CalvinAyre’s Best Poker Moments of 2016
Lee Davy shares his best poker moments of 2016 including the Global Poker League Draft, Phil Galfond’s intention to launch an online poker room and the Fedor Holz heater of a lifetime.
My one-word summation of poker in 2016 is ‘a
ngry.’ And yet, beneath all of the angst, frustration and even hatred there were some gems.
Here are my favourite moments of 2016.
The Global Poker League Draft
The Global Poker League Draft had everything. I was right back in school watching the kids picking teams and wondering who would suffer the ignominy of being chosen last.
It was different.
It was raw.
It was pure entertainment.
The team didn’t completely have their shit together, but that was part of the appeal. I cried when Fedor Holz nearly cried, and I couldn’t stop crying watching Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth going at it from the commentary positions.
Screw the poker.
I can’t wait for the Season 2 Draft.
The Jason Mercier Bracelet Bet
Long before King Kassouf came on the scene talking about his coconuts all anyone cared about at the World Series of Poker was Jason Mercier. He came into the series having made a bet with his PokerStars pal, Vanessa Selbst, that would have led to a $1.8m windfall should he secure three bracelets, after she offered him odds of 180:1 and he wagered $10,000.
When Mercier won Event #16: $10,000 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship, Selbst shifted in her seat slightly. When he made it to heads-up against Ray Dehkahrghani in Event #20: $10,000 Seven Card Razz Championship, Selbst started to sweat. Mercier lost that encounter but then went on to win Event #24: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E Championship, leaving him one shy of giving Selbst a financial headache few thought she could take.
Then things got a little messy. Selbst revealed drunkenness was behind the bet, and Mercier refused her attempts to buy-out. She sold large portions of the bet, but she needn’t have bothered. Despite Mercier cashing a further seven times and making another final table, he didn’t bag his third bracelet. But he did give poker fans one hell of a ride and picked up the WSOP Player of the Year for his efforts.
Phil Galfond Declares His Intention to Open an Online Poker Room
Phil Galfond is to poker what Walter White is to TV box set characters. He is the business; everyone loves him, and he can do no wrong. So when he told the world he was going to move RunItOnce into the online poker room business, the poker community went nuts.
“Holy shit.” Said Niall Farrell.
Holy shit indeed, Niall.
Phil Galfond’s manifesto of what he believed a poker site should look like seemed to be a long list of fixes to flaws that had come out of the PokerStars experience as they ventured deeper and deeper into publicly traded waters.
It’s going to be the toughest challenge of Phil Galfond’s life. But if anyone can create a successful online poker room based on the customers wants, needs and desires, it’s Phil Galfond.
Fedor Holz Kills It And Then Retires…Sort Of
In 2015, Fedor Holz peeled back the curtain of the poker world and showed his face after winning $3.5m.
In 2016, Holz pulled off a series of incredible results. The young German earned $16.5m including four high-end seven-figure scores, a raft of Super Duper and Not So Super Duper High Roller victories and his first World Series of Poker bracelet.
Oh, I nearly forgot.
He also came second in the WCOOP Super High Roller for a million bucks.
The guy had flames shooting out of his 23-year old nostrils, and then he told the world he was going to retire.
During an interview with me he explained why:
“Society clearly teaches us the wrong value system. Money is overvalued, and freedom has very little to do with money. We always think that money is connected to how we feel but it’s a very short-term feeling and what I have learned through coaching, and giving back to people, I realised that this is the only thing that gives me joy. That’s why poker is not the thing I want to pursue. It only takes. It’s very selfish. There is no lasting place for it in my life to do this for a living.”
He is currently the 2016 Global Poker Index (GPI) #1 ranked player and will likely win the 2016 GPI Player of the Year.
I would go the whole hog and change the rules for the Poker Hall of Fame and admit him before we lose him to a meditation retreat somewhere in Bali.
Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates v Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier
The Global Poker League (GPL) began with a whirlwind of a draft. But when the action started, I wasn’t left spinning. Then a man swung along on his vine, banging his chest and everything changed.
Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates unwittingly became the star of the GPL when he faced off against Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier in the early stages of heads-up action streamed live on Twitch.
For the first time, we were able to hear two of the greatest players of modern times talking through their thought process out loud during a game. I have always wanted to spend a couple of hours inside the head of the Jungleman, and Alex Dreyfus and the team made my dreams come true.
It was brilliant to watch and showed how compelling the characters of the game are if you want to spin a narrative that’s going to draw in thousands of new players.
Aaron Paul Joins The Global Poker League
As a fan of Breaking Bad, I nearly wet my knickers when I learned Aaron Paul was going to feature in the Global Poker League (GPL). I rely on the poker industry to pay my bills, and I see the GPL as a way to ensure that continues for many years to come.
Alex Dreyfus always hinted that celebrities could appear in the GPL. But Aaron Paul? Are you fucking kidding me? I was expecting some D-list celebrity that had appeared on Survivor, not the Emmy award winning actor coming out of the greatest TV box set in history.
And I don’t even care that he only played two games. Having his name linked to the league was a big plus for poker. And he finished the league as the only player to remain undefeated.
Bitches.
Mike Sexton is the World Poker Tour.
His victory in Montreal, when he beat 648 entrants to win the WPT Main Event and join the ranks of the WPT Champions Club epic. It reminded me that he wasn’t Vince McMahon. He was a legend of the game.
I can’t think of a more perfect victory in poker.
