11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth had his sights set on his first WPT title but failed to rack up the win.
While the biggest story line heading into the final table of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star was whether 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth would finally win his first ever WPT title, another lesser noticed but equally monumental story was if a member of the Davidson Matthew Club could once again take down an event, returning glory to the guys whose first names are last names and last names first and who seemingly won every other tournament a few years back.
In the end it was the latter that played out as Hellmuth exited early in sixth and the newly inducted Davidson Matthew Club member McLean Karr went on to take down the tournament and its $878,500 first place prize.
In second was the doubly first named Andy “BKiCe” Seth ($521,200), who entered the final table as the chip leader and runner-up’d last summer in an event at the 2009 WSOP.
In third was Dan O’Brien ($292,800). And no, not this Dan O’Brien.
We expect Phil Hellmuth to be very humble if he wins his first WPT title.
Phil Hellmuth continued his good run at the WPT Bay 101, making the final table second in chips, stacked at 1,433,000. Hellmuth has never won a WPT title…until…dare we predict…today?
Hellmuth only trails the doubley-first-named Andy Seth with 2,164,000. In fifth overall is Hasan Habib, who is actually still alive, with 455,000.
Special mention of Scotty Nguyen, who finished 8th and cashed for $58,600. Take a quick look at his track record…it’s pretty sick and remarkably consistent.
Phil Hellmuth is in contention for that ever-elusive(TM) first WPT title.
While Phil Hellmuth may have 11 WSOP bracelets and a NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship title to his credit, he’s still never one a World Poker Tour event.
Maybe that changes this week. Could the re-evaluation of his game that Daniel Negreanutweeted about last week be working this quickly?
With 27 players remaining, Hellmuth is the chip leader at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, stacked at 550,000. He’s followed by Hasan Habib, who is still alive, with 496,000.
Other notables remaining include Nick Schulman (381,500), a near shoe-in for WPT Player of the Year now Faraz Jaka (332,500), Chau Giang (307,500), and NAPT Venetian winner Thomas Marchese (117,500).
This is from a Poker2Nite episode a couple of weeks ago, but we just caught it and it’s definitely post-worthy.
Check out the first minute, where there is an awesome blow-up between Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth. Classic. Surprised it hasn’t gotten more attention.
(Editor’s Note: Portions of the following post appear in our January column in Bluff Magazine)
In the January issue of Bluff Magazine, we named our Player of the Decade for each 10 year span of the modern poker era (so starting in the 1970’s). The criteria was simple: what player had the greatest success and most impact on the game in each decade of the modern poker era?
While some decades, like the 80’s, were tight, it was pretty clear for the aughts/zeros/Ohs who the best player was. Below is an excerpt from our column. Go below the fold for excerpts from our 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s Player of the Decades.
Player of the Decade – 2000’s: Phil Ivey Honorable Mentions: Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Chris Moneymaker
Phil Ivey first really came onto the scene in 2000, winning a Jack Binion World Poker Open event. Since then, he’s amassed over $11 million in tournament earnings and established himself as the best live and online cash game player in the world.
A WSOP Main Event final table appearance in 2009 cemented his status. And even Honorable Mentions for this decade, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth, openly admit that Ivey is the best player in the world. Well, Negreanu does at least.
2009’s final table appearance also provided a push for Ivey in the publicity department, something almost solely dominated by the likes of Negranu and Hellmuth until then. He appeared on an ESPN The Magazine cover and countless major media features.
We expect Ivey (and Negreanu and Hellmuth) to be contenders for this title in 10 years as well.
(Buy the January issue in stores for the full column version…)
Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu are staring down the top spot in WCP's Poker Q Score rankings...
(Editor’s Note: The following column appears in the October issue of Bluff Magazine)
If you’re a longtime reader of our site or column in Bluff, you know we’re all about judging books by their cover, putting people in nice tidy little boxes, and giving everything a list or ranking.
So it only comes natural that we decided to develop the first ever Poker Q Score ranking system. Anything that can make our, and your, life easier by labeling and ranking is a good thing.
Over the past few months, we’ve paneled so-called “experts” in the industry—a mixture of players, media, agents, and fans—for their opinion on who are the 10 biggest names in poker. Through that feedback, we’ve developed poker’s version of a Q ranking. We’ll be tweaking this as time goes on (and from the sounds of it, changing the arbitrary name of it too).
Anyway, for those unfamiliar, Hollywood uses Q Scores to determine a star’s basic likability and popularity. We’ve taken that basic premise and expanded it, as poker is a little more complicated. Huge stars within the industry might be virtually unknown outside of it (think Tom Dwan), and bigger names to the mass public might ultimately not carry much weight within the industry (think Johnny Chan).
We asked our panel to judge players on the following criteria: 1) who are the most popular/likable players today, 2) who are the most well-known names to the mass public, 3) if every poker player was a free-agent with no site affiliation today, who would get the largest endorsement deal, and 4) what players are most likely to get a mainstream advertising sponsorship.
And there’s the set-up. Here are the results. Maybe some surprises, maybe not. One thing is sure: there is a clear top-tier (the first three people), then a clear second tier (the next two), and then a drop from there.
robertcarroll: Discussion with the @wickedchops guys about my wsop cinnobun bet. 4 full size buns in 25 minutes. /via @JoeUgly I'll go 15 minutes! Easy!
Joseph Reitman: Discussion with the @wickedchops guys about my wsop cinnobun bet. 4 full size buns in 25 minutes. I think I can but the debate continues.
Bill Maendele: @wickedchops Madsen Greenstein Doyle Ivey Annette E-Dog Daniel Raymer Moneymaker, Eric Baldwin, Dario M, Jason M, hellmuth, Brock Jeff L.
"Wicked Chops Poker are nobodies, the site is garbage." - Anna Benson
"A sophisticated and creative blog that pokes rambunctious, irreverent and most of all sexy fun at the game of poker and everyone who is connected with it." - PokerMagazine.com
"You've made me so angry I wish I could reach into my screen and just pound your scummy worthless head in!!" - a Nickelback fan
"If you ask me, you should just go straight to Wicked Chops Poker instead. These guys are awesome." - Kajagugu Poker
"...el blog más irreverente de la blogocosa norteamericana..." - Poquer Red
"Wicked Chops is wickedly funny. And wickedly irreverent. And posts a lot of photos of wickedly attractive women. If that ain't poker, what is?" - TypePad
Comments
