2009 World Series of Poker – Hockey and Poker

Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail

There has always been a tie between athletes and poker, especially retired professional players. These are individuals who have spent their entire lives competing at the highest levels of their sport and it’s tough to turn off those instincts once the professional career is over. You can also find current athletes spending their off season acting as a regular grinder.

Retired players such as Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Orel Hershiser, Peter Forsberg and Geoff Jenkins have all been known the play our game once they removed themselves from professional athletics. It’s the perfect place for them to channel that competitive spirit to battle against 8 others on an equal “playing field”. You can scan the internet and find athletes making noise in the poker world, but also those using their notoriety and the game to benefit others.

Day 22 brought such an event to the 2009 World Series of Poker. Dozens of current/past hockey stars descended upon the Amazon Room en masse to sit around a poker table to raise a lot of money for some great charities. With the National Hockey League Awards ceremony taking place just across the street, the event brought out some top self players.

Past NHL stars Mats Sundin, Glenn Anderson and Eddie Olczyk were joined by current hockey pros Alex Ovechikin, Robert Luongo, Scotty Hartnell, Jeremy Roenick and many others. They were playing for personal charities as well as the Ronald McDonald House of Las Vegas and the NHL Players Association’s Goals and Dreams Fund.

The game was simple. Three No Limit Hold’em shootouts played on the main stage, the poker table turned into a miniature hockey rink as shown above, with the top three players at finishers to complete at the “Final Table”. By the end of the evening they had raised $150,000 for various charities as well as providing plenty of great stories from hundreds of spectators straining six deep to catch some of the action.

There was another special treat in the Amazon Room courtesy of the NHL. It only seemed natural the Stanley Cup would make an appearance. The awards ceremony is across the street at the Palms and WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack and NHL Commissioner happen to be brothers.

The normal 2:30pm bracelet presentation was pushed back to 8pm to accommodate our “special guest”. The Stanley Cup was rushed onto the platform and loomed large over the ceremony. Many in the crowd (and perhaps a member of the poker media) crowded around to get close up view of what some call sport’s greatest trophy. It was one of the best bracelet presentations to date.

As we draw closer to the Main Event, we can expect to start seeing more and more professional athletes wander into the Rio to play some poker and compete at a high level.

NHL Stanley Cup during 2009 World Series of Poker bracelet ceremony
WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, JC Tran, Leo Wolper, and James Van Alstyne stand for the U.S. National Anthem