I present to you the week in pictures from the Full Tilt angle.

The first is by far my favorite photo from the 2009 World Series of Poker. Photographer extraordinaire BJ Nemeth has been capturing some incredible images this year. This photo was taken from atop the bracelet ceremony stage as Phil Ivey picked up his 7th World Series of Poker bracelet. It illustrates the massive amount of players, fans, and media Ivey draws to any event. Click to enlarge and enjoy. More images after the jump.

Photo credit: BJ Nemeth

Rafe Furst playing in Event #38 $2,000 Limit Hold’em. Furst was a rare site in the early portions of the WSOP but has begun picking up steam.  He would go on to finish just short of the final two tables in 19th place.

Kristy Gazes and Amanda “Mandy B” Baker playing in Event #39 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em.  Gazes had a tough run to fall short of the money but Baker would end the day with her second cash of the WSOP.

Full Tilt pros Steve Zolotow and Chau Giang play in the Pot Limit Omaha World Championship.  Neither would figure in the final payouts but other Tilters were up and down the board.  Josh Arieh (7th) , Chau Giang (11th), Howard Lederer (12th), Marcus Golser (20th), and Erick Lindgren (27th) would all finish in the money.  Vitaly Lunkin lost a heads up battle with Matt Graham for his second bracelet of the year.

Phil Ivey facing off with Erik Cajelais in Event #41 $5,000 No Limit Hold’em Shootout.  Ivey had an excellent chance at his third bracelet of the year.  He needed to win a 6-handed Round 2 table and 5-handed final table but was unable to overcome some early troubles in the second round. Barney Boatman, David “The Dragon” Pham and Ivey finished 6th, 7th, and 8th respectively.

These two pictures side by side give you a little feeling of what it must be like to be sitting at the table with Ivey and subject to his stare downs.

Howard Lederer takes some time during the Mixed Hold’em event to sign some autographs for fans on the rail.  Lederer has 3 cashes during the 2009 World Series of Poker to date.  Five Full Tilt pros cashed in the tournament but unable to make the final table.  Allen Cunningham, Eric Froehlich, Andy Bloch, Eli Elezra, and Jeff Madsen.

Erick Lindgren playing in the Seven Card Stud Hi-Low World Championship.  Lindgren did not make the money in this event but he has 4 cashes in the 2009 World Series of Poker.

If a cage match broke out in the center of the Amazon Room, good money would go on both Scott Clements and Erik Cajelais.  Both big guns rarely find anyone willing to start chirping at them from across the table.  Some might even fear approaching them.  Throw in former hockey player Greg “FBT” Mueller and we would have the start of a good tag team match.  Cajelais has yet to cash during this year’s WSOP but Clements has two final tables finishing 2nd and 3rd.

The NHL Stanley Cup came to the World Series of Poker this week.  Their hockey awards were taking place across the street and the NHL held a charity poker game in the Amazon Room.  WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack is also the half-brother of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.  The Stanley Cup was brought to the bracelet presentation area and drew a huge crowd.

The “feature” table was converted for the NHL Charity Shootout Tournament from the standard green felt to a hockey rink.  The dealer button was replaced by a hockey puck.  Current and former NHL players battled against poker pros for their great charities.  Philadelphia Flyer (hometown of your humble blogger) Scotty Hartnell defeated Robert Luongo heads up to win this inaugural event.

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Week 4 in Pictures

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It’s Friday so that means it’s time for the Week in Pictures.  These are just some of the collection that did not make any posts during the week but are worthy of your time

View of the final table of Event #27 Pot Limit Omaha/8.  Three Full Tilt members were present but Roland De Wolfe would defeat Omaha-guru Scott Clements for the title.

More pictures after the jump:

Perry Friedman and John Juanda would find themselves seated next to each other to start the $3,000 H.O.R.S.E. Event #21.  Juanda and Ivey have the unofficial lead in the massage therapist challenge.  Neither Juanda or Friedman would cash in this event.  Gavin Smith would go the furthest for Team Full Tilt just missing the final table. Blogger CK31 would take her Battle of the Blogger tournament prize and ride it to a 39th place finish in the money.

Lee Watkinson playing in Event #24. One of the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournaments where the big guns are generally looking to double up or prepare for the big 5pm game.  Watkinson has one cash during the 2009 WSOP for just over $22,000.

Jon “Pearljammer” Turner starting in the $2,500 Omaha/Stud Hi-Low tournament.  Turner would make the final table which was loaded with names like Phil Ivey, Carlos Mortensen, and Dutch Boyd. Ivey would get the glory at the end of the day winning his 2nd WSOP bracelet in 2009.

Richard “Quiet Lion” Brodie did not make his appearance at the 2009 World Series of Poker until early this week.  Wasting very little time, he entered the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Event #26 and came just one spot from making his first WSOP final table.  He finished 10th for a cool $13,000 and change.

At yet another Full Tilt stacked final table, Roland De Wolfe overcame all others including Scott Clements (above) and Andy Black.  It always seems Clements is ready to come over the table and take your chips personally.  De Wolfe appears to be eyeing up the bracelet, which he would collect at the end of the tournament.

Kelly Kim plays in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament (Event #28).  Kim would cash in the tournament, his first cash since finishing 8th in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Coming into the 2009 World Series of Poker many thought this would be the year Vivek Rajkumar made a huge splash, your humble author included.  Rajkumar has collected nearly $2,000,000 in tournament earnings since September.  Unfortunately Rajkumar has found himself on the wrong end of coolers and bad beats with no cashes in the series so far this year.

Hendon Mobster Ross Boatman made the $2,500 Pot Limit Omaha final table as well as John Juanda.  Boatman started with the chip lead but would leave the tournament is 4th place.  Also in the picture is eventual winner J.C. Tran.

French favorite Fabrice Soulier playing in the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. tournament.  Soulier would go on to make the final table and finish in 7th.  To date he has 5 cashes during the 2009 World Series of Poker.  Blogger Lana “LJ” Maier would make another deep run and represent well.  She finished just short of the final table.

Team Full Tilt members Josh Arieh and Steve Zolotow playing in the $10,000 Limit Hold’em World Championship.  The tournament would eventually be won by fellow Team Full Tilt member Greg “FBT” Mueller after a long, grueling final table.

Allen Cunningham is another Full Tilt pro who made a late appearance at the series this year.  He is playing in Event #34 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament which he would go on to finish in the money.

Nick Schulman considers his action during the No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw World Championship final table.  Schulman would go on to win after handling a very tough table that included John Juanda, David Benyamine, Michael Binger, Archie Karas and Ville Wahlbeck.

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2009 World Series of Poker – Week 3 in Pictures

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Roland De Wolfe wins his first WSOP bracelet in the Pot Limit Omaha/8 Event
Photo credit: IMPDI

A day after Phil Ivey won his 7th WSOP bracet and 4th for Team Full Tilt, Roland De Wolfe added another to the collection.  De Wolfe won his first WSOP bracelet in the Pot Limit Omaha/8 event and nearly $250,000.  It was a talented final table that included Omaha-guru Scott Clements (making his second Omaha final table this year), Alex Kravchenko, Andy Black, Brett Richey and John Racener.

He accomplished his feat at a relatively short final table, finishing just after 8pm. Players continued to drop and he kept building up his chipstack to a 4-to-1 chip lead once heads up with Brett Richey. That battle did not take very long and De Wolfe was soon smiling for the media photogs.

Roland De Wolfe adds his name to an exclusive list that just includes himself and Gavin Griffin as the only players with World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour, and European Poker Tour victories. Come Monday afternoon we’ll get to hear God Save the Queen throughout the Amazon Room one more time.

Scott Clements made his second Omaha final table of the year

Post from: Poker From The Rail

2009 World Series of Poker – Roland De Wolfe delivers another bracelet

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The start of the week has been odd in the Amazon Room, there have actually been a few quiet days.  Monday brought only one new event and Tuesday’s events did not draw monster fields or groupies.  The cash games continued to push their way from the cages back towards us folks in media row.  We know it’s just the calm before the weekend storm.

Yesterday we had the loudest moment of the World Series of Poker from the rail.  It was on the secondary feature table and brought to us by the Ladies Championship final table.  I will refrain from specifics lest I be chastised but it involved a crazy runner runner bad beat and the sound likely blasted through the walls of the Amazon Room.  The military could bottle it to be used as a non-lethal weapon.

The main feature table brought us a battle of the online poker rooms for the $10,000 Omaha/8 World Championship.  Among the players were Scott Clements, Annie Duke and Daniel Negreanu.  As you can imagine they drew a monstrous crowd who cheered on their favorite.  Of those three, Full Tilt pro Scott Clements last the longest but was unable to secure FTP’s third bracelet of the series when he fell short to Dan Alaei who picked up his second WSOP bracelet.

I suspect this was the last slow night of the week when we pick things up on Day 15 with some HORSE and Shootout action.  I’ve sworn an oath to never leave media row without my little point and shoot because the wackos will start making their way to the Amazon Room looking for the ESPN cameras to pick up their goofy costumes.  What they do not realize is that the full ESPN production team will not be back here until the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament starts.

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World Series of Poker – Day 14 From the Rail

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As we examined several agreed-upon “sports,” we actually identified a couple of them that could be both. One of these happened to be golf. I’m of the firm opinion that golf is an activity that can go either way. Poker, on the other hand, is clearly a game. Yes, my friends, I’d be glad to elaborate on this.

If you’re at the top of any “activity” and demonstrate skill and athleticism well beyond that of the average participant, you’re a professional and recognized accordingly. The obvious golf example is Tiger Woods. The man is at the top of the game – when he plays golf, it’s a sport. When Erick Lindgren went out went out in 100+ degree heat, carried his own clubs, and shot under 100 for four consecutive rounds on a tough course, that was golf as an extreme sport.

That said, if you cruise around in a cart, slugging beers, and whacking the dimpled spherical tormentor about the greens, it’s an activity. Don’t get me wrong (like almost anything with beer) it’s a fun activity – but it’s not really a sport at that level. To go one step further, if you’re Big Donkey lying on the couch in your briefs watching golf on TV…well, I’ll let that one go.

Poker is another animal altogether. To be at the top of the game, you’ve got to demonstrate mastery of a lot of concepts and be able to employ everything correctly in a matter of seconds. And you’ve got to be able to do that consistently for hours – if not days – on end to be at the high end of the game. This clearly requires mental and emotional stamina. However, it doesn’t require a level of physical athleticism comparable to that of a professional athlete.

That’s not to say that poker pros aren’t athletic. Guys like Scott Clements clearly work out – hell, he probably has to exercise just to maintain his skull-piercing stare. In any case, a lot of the pros are fit, and that’s obviously good for their game – but it’s not imperative for successful play. I asked Chris Ferguson about this, and he assured me that was the case: “Yeah, I train – I lie on the couch and watch TV.” There you have it. What other proof do you need? 

While my esteemed colleagues aren’t sure what to make of it*, I’ve got some thoughts on making poker a sport – an extreme sport at that. I’m of the firm opinion that there should be new multi-disciplined mixed games added to the bigger tournaments. Specifically, I’d love to see H.U.H.M.M.A.: alternating rounds of heads-up Hold ‘em and Mixed Martial Arts.

How cool would that be? Picture it: ten minutes at the table followed by ten minutes in the Octagon. If you lose your stack, you’re done. If you get knocked out, you’re done. I clearly see heads-up matches already, like Mike “Quick” Swick versus Michael Craig. This could be absolutely epic: Craig hits his gut-shot on the river and cripples Swick at the table. In round two, Swick lands a gut-shot Muay Thai style and just cripples Craig. If you followed that up with Clonie vs. Beth, it would be a ticket that would draw coverage like no other event. This, my friends, would unquestionably propel poker into the realm of true sport.

The Ultimate H.U.H.M.M.A. Series: I’m going to add this to my list of suggested promos for Full Tilt Poker. Hold your breath my friends, it might happen. Then again, you’re more likely to suffocate. Either way, who wouldn’t love The Ultimate H.U.H.M.M.A.?

*To be fair, this is a perfectly standard reaction to most of my ideas. More often than not, my colleagues’ responses are usually that of mild amusement, shock, and abject horror.

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Poker, Sports, and Real Mixed Games

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