Wicked Chops Poker Insider

  • Jeffrey Pollack Isn’t Dead in Poker?

    (alternate headline: It’s Time to Short William Hill Stock) After Federated Sports+Gaming crashed and burned more spectacularly than any company in poker history, many wondered if Jeffrey Pollack, Annie Duke, and others would...

Read more Insider articles →

Phil Hellmuth

Mike Matusow Defeats Phil Hellmuth to Win 2013 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship

by Wicked Chops Entity on 1.28.2013 in Poker Tournaments | 3 comments

Mike Matusow is back from the dead. And so are we. For now.

No seriously.

We’re not kidding.

And no, this is not 2004.

Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, he of “Game Passed Him By 8 Years Ago” fame, defeated Phil Hellmuth to claim the 2013 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

It was a best case scenario situation for the WSOP and NBC. Let’s just say when they got in the money and were down to 16, a Dan Cates vs Dan Smith final was on the table–which is nowhere near as exciting a combo as this Dan & Dan.

For the win, Matusow banks $750,000, or about $750,000 more than he’s banked the past four years. Hellmuth continues his year long upswing, earning $300,000.

Other cashers included the aforementioned Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates ($50,000), Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan ($25,000), Antonio Esfandiari ($25,000), Vanessa Rousso, a woman, who went to Duke ($25,000), and Phil Ivey ($25,000).

Get full results here.

Tagged as: featured, Mike Matusow, nbc national heads up poker championship, Phil Hellmuth, Poker News

{ 3 comments }

Phil Hellmuth Wins 2012 WSOP Europe Main Event, 13th Bracelet

by Wicked Chops Entity on 10.4.2012 in Poker Tournaments | no comments

GOAT?

Let’s file this one under Good for PokerTM.

Phil Hellmuth has won the 2012 WSOP Europe Main Event. The win gives Hellmuth a record-setting 13th bracelet and makes the Poker Brat the only person to win both the U.S. American and Old World versions of poker’s biggest prize.

Hellmuth brought the chip lead to the final table and never fell too far from it. Once play got to four-handed, he caught some lucky hands as well as stepped up and started dominating play.

The win also moves Hellmuth into first place in the WSOP Player of the Year race and should eliminate any debate as to whether he’s among the top hold’em players of all-time.

For the win, Hellmuth banks €1,022,376. He defeated Sergii Baranov from The UkraineTM heads-up (€632,592) for the title.

Joseph Cheong finished fourth €292,320. Jason Mercier came in eighth (€84,672).

Get a full event recap here.

Tagged as: 2012 WSOP Europe, 2012 WSOPE, featured, Phil Hellmuth, Poker News, WSOPE Main Event

{ 0 comments }

Phil Hellmuth Leads WSOP Europe Final Table

by Wicked Chops Entity on 10.3.2012 in Poker Tournaments | no comments

Is it time for lucky number 13?

Now this is a final table.

The 2012 WSOP Europe Main Event final table is set, and if it was 1931, we’d say, “It should be a doozy.”

Phil Hellmuth will enter final table play as the chip leader, stacked at 3,434,000. If Hellmuth were to pull this out, he’d be the first person (obviously) to capture both the U.S. American and European versions of the WSOP Main Event. It would also mark Hellmuth’s 13th bracelet.

Hellmuth is closely followed by 38 year-old businessman Sergii Baranov of The UkraineTM with 3,339,000.

In third overall is one time (one time!) November Niner Joseph Cheong with 1,966,000. Cheong finished third at the 2012 WSOP Main Event.

Also at the final table though among the short stacks is two-time (two times!) bracelet winner Jason Mercier with 652,000.

Should be solid. Get more on the final table-ists and how to watch live here.

 

Tagged as: 2012 WSOP Europe, 2012 WSOPE, Phil Hellmuth, Poker News, WSOP Europe Main Event

{ 0 comments }

The Big One $1M Project OneDrop Final Table Set: Esfandiari Leads, Hellmuth Looms

by Wicked Chops Entity on 7.3.2012 in Poker Tournaments | no comments

Eight men. Eighteen million dollars at stake. Eighties music was pretty awesome.

The biggest money bubble in poker history broke late Monday night, as the $1M buy-in Project OneDrop has reached its final table.

Just missing the money, finishing in 10th place, was Ilya Bulychev. He was heard uttering, “This is bulychev,” as he walked away from the table.*

Once in the money, Mike Sexton was disposed, earning himself $1,109,333. Or approximately $4 after paying off the backers who put him in.

The eight-man final table is led by Antonio Esfandiari, who is stacked at 39,925,000. He’s followed by the guy most would have to consider the favorite at this point, Sam Trickett, with 37,000,000. Event founder/organizer Guy Laliberté is third and almost finished with his quest to forever suck $18M out of the poker economy by donating his winnings to “charity” (21,700,000).

The marquee final table name is Phil Hellmuth, who continues his two-year WSOP run-good. Hellmuth is fifth overall with 10,925,00.

Final table begins airing on ESPN2 at 4pm ET and ESPN at 8pm ET.

Get full chip counts here.

* Commie.

Tagged as: 2012 WSOP, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Hellmuth, Project OneDrop

{ 0 comments }

Big Monday: Hellmuth, Ivey, Phillips, Cada, Monnette All In Bracelet Contention

by Wicked Chops Entity on 6.18.2012 in Poker Tournaments | no comments

Phil Hellmuth is eyeing bracelet #13.

Monday is shaping up to be a big one at the 2012 WSOP. Three bracelets should be awarded, and all have major names in contention. Here’s the latest.

:: Event #29 ($1,000 NLH Seniors) – This played down to four remaining before they all had to take a 4:30pm dinner break and be in bed by 7. Two-time Main Event champ Dennis Phillips holds the chip lead with 5,335,000. He’s followed by Bob Phelps with 3,475,000. Hoyt Corkins (1,960,000) and Allyn Jaffrey Shulman (1,620,000) also remain. Solid final four there.

:: Event #30 ($1,500 2-7 Lowball) – Larry Wright outlasted a stacked final table to claim his first bracelet. Wright earned $101,975 for the win. Brandon Cantu came in second ($63,048), LUCKY CHEWY (what a wookie) came in third ($41,445), Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi was fourth ($28,198), and Erick Lindgren was fifth ($19,676). Get full results here.

:: Event #31 ($1,500 NLH) – The field of 2,811 is down to 19. Leading the way is 2009 WSOP ME champ Joe Cada with 1,869,000. Also among the remaining are Cherish Andrews, a woman (1,383,000), the spectacularly-breasted JC Tran (339,000), and the man the myth the legend, Black Phil Ivey, Big Sldick, the one and only Dwyte Pilgrim (293,000). Get full chip counts here.

:: Event #32 ($10,000 H.O.R.S.E.) – The starting field of 178 is down to 15. John Monnette is making another run at 2012 WSOP bracelet #2, as he’s currently big stack with 825,000. He’s followed by David Bach with 645,000. Phil Hellmuth is fourth overall with 571,000. Also alive, albeit among the short-stacks, is Phil Ivey with 102,000. This event should carry major WSOP POY implications, as Monnette, Hellmuth, and Ivey are all currently in the top 10. Get full chip counts here.

Get extended WSOP coverage over at BLUFF here.

Tagged as: 2012 WSOP, Larry Wright, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Poker News

{ 0 comments }

← Previous Entries