Poker Blog & Poker Forum

Fuzion Poker had informed in a poker blog that Phil “The Unabomber” Laak would be trying for the endurance poker record. On Saturday June 5 at 12.06 PM Las Vegas time Phil Laak became the official poker endurance champion by breaking the record of 72 hours and 2 minutes. This had been set by Larry Olmsted. For some reason the record of 78 hours 45 minutes set by Paul Zimbler is not treated as official. But that will not matter now because Laak has crossed that one as well. And The Unabomber will make things more difficult for the next man trying to break the endurance record. As per current plans Laak intends to keep playing for 90 hours. Who knows, once he reaches that he may try for a full century?

Laak began the mission on Wednesday June 2 at the Bellagio Casino. He is permitted a five minute break for every hour played. Laak accumulated his time so he could shower or do yoga. He has been eating under the guidance of a nutritionist, who provided meals every five hours. In fact the nutritionist has kept Laak on a strict no-sweets and low-fat diet since January 2010 in order to ensure that he is fit for the event.

It did baffle many why Laak chose the WSOP period for pursuing the record. Therefore he explained, “I wanted to just do it when I knew there would be games. I needed people around because you need that energy when you do long sessions. I didn’t think I was playing the $50K anyways.”

Phil Hellmuth was that close to getting his WSOP bracelet number 12, but he missed again. Had he got there his bragging rights would only have got bigger. At one time he was at number 5 and soon he was knocked out in the 15th place. The event was the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em. Events like these are referred to as Donkaments because of the large field of mainly amateur players. With all the big names engaged in more prestigious events it was the perfect opportunity for Hellmuth.

Hellmuth went all in with 80,000 chips. Scott Vener took him on. The WSOP updates recorded this moment in the following dramatic manner. “The cameras were rolling and the rail was packed when Vener put in the chips and the two flipped up their cards. … Hellmuth was down to one card for his tournament life. His attempt at a record 12th bracelet would only continue with a nine or queen on the river.” The card turned out to be the three of diamonds and it was all over for Hellmuth.

Michele Lewis of Girl on Girl fame is reporting live from WSOP through her blogs. She described an altercation between Hellmuth and Chino Rheem. The affair ended with Hellmuth pointing to the number 11 embroidered boldly on his cap. Maybe he should stick to that cap forever.

Meanwhile the real poker pros are battling it out in the Seven Card Stud World Championship. The positions are changing faster than a woman’s mind. Two hours back the top ten read like the who’s who of poker, but two hours is a long time. At the time of writing the big names left in the fray included Vladimir Schmelev, Michael Mizrachi, Men Nguyen, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson and Jennifer Harman.

The Poker Players Championship was the first major event in WSOP 2010 and the brothers Mizrachi passed the test with flying colors. Though both brothers acquitted themselves well it was Michael who came out tops defeating Vladimir Schmelev in the heads up and winning over $1.55 million and his first WSOP gold bracelet. The enormity of his achievement can be judged from the fact that there were 54 bracelet holders in the field. This win means that Michael has to give up the unofficial title of being the best poker player not to have won a WSOP bracelet, but as he said he has no regrets on relinquishing that title. The Poker Players Championship also carries the Chip Reese’s Trophy, which perhaps is the best of the three things Michael has won. He said, “To win Chip Reese’s trophy is really special to me. I hope to be able to honor him in the way he deserves.”

Michael’s elder brother, Robert, had also made it to the final table but had been eliminated in the fifth position. Robert has won a gold bracelet in WSOP 2010 and now both brothers have one each. Robert won $341,428 for his effort in the Poker Players Championship. Their combined booty of $1.9 million is the highest ever by two siblings appearing together on the same WSOP final table. This is the third time that two siblings have been on the same WSOP final table. The first was in 1995 when the brother-sister duo of Annie Duke and Howard Lederer made it. The next pair was that of Ross Boatman and Barney Boatman in 2002.

This event showed why Michael is nicknamed The Grinder. He started WSOP under extreme pressure with the IRS dragging him to the racks and even putting his two homes on the auction block. But Michael was able to put his IRS worries behind him and focus on the task at hand. Soon after the heads up Schmelev secured a 3 to 1 chip advantage, but Michael kept clawing. After about 30 hands Michael drew level and then never looker back.

It has been reported that the financially down Michael had someone backing him and that person will obviously get a cut from the winnings. Let us hope that Mizrachi’s new accountant has done the legal work correctly so that he does not have to pay taxes on the monies that have not actually come to him though they may be standing against his name.

Controversial poker pro Justin Bonomo lives in Panorama Towers in Las Vegas. Panorama Towers consists of premier luxury high-rise condominiums and is a stone’s throw from the Rio, where the WSOP is being played out. Plenty of poker players reside in Panorama Towers during the period of the tournament.

There are many poker pros that have prop bets on themselves winning a bracelet at WSOP 2010. Bonomo is offering odds on any poker pro living in Panorama Towers winning a bracelet. In order to avoid any confusion he has made a list of 67 poker players. The list includes, in addition to himself, the likes of Barry Greenstein, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, Brock Parker, Eric Froehlich, Jimmy Fricke and Lex Veldhuis. Bonomo has offered 10 to 1 that someone on the list will win a WSOP bracelet this year. When asked how he came up with the odds of 10 to 1, Bonomo said, “That’s what I thought I would have to give to get action on it. I ran simulations and assigned percentages to certain players and that’s how I came up with it.”

Bonomo’s calculations have been perfect because he has plenty of takers, even at his stipulation of a minimum of $1,000. The bets have closed before the inauguration of WSOP 2010. Bonomo is not revealing exactly how many wagers he has received or what he stands to lose in the worst case. All he says is, “I don’t like to talk numbers, but right now I could stand to lose a lot of money. Obviously, I think I’m a favorite and that’s why I made the bet, but there is a lot of money on the line.” Bonomo appeared on the poker scene in 2005. Though he has had 11 WSOP cashes, he has yet to win a bracelet.

Event #2, the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship is down to about half the original field with 54 players. Bonomo is still in at the 43rd position, while Greenstein is hanging on at the 53rd position. The total prize pool for this event has now been fixed at $5.568 million with the winner getting $1.559 million.

Online poker rooms are going all out to sign up poker babes. First Victory Poker signed up Sara Underwood. Then Bodog took on Amanda “Manderbutt” Musumeci. Now Ultimate Bet (UB) has done a sponsorship deal with porn star Samantha Ryan. Unlike the two poker babes named above, Samantha will not be a permanent brand ambassador for UB. She will be playing at WSOP 2010 under the UB clothing.

It is not known what connection Samantha has with poker, but she does have a link of sorts with UB and with WSOP. She is close to Tiffany Michelle who is on the regular Ultimate Bet team. Two years ago when Tiffany was the last woman standing at the WSOP Main Event Samantha and Maria Ho were seen together cheering for Tiffany.

Samantha, who Tweets under the name SammyRyRy, continuously chatters with Tiffany and a host of other poker babes. There are Tweets about Tiffany and Maria in the Amazing Race, about trying to win a date with Tiffany and Maria and team China winning the World Team Poker and even about more intimate subjects. But apparently Samantha does play poker in Las Vegas and claims to be good at beer pong. However, Samantha’s porn star resume is more spectacular. Apparently they have their own Oscar type awards known as AVNs in various categories and Samantha has won nominations in many of them.

But coming back to Samantha and UB and WSOP this was her Tweet on securing the deal. “Hey Tweeps! Please tell all ur friends to follow @ultimate_bet @RealAnnieDuke @TiffnyMichelle & me! And help me get to the main event!”