Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke Vying for WSOP Tournament of Champions Title
While the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Tournament of Champions (TOC) takes a break until July 3rd, the leaders of Team UB.com, Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke, find themselves right in the thick of things.
With 17 of the original 27 players remaining, Hellmuth and Duke are back-to-back in the middle of the pack. With 44,100 chips, Hellmuth is in eighth place, while Duke is right behind him in ninth with 42,600. If they hold those same positions throughout the rest of the tournament, they will both earn $25,000. Undoubtedly, though, they each have their eyes trained on the $500,000 grand prize.
Duke has not had any success at this year’s WSOP, as she is still without a cash, so a win in the TOC would be a great boost for the 2009 “Celebrity Apprentice” runner-up. It will also be quite an accomplishment to beat such a stacked, albeit small, field after recently winning the similarly challenging National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Duke was one of five automatic qualifiers for the TOC, earning her spot by winning the inaugural Tournament of Champions back in 2004. Coincidentally, she defeated Hellmuth heads-up in that event to win the $2 million purse.
While Hellmuth prides himself on holding the most WSOP bracelets of anyone in the history of poker, he would still love to win the TOC, even though it would not technically count as his 12th bracelet. Hellmuth has had a disappointing run at the WSOP so far, with just three cashes for $70,622. He does have two top-15 finishes, including a final table, but for Hellmuth, also the all-time leader in number of cashes at the WSOP, it has been frustrating. Last night, he Tweeted, “Feeling so TORTURED right now!! Busted on level 15, in 59th place… 45 get paid. Four times I played till level 14 or later, and didn’t cash.”
Hellmuth earned his seat in the Tournament of Champions through the online fan vote. He was the fourth-leading vote getter of the 20 players who qualified via balloting, garnering 12,673 votes. Ahead of him were Phil Ivey (16,267), Daniel Negreanu (16,239), and Doyle Brunson (13,796).
The TOC has a dash of past UB flavor, as well, as ex-UB pro Antonio Esfandiari (now with Victory Poker) is 16th place and Scotty Nguyen, who was once sponsored by UB, is in fourth place.
The TOC is slated to pick back up on July 3rd and play down to a final table, which will be contested the following day. If any player is still alive in events happening on July 3rd, however, the TOC will not resume at all until July 4th, when it will start bright and early at 9:00am local time.
Related World Series Of Poker News:
- Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke Out at UB
- UB Losing Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke
- Annie Duke featured in PocketFives podcast
- Online Poker Room Signs Adam Levy
- Poker Star Annie Duke Recounts Bluffing Her Way to $2 Million
- Annie Duke and Don Cheadle Interview
- Annie Duke Poker Tourney Over
- Annie Duke Discusses The Ultimate Bet Scandal
- Peter Jetten Signs with Full Tilt Poker
- Annie Duke Video Interview
- UBOC II Poised for Start
- Annie Duke to host one-day tournament in Palas new poker room
Useful poker information:
- RIVER - The last card dealt in a hand of stud or Hold'em.
- SMALL BLIND - In games with two blinds the first blind is the SMALL BLIND because it is usually one-half (or less) the second or large blind.
- DRAWING DEAD - A draw in which it is impossible to obtain a winning hand for any of a variety of reasons: an opponent's hand is better than whatever you are drawing to, the card(s) that make your hand are out of play, or (in Hold'em) give an opponent a stronger hand even if it makes yours. Frequently used in the past tense, since one rarely knows it at the time.
- FORCED BET - In some stud games a player may be required to make a bet to start the action on the first card. This is similar conceptually to blinds and antes, but in this case is dependent on the cards shown rather than player position. Usually the weakest hand is forced to bet.
- SPLIT [OPENERS] - In draw poker, to discard one or more openers, usually to draw to a straight or flush. Normally requires the opener to declare the act and retain the discards so that the act of opening can later be validated.
- EXPECTATION - The long-run [dis-]advantage of a given situation, specifically without reference to any particular outcome. I.e., what you figure to win [lose] on average after a large number of repetitions of the same situation.
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