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Pokerlympics

Shouldn't Poker be an Olympic sport? Well if it were, here's my all-world final-table to decide the medals. The only restriction I placed was that no country could have more than three players, and it would simply be a three-table sit-and-go.

Americas
1. Phil Ivey (USA)
2. Doyle Brunson (USA)
3. Phil Hellmuth (USA)
4. Daniel Negreanu (Canada)
5. Evelyn Ng (Canada)
6. Nenad Medic (Canada)
7. Humberto Brenes (Costa Rica)

Europe
8. Gus Hansen (Denmark)
9. Kirill Gerasimov (Russia)
10. Alex Kravchenko (Russia)
11. David "Devilfish" Ulliot (England)
12. Annette Obrestad (Norway)
13. Marcel Luske (Netherlands)
14. Andy Black (Ireland)

Asia
15. Johnny Chan (China)
16. Scott Nguyen (Vietnam)
17. Men "The Master" Nguyen (Vietnam)
18. Jon "Razor" Phan (Vietnam)
19. Jerry Yang (Laos)
20. John Juanda (Indonesia)

Middle East
21. Hasan Habib (Pakistan)
22. Sammy Farha (Lebanon)
23. Freddy Deeb (Lebanon)
24. Eli Elezra (Israel)
25. Antonio Esfandiari (Iran)
26. Amir Vehedi (Iran)

Australia
27. Joe Hachem

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!

Two Worlds Collide

Tonight is the final performances for Idol. Of course, I love David Cook, and want him to be the winner, I just don't want to see his career completely tied down by the Clive Davis machine. Just think where Daughtry would be if he was forced into that winners contract?

Well David Cook lost the coin flip for tonight, and has to go first, putting David Archuleta in the "pimp spot" for the finale. Why is this significant? In the first six season of idol, the winner has always been the second/last person to sing, except for the year Ruben won, in what was the closest vote in show history.

BUT - Mr. Cook has one very significant thing going for him. For the first time EVER - A contestant is singing a song written by Paul Hewson and David Evans. Yup. U2. on Idol. It's about freaking time. He's singing I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. It was his own song choice, too.

They each get to sing three songs, one they pick, one that Clive picks and one from the top-ten finalists in the song writing competition. Bravo to Cook for picking a good song, and one that he hasn't sung before. Archuleta? Yeah, he's singing Imagine again. Not a dumb move, since that is the ONLY song that I liked from him this season.

Castro Cast Off

For the record, I would have perfectly predicted the bottom two and the loser from last night's American Idol, of course 99% of the audience and my two year old could have as well. Fairwell to Castro.

Next week should be interesting. Obviously, I want to see David Cooke and Syesha in the final, because I'm not an Archuleta fan, but.....do i really?

I could realistically see myself actually caring about music put out by Cooke in the future and as was the case with Daughtry, I don't really want to see him win it. A third place finish would be fine. That said, Syesha might have had some strong weeks (and I'm quite frankly suprised that she made it to the top-three (although I'm glad), but she wouldn't have a shot against Archuleta in the final. Whatever. Archuleta is the prototype idol, just primed and ready to have the AI machine destroy his career and his voice, like they have to Jordin Sparks.

Here's to my favorite losing next week!

Drunk or Just Stupid?

Let's start with Paula Abdul, shall we? There are various takes on the deeper meaning of what she did on Tuesday night when she critiqued Jason's second song before he ever sang his second song. You can read those HERE (caution foul language) or HERE. I personally think that she was reading notes that she wrote during dress rehearsals and because she's slightly insane, forgot to only talk about the first performance. The messed with the format last night, so you can't blame her ENTIRELY. Blame Jim Beam.

On with the show. With apologies to my mom, last night was pretty weak. Neil Diamond wasn't as good as, say, Andrew Lloyd Webber last week in actually giving valuable critique, other than giving Brookie some obvious advice to personalize her second song. Even my favorite, David Cook, was just ok last night. I thought the concept of his second song was great, doing a power ballad and showing off his voice, but the song it self...well it kinda sucked...

Speaking of SUCKED....David Archuleta completely destroyed two good songs. He butchered Sweet Caroline, which I think should have been done by David Cook, and then he gave the most bizarre performance with America. The music in the background sounded like someone pushed a demo button on one of those old Casio Keyboards. It was just really stinking bad last night.

I gotta give some props and some pans to Brooke. The train wreck that was her take on I'm a Believer was followed up by a perfect song, and a difficult one, that is totally in her wheel house and might just have saved her (but probably not). I'm a Believer was wretched. Even Donkey sang it better in Shrek 2. But then the second song, back to her Singer/Songwriter vibe (or the Lilith Fair shiz, as I call it). I was VERY impressed with the second song it was amazing.

Syesha was very solid last night. Same deal with her: she's a very competent singer, and has shown some personality the last few weeks. She's better suited for Broadway than American Idoly things, though, and I'm sure that's where she'll end up. She was the top vote getter last night, beating both David's.

Jason Castro was horrible. Surry. I think it's time for him to go. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to happen. Here are my rankings, followed by my predictions:

1. David Cook
2. Brooke White
3. Syesha Mercado
4. Jason Castro
5. Sanjaya
6. David Archuleta. Yeah, he's that bad.

Bottom two tonight: Castro and Brooke White. Brooke will be going home. Dial Idol (which had Carly going home last week) has Brooke in last but it's close. When you account for text messaging (and all the kiddies who text are more likely to be voting for the hippie), Jason will separate the gap and send Brooke home.

Monday's Random Thoughts

• I didn't predict last week, but I would have said Brooke was going home. I was pleasantly suprised to see that Dial Idol was nails again, as they said Carly was the lowest vote getter and, indeed, she was. One would think that this seals the deal for a David v. David finale, but I just have a bad feeling that the Daughtry curse is going to hit the rocker before the finale. It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out. It will also be interesting to see who makes the top three. It'll probably be the two davids, and then either Brooke, Syesha or Jason will hit the top three. Without knowing anything about song selection for Neil Diamond week, I'm guessing Jason will be safe and in the top 4. I'll also make an early prediction that Syesha will be going home. My top-5 order you ask? 1. David Cook, 2. Brooke White, 3. Syesha, 4. Jason Castro, 5. David Archuleta.
• Why do bad things happen to good people? I just found out that our golf team's vans got broken into this weekend and one of our golfers lost all of her school stuff (books, etc.) right before finals, and also lost her ID, making it difficult for her to get back on a plane tommorow... brutal.
• Wildfire returns to the airwaves tonight for a stretch run. This is probably the show that I would call worst TV show I ever loved. Once you get invested in characters, you forgive a ton of sins as far as storytelling and plots go. The worst part is, they've previewed the heck out of the series finale, and we already know what is going to happen. But I'll still watch.
• It's finally my "Summer" as far as work goes! We had our last home games yesterday. Just some remaining golf and track events, but no more home games until August!
• I start two new small group bible studies this week, and I've very excited. On Tuesday we are starting up a group at work. It's just three of us right now, but it'll be good. Then on Wednesday mornings I'll be in a group at church called "Husbands Anonymous", led by our senior pastor. This should be really good. I know a couple of the guys in the group pretty well.

For the Record

I would have been way off on my predictions for Mariah Crappy Night. I had Syesha, Brooke and Carly in the bottom three. I didn't even have Kristy Lee Cook in the bottom three, and she went home. As my wife says, I need to stop relying so heavily on the Dial Idol results, since they don't take into account text messaging, and that is how all the 12 year olds are voting. They are usually pretty accurate, but this week they had KLC in the "safe" zone, so this was a big shock to me. Anywoo, here are my top six heading into Andrew Lloyd Webber night.

1. David Cook
2. Brooke White
3. Carly Smithson
4. Jason Castro
5. Syesha Mercado
6. David Archuleta

My PREDICTION for the finale: David Archuleta and Carly Smithson. David Cook should be there, but you just know that ala Daughtry, something screwy will happen!