FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#757 – 2009 WSOP #15 – Daily Tilt #7 – Thursday, June 4, AM Edition

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Wednesday was, in a sense, the busiest day in World Series of Poker history: seven events were running simultaneously, including three final tables, two fields deep in the money, and two new events. Freddie Ellis, 74 years old, won the Seven Card Stud Championship in his first World Series event ever – we can only assume he developed his skills online, hopefully on Full Tilt – defeating Eric Drache, one of my good friends in poker and one of the most interesting, compelling figures in the forty year history of the World Series.

On a personal note, I am racing to complete this edition of the Daily Tilt before playing the $2,000 NLHE at noon. Apologies if there are more typos than usual and if I’ve made any omissions or misattributions. Please bring them to my attention (mrchaotic@aol.com) and I will fix them as soon as I can.

Another personal note: kudos to Tournament Director Jack Effel and his entire staff for running all these events pretty smoothly. As I mentioned yesterday, no one is perfect. Complaints have been few, though I should note that David Plastick mentioned to me on Tuesday, when we were at adjoining tables in the $1,500 NLHE, that he finished five from the money and wouldn’t have busted if there had been a more timely announcement on the number of players remaining. According to David – I have been unable to verify this though I doubt he’d just make it up – the players were informed that they would play hand-for-hand when they were ten from the money. He said the last announcement he heard was when they were thirty from the money. They were no playing hand-for-hand when he busted, and after the hand he said the announcement came that they were FOUR from the money. Either an announcement or institution of hand-for-hand play would have informed him and he says he would have played the hand differently and not busted, as he was not especially low on chips at the start of the hand.

If David’s recounting of events is accurate, I can see why he was a little ticked off. Jack Effel should work on that, though I can understand how there could be a misstep in hand-for-hand in that large a tournament. (But keep in mind, they have to do this at the Main Event in a similar-sized field.) On the other hand, if this field of 65 or so tables had started playing hand-for-hand, the delay would have been excruciating for nearly everyone involved and there would have been multiple complaints about that. I’d take David Plastick’s side in this and let everyone complain about the delay, but the point is that whether you fix it or not, whether this was intentional or not, people would complain either way.

And that’s one of the few complaints I’ve heard, and I’m sure Jack and staff will take it seriously and work on fixing it for the future.

Yet another personal note: kudos to Nolan Dalla, the media director, along with Harrah’s communications director Seth Palansky and the Series staff for the end-of-the-night chip counts – which are a collaborative effort – and the helpful summaries e-mailed to the media of the results with some quotes and back-story – which I think are the solo effort of Mr. Dalla. It’s a bunch of work, it has to be done in the wee hours of the morning, and as a member of the media, I know hundreds of people (at a minimum) benefit greatly from stealing his work.
FULL TILT BRACELETS

Vitaly Lunkin (#2)
Event #4 – $40,000 NLHE

FULL TILT MONEY LIST

Name – Earnings – Cashes – Final Tables
Vitaly Lunkin – $1,891,018 – 1 – 1
Ted Forrest – $230,317 – 1 – 1
Brian Townsend – $128,665 – 1 – 0
Andy Black – $71,858 – 1 – 0
David Chiu – $71,858 – 1 – 0
David Pham – $71,858 – 1 – 0
Greg Mueller – $53,885 – 1 – 1
Amanda Baker – $22,671 – 1 – 0
Lee Watkinson – $22,671 – 1 – 0
Erick Lindgren – $10,660 – 2 – 0
Eli Elezra – $7,869 – 1 – 0
Eric Froehlich $7,012 – 1 – 0
David Grey – $6,292 – 1 – 0
Josh Arieh $5,797 – 1 – 0
Chip Jett – $4,924 – 1 – 0
Toto Leonidas – $3,796 – 1 – 0
Fabrice Soulier – $3,796 – 1 – 0
COMPLETED EVENTS

Event #4 – $1,000 NLHE “Economic Stimulus”
Starters: 6,012
Prize Pool: $5,410,800
Places Paid: 621
Winner: Steve Sung $771,106
Event #5 – $1,500 PLO
Starters: 809
Prize Pool: $1,104,285
Places Paid: 81
Chip leader: Jason Mercier $237,415
Event #6 – $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship
Starters: 142
Prize Pool: $1,334,800
Places Paid: 16
Winner: Freddie Ellis $373,751
7. Greg Mueller $53,885

Notes: Freddie Ellis, 74, outlasted Eric Drache, 66, in a four-hour heads-up finale for the championship. Their combined age of 140 is more than three times the combined age of the winners of events #4 & #5 (Steve Sung is 24, Jason Mercier is 22.) … Greg Mueller made a final table for the third year running, nursing a short stack for much of the last two days before going on in seventh. He was disappointed but in good spirits in the Undisclosed Location after he busted. At one point, he asked if I could check the web site to see how much he had won. I looked it and said, “Looks like we won $53,885.” “We?” “Well, I understand looking this up on the internet doesn’t exactly make us partners, but if I told you what I had to go through to get a table, a chair, a power strip, and internet access in here, you’d probably agree it’s worth, say, 5%.” I think he’s gonna get back to me … Eric Drache was the runner-up, earning $231,013. If I can possibly swing it, and I think I’ll be able to, I post a Ghost Series entry collecting a bunch of Eric Drache stories and some of my personal notes and recollections from my friendship with Eric. He’s a wonderful person, a terrific gentleman, a great poker player, and one of the most interesting characters out of poker’s history. I’ve long been on record that he deserves a place in the Poker Hall of Fame.
CHIP COUNTS

All counts are courtesy of the World Series of Poker. Transcription errors are mine and, though I’ll do my best to keep an updated list of who at the Series is affiliated with Full Tilt, apologies for misattribution. I will attempt immediately to correct any errors brought to my attention (mrchaotic@aol.com).
Event #7 – $1,500 NLHE
End of Day 2
Starters: 2,971
Prize Pool: $3,809,715
Places Paid: 297
Remaining: 33
Chip leader: Craig McConville 1,035,000
Event #8 – $2,500 NL Deuce-to-Seven
End of Day 2
Starters: 147
Prize Pool: $323,220
Places Paid: 21
Remaining: 7
Chip leader: John Monnette 259,000

6. Phil Ivey 106,300

Notes: On Wednesday, Full Tilt pros Erick Lindgren (20th place, $4,094) and David Grey (11th place, $6,292) cashed but busted short of the final table … Lindgren, the 2008 WSOP Player of the Year, becomes the first Full Tilt pro to cash in two events.
Notes: This is the first time the Series has offered No-Limit Deuce-to-Seven for a buy-in as small as $2,500 and the first time it hasn’t been offered as a re-buy event … If the goal was to breathe some life into this virtually non-existent form of poker by making it available to a wider range of players, I’m not sure if they succeeded. The names in the chip counts look exactly like the names you expect to see in the $5k NL Deuce-to-Seven/Rebuys or any high buy-in event. The top eight include Phil Ivey, David Grey, Phil Hellmuth, and Mike Matusow. Tony G, Erick Lindgren, and Mark Weitzman (regarded as one of the best lowball players in the world for a decade or two) are right behind … A cynic would say Harrah’s just made it easier for the big names to win another bracelet without even having to create a $10k or $40k or $50k event to do it. But maybe the final result will prove the cynic wrong, and some player who could never pay the huge buy-in of the old $5k-rebuy event or one of the other high-roller events will take the bracelet. A cynic would also say, “Sometimes, the lamb rears up on the chopping block and slaughers the butcher. But the smart money is on the butcher.” … Full Tilt pros Erik Seidel and John Juanda are still in the hunt. Remember, 2009 is an odd-numbered year, so Erik Seidel is a lock to win a bracelet.

Event #9 – $1,500 NLHE-6 handed
End of Day 1
Starters: 1459
Prize Pool: $1,991,535
Places Paid: 144
Remaining: 105
Chip leader: David Fox 186,600

14. Jeremiah Smith 102,900
63. Rafe Furst 47,400
89. Carlos Mortenson 25,600

I have not received a list of payouts so I don’t know if any Full Tilt pros busted in the money. I will add that to a later addition of the Daily Tilt.

Event #10 – $2,500 PLO/PLHE
End of Day 1
Starters: 453
Prize Pool: $323,220
Places Paid: 45
Remaining: 99
Chip leader: Jamie Rosen 110,200

34. Rob Hollink 44,100
43. Luis Velador 33,700
58. Scott Fischman 25,700
60. Fabrice Soulier 24,500
65. Andy Bloch 21,900
69. Markus Lehmann 19,000
89. Sigi Stockinger 12,200
TODAY’S EVENTS

Noon: Event #11 – $2,000 NLHE

5 PM: Event #12 – $10,000 Mixed Event World Championship

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