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.

It is a difficult task to negociate 6494 poker players, but if anyone can then Phil Ivey surly can. He is still going strong with just 19 players left. The final table is almost in touching distance. Lets hope Phil can make it. He’s already picked up 2 bracelets this series, so it’s proving to be an excellent WSOP year for Phil, who is one of a very few people ever to get 3 bracelets in one series (in 2002).

Another biggish name is also still alive in the tourney, that being Jeff Shulman. So, a slightly smaller cheer for Jeff too

Former crowd favorite, Tiffany Michelle, developed a bit of repuation as a super bitch at the 2008 WSOP. The 3 things in summary that did it were:

1. Calling the clock on someone when their tourney life was on the line and they had a tough decision

2. Eating fries at the table with her hands

3. Waggling her finger around (pointing at her chips) and not saying a word when asked for a chip count.

Having seen a few more recent interview videos with Tiffany, it seems that perhaps she received a bit of a hard time due partly to some rather harsh editing. For example, the player in question who she called the clock on had apparently been deciding for 10-15 minutes. She also says she received quite a lot of constant ribbing at the table, that put her quite a bit on the defensive, which naturally when seen in isolation looks like giving it some attitude.

Regarding the french fries saga she says she ate them with one hand and handled chips and the cards with the other hand.

Having seen the videos it’s tough not to like her as she always seems very friendly, passionate, and well-natured. The jury is out, I’ll let you decide for yourselves, but personally I’ve re-warmed to her as a poker personality, and it will be interesting to see if she can gradually turn the image around to a more favorable one.

Popular pro Scotty Nguyen picks up his 5th WSOP bracelet

Event 45 - $50K HORSE - 148 entrants
1 $ 1,989,120 Scotty Nguyen
2 $ 1,243,200 Michael DeMichele
3 $ 781,440 Erick Lindgren
4 $ 568,320 Matt Glantz
5 $ 444,000 Lyle Berman
6 $ 355,200 Barry Greenstein
7 $ 284,160 Huck Seed
8 $ 230,880 Patrick Bueno

Event 39 - $1500 NLHE - 2720 entrants
1 $ 631,656 David Woo
2 $ 389,844 Matthew Wood
3 $ 278,460 Eric Beren

Event 40 - $2500 2-7 Triple Draw - 238 entrants
1 $ 151,896 John Phan
2 $ 95,795 Shun Uchida
3 $ 61,583 Gioi Luong

Event 41 - $1500 Mixed Holdem - 731 entrants
1 $ 219,508 Frank Gary
2 $ 140,093 Jonathan Tamayo
3 $ 84,814 Nick Binger

Event 42 - $1000 Senoirs NLHE - 2218 entrants
1 $ 368,832 Dan Lacourse
2 $ 235,141 Dale Eberle
3 $ 156,424 Marc Fluss

Event 43 - $1500 PL Omaha Hi-Lo - 720 entrants
1 $ 216,249 Martin Klaser
2 $ 137,985 Casey Kastle
3 $ 83,538 Michael Fetter

Event 44 - $1000 NLHE w/rebuys - 879 entrants
1 $ 693,444 Max Greenwood
2 $ 445,523 Rene Mouritsen
3 $ 267,314 Albert Iversen

Event 32 - $1500 NLHE - 2304 entrants
1 $ 573,734 Jose Luis Velador
2 $ 366,387 Anthony G Signore
3 $ 243,734 Osmin Dardon

Event 33 $5000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo - 261 entrants
1 $ 328,756 Sebastian Ruthenberg
2 $ 202,406 Chris Ferguson
3 $ 125,737 Bob Lauria

Event 34 - $1500 Pot Limit Omaha w/rebuys - 320 entrants
1 $ 577,725 Layne Flack
2 $ 355,050 Daniel Makowsky
3 $ 222,659 Jacobo Fernandez

Event 35 - $1500 Seven-Card Stud - 381 entrants
1 $ 135,753 Mike Rocco
2 $ 83,210 Al Barbieri
3 $ 50,186 Levon Torosyan

Event 36 - $1500 NLHE - 2447 entrants
1 $ 610,304 Jesper Hougaard
2 $ 389,128 Cody Slaubaugh
3 $ 258,862 Aaron Kanter

Event 37 - $10,000 PLO8 - 235 entrants
1 $ 535,687 David Benyamine
2 $ 331,350 Greg Jamison
3 $ 209,855 Jason Gray

Event 38 - $2000 Pot Limit Holdem - 605 entrants
1 $ 244,546 Davidi Kitai
2 $ 155,806 Chris Bell
3 $ 94,695 Keith Greer

Event 27 - $1500 NLHE -2706 entrants
1 $ 628,417 Vitaly Lunkin
2 $ 387,837 Brett Kimes
3 $ 277,026 Bobby Firestone

Event 28 - $5000 PLO w/rebuys - 152 entrants
1 $ 817,781 Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond
2 $ 493,748 Adam Hourani
3 $ 316,307 David Benyamine

Event 29 - $3000 NLHE - 716 entrants
1 $ 434,789 John Phan
2 $ 277,452 Johnny Neckar
3 $ 167,973 Matt Vengrin

Event 30 - $10,000 Limit Holdem - 218 entrants
1 $ 496,931 Rob Hollink
2 $ 307,380 Jerrod Ankenman
3 $ 194,674 Tommy Hang

Event 31 - $2500 NLHE Six-handed - 1012 entrants
1 $ 528,418 Dario Minieri
2 $ 330,519 Seth Fischer
3 $ 214,139 Justin Filtz

Event 13 - $2500 NLHE - 1390 Entrants
1 $ 666,777 Duncan Bell
2 $ 428,948 Steven Merrifield
3 $ 260,261 Nathan Doudney

Event - 14 $10,000 7-Card Stud - 158 entrants
1 $ 415,856 Eric Brooks
2 $ 259,910 Fu Wong
3 $ 163,372 Alexander Kostritsyn

Event - 15 $1000 Ladies NLHE - 1190 entrants
1 $ 244,702 Svetlana Gromenkova
2 $ 144,567 Anh Le
3 $ 87,715 Patty Till

Event 16 - $2000 Omaha Hi-Lo - 553 entrants
1 $ 226,483 Andrew Brown
2 $ 143,420 Ted Forrest
3 $ 88,065 Jim Pechac

Event 17 - $1500 NLHE Shootout - 1000 entrants
1 $ 335,565 Jason Young
2 $ 209,527 Mike Schwartz
3 $ 129,675 John Strzemp III

Event 18 - $5000 NL 2-7 Trip Draw w/rebuys - 85 entrants
1 $ 537,862 Mike Matusow (Full Tilt Poker pro)
2 $ 347,004 Jeff Lisandro
3 $ 225,552 Barry Greenstein

Event 19 - $1500 PLO - 759 entrants
1 $ 227,965 Vanessa Selbst
2 $ 145,459 Jamie Pickering
3 $ 88,062 Stanley Statkiewicz Jr

Event 20 - $2000 Limit Holdem - 480 entrants
1 $ 204,874 Daniel Negreanu (PokerStars Pro)
2 $ 126,671 Ugur Marangoz
3 $ 78,624 David Baker

Event 21 - $5000 NLHE - 731 entrants
1 $ 755,891 Scott Seiver (PokerStars online player gunning4you)
2 $ 482,372 Dave Seidman
3 $ 292,034 Ben Sprengers

Event 22 - $3000 HORSE - 414 entrants
1 $ 298,253 Jens Veortmann
2 $ 182,822 Doug Ganger
3 $ 110,264 Marcel Luske

Event 23 - $2000 NLHE - 1344 entrants
1 $ 507,563 Blair Hinkle (brother of Event 2 winner Grant Hinkle)
2 $ 326,552 Mark Brockington
3 $ 198,132 Daniel O’Brien

Event 24 - $2500 PL Holdem/Omaha - 457 entrants
1 $ 246,471 Max Pescatori
2 $ 152,410 Kyle Kloeckner
3 $ 94,599 Greg Hurst

Event 25 - $10,000 NLHE Heads-up - 256 entrants
1 $ 539,056 Kenny Tran
2 $ 336,896 Alec Torelli
3 $ 108,288 Vanessa Selbst

Event 26 - $1500 Razz - 453 Entrants
1 $ 157,619 Barry Greenstein (PokerStars Pro)
2 $ 97,389 Chris Klodnicki
3 $ 58,743 Chris Viox

Event 5 - $1000 rebuy NLHE - 776 entrants
1 $ 636,736 Michael Banducci
2 $ 406,330 Jeff Williams
3 $ 245,997 Peter Gould

Event 6 - $1500 LO8 - 833 entrants
1 $ 243,356 Thang Luu
2 $ 156,343 Spencer Lawrence
3 $ 93,806 George Guzman

Event 7 $2000 NLHE - 1592 Entrants
1 $ 550,601 Matt Keikoan
2 $ 349,141 Shannon Shorr
3 $ 228,897 Carter Gill

Event 8 $10,000 Mixed Event - 192 Entrants
1 $ 483,688 Anthony Rivera
2 $ 297,792 James Mackey
3 $ 184,992 Matt Glantz

Event 9 $1500 NLHE Six-handed - 1236 entrants
1 $ 372,929 Rep Porter
2 $ 231,981 Nathan Templeton
3 $ 151,842 Devin Porter

Event 10 $2500 Omaha/7-Card Stud Hi-Lo - 388 entrants
1 $ 232,911 Farzad Rouhani
2 $ 142,784 Tom Chambers
3 $ 86,117 John Cernuto

Event 11 - $5000 NLHE Shootout - 360 entrants
1 $ 477,990 Phil Tom
2 $ 298,638 Greg Mueller
3 $ 187,812 Leo Wolpert

Event 12 - $1500 Limit Holdem - 880 entrants
1 $ 257,105 Jimmy Shultz
2 $ 165,165 Zac Fellows
3 $ 99,099 Vinny Vinh

Are WSOP Events Speed Tourneys?

WSOP Tourney

If we take a standard $1500 NLHE Event as a comparison.

Starting Chips = 3000, Blind Levels = 60 mins

1 $0 Ante $25-$50 Blinds
2 $0 Ante $50-$100 Blinds
3 $0 Ante $100-$200 Blinds
4 $25 Ante $100-$200 Blinds
5 $25 Ante $150-$300 Blinds
6 $50 Ante $200-$400 Blinds
7 $75 Ante $300-$600 Blinds
8 $100 Ante $400-$800 Blinds

Standard Online Tourney Structure

3000 Chips, 15 min levels (eg $11 NLHE $20K Guaranteed at 19:00 ET on PokerStars)

1. $0 Ante 10/20 Blinds
2. $0 Ante 15/30 Blinds
3. $0 Ante 25/50 Blinds
4. $0 Ante 50/100 Blinds
5. $0 Ante 75/150 Blinds
6. $0 Ante 100/200 Blinds
7. $25 Ante 125/250 Blinds
8. $25 Ante 150/300 Blinds

A reasonable translation between live and online events is to multiply by 3 to translate online into the equivalent live blind speed (due to standard things like shuffling time, physical chip counting, manual split pots, longer time banks for thinking, etc etc)

So, on this basis, the WSOP is running at equivalent of 20 mins “online blinds”

Both are 3000 starting stack, so we just need to look at the cost of a rotation as the tournament progresses. So if we look at a point 2 “online hours” deep we will be at Level 8 online, and Level 6 in the WSOP. This leads us to:

Online Cost of Rotation = 9×25 + 150 + 300 = 675 chips
Live Cost of Rotation = 9×50 + 200 + 400 = 1050 chips

Which means that the WSOP is a faster structure than a standard online tourney. Welcome to the World Series of (Speed) Poker!