Poker Blog & Poker Forum

The mathematics has finally been completed after Day 1D ended. The total field was 6,865, the third largest field ever for the WSOP Main Event. Though this represents a modest decline from last year’s starting field of 7,319, the administrators of WSOP and the poker world in general will be more than satisfied. The fears of poor participation in the Main Event following Black Friday were belied. PokerStars and Full Tilt badges and paraphernalia were conspicuous by their absence. Daniel Negreanu was there in his PokerStars outfit though. WSOP announced a total prize pool of $64,531,000 of which the winner will take home $8,711,956. 693 players will cash in, the lowest amount being $19,359.

Phil Ivey had promised not to participate in WSOP 2011 and stayed away from the Main Event. Long before Ivey made the announcement the betting sites had tipped Ivey as a favorite to win. Punters who bet on him lost out even before the event began. Another person who had promised not to play the Main Event was Doyle Brunson, the Grand Old Man of Poker. His reason was loss of passion. However Doyle changed his mind and entered after declaring the event open with his customary “Shuffle up and deal”. But he was out of the event six hours later. His best friend Jenny Woo jokingly, not uncharitably, remarked, “Doyle Brunson went all in, lasted barely two minutes.”

Phil Hellmuth retained his class, though he did not make his expected grand entrance with a bevy of underdressed girls. He came alone in a Versace shirt looking very dapper (see picture). May be this was because he already has three second places to his credit this WSOP and is the leader in the POY standings and does not want the flow of good luck to change. But a leopard cannot lose his spots. Hellmuth arrived five hours late and had to start with a depleted chip balance. Then he assumed that he would not be playing on Day 2A. He had to be roused from his beauty sleep and arrived late again.

Notables who are out of WSOP 2011 Main Event include Clonie Gowen, Joe Sebock, Jennifer Harman, Ivan Demidov, Antonio Esfandiari and Jennifer Tilly. The top ranking poker babe is Amanda Musumeci currently on the 15th spot.

The WSOP Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship has always been popular and controversial. Till a few years back the controversy was about whether this event was demeaning for women. One group was women found a Ladies Only event discriminatory and an insult to their poker playing abilities. The other group used it as an opportunity to try for the coveted bracelet, which was beyond their reach in an open event.

Now the controversy is about the increasing number of male players shamelessly participating in this event, some of them in drag. The WSOP authorities are either unable or unwilling to prevent this. This year Jonathan Epstein final tabled the Ladies Event, but was fortunately eliminated in 9th place. When Epstein moved all in against Marsha Wolak the rails chanted “Beat the dude! Beat the dude!” And when Epstein was out, tournament director Robbie Thompson announced, “Finally, welcome to the Ladies Event!” As to why a person like Epstein would want to participate in a ladies only event, it was pointed out that he is single and unemployed and that says it all.

As of now the field is down to three. Carol Tomlinson has a clear lead with a chip count of 1.3 million. Marsha Wolak is in second place with a chip count of 900,000. And the pregnant Karina Jett (in picture) is third with 690,000 chips. Karina is no newcomer to the Ladies Event final table. She had placed fourth in 2003 and 2004 and has a total of nine cashes until this point. However, this is her best performance. Carol is a registered nurse from Florida and Marsha Wolak is a real estate investor who runs an all-female motorcycle club on the side.

The WSOP Ladies No Limit Hold’em Championship boasted over 1,000 entries and has a prize pool of $949,500. The winner will take home $192,344. The bevy of poker babes participated in full strength. Vanessa Selbst, Liv Boeree, Melanie Weisner, Leo Margetts, Jennifer Tilly, Lauren Kling and Maria Ho were some of the bigger names. Among the old brigade were Linda Johnson, Barbara Enright (winner of two WSOP Ladies Event bracelets), Cyndy Violette and Susie Isaacs.

Integral to WSOP are the parties and bashes thrown by various poker institutions. They form an outlet for the tensions built up at the tables and everyone has a great time. Though Black Friday does not seem to have affected the participation in the events, many of the prominent bashes are missing. PokerStars has cancelled its party at the Palms and Howard Lederer is not holding his party at the Nugget. But there was a surprising addition. The poker babes Maria Ho, Tiffany Michelle and Vanessa Rousso threw a party at Nikki Beach.

When Maria placed second in the $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em event she had said, “It’s a disappointment and I feel bad for saying that, because I won a lot of money and I should be proud.” Maria’s take from the prize pool was $540,020, which was the largest prize won by a woman ever at the Las Vegas WSOP. And Maria was quick to share the prize and her happiness with the poker fraternity at the celebration at the Nikki Beach Club at Tropicana. The party has been billed as the WSOP 2011 Ladies in Poker Kickoff Party. Speaking to the hostesses, Lynn Gilmartin and Kristy Arnett, who were covering the party, Maria appreciated the importance and congratulations that she had received, but she added, pointing to the jeweled bracelets that she was wearing, that these things would not cut in and that she was ready for the frigging real deal.

Kristy said that she had covered a lot of poker parties and it had always been a bunch of dudes. Lynn said that she had never seen so many sexy poker babes at the one time and the one place before. Vanessa described the mood of WSOP as work hard (at the tables) and play hard (at the parties). The get together of hot poker babes can never be complete without Trishelle Canatella and Lacey Jones and both were there. Lacey just about made it but was happy and excited to be a part of the celebration. The roster included Lauren Kling, Melaine Weisner, Michelle Lewis and Liz Lieu and more will be heard of the good times had in the columns and blogs that the poker babes write.

The 42nd Annual World Series of Poker 2011 is in progress at the Rio in Las Vegas since May 31. 16 bracelets have been won, but there is a long way to go. Usually it is the winners who grab the attention, but in two of the 16 completed events it was the losers of the heads up that made the news.

One of these events was the just completed 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship No Limit. Phil Hellmuth did not win his twelfth bracelet. Hellmuth, with 11 bracelets, has won more WSOP bracelets than anyone else. But his last bracelet was won in 2007, which seems like long long ago. He has been trying all sorts of stunts, including making grand entrances (see picture) with scantily clad models in tow, but has not even got a whiff of a bracelet. Hellmuth began to scent a bracelet win in the above mentioned event when he found himself heads up with John Juanda, especially since he had a 3-to-1 chip advantage and it was exactly on this day four years ago that he had won his last bracelet. It took three hours of sustained chipping away at Hellmuth’s stack. As his stack became smaller, Hellmuth became more and more frustrated. But after losing, he fortunately did not resort to the verbal theatrics that he is known for. This was Juanda’s fifth bracelet.

Only 13 women have won WSOP bracelets in open events. Only 1 woman has won a WSOP bracelet in a No Limit Hold’em event, and that was Annette Obrestad winning the WSOPE Main Event in London. No woman has won a No Limit Hold’em WSOP bracelet in Las Vegas. Poker babe Mario Ho was set to claim that honor when she clashed with Allen Bari in the $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em. But that was not to be. Actually she never had a chance. After her loss Maria said, “You visualize moments like these and all you want to do is win. It’s a disappointment and I feel bad for saying that, because I won a lot of money and I should be proud. But there is a point in every poker player’s career where you want that bracelet. It’s so tough to get here.” Maria was the last woman standing in the 2007 WSOP Main Event.

While poker professionals are at the WSOP tables battling it out for bracelets, Phil Ivey and Full Tilt have started a slug fest of their own. Both have enjoyed immense reputation in the past and by the time their no holds barred match will be over, both will end up as losers.

Phil Ivey fired the first salvo from his Facebook page. His statement began as follows, “I am deeply disappointed and embarrassed that Full Tilt players have not been paid money they are owed. I am equally embarrassed that as a result many players cannot compete in tournaments and have suffered economic harm. I am not playing in the World Series of Poker as I do not believe it is fair that I compete when others cannot. I am doing everything I can to seek a solution to the problem as quickly as possible.”

Continuing in the same vein Ivey claimed that his name and reputation have been dragged through the mud because of Full Tilt’s refusal to take required decisions to repay its players. As a result Ivey has electronically filed a lawsuit against Tiltware, the company that owns Full Tilt. He added that it was not an easy decision for him. So instead of playing at WSOP, Ivey will dedicate his entire time to find a solution for the repayment problem.

It was not long before Full Tilt retaliated with a statement of its own, which began, “Contrary to his sanctimonious public statements, Phil Ivey’s meritless lawsuit is about helping just one player – himself.” Full Tilt complained that Ivey’s ill timed law suit has thwarted deals that would have resulted in players being paid back. The online poker room also pointed out that Ivey was asked to help in finding solutions, but declined to do so.

It is sad to see an association of so many years coming to naught. And with Ivey not playing at WSOP one wonders what will become of his pending prop bet. And does that bet have anything to do with his decision not to play. Ivey bet Howard Lederer, of Full Tilt, $5 million that he will add two more WSOP bracelets to his tally of seven in 2010 and 2011. He won a bracelet in 2010 and has one to go.