go all-in? No people, the real question is, why Kill Phil when you can play like him. There really isn't anyone better.

Friday, June 10, 2005, marked the first time I ever played in a WSOP event, the $2,000 No-Limit Hold'em tournament. I managed to take 102nd place, beating 1,300 players in the process and receiving $2,580 for my efforts. Erik Seidel came out on top and finally won this event last night, but this is how the tournament unfolded for me.

We started at noon with $2,000 in chips each and the only 'big name' player at my table was Chris Hinchcliffe, mostly known for his third place finish in the Party Poker Million III of 2004. Consequently, Chris is now one of the few players sponsored by PartyPoker and he has been a great success and a fruitful investment for them. He is both a tremendously nice guy and very good poker player.

With blinds starting at $25-$25 and 1 hour levels, $2,000 in chips is not a large amount of chips. This requires a bit of gambling in the early stages, and I had no fear of being knocked out. My table seemed very tight and I decided to gamble early by playing many hands when in late position and it looked like I could see a cheap flop, as well as raising with hands as weak as suited connectors in early position because of the great stealing possibilities. I immediately won a few pots and many from Hinchcliffe who himself was also very active player. I got the opportunity to bluff and semi-bluff, as well as show down strong hands after successful value bets on the river. My confidence grew and I felt that I was gaining a lot of respect at the table.

I won my first big pot when I limped first in from late position holding the A♦ 5♦. The blinds were $100-$200 and I had $2,800 in chips. The reason I limped in was because I felt that the player in the big blind only had two moves, all-in or fold. He had already successfully semi-bluffed me on a previous flop when he check-raised me all-in with a flush draw. I wanted to take flops with this player. He checked from the big blind and we took the flop heads-up: the flop came A♠ 2♦ 8♦. A good flop for me as I now had top pair and the nut flush draw. He went in the tank on the flop not seeming to know whether to check or bet. Finally he checked and I immediately checked behind him. At this point I thought he had a pair or a draw and that he didn't know how to play the hand. The turn brought the 4♣. Again my opponent checked, but this time I decided to bet $250 into the $500 pot and my opponent looked like he was going to fold but then changed his mind and shoved his chips into the pot declaring he was raising all-in.

He had raised me $1,500 more for a total bet of $1,750 and thus I had him covered. Since I had pretty much set him up to make this play I was pretty sure I was going to call. Also, he was acting the same way as he had in the hand when he had semi-bluffed with a flush draw, seemingly considering all possible options, namely folding, calling, and raising. Could he really have a flush draw again? The flush draw seemed unlikely as I had two diamonds in my own hand. I thought he was most likely holding a pair and a straight draw for a hand such as 32, 52, or the like. I figured there were more hands that he would play in this manner that I could beat than I couldn't beat and I knew I wasn't drawing dead in case I was wrong, so I decided to call. He flipped over the T♦ 4♦ which meant he only had 5 outs (three tens and two fours). The 3♠ came on the river giving me a five-high straight and I knocked my first player out. I now had $4,850 and a pretty comfortable chip stack.

This story will be continued soon at PokerListings.com's Daily WSOP Blog.

Read part II »

Phil Hellmuth is one of the biggest stars in poker and he knows it. So far, he hasn't made any magic in the 2005 World Series of Poker (in the money twice) and I must say that I expect more of this man (he has won 9 WSOP bracelets). Phil hasn't won many major tournaments in recent years, although I suspect that's mainly because he's been busy with poker related business. For example, he represents online poker room UltimateBet.com. For more Phil Hellmuth trivia, keep reading today's blog.

Born:

Madison, Wisconsin, 1964

Current Residence:

Palo Alto, California

Distinctions:

Youngest ever winner of a WSOP bracelet
Author of 'Playing Poker With The Pros'
Married with two children
Has won 9 WSOP bracelets
Works with UltimateBet.com

Major Poker Accomplishments:

Phil Hellmuth is a contemporary poker legend. His resume includes nine World Series of Poker bracelets and over 17 WSOP final tables. He has several 'Diamond Jim Brady' titles from the Bike in L.A. as well as 'Legends' titles, among them the 1988 championship event. He came in second in the U.S. Open Championship of 1996 and has four Hall of Fame bracelets. He has earned several titles in the 'Carnavale of Poker,' and has well over twenty additional titles from various international events.

How did this powerhouse get his start? Phil began playing poker as a student at the University of Wisconsin. He had variable success in games he played at school but eventually built up such a bankroll that he decided to drop out, despite his parents' disapproval. However, as he began to acquire more and more wealth, he showered his family with free trips to destinations of their choice and eventually their disapproval turned to pride.

For instance, when he was 24 he offered his dad a free trip and his dad opted to go to Las Vegas to watch his son play in the World Series of Poker. Here is how Phil describes the final play of that tournament. 'When I beat Johnny Chan my hands went up in the air, and I was filled with pure joy.' He says that his father 'came running up the aisle and was stopped by the security guards because there was a million dollars in cash lying on the poker table. I told them to let him through, and I still remember hugging my dad right then and there.'

Phil is a great force on the tournament circuit, he has a bit of a bad boy reputation. He says: 'I might be a brat just one time during a whole tournament, but that's what's going to be played on TV. Most of the time when I'm at the table I'm fun to be with, although if someone's trying to push my buttons I can get a little unpleasant with them. At the same time, if I berate someone, I always apologize. I'm a man. I know when I'm wrong. I know what my faults are.'

Phil might have his hothead moments but he is fundamentally good. Here is how he explains his philosophy. 'I would like everyone in the world to truly 'see the good' in everyone else. I believe that if that were the case, then we wouldn't have wars, murders and cruelty anymore. I am not denominational in my religious choices, but I believe that Buddha had it right when he told his followers, 'It is important to see the good in everyone.' I have a long way to go in my life to get to where I would like to be, but when I am at my best I am able to see the good even in some of the slimiest poker players out there. Sometimes it is hard, but I can always find something good in them eventually.'

Being a dedicated professional, Phil has ideas of the direction he'd like poker to take. 'I would like to find a way to make the general public understand poker. I believe that if the public understood poker, then it would become 'bigger than golf' worldwide. I mean anyone of any age, sex, religion, race or nationality can play and enjoy this game. Physical prowess is not required in poker. You can use your mind to participate in poker.'

There is a great deal of speculation and argument regarding who is the best, smartest, richest poker player at the WSOP. Today I wanted to put the spotlight on a slightly different category. I'm talking about the players who bring the most fans to watch their tables - the biggest "celebrities" of poker so to speak. Here are the players who'd get my vote:

10. Clonie Gowen

Since the majority of poker fans are males, it's no surprise this Maxim pin-up brings out the crowds. Gowen has been placing better and better in WSOP events this year, so she will probably be carrying herself and her fans deeper and deeper into the tournaments. She's definitely not just another pretty face.

9. Joe Hachem

The 2005 Main Event winner is another one of poker's people champions. His charismatic personality gives him a magnetic quality, and he always has a good crowd cheering for him. The smiling Aussie does a great job being an ambassador of poker by lending his presence to a number of events even when he's not even playing. With the 2005 WSOP event still on people's minds, he's easy to recognize.

8. Greg Raymer

The "Fossilman" is an inspiration to many people. The 2004 World Champion and former patent attorney is another great ambassador for poker. He's a spokesperson for PokerStars.com and can often be seen telling people that anybody could be the next world champion. With his trademark hologram glasses, he's very easy to make out in the crowds. Raymer is a true fan favorite.

7. Jennifer Harman

Poker's leading lady is one hell of a card player. She's usually the last female left, so it's easy to spot her. As the constant underdog, she's a crowd favorite. Fans are always disappointed when she busts out, and they all seem to be waiting for the day when she takes another bracelet.

6. Johnny Chan

Names don't get much bigger than Johnny "Orient Express" Chan. With a cameo in the poker movie "Rounders," Chan is one of poker's true celebrities. You could also argue that he's the world's greatest player. With a total of 10 WSOP bracelets to his name, it'd be hard to disagree with that assessment. Only Doyle Brunson has the same number of bracelets. When Chan walks into a room, people always take notice.

5. Daniel Negreanu

"Kid Poker" is one of poker's most approachable characters and can be seen regularly on TV and in magazines giving advice on how to play the game. All the other pros respect him, and the fans love him. "Look! It's Daniel Negreanu!" has got to be one of the most common phrases at the 2006 WSOP thus far.

4. Phil Hellmuth Jr.

The "bad boy" of poker, Hellmuth is hard to ignore. He's often seen berating his opponents and throwing tantrums although most of the time he's just plain winning. Everybody wants to see the "Poker Brat" play. So far this year, he's been somewhat of a gentler, kinder Hellmuth if that's possible. We'll see how long it lasts.

3. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson

How many people at the WSOP wear a cowboy hat, dress entirely in black and have long flowing hair? Not very many, in fact if you see somebody that looks like that, there's a good chance you're looking at Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. Ferguson is also an incredible poker player, the 2000 World Champion in fact. Ferguson could play $2/4 Hold'em games at the Gold Coast, and people would still flock to see him.

2. Doyle Brunson

People come hundreds of miles to be able to say they saw the "Texas Dolly" play. Brunson is poker's living legend, and he's been a mainstay at the WSOP since the very early days. Doyle Brunson is poker and, to a degree, poker is Brunson.

1. Phil Ivey

It's impossible to escape the buzz that is Phil Ivey. Ivey is usually mobbed by fans when he makes trips down the hall. He's easy to recognize with his trademark baseball cap and headphones. He's also got the skills to go with this celebrity status. No one would be surprised to see Ivey take down a few bracelets this year.

A lot of people say Phil Ivey is the game's best player. That may be true, and Ivey is also poker's biggest celebrity right now.

The tournaments here at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) certainly take up most of the spotlight and get the majority of the public's attention. What's less publicized but no less thrilling are the cash games. Just a few steps away from the tournament tables, there's a roped-off area which is under the constant surveillance of security personnel as well as a small group of Rio staffers who are headed by High Stakes Supervisor Tony Shelton. Tony was kind enough to give us an inside look at the ruthless high stakes cash games here at the World Series.

There are many different styles of games here that qualify as "high stakes," the lowest of which being No-Limit or Pot-Limit games with blinds of $25/$50. In terms of Limit games, the high stakes cut-off is $50/$100. This may sound high in comparison to the games most of us are comfortable playing, but let me assure you, $50/$100 is chump change compared to the real ones.

Just a few days ago I had the pleasure of watching an authentic high stakes game. It was only three-handed but I would estimate that there was close to $200,000 on the table in chips and cash. Barry Greenstein, Eli Elezra and Gus Hansen were the three players, and it stayed three-handed the entire time I was there. Not because it was a poker-celebrity exclusive game but simply because not many people have the courage, or the bankroll, to go toe-to-toe with these three with the limits at $4,000/$8,000. This is the highest game that's spread at the WSOP, but I would wager that it's not even close to the highest limit these players have gotten involved in.

This was a mixed game with the form of poker being played changing every time the dealer button made a full circuit of the table. Everything from Razz to Hold'em to Draw was possible, and it says a lot about these players' all-around knowledge of poker that they put that much money on the line in such a dynamic game. Despite being a gifted card player, Gus Hansen left this particular table down about $50,000.

Tony Shelton, the high stakes supervisor, has been working for Binion's Casino for the last 28 years and you can bet that he's seen it all. He filled me in on the most popular styles of poker that are played at the high limits.

Chinese poker is a game that's played for large sums of money. I saw Barry Greenstein going heads-up with another player in a game of Chinese. I was unable to find out what the stakes were, but suffice to say each player had a few substantial towers of $5,000 denomination chips. Chinese is a 13-card game where each player tries to put together the best three poker hands from their 13 cards. Two five-card hands and one three-card hand decides the payouts.

Another lesser known form of poker is Badugi. Also known as Padooki, this is a triple-draw game where the betting structure is the same as traditional poker. However, instead of a five-card hand, Badugi hands only have four cards. It's similar to Lowball in that the lowest cards have the highest ranking. Also, to evaluate your hand you must throw away any suited cards as well as any paired cards, this will leave you with a hand with anywhere from one to four cards. The more cards you have in your hand, the higher it's ranked, for example a four card hand beats a three card hand and so on. The best possible hand would be Ace-2-3-4 with all four suits covered. Shelton assured me that this is a game played at the highest limits.

Shelton also commented that many of the best poker players at the Rio tonight will not be entering in any of the tournaments. Preferring to keep a low profile, it's far more profitable for these cash game specialists to remain unknown. Tony likened this to the fact that some of the best golfers in the world will never be seen on the PGA Tour. Playing for cash and avoiding the strings attached to celebrity status is much more appealing to many.

It seems to me that the stakes of the game you're playing really are relative to the size of your bankroll. $4,000/$8,000 may seem astronomical to most people, but if you're working with millions of dollars, the relative size is actually similar to someone who works for minimum wage playing $4/$8. In spite of this, it's a hell of a lot more exciting watching Barry Greenstein rake in a pot of $75,000 than it is to see Joe Schmoe collecting a measly $75.

An extremely interesting book recently came into my possession: "Poker According to Maverick." Written by, and based on, the fictional character Bret Maverick who was played by James Garner in the Television series "Maverick" (1957-1962), this book is possibly one of the earliest poker guides ever written. At a cost of only 35¢, it may have also been one of the cheapest. Although often hammed up in an early Hollywood style, the book is meant to be taken seriously and is offering sound advice.

Published in 1959 - more than 10 years before Johnny Moss ever became a WSOP champion - the book provides valuable insight into what the face of poker was like pre-World Series. Not only is there no mention of the game of Texas Hold'em, there is no mention of any form of community card poker games whatsoever. According to Maverick, Five-Card Draw is the toughest of the poker games, Five-Card Stud is the most scientific, Seven-Card Stud is the fastest, most action packed variety of poker, and High-Low Stud is a completely insane game that only maniacs should compete in.

Those are the only games that Maverick devotes any serious attention to. But while all of those games are fairly obsolete, or at least footnotes in the grand scheme of modern poker, much of the strategy that Maverick discusses in his guide is still fairly valuable and surprisingly relevant. Most of the language is campy and outdated, but the main themes are all present and are clearly laid out in a chapter that Maverick calls "Ten Commandments for Poker Players."

Here are Maverick's "Ten Commandments":
1. If you don't have a fighting hand, drop it and wait for another.
2. In five-card stud, never draw a third card unless your hole card or your open card either equals or tops the highest card showing around the table. A back-to-back pair is an exception, of course.
3. In draw poker, "Jacks-or-better" to open, never call an opener unless you have the pair of Jacks beaten.
4. Never draw to an inside straight.
5. Never draw to a three-card flush.
6. Always call a known bluffer if you have a better than average hand.
7. Don't play poker with women.
8. Don't play with men who can't afford to lose.
9. Don't play yourself, if you can't afford to lose.
10. If you find yourself in a losing streak, relax and wait! There always will be another hand or even another game.

So yeah, those all seem like pretty good rules for all poker players to live by, right? Don't play beyond your means. Don't chase flushes. Don't play bad hands. Don't play with women. Wait - Don't play women? Um, Maverick?

Fortunately, Maverick elaborates further into the chapter. Of all the Commandments, he feels that the seventh is the one that should easily speak for itself. He says that although women are very cunning and have alleged powers of intuition, they are not good poker players. They have trouble with the rules of the game and the laws by which odds operate, since "in everyday life, so many exceptions to the rules are made for women that they find it hard to believe these exceptions don't exist in poker."

Maverick also believes that women are far too curious to ever win at poker. "Women's curiosity is so overpowering that it is almost impossible to drive one of them out of a hand. The result is that while they occasionally win a big one, they lose much more often, forcing the men in the game to relieve them of much coin."

Well, ok then. Now I understand where the guy was coming from. I was planning on going on some big tirade about how sexist Maverick was, and how we're all very lucky that society has matured over the past half century, and thank God women are given more credence in the game of life, as well as in the game of poker. But I can't really argue with what The Mav was saying. I guess that in poker, while certain games may gain or lose popularity, there are many things that will always be constants. From this day forth, I'll never play poker with women again.

Phil Hellmuth won his 10th World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet tonight amidst a massive crowd and an electric atmosphere. Hundreds of fans packed the Amazon Room, jamming close to the feature table, standing on chairs, taking flash photography, and shouting out words and chants of encouragement at every opportunity. The spectators were so jubilant and so determined to be a part of history that the staff at the Rio had to threaten to forcibly remove those miscreants standing on chairs by all means necessary, up to and including security guards (gasp!). Despite the gong show, the record-tying evening was the most important night of the 2006 WSOP, not only for Phil Hellmuth himself but for the World Series as a whole.

For Hellmuth, the victory silences those critics who suggested that he might be unable to compete amongst the large fields and pressure-packed environments that have characterized this year's World Series. It sends a defiant message to the young guns who up to this point have been grabbing headlines and bracelets seemingly at will, a message that although many of poker's biggest names have failed to achieve results this year, you'd be a fool to count Phil Hellmuth among the ranks of the overrated or washed up. 

And it takes the monkey off his back. Finally winning that 10th bracelet puts him at last on equal footing with Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan. Despite Phil's claims to the contrary, you have to believe that a tiny bit of self-doubt had crept into his mind, seeing a bunch of young players winning bracelets while he was left stalled on the tarmac, watching Jeff Cabanillas snatch away the bracelet that should have been his, and even tonight, falling behind by a 2-to-1 chip count to Juha Helppi while heads-up at the final table.

You have to believe there have been moments when Phil has looked in the mirror and wondered if he'd ever get that bracelet, if he'd ever be able to make the poker world see him as an equal to its two most successful members.

Now the bracelet is his, the victory party can begin, and the pressure has dissipated. No more whispers in the background that he's lost it. No more watching unknowns win multiple bracelets while he struggles to cash. Now Hellmuth can sit back and concentrate on eclipsing his two rivals while basking in the glory that he has rightfully attained.

Hellmuth's victory also lends a much needed star-quality to this year's World Series, something that the tournament had been sorely lacking up until tonight. Before Hellmuth claimed his bracelet, the winners who had come before him had consisted mainly of forgettable flashes-in-the-pan and no-name youngsters.

The H.O.R.S.E. tournament, which was expected to produce a high-profile winner out of an all-star cast of entrants, instead produced Chip Reese, a bona-fide professional, sure, but not a man whom the average American would recognize if he knocked on their front door. The professionals who won events were the quiet, unassuming, Allen Cunningham-types who don't attract media coverage or hoards of groupies, people who shy away from the spotlight and would prefer not to be seen as prime-time material.

Phil Hellmuth is prime-time material. His victory is national news. The man serves as one of the many faces of poker and is one of the game's most recognizable stars. Just comparing the size of the audiences at Hellmuth's final tables to others at the World Series is proof enough of his dynamic and magnetic ability to draw fans.

Hellmuth hobnobs with basketball players and movie stars and is seen everywhere from the Kentucky Derby to courtside at NBA playoff games, and his history-making victory does the WSOP a huge favor by putting a marketable name and face on the event as a whole. Even if Jeff Madsen fades into oblivion after his dramatic two weeks in the spotlight, the 2006 WSOP will forever be known as the World Series in which the Poker Brat tied Texas Dolly and the Orient Express amidst a screaming throng of fans.

Now if only someone from Harrah's or ESPN had bothered to televise it.

Today the World Series of Poker officially exploded. What I thought was a zoo a few days ago now looks like single cow dairy farm compared to the absolute madness that is going on all over the Rio as we speak. The Media/Celebrity charity event is in full effect, the excitement of Main Event eve can be felt everywhere, and most importantly, the 2006 Gaming Life Expo opened its doors to throngs of poker junkies early this morning.

The Gaming Expo is bigger than anything I had ever expected or imagined. Filling a massive room at the Rio convention center, this is where every company that has anything to do with poker - large or small - descends for a week during the WSOP to attract potential customers and investors. All of the online poker rooms you know and love (and a few that you definitely haven't heard of) have set up massive displays to impress their loyal and prospective fan base.

Everything from Scotty Nguyen bobble heads to chip trick how-to DVDs to personalized card-holders to nifty dealer button/timers are being promoted and sold. Everything from sunglasses to baseballs to super glue to trips to outer space (on Virgin Galactic - not kidding) are being given away for free. It's a circus.

While poker is the main attraction at this carnival, if all you're selling is poker, you definitely haven't been selling much. If you want anyone to take notice of your product, it doesn't matter if you're giving away a free chip set or a free Caribbean cruise, if you don't have a woman with a big chest and booty shorts hawking it for you, it isn't being hawked at all.

"Booth Babes" have been around this year's WSOP since day one. Milwaukee's Best, Full Tilt Poker, DoylesRoom.com and Bodog.com have all had booth babes roaming the halls from the start. But with the addition of around 100 other competitors at this convention, the stakes have been significantly raised, and everyone is doing whatever is in their means to get a slice of the poker groupie pie.

Hollywood Poker has a slender 5'2" girl with extreme Hollywood boobs to pose with for photo ops, and a fleet of a dozen other girls in tight red shorts to bring the guys in. Paradise Poker has sent a swarm of at least 25 twenty-year-olds onto the convention floor, all decked out in light blue shorts, knee high socks, and on roller-skates. StinkyFishPoker.com (a site that actually doesn't even work yet) has a topless girl in a thong painted like a fish to take photos with.

But Bodog.com, not to be outdone, takes the cake for most sexy/least poker-related ploy at the entire convention. On the second floor of their two-story poker penthouse, men lined up to sit on a bed surrounded by women in lingerie, and have their picture taken as the girls had a pillow fight behind him and on him.

The poker companies know their audience, and they know it well. It's a man-centric sport (unlike, um, no other sports), and they are bringing the men in with the only guaranteed way to do it - sex. Now I'm a dude, and I'm down with the opposite sex. But that being said, I find the whole concept of using sex to sell poker absolutely repulsive. Unlike cars, underwear and cologne, there is absolutely nothing sexy about poker. Sitting at a computer screen is not hot and neither is sitting in a chair. Yet since it's mostly men doing the sitting, sex was bound to slip in there somehow.

It's a shame, because the buzz surrounding the Main Event right now is enough to make you drunk. It's an exciting time, and it's an exciting convention. But if I see another lower back tattoo (which are apparently being handed out to booth babes at birth like circumcisions) I'm going to effing flip. I love poker, and I'm having a blast at the WSOP, but I really can't stand the objectification of women. Because of the male dominance of poker it makes sense to sex the entire thing up, but that's a fact that I refuse to embrace, and will always be ashamed of.

A few days ago, I used this blog space to talk about the introduction of Events 40-45 at this year's World Series of Poker (WSOP), the "Loser's Brackets"; low buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournaments that seem designed more to keep players in the Amazon Room after they've busted out of the Main Event than to actually crown WSOP bracelets to legitimate winners. Well, despite my protestations, the tournaments are taking place, and six people are going to win bracelets they may or may not really deserve.

You wouldn't know it for looking at the official World Series homepage, though. Due to an agreement that sees a rival website being tapped as the source for "official" WSOP news and updates, and to that rival website's refusal to cover these tournaments, Events 40-45 get no mention whatsoever on the official WSOP homepage. In fact, if you want to know who won Event 41 tonight, you literally have one place to turn - right here.

It's kind of a sad situation when tournament organizers introduce a series of events and then more or less turn their backs on them. Tonight in the Amazon Room, long after the Main Event had suspended play for the day, Event 41 played down to a bracelet winner on an ordinary table among tables with little fanfare. Organizers didn't even bother to put an official countdown on one of the myriad of plasma TVs that lines the walls of the poker room.

Move the tournament to the unused feature table? No thanks. Hire some off-duty ESPN cameramen to record the event for posterity? Forget it. And the World Series Web site? You would have better luck buying an official WSOP License Plate ("Whether it's on your vehicle or on your wall, this license plate lets people know that you are a serious poker player") than finding any information at all about who was in the hunt for a bracelet. I mean, Phil Hellmuth was in this tournament for heaven's sake.

Anyway, it's really a shame that nobody from the WSOP cared enough to publicize these events. It's great that PokerListings.com has a veritable monopoly on the coverage, but everyone else who slept on this event missed an incredibly entertaining final table and a hilarious bracelet winner who redefines the term "unique."

Paul Kobel won the tournament tonight, beating Tyler Andrews in heads-up play to take the title. "Tashi" was the most entertaining character we've seen at a poker table in quite some time, and we've seen our share. Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and sporting a massive beard and long, brown hair, Kobel spent most of the final table chattering to his opponents - always classy, and always a good sport. He made sure to wish Andrews good luck before heads-up play began, telling him "either way, we know we're both winners now," and when a cocktail waitress brought him the beer he'd ordered, he made sure to "Cheers" his opponent before taking a drink. At the other end of the table, Andrews clearly didn't know what to think, or whether to take this bearded hippie (Kobel, a Californian, lists his occupation as a "Holistic Practitioner") seriously. He seemed a half-second away from breaking into laughter every time Kobel opened his mouth.

Things seemed to take a turn for the surreal after "Tashi" lectured Harrah's officials about his predilection for medicinal cannabis, but as the gallery shared chuckles and knowing glances, the unthinkable happened - Tashi won.

He took the bracelet after cracking Andrews' pocket sixes, and then the fun began. Half-weeping, half-laughing deliriously with joy, Kobel thanked God, thanked Andrews, thanked Ja and Rastafari. He thanked the dealer, while enveloping her in a huge bear hug. He took pictures of his winning hand, then took pictures of the entire gallery (all thirty or so of us), because "no one will believe I was here," and then, turning his attention to the bracelet, he asked politely, like a precocious child, if he could "please put it on?"

The man was keyed up. The man was overwhelmed. It was awesome. We watched him try to come to terms with his win for a good half-hour before he could stop asking "is this real?" Far from a professional - he'd never read a book on poker in his life - he was just another person playing poker for the fun of the game. And as he walked alone into the night with his backpack and his money ($316,144) and his bracelet, he drew admiring glances from those of us who had seen his victory and had known his joy, and blank stares from those, including our rivals, who had not even bothered to note his success.

So until next time, tune into PokerListings.com for your coverage of Events 40-45 on the WSOP roster - because you're sure not going to get coverage anywhere else.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came to the final table hoping to create a great piece of drama and to cause another classic upset. Instead they found themselves in a Gold mine where their ferocious enemy kept chopping off huge parts of their chip stacks. Our heroes were eliminated one by one, and there was no turning point in this story. Jamie Gold was absolutely unstoppable in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event.

It might have one of the best displays of big-stack poker ever seen, but as is customary these days, the skill of the poker World Champion is being questioned. Is he really that good? How lucky can a guy get? And I guess that if you asked a 100 people if Jamie Gold is the best poker player in the world, at least 99 would say no. But in my mind there is no doubt that Gold is a great poker player, well worthy of the $12 million and the World Championship title, and I've compiled some statistics to prove it.

Chip counts from the 2006 WSOP Main Event:
Day 1: 17th - Jamie Gold, $100,125
Day 2: 95th - Jamie Gold, $155,400
Day 3: 33rd - Jamie Gold, $387,000
Day 4: 1st - Jamie Gold, $3,700,000
Day 5: 1st - Jamie Gold, $7,330,000
Day 6: 1st - Jamie Gold, $13,000,000
Day 7: 1st - Jamie Gold, $25,650,000
Day 8: 1st - Jamie Gold, every single chip

Gold was never out of the Top 100 (of 8,773 players). From Day 2 and on, he practically doubled his stack every day; from Day 4 until the end he was the uncontested chip leader in the Main Event.

In addition to this, Gold was in complete control of the final table all the way and never allowed anyone to come close to him. The 37-year-old from Malibu, Calif., knocked out seven of his last eight opponents including Snow White (Allen Cunningham, the idealistic poker pro defending the honor of the game). There was some speculation that Gold's luck was running out when Paul Wasicka doubled up thanks to a miracle ten on the turn, but he just kept playing his game, and never looked back. When the final hand had been played, Gold had this to say about his amazing achievement:

"A few of my friends said "C'mon, there's no way you can lose this". I just didn't want to listen to that, I didn't think about it. All I thought about were the players I was playing with at each table, I never thought about the tournament. Everyday I would think about my table, and I crushed every table I played at except for one that I was on with Danny Negreanu, I could not beat him. He was amazing - I could not beat him."

Jamie Gold may never win anything again, but these weeks at the Rio casino in Las Vegas he was undoubtedly the best poker player in the world. Let's just hope that the success doesn't rise to his head. We don't want to see him producing, and starring in, the story about himself.

Gold is the Champ, but there have been lots of other fantastic stories at the 2006 World Series of Poker. These are a few of my own personal favorites:

Jeff Madsen - Of course this kid is hard to overlook. First, he became the youngest ever player to win a WSOP bracelet, and a couple of days later he won another one. And he reached two more final tables. We're just getting to know him, but Jeff Madsen is going to be around for a long time.

Phil Hellmuth - "The Poker Brat" played and played, and then he played some more, and finally he got his 10th golden bracelet to equal Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan's record. But that wasn't enough - Hellmuth kept playing and in the final tournament of the 2006 World Series of Poker, he reached the final table. However, he couldn't handle the unpredictable play of Maureen Feduniak, and was knocked out in third place.

Chip Reese - Besides the Main Event, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament was the most talked about this year. And we got what everyone wanted - a star studded final table including Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson. But it was Chip Reese who prevailed in this marathon test and a lot of people actually think that he is the true world champion of poker.

In general, the seven weeks of the 2006 World Series of Poker was packed with great poker action. I'm already looking forward to next year.

A little more than two weeks ago, PokerListings.com kicked off its expanded tournament coverage with a focus on the World Poker Tour Season 5 Festa al Lago event at Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Last week we raised the bar with our coverage of the WPT's next stop in Niagara Falls, including the most comprehensive coverage you could find of the Canadian Poker Open and a smorgasbord of features from the North American Poker Championship. Now it's time to take our coverage to the next level. That's right - I'm talking about the 2006 World Series of Poker Circuit events.

Immediately after the thrilling conclusion of the Canadian Open at Fallsview in Canada, Matt and I hopped on a series of small airplanes and made our way to Louisville, Ky. - or more accurately, Elizabeth, Ind. - home of Harrah's enormous Caesars Indiana casino complex and site of the WSOPC tournament of the same name. We're kicking off our WSOP Circuit coverage right here, right now, and between the amazing facilities and the southern hospitality, we couldn't have picked a better tournament with which to get it done.

The Caesars Indiana $5,000 Main Event started on Oct. 31 with 169 players vying for a piece of the $819,650 prize pool, including a $262,002 first prize. Professionals like Vanessa Rousso, Joe Sebok, Alex Jacob and David Williams, as well as poker vixens Chantel McNulty and Brandi Hawbaker, converged on the Caesars Riverboat to do battle with a collection of other lesser known pros (Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf, Bryan Micon) as well as local players and amateurs. Oh yeah - three-time WSOP bracelet winner Hilbert Shirey was also in attendance.

The first day was not kind to the professionals, with David Williams lasting barely a level and Joe Sebok leaving on loud and unhappy terms after moving all-in with K-9 and getting a call from a player with A-9. Sebok didn't appreciate the call, and made his feelings well-known as he (eventually) left the poker area. As play approaches the bubble on Day 2 there are no big names left and even the lesser known pros have fallen by the wayside, save only Hilbert Shirey, who soldiers on into the night on the second day.

One player who is still in contention is online tournament phenom Chad Batista, the Coral Springs, Fla., native who looks as though he's about 12 until you see the $50,000 diamond grill he's rocking Paul Wall-style in his teeth. Batista leads the field in personality and is not far off the lead in chips, and I'm not going to lie; I'm hoping to see him at the final table just to inject a little outrageousness into the proceedings. He's not Bryan Micon, but he's probably the next best thing.

Play will continue into the night, with the plan to end the day once a final table of nine players has been established. (Remember, this is the WSOPC and not the World Poker Tour, meaning final tables are comprised of nine and not the more TV-genic six players.) The final table will start tomorrow afternoon and play until one lucky survivor is left standing to take home the cash and the WSOPC ring.

PokerListings.com will cover the Caesars Indiana event on the WSOPC until the thrilling conclusion tomorrow. Then it's back to home base for a little bit of a lull in the action before WPT Season 5 resumes at Foxwoods Resort Casino on Nov. 12.

As far as World Series of Poker Circuit events go, we'll be at them all. The schedule will see us in Atlantic City in December, as well as at the Grand Casino Tunica in January and at the Horseshoe Council Bluffs in Iowa in early February. You can check our WSOPC schedule for the full details, but you can rest assured PokerListing.com will be at every tournament with our trademark live updates, exclusive photographs and interviews, comprehensive results and more. Hopefully we'll see you at some of the stops, and with any luck, we'll be able to put your name at the top of our leaderboard.