Speedyfold Poker Blog

This year’s WSOP has seen some of the biggest prop bets ever. Not only has there been the Durrrr ones we have already discussed, but Phil Ivey has got some massive ones booked in. Howard Lederer has laid 5 million dollars against him getting 2 bracelets over the course of the next 3 years. Phil Ivey is already half way there after winning Event 37, the $3000 horse event. Following that win Ivey also booked bets running into the millions at 7-1 about him getting a 2nd bracelet this year. eg Phil’s $50,000 to villians $350,000

Phil has also got bets direct with Durrrr over who will get the most bracelets over 2 years. After nearly a great start for Durrrr (finishing 2nd in Event 11) Ivey has lept ahead with that Event 37 win, making it 1-0 to Ivey. Things look like a big uphill struggle now for durrrr, as Ivey is a bit of a bracelet machine given the proper motivation (ie money) and already has a total of 8 lifetime bracelets to his name now. Durrrr is still looking for his first one, but no doubt has the talent to get there.

Bets and talk about bracelets have been frantic of late, with Ivey vs Hellmuth also a lot in the news. Hellmuth has had a couple of deep runs (most recently 7th in a PLO8 event) but no bracelets this year. Most people in the industry seem to think it is only a matter of time before Ivey overtakes Hellmuth, some thinking in less than 5 years. Many are also speculating on Ivey even reaching the dizzy heights of 30 bracelets in his career. He’s sure come a long way since his No Home Jerome days.

Poker has some unusual surnames, and it is surprising when you see 2 or more of the more unusual ones in the same tournament. What is more surprising is they often are unrelated, which makes the coincidence a bit spooky. Here are some examples:

Freedy Deeb
Shaun Deeb (no relation)

Howard Lederer
Rob Lederer (no relation)

Phil Ivey
Craig Ivey (no relation)

Nguyens and Trans - let’s not even go there. There are easily 8-10 top pros with the surname Nguyen, and a good 5-6 with the surname Tran. Virtually without exception these are all unrelated to one another, and you will often see 2 or 3 or 4 them all deep in the same tourney at the same time.

Dan Harrington
Richard Harrington (no relation) - ok, name not that rare this time, but I thought I’d chuck it in there as both are still alive in Day 5 of the WSOP 2009 ME :p

Joe Sebok
Joe Serock (not technically a match, but hey pretty damn confusing ;))

Ones who DO have a relationship

Tom Dwan
Thomas Dwan (father of Durrrr, and often refered to as ‘Tom Dwan’)

Joe Hachem
Tony Hachem (brother of Joe)

TJ Cloutier
Eric Cloutier (son of TJ)

Grant Hinkle
Blair Hinkle (brother of Grant) - they both won WSOP bracelets in the same year in 2008

Thierry van den Berg
Erik van den Berg - both players still alive at Day 5 of the 2009 WSOP ME