The Godfather of poker has had a change of mind. Just a few weeks ago Texas Dolly sent a tweet to his 395,909 Twitter followers to tell them that he was done with playing WSOP events in 2013. The tweet prompted speculation that Brunson was retiring, something that the main man put right during a blog post he created to allay peoples fears. He wasn’t retiring, but instead concentrating on cash games instead of the tournament grind.
So it was a surprise when Brunson decided to take a seat for Event #55: The $50,000 Poker Players Championship. This was not going to be a fast tournament and Brunson was committing himself to a lot of dwell time in the seat. So far, from the 132-players that entered only 64 of them remain, and sitting tight amongst the pack is Brunson; but for how long remains a debatable topic.
“Haven’t won a pot. I don’t need a doctor, I need an undertaker.” Brunson recently tweeted.
Haven’t won a pot. I don’t need a doctor, I need an undertaker
— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) July 2, 2013
When you see Brunson hobbling around the tables you can understand his decision to abstain from tournament poker. But the man just loves the game. He has 18 bets against some of the best poker players in the world regarding his performance in this event. I guess Brunson made them to spice up his involvement in the tournament. He stands to win over $800k if all goes well and will lose between 80k-140k if it all goes south. Brunson has accepted bets for cashing, making the final table and winning the thing, proving that age is no barrier when it comes to being a sicko in the game. Lest we not forget that there is already $1,774,089 up top for the winner.
At the time of writing it is Jean Gaspard who leads with 760k, but there are more gems than pieces of glass left in the field with David Benyamine (729k), Jonathan Duhamel (690k), Matthew Ashton (635k) and Joe Hachem (495k) at the top end of the counts. Brunson has 82k.
Vamplew Has to Play The Bridesmaid For the Second Time
Barny Boatman said there is nothing between first and second except for a piece of cigarette paper. Scant consolation if you are David Vamplew, who has once again had the sight of a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet dangled in front of his eyes, and then ripped away before the skin gets too close.
David Vamplew is currently the best tournament poker player in the UK, and it will be reflected in the Global Poker Index (GPI) by the time the series ends. What makes Vamplew’s rise to prominence so exceptional is he performs just as well when he plays online as he does when he plays live.
Brett Shaffer might be the man who possesses the Event #53: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) bracelet, but it is the rise of Vamplew that is the feature story. Shaffer cracked Vamplew’s pocket aces with the awkward looking queen-nine, at the end of play last night, and in the final hand Shaffer did it again; this time ace-nine overcoming pocket queens of the Scotsman to hand Shaffer the title. But poker wouldn’t be poker if the Scotsman didn’t have any luck himself. Ace-queen cracking ace-king in a huge pot to help Vamplew on his way to second place.
“So many of us got lucky at this final table. Everyone at the final table had drawn out in pretty big ways until they got there. David – the guy who got second – was a really good player. You could tell he knew how to make tough decisions for people and I thought he played very well.” Said Brett Shaffer during his winners interview with PokerNews sideline reporter Sarah Grant.
Shaffer took $665,397 for his victory, which ranks of one of the biggest purses at this years series. Vamplew took $413,157 and Canada’s Mike Watson took fifth for $153,850.
Jacob Bazeley With the Experience in Event #54
The final table of Event #54: $1,000 NLHE has been set and it’s Jacob Bazeley who is the most experienced player to make the final nine. Bazeley was the runner-up when Brent Hanks broke his WSOP duck in Event #2: $1,500 NLHE, at last year’s series, and then caught a fifth in Event #11: $2,500 NLHE Six-Handed at this year’s series. Bazeley currently occupies sixth spot with 610,000 chips and the chip leader is Barry Hutter with 2,470,000.
Anthony Ruberto Leads Event #56: $2,500 NLHE
149-players remain from the starting field of 1,736 as Event #56: $2,500 NLHE explodes into its second day of action. The chip leader is currently Anthony Ruberto, but there are a whole host of stars waiting in the wings including Nicolas Levi, Govert Metaal, Andrey Pateychuk, Pius Heinz, Matt Marafioti and Athanasios Polychronopoulos. We were in the midst of the action when we saw Griffin Benger bust in 168th place for a $4,462 cash, which was a crying shame as things looked likely to get heated between Benger and his table ‘not so’ mate Matt Marafioti. “Scouting report done! Seat: 8 Matt Marafioti, 47,600, self-obsessed, egomaniacal sociopath who watched the game pass him by. Over shoves AK.”
Scouting report done! Seat 8: Matt Marrafiati, 47,600 Self-obsessed, egomaniacal sociopath whose watched the game pass him by. Overshoves AK
— Flush_Entity (@GriffinBenger) July 2, 2013
“Tipped AllAmericanDave girl $3. Not to be outdone Marafioti gave her $5 for a meal he got 45-mins ago. #Hewillmeasuredicks #Bettertipper.
Tipped @AllAmericanDave girl $3. Not to be outdone Marrafiati gave her $5 for a meal he got 45 min ago. #Hewillmeasuredicks #bettertipper
— Flush_Entity (@GriffinBenger) July 2, 2013
Are just two of the tweets sent out by Flush_Entity. For once Adzizzy has been fairly quiet with his response, preferring to focus on the action.
