# \[Discussion\] World Series of Poker **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 31, 2009, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247 "2009-05-31T07:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/121 "2009-07-14T23:22:02Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > I really hate watching Esfandiari play, on TV at least. His chatterbox style annoys me to no end and I cannot figure why. It perplexes me because I enjoy Negreanu’s chatterbox play, though I dislike the stream-of-conscious style in general. Esfandiari just manages to do it more annoyingly than everyone else. Will he ask his table to play the deuce-seven prop bet? If you win with 2-7, everyone at the table owes you $500? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/122 "2009-07-14T23:29:54Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Ivey was 2nd in chips one year going into the final 27 and busted 27th. Woops, I meant 20th. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/123 "2009-07-14T23:31:19Z")
Phil Ivey is second in chip count with over $10M. The median stack looks to be in the $3.5M range. 46 players left. ---
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/124 "2009-07-15T00:18:05Z")
Hey quick question interjected to the proceedings here: Last year in the 2008 WSoP, a russian player pushed a full stack out past his chips, but _without taking his hands off the chips_ pulled it back and pushed out half of the stack. After calling 2 floormen, it was ruled that because he didn’t take his hand off the chip-stack, it wasn’t a bet. (somehow getting around the forward motion rule) Does anyone have any more information on this. Has it had an impact on play this year? I never really saw a resolution to the ruling last year (players were still upset about the ruling), and I’m wondering if people are pushing stacks in and out of the pot just to test the waters. Thanks in advance… ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/125 "2009-07-15T02:14:23Z")
While I haven’t heard anything on it (or even recall the specific event), I’m going to guess that it was considered an error by the floormen (or whatever the proper term is for tournaments) that presided over the incident. Not something that counted as being an official ruling. Unless a head honcho was called and he made the ruling, then ouch. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/126 "2009-07-15T06:08:08Z")
Okay guys, we’re down to the final 27. Action will resume at noon PST tomorrow and will be played down to nine. I am optimistically hopeful that Ivey makes it far beyond just the final nine. Like has been mentioned though, he’s been deeper than this before while being one of the chip leaders and still hasn’t made even the final table. So I’m trying not to get my hopes up for him too much. That said, Esfandiari is still around, though on the lower end of chip count. Shulman is high up there with Ivey. One time chip leader Ludovic Lacay is pretty much right in the middle of the pack. Who will we be seeing in November and who will be spending the next few days drowning their sorrows in various mind-altering substances after busting out? Join me tomorrow and find out! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/127 "2009-07-15T06:40:46Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Will he ask his table to play the deuce-seven prop bet? If you win with 2-7, everyone at the table owes you $500? I LOVE IT when they play that game on High Stakes Poker. It’s so damn fun to watch. > [@FlightlessBird](#): > > Last year in the 2008 WSoP, a russian player pushed a full stack out past his chips, but _without taking his hands off the chips_ pulled it back and pushed out half of the stack. After calling 2 floormen, it was ruled that because he didn’t take his hand off the chip-stack, it wasn’t a bet. (somehow getting around the forward motion rule) I missed this first time around yet happened to catch it a week or two ago. Michael Carroll was PISSED! I tend to agree. As someone else pointed out, what’s to keep a player from then pushing his entire stack in, checking for a reaction, then pulling it back? Yeah, that was a horrible ruling. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/128 "2009-07-15T07:04:48Z")
There’s a whole bunch of weird ass rules in the new standardized tournament rules they adopted a few years back. There’s lots of retarded stuff too like automatic penalties for discussing your hand honestly or showing it when heads up. Maybe by their rules that was the correct ruling, I have no idea. Still terrible. If someone would’ve pulled that shit on me it would’ve been a flying ninja kick over the table. ---
**Author:** ![straggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@straggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straggler)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/129 "2009-07-15T10:46:25Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > There’s a whole bunch of weird ass rules in the new standardized tournament rules they adopted a few years back. There’s lots of retarded stuff too like automatic penalties for discussing your hand honestly or showing it when heads up. Maybe by their rules that was the correct ruling, I have no idea. > > Still terrible. If someone would’ve pulled that shit on me it would’ve been a flying ninja kick over the table. Yeah, those rules bug me, too. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/130 "2009-07-15T13:22:58Z")
Darvin Moon 20,160,000 Billy Kopp 15,970,000 Steven Begleiter 11,885,000 Phil Ivey 11,350,000 Kevin Schaffel 11,245,000 Antoine Saout 11,135,000 Jeff Shulman 10,170,000 Eric Buchman 10,005,000 Jamie Robbins 9,795,000 Ben Lamb 9,410,000 James Akenhead 8,615,000 Joseph Cada 6,565,000 James Calderaro 6,475,000 Andrew Lichtenberger 5,625,000 Ludovic Lacay 5,610,000 Warren Zackey 5,485,000 Marco Mattes 5,285,000 Tommy Vedes 5,070,000 Jordan Smith 4,510,000 Antonio Esfandiari 4,470,000 Ian Tavelli 4,385,000 Jonathan Tamayo 3,300,000 Jesse Haabak 2,750,000 George Caragiorgas 1,615,000 Nick Maimone 1,545,000 Leo Margets 1,530,000 Francois Balmigere 1,440,000 Blinds are 50K/100K antes 10K. 4 Short stacks have ~15 Big blinds and 6 orbits (~240K). They will have to make a a move early to stay in the tournament. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/131 "2009-07-15T14:17:09Z")
Leo Margets is a woman, by the way, which has a lot of people excited since they think a woman making the FT would be great for poker recruitment. Moon is apparently a gigantic luckbox whose understanding of the game is questionable - we seem to have at least one of those deep in the tournament over the last few years. Tommy Vedes is apparently the villain as one person on 2+2 with experience with him says he’s a ginourmous douchebag. Billy Kopp, IIRC, is an online MTT pro who’s the MTT leaderboard leader on one of the smaller networks. James Akenhead is also a very well regarded online MTT player. Jeff Shulman is the editor of Card Player magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/132 "2009-07-15T14:28:47Z")
Some thoughts: 1. Congratulations to our very own **Gadarene** for finishing in the money in a WSOP event!! That is most excellent!. 2. I’m sick and tired of Ivey being called the Tiger Woods of poker. There is more to the man than his skin color. 3. Since I first saw Johnny Chan win I always dreamed of playing in the main event, but now there is no way in hell I’d want to. Thousands of players, 12 hours a day for over a week makes it seem to be not that fun at all. 4. I really wish the blogs would tell us the blinds when significant action occurs. Most of my tournament play depends a great deal on where the blinds are in relation to my and the other stacks at the table, and not knowing what the blinds are when some guy calls a 3 player re-raise all in with just JJ doesn’t tell me much. 5. It’s a lot less painful to read about the beats happening to someone else now that I’ve played enough to have them happen to me. My pain in losing $100 on a bad beat is much more painful than someone else’s AA getting outdrawn on the river. 6. There seems to be a cloning machine of “players who left college to play poker professionally in the last few years and are now playing in the biggest tournament of the year” stories. The world must be littered with the poker corpses of the hundreds of the exact same guys who tried and failed to make it professionally. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/133 "2009-07-15T15:00:18Z")
**Hamlet** , I agree with Points 1,2,4, & 6. Especially about mentioning the blinds/antes when discussing a big hand. But one day, I will play in the main event. I think it would be a blast. But it would be a grind. One thing that would drive me a up a wall is when they got to the money bubble that they played 13 hands in 90 minutes. 13 hands…ugh. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/134 "2009-07-15T22:31:26Z")
Sigh, no deuce-seven prop bet game at the final table. Esfandiari has been eliminated. As has Leo Margrets. No ladies at the final table, yet again. Phil Ivey has taken some hits, down to 5.5 Million about 1/2 hour ago. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/135 "2009-07-15T22:37:04Z")
Has anyone around here actually met Ivey? And I don’t mean “saw from across the room” or something but has actually said hi to him or some such? Shaken his hand or anything? If so, can I get you anything? May I touch your hand? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/136 "2009-07-15T23:50:43Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Has anyone around here actually met Ivey? And I don’t mean “saw from across the room” or something but has actually said hi to him or some such? Shaken his hand or anything? > > If so, can I get you anything? May I touch your hand? 😃 I have some Iv[e]y growing on my house. Is that close enough? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/137 "2009-07-16T00:01:38Z")
Ivey’s dropped about 5 million chips today, and is currently sitting at 13th, with 16 players left. Not looking too good for Phil. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/138 "2009-07-16T00:17:00Z")
13/15 now. I imagine that the big stacks will sit on what they’ve got to make the final table. Remember Scotty Nguyen a couple of years ago? If Ivey could bust the short stack he’d be in the top nine. Does anyone ahead of Ivey want to go all in against him at this point in the tournament? ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/139 "2009-07-16T00:33:23Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > I have some Iv[e]y growing on my house. Is that close enough? Let’s wait and see if anyone else responds. If not, then yes that’ll do. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247/140 "2009-07-16T00:48:32Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Let’s wait and see if anyone else responds. If not, then yes that’ll do. 😃 If it’s any help, I also had an I.V. when I was at the hospital. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-world-series-of-poker/498247.md?page=8)