WSOPE

Hello All!

I’m blogging to you fresh from the final of the WSOPE!

I say fresh but of course I mean exhausted, riddled with cold and severely sleep deprived.

We didn’t have the 27 hour final table marathon that won John Juanda a bracelet last year but any final table that ends around 6am is worth a mention. I was there hosting and doing the sideline reporting for the ESPN coverage of the main event and it was a great experience. Thanks to everyone who came up and said hello and if I was distracted or rushing about too much to stop and say a proper hi back, apologies. It was the first time that I’d worked with ESPN, Harrah’s and the WSOP organisation and I was definitely nervous! The TV crew with Poker PROductions were awesome and a hell of a lot of fun to work with. Thankfully, it all went well and I think we’ve got a cracking series for TV.

It was an incredible field of players and some of the most exciting poker I’ve seen. I wish that there could have been a live webcast through the 6 days because honestly, it was brilliant to watch. The final table was a bit bitter sweet for me. Of course I’m meant to be impartial (and of course I am!) but when a friend is playing, it’s hard to maintain that. Eric Liu busted out on the final table bubble and I was gutted for him. He is a very talented poker player and I would have loved to see him on the FT. He also happens to be a truly lovely, likeable person. He’s one of the people that make me glad to be in poker because otherwise we never would have met. No doubt he’ll final table and win a big event soon.

I was hoping to see more from Matt Hawrilenko (Hoss TBF) at the final but he was short stacked coming in and just didn’t get the cards or situations. I watched some of his play in the earlier stages and was a bit in awe of his skills. He was also articulate and friendly in the interviews which goes a very long way in my book. People generally do their best with the interviews and give the press a bit of respect and leeway but every once in a while I meet a poker player who seems to think he is above the media and tries to make himself look more intelligent by trying to make the interviewer look stupid. Not naming names here but it’s just not cool.

It looked as though Jason Mercier would take it down and I would have cheered my lungs out for him as again, he’s a really likeable person PLUS being a huge poker talent. And of course, with Praz Bansi and James Akenhead up there as well, representing for the UK – it was very disappointing to not see one of them with the bracelet. Aside from Daniel, the rest of the players were ones that I didn’t know that well but between them, they had heaps of experience and results and all seemed very pleasant.

The heads up came between Barry Shulman (CEO of Cardplayer) and Daniel Negreanu. Daniel played so well and after losing a hand with AA to a flush draw on the flop, he put in literally hours of grinding his way back to even. I was so impressed by his ‘never say die’ attitude. He had a big crowd pulling for him and the final decisive hand which lost him almost all of his chips, yet again, will be damn exciting TV.

As the cards fell, you could hear the groans of disappointment, the hopeful gasps, the jubilent cheers which rocked the building and then the shocked disbelief as the final card fell against him. Pretty exciting stuff and so disappointing for Daniel not to get this result. He was a real superstar all week. His disappointment was palpable.

Big congratulations to Barry Shulman who won the Main Event bracelet. What a family! He wins the WSOPE main event bracelet and his son Jeff is still in contention in the November 9. Incredible! Funnily enough, Barry pointed out that he came to the final bang on average chips and in 4th place – exactly like his son in Las Vegas. Who knows if they might just do the family double this year!

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