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Poker News Round-up: Week #29

By Adam Noone, 18/07/2008

For most the 2008 WSOP is now over, but there are nine players still dreaming of becoming world champion when they reconvene in November to play out the final table. This year’s series has often been referred to as the year of the pro, but with such a large field it was always going to be likely that the final would consist of players few have previously heard of. That is now confirmed as being the case but there were still a couple of famous names left as play was reduced to the last few tables. Mike Matusow was eliminated in cruel fashion in 30th place and Phil Hellmuth exited in 45th, though not before truly living up to his nickname of Poker Brat.

The Poker Brat

At the very end of day five, Hellmuth re-raised from the small blind only to then check fold to a half pot size bet on the ten high flop. When his Romanian opponent Cristian Dragomir showed that he had connected with the flop after calling with just 10 4, rather than console himself in having made the correct fold Hellmuth launched into a tirade of abuse calling Dragomir an idiot and the worst player ever. A floorman issued a warning and when the abuse continued a supervisor took the decision to penalise Hellmuth with having to sit out for one orbit when play resumed the following day. As word of Hellmuth’s penalty spread the general consensus was that people were pleased to know that even an eleven time bracelet winner can not act how he pleases with impunity. However, when the first cards of day six were dealt Hellmuth was in his seat and raised to win the blinds and antes. After the toys had presumably been thrown out the pram, tournament organisers caved in and overruled the previous day’s decision claiming that the punishment did not fit the crime. A couple of days previously another player who was not key to generating tv viewing figures was given an official warning for exclaiming “God they ought to make convicts play this game for punishment” after having his aces cracked on the river. Go figure, as might be said in the host country (possibly by Billy Boatman.)

So now the tournament becomes a team effort with coaches and analysts presumably being employed by the nine who already have $900,670 secured with the chance to win $9,119,517. You now have nearly seventeen weeks to pick a favourite from five Americans, two Canadians, a Dane and a Russian who you will be seeing a lot more of in magazines and websites in the near future as the hyping process begins. Dennis Phillips of the USA is chip leader going into the final table, but as Phillip Hilm showed last year those chips can change hands very quickly.

As the WSOP draws to a close for now at least, there will be some leaving much happier than others after their month or so of turning up at the Rio almost every day. Success at the tables seems to have gone hand in hand with a new healthier lifestyle for Mike Matusow, and it’s no surprise that he has vowed never to let himself get out of shape again after a victory, a fifth place and a highly commendable finish in the main event. Erick Lindgren had already proven himself as a player at numerous venues other than the Rio (or Binion’s in previous years) and he has now added a first WSOP title to an impressive record, and numerous other good showings saw him crowned player of the year for 2008. As usual Harrah’s can count themselves amongst the winners, with $13.1 million taken in tournament fees for bracelet events and on top of that you can add profit made from satellites, rake from the extra cash games plus money spent in restaurants and at the house games.

Guitar Hero Barry Greenstein

The legend that is Barry Greenstein will also be leaving Las Vegas a happy man. Not only did he win his third bracelet this year, he also made another two final tables but most lucrative of all – he made over half a million dollars playing Guitar Hero III. Proving that he can succeed at pretty much anything he turns his hand to, Greenstein completed a challenge on the game set by Phil Ivey, who would definitely have to go on the losers list for the 2008 WSOP. His $205,000 prize money might just about cover his tournament buy ins, but overall he has booked a big loss (at least in bets that are common knowledge at present.) As well as dropping $500k when Greenstein nailed Through The Fire And The Flames, Ivey has also reportedly lost to numerous players by backing himself to win a bracelet this year including another $200k to Daniel Negreanu. If the rumours are to be believed his craps habit has not been kind to him recently either, so he may well be looking to play Hellmuth at Chinese if he wants to try and recoup some of his losses.

The more recent former main event champions have not had a great time of it either as the past seven collected just $35,000 in prize money between them at all events this year. Some of them will undoubtedly have their moment in the limelight again but greater obscurity with every passing year seems to beckon for one or two others. In the words of Barry Greenstein, lol donkaments.

Whilst the bracelet events were taking place elsewhere in the Rio, another interesting series of games was taking place over four days in the Gaming Life Expo. Last year the computer program Polaris was pitted against human opponents in the form of Phil Laak and Ali Eslami in a duplicate limit hold’em poker match. The duplicate rules mean that the cards dealt to Laak for his match would also be the same cards as Polaris received for its match against Eslami and vice versa, thus reducing the effects of luck when the cards are dealt. The human team beat Polaris that day, but the program has been tweaked over the past year to the point where it was ready for a rematch against human opposition in the Rio.

This year Polaris 2 faced off against seven members of the Stoxpoker coaching team, although it might have been a better indicator of how much the program has progressed to have played the same opposition as previously so as to not introduce an extra variable. It was decided that at the conclusion of each 500 hand match the totals from the two simultaneously played games would be combined, and a conclusive winner would be declared if one side was more than 25 small bets ahead; any closer and the match would be declared a draw. The work done by University Of Alberta students to refine Polaris 2 over the past year was a success as Polaris scored victories in two games, with one for Stoxpoker and one tied match. Apparently new levels of learning have been added to Polaris to prevent trends in its game becoming exploitable, and now having conquered heads up limit hold’em it is set to take on more complex forms of poker in the future.

Russ Hamilton

And finally, the Ultimatebet scandal rumbles on and on with former world champion Russ Hamilton the focus of attention for many at the moment. Last week a list of transfers leaked by a Ub insider appeared to show that money had been sent from Russ Hamilton via a feeder account to start up one of the accounts confirmed as being a superuser. Among numerous developments in this complex situation since then, perhaps the most significant has also come courtesy of a Ub whistleblower. The names and addresses that were associated with the superuser accounts were passed to some of those who have taken it upon themselves to investigate, including Nat Arem who was key to uncovering the truth about the Absolute Poker cheating. When these addresses were checked against property ownership records in America, it transpires that the address on three of the cheating accounts is owned by Russ Hamilton.

So Russ appears to have some explaining to do, and offered to attend a question and answer session on a radio show at Barry Greenstein’s Poker Road. However under the advice of his lawyer who was also present Hamilton actually revealed very little, instead promising that an investigation was underway that would reveal everything in due course – something that appears to be a popular response from anybody connected with Ub management these days.

Clearly this whole episode is massive in the history of online poker, and sadly the seriousness of this issue became even more apparent when things turn a sinister turn recently. Nat Arem announced that he would have to take a step back from the good work he has been doing on this as he has been threatened (Arem is based in Costa Rica where Ub offices are also located) and has said that it is not worth getting hurt over. Fortunately though there are plenty of others ready and willing to dig the dirt and given the huge amount that these amateur detectives have discovered already, the whole truth will surely be revealed soon enough.

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