FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#208 – WSOP #57 – Huckleberry Seed Needs This One

Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized

Of the 12 contributors to THE FULL TILT POKER STRATEGY GUIDE – TOURNAMENT EDITION, Huckleberry Seed is the one with whom I’ve had the least contact – the least contact before the book, during the book, and since the book came out. He is the last of the 13 of us in the Main Event.

So what can I do for ya, Huck? Buddy?

Seriously, I’m very pleased to see Seed going deep in the Main Event. I have written on several occasions about his commitment to sobriety starting in mid-2006, and the signs that he’s been getting ready to do something Really Big in tournament poker. I’ve written about him in Entries ## 020, 076, 082, and 107. In #107, I said, “I think he’s going to have a great World Series of Poker this year.”

So far, it hasn’t worked out that way. He hasn’t cashed in the Series until now, but with 113 players left in the Main Event, he’s still in it with over 1.5 million in chips.

But Seed isn’t playing just to vindicate my judgment, or for the money, or even for the chance to add a 5th bracelet/2nd championship/3d Main Event final table to an already-incredible tournament record.

He has to overwrite the blog Erick Lindgren has placed on his legacy.

As you (should) know, Huckleberry Seed won an historic proposition bet several years ago, a feat so remarkable that I considered it The Greatest Prop Bet of All Time. And Erick Lindgren just pissed all over it.

Huck had to shoot under 100 for 4 rounds of golf in one day. He had to do it with just 3 clubs and no golf cart on one of the hottest days of the year. And he had to complete every round, so he didn’t have the option of shooting a few bad holes and starting over.

He shot 100 exactly in the first round, so he was faced with the prospect, just as the heat was setting in, of having to better that FOUR MORE TIMES that day. And he did it. He actually shot better each round, using just a long iron, a wedge, and a putter. He estimates that he ran 35 miles that day.

The after effects?

“I had a sore throat for about a week after, from swallowing so much – all that water I had to drink.”

The spoils of the bet were between $25,000 and $35,000.

Erick Lindgren, in a fashion, repeated the feat last month, for a greater-than-inflation-adjusted payoff of $300,000. I was told he agreed to the bet – 4 rounds under 100, in the Las Vegas June heat, without a cart, in one day – after spending an evening out and getting just one hour of sleep. When I saw Lindgren during the Main Event, he confirmed the essential details, adding, “It was very stupid.”

Maybe Erick Lindgren hasn’t actually raised the bar, but he has at least deemed himself worthy of breathing the same rarified air as Huck. So like a true professional, Huckleberry Seed is venturing still higher. And I hope he gets there.

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