Poker From The Rail
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Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
There are a lot of reasons that can, and will, be kicked around about the texture of the 2011 World Series of Poker November Nine. It is truly an international field with the fewest members from the U.S. in many years. Just three of the nine are Yanks and the rest are spread around the world from Central America to Eastern Europe.
While it still took a long haul to whittled down the field, starting the final day with 22 players instead of 27 certainly made a difference. Also not taking six hours to go from 10 to 9 also played a part.
While there are no huge popular names in this year’s November Nine like Phil Ivey or Michael Mizrachi, there are two big online names, the leading 2011 WSOP Player of the Year, and a whole lot of vowels.
Phil “USCphildo” Collins already has a fine resume with his online game but this year came out as one of the favorite players. His energetic rail spend the evening singing “In the Air Tonight” (it’s a Phil Collins song, get it?).
Before the WSOP Main Event, Ben “Benba” Lamb was already having one of the best WSOP’s in history. He finished 2nd in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament and followed that up by winning the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha. Throw in another final table in the $50,000 Player’s Poker Championship and that is one fine summer.
Matt Gianetti is the final U.S. player is a 26-year old Vegas local who is already guaranteed his biggest WSOP cash of his career. His previous high was a 4th place finish in the 2009 $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament for $66,544 but he now has over $782,000 in his pocket with a chance for a lot more.
Also 26-years old, Eoghan O’Dea has perhaps the best poker pedigree among those remaining. This is just his 5th WSOP cash but he has a 2nd place finish at the 2009 WPT Marrakech for $388,532. In addition to the results, he also the spawn of European Poker Players Hall of Famer Donnacha O’Dea.
The three youngest members of the November Nine come from the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Ukraine. Young Sam Holden is just a hair over 22 years old, the Main Event is his first career WSOP tournament cash, and his previous career high tournament cash was $5,785. He’ll be buying pints at the corner pub for the next few months.
This is also the first WSOP for German Pius Heinz but he has a little more success this year. The student from Cologne has only one other WSOP cash but it was a final table finish in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament for $83,286.
The youngest of the bunch is Anton Makiievskyi (also spelled Makiievskiy) from the Ukraine. While he only has a few small tournament cashes in Europe, his country has already made a mark at the 2011 World Series of Poker with four bracelets.
Finally our (not really) senior citizens. Martin Staszko from the Czech Republic and ran well this summer before the Main Event. While he has two near final tables in Europe, he cashed four times this summer before making the November Nine.
The oldest players at the final table, weighing in at a not very old 49-years old, is Badih Bou-Nahra. He came to Las Vegas from Belize via Lebanon and definitely seems to be the most low-key player at the table. It’s tough to get very tense when coming from a tropical paradise, but the business man will try to work his way through the final table and pick up the first WSOP bracelet for Belize.
Below are various breakdowns of the 2011 November Nine. We will return later with some handicapping of the field as the date draws nearer.
Players by chipstacks:
1 – Martin Staszko – 40,175,000
2 – Eoghan O’Dea – 33,925,000
3 – Matt Giannetti – 24,750,000
4 – Phil “USCphildo” Collins – 23,875,000
5 – Ben “Benba” Lamb – 20,875,000
6 – Badih Bou-Nahra – 19,700,000
7 – Pius Heinz – 16,425,000
8 – Anton Makiievskyi – 13,825,000
9 – Sam Holden – 12,375,000
Players by seat:
Seat 1 – Matt Gianetti – 24,750,000
Seat 2 – Badih Bou-Nahra – 19,700,000
Seat 3 – Eoghan O’Dea – 22,925,000
Seat 4 – Phil “USCphildo” Collins – 23,875,000
Seat 5 – Anton Makiievskyi – 13,825,000
Seat 6 – Sam Holden – 12,375,000
Seat 7 – Pius Heinz – 16,425,000
Seat 8 – Ben “Benba” Lamb – 20,875,000
Seat 9 – Martin Staszko – 40,175,000
Players by country:
3 – United States
1 – Czech Republic
1 – Ireland
1 – Belize
1 – Germany
1 – Ukraine
1 – United Kingdom
Tags: 2011 World Series of Poker, Ben Lamb, Main Event, November Nine, Phil Collins, WSOP
Posted by AlCantHang | Filed under Bloggers on the Rail
The poker world made it through 5 weeks of preliminary events, minor technical difficulties, scheduling issues, and far too many early morning finishes. Now it’s time for the big tournament, the Main Event where thousands of players will put up $10,000 of their bankroll to play in the most anticipated tournament of the year. Over the next two weeks we will see some nasty bad beats, some great stories but always a constant parade from the table to the rail. It may take some effort on my part but I think the hyperbole will be set to 11.
We’re just 60 minutes away from Jack Effel giving his tournament rules speech before handing the microphone over to a poker dignitary for the traditional “shuffle up and deal” command. We will be here throughout the day with hourly updates on what is happening on the tournament floor, interesting anecdotes (we hope), and anything we can find that might give you a feel for what we are seeing. Feel free to drop questions or comments, we’ll try to bring you everything you are looking for.
Back after the noon start when cards are in the air.
12:00pm – The hallway was packed full of anxious players just straining at their leashes trying to get to their tables. The guards at the door were on constant alert for them trying to get in before the tables were ready. They didn’t open the doors for them until about 15 minutes before kickoff creating a mad rush of lemurs running towards their slaughter. Play will begin 10-handed today to make sure there is plenty of space to accommodate all players.
Our first interesting oddity was the pre-game music selection in the Amazon Room, REM’s “Losing My Religion” received a few laughs when it came across the speakers. I would have preferred “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead. Once the players took their seats we had Tournament Director Jack Effel once again read off the rules of play and he handed to the microphone over to Greg “Fossilman” Raymer. The 2004 WSOP Main Event winner and online poker advocate gave the honorary command to “shuffle up and deal”. With that, the cards are in the air for Day 1a of the 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event.
We will spend the next hour walking the field to see which Full Tilt pros registered for today but we’ve already seen Mike Matusow, Erik Seidel, and Lacey Jones.
13:00 - Dave McCarthy and myself made a quick walk through the Amazon and Pavilion Rooms to see who we could see playing in the first flight. As expected, we don’t see as many of the top pros on Day 1a as they generally wait until tomorrow or later to get a feel for the field. Mike Matusow starts the day sitting at the main ESPN table and Erik Seidel began on the secondary table. Others starting today are Praz Bransi, Greg “FBT” Mueller, Lee Watkinson, Nick Schulman, Johnny “World” Hennigan, Adam Schoenfeld, Vitaly Lunkin, Beth Shak, and Shannon Shorr. We found NBA professional Shawn Marion sitting in the Orange section just one table away from funny man David Alan Grier (patched up in the FTP red and white). Lacey Jones is getting some early love from the ESPN camera as well as the railbirds.
It didn’t take long for us to find the first knockout. ESPN’s Andrew Feldman is reporting that Stuart Nitzken overplayed AK like a champ today and was the first to hit the rail. Shortly afterwards we heard another “allin and a call” come from the Orange section so the slaughter is on.
Dave here. A few readers have asked me about the number of women in the field. I don’t have an official count, but of the 13 tables in the Pavilion (at the start of the day), there were only 3 women. Not a huge sample size, but if it’s representative of the field, that’s about 2% female.
Also, 90s alt-rock fans might be interested to learn that the Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979″ was the last song playing in the Amazon room before the tournament began. REM’s “Losing My Religion” was on before that, during the sound check. We’ll keep you posted on the music scene here, too.
The rest of the “live” blog after the jump.
Tags: 2010 World Series of Poker, AlCantHang, Bloggers on the Rail, Main Event, WSOP
Posted by The All-In-Uit | Filed under Reader Mail
Welcome to yet another week of what we here like to call Reader Mail. I apologize for One Angry Monkey’s absence, the last time I saw him he picked up a trash can, threw it through the office window and ran away screaming – it’s a damn shame our office is on the third floor. The only clue to his actions was the glimpse of an open email from someone called “The Chi” on his monitor before it strangely melted into oblivion. If you would like to extend get-well wishes, or ask some real questions now that you have the opportunity, send an email to pokerfromtherail@fulltiltpoker.com.
Tags: Main Event, Roland de Wolfe
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