The good news: you’re heading into heads-up play at the WPT World Championship where you’re guaranteed to walk away with at least $1.7 million in prize money.
The bad news: your opponent is Team Full Tilt’s Gus Hansen and he’s got a 5-1 chip advantage.
That folks, is the scenario that played out in the Bellagio on Saturday when David Chiu staged one of the most dramatic comebacks ever seen on the felt and ended what looked like Gus’ easy march to victory in the WPT’s biggest event of the year. In case you missed the drama, here’s a quick recap of the action:
- Final table play begins with six competitors and Hansen holding the big stack
- Gus knocks four players off the table in just 22 hands and enters heads-up play with 80% of the chips in his possession
- Chiu manages a couple of key double-ups and then takes the chip lead on hand #78
- On hand #80, Chiu catches trip Aces on the river, beating Hansen’s two pair of 10s and 8s, and walks away the victor
The win earned Chiu, a four-time WSOP bracelet winner, nearly $3.4 million in prize money – the biggest payday of his career.
In another move sure to warm the hearts of poker players all across the land (at least in the continental United States and maybe, just maybe, in Alaska and Hawaii too), Congressman Barney Frank is stepping up his efforts to stop the UIGEA in its tracks.
Frank, along with Congressional life partner Ron Paul, has authored a letter to the heads of the US Treasury and Federal Reserve warning both agencies not to spend any more time trying to implement UIGEA-related regulations. Frank and Paul go on to say the law is seriously flawed at it’s most basic level and that it would be imprudent for the agencies to “devote additional agency resources to this Sisyphean task, especially as we plan to pursue legislation to prevent the implementation of these regulations.”
Way to go Barney and Ron. Just one thing though – most members of Congress seem to have the mental agility of small soap dishes, so referencing tragic figures in Greek mythology may cause their synapses to short circuit. Still, we appreciate your Herculean efforts on behalf of online poker players everywhere.
One of the strangest stories floating around this week involves Phil Ivey and David Blaine. Yes, the Phenom and the Magic Man are apparently friendly enough to break bread – and glasses – at the Tao restaurant in Manhattan.
According to sources, Ivey offered Blaine a very tasty prop bet - $10K to eat a glass from the table. Blaine, ever the entertainer, took the bet and Ivey’s cash after smashing a “large glass” and devouring the pieces.
There’s no word on what he washed it down with.
