Just Poker Talk

• Jean Robert Bellande Survivor
• Photo Source: CBS Survivor

Just thought Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger would get you an update on the Survivor pursuits of Jean Robert Bellande. Earlier I posted this Story about Jean Robert on Survivor. As of the broadcast on Thursday Jean Robert is still playing the same way. He is trusting his reads on people to get him farther in the game. This episode for a period of time it seemed like it would be Jean Robert that would be voted off the island. Jean Robert made it through ‘tribal council’ by a couple votes and lives to play another day. One of the other Survivors, Courtney had some unkind words for Jean Robert during the reward part of the show. Courtney said things like, and I am paraphrasing here:

• I tried my best to be away from Jean Robert in the bathtub as I could possible be, he was at the one far end and I took the one at the other far end
• He is kind of gross, every single part of me wants to see Jean Robert go, I just don’t like him
• He’s a horrible person

It looked real bad for Jean Robert after his tribe lost the immunity challenge. Lots of his tribe members were discussing getting rid of Jean Robert. Lots of items were discussed about who to vote off here are a few snippets.

• That would require talking to him and you know I don’t do that
• I am going to vote for Jean Robert
• I hate him
• Well unless we vote for Jean Robert
• I think we should vote for Jean Robert tonight
• My gut says Jean Robert

Even Jean Robert wasn’t trusting his feel for the game. He admitted being uneasy and something didn’t feel right. At tribal council Jean Robert drew some very critical comments from two of the women of his tribe after he called himself the ‘bad boy’. Here are a few of the comments:

• Little do you know they don’t like you
• Bad Boy not quite the term I would have selected
• Bad Boy cause you play poker or something?
• Do you have a Harley we don’t know about?
• We don’t get along, we don’t like each other, he talks alot, his jokes aren’t funny, lots of judgements of other people, he has lots of self righteousness
• He is just a crappy person

But Jean Robert, once again when it seemed he was All-In, caught Runner Runner to stick around for at least another hand…..er episode. So far his plan, as published in Bluff Magazine, to be the biggest jerk possible without being voted off is working. He is at the final table so to speak with only 10 survivors remaining.

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Comments are welcome always.

Jean Robert Bellande, Poker, CBS, Survivor,  Bluff Magazine

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• WSOP H.O.R.S.E. on ESPN Starring Phil Hellmuth’s Behavior - Part Two

Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger is continuing yesterday’s post regarding ‘The Poker Brats’ behavior at the WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Tournament. Today’s post details ESPN’s 2nd hour of the broadcast. If you didn’t read yesterday’s post the underlying opinion I put forth is that ESPN got off track and chose to show too much bad behavior instead of good poker. ESPN had the chance to show great poker in 5 different games but instead highlighted Hellmuth’s Tableside manner at every opportunity. Here are the behavior items ESPN edited into the one hour show:

• Just seven minutes into the broadcast ESPN analyst Norman Chad gets a little dig in on Phil while talking about Eli Elezra and Barry Greenstein being part of the ‘Big Game’ he says ‘Hellmuth is not part of the Big Game he is part of the Big Ego, the Big Game players don’t have a whole lot of respect for Phil Hellmuth’. Chad goes on to say ‘the Big Game keeps a light on for Phil anytime’.
• 13 Minutes in while playing Hold ‘Em Phil says ‘raise it up boys’. Chad once again gives the needle to Hellmuth by saying ‘it definitely bothers Phil that he hasn’t won a bracelet outside of Hold ‘Em and he doesn’t have the respect of the Big Game players. When Barry Greenstein hits a flush and beats Phil, the talking starts from Phil: ‘I haven’t won one Hold ‘Em pot just cause I checked top pair and then he hits the miracle heart again. Its just sick, nice hand Barry’.
• Then ESPN goes to a taped sit down discussion with Phil and he lets all of us know how good he is when he says things like:
  • A lot of the Great Players underestimate my H.O.R.S.E skills, they say oh Phil just plays Hold ‘Em, but
  • I can play all of the games close to perfect
  • Am I a world class stud player? sure.
  • Omaha 8 or better there’s only probably 4 or 5 that are better than me
  • Razz I just absolutely world class top of the game
  • Hold ‘Em obviously I am at the absolute top of the world
  • They can’t attack my integrity and honor cause that’s perfect
  • They can’t attack my Hold ‘Em cause thats perfect
  • There’s not much left to attack
  • Oh they can always attack my ‘Poker Brat’ behavior
• Phil is back and saying: ‘Barry has beaten me every hand in Hold ‘Em but just wait till it turns around I am going to barbecue him’ then when he loses a hand to another opponent he says ‘the best Hold ‘Em player in the world by far and the guys just beat me and beat me, I won two antes and a tiny pot it is just sick’.
• 35 minutes into the ESPN show and Hellmuth is show standing by himself and talking to nobody and saying ’such an effing joke, these are supposed to be great players? they don’t know anything about Hold ‘Em, so sick, I want to throw up when I watch these people play Hold ‘Em, supposed to be great players, they suck’.
• Forty minutes in and Hellmuth is playing Omaha 8 or better and Phil gets scooped by an opponent when Phil doesn’t have a very good hand. The opponent gets Phil to stop chattering by saying he can overcome the beat he just took. The very next hand that ESPN shows, Phil starts by saying ‘might be a little steam on this one boys’ and Phil doesn’t hit his low hand and for the only time I can remember Phil has nothing to say.
• At last the final opportunity to witness Phil Hellmuth’s Tableside manner at the WSOP this year, unless you watch the encore showings. Phil is All-In playing RAZZ and Phil is beat easily. Phil leaves the table with this parting shot for all: ’so brutal, I am the best player at that table in every game, that’s whats brutal, I got a good table draw and never won a chip’

Another item that I found ironic is: Many times Phil’s commercial for WSOP the video game was shown during the two hours of ESPN coverage. Phil is shown with a black eye and saying the some of the players are taking the ‘Beat the Brat’ theme too far. I mentioned to my sons during the broadcast with all the years that Phil has played and had his Tableside manner that he is probably fortunate nobody has popped him.

I know that it is all an act to get the other players off their game and not play their best. Also to get Phil some more TV time, but it has no place in Poker in my humble opinion. More and more players try and use the same behavior either online or at live games. Probably ESPN contributes to this with all the coverage they give to Hellmuth and others like Mike Matusow. Please stop ESPN.

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Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

WSOP, WSOP H.O.R.S.E, Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matusow,  Barry Greenstein, Norman Chad, ESPN,

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• WSOP H.O.R.S.E. on ESPN Starring Phil Hellmuth’s Behavior

ESPN aired the 1st two episodes of six last night of what they are billing as the ‘2007 Players Championship’. You know it is the 2007 WSOP $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. championship. Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger posted many WSOP articles and gave extensive coverage to the H.O.R.S.E. tournament and its eventual winner Freddy Deeb. This post is just to discuss my disappointment with ESPN and the TV time they give to Phil Hellmuth and his Tableside manner. Yes ESPN talked extensively about the ‘Best All Around Player’, the ‘Pros Championship’ when discussing the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Tournament. Daniel Negreanu is shown stating ‘Without a doubt it is the most important tournament in the whole world’ and 2004 Main Event Champion Greg Raymer says ‘it is a small elite field of the greatest players in the world’. ESPN says it is time to settle all arguments about who is best and this is the Bracelet all the ‘Big Game’ players want.

But in your ‘Dead Money’ blogger’s humble opinion ESPN got off track of showing the great players playing great poker in all the disciplines. Instead ESPN seemed to focus way too much TV time on the typical Phil Hellmuth horrible Tableside manner.  Thankfully at the end of the second hour Hellmuth was knocked out of the tournament and for those of us that want to watch the rest of the ESPN H.O.R.S.E. coverage we will not have to see, the great in all the Poker Games according to Phil himself, Phil Hellmuth anymore. Here are some of the examples I saw during the first hour last night. Tomorrow I will detail some more examples that happened during the second hour.

• Just 9 minutes into the Coverage of the 1st hour ESPN cuts to Phil as he rips out his ever present ear piece and tears off his sunglasses and he says: ‘oh this idiot’ and then says ‘you are so bad Bruno you don’t even know it, this is your worse game’ then goes on to say ‘its ridiculous how bad they play’.
• 23 minutes after the beginning of the 1st hour of Coverage ESPN goes back to Hellmuth in time to hear him say: ‘Freakin idiot, so bad’ once again talking about Bruno. Phil goes on to say: ‘it is alright, he is going to blow off all the chips anyway, I just hope I am here’ then he says: ‘its so ridiculous’. Then ESPN shows Mike Matusow coming over to commiserate with Hellmuth as Phil goes on to explain how the idiot called him and then beat him. Phil goes on to say: ‘I read him so easily, he got away with one stud pot, he tried to bluff me in stud and he won’t bluff me all day again’. I do give credit to ESPN analyst Norman Chad who says: ‘Ladies and Gentleman Ugly American Hall of Famers Mike the Mouth and the Poker Brat’.
• 35 minutes in and ESPN is back to Hellmuth who starts with many expletives deleted from the broadcast and then says: ‘you people are the worse players on the planet, I swear to God’ and then ‘oh my God are you kidding me, thats four bad beats they put on me’ once again it is Bruno who did the beating.
• For the last time during the 1st episode ESPN shows Hellmuth who is saying to Barry Greenstein: ‘try and run me over now Barry’ and Mike Matusow comes back to the table and Phil tells Mike ‘they just can’t wait to race their money in against me’.

That is all the ESPN viewers could stand and ESPN did not show anymore of the great Phil Hellmuth’s Tableside manner. Check back tomorrow when I detail the even worse behavior that Phil exhibited during the 2nd hour of the broadcast.

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WSOP, WSOP H.O.R.S.E., Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, Daniel Negreanu, Mike Matusow, Freddy Deeb, Barry Greenstein,

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• Jean Robert Bellande Survivor
• Photo Source: CBS Survivor

Have you seen Jean Robert Bellande on Survivor China? I posted previously about Jean Robert being part of Survivor China. I have to admit I was a little surprised at the way CBS Survivor has been showing him. And they have been showing a lot of him. Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger should have known that Jean Robert would not make many friends on the Survivor Island. Given the way he plays poker with the tableside manner of Phil Hellmuth and combine that Poker attitude with the lack of food and rest on Survivor, that makes even the most likable people behave horribly, it is no wonder we see the worst of Jean Robert.

On the latest episode CBS Survivor showed him causing much trouble with the sleep arrangements. Not only does it appear that Jean Robert has a bad snoring issue but ‘needs’ to sleep next to the young women of the tribe. The young women of the tribe are shown on CBS Survivor discussing how much they hate sleeping next to Jean Robert and how they avoid it at all costs.

In one very damaging segment to Jean Robert’s fans was when he was discussing strategy with another member of the tribe. Jean Robert got into a discussion about one of the women of their tribe that was very frank and of a sexual nature. That was bad enough but Jean Robert was talking loud enough that the women and another member of the tribe heard the discussion.

Because of Jean Robert’s size and strength he is valuable on the challenges thus far that have mostly been physical in nature. He has helped his tribe win most of the events so far. Jean Robert does not seem to be very popular with his tribe-mates. It seemed during the last episode, after his tribe lost a challenge, he would be voted off the Island, but he survived. Kind of like he went All-In and nobody called. It will be interesting to see how long he can last and how much weight he loses.

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• ‘ESPN WSOP Main Event Tuesday Broadcast

Just a notice to let you know that rumours have it that ESPN Main Event coverage on Tuesday 09/25/2007 will include coverage of MSU student, and no relation to your ‘Dead Money’ blogger, Alan Keating during his deep Main Event run in July. I am sure Alan is also pleased at the Spartan’s beat down of Notre Dame on the grid iron yesterday. Just wanted to let my Just Poker Talk readers know so they can arrange their schedules to see Alan on ESPN.
Photo Source: VC Poker
Alan did very well in the Main Event. Near the end of Day 4 he was near the top of the Chip Leader board.  Day 4 did not end well for him and he was knocked out on Day 5. Alan finished 102nd and took home $58,570 in prize money which I am sure is probably helping with his Student Loans at Michigan State.

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Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger Michael will be tuned in to ESPN Main Event Coverage on Tuesday.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

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• CBS announces Survivor 15 Cast

CBS has announced the 16 contestants for Survivor China the 15th installment of the popular reality TV series. You can see the complete cast at this link. 

Now you are probably checking the link to see if you went to Just Poker Talk or Reality TV Talk. Relax you are at the Poker blog. The reason I am blogging about this announcement is because of one of the 16 participants is non other than Professional Poker Player Jean-Robert Bellande. Conspicuously absent from the 2007 WSOP in July and now we know why. Jean-Robert was in China competing with 15 other Survivors for $1 million dollars that goes to the winner.
Jean-Robert in his introduction video discusses how he is used to comfortable hotels and air conditioned casinos and thought he was not a good candidate for Survivor. But when he gave it some thought he realized that he had a 1 in 16 shot for the $1 million prize and determined the odds were better than most poker tournaments. He goes on to say he is a little bit over weight and out of shape and he is not an outdoors-man. He views his Survivor participation as a big challenge and looks forward to competing. He views Poker and Survivor as both ‘Mental’ games. His strategy will be similar to when he enters a Poker Tournament. For the first little while he will be evaluating his opponents. Who are the strong players, who are the weak players and who he can mess with and who he doesn’t want to get into any kind of confrontation with. See the video here. It will be interesting to see how Jean-Robert’s Poker style plays in Survivor.

Survivor China Premieres on Thursday September 20, 2007 at 8 eastern.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

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WSOP 2007 Main Event on ESPN

Your Just Poker Talk blogger in this earlier post let you in on the schedule for ESPN WSOP coverage. Now we are down to just 2 remaining events to be shown.

• Main Event will be shown every Tuesday from August 21st through October 9th at 8:00 and 9:00pm.
• $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event will be shown on Tuesday starting October 16th and continuing on October 23rd and 30th at 8:00 and 9:00pm.

I know I will be watching as I want to see how ESPN handles all the bad behavior. Last year they did a very bad job of glamorizing the atrocious behavior of some of the players. I also want to see the Phil Hellmuth show that I posted about earlier. I want to see how much ESPN and Norman Chad talk about Phil showing up late and leaving early, but hey he does have 11 bracelets.

If I see something interesting during the telecasts it might find its way into a post.

Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger Michael
will be watching closely the ESPN coverage of the Main Event and the H.O.R.S.E. tournament. I want to see all the new poker celebrities that ESPN brings to the Poker world.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

WSOP, Main Event, ESPN, Just Poker Talk, Hold ‘Em, Phil Hellmuth

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• Phil Hellmuth tableside manners are on display on ESPN

Did you see the ESPN broadcast of the attempt by Phil Hellmuth to capture a 12 WSOP bracelet on Tuesday? ESPN devoted both hours of their WSOP broadcast to this event. The event was a NLHE $3000 buy in that Hellmuth made the final table. Hellmuth did not win his 12th bracelet so his atrocious tableside manner was on display throughout the 90 minutes that he survived during the broadcast.  

In case you didn’t see it, here are some of the ‘Highlights’.

• Complaining that other Players didn’t respect him. Saying things like ‘Everytime I put in a raise these dummies come over the top’.  ‘I am the greatest NLHE player in the world and I can’t get any respect’
• Tell other players he was going to bust them for sure. Just in case you didn’t know he is Phil Hellmuth the greatest NLHE player in the world. Phil didn’t bust the players that he told this to. He said this multiple times to two specific players that he felt they didn’t know how to play NLHE.
• Whine constantly that everytime he had a raising hand players would raise him, he had trouble with 2 players in particular. In watching what ESPN showed these players never raised him just trying to steal, they always had very good or even premium hands.
• He survived at least 6 occasions when he was All-In but, he lost at least $100,000 in cash to Phil Ivey. Ivey gave Hellmuth ‘insurance’, at appropriate odds based on the hands, each time Hellmuth was All-In. When Hellmuth won the hand he would lose cash to Ivey. Each time he was All-In it seemed that all would have to wait for Hellmuth and Ivey to figure out the odds and agree on the insurance bet before the dealer could continue with dealing the community cards. ESPN seemed to love this.
• Telling all that would listen that the world doesn’t know how good he is. 
• When his final all in was called by a big stack player and Phil had a weak Ace, he said for all to hear that he couldn’t believe that she called a big raise with KQ suited. He went on to say how he couldn’t believe how bad the players at the final table were.
• He had many other critical comments for all the players. Just too numerous to recount all of them in this post.

Of course all of this stuff is part of Phil’s act. One of the other pros at the table was quoted on the broadcast saying something like: Phil is great at taking advantage of weak players. Phil’s comments get inside their heads and he just runs them over. Also, that stuff doesn’t work against the experienced pros who basically just ignore it.

ESPN analyst Norman Chad took every opportunity to point out Phil’s Tableside manner. He even said the event was like a 3 ring circus with Phil being 2 of the rings. He also said he would rather watch Phil at a final table then anything else Vegas had. 

Your ‘Dead Money’ blogger in an earlier post gave Phil credit for being one of the all time great Poker players, but his Tableside manner does him no favors with anyone that actually ranks the all time greats. His Tableside manner will hold him back from ever being ranked the greatest of all time in my humble opinion. Also in this post I discussed how Phil seems to be all about the ‘Show’ and this ESPN broadcast just make me think that even more. I don’t think it would be fun for me to be at Phil’s table, of course being ‘Dead Money’, I don’t ever expect to be seated with him, thankfully.

Feel free to add any Poker related comments, they are welcome always.

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If you haven’t already done so please go to this Just Poker Talk post and select your favorite players to watch on Televised Poker. 

• Nolan Dalla WSOP Media Director compiled this list of Celebrities that competed at this year’s WSOP
  • Ben Affleck, actor
  • Milton Berle, television personality
  • Wilford Brimley, actor
  • Tony Curtis, actor
  • Matt Damon, actor
  • Shannon Elizabeth, actor
  • Larry Flynt, publisher
  • James Garner, actor
  • Anne Heche, actor
  • Kelly Hu, actor
  • Ron Jeremy, actor
  • Hal ‘Deadman’ Kant, attorney
  • Gabe Kaplan, actor
  • Ricki Lake, talk show host and actor
  • Lennox Lewis, former boxer
  • Norm MacDonald, actor and comedian
  • Tobey Maguire, actor
  • Danny Masterson, actor
  • Rocko Mediate, golfer
  • Ed Norton Jr, actor
  • Mekhi Pheifer, actor
  • Laura Prepon, actor
  • Mimi Rogers, actor
  • Telly Savalas, actor
  • Shannon Sharpe, ex-NFL player
  • Sam Simon, television executive producer
  • Jean Smart, actor
  • Mena Suvari, actor
  • Antonio Tarver, boxer
  • Jennifer Tilly, actor
  • Steve Wynn, casino owner
  • James Woods, actor

Found the above list in this month’s

Ben Affleck, Milton Berle,  Wilford Brimley, Tony Curtis, Matt Damon, Shannon Elizabeth, Larry Flynt, James Garner, Anne Heche, Kelly Hu, Ron Jeremy, Hal ‘Deadman’ Kant, Gabe Kaplan, Ricki Lake,  Lennox Lewis,  Norm MacDonald,  Tobey Maguire, Danny Masterson, Rocko Mediate, Ed Norton Jr, Mekhi Pheifer, Laura Prepon, Mimi Rogers, Telly Savalas, Shannon Sharpe,  Sam Simon,  Jean Smart, Mena Suvari, Antonio Tarver, Jennifer Tilly, Steve Wynn,  James Woods,

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• Watching Poker on Television

When you turn on the TV now a days you almost can’t help but find a Poker game. The players are celebrities and the sponsors of the players are making them resemble Nascar drivers.

Styles of play of course are as varied as the ‘Table-side’ manor of the players. The players that I enjoy watching have very similar qualities and are very opposite from the type I don’t like to watch. Your Just Poker Talk blogger likes things like:

• Respectful of other players and other styles
• Avoids criticism of other players when they:
  • call when the odds say they shouldn’t
  • overbet
  • hit a 2 outer to scoop a big pot
  • take too long
  • or any other thing that the prima donna objects to
• Do not blame luck for not winning
• Do not tell everyone how stupid they are or that they are an idiot or that ‘kiddie games are down the street’
• Do not seem to do everything to draw more attention from the TV cameras
• Basically I enjoy the players that use their skill at the game and ability to out play the other players, not the ones that belittle other players and seem arrogant and mad at the world.

I have put together a couple polls below asking you to select the players you enjoy watching on televised poker. I put 34 of the top players in the world in the poll, though I am sure I missed a few. Select as many as you like and if one of your favorites is not on the poll please add in a comment.

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• GSN announces Season IV of High Stakes Poker

GSN has added to the High Stakes Poker broadcasts for Season IV. 17 episodes this Season up from 13 in past Seasons.

High Stakes Poker Season IV was filmed at South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Regular competitors will play including:

• Doyle Brunson
• Daniel Negreanu
• Jennifer Harman
• Barry Greenstein
• Eli Elezra
• Sammy Farha
• Todd Brunson
• Phil Laak
• Mike Matusow
• Phil Hellmuth returns after sitting out the last 2 TV seasons
• Jamie Gold
• Antonio Esfandiari
• Patrik Antonius
• David Benyamine

For the 1st 10 episodes of Season IV the players will put up the usual minimum buy in of $100,000.

For the last 7 episodes the minimum buy in will be $500,000. Can you imagine playing in a game with $5,000,000 in play? Wonder if the sponsors will get involved to help the players defray some of the buy in?

• Schedule

Season IV Starts with the 1st broadcast starting at 9pm on Monday August 27th, 2007.

$500,000 buy in broadcasts start at 9pm Monday November 5th, 2007.

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• ESPN invests heavily in the WSOP Main Event

“I think it’s a sport and an entertainment,”

said ESPN Senior Director of Programming Scott Hanley in a USA Today story. The question was is Poker a sport or entertainment.

The story details what resources ESPN allocated to broadcast this year’s WSOP.

Click ====> here to take you to a previous post providing the ESPN broadcast schedule for the 2007 WSOP.

• ESPN WSOP Coverage to include
  • Hole Card cameras
  • 32 Hours of original WSOP Broadcast
  • High Definition Cameras
  • 40 Cameras compared to previous years of 26 for the WSOP and 35 to broadcast the Kentucky Derby.
  • Upgraded Music
  • Upgraded Graphics
  • ESPN built new Tables
  • Redesigned the Interview rooms
• Questions arose about the value of High Definition Cameras to broadcast poker

“There’s an associated cost there. The value of going high def is showing a game based on reading your opponent” said ESPN Senior producer Jamie Horowitz.

“You can see their eye movement, their hand movements” added Scott Hanley.

ESPN will continue to look for coverage innovations through its 2010 deal with the WSOP. “Hopefully beyond” Hanley added. source

I know I will be watching to see If I can see them sweat.

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• ESPN has announced the ESPN TV schedule for the 2007 WSOP Events.

• ESPN Coverage Starts on July 10, 2007 at 8pm eastern.
• Main Event will be shown every Tuesday from August 21st through October 9th at 8 and 9pm eastern.
• H.O.R.S.E. will be shown October 16th, 23rd and 30th at 8 and 9pm eastern.
• Pay Per view of Main Event Final table is offered by ESPN on July 17th, 2007.
• Complete schedule of the WSOP events and broadcast plans is provided at the ESPN site above.

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• Long odds for a familar player to win WSOP Main Event

What we have learned over the last 5 WSOP Main Events is: That the most likely the winner will be somebody that most Poker Pros and almost all of the Poker watchers will not be familar with at the beginning of the Main Event. This becomes clear when you review the list of  winners since the 2002 WSOP Main Event.

• 2002 Robert Varkonyi - $2,000,000
• 2003 Chris Moneymaker - $2,500,000
• 2004 Grey Raymer - $5,000,000
• 2005 Joe Hachem - $7,500,000
• 2006 Jamie Gold - $12,000,000

Who knew them before they made their big entrance into the Poker World by winning the Main Event?

Most of those ‘in the Poker know’ say that the Main Event is a ‘Crap shoot’ and considering these items who could disagree?

• 8,700 players last year and even with the ban on Internet Gambling this year, limiting the on-line qualifiers, there will still probably be over 5,000 players.
• 8 days of playing during the 12 calendar days to complete the Main Event. To win the Main Event you have to get through no less than 96 hours of:
  1. Races
  2. Maniacs going All In
  3. Bad runs of cards
  4. Bad Beats
  5. Focus lapses
  6. Lack of rest
• WSOP Main Event is the ‘Super Bowl’ of Poker and the crowds and crush of Media could get players off their ‘A’ game for stretches that could cripple their hopes of surviving through the Main Event.
• Poker Pros playing at tables early in the tournament with players they have no knowledge of.
• Very long days of play as the typical day of the Main Event is no less than 12 hours.

As we get to the final days before the Main Event begins on July 6, 2007, I thought I would show the odds for some of the more well know pros to win the Main Event as written in an article by Avery Cardoza in this month’s  Click on the image to link to Avery Cardoza’s well thought out odds story.

• Unknown Internet Player 10-1
• Phil Hellmuth 250-1
• Daniel Negreanu 250-1
• T.J. Cloutier 250-1
• Chip Reese 500-1
• Johnny Chan 250-1
• ‘Jesus’ Ferguson 300-1
• Phil Ivey 250-1
• Allen Cunningham 300-1  Wait a minute as Norman Chad says ‘He is Allen Cunningham!!!’
• Jeff Madsen 400-1
• Tom McEvoy 500-1
• Doyle Brunson 300-1
• Carols Mortensen 300-1
• Dan Harrington 250-1
• Men Nguyen 300-1
• Joe Hachem 400-1
• Greg Raymer 400-1
• Michael Mizrachi 350-1
• Robert Williamson III 500-1
• Roland De Wolfe 400-1

Avery ends the article by predicting none of the pro players will make the final table and neither will his top pick among the women Annie Duke.

This is a great article and his insight into the players and his predictions are very interesting. Do yourself a service by clicking on the link above to read the entire article.

WSOP, WSOP Main Event, WSOP Bracelet, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, T.J. Cloutier, Chip Reese, Johnny Chan, Jesus Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham, Jeff Madsen, Tom McEvoy, Doyle Brunson, Carlos Mortensen, Dan Harrington, Men Nguyen, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Michael Mizrachi, Robert Williamson III, Roland DeWolfe, Robert Varkonyi, Chis Moneymaker, Jamie Gold, Norman Chad

• Click the YouTube Image below to watch the Freddy Deeb interview after he won the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.

The video is less than 2 minutes long. Freddy talks about how hard it was to play 5 straight days 12 hours a day. In fact he says that the 148 player field was real tough but the long days were the real problem trying to win the H.O.R.S.E. tournament. Day 5’s final table was a marathon session of 15 hours before Freddy won the Gold Bracelet. It is very evident in the video how exhausted he was from the effort.

Video and image ™ provided by: YouTube

WSOP, WSOP H.O.R.S.E, WSOP Main Event, WSOP Bracelet, Freddie Deeb, YouTube