The WSOP

jay helfert

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
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I know it's not Pool, but I just wanted to let you know the Main Event ended at 4 AM this morning. Jerry Yang from California won it on his first attempt. He got in through a $225 Qualifier. He was a very gracious winner. The guy was relentless from the beginning (at 12:30 PM on Tuesday) to the end, raising hand after hand. He played twice as many hands as anyone else.

Yang started out 8th in chips (out of nine players). He was in first place by the 20th hand! The first guy eliminated was the final table chip leader, Philip Hilm. Yang personally knocked out seven of his eight opponents. This should be a very good show when it airs on ESPN. I watched it on Pay Per View (only $19.95), also a first for this event. First prize was $8,250,000!
 
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jay helfert said:
I know it's not Pool, but I just wanted to let you know the Main Event ended at 4 AM this morning. Jerry Wang from California won it on his first attempt. He got in through a $225 Qualifier. He was a very gracious winner. The guy was relentless from the beginning (at 12:30 PM on Tuesday) to the end, raising hand after hand. He played twice as many hands as anyone else.

Wang started out 8th in chips (out of nine players). He was in first place by the 20th hand! The first guy eliminated was the final table chip leader, Philip Hilm. Wang personally knocked out seven of his eight opponents. This should be a very good show when it airs on ESPN. I watched it on Pay Per View (only $19.95), also a first for this event. First prize was $8,250,000!
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Wang ? Yang ? What's it matter ? Jerry now has money up the Yin Yang.

Doug
( my rubberband money clip keeps falling off my dollar )
 
I was watching it, too, Jay, but fell asleep around midnight (my time), only to wake up and witness the final flop! :D

I posted a thread about it in the Non-Pool-Related Forum called "Final Table at 3:00 p.m." with some brief updates throughout the tournament.

What struck me, Jay, is the similarities between pool and poker. Of course, there is no comparison when it comes to money payouts, but I'm talking about what the industry members talk about.

Did you catch the interview with Phil Helmuth? The ESPN guy was reaming him with verbal nasties, labeling him a clown, and Phil Helmuth stood his ground and said he believed the poker needed more personality, that the audience wants to be entertained. He stated he liked the 22-year-old Kahn from Poughkeepsie and thought he'd be an asset to poker. Helmuth thinks that himself, Mike the Mouth, and others are exactly what poker needs to grow as a sport. Sound familiar? :D

Then they spoke about getting Corporate America involved more in poker, how this year, the new sponsors came forth, Hershey's candies, Planter's peanuts, Hertz Rental Cars, Miller and Coors beer, and these are just the NEWest sponsors.

They had a WSOP Expo on site, much like our beloved Super Billiards Expo, with instructional tapes, books, poker paraphernalia like chip holders, video games, innovative glass-covered poker tables where the players never touch the cards, et cetera. It was mind-boggling all the products that were available.

Interestingly, it was a general consensus that poker is rising in popularity in Germany, thinking that it was more popular there than here in the States. It is the desire of all that poker becomes international in scope, by having many tournaments elsewhere than Vegas.

This year's final table was truly international, with representatives from around the globe. I was happy to see the Californian win. You know, USA, all the way! :D

JAM
 
JAM said:
I was watching it, too, Jay, but fell asleep around midnight (my time), only to wake up and witness the final flop! :D

I posted a thread about it in the Non-Pool-Related Forum called "Final Table at 3:00 p.m." with some brief updates throughout the tournament.

What struck me, Jay, is the similarities between pool and poker. Of course, there is no comparison when it comes to money payouts, but I'm talking about what the industry members talk about.

Did you catch the interview with Phil Helmuth? The ESPN guy was reaming him with verbal nasties, labeling him a clown, and Phil Helmuth stood his ground and said he believed the poker needed more personality, that the audience wants to be entertained. He stated he liked the 22-year-old Kahn from Poughkeepsie and thought he'd be an asset to poker. Helmuth thinks that himself, Mike the Mouth, and others are exactly what poker needs to grow as a sport. Sound familiar? :D

Then they spoke about getting Corporate America involved more in poker, how this year, the new sponsors came forth, Hershey's candies, Planter's peanuts, Hertz Rental Cars, Miller and Coors beer, and these are just the NEWest sponsors.

They had a WSOP Expo on site, much like our beloved Super Billiards Expo, with instructional tapes, books, poker paraphernalia like chip holders, video games, innovative glass-covered poker tables where the players never touch the cards, et cetera. It was mind-boggling all the products that were available.

Interestingly, it was a general consensus that poker is rising in popularity in Germany, thinking that it was more popular there than here in the States. It is the desire of all that poker becomes international in scope, by having many tournaments elsewhere than Vegas.

This year's final table was truly international, with representatives from around the globe. I was happy to see the Californian win. You know, USA, all the way! :D

JAM
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I think Phil Gordon (the commentator) is a little jealous of Hellmuth's success. Phil H. has marketed himself very effectvely and made millions. Kind of a higher priced Jeanette Lee. Poker is definitely still gaining in popularity. I personally think it has little over-all effect on the Pool world. There is room for Pool in the sports firmament as well.

Pool just needs some better marketing and some more money to be successful. An IPT style Tour would be great if it was properly funded. I bet if there was a series of million dollar pool tournaments, many young men would be picking up cues instead of cards. Look what the WPBA has done for Women's Pool. We never had so many young women taking up the game before.
 
jay helfert said:
I think Phil Gordon (the commentator) is a little jealous of Hellmuth's success. Phil H. has marketed himself very effectvely and made millions. Kind of a higher priced Jeanette Lee. Poker is definitely still gaining in popularity. I personally think it has little over-all effect on the Pool world. There is room for Pool in the sports firmament as well.

Pool just needs some better marketing and some more money to be successful. An IPT style Tour would be great if it was properly funded. I bet if there was a series of million dollar pool tournaments, many young men would be picking up cues instead of cards. Look what the WPBA has done for Women's Pool. We never had so many young women taking up the game before.
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I agree with you and was struck by your post recently about how you advertised a California tournament, resulting in a successful huge turnout. More advertising is definitely the key for pool.

Pool better take notice of poker, though. At the WSOP Expo, they're coming out with glass-topped table games which are going to be installed in pubs and taverns around the country, where the participants can play each other heads up. In fact, that's the name of the game, "Heads Up."

If poker continues its rise in popularity, it may replace pool by pulling in younger players desiring to learn poker games as opposed to pool games.

The IPT was definitely the right platform, though there were definitely some problems associated with the communication as well as the exhorbitant payouts. If the purses were cut in half or even 25 percent, I believe it may have had a better chance to turn a profit. I don't think many pool players had ever seen the extravaganza they witnessed at these venues, the green rooms, et cetera. However, it does represent a Lessons Learned for pool.

Did you watch that short movie during the dinner break about Stu Ungar? I was struck by his capabilities, growing up around gangsters in New York City, and learning how to gamble at card games. Keith said he's gambled with Stu in Vegas, to include the horse track, and that Stu is the best gin player he's ever known. During that era, there was an unfortunate social norm that it was acceptable to alter one's state of conscious at will, you know, the Woodstock generation. Stu Ungar definitely got caught up in that, and then he had a horrible gambling addiction. He won $1 million in 1997 and was broke 4 months later. What a tragedy, "The Rise and Fall of Stu Ungar."

Well, Jay, I'd say we definitely got our $19.95 worth on PPV last night. :D

I've got a whopping headache today from lack of sleep. I kept waking up every hour or so, to catch a glimpse of the tournament, and then I'd nod back out. I should have just turned it off. I am definitely sleep-deprived today, and my work day is only just beginning. :o

JAM
 
I just purchased the book on Stu Ungar last night. I browsed the first few chapters and was interested to find out that at 16 he was considered the best hearts player in the world, busting every champion he encountered for huge amounts of money.
 
jay helfert said:
First prize was $8,250,000!
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Jay, how many players were there? 1st was $12.5M last year (2nd was $7.5M) so did they have less players or was the payout deeper? Either way, $8.25M is nothing to sneeze at!
 
mosconiac said:
Jay, how many players were there? 1st was $12.5M last year (2nd was $7.5M) so did they have less players or was the payout deeper? Either way, $8.25M is nothing to sneeze at!
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I posted up some updates of the tournament when it was in progress in the Non-Pool-Related section. Here's the link, if you are interested:

http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=68343

According to what I heard, there were 8,702 total entrants into the event.

Second place this year paid out $4.8 million to the Canadian.

JAM
 
rack'em zach'em said:
who was on the final table?
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Here's the way it began:

Seat No. 1, Raymond Rahme from Johannesburg, South Africa, first person ever to appear at the final table from the Continent of South Africa and the oldest player at the table, beginning with $16,320,000.

Seat No. 2, Alex Kravchenko, 36-year-old from Moscow, Russia, beginning with 6,570,000 chips.

Seat No. 3, Lee Childs from Reston, Virgina, 35 years old, computer systems operator, starting out with 13,220,000 chips.

Seat No. 4, Jerry Yang, 39-year-old psychologist and social worker, married with six children, from Temecula California, got in for $225, pledging 10 percent of his winnings to charity, starting out with 8,459,000 in chips.

Seat No. 5, Lee Watkinson from Tacoma, Washington, 40-year-old businessman and animal activist, and already owns a WSOP gold bracelet, begins the event with 9,925,000 chips.

Seat No. 6, from Ontario, Canada, Tuan Lam, born in Vietnam during the height of the Vietnam War, pro poker player (missed his chip count).

Seat No. 7, Philip Hilm from Cambridge, England, beginning with $22,070,000.

Seat No. 8, John Kalmar from England, 34-year-old poker pro, previously a lead singer of a punk rock band, married with one child, was getting ready to fly back to England, but decided to enter the last satellite tournament at the Rio and got in, beginning today with 20,320,000 in chips.

Seat No. 9, Yeyad "Rain" Khan from Poughkeepsie, New York (I thought Poughkeepsie was in New Jersey), 22-year-old, pro poker player, had been recorded as playing 43 poker games all at once on his home computer, begins today with 9,205,000 in chips.

Antes are $30,000, and the blinds are $120,000 and $240,000.

The above-referenced link gives a few details about who was eliminated and when as the tournament progressed! :)

JAM
 
corvette1340 said:
There were 6358 entrants this year.
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I heard the ESPN guys say 8,702 entrants. I wonder if I heard this number and thought it was this year's entrants, when it may have been last year's. I don't know. I will have to listen to it again when it goes live. That is the number I heard out of the ESPN men's mouths, though.

JAM
 
JAM said:
I heard the ESPN guys say 8,702 entrants. I wonder if I heard this number and thought it was this year's entrants, when it may have been last year's. I don't know. I will have to listen to it again when it goes live. That is the number I heard out of the ESPN men's mouths, though.

JAM
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That was last year's number. The decrease in this years number is the reason for the payout being lower. They also implimented a flatter payout structure making it not so top heavy and putting a higher % on the lower places.
 
Jerry Yang was wearing Full Tilt logos. I heard that any player who won and was sponsored by Full Tilt or Poker Stars gets an extra $10 million.

JAM
 
JAM said:
Jerry Yang was wearing Full Tilt logos. I heard that any player who won and was sponsored by Full Tilt or Poker Stars gets an extra $10 million.

JAM
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I think they had to qualify for the main event through one of those sites in order to get the $10 million bonus.

Southpaw
 
Southpaw said:
I think they had to qualify for the main event through one of those sites in order to get the $10 million bonus.

Southpaw
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That may be right. I was trying to listen to the post-tournament interview with Jerry Yang, and he was giving thanks out to "Lake Elsamore" for paying all his hotel and travel expenses to be in the tournament. He said he got into the event for $225, but I'm not sure if this was Full Tilt or maybe a satellite at the Rio. He was wearing Full Tilt logos throughout the long tournament, beginning at 3:00 p.m., EST, and ending at 6:45 a.m., EST, the next day.

JAM
 
Southpaw said:
I think they had to qualify for the main event through one of those sites in order to get the $10 million bonus.

Southpaw
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All the final table players were wearing Full Tilt logos except Lam who had on Poker Stars. I suspect they were paid something like 100 Grand just to wear the logos at the final table.
 
jay helfert said:
All the final table players were wearing Full Tilt logos except Lam who had on Poker Stars. I suspect they were paid something like 100 Grand just to wear the logos at the final table.
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I think -- and I may be wrong -- that the South African Rahme and Khan from Poughkeepsie were wearing Poker Stars logos. Were some of the players wearing multilple logos, one for each website? I know the Jerry Yang and the Russian Krachenko each had Full Tilt hats on.

That is really cool, them getting 100 grand just to wear the logo. WOW!

JAM
 
I also got the PPV on Dish and it was well worth it! In the fine print it said that the coverage was guaranteed until 3:AM, so I'm glad they didn't cut it off. As it was I slept between 4-6, but woke up to see the final hour.

It was great entertainment for 12 hours! It is frustrating though, to not see the hole cards. So when they went through the long sessions of preflop raising and folding, without ever showing anything, it was tedious...

Ahhh, if only the IPT worked out...I would be ordering pay-per-view for every tournament I couldn't attend.
 
beetle said:
I also got the PPV on Dish and it was well worth it! In the fine print it said that the coverage was guaranteed until 3:AM, so I'm glad they didn't cut it off. As it was I slept between 4-6, but woke up to see the final hour.

It was great entertainment for 12 hours! It is frustrating though, to not see the hole cards. So when they went through the long sessions of preflop raising and folding, without ever showing anything, it was tedious...

Ahhh, if only the IPT worked out...I would be ordering pay-per-view for every tournament I couldn't attend.
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It will be interesting to watch the edited version of the Main Event when it airs on ESPN. We can then see all the hole cards we missed. I have to wonder if Yang really got hit with the deck early on, because he was playing so many hands.

I can definitely understand why they didn't show hole cards on this telecast. Too much chance for some type of collusion or cheating. I mean, after all, they are playing for millions!
 
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