WSOP Challenge III: Final Table

Nick Wins, 6-4!

Brants Final Table:

Dennis Phillips: $11,910,000
Craig Marquis: $11,460,000
Ivan Demidov: $4,965,000
Ylon Schwartz: $3,655,000

Nicks Final Table:

Dennis Phillips: $11,910,000
Craig Marquis: $11,460,000
David Rheem: $8,280,000
Ivan Demidov: $4,965,000
Scott Montgomery: $4,320,000
Ylon Schwartz: $3,655,000

WSOP Challenge II: Nick Crushes

Here are the results from round 2, which isn't officially completed yet (thank you, Brandon Cantu - top 27!!!!)

Brant's Team:

1. Jeremiah Smith -146
2. Dag Martin Mikkelsen - 281
3. Matt Matros - 78
4. Victor Ramdin - 64
5. Mark Vos -80
6. Hoyt Corkins - 162
7. Jon Friedberg - 148
8. Evelyn Ng - 238
9. Thayer Rasmussen - 321
10. Allen Cunningham - 117
11. Gus Hansen - 160
12. Jeff Madsen - 112
13. Hevad Khan - 240
14. Hasan Habib - 338
15. Chip Jett - 161*
16. Thomas Keller - 61
17. Johnny Chan - 329
18. Kido Pham - 41
19. Jean-Robert Bellande - 442
20. Jason Lester - 367

POINT TOTAL: 3886

Nick's Picks

1. Jeremy Joseph - 57
2. Alan Jaffray - 293
3. Alex Kostritsyn - 84
4. Shawn Sheikhan - 105
5. Brandon Cantu ?????
6. Lonnie Heimowitz - 83
7. Helge Pedersen - 170 - 666**
8. Phil Hellmuth - 45
9. Victor Ramdin - 64
10. Mark Vos - 80
11. Hoyt Corkins - 162
12. Mike Matusow - 30
13. Allen Cunningham - 117
14. Gus Hansen - 160
15. Jeff Madsen - 112
16. Hevad Khan - 240
17. Hasan Habib - 338
18. Kirill Gerasimov - 439
19. Jon "PearlJammer" Turner - 225
20. Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy - 386

POINT TOTAL: 3686 (Would have been 3190 if I counted Helge Pederson)

* Chip Jett cashed in this event under his real name, Charles. He actually has two entries in the WSOP player database.

** So, um, yeah. Turned out Helge was a dude, not a woman, so I inadvertently failed to have a woman on my team. Sadly, I would have picked Tiffany Michelle as my second choice, who is now 3rd in chips! Instead of Helge's finish, I gave myself 666 points for the final money slot.

WSOP Challenge III coming right up!!!!

WSOP Challenge II: BEST FINISH

WSOP Challenge II:

1. Pick 20 of the Remaining 474 players
2. You get points for what spot they are eliminated in (i.e. 100th place=100 points)
3. Fewest Points Wins

RULES

1. At least one pick has to have under $100,000
2. At least one pick has to be between $200,000-$100,000
3. At least one pick has to be between $300,000-$200,000
4. You can only pick THREE of the Top 20 players on the board.
5. At least one pick has to be a woman
6. At least one pick has to be a world champion (i.e. Hellmuth or Chan)
7: PICK YOUR PONY: You may select one person that I will not be allowed to pick. Since you (Brant) won last year (and we tied in round I), you can pick first, I already have my name in mind for mine. I'll tell you if you are to pick him for your 20, to make another selection.


The complete list is here: http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/tournament-chip-counts.asp?tid=4948&grid=411

Please email me your picks (naskew@northwestchristian.edu) And include their current chip count behind their name in parentheses. i.e. Gus Hansen (355,000)

You have Until 1:00 to pick.

WSOP Challenge I: Split Pot

We both had seven picked correctly to make the money! Off to round II....

WSOP Challenge I: Make The Money

The fight to go from 3,663 down to 666 is on.

Nick has 10 left, combined total of $1,454,700
Brant has 11 left, combined total of $1,380,800

Three players are listed as Unknown. This is because A) I never read of them busting and B) They do not show up on the chip count list heading into day 3.

NICK'S PLAYERS

1. Brandon Adams - MONEY!
2. Robert Mizrachi - MONEY!
3. Erick Lindgren - Out at 9:17 pm, Day 2A
4. Hal Lubarsky - Out at 10:38 pm, Day 2A
5. Hasan Habib - MONEY!
6. Erik Seidel - MADE DAY 3 -101,200
7. Patrick Antonius -Out at 12:30 pm, Day 3
8. Vanessa Rousso - MONEY!
9. Alex Kravchenko - Out on Day 3
10. Kathy Liebert - Out at 9:44 pm, Day 2A
11. Greg FTB Mueller - Out at 3:20 pm, Day 2A
12. Paul Wasicka - Out at 4:34 pm, Day 2A
13. Scotty Nguyen - Out at 3:03 pm, Day 2A
14. Barry Greenstein - Out at 9:50 pm, Day 2A
15. Gus Hansen - Money!
16. Sully Erna - Out at 12:18 pm, Day 2B
17. Nicolay Evdakov - UNKNOWN
18. Phil Hellmuth Jr. - MONEY
19. David Singer - Out 12:07 am, Day 2B
20. Alexander Kostritsyn - MONEY!!

BRANT'S PLAYERS

1. Brandon Adams - MONEY!
2. Kido Pham - MONEY!
3. Erick Lindgren - Out at 9:17 pm, Day 2A
4. Chau Giang - MONEY!
5. Nick Shulman - Out at 10:23 pm, Day 2A
6. Hasan Habib - MONEY!
7. Patrick Antonius - Out at 12:30 pm, Day 3
8. Erik Seidel - MADE DAY 3 - 101,200
9. Haralabos Voulgaris - Out at 12:50 am, Day 2A
10. John Hennigan - Out at 10:56 pm, Day 2A
11. Mark Vos - MONEY!
12. Thor Hansen - MONEY!
13. Carlos Mortensen - Out at 8:56 pm, Day 2B
14. Amir Vahedi - UNKNOWN
15. Nath Pizzolatto - Out on Day 3
16. Antonio Esfandiari -UNKNOWN
17. Johnny Chan -MONEY!
18. Jennifer Harman - Out at 12:59 pm, Day 3
19. Paul Wasicka - Out at 4:34 pm, Day 2A
20. Scotty Nguyen - Out at 3:03 pm, Day 2A

WSOP Pool Part One

Rough Day one at the WSOP. The list of eliminated stars is huge, most notably Brunson, Ivey, Negreanu, Cloutier, Harrington, Tom Dwan, JC Tran. Here's part one of the WSOP Challenge.

WSOP Challenge I: MAKING THE MONEY

Pick 20 people still in the tournament .You get one point for each of those ten that make the money. No rules. Any twenty will work. The list currently (11:30 am Monday) only has the day 1D players, so I would hold off on making your list until the complete list of 3,663 is available.

I will add the list of anyone who wants to compete. Just put your 20 in a reply to this post. I'll keep it as updated as I can throughout the week. You have to have your list turned into me by noon on Tuesday for you to "Qualify" for the non-existent prize.

Worst Main Event Winner Ever

Going into this, I thought it would be easy, and I thought I knew my answer. After I did some research I realized just how wrong I was! When you look at the Main Event winners of the pre-internet era, they were mostly all studs. They were all established successful players before they won the main event. Doyle, Johnny Chan, Johnny Moss, Puggy Pearson, Stu Ungar. Some, won out of nowhere as up-and-coming pros and then they remained respectable players: Jesus, Scotty Nguyen, Carlos Mortensen. You really have to look into the new internet age when the field sizes jumped from 600 to 800 to 2k, 6k, 8k..huge fields where luck plays the biggest factor.

This all started with Chris Moneymaker of course, who could be in this arguement. He created the poker boom and never did anything after that. BUT, he did. He has had four in-the-money finishes in the WSOP earning $32,000 in those events. He also had a second-place finish in a World Poker Tour event. But Chris wasn't the first name I thought of.

In 2006, in the biggest field in WSOP history (8,773), Jamie Gold ran through the field, had the chip lead from day 3 and knocked out seven of the eight people at the final table. He did it all while being a complete a-hole, breaking tournament rules around every bend. It's easy to look at his as a total Luck Sack, who wouldn't amount to anything in poker. Well, guess what? He has cashed just as many times as Moneymaker, three coming in 2007. He's not great, but he's legit.

Well, shoot. The obvious answer then has to be devout christian Jerry Yang, who won last year right? I just can't say that he's the worst ever, when he hasn't had a chance to prove himself yet. He has chosen to play only one preliminary event so far in 2008. If he disappears again for another year, then he'll probably take the crown, but not yet.

Then you have to look at the other internet era winners: Joe Hachem and Greg Raymer. Only problem is, they were fledgling pros coming into their main event wins and both had already cashed PRIOR to winning the big one. They have a combined 23 cashes between them and have reached other final tables. They are good players. Nowhere near the list.

So the winner, after all of the assumptions of the internet age, is someone who played before the internet age. The original amatuer fluke winner: Robert Varkonyi. Varkonyi famously won the 2002 Main Event, besting a field of 631 players. A newcomer to the game (an investment banker by trade), Varkonyi was considered dead money and Phil Hellmuth, who was a commentator for the final table, famously agreed to shave his head should this punk amatuer knock out all of the pros. Needless to say, Hellmuth stayed true to his word, with Varkonyi even doing some of the shaving himself after his victory.

Since the Main Event win? Mr. Varkonyi has famously been considered to be the worst winner, never cashing at the WSOP again until last years main event when he took 177th place. He has cashed in just six poker tournaments on record. Outside of the two WSOP cashes, he has made just $35,000 playing tournament poker. He considers himself to be a professional poker player. Really? Making an average of $14,000 per year? Ouch.

My Fantasy Home Game

Today's List will stay in the poker family, but I'll save Worst Main Event Winner Ever for tommorow, the start of the the Main Event. Today's premise: If you are hosting a home-game single-table sit-and-go, who are the eight players that you would want to have there to play with? And then, who are the 8 people that you would rather shoot yourself than have to play with? And THEN - who are the 8 celebrity poker players you would want to play with?

EIGHT PLAYERS IN MY FANTASY HOME-GAME

1. Daniel Negreanu - My favorite player. I just want to play against him and get freaked out when he can read exactly what I have every time.
2. Doyle Brunson - He's a legend. No-brainer choice
3. Phil "Unabomber" Laak, and
4. Jennifer Tilly - They would be very entertaining!
5. Scotty Nguyen - He would also be entertaining, and he's freaking amazing.
6. Chris "Jesus" Ferguson - Another one of my favorites. If I got to pick anyone to be my poker coach, he might get a slight edge over Negreanu.
7. Johnny Chan - Thanks to Rounders, really one of the first poker celebrities (other than Amarillo Slim). How could I not have him there?
8. Paul Hutchins - I gotta have one of my poker buddies there to share the experience with, right?

EIGHT PLAYERS YOU COULDN'T PAY ME TO SIT DOWN WITH (in order)

1. Phil Hellmuth
2. Humberto Brenes
3. Hevad "Rain" Kahn
4. Mike Matusow
5. Jamie Gold - But more on him tommorow...
6. Jean-Robert Bellande - Despite my love of Survivor...
7. Devilfish Ulliot - The european version of Hellmuth.
8. Phil Ivey - Simply because I would lose all my money before I knew what hit me.

EIGHT CELEBRITIES I WOULD LOVE TO PLAY WITH (no particular order)

1. Jennifer Tilly
2. Gabe Kaplan
3. Norm MacDonald
4. Don Cheadle
5. Shannon Elizabeth
6. Sam Simon (producer of the Simpsons)
7. Hank Azaria
8. James Woods

Classic SNL Bit of the Day: More Cowbell!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Best Poker Player Without a WSOP Bracelet

I haven't done a post in a long freaking time. I'm thinking this could be a good time to start doing my lists again, hopefully generating some discussion. Today's list:

BEST POKER PLAYERS WHO HAVEN'T WON A WSOP BRACELET:

Coming into the 2008 World Series of Poker, if you were to ask this question, there would be a resoundingly unanimous answer: Erick Lindgren. Well he finally won a braclet this year and had a few other final tables to go with it, so he is no longer the answer to the question. I would have crowned JC Tran, but then he had to go and get himself Jewelry last night, winning the $1500 NL-Hold 'em event. But what about these people (in no particular order):

Justin "ZeeJustin" Bonomo - He's young but he is one of the cream of the crop of the new generation of poker players, coming up with thousands of tournaments played online.

Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi - Might be able to take his name off of the list soon. He's at the final table today of the $10,000 PL Omaha World Championship.

Gavin Smith - He's come close: He had a 2nd place finish last year in PL Hold'em. He'd be on the list, but he wouldn't be at the top. He hasn't cashed ONCE this year, after three last year and four the year before that.

Phil Gordon - He might be the most well known name on the list, but not for his playing: He is a better commentator and author than a player. I think he's smart, but he hasn't been able to put it into play for himself as much as you would think. He also hasn't cashed this year, but has five final-table showings on the resume. He was 4th in the Main Event in 2001 (the event was won by Carlos Mortenson, besting a final table that also included Dewey Tomko, Hellmuth and Matisow).

Danny Wong - Another young dude who has cashed twice this year (including a 4th-place finish in a NL Hold 'em event) and five times overall. He is currently ranked #6 in the world (according to Bluff Magazine). You probably haven't heard of him yet, but I'm guessing you will in the near future.

There are plenty of other names you haven't heard of that could be on the top of this list: Anthony Cousineau (34 WSOP cashes with no braclet), Michael Binger (Leading the Bluff Magazine Player of the Year race, 13 cashes and over $4 million in WSOP winnings), Alexander Kostritsyn (five cashes this year, his first in the WSOP, with four of those coming in $10k buy-in events, showing that he can play with the best players).

Two more names that stick out are Andrew Bloch and Andrew Black. Black has 12 cashes and two final tables, including a 5th place finish at the 2005 Main Event (won by Joe Hachem).

Andrew Bloch, in my book, is The Best Player in the World Without a Bracelet. Bloch has cashed 17 times earning close to $2 million. He is an MIT graduate who was a member and team manager of the famous MIT blackjack team recently featured in the movie 21. In the last three years, he has cashed 12 times, reaching six final tables. Add to that three previous final tables, in addition to a win in a WSOP circuit event.

And, oh yeah, he finished 2nd in the first ever $50,000 buy in H.O.R.S.E. World Championship, grinding out an infamous all-night heads-up battle with the ledgendary Chip Reese. He also finished second this year in the $10k Pot-Limit Hold 'em event.

Stay tuned for my next list: Worst Main Event Winner Ever!